Dark Moon Rising: Archibald space TL

October 4, 1957
Malton, Ontario

Avro Canada workers had gathered on the parking lot ; their eyes turned skywards. All of sudden they saw a point of light crossing the sky had breakneck pace : within a couple of minute it was gone.
« Sputnik. How fast is that thing ? Mach numbers I mean...
« Mach 22.
« Exactly ten times faster than the Arrow
« It's actually even more than that. Ascent losses - trajectory gravity atmosphere - bring the tally to
mach 27. Mach 22 is "only" the minimum to circle earth.
"Only - what an euphemism.
"And this is only velocity. Ten times faster than a Phantom, but energy wise… it’s even worse."

And indeed it was. Even for the X-15. The coming rocketplane would bring an end to 15 years of successive speed records : from a P-47’s 400 mph to 4000 mph. That year 1957, Mach 2 fighters were zoom climbing to 30 km ; theory said that a vertical climb from Mach 3 would peak at 40 km. Mach 4 would hit 72 km, and a Mach 5 X-15 : 100 km. Yet energy-wise, that was only three percent of orbital velocity ; it would take 32 times more energy to circle the Earth.
 
Let's have some fun.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QYPWSB2?binding=hardcover&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_thcv
https://www.amazon.com/The-Apollo-Murders/dp/1529406854

Loved all of these stories - brilliantly written.

They have an interesting feature in common. Something like "In order to spice up the space & Moon races, we need a military confrontation in space - and damn the Outer Space Treaty."
The authors cleverly use Almaz and FOBS, which were, indeed, half hearted Soviet military space efforts.

As for my little self... same story. Needs to spice up the Moon race, with a little military background. But of course, once LUNEX was buried (ha ha, lame joke) the DoD had zero interest in lunar military ops.

Unless of course the Soviets do something stupid on the Moon - related to either the OST or the earlier Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (1963)

And there I had some fun with Edward Teller paranoia. He had self convinced the Soviets would try to cheat the treaty, two ways
- muffling underground test blast (decoupling, in a giant cave)
- moving their tests to deep space, or behind the Moon

Then I realized the two paranoid lunacies could be combined. "Lunar decoupling" that is - the Soviet modifiy a Ye-8-5M lunar sample return probe to drill the roof of one of the giant lunar lava tubes - and then drop a test nuke in the tube. That way even the VELA satellites perched 100 000 miles high and looking at the Moon, can be fooled.

Make no mistake: it is utterly idiotic. Then again, it's Teller nuclear lobbying. If you think that outrageous or ridiculous, just try browsing "excalibur pop up lasers, nuclear-pumped".

Timberwind pebble-bed NTR as second stage of a Minuteman: for suborbital launches of Excalibur nuclear-pumped lasers. One nuke blast channeled into a neutron beam to zap incoming Soviets ICBMs.

That was Teller plan for SDI, circa 1984. Totally outrageous, if not bonkers. Yet he managed to get funding for two years of that siliness.

Compared to that lunacy, "lunar decoupling" almost look realistic...
 
I just got one heck of an idea. Related to this https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/nasa-langley-spacejet-concept.11026/

Those "flying turbojet pods", under the wings of that rocketplane... there was a real world vehicle that would have been an almost perfect basis for the pods.
The Navago G-26 cruise stages. Dimensions here http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app1/sm-64.html
Just swap the Wright RJ47 ramjets for Pratt's J58s, of SR-71 fame.

g26_04.jpg

Specifications​


Data for XSM-64, XSM-64A:


XSM-64XSM-64A
LengthMissile: 20.65 m (67 ft 9 in)
Booster: 23.24 m (76 ft 3 in)		Missile: 26.7 m (87 ft 7 in)
Booster: 28.1 m (92 ft 1 in)
Wingspan8.71 m (28 ft 7 in)13.0 m (42 ft 8 in)
Height2.90 m (9 ft 6 in)?
Booster Diameter1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)2.4 m (7 ft 10 in)
WeightMissile: 27200 kg (60000 lb)
Booster: 34000 kg (75000 lb)		Missile: 54600 kg (120500 lb)
Booster: 81500 kg (180000 lb)
SpeedMach 2.75Mach 3.25
Ceiling24000 m (80000 ft)> 24000 m (80000 ft)
Range5600 km (3500 miles)10000 km (6300 miles)
PropulsionMissile: 2x Wright XRJ47-W-5 ramjet; 36 kN (8000 lb) each
Booster: North American XLR71-NA-1 liquid-fueled rocket; 1070 kN (240000 lb)		Missile: 2x Wright XRJ47-W-7 ramjet; 50 kN (11300 lb) each
Booster: North American XLR83-NA-1 liquid-fueled rocket; 1800 kN (405000 lb)
WarheadnoneW-39 thermonuclear (4 MT)

​

 
Okay folks... I have way too much on my plate. Below: short list (!) of all the visions I explore in book 1... and there are 4 books. Sweet geez. Tell me if you are interested by some subjects in that list.

The great visions (book 1: 1956-1966)

Mars opposition 1956
Von Braun (almost) first satellite
Infinite staging
The NRP
Gerald Bull: analog FBW & the Arrow
Canadair: Velvet Glove & Sparrow II
The great spy game
John Frost: WS-606A, RFGT
Canadair's Skylancer (Westinghouse & Sparrow)
From Mach 3 to X-15 : to orbit, Mach 26
Strategic Air Command: air & space domination
SR-89-774
Aerospaceplane
A Canadian space program
The nazi plot: Sanger to Kayser
Pilot, Caleb, WS-199 A/B/C/D
B-58 & LR81
Navy orbital launcher: Polaris + Agena - out of "41 for freedom" launch tubes ?
Bob Truax
P6M Seamaster
Aerial refueling
Teller decoupling + deep space = lunar decoupling
66 x CF-105s Arrow
Hawthorne: Northrop, The Beach Boys (and SpaceX... much later !)
Pre-Compressor Cooling
Lockheed and Agena: big plans
Convair FISH, KINGFISH - ISINGLASS & RHEINBERRY
Boost-glide, skip-glide, once around & DynaSoar
Orion NPP
Counterforce from space: 1960-1962 nuclear terror
Ye-4, A-119: nuke the Moon
USAF SR-- requirements, 1960
Strategic reconnaissance galore: firing by all tubes: aircrat, spysats, drones, and exotic systems
Minuteman, Manhattan, and the Hall brothers: Ed & Ted
NIIRS scale : spysats ground resolution
NRP, NRO
Kinetic, spaceborne ABM shield: RBS, SPAD.
SR-71 & A-12
The spysats: DISCOVERER, CORONA, SAMOS, ARGON, LANYARD, GAMBIT-1, GAMBIT-3
XB-70 Valkyrie - 3 airframes ?
More B-58s, improved
Aerospaceplane: Linde, Marquardt LACE & ACES
Supersonic refueling ?
The British: HS.681 transport & BS.100 turbojet & spysat interest & Skybolt crisis
TOWN HALL : B-58 + Polaris... + Agena ? HIGH TOWN
1962: battle for strategic reconnaissance: SR-71 vs spysats vs Ryan 147 Firebee
QUILL radarsat
Project SCOOP : recycling the NRO failed spysats & their advanced technology
Lunar orbiter 6 ?
The chinese: Tien Wukong
Yakovlev gets WS-606A
Sealed storables: Bullpup lessons applied to the Agena
Keeping readout alive: SAMOS E-1, E-2, Lunar Orbiter... and HIGH TOWN mk.1
NF-104A: Story England
Dyson, Taylor, and the PUFFER drive
Crisis reconnaissance & arms control & remote sensing
Honzik: Lockheed lunar base studies
DynaSoar last hurrah: 1964
The MOL, FROG, COMPASS LINK : laser scan film readout
Demetriades: PROFAC
ISINGLASS RHEINBERRY
UPWARD AND PERCHERON = PERSEUS
MOL, for astronomy
The Soviets & the Moon: 1964-67
LOX/ N2H4 = super rocket fuel
B-52 with a Titan stage 2 (LR91 engine): Agena, Gemini, DynaSoar...
Eurospace & the Vulcan launcher (multiple boosters)
Sanger & the reusable rockets: Rakete (Kayser & the nazis)
Truax SeaHorse missile
F-104 consortia
Ed Hall Minuteman farm
Aircraft carriers - for rockets
Surplus rockets & bombers: Atlas, Titan I, Minuteman I, Polaris A1 & A2, B-47s.
Titan III recovery
B-70 RBSS
BGV: boost glide vehicles, manned or not, ALFA DRACO, BGRV SBGV
NRO Program C: Navy spysats - launched from ships ? or subs ?
ARMY ENERGY DEPOT ISRU - SNAP REACTORS AND NASA
Luna caves - round 1 :Ranger 7, 1964
HIGH TOWN MARK 0 : Skybolt + spare SAMOS
HIGH TOWN MARK 1 : SPIN SCAN
HIGH TOWN MARK 2 : FROG
Luna, Ranger & Surveyor 1: all of them, to the Ocean of Storms - Procellarum
OAO-1 failure: HIGH TOWN first success
Lockheed & Marquardt
Operation SCORE II : B-52 + LR91 stage
 
I don't do things half heartedly... that thing is out of control. Lots of fun, but waaaaaay too much.
 
How about a HASTOL - PROFAC - LUNOX alliance ? for trafficking of liquid oxygen ?
...
Three natural sizes of tether systems in low Earth orbit have been determined. First is a hanging, swinging tether with a length of 25 to 50 km, that can impart a delta V of up to 0.1 km/s. The medium tether, which completes two spins per orbit, has a length of 290 km, and can impart a delta V of 1.2 km/s. The long tether completes three spins per orbit, has a length of 760 km, and can impart a delta V of 3.4 km/s.
...
A system design is presented for a tether transport facility capable of reducing the required launch vehicle delta-V from Earth to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) by 1.2 km/s. Sized to handle a 5 ton payload, it uses a 5 ton barely spinning tether 290 km long, and a 150 ton facility at an altitude of 420 km. The total mass of the winch and other tether-specific hardware on the facility is estimated at 5 tons, plus the 1 ton endmass capture hardware and the 5 ton tether. An additional 145 tons of ballast mass are needed. A case can be make that the payload-to-tether weight ratio is 30.
The tether can capture a sub-orbital payload at 130 km altitude (PROFAC ?), either delivering it to the facility or providing an additional super-orbital boost of 1.1 km/s from a 600 km perigee orbit. Capture 1.2 km/s below orbit velocity increases vehicle mass at Main Engine Cut Off (MECO) by 30%. For SSTO vehicles having payloads of 10-20% of MECO mass, sub-orbital capture can increase vehicle payload by 150-300%. The heavy facility mass is at an altitude of 420 km, resulting in a capture altitude of 130 km. The launch vehicle never hangs on to the tether, which would greatly increase the required tether and facility mass. Instead, it hands the payload off to a "smart" tether tip device, then immediately drops away on a reentry trajectory.
Other sizes of facilities in LEO are also discussed, including a much more ambitious 3.4 km/s tether. In that case the payload-to-tether weight ratio is 500 - resulting in a 2500 tons tether facility.
...
For the hypersonic airplane portion of the baseline HASTOL system we use an existing Boeing design for the DF-9, a dual-fuel airbreathing vehicle that has benefited from over a million dollars in NASA/LaRC and Boeing funding during prior study efforts. The Boeing DF-9 hypersonic airplane is similar to the X-43 research vehicle in shape and uses engines similar to those that will be tested in the X-43 in the Summer of 2000. The DF-9 has a 9 m (30 ft) long by 3 m (10 ft) diameter upward-opening central payload bay that can handle payloads up to 14 metric tons or 30,000 lb. It uses JP-fueled air-breathing turbo-ramjets up to Mach 4.5, slush-hydrogen and air/oxygen ram/scram engines above Mach 4.5. With a full fuel load at takeoff, the hypersonic airplane masses 270 tons (590,000 lb) or a little less than 20 times the 14 tons payload mass, and can deliver the payload to 100 km (330 kft) altitude at an apogee speed with respect to the surface of the Earth of 3.6 km/s (12 kft/s) or approximately Mach 12. If we assume an eastward equatorial launch at the equator, the speed of the airplane with respect to inertial space is 4.1 km/s -- halfway to space.

The airplane is met as it approaches apogee by the lower end of an orbiting spinning space tether facility consisting of a massive tether control station, a heavy 600-km-long tapered tether, and a homing grapple assembly at the tether tip. The total mass of the tether is a little more than 90 times the payload mass or about 1260 tons. To keep the grapple tip (and payload) out of the atmosphere, the tether control station must mass 110 times the payload mass. Thus, the total mass of the space tether facility will be a little more than 200 times the payload mass or about 2800 tons.

Depending upon the needs of the payload, the tether adjusts its orbit eccentricity and energy, and its rotation rate, by using electrodynamic tether propulsion and tether length pumping, which require solar energy, but no propellant, then releases the payload into the desired final orbit or transfer trajectory. After each payload pickup and toss, the tether facility restores its original orbital and rotation state over a number of days until it is ready to pick up another payload. Alternatively, incoming payloads can supply the energy and angular momentum given to outgoing payloads. The total cycle time between payload pickups depends upon the final payload trajectory desired and the power available from the solar panel array on the tether control station.
After the pickup of the payload at perigee, the apogee altitude of the tether facility CM will drop. The amount of altitude drop depends upon the mass of the tether facility. If the tether rotation rate is controlled so that the tether is pointing away from the nadir at the apogee point, then a considerable drop in altitude can be tolerated. To be conservative, we have assumed a worst case situation where after payload catch, control is lost over the tether rotation rate, so that it can be pointing straight down at apogee.
...
A tether launch system (TLS) on the lunar surface is designed; that can launch 10 tonne payloads of lunar produced oxygen (LLOX) into low lunar orbit or lunar escape using existing materials and technologies. The TLS has several advantages over the quenchgun or ram accelerator. It is much lighter with a weight of only ten times the payload . It has no power storage needs. It has a small surface footprint and the ability to launch into any inclination. And, finally, it can be used as an auxiliary power storage device during long lunar nights. Using LLOX in conjunction with the tether launcher reduces Earth-launched propellant needs by seven times for piloted lunar missions and nearly six times for piloted Mars missions. Design parametrics and four point designs are presented spanning different release speeds, payload weights, and cord strengths.

Calculations shows it is possible to create a lunar tether which tip graze the surface, that can send 10 tons to low lunar orbit. The launch speed needed for a 0 km by 100 km minimal orbit is 1703 m/s and for minimal escape it is 2375 m/s. The tether would be 7 km long and weight 102 tons; or 331 tons for lunar escape. The later case would have a payload-to-tether weight ratio of 33.
CONCLUSION -A 150 to 330 tons tether throwing a 10 tons payload over a delta-v of less than 2 km/s would be good enough for both the Moon (surface) and Earth (suborbital, helping SSTOs). Interestingly enough, the payload-to-tether weight ratios are very similar: 33 and 30, respectively. The former corresponds to a 10 tons LUNOX tank thrown to lunar escape velocity of 2.375 km/s; the latter, to a 14 tons payload, 1.2 km/s in suborbital flight.

It would be very desirable to aerobrake the ten tons LUNOX tank into a 420 km high orbit matching that of the Earth orbit tether. The end result would be a complete LUNOX transportation system: from Moon surface to low Earth orbit - and suborbital. Next step would to connect that LUNOX-HASTOL combination with a third innovative concept: PROFAC. Since the HASTOL tether can reach suborbital, it could easily reach PROFAC: orbital, but at very low altitudes.
...
In PROFAC's original envisioning, an 11-ton vehicle would collect approximately 400 kg of air each day from a 10 m2 collector at an orbital altitude of 100 km: 25 kg per obit; 55 pounds. The air would then be split between oxygen, to be stored as a liquid; and nitrogen. To counteract drag, Demetriades proposed a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) thruster powered via a nuclear reactor with a total electrical output of 6 MW; and using the nitrogen as propellant for a specific impulse of 1600 seconds. Nowadays Hall effect thrusters could do the same job.
Several systems were studied, e. g. PROFAC-S for Surface, PROFAC-C for Orbital. Also PROFAC-A for combination with aerospaceplane making one reusable stage to orbit possible. Somewhat remarquably Linde and Marquardt had suggest an Aerospaceplane splitting air, too: with oxygen turned into LOX for the rocket, leaving unused nitrogen. Convair’s Space Plane proposed to use the separated nitrogen as a propellant: heating it in the LACE precooler and allowing it to expand through a nozzle to produce thrust.
Lockheed’s Aerospace Plane turned this nitrogen into an important system element, with specialized nitrogen rockets delivering 125,000 pounds of thrust. This certainly did not overcome the drag produced by air collection, which would have turned the vehicle into a perpetual motion machine. However, the nitrogen rockets made a valuable contribution.
Hence - at some point circa 1962 Aerospaceplane and PROFAC almost worked hand-in-hand, which is quite remarquable.
...
The liquid nitrogen is used for propulsion while the collected oxygen is stored for subsequent delivery to other spacecraft. The exhaust velocity that is required must be larger than the satellite velocity in the specific impulse range from 1000 to 1800 seconds.
There are varied air scooping vehicle shapes for operation at different altitudes.
(a) scooping altitude 250.000 ft to 280,000 ft (76 to 85 km)
(b) scooping altitude 320,000 ft to 360,000 ft. (97 to 109 km)
(c) scooping altitude greater than 550,000 ft (167 km)
The first two are axisymmetric designs; the last is a vehicle with a rectangular cross section. Its operating altitude is above 550,000 ft in the free molecule flow region where conventional compression is not practical. The shape is dictated by a long curtain-like sheet which is trailing behind the vehicle. This sheet is covered with a direct converter of solar energy, like solar batteries, which face the Sun and produce the required electrical power. The reactor system is deleted and a system for surface collection of atmospheric gases replaces the conventional scheme for cooling and compressing the captured air.
The use of a nuclear reactor as energy source permits the design of a relatively compact vehicle. The vehicle contour is determined by the requirement that the drag be minimized. At an altitude of approximately 250,000 ft, the viscous drag is relatively small and a substantially cylindrical shape can be chosen. The vehicle radius will be determined solely by the minimum space require-ments of the internal structure. One example is a vehicle which operates in an elliptical orbit with a perigee and apogee altitude of 250,000 ft and 100 nautical miles, respectively, and which scoops 20 lb of air per orbit revolution (rather than PROFAC 55 Ib). In case of operation in circular orbits one has to operate at altitudes above 320,000 ft because of size requirements of the internal components.
...
It might be fascinating to have a tether picking a LOX tank on a PROFAC station, low altitude; and handling it to a suborbital rocketplane passing by.
The same tether could also pickup identical - but LUNOX - 10 tons tanks stockpiled at the tether facility: 420 km high; and lower them to the same rocketplane passing by, suborbital.
Bottom line: SSTOs could be given two different "leg up": a velocity one (suborbital, by 1.2 km/s) and an altitude one (PROFAC 250 000 ft: 76 km minimum, 167 km maximum). This would complement classic suborbital LOX tanking and link together: PROFAC, HASTOL and LUNOX: suborbital to LEO to lunar surface; spanning a delta-v of 1.2 + 3.15 + 2.38 : 6.73 km/s.
A business case would have, first, 350 tons tethers (2 km/s average delta-v, payload-to-tether-mass-30), being emplaced around the Earth and around the Moon.
At one end, this system would pickup 10 tons LUNOX tanks from the surface; throwing them to lunar escape velocity and from there, to aerobraking into the Earth tether 420 km orbit.
And that's the other end: a tether that can reach suborbital rocketplanes, short of orbit by 1.2 km/s; at altitudes as low as 76 km. And pass them LUNOX 10 tons tanks. But that tether could also pick 10 tons PROFAC oxygen tanks: harvested from Earth atmosphere.
...
At the end of the day, the tether could feed ascending, suborbital rocketplanes with a steady stream of 10 tons LOX tanks: indifferently of LUNOX or PROFAC origins: lunar crust or Earth atmosphere's oxygen.
...
"See ? I told you so. Chemical propulsion - specific impulse or propellant mass fraction - essentially collapses at 7000 m/s when we need 9000 m/s to ascent to orbit. Now take that in reverse: starting from 9000 m/s, the last 20% are the hardest: that is, 1800 m/s; which bring us to 7200 m/s. Okay ? this is paramount: those last 20% are killing us.
...
"An interesting case could be make that Earth is 20% too big for single-stage chemical rockets, reusable. Venus and Mars readily agree. Put otherwise: the rocket equation is an exponential bitch, but it truly gets from bad to worse across those final 20%: above 7000 m/s. The only good news is that, if you find some kind of leg-up to hit the rocket equation right there, inside those 20%: you get massive payload benefits. Provided you trick turns the exponential from a calamity to a bonanza, you can win big.
Alas, suborbital manoeuvering is no picnic: because, not only the rocket equation is a bitch, but also ballistics and gravity losses. Still, that medium size tether cutting 1.2 km/s from 9.2 km/s shows the kind of massive bonus that are possible: 150% to 300 % more payload ! Takes Skylon 17 mt: a 300% boost would be 51 mt ! This is proof that suborbital tricks are the only way to solve the SSTO (and practical RLV) conundrum. Not airbreathing, not scramjet: their savings are at the wrong end of ascent-to-orbit: the beginning, from zero to 2 km/s for RBCC / TBCC or 3 km/s for scramjet. Compare that with carving 1.2 km/s from the end of the trip: 9.2 km/s. Boom, 300% more payload. Then imagine if we carved 3.6 km/s... three times more. But tethers would grow obese, even for modest payloads. And this leaves suborbital refueling: carefully balancing gravity losses with centrifugal force, a trick that really starts paying above 5 km/s.
 
The easy way to get mass for those counterweights is to use water. The counterweight goes up as an empty tank or tanks, then gets filled later. Go ahead and plug the water tanks into that station's fresh water system, you have a recycling system like the Shuttle, right? Or maybe a more biological one using algae that happens to make oxygen as well?
 
Vandenberg AFB

The 4596th squadron was created at Vandenberg AFB in 1967. It took over the B-52Es of the 34th Bombardment Squadron, 17th Bombardment Wing, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio.

Meanwhile 83 Titan Is stored at Mira Loma AFS were send back to Martin Marietta and Aerojet for refurbishment and modifications; before delivery and storage at Vandenberg, in the former Titan I area: pads and silos 395-A1, 395-A2 and 395-A3.

The B-52Es got the missiles second stages, to be launched from their wing pylons. Later XB-70s number 2 and 3 joined the squadron and got the Titan first stages, to be dropped from their bellies at Mach 3: the Space Truck.

By 1972 decision had been taken to procure a few more Valkyries: strictly as space launchers; to fill the gap left by the Shuttle cancellation. As a result a separate squadron was created in 1975: the 4597th. The two units were used as cover for the SpaceCab program: in a unit called 4597th, Flight B.

The squadrons evidently tapped into the extensive Titan infrastructure and manpower pool at Vandenberg. They also connected with the MOL and its Gemini-B capsules: to be launched from SLC-6. Even after the MOL cancellation, interest in Gemini-B remained high; as it was light enough to be orbited by the B-52Es, as the Space Taxi. In 1973 the MOL was reborn in the shape of Big Gemini, and the Space Taxi was considered as a rescue vehicle: 4596th squadron, Flight B was created for that mission in 1973.

Meanwhile at Beale AFB the 456th B-52Gs were quite busy. They got, first, Air Launching Agena. Then they got D-21B hypersonic stealth cruise missiles to replace their Hound Dogs.
 
Archibald said:
Meanwhile at Beale AFB the 456th B-52Gs were quite busy. They got, first, Air Launching Agena. Then they got D-21B hypersonic stealth cruise missiles to replace their Hound Dogs.
Click to expand...
I'm still surprised that wasn't actually done...

Hard to detect, ludicrous speed, and just have them drop into a terminal dive from 90,000ft onto their targets.
 
Guess what ? They thought about it ! Circa 1971, and after wasting many million dollars into failed flights, two vehicles gifted, one to USSR, the other to PRC... and then Nixon went to China.

www.thedrive.com

Air Force Wanted To Turn Skunk Works' Mach 3 Capable Recon Drone Into A Nuclear Bomber

The concept would have given the service a penetrating high-speed strike asset, something it is still interested in to this day.
www.thedrive.com www.thedrive.com

ITTL they will think about it except a decade earlier (or close): 1962-63, at the D-21 origins.

Long story short : ITTL the D-21 is strangled in infancy by another spy vehicle: an air launch Agena spysat, in 1963.

Lockheed Palmdale : Skunk Works. D-21 drone. They are soundly beaten by Lockheed Sunnyvale, space division: my hero creates there the Skink Works. Same as the Skunk, except for space: Agenas, rocketplanes... (boy I have so much fun writting this story !)

Ben Rich and Johnson however can't give up D-21 like that, and a few years later it is reborn as as hypersonic stealth vehicle. With a major difference: RJ43 ramjet is gone, replaced by a J85 MIPCC (I discovered since then, Northrop and G.E almost did it in 1959 to get the F-5A to Mach 2 !) A MIPCC J85 fits a D-21 airframe like a glove, and then no need for a SR-71 or a solid-fuel booster to hit Mach 4 from a B-52 wing pylon (I love MIPCC, such a smart trick to get stock turbofans to Mach 4.5).

Meanwile McNamara screws AMSA even more than OTL, so Laird & Nixon can't bring it back in 1969.

Instead B-52s get D-21 missiles (just like OTL, in 1977, Carter nixed the B-1A for Tomahawks... launched from good old BUFFs).

So yeah, B-1A & B-1B don't exists ITTL. After all, by 2023 B-52Hs with new engines prepares to watch used and broken B-1Bs retirement.

So why bother with AMSA in the first place, circa 1969 ? B-52 will outlive and bury it LMAO.
 
Archibald said:
Guess what ? They thought about it ! Circa 1971, and after wasting many million dollars into failed flights, two vehicles gifted, one to USSR, the other to PRC... and then Nixon went to China.

www.thedrive.com

Air Force Wanted To Turn Skunk Works' Mach 3 Capable Recon Drone Into A Nuclear Bomber

The concept would have given the service a penetrating high-speed strike asset, something it is still interested in to this day.
www.thedrive.com www.thedrive.com

ITTL they will think about it except a decade earlier (or close): 1962-63, at the D-21 origins.

Long story short : ITTL the D-21 is strangled in infancy by another spy vehicle: an air launch Agena spysat, in 1963.

Lockheed Palmdale : Skunk Works. D-21 drone. They are soundly beaten by Lockheed Sunnyvale, space division: my hero creates there the Skink Works. Same as the Skunk, except for space: Agenas, rocketplanes... (boy I have so much fun writting this story !)

Ben Rich and Johnson however can't give up D-21 like that, and a few years later it is reborn as as hypersonic stealth vehicle. With a major difference: RJ43 ramjet is gone, replaced by a J85 MIPCC (I discovered since then, Northrop and G.E almost did it in 1959 to get the F-5A to Mach 2 !) A MIPCC J85 fits a D-21 airframe like a glove, and then no need for a SR-71 or a solid-fuel booster to hit Mach 4 from a B-52 wing pylon (I love MIPCC, such a smart trick to get stock turbofans to Mach 4.5).
Click to expand...
Oh, very slick!


Archibald said:
Meanwile McNamara screws AMSA even more than OTL, so Laird & Nixon can't bring it back in 1969.

Instead B-52s get D-21 missiles (just like OTL, in 1977, Carter nixed the B-1A for Tomahawks... launched from good old BUFFs).

So yeah, B-1A & B-1B don't exists ITTL. After all, by 2023 B-52Hs with new engines prepares to watch used and broken B-1Bs retirement.

So why bother with AMSA in the first place, circa 1969 ? B-52 will outlive and bury it LMAO.
Click to expand...
Still need something that can get down in the weeds and zoom along, and BUFFs aren't that plane. Maybe the enlarged FB-111H?
 
Or more B-58s in 1962... B-58B, with a few improvements. I have found the number somewhere on Google books: Congressional Hearings, February 1961.
OTL B-58 production stopped at 116 and B-52, 744 (including 102 B-52H). Well I have found the planned numbers for a few dozens more.

Low level is much less needed for bombers: standoff cruise missiles are the ones that fly low and punch the defenses.
 
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Archibald said:
Or more B-58s in 1962... B-58B, with a few improvements. I have found the number somewhere on Google books: Congressional Hearings, February 1961.
OTL B-58 production stopped at 116 and B-52, 744 (including 102 B-52H). Well I have found the planned numbers for a few dozens more.

Low level is much less needed for bombers: standoff cruise missiles are the ones that fly low and punch the defenses.
Click to expand...
Until look-down-shoot-down radars are put onto fighters, being down in the weeds protects the bombers from fighters after the radars and SAMs have been blasted by cruise missiles.
 
"It's like a boxing match between the B-52 and the B-70: BUFF vs Valk.
"B-52 punches first: drops a Minuteman-Agena, gets 5000 pound to orbit. Even with thrice the speed a B-70 doesn't add that much payload, and cost much more to fly; plus there are only three vehicles against hundreds of BUFFs. Crucially, a Minuteman weight maxes a B-52 wing pylon, or close; but for a B-70 with a belly fairing, Minuteman-Agena is peanuts. Could carry thrice as much.
"Then B-52 punches a second time, snatching a Titan I second stage out of storage and hanging it to its wing pylon: with or without an Agena, it gets massive payload boost: 11000 pounds to orbit.
"Making B-70 even less significant ? maybe. So B-52 is leading comfortably, and seems assured to win the match when, with no warning: Knock Out. As the B-70 skips both steps and go straight for the same Titan Is in storage... except it takes the first stage... way too heavy for a B-52 wing pylon this time: all 175 000 pounds of rocket. Add an Agena to this, end result: 22 000 pounds to orbit: 10 tons. Straight out of a runway."
 
...
The news drove the Soviets crazy.

The Soviets wanted their own Space Taxi.

The race was on.
...
OKB-1, near Moscow

"Last October the Antonov An-22 Antei has established a payload record: it lifted 100 tons 8000 m high. Which is pretty good news for air launch. If the American wants to play that game, then the Antonov An-22 is our best answer, with the correct booster in the cargo hold: on a pallet with parachutes. We takeoff, we open the rear cargo door, we drop the booster, fire, and go to orbit.

"What kind of booster ?"

"The N-1 stage 4: Block G, all 60 tons of it. Fits inside the Antonov payload enveloppe, but needs a second stage to make orbit. And there: Block D or Block R: both N-1 fifth stages, also soon on Proton and N-11. Former burns kerosene, latter, high energy hydrogen with Isayev RD-56 engine.

"And how much payload to orbit, for that contraption ?

"With Block D: 14 000 pounds. Plenty enough for a Zond, a weight-trimmed Soyuz, Chelomei TKS-VA, or a BOR lifting body. All of them fits inside the An-22 cargo hold, and through the rear door. Block R would lift 20 000 pounds. Those numbers are pretty interesting, if compared to the B-52 and B-70 air lauching systems. The Americans can't use Centaur for air launch, as its mass fraction is not very good and the balloon tanks are too frail. We have no such issue with Block R."

"So we could air launch a Soyuz ? that's pretty interesting."
...
 
Hawthorne, California

Shoemaker knew Gordon hold a big grudge against scramjets - and the bastard liked faning the flames. Today was no exception.

"So, how is the situtation on the scramjet front ?" he smirked, the SOB.
"As over-hyped as ever. With Ferri and Dupont, Marquardt-GASL and Garrett, locked in a knife fight to get that HRE contract. The Hypersonic Research Engine, they call it. Say what you want, but Skunk Works leadership - Ben Rich and Johnson - keeps hating scramjets: just like my little self. It is also significative that the best scramjet engineer in that country - Fred Billig - has not been consulted for HRE, or only as an afterthought. And you know what ?
"No idea."
"Because he is working on the Supersonic Combustion Ramjet Missile, for the Navy."
"And what's the problem with that ?"
"The problem ? Weldon Worth, Shriever, DuPont and Ferri all wants scramjet, but not for a Mach 7 missile. Nope. They want it for Aerospaceplane: air-breathing all the way to orbit: up to Mach 26 !
"Wait... is that even feasible ? Sounds pretty idiotic... last time I checked, at some point you have to go to the vacuum of space to make orbit. No ?
"I used to think the same, but Ferri and Dupont disagree. There is a little factoid however Ferri and Dupont will never mention too openly. What is the ascent delta-v to orbit ? " Owen asked bluntly. Shoemaker was startled by the non sequitur, but he knew his numbers.
"30 000 ft per second; a bit more than 9 km/s. Why do you ask ?
"Because - you are wrong. For scramjets at least.
"Ah, so they have lesser delta-v requirement ? because they airbreath ?
"Hell, no. All wrong. Once they airbreath beyond Mach 8 - to Mach 12, Mach 18 or orbit - drag becomes crazy.
"Drag ?
"Yes. Drag losses. Remember, you want to airbreath but the mach numbers are going crazy, and so do the thermal heating and buffeting... and the drag losses numbers. If you thought 1200 m/s of gravity losses was a nuisance, wait for what's comes next.
"Sweet geez. So, trying to chase "free" oxygen, the silly thing add itself more ascent delta-v ? it digs its own grave; by how much ?
"Take a deep breath. Airbreathing to Mach 8 has the drag losses pushing ascent delta-v to 35 000 ft/s. At Mach 12, it is 38 000 ft/s. Mach 18 gets close from 50 000 ft/s. And if you want to airbreath your way all the way to orbit, then ascent delta-v doubles: to 60 000 ft/s !
"You... you're just shittin' me. That's more delta-v than a roundtrip to the fucking Moon surface and back !
"Surely it is. But go tell that to Ferri and Dupont.
"And what does Billig thinks about all this ?
"He is aghast. He still think scramjet only make sense for Mach 5 to Mach 10 missiles, and the Navy think the same. Hence that program: the Supersonic Combustion Ramjet Missile. Mercifully neither Ferri nor Dupont have influence on that one, and thus it carries on quietly. To be fully honest, even Ferri has become a collateral victim of HRE: as frustrated as Billig, by Dupont and Garrett victorious HRE bid and design. The whole affair is a train wreck, but if you ask NASA, all is fine. They will soon get a functional HRE flying in a pod, attached to a shortened X-15 fin: to Mach 6 and beyond.
"I can see you have no enthusiasm for HRE. Still, if they really fly it on a X-15, it will be quite an achievement.
"No it won't. Because the HRE clung to the X-15 is mostly boilerplate. Another detail Dupont and NASA won't acknowledge. You wanna know the unconvenient truth ?
"Tell me."
"They never openly acknowledged the downgrading of the HRE concept from the advanced prototype referred to in the original proposal to the present aerothermodynamic boilerplate.It's because they realized early that the limited funding they have requested can not possibly pay for a prototype engine; unfortunately, they continue to this day to portray the engine as a prototype throughout the project."
"That's harsh !" Shoemaker was baffled.
"Yeah, but that's the reality. The damn HRE is a train wreck. I'd rather bet on Billig work for the Navy: keep scramjet for missiles."
 
Archibald said:
(...)
"Hell, no. All wrong. Once they airbreath beyond Mach 8 - to Mach 12, Mach 18 or orbit - drag becomes crazy.
"Drag ?
"Yes. Drag losses. Remember, you want to airbreath but the mach numbers are going crazy, and so do the thermal heating and buffeting... and the drag losses numbers. If you thought 1200 m/s of gravity losses was a nuisance, wait for what's comes next.
"Sweet geez. So, trying to chase "free" oxygen, the silly thing add itself more ascent delta-v ? it digs its own grave; by how much ?
"Take a deep breath. Airbreathing to Mach 8 has the drag losses pushing ascent delta-v to 35 000 ft/s. At Mach 12, it is 38 000 ft/s. Mach 18 gets close from 50 000 ft/s. And if you want to airbreath your way all the way to orbit, then ascent delta-v doubles: to 60 000 ft/s !
Click to expand...
Is that for real, or just your setting?
 
For real, I swear. Ramon L. Chase : wrote a whole bunch of papers between 1990 and 2008 (see attached).

He mentions those daunting numbers. It was a major surprise to me, and also an eye-opener. I've checked other sources, and they confirmed. It is just crazy.
 

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Those days I'm reading papers related to HRE (the poded X-15 scramjet) and Copper Canyon / X-30 / Orient Express. Tony Dupont and Antonio Ferri, and their passion for scramjets.
Richard Hallion, Tom Heppenheimer and Dennis Jenkins wrote about scramjets - and were very critical. There was an enormous hype, first around 1965 (the HRE) and then around 1985 (X-30). In both case Tony Dupont was involved, and in both cases, scramjet claims were grossly inflated, in a very dishonest way.

In 1965 it was NASA which was fooled, with the HRE hype. They were not critical enough.
In 1985 it was DARPA which was fooled, with the Copper Canyon hype. Same story, they drank the cool aid.

The same Dupont as in DP-2, in passing.


The more I read into it, the more I think scramjet for spaceplanes was a huge fraud.
This man on the contrary, had been prescient.

Frederick S. Billig - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

In 1965 he was saying, guess what ? "scramjets are only good for missiles, around Mach 8" Sounds familiar ? exactly what happens today.
Scramjet missiles are a go, but scramjet RLV have remained buried since... X-30 demise, 30 years ago to the day.

Billing was working on the Supersonic Combustion Ramjet Missile (SCRAM) (see attached)

Jenkins and Hallion note that in 1965, Billig was mostly ignored by Dupont and Ferri, when bidding for the HRE. Because he was working on a Mach 8 missile: not a scramjet RLV to Mach 26.
 

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Time for a bit of alt- pop culture ! (salvaged from AH.com, "Accross the high frontier" a very obsolete variant of this TL)

Fireghost, the absolute weapon.
Clint Eastwood, 1986.

The success of Honkytonk man in 1982 was a landmark for Clint Eastwood.
By 1986 Eastwood scrapped a tentative project with the name of Heartbreak Ridge and instead adapted Craig Thomas novel Fireghost - the absolute weapon. It was a sequel to the 1977 smashing hit Firefox, a novel Eastwood had enjoyed and wanted to turn into a movie, but couldn't. Eastwood later told reporters that in 1982 he had been forced to chose between Honkytonk and Firefox, and had prefered the former as a personal project. The move was probably a wise one considering the dismal failure of Fireghost five years later. Honkytonk man, by contrast, was critically acclaimed.

The early plot was largely changed after the landmark Reykjavik summit. "We had to change the villains" Eastwood said "since we felt Cold War was ending, with Islamist terrorism the new, major threat. Plus we thought it might be fun to get (Iranian) Tomcats as the story villains, in these days of Top Gun. Finally, we liked the idea of the F-4 Phantom, an aircraft that suffered so much losses over Vietnam, to be able to out-run all those shiny new fighters – Tomcats, Eagles, and Mig-25s. It is a kind of metaphor for Gant himself, who equally suffered in Vietnam and is now returning."

...

During the Vietnam war US Air Force pilot Mitchell Gant is flying a RF-4C Phantom near Hanoi when he is shot down. He is nearly captured by Viet Cong, an ordeal exacerbated
when the enemy guerrillas are wiped out almost immediately by napalm from an American air strike, killing many children and women in the process.

Some years later in 1979 Gant experience with the RF-4C has the CIA contacts him. They have created a Super Phantom able to fly above Mach 3 through the use of a revolutionary
propulsion system. Also onboard is an advanced camera system with very impressive resolution. A handful of aircrafts have been used to spy the Soviet Union, entering USSR
airspace through the Iranian border – with agreement from Iran and , more surprisingly, help from Israel.

Alas, the Iranian revolution has broke out and the Islamists have sized two Super Phantoms. The revolution also took Israel by surprise: it is revealed that country had loaned
a couple of nuclear weapons to Iran before the Shah was swept away. Israel wanted to scare Saddam Iraq, but the plan backfired.

Iranian islamist leadership is show examining varied terror attack scenarios. They discuss painting the RF-4X in American or Israel markings to drop a nuke on the Soviets,
a move that may start World War Three. Also considered is the RF-4X air dropping a nuke on Saudia Arabia oil terminals, threatening a worlwide oil shock. Another frightening
option has the Iranian dropping a nuke on Tel Aviv or Jerusalem.

With the help of a network of Jewish dissidents and sympathizers, Gant reaches the Iranian air base where the two prototype aircraft are being stored. Israeli scientists
are hold as hostages and forced to work on the project - they help Gant penetrate the base, then start a fire to destroy the second prototype and nuclear weapons, and
also to distract security troops while Gant steals one of the planes. The nuclear weapons do not explodes but are consumed by fire, poisoning the entire area around the
Iranian air base. Gant barely escape in time but now faces major hardships. His escape threatens to start an enormous, vicious air battle across the entire Middle East –
and beyond.

To Gant shock, the Iranian air force is able to send some Tomcats in chase. Everybody was assuming Iranian F-14s had been grounded per lack of spare parts, or at least
sabotaged in 1979. Gant starts the RF-4X revolutionary engine drive and successfully outrun the Tomcats and their lethal AIM-54 Phoenix. Undaunted, using aerial tankers
the Iranian send more Tomcats to set a trap near the Saudi border and the Gulf or Ormuz.

Meanwhile Israel is worried about their nuclear weapon blunder and willing to stop the menace. Hence they place their Air Force on alert, a move which triggers panick
across the Middle East, including Iraq, currently at war with Iran. Iraq send its own MiG-25s and also Mirage F-1s over Iran, resulting in a major air battle with severe
losses on both sides.

Saudia Arabia is fearing an Iranian strike on its oil facilities. Soon Israel, in a secret move with Saudia Arabia, send F-15s in chase of Gant.

Meanwhile the Soviets, which were depply angered by border penetrations and willing to steal RF-4X revolutionary propulsion system, are sending two squadrons of MiG-25s
across Iran airspace to shoot Gant down.

Gant face no other choice than to fly above 80 000 ft and Mach 3. The RF-4X is quickly picked up by Iranian radars and, as Gant escape is at the extreme range of the aircraft,
the pilot had no option but to fly a virtually straight track. Throughout the mission, Gant is faced with the unnerving spectacle of a never-ending stream of fighters
attempting to bring down the RF-4X by firing a variety of machine-guns, cannons and missiles at the aircraft. To compound Gant problems, his heavy fuel load allows only
very limited evasive manoeuvring. Gant ends with virtually empty tanks and having kept the aircraft in continuous afterburner for over half an hour as he shot past some
extremely agitated Arabian peninsula– as the RF-4X is officially limited to just a few minutes of afterburner, this effectively threaten to destroy the entire aft fuselage.

As he gets near the Saudi border – entering the United Arab Emirates airspace - and is nearly out of fuel, a final, major air battle breaks out. It involves Saudi and
Israeli F-15s; Iranian Tomcats setting an ambush; Soviet and Iraqis MiG-25s and Mirage F-1s; and UAE Mirage 2000s.
The shooting allows Gant to narrowly escape thanks to a USN A-5 "Vigilante" tanker aircraft providing supersonic aerial refueling. Hornets and Phantoms provides air cover
as they escape, since US Navy Tomcats might be mistaken for Iranian aircrafts.

Gant finally land its RF-4X on an aircraft carrier cruising in the Persian Gulf, but the aircraft is ruined.

(note 1: the RA-5C Vigilante was never a tanker, that was the older A-3 Skywarrior. But the movie prefered the Vigilante as it flew higher and faster, to rescue Gant).

(note 2: UAE Mirages as shown were actually Kfir – more exactly, F-21A agressor aircrafts.)

---

Space ranger

In 1999 Clint Eastwood renewed its cooperation with Craig Thomas. Winter Hawk was the third book in the Firefox series. The movie is a straight adaptation of the novel
without much change to the plotline. The plot is no longer related to aircrafts, but to the space program.

en.wikipedia.org

Winter Hawk - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org

The events of Winter Hawk transpire over a few days in which the Soviet Union will launch into orbit the first in a series of laser battle stations, the existence of which
they have kept a closely guarded secret.

The launch is meant to coincide with the signing of a new and apparently groundbreaking treaty dramatically reducing nuclear weapons to be kept by both sides, but excluding
space based weapons such as the one the Soviets will be launching, mostly because none are known to exist. The Americans know of the weapon because a Soviet technician named
Philip Kedrov has been supplying them information, operating under the code-name “Cactus Plant”.

The Soviet space weapon places the Americans in a painful dilemma: they can neither sign a treaty that will dramatically cede the balance of power to the Soviet Union, nor
can they back out of the treaty lacking proof of the Soviet weapon.

The only alternative is a deep cover extraction mission of Kedrov and his evidence from the Soviet’s space launch complex, the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The mission,
involving two stolen Soviet Mil Mi-24 helicopters to be flown by CIA pilots — one of whom is CIA pilot Mitchell Gant — is codenamed “Winter Hawk”.

The story, which then shifts to Baikonur, reveals competing agendas within the Soviet camp. The Soviet civilian leadership has allowed development of the laser weapon, whose
launch is codenamed “Linchpin”, to placate a military antagonized by military spending cuts. The laser weapon is to be docked to the civilian space station MKBS-1.

Unbeknownst to Soviet leaders, the Soviet military has its own plans for the weapon, including a live fire test, codenamed “Lightning”, against the American Space Station
Liberty. The novel suggests “Lightning” as a prelude to an army-backed coup to seize control over the Soviet Union, even as the laser weapon will make the Soviet Union the
world’s leading super power.

KGB Colonel Dmitri Priabin, introduced as a minor character in Firefox, elevated to a more central role in Firefox Down and now the ranking KGB officer in Baikonur, nurses
a painful grudge against Mitchell Gant due to the tragic events of Fireghost (his career was ruined by the giant air battles over the middle east, plus many of his friends
wereshot down and killed flying MiG-25s).

Like the reader, Priabin quickly learns of the existence of “Lightning” but not the details. The military has kept its plans secret by arranging fatal “accidents” for any
civilians they suspect have learned of “Lightning”. He has also learned of Kedrov's treachery, and keeps him under surveillance.

Priabin investigates the murders as a pretext to learn details of “Lightning” itself, which he correctly concludes is an illegal military mission. He also surveils Kedrov,
suspecting that the Americans will try extracting him before the launch of the laser weapon, although he has no way of knowing that the mission will be flown by Mitchell
Gant.

Gant’s mission proves ill-fated from the start. The C-5 cargo plane carrying the helicopters and their crew to their staging point, suffers a fuel-system malfunction
requiring the jettisoning of the helicopters on a remote beach — nearly destroying both of them. The helicopters are made flight-ready and the mission commences, only
for one of the helicopters to be shot down over Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. Gant narrowly avoids destruction over Afghanistan only to be captured once he reaches
Baikonur and tries to extract Kedrov, falling into the hands of KGB officers who had been surveilling the turncoat engineer.

Barely keeping himself from killing Gant, Priabin instead takes him into custody, then continues his investigation into “Lightning”. Priabin soon learns the truth, but he
is unable to warn Moscow because an Army-imposed, pre-launch security lockdown has cut Baikonur off from the rest of the world. Realizing that the army will soon eliminate him as it has other obstacles, Priabin is forced to save Gant in order for the American to fly them both out of Baikonur along with evidence of “Lightning”. Using the KGB’s Mil Mi-2 helicopter, the two of them manage to get evidence of the laser weapon, but not before their helicopter is severely damaged by fire from a group of the army’s Mil Mi-24 helicopters. Gant barely escapes the Army patrols before he crash lands outside of Baikonur.

With evidence of the weapon, Gant escapes on foot. Priabin, weighing his hatred for Gant against the implications for "Lightning", chooses to be captured by the army.
Gant steals an Antonov An-2 biplane used for crop dusting at a nearby collective farm. He narrowly escapes army helicopters sent to capture him, but not before the Soviets have successfully launched their N-11 carrying the laser weapon.

General Rodin, the army’s ranking officer, decides against immediately killing Priabin. It was Rodin’s son who revealed to Priabin the details of “Lightning” before being
killed by subordinate officers acting against the general’s orders. Led to believe that the KGB drove his son to suicide, but suspecting his other officers nonetheless,
Rodin keeps Priabin in his own custody, even as he orders a massive hunt for Gant. Emotionally unhinged by his son’s death, and his wife’s suicide immediately following
it, Rodin is unable to keep Priabin from escaping before the laser weapon has been successfully placed in orbit.

With the help of Kedrov, Priabin finds the covert tracking station the army will use to control the laser satellite, and sabotages its orbital uplink.

With his plane shot down by Soviet fighters near the Turkish border, Gant is forced to make the journey on foot while being chased by Soviet troops. Having sent his special
code over the air before bailing out, Gant’s presence is now known to the Americans as well, who send their own helicopters across the border to save him.

The novel closes with the signing of the new arms reduction treaty, which the Soviets have graciously amended to include space-based weapons. In space, the two space
stations – Liberty and MKBS-1 – are brought close from each other for mutual support in case of emergency.

...




Space station Zvezda is a techno-thriller written by Harry G. Stine under the nom de plume Lee Correy and published in 1985. The title is a reference to both novel and movie
Ice Station Zebra of the 60's.

---

Ilya Patchikov and Ivan Popov could have been the first Soviet citizens to the Moon in August 1974. They have trained very hard – for weeks they worked eighteen hours a day.
But at the last moment and to their great dismay the Politburo decided the mission will be entirely automated; and by a fitting irony for the first time the Soviet Moon
machines perfectly worked, including the very troublesome N-1 rocket. And then the Soviet lunar program is cancelled as too late and too backwards when compared to Apollo.

From 1973 onwards the two frustrated cosmonauts get involved with the Apollo – Soyuz test program, visiting the United States and befriending American astronauts Pruett and
Johnson. They learn about the Apollo – Soyuz radio link; they visit mockups of the future American space station. Within two years after the Apollo–Soyuz linking Popov and
Patchikov hear of Sablin and Belenko defections, both due to the Brezhnev era stagnation and corruption, and are troubled by it. Growing more and more disillusioned by the
late Brezhnev era ramping corruption Popov and Patchikov patiently elaborate a plot. At some point in the early 80's they learn that Pruett and Johnson are to man Liberty,
so they decide to go into action.

They are send to space station Zvezda, an advanced orbital facility with artificial gravity provided by spinning around Salyut-like modules. After some days they pretext
a health emergency, and an hurried undocking followed by a direct reentry. They then told ground controlled that the hurried undocking has consumed most of the Soyuz
propellant, leaving them stranded in orbit. For a period they also shut contact with the ground. Meanwhile they use their Soyuz meagre propellant supply to get close
from the American space station. But they can't dock – the rings are not compatible. And of course the American crew may refuse to accept them onboard.

The Soviet crew then elaborates an outrageous scheme to twist arm of the American crew.

The Soyuz first gets as close as possible from the Liberty airlock. Then the crew don their space suits before opening the Soyuz docking ring, depressurizing their spaceship.
Popov crawls through the docking tunnel into space, and extends his arms outside the Soyuz, with the aim of gripping the American space station external airlock hatch with
his gloved hands. Patchikov has to carefully manoeuver the Soyuz in order not to crush his crewmate. The daring manoeuver ultimately succeeds. Standing halfway through
the Soyuz docking ring Popov then secures his position with a rope, while Patchikov uses him like an human ladder until he grasp, too, the Liberty airlock external hatch.
But the Soyuz is still very close from the two cosmonauts, and there is a real threat they might be crushed by a collision between their spaceship and Liberty. Popov and
Patchikov then try a radical approach: they forcefully and repeatedly kick the Soyuz with their feet so that it moves away from them, an exhausting ordeal that ultimately
works. The American crew watch the scene, startled, and report to the ground, expressedly asking to welcome the cosmonauts onboard.

With the Soviet suit providing only six hours of life-support, the Americans have to take a difficult decision very fast. Under orders from the U.S government NASA order
the Soviet cosmonauts to move back to their Soyuz and reenter Earth atmosphere. The space station crew will do his best to help the Soyuz desorbit, either with the robotic
arm or using one of their Agena space tug.

But the Soviet crew refuse to comply. Ultimately Pruett and Johnson desobey orders and get the Soviets onboard, creating a dangerous situation. Once aboard space station
Liberty Popov and Patchikov ask for political asylum in the United States.

The situation is made even more explosive considering the events happens late 1983, in an era of tension never seen since the Cuban crisis of 1962. Tension peaks as all
sudden Houston warns the Liberty crew that the Soviet have launched an I.S satellite killer near the American space station; they threaten to cripple the American space
station. This prompt president Reagan to call Andropov on the red phone, with a heated exchange happening between the two men. Ultimately the Soviets desorbit the killer
satellite as a gesture of goodwill.

Another threat is the abandonned Soyuz that dangerously drift near Liberty; the American crew decides to to use the robotic arm to pick up the Soviet spaceship and keep
it at a safe distance from Liberty. A major issue is that the Soyuz lacks a grapple fixture compatible with the arm end. Instead the Liberty crew tries to clamp the arm
end on a Soyuz antenna but the manoeuver goes awfully wrong. The antenna bends and breaks, sending the Soyuz tumbling into a wild spin, hitting and breaking the robotic
arm. The Soyuz then strike Liberty, causing a small fire and damaging a solar array. Ultimately the Liberty crew decide to fire an Agena space tug to move the space station
away from the battered Soyuz, and the manoeuver successfully clear the american space station from any danger.

Meanwhile Andropov is bargaining with Reagan. He will let the crew goes to the United States if Reagan roll back his Strategic Defense Initiative. Reagan, striken by Soviet
panick vis a vis the Able Archer excercice and “The day after” gloomy movie decides to make concessions, perhaps through a meeting with Andropov.

In the end Reagan asks Congress to enact a bill granting asylum to the Soviet crew. A trust fund will be set up for them, granting them a very comfortable living. The
meeting between Reagan and a terminally ill Andropov never happens, but it paves the way to Gorbatchev perestroika and the end of Cold War – earlier than in our universe,
in 1987.

---
 
ORAL HISTORY TRANSCRIPT - Andy K. Hepler - the Boeing company

"Oh sure, we had a plan to bring back DynaSoar. Plans, actually: two plans. We first rescued it at the last minute: late 1963. Somewhat ironically: by returning to suborbital flights, abandonned in 1961. As luck would have it, late 1963 suborbital rocketplanes had returned in favor: Convair had ISINGLASS and McDonnell: RHEINBERRY. So Boeing jumped into the bidding war, with some good arguments that carried the day.
This ensured DynaSoar short-term survival, even on a shoestring budget and flight program: pretty similar to the X-15s and lifting bodies, passengers of the same B-52 repurposed bomber. All right.
As for long-term: we got one heck of an idea. The kind that makes you say "why don't we thought about it before ?"
It dawned on us that a DynaSoar could very much pick up a GAMBIT or CORONA film bucket, bolt it to its rear bulkhead, and glide to a landing at Andrews AFB... yes, the Air Force One emergency base for the President. Very close from America center of power and, almost importantly: close from the NRO Headquarters: Chantilly, Virginia is only a couple dozen miles away. Only a small ride in an helicopter... and the spooks would get their precious film.
Much faster than a C-130 to Hawaii to C-141 to Kodak, Rochester to NRO Headquarters.
We just needed a smaller, cheaper and more responsive Titan booster than the IIIM: ideally, a Titan IIIB with a more powerful third stage. Neither Agena nor Transtage could do the job of orbiting a DynaSoar glider: too heavy. But a third stage the right size with some high-energy propellant mix could do it: if barely."
 
This forum once told me that a B-52 Hound Dog wing pylon could support as much as 133 000 pounds, that is 60 metric tons. Well then, inside that weight envelope a big liquid propulsion stage could do all kind of interesting suborbital or orbital missions. Even with a low performance engine like the LR91...
 
Archibald said:
ORAL HISTORY TRANSCRIPT - Andy K. Hepler - the Boeing company

"Oh sure, we had a plan to bring back DynaSoar. Plans, actually: two plans. We first rescued it at the last minute: late 1963. Somewhat ironically: by returning to suborbital flights, abandonned in 1961. As luck would have it, late 1963 suborbital rocketplanes had returned in favor: Convair had ISINGLASS and McDonnell: RHEINBERRY. So Boeing jumped into the bidding war, with some good arguments that carried the day.
This ensured DynaSoar short-term survival, even on a shoestring budget and flight program: pretty similar to the X-15s and lifting bodies, passengers of the same B-52 repurposed bomber. All right.
As for long-term: we got one heck of an idea. The kind that makes you say "why don't we thought about it before ?"
It dawned on us that a DynaSoar could very much pick up a GAMBIT or CORONA film bucket, bolt it to its rear bulkhead, and glide to a landing at Andrews AFB... yes, the Air Force One emergency base for the President. Very close from America center of power and, almost importantly: close from the NRO Headquarters: Chantilly, Virginia is only a couple dozen miles away. Only a small ride in an helicopter... and the spooks would get their precious film.
Much faster than a C-130 to Hawaii to C-141 to Kodak, Rochester to NRO Headquarters.
We just needed a smaller, cheaper and more responsive Titan booster than the IIIM: ideally, a Titan IIIB with a more powerful third stage. Neither Agena nor Transtage could do the job of orbiting a DynaSoar glider: too heavy. But a third stage the right size with some high-energy propellant mix could do it: if barely."
Click to expand...
Link to original source?
 
Scott Kenny said:
Dynasoar grabbing Corona film cans in orbit seems like one of the ideal cases for the vehicle...
Click to expand...

TBH, I owe a debt to the author of that truly awesome alt-history (which I don't intend to plagiarize, obviously)
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...ms-a-timeline-of-a-scientific-america.418531/

As you can see he, too, got a DynaSoar visiting a CORONA spysat (with a very different point of divergence). But he forgot to pick a film bucket !
First I thought "Space Shuttle": needs a robotic arm, needs a payload bay, and DynaSoar had none of that. Then I got a different idea.

A picture is worth a lots of words, so - see below. The brownish fairing should not be there in orbit. Imagine the DynaSoar moving backward and latching its rear bulkhead onto the CORONA film bucket in the front (modified with a grapple fixture and latch) . After what using its RCS it pulls out the bucket: and it stay there, hanging to the rear bulkhead. DynaSoar had a very strong attachment point right there: for the powerful abort solid-fuel rocket motor called Thiokol XM-92. The gist of the idea is to use the XM-92 attachment points to lock the film bucket right there (just above the BOEING lettering if you prefer)

And if something goes wrong during reentry, it is just a matter of ejecting the bucket and let it make its own reentry, to be picked by C-130s near Hawaii, the usual way.

(and, as usual: thanks to @archipeppe for the stupendous CORONA artwork)

mkramp72-016_8.jpg
 
It is a very good reading. And it's not finished yet.

Improved drawing... the bucket should have been lower, but the DynaSoar fins refused to cooperate. :confused:

mkramp72-016_8.jpg
 
Malton, Ontario - 1957

"The Skylancer has a J57 engine very similar to the five first Arrows' J75s. This is an interesting connection we should use to our advantage. Either Orenda takes a licence from Pratt for both engines..." Owen suggested.

"... politically impossible, although it may cut Arrow development costs." Alan cut him.

"Good point. Well then, perhaps we could instead put an Iroquois inside the Skylancer. J57 is quite a big turbojet and a bit dated now, when Iroquois is compact enough to be rolled inside a F5D engine bay.

"If we do that, then the Skylancier and Arrow will share the APQ Westinghouse radar series; the Sparrow missile, either the II or the III; and engines. Together they will make a fine package: high-low mix, kinda.

"Excellent. Let's go a step further. You know I wonder whether they should share yet another advanced feature: the Arrow analog fly-by-wire flight control system. And this brings me to one conclusion. With the enormous power of an Iroquois plus tamed instability through the fly-by-wire system: I wonder whether a Skylancier could touchdown and takeoff from the navy Bonaventure aircraft carrier. Which sisterships have been dumped on many navies across the world."
 
...On the foreign navies front results have been mixed. Convair closely examinated the F-104G and F-5 foreign sales system - MAP - and proposed a similar mechanism for foreign navies: Canada, France, The Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, Australia, India. They also had an eye on the Navy Essex carriers, which were a touch too small to safely handle Phantoms. Crusaders filled the void for sure, but they had their own issues.
...
Then Convair got a very unexpected customer: NASA, because DynaSoar. It happened that a Skylancer was the closest thing from a DynaSoar trainer in existence: to rehearse the spaceplane aborts and landings. This is how Owen Gordon met, first Alan Shepard and later: Neil Armstrong.
...
By the 1960's the flight line at Edwards AFB had a definite Canadian touch: with a few Arrows and a growing number of Skylanciers.
Both with analog fly-by-wire controls.
Which make them useful testbeds for, first, DynaSoar; and later: to the SuperSonic Transport: both Boeing products. Of course Alan Gordon helped with the connection.

Soon another connection was made by Alan.

In 1962 the French Navy went looking for a supersonic fleet defense interceptor and tested the Phantom. But the Clemenceaus carriers were smaller than SBC-125A Essex which already had troubles handling F-4s. So the French dropped the Phantom for a couple of alternatives: Vought's Crusader... and Convair / Canadair / General Dynamics Skylancier. The latter carried the day, and Convair found itself in touch with Dassault: already manufacturing Etendards naval strike fighters... also passioned with delta-wing interceptors.

Dassault had almost immediately seen the benefits brought by fly-by-wire, even the limited first generation analog systems. Its state-owned rival Sud Aviation had the same reasoning... as they were developing a very similar system for Concorde. The French were thus aggressively eager to get either Dassault or Sud Aviation involved in a Skylancier deal with the French Navy's Aéronavale: even limited to 42 airframes. If Convair - the US government, actually - refused to cooperate, they would just cross the border and go to Canadair instead.
 
NRO Program C

CONFIDENTIAL

CRISIS RECONNAISSANCE OFF AIRCRAFT CARRIER DECKS

The HIGH TOWN Mk.1 vehicle and the Agena are first and foremost, just another ammunition onboard any aircraft carrier. In that regard, they are similar to Bullpup missiles in the sense that their hypergolic propulsion systems are sealed at the contractor factory: Boeing and Lockheed, respectively. Once mated the satellite and the Agena are encapsulated in a frangible contenair for additional safety and easier use. The contenair is then rolled into the Skywarrior bomb bay, the plane is placed on the carrier C-14 catapult, and the ship moves in the direction of the equator to benefit from Earth rotation.

The A-3 is catapulted and flies to Mach 0.9, 50 000 ft and 30 degree angle of attack: optimal air launch parameters. Because of the lack of a solid fuel booster the Agena has to burn to depletion. HIGH TOWN Mk.1, being a derivate of Lunar Orbiter, still has the 1100 m/s of delta-v it takes for injection into lunar orbit. This propellant is used for the final push into orbit and then for limited orbital manoeuvering.

The satellite near real time imaging system is then connected to a terminal on the carrier. The ship also features a photo-interpretation room with analysts. Such crisis reconnaissance capability makes possible to check positions of Soviet warships at sea and assess the threat level. Additional satellites can be launched for improved coverage. The imagery collected and interpreted can then be fed into the carrier Combat Information Center.

In that regard, HIGH TOWN Mk.1 could be a symmetrical answer to the Soviets own use of satellites to track down warships across the oceans.

It is rumored that the Soviets have began launching Radar Ocean Reconnaissance and Electronic intelligence Ocean Reconnaissance Satellites (RORSAT and EORSAT) into low earth orbit. RORSAT and EORSAT were primarily intended to expand the maritime areas covered by the Soviet Ocean Surveillance System (SOSS), a networked ‘system of systems’ that fused data from a wide variety of remote sensors to locate, identify, track, and target U.S. Navy forces at sea. In theory, Soviet standoff bombers might not have needed the support of pathfinder scouts if SOSS operators were able to provide a raid with high confidence, targeting-quality tactical pictures derived from RORSAT, EORSAT, and perhaps other remote sensor sources.

In the big scheme of the coming outer air battle, there is no doubt satellites will play a key role - on both sides.
 
NORMAN FRIEDMAN
U.S. aircraft carriers: an illustrated design history
...
Work on new CVS began in June 1959 on the basis of an air group of eight fighters (either Missileer or Phantom), twenty Tracker S2F-3s, sixteen HSS-2 helicopters, four AEW aircraft (W2F-1s, now designated E-2As Hawkeye), and two rescue helicopters (HU2K-1s).
The new carrier was to have the standard endurance of 12,000 nautical miles at 20 knots and a sustained speed of 30 knots, slightly below that of most fleet carriers but still sufficient to keep up with strike groups. Radars were, at first, to have included the big fixed arrays of SPS-32 and SPS-33 (as on the Enterprise), and a big SQS-26 bow sonar was specified to replace the SQS-23 on converted Essexes. The defensive missile was to have been the large Terrier.

A CVS designed on this basis was very expensive, with an estimated cost of $222 million. Omission of the advanced radar would save $18 million, and without Terrier the cost would fall again to $179 million. Ultimately a shorter endurance (8,000 nautical miles at 20 knots) and the omission of Phantom capability (C-11 rather than C-13 catapults) had to be accepted.

The primary determinant of carrier size is the flight deck, and that depends in turn on the aircraft the carrier would operate. High-performance types such as the new Phantom fighter required long (C-13) catapults, whereas all other aircraft, including the new E-2 AEW type, could make do with the much shorter C-11.

In 1960 it appeared that fleet air defense would soon be taken over by a 50,000-lb Missileer (F6D) fighter, in which aircraft performance was traded off against the performance of six very large long-range air-to-air missiles. The F6D was, in an avionics sense, a distant ancestor of the modern F-14. From a carrier point of view, its success would have been a prerequisite for the design of limited-size ASW carriers. Its failure mandated the use of the Phantom, which in turn required a larger flight deck (for landing runway) and larger, more powerful catapults. Alternatively, a positive choice might have been made for a CVS unable even in the support role to operate the highest-performance fleet air defense fighters. When the new CVS design studies were being made, the navy shifted back and forth between these two positions, the Missileer project having been cancelled late in 1960.

The 1959 study was attractive enough to encourage inclusion of a new CVS in tentative long-range plans; on 31 December 1960 the CNO requested feasibility studies of a CVS as an alternative to a new- construction attack carrier. By this time Missileer had been cancelled, and the impact of the Phantom on the overall design accepted. Indeed, the eight Missileers of the FY 60 study were replaced by twenty-four Phantoms. It might be argued that, whereas each Missileer could account for up to six targets per sortie, each Phantom could account for no more than two, so that the vast increase in fighter numbers corresponded to an attempt to maintain air-defense capability. Terrier was also reinstated, presumably again to balance a loss of fighter capability.

The result was, in effect, a minimum Phantom carrier, the impact of the fighter showing in the heavier catapult (one in the bows, one in the port sponson) and heavier elevators (the Phantom took off at 59,000 pounds and, with a tractor, the elevator load was 65,000 pounds). An unusual requirement called for eight Polaris missiles: at this time the Polaris special-project office was offering sketch designs of installations in virtually every class of surface warship, down to missile frigates (DLGs).

In the end the primary hope for a smaller and less expensive CVS was to abandon the requirement to operate Phantoms and accept instead the lower-performance aircraft, which in turn would be able to operate with the smaller C-11 catapult and with a shorter landing area.
...
With the failure of projects for new CVS construction, attention turned to Essex-class reconstruction.

For example, in May 1965 BuShips reported a study of the installation of two C-11 catapults and the strengthening of elevators in an SCB-125 to take a 56,500-lb load, at a cost of half a knot. About a year later cost estimates showed that $65 million and forty months would be required to bring a CVS 10-(SCB-125-) class carrier up to full CVA 19 standards, with lower costs for some of the steam catapult ships (such as $28 million and thirty months for the Intrepid, $30 million and thirty months for the Lexington). Almost the same conversion had been rejected in the early fifties at the outset of the SCB-27C program, as the SCB-27As had been dropped from the attack-carrier force.

By December 1966 there was a special OPNAV/NAVMAT study group seeking means of keeping the elderly carriers in service through the 1980s. The existing cycle (five-month overhauls every thirty-five months) would keep them operating almost indefinitely, but it allowed no time for modernization, which was becoming increasingly urgent. For example, the ASW command and control system tested in the Wasp would soon be essential, and when the S-3A entered service it would require a ship inertial navigation system, new maintenance facilities, and more JP-5 stowage, avgas being eliminated. Habitability was well below current standards. Structural strength was a major problem. For example, whipping in storms had caused structural failure in the main (hangar) deck of Essex-class carriers. One possible answer to the problem was to rebuild the ships from the second deck up, making the flight deck the strength deck, but that was ruled out by top weight. The best that could be done was to strengthen the longitudinals under the main deck.

There was also some fear that a modernized ship would exceed her limiting displacement for longitudinal strength. In addition, the wooden flight deck had to be removed, as it had become an increasingly severe maintenance problem. The modernization program called for replacement of remaining areas of wooden deck with aluminum-clad hickory.

Other features of the proposed reconstruction were an automatic carrier landing system for all-weather operation and satellite communications (which would require both a new mast and an antenna tower abaft the island); greatly improved habitability (including six 200-ton air-conditioning units); new facilities for aircraft maintenance; and the elimination of avgas stowage in favor of a total of 760,000 gallons of JP-5. The ship would need more electrical generating capacity; the four existing 1,500-kw turbo-generators would be replaced by 2,500-kw units; the two 1,000-kw emergency diesel generators and increased displacement would reduce sustained speed to 28.8 knots. In effect, all ship systems, even the ship girder itself, would be affected, but the result would still be somewhat less than satisfactory. That it was considered feasible at all indicates some of the reasoning behind more recent proposals to modernize the surviving Essexes as limited attack carriers for the eighties.

Although the CVS studies were diligently pursued for almost eight years and Secretary McNamara did include CVS construction in his out-year projections, in fact the estate of the ASW carriers declined sharply through the late sixties. The fundamental issue was the rationale for a $235 million CVS for which there was no concrete mission, or rather, for which Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara was unable to recognize a valid mission.

Against that dismal background circa 1964 it was proposed to rebuild Franklin and Bunker Hill sea-launch platforms as CVS; with C-14 internal combustion catapults. It was seen as a pretty interesting compromise between past and future CVS, as detailed above. The two carriers would be old school CVS through their Essex hulls; but most advanced features of a new CVS could be part of the rebuild, up to the flight deck and island.

Crucially, the C-14 all by itself eliminated the C-11 vs C-13, Phantom-or-no-Phantom, difficult compromise. Finally, if Franklin and Bunker Hill rebuilds proved viable, then additional low mileage Essex could be rebuild to the new standard.
 
Archibald said:
NORMAN FRIEDMAN
U.S. aircraft carriers: an illustrated design history
...
Work on new CVS began in June 1959 on the basis of an air group of eight fighters (either Missileer or Phantom), twenty Tracker S2F-3s, sixteen HSS-2 helicopters, four AEW aircraft (W2F-1s, now designated E-2As Hawkeye), and two rescue helicopters (HU2K-1s).
The new carrier was to have the standard endurance of 12,000 nautical miles at 20 knots and a sustained speed of 30 knots, slightly below that of most fleet carriers but still sufficient to keep up with strike groups. Radars were, at first, to have included the big fixed arrays of SPS-32 and SPS-33 (as on the Enterprise), and a big SQS-26 bow sonar was specified to replace the SQS-23 on converted Essexes. The defensive missile was to have been the large Terrier.
Click to expand...
? W2Fs became E-1 Tracers, and were replaced by E-2 Hawkeyes...
 
Ah ok, thank you. Will correct that. I like the related nickname: Willy Fudd (was he related to Elmer ?) Also Stoof with a roof, LMAO.
 
Here is an old 2001 article that may inspire
books.google.co.uk

Popular Mechanics

Popular Mechanics inspires, instructs and influences readers to help them master the modern world. Whether it’s practical DIY home-improvement tips, gadgets and digital technology, information on the newest cars or the latest breakthroughs in science -- PM is the ultimate guide to our high-tech...
books.google.co.uk
 
Scott Kenny said:
Dynasoar grabbing Corona film cans in orbit seems like one of the ideal cases for the vehicle...
Click to expand...
Actually the USAF (and CIA NRO) had other plans:
the Dyna Soar IS the Spy Sat
It Payload bay is in same size as Corona camera system + film canister.
Either launch on regular base or launch on demand from Vandenberg.

had Dyna Soar program not be delay, it could have operational in 1960s.
fulfil better needed reconnaissance from Space, until better spy stats in 1970s
Then only needed for launch on demand.
 

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