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It's entertaining, but I wouldn't take the 'consequences of investing in science' too seriously. The idea of the Soviets managing to land on the Moon because on

It's entertaining, but I wouldn't take the 'consequences of investing in science' too seriously. The idea of the Soviets managing to land on the Moon because one man didn't die is, when you take a critical look at it, as silly as the idea of the Nazis winning WW2 because a single battle went the other way. The Soviets were never able to land on the Moon for good reason, and I'd say for similar reasons their predictions on American technological development would be similarly too rosy. Alternate history is fun, but maybe best not taken too seriously.

rockemsockem 4y ago
Wait, who's this one man that didn't die in the show? The alt history takes the, unlikely due to inferior technology, path that the last ditch Soviet launch right before Apollo 11 (a launch that did in fact happen, but failed), succeeded. The show seems to make it clear that this was influenced largely by luck as the Soviets had not done any sort of "dress rehearsals" to the moon like NASA had.
- philistine 4y ago
  The N1, in our real world, was never crewed. The last ditch Soviet launch you're talking about was a test. For All Mankind to have a successful Soviet Moon landing, things happened differently before that launch. I thought the show would be interested in exploring what those things are, but it never was the case. As for OP, presumably they're talking about Vladimir Komarov: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Komarov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Komarov His death during Soyuz 1, the first space casualty, could perhaps be a hinge between our universe and For All Mankind.
- mannerheim 4y ago
  Sergei Korolev[0], chief architect of the N1 rocket[1] which never really made it off the ground. I believe the show mentions him surviving heart surgery, and the show's creator points to this as the 'divergence point'. The rockets the Soviets use to land on the Moon in the show were N1. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Korolev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Korolev [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N1_(rocket) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N1_(rocket)
zardo 4y ago
If Korelev had not died it's reasonable that he would have spent his political capital to keep the N1 program going, and worked through it's problems.
- mannerheim 4y ago
  Maybe, but there are still a number of problems, even assuming Korolev could have solved the problems in N1's development history that had already been around for years by the time he died. Let's look at the timeline: Saturn V was rolled out onto the launchpad in May of '66, maiden flight in November '67. In February '66, they tested the Apollo CSM. Meanwhile, N1 made it onto the launchpad in November '67, but wasn't tested until February '69. Even assuming Korolev's survival could have moved up the dates, there's not a lot of time here between test flights to crewed missions. The LOK wasn't even flying until December of 1970, on a Proton rocket since N1 wasn't ready. But even assuming N1 had had its first test flights in '68, how long do you think it would have taken to go from that, to testing LOK, to actually landing someone on the Moon? Probably more than a single year. Finally, let's look at something entirely unrelated to the troubled N1 program: the matter of rendezvous. It was important enough to master that Protect Gemini was devoted entirely to getting rendezvous working as smoothly as possible. The US conducted the first rendezvous in December '65, first docking in March '66, and several more successful tests with Gemini after that (all manned missions), as well as a rendezvous in Earth orbit with Apollo 7 in October '68 and lunar orbit with Apollo 9 and 10 in March/May '69. Meanwhile, the first rendezvous/docking by the Soviets was in October '67, by unmanned crafts that used more fuel than expected, and their follow-up attempt with Soyuz 2/3 in October '68 failed to rendezvous after running out of fuel to maneuver. Their first success with manned rendezvous wasn't until January '69. It wasn't impossible that the Soviets could have gotten extraordinarily lucky on numerous fronts if he hadn't died, but I wouldn't call it realistic, or in fact reasonable.

rockemsockem 4y ago

Wait, who's this one man that didn't die in the show? The alt history takes the, unlikely due to inferior technology, path that the last ditch Soviet launch right before Apollo 11 (a launch that did in fact happen, but failed), succeeded. The show seems to make it clear that this was influenced largely by luck as the Soviets had not done any sort of "dress rehearsals" to the moon like NASA had.

philistine 4y ago
The N1, in our real world, was never crewed. The last ditch Soviet launch you're talking about was a test. For All Mankind to have a successful Soviet Moon landing, things happened differently before that launch. I thought the show would be interested in exploring what those things are, but it never was the case. As for OP, presumably they're talking about Vladimir Komarov: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Komarov https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Komarov His death during Soyuz 1, the first space casualty, could perhaps be a hinge between our universe and For All Mankind.
mannerheim 4y ago
Sergei Korolev[0], chief architect of the N1 rocket[1] which never really made it off the ground. I believe the show mentions him surviving heart surgery, and the show's creator points to this as the 'divergence point'. The rockets the Soviets use to land on the Moon in the show were N1. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Korolev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Korolev [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N1_(rocket) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N1_(rocket)

zardo 4y ago

If Korelev had not died it's reasonable that he would have spent his political capital to keep the N1 program going, and worked through it's problems.

mannerheim 4y ago
Maybe, but there are still a number of problems, even assuming Korolev could have solved the problems in N1's development history that had already been around for years by the time he died. Let's look at the timeline: Saturn V was rolled out onto the launchpad in May of '66, maiden flight in November '67. In February '66, they tested the Apollo CSM. Meanwhile, N1 made it onto the launchpad in November '67, but wasn't tested until February '69. Even assuming Korolev's survival could have moved up the dates, there's not a lot of time here between test flights to crewed missions. The LOK wasn't even flying until December of 1970, on a Proton rocket since N1 wasn't ready. But even assuming N1 had had its first test flights in '68, how long do you think it would have taken to go from that, to testing LOK, to actually landing someone on the Moon? Probably more than a single year. Finally, let's look at something entirely unrelated to the troubled N1 program: the matter of rendezvous. It was important enough to master that Protect Gemini was devoted entirely to getting rendezvous working as smoothly as possible. The US conducted the first rendezvous in December '65, first docking in March '66, and several more successful tests with Gemini after that (all manned missions), as well as a rendezvous in Earth orbit with Apollo 7 in October '68 and lunar orbit with Apollo 9 and 10 in March/May '69. Meanwhile, the first rendezvous/docking by the Soviets was in October '67, by unmanned crafts that used more fuel than expected, and their follow-up attempt with Soyuz 2/3 in October '68 failed to rendezvous after running out of fuel to maneuver. Their first success with manned rendezvous wasn't until January '69. It wasn't impossible that the Soviets could have gotten extraordinarily lucky on numerous fronts if he hadn't died, but I wouldn't call it realistic, or in fact reasonable.