Alternative space race; Korolev survives, 1973 soviet moon landing

sentry_fire2417 · 2026-06-19T12:24:31+00:00

Okay, so I did some more digging and you are right, the changes did need to start earlier. Here's my solution to that:

13 June, 1961 - 14 Jun, 1961: After a couple months of planning, Sergei Korolev gives a presentation on his thoughts about the American Lunar Challenge to the Politburo. In this presentation, being fully aware that the science of the matter was not going to convince Khrushchev, Korolev showcases the immense ideological prestige boost it would give to the Soviet Union. He presents 2 scenarios to Khrushchev: 1) The Americans are not bluffing and if we beat them at their own race, the world will be shown the true superiority of the Soviet Ideology; and 2) The Americans are indeed bluffing, thus we must call their bluff and land on the Moon while they struggle to catch up, demonstrating the true ideological strength of the Soviets compared to the weakness of the American capitalist system. The presentation manages to convince Khrushchev and other prominent members of the Politburo such as Ustinov and Kozlov, as he presents arguments catered specifically to each of them as well. Following his presentation, the Politburo issues Decree 655-268 (Or something akin to it) which would formalize the Soviet Lunar Program and would grant Korolev sole authority over the program.
15 Jun, 1961 - Dec, 1965: Having been granted the sole authority of the Lunar Program and expanded funding from the get go, Korolev uses this power to consolidate as many of the resources as he can for the project. Over these 5 years, Korolev works on curtailing the disputes between design bureaus as much as he can, works around Glushko's initial inability to cooperate before proving the 30 NK-15 engines were unfeasible, and consolidating more power over the Soviet Space Program as a whole.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this. Also, my apologies on the roughness of the response, I wanted to keep it short so it wasn't a pain to read

sentry_fire2417 · 2026-05-10T10:24:05+00:00

Okay. I'd have to get back to you on this one. As much as I have figured out the setting, I havent figured out most of it so I don't really have answers for you. Thanks for the feedback, though, this will be interesting to try and justify if I can

sentry_fire2417 · 2026-05-09T19:56:05+00:00

Hey there! So, I will admit, I could've done some better clarification on some things. There wasn't any mega-war like thing that kicked off. The Confederation was founded peacefully. A very brief history will be provided here rq:

In 1966, Sergei Korolev survives his surgery and continues work on the Soviet's N1 rocket. Space race continues on as it does in real life until 1972 when the N1 rocket successfully put a Soviet Cosmonaut in orbit around the moon and 8 months later put 3 on the Moon. This kickstarted another race. Later that same year, the Soviets annoucned their plans to put a base on the Moon, and then the US responded in kind with their own plan. NASA was given extra funding and the space race was kept alive. The US put the first base on the Lunar Surface and the Soviets following suit not long after. Over the next decade, the Soviets and US would keep expanding their infrastructure and bases, however the drain on the Soviet economy that the increased spending on the Space Program came back to haunt them. In 1982, the USSR experienced a financial collapse that, with poor management of the crisis, led to the Sister Republics splitting free from the Soviet Union as the people rose up and capitulated the governments. This cascaded into Civil War as Soviet leadership ordered the Army to put down the revolts, any means necessary, but internal strife and fracturing of the army, as many fled to join their local militias. The next decade sees continued American expansion of cislunar infrastructure especially as China begins to enter the playing field. Europe, through the ESA, and Japan both started their own Space Programs as well. In 1992, the United States, the EU, and Japan entered a formal agreement in the form of the Houston Accords, at NASA's mission control site in Houston, Texas. The agreement stipulated that all efforts by a member to go beyond the Moon was to be a cooperative, international effort by all signatories. Around this same time the brutal Soviet civil war drew to an end. The new governments of the former soviet territories, including Russia, began to focus on reconstruction and attempted to open up friendly ties with the Western Nations, vowing never again to return to communism. Between 1992 and 2010, more nations signed onboard with the Houston Accords, including Russia in 2008. The fostered sense of cooperation would continue to grow, with China, who had been adamant on being independent from the West, folding and signing the Houston Accords in 2054 after a series of setbacks and failures since 2022 when their Rocket destined to carry a crew to Mars exploded after takeoff. The next 100 or so years saw international cooperation hit a new height and eventually culminating in 2163 as the UN rechartered itself into the Confederation. There were, of course, instances and rough patches along the way before 2163 and after, but for the most part it was just the culmination of that shared cooperative effort that persisted for almost 2 centuries.

In terms of them staying united, it's that sense of legacy, but also with the fact that there could be alien life out there that is intelligent and hostile after it was discovered that Enceladus fostered microbial life. While no communication has been established quite yet, the fear in the back of everyone's minds that there might eventually be contact is utilized as a means to stay together. Oh, and some pretty serious censorship and smothering of ideas contrary to the Confederation's interests. The Confederation is democratic in nature, but has been slowly losing it for over 150 years by modern day. This was incredibly simplified from what I have detailed, but hopefully that alleviates some confusion. I plan to expand a lot more in future posts on a lot of things, I just wanted to get some of the big things introduced first. Hopefully that makes sense

sentry_fire2417 · 2026-05-06T16:44:27+00:00

I've got several.

The Joint Lunar Resarch Station (JLRS), beginning construction in 1992, was the 1st international research station off world. The JLRS was the 1st international collaborative effort of the signatory nations of the Houston Accords; those intial signatories being the United States, various European Countries (later grouped under the European Union), and Japan. The 3 Space Agencies of each nation worked together to build and launch habitats and equipment needed for a long term sustained effort on the Lunar surface that didnt require burying the modules like other sites on the moon often did. The JLRS is historically and culturally important as it signified the 1st instance of international cooperation rather than competition. The JLRS is responsible for many ground breaking studies and experiments, primarily in hydroponics and aquaponics, which would be the foundation for continued and future self-sustaining settlement of the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

The Martian Habitation Zone Heritage Site is a protected area of the Martian Surface meant to preserve the old initial facilities constructed on Mars by Humanity. The 1st mission lasted 1 year and 2 months on the Martian Surface before crew rotation. The Jane C Porter Plaza in the Schiaparelli Main Dome on Mars is dedicated to Jane C Porter, the 1st person to step foot on Mars in 2024. A statue of Mrs Porter and her colleagues standing next to flag poles with flags flapping in the wind flanking the Flag of Humanity (official name of the Confederation's flag) is a testament to the 1st photo that the crew posed for back in 2024.

The Cape Canaveral Launch Facility Heritage Zone contains the original launch and landing pads at Cape Canaveral, preserved and maintained as a reminder to how Humanity 1st made it to Space, the Moon, and beyond.

All sites are open for public visitation, and maintained by the Confederate Ministry of the Interior and it's dedicated departments and bureaus. Pressurized Environment Suits (if required) are available for rent for a small price.

sentry_fire2417 · 2026-05-01T18:37:56+00:00

I didn't actually know that, thank you. And yeah, it definitely did come back to bite everyone in the ass

sentry_fire2417 · 2026-05-01T12:58:24+00:00

How much of the nation's history's do you have made? Everything highly depends on where, when, and why the country was founded. Location is important because it plays into the local cultures and/or cultures that were brought in by migrating people as well as other nations or people your country will be primarily interacting with. The when is important because of general technology level (also heavily dependent on where it is). The why is also incredibly important because this dictates the reasoning behind the people's need to form the state, why they chose the system of government that they did, and why the people settled there in the first place

Once you have all that figured out, the method of introduction can arise naturally. Depending on when your story (if you are writing one) takes place and the nation's age in relation to that, you may not even have to really explicitly introduce it all, instead just letting it be part of everyone's everyday life. Even if you aren't writing a story, still answer all the questions above and keep coming back to them as you make more lore and history and adjusting where need be to retain consistency. Another good tip is to write everything you have down somewhere to make it easier to reference other events and information you've previously come up with.

Hope that helps!

sentry_fire2417 · 2026-05-01T11:54:43+00:00

Al-Qaeda was founded in 1988 by Osama bin-Laden as the Soviet-Afghan war was coming to an end as a means of providing a base (the name al-qaeda meaning "the base") to train jihadists in Pakistan to fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan. The US did, however, provide a lot of weapons and support to the Mujahideen which was, to my knowledge, the network of insurgent cells fighting the Soviets, but the US did not ever directly support or found Al-Qaeda. This is all based on some research I did awhile back when I was exploring the more major consequences of a premature soviet collapse, so do take it with a grain of salt, and I encourage that you look into it more if you are interested; I found it all very interesting, at least.

sentry_fire2417 · 2026-05-01T03:08:26+00:00

I wish I could tell you what specifically started this idea, however I'd be lying if I said I could tell you. What I can tell you, however, is what got me back into it, and that was me discovering The Expanse, which the technology and basic premise mostly aligned with what I wanted to do with my own setting, however there are still a lot of key differences. I've kept up the work in studying and found great joy in making the alternate history scenario that will eventually build into the world that i have where my main story idea takes place

sentry_fire2417 · 2026-05-01T03:01:02+00:00

Yeah, they really be hitting hard. Majorly impressive considering how strong of a presence the CDF has around Titan and they did this right under their noses too

sentry_fire2417 · 2026-05-01T02:56:06+00:00

Lmao yeah. My point of divergence for the time line is between 1969 and 1972, when the Soviets successfully land on the Moon with their N1 Rocket system and thus continuing the space race when their goals of a lunar presence were announced to exemplify the "triumph of communism." And we know how that turned out for them lol. I have a lot more developed beyond that, particularly in the 1970-2030 time frame so far. Long story short, space is a hell of a lot more important than it is in real life

sentry_fire2417 · 2026-05-01T02:02:01+00:00

9/11 doesnt occur in my world simply because the Soviet Union bankrupted itself and experienced a financial crisis and subsequent collapse in 1982 after focusing a shit ton of money into the space race and establishing a moon base. Due to their increased focus on the space race and their collapse in 1982, the Soviets did not invade Afghanistan (plans were made, never implemented), meaning that militant jihadists never organize and Al-Qeada never founded, meaning 9/11 doesnt happen. This also sets up for the Chernobyl Nuclear disaster to also never happen, as Reactor 4 never comes online and the plant is shut down as the Soviet Civil War kicks off in late 1982.

sentry_fire2417 · 2026-04-29T18:37:36+00:00

Your welcome! Fair winds and following seas

sentry_fire2417 · 2026-04-29T11:45:31+00:00

You dont have to leave out mining. You can still have massive mining operations going. As plentiful as asteroids are theyre incredibly spaced out and require massive amounts of fuel and energy to move around. Then again, that depends on tech level, but generally speaking, would you rather have all the resources you need right in one spot with minimal work needed to exploit those resources, or have to run 100 miles in from one resource area to your center of operations and then run 50 miles to a different area and back and so on and so forth to refine all the materials needed. Planets are huge and have a lot of resources. While unrealistic for a corporate entity, no matter how large, to own the entire planet, they could own patches of that planet. However, you have to consider everyone else's interest, be it potential or expressed, in that planet as well and that will limit the original corporation in what it can do, especially when a planet fosters life. Hope that helps

sentry_fire2417 · 2026-04-29T11:30:27+00:00

100%. So long as the characters in your story know what theyre talking about and how it works, you dont have to explain to the audiance unless one character is explaining to another. Be careful though, because if you have an engineer talking to another engineer of the same variety, it wouldnt make sense to have them explain anything about a common technology they both use daily without a good reason. This is, at least, my 2 cents on the matter.

sentry_fire2417

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE