In Pursuit of the Heavens — A History of Daitōjin Spaceflight

[Daitō]

Chapter One — Dawn of the Space Age
I. — Early Developments, at home and abroad
   In the early 20th century, there had been a burst in scientific exploration into interplanetary travel, inspired by the works of authors such as Jules Verne and H.G. Wells, as well as a number of other authors. The first truly realistic proposal of spaceflight goes back to Rodinan rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. His most famous work, "The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices", was published in 1903, but this theoretical work was not widely influential outside Rodina. Spaceflight became an engineering possibility with the publishing of "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes", a 1919 paper by Gaultier Martel, which demonstrated that his application of the de Laval nozzle to liquid fuel rockets gave sufficient power for interplanetary travel to become possible. This paper was highly influential on several later key players in spaceflight, including the future head of the Daitōjin Space Program, Hisamitsu Itokawa.

   Throughout the 20s and early 30s, the scientific usage of rockets was largely unknown in Daitō, although some amateur groups did exist at the time. But in 1934, Dr. Hisamitsu Itokawa, Isamu Maekawa, and Yasuji Chujo, nicknamed by some as the "Fathers of the Daitōjin Space Program", came together to found the Uchū Ryokō Kyōkai (宇宙旅行協会, Society for Space Travel), an amateur rocket group. Between 1934 and 1939, they successfully designed and tested the Shūkei Sh-1, -2, and -3 before the group was, by order of the YFD, folded into the Imperial Daitōjin Army merely a month prior to the start of the country's involvement in the Great War. Due to the nature of their work, there was significant pressure on these men to join the YFD, which, by 1941, they all had done, which certainly aided in their work as it was easier to negotiate for more funding to their program.
II. — A Dream or a Nightmare?

Shōri Rocket Launch, Summer 1944

   It cannot be said that Doctors Itokawa, Maekawa, and Chujo were overly pleased with the prospect of making weapons of war. Indeed, they had all gone into the field of rocketry inspired by the works of many past authors and in pursuit of perhaps a utopian ideal, one where mankind traveled to the planets and beyond. While on one hand, they now had the backing of the Imperial Daitōjin Army, allowing them greater resources than they could've ever hoped for, on the other, it came at a sharp price. They were, after all, now forced to turn their dream into a weapon of war, targeting not other worlds, but foreign cities. From their base in Susaki, in Otobe prefecture, they worked day and night to complete their task, eventually devising the Shōri, a long-range guided ballistic missile which, in the final months of the war, terrorized Ardia's cities in an attempt at reprisal for Ardia's bombing raids in Daitō.

   Though their work was successful, few in the nation's rocket development program were pleased by their work, save for those who ordered its development. Even so, they could at least take some joy in knowing that, though today they worked on weapons that would destroy lives, they were setting the groundwork for their dream of flight. Even in 1943, at the height of the war, Itokawa had written up a proposal for a manned variant of their Shōri rocket, one which would, in theory, be capable of performing reconnaissance deep behind enemy lines before returning to Daitō or allied territory. While this particular proposal didn't make it far, it inspired something that, to the end of their lives, the men who worked at Susaki regretted.

   With a length of six meters, a wingspan of five, and a top speed of 648 km/h, the K-2, nicknamed the Ōka, or "Cherry Blossom", was an aircraft borne out of desperation. Designed to be used by Tokubetsu Kōgekitai units, better known abroad as Kamikaze, it was a suicide craft often described as a rocket plane or a rudimentary guided missile. It would be joined by the K-3 Baika in the final months of the Great War, with the Susaki arsenal being responsible for both vehicle's engines, while Aizawa and Negishi, respectively, were responsible for the airframes. Despite their intention, it is believed that only one major ship was ever sunk by one of these aircraft, more specifically a K-3 Baika on the 17th of July, 1945.

   With the end of the Great War, the team at Susaki Arsenal was greatly downsized, owing in large part to the economic depression that swept the country in the aftermath of the war. Even Hisamitsu Itokawa, who had been a founding member of the URK and the director of the Arsenal, resigned his post, instead transferring to the National Aerospace Laboratory on the 19th of November, 1945, and moving to what remained of Shinkyō.
III. — The NAL and the IDAF

Logo of the National Aerospace Laboratory (1927 - 1958)

   From the end of the war until 1958, Dr. Itokawa put himself to work as a high-ranking engineer in the National Aerospace Laboratory (国立航空宇宙研究所, Kokuritsu Kōkū Uchū Kenkyūjo), or NAL. Based primarily out of Shinkyō, its headquarters had been heavily damaged during the war and, as a result, would temporarily relocate to Otsu while reconstruction was underway. Of course, as he had during the war, Hisamitsu threw himself into his work, which, owing to his reputation at the time, was never in short supply. One of his earliest tasks was to assist in converting the Shōri missile into a sounding rocket, which largely meant ripping out its payload of explosives, fuses, and everything else which would allow it to carry a bomb and instead replace it with scientific equipment. As a result, he would spend much time on the island of Tsukishima, making frequent trips to the Shirasu Missile Range on the island. Of course, it was still a military program, but the pay was good and it was, thankfully, not being used in a war.

   Those who remained at Susaki Arsenal were folded into the newly-established Imperial Daitōjin Air Force, or IDAF, in 1947. Under its supervision, they would work to upgrade the Shōri missile, as well as to develop other rockets should the need arise. With Dr. Itokawa's resignation, Dr. Isamu Maekawa was promoted and made director of the Susaki Arsenal in early 1946, working alongside the remnants of Daitō's aerospace industry to develop the tools necessary to win the next war. In effect, at least as Itokawa saw it, Maekawa had betrayed their vision for the future in 1947, though the latter justified himself by promoting the idea that peace could only truly be achieved through strength. For the better part of the next twenty-three years, the two didn't see eye to eye, and indeed it wouldn't be unfair to say they considered each other rivals, although neither man wanted it once the Space Race kicked off.

First Photo of Mundus from Space, 22 October, 1946

   The late 1940s and the 1950s, while comparatively lacking in "major" developments with regards to spaceflight, were far from unimportant. Starting as soon as 1946, the first scientific payloads were launched into space, with a notable example being the launch of a camera aboard a Shōri missile, allowing for the first time a photo of Mundus from space. 1947 saw the first animals fly to space, though this, like many feats, was not first achieved by Daitō. NAL and the IDAF would launch one of the first two-stage rockets, the Kanshō, in 1949, and in 1951, Daitō would launch an East Ardian Macaque aboard a Shōri missile. Throughout the 1950s, Daitō, like many other countries, would push for higher and higher altitude records, all the while, the IDAF's team at Susaki Arsenal was hard at work to make its first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile as part of the country's ultimately aborted nuclear program. Finally, in 1955, Prime Minister Toshinari, like many other prominent figures across Mundus, declared that Daitō intended to launch "small Mundus-orbiting satellites" between 1 July 1957 and 31 December 1958 as part of the upcoming International Geophysical Year. The race was now on, the only question to be answered was who would do it?

[Daitō]

Chapter Two — Around the world in 80... minutes
I. — Go for Launch
   The decision by Prime Minister Toshinari was met with a number of reactions both in Daitō and abroad. Some were perplexed; the country was, ostensibly, still recovering from the Great War, and even with the major strides made since 1945, it was far from a wealthy country. Others were concerned, as though the Prime Minister had intended for it to be a gesture of peace, owing to Daitō's then-ongoing nuclear program, many thought, perhaps justifiably, that it was a thinly-veiled effort to demonstrate the country's ability to strike anywhere in the world. After all, if they could launch a satellite into orbit, who was to say they couldn't put a bomb in orbit as well? Finally, and most importantly for this story, there were those, primarily in the scientific community, who were elated to hear of the country's commitment. Being a pioneer in rocketry, Daitō, like a number of other countries, stood a good chance of actually achieving their goal. Such a feat would not only show the capability of the country to rebound from past ills, but also serve to better the collective knowledge of mankind.

   But of course, there was a slight problem with their plan. One that, as with any other program, would have to be settled on before any true progress could be made. Put simply, while there was a goal in place, there wasn't a design selected, and as days turned to weeks, new proposals came forwards. Ultimately, however, three designs were deemed to be the frontrunners: The Imperial Daitōjin Army's Noto satellite, which, owing to its reliance on a rocket that wouldn't be ready until 1959, the Navy's Taimatsu, which was comparatively less ambitious but pushed by Itokawa, and the Air Force's Mori, which was far more ambitious, aiming to test whether the theory of whether Mundus had trapped charged particles in its magnetosphere. Ultimately, the Taimatsu program would get the go-ahead, being scheduled to launch in late 1957.

Taimatsu 1

   The first three satellites of the Taimatsu program were quite small, only weighing about 1.4 kg. Emperor Kunan, upon inspecting one during a tour of its processing facility at Kintei Air Force Base in Tsukishima, was reported to have remarked that it was, quote, "practically a grapefruit with antennae". This nickname, "Grapefruit", stuck in the foreign press to mock the effort before, as time would have it, being adopted in an almost loving sense by the engineers working on the project. The first launch was officially announced, on the 16th of July, 1957 for the 1st of October of the same year. What hadn't been counted on, however, was a storm which struck the region around Kintei AFB, pushing the launch date back by about two weeks as engineers performed repairs on the rocket. Unfortunately, the storm's timing meant that Daitō would not be the first to launch a satellite into orbit and would, as turned out to be a trend for the next decade, have to settle for second on a major accomplishment. Finally, on the 26th of October, 1957, Taimatsu 1 lifted off from Kintei AFB, reaching Low Mundus Orbit and marking a significant achievement. The Space Race was now truly on.
II. — Early Satellites and a New Approach

NASDA logo (1958 - 1974)

   That Taimatsu 1 had reached orbit was a source of great pride for the Empire in 1957 and 1958, however, its goal of being first had been snatched away from them so quickly was a matter of concern. Although everyone admitted that the weather had played a role, many in the government also suspected that the NAL was inefficient in managing the country's efforts in this new frontier. As a result, on the 16th of February, 1958, the National Aerospace Laboratory was formally reorganized into the National Space Development Agency, or NASDA, and would be brought further under the purview of the Imperial Government. This would provide the new agency a far larger budget, while also helping to serve national interests. It did not, however, go unchallenged. For though it now had the resources needed to undertake programs of its own volition, with the oversight of the Diet, of course, it took the spotlight away from the military's own efforts, and in order to avoid losing out entirely, on the 23rd of August, 1958, the three branches of the Imperial Daitōjin Armed Forces folded their aerospace efforts together, forming the Space Operations Headquarters, or Uchū Sakusen Honbu (USH).

   These early years of space exploration saw the continued launch of rudimentary satellites into Low Mundus Orbit, with each passing year bringing new complexity to their designs. It also saw the Sekidō I ICBM enter service, allowing for larger payloads to be launched. Taking advantage of this, in 1959, Daitō performed a pair of momentous feats, first crashing a probe into the moon and later taking the first photos of the dark side of the moon. Incidentally, with the former of these two missions, due to it having the country's flag painted on the hull, Daitō held the dubious distinction of having the first national pennant on a foreign celestial body, though as it did not survive, most would not count it. But though these early years were promising, there was a goal which was now even greater than that of putting the first satellite in orbit. As early as 1957, Daitō was preparing to put a man into orbit, and it had the right people for the job.

[Daitō]

Chapter Three — Man In Space Soonest
I. — Suzaku Leads the Way

The Suzaku Spacecraft

   Project Suzaku (朱雀計画, Suzaku Keikaku) was the first human spaceflight program undertaken by NASDA, running from 1958 until 1963. An early highlight of the Space Age, its goal was to put a man into Mundus Orbit and return him safely, ideally before anyone else. Its sister-program, the Sh-16, had been initiated two years prior, initially with the goal of testing hypersonic aircraft but eventually morphed into a suborbital launch program. The program, which took its name from the Vermillion Bird of legend, cost roughly $2.38 billion adjusted for inflation and saw seven crewed launches over its duration. It would give way to the far more complex Taka Program, which was intended to lay the groundwork for missions beyond Low Mundus Orbit and to the moon.

   Compared to most every spacecraft that followed it, the Suzaku capsule was quite small, giving its crew of one only 2.8 m² of habitable volume on missions that ultimately lasted as long as over a day. Inside, there were 120 controls: 55 switches, 30 fuses, and 35 mechanical levers. The heaviest spacecraft, designated S-14 by its designers and known to the public as Suzaku 9, weighed approximately 1,400 kg fully loaded, as it was intended to keep its passenger alive for more than a day in orbit. The spacecraft was invariably coated in a skin made of René 41, a nickel alloy capable of withstanding high temperatures.

   The Suzaku spacecraft was cone shaped, with a neck at the narrow end. It had a convex base, which carried a heat shield consisting of an aluminum honeycomb covered with multiple layers of fiberglass. Strapped to it was a retropack consisting of three rockets deployed to brake the spacecraft during reentry. Between these were three minor rockets for assisting in separating the spacecraft from the launch vehicle in the event of an abort. The straps that held the package could be severed when it was no longer needed. Next to the heat shield was the pressurized crew compartment. Inside, an ūchunaut would be strapped to a form-fitting seat with instruments in front of him and with his back to the heat shield. Underneath the seat was the environmental control system supplying life support for the crew. The recovery compartment at the narrow end of the spacecraft contained three parachutes: a drogue to stabilize free fall and two main chutes, a primary and reserve. Other features included a landing skirt which was designed to serve as a shock absorber when the spacecraft splashed down.
II. — The Seven
   Of course, there could be no Project Suzaku without a crew, and NASDA was certain to pick the best of the best. From day one, there were many ideas, but ultimately, it was decided that they would use military pilots. The vast majority of these pilots were veterans of the Great War and were test pilots. Ultimately, seven people were selected, those being as follows:

Name	Rank	Branch	Name	Rank	Branch
Kanji Akasaki	Major	Air Force	Fumio Rinzaki	Lieutenant	Navy
Akira Sagara	Lt. Commander	Navy	Hirotami Nanbu	Major	Air Force
Banri Wakata	Lt. Commander	Navy	Jinzaburō Utada	Captain	Air Force
Iehiro Fujie	Captain	Air Force

   Prior to Project Suzaku, there was no protocol for selecting ūchunauts, so NASDA would set a far-reaching precedent with both their selection process and initial choices for ūchunauts. At the end of 1958, various ideas for the selection pool were discussed privately within the imperial government and the civilian space program, and also among the public at large. Initially, there was the idea to issue a widespread public call to volunteers. Thrill-seekers such as rock climbers and acrobats would have been allowed to apply, but this idea was quickly shot down by NASDA officials, who understood that an undertaking such as space flight required individuals with professional training and education in flight engineering. By late 1958, NASDA officials decided to move forward with test pilots being the heart of their selection pool. On Prime Minister Yanagihara's insistence, the group was further narrowed down to active duty military test pilots, which set the number of candidates at 476. These candidates were IDN or IDNLF naval aviation pilots (NAPs) or IDAF pilots of senior or command rating. These aviators had long military records, which would give NASDA officials more background information on which to base their decisions. Furthermore, these aviators were skilled in flying the most advanced aircraft to date, giving them the best qualifications for the new position of ūchunaut. During this time, women were banned from flying in the military and so could not successfully qualify as test pilots. This meant that no female candidates could earn consideration for the title of ūchunaut. Civilian NASDA pilots, such as Sh-16 pilot Hakaru Akase, were likewise disqualified for the same reason, even if they were serving as military contractors.

   It was further stipulated that candidates should be between 25 and 40 years old, no taller than 1.8 m, and hold a college degree in a STEM subject. This was a controversial decision at the time, as it disqualified a large number of aviators who were otherwise perfectly suited to the task, while at least one pilot, Akira Sagara, was able to enter the program without one by using influential connections to convince the selection committee to accept him. Other potential candidates declined because they did not believe that human spaceflight had a future beyond Project Suzaku. From the original 476, 110 candidates were selected for interviews, and from said interviews, 32 were selected for further physical and mental testing. Their health, vision, and hearing were examined, together with their tolerance to noise, vibrations, g-forces, personal isolation, and heat. In a special chamber, they were tested to see if they could perform their tasks under confusing conditions. The candidates had to answer more than 500 questions about themselves and describe what they saw in different images. After these tests it was intended to narrow the group down to six ūchunauts, but in the end it was decided to keep seven.

   The ūchunauts went through a training program covering some of the same exercises that were used in their selection. They simulated the g-force profiles of launch and reentry in a centrifuge at the Naval Air Development Center, and were taught special breathing techniques necessary when subjected to more than 6 g. Weightlessness training took place in aircraft, first on the rear seat of a two-seater fighter and later inside converted and padded cargo aircraft. They practiced gaining control of a spinning spacecraft in a machine at the Yamakawa Flight Propulsion Laboratory, as well as star and Mundus recognition training in planetaria and simulators. Communication and flight procedures were practiced in flight simulators, first together with a single person assisting them and later with the Mission Control Center. Recovery was practiced in pools and later at sea with frogmen and helicopters. Eventually, their grueling training came to an end, and it was time to make history.
III. — The Missions
   Once again, Daitō was struck with a bout of bad luck which cost them being the first to a goal, this time due to issues with the Sekidō I booster to be used on Suzaku 3. As a result of this delay, which pushed the launch back from the 6th of April to the 17th, another country was able to beat NASDA to putting a man into orbit. This naturally was disheartening, however, with all of the work put in thus far, it was decided that they would push forwards instead of adjusting their plans, and ultimately, on the 17th of April, 1961, Suzaku 3, carrying ūchunaut Kanji Akasaki, lifted off from Kintei Space Center. Compared to later missions, this one was to be rather short, only lasting around two hours and completing a single orbit. Incidentally, due to how the rules for what qualified a spaceflight at the time, as Akasaki had landed inside the spacecraft while his predecessor hadn't, he was dubiously the holder of the record, even if this was not known until the 1990s.

Mundus from LMO, Suzaku 3

   Suzaku 4 was largely a repeat of 3, however, it lasted a few minutes longer as the spacecraft's orbital period was likewise longer. The most notable occurrence during Suzaku 4 actually occurred afterwards, as the spacecraft's hatch blew open shortly after splashdown, nearly causing its pilot, Akira Sagara, to drown and resulting in the spacecraft being lost. This led to a controversy, wherein many suspected that the pilot had accidentally set it off. Further investigation, later backed up by the recovery of the capsule and footage of the landing, suggested that static electricity may have caused the premature detonation of the hatch bolts. Earlier theories had posited that the external release lanyard had come loose, triggering the hatch release.

   From Suzaku 5 onwards, the missions began to last much longer; 5 saw three orbits over the course of close to five hours, while 7 lasted for nine hours and 8 for eleven. Ultimately, the longest mission of the Suzaku Program, Suzaku 9, saw Jinzaburō Utada fly for one day, ten hours, and nineteen minutes, completing 22 orbits before landing to the west of Tsukishima. With Suzaku 9 coming to a close, so too did Project Suzaku, giving way to the Taka and Ryū programs.

[Daitō]

Chapter Four — Under the Falcon's Wings
I. — Overview

Taka Program Patch

   The Taka Program, known occasionally as Project Taka, was NASDA's second human spaceflight program. Conducted between Project Suzaku and the Ryū Program, Taka started in 1961 and concluded in 1966. The Taka spacecraft carried two ūchunauts; over the course of the program, eleven crews and 16 individual ūchunauts flew Low Mundus Orbit missions. Taka's objective was the development of space travel techniques to support the Ryū mission to land ūchunauts on the Moon. In doing so, it allowed Daitō to catch up and briefly even take the lead in human spaceflight capability that foreign powers had gained during the early years of the Space Race, by demonstrating: mission endurance up to just under 14 days, longer than the eight days required for a round trip to the Moon; methods of performing extra-vehicular activity (EVA) without tiring; and the orbital maneuvers necessary to achieve rendezvous and docking with another spacecraft. This left Ryū free to pursue its prime mission without spending time developing these techniques.

   All Taka flights were launched from Launch Complex 14 at Kintei Air Force Station in southeastern Tsukishima. Their launch vehicle was the Taka-Sekidō II, a modified intercontinental ballistic missile. Taka was the first program to make use of the recently-built Mission Control Center at the Otsu Manned Spaceflight Center for flight control; prior to this point, flight control was located in Kintei.
II. — The Spacecraft

Cutaway view of the Taka Spacecraft

   NASDA selected Zayasu Aerospace, which had been the primary contractor for the Suzaku Spacecraft, to build the Taka capsule, the first of which was delivered in 1963. The spacecraft was 5.61 meters long and 3 meters wide, with a launch weight varying from 3,220 to 3,790 kg. The Taka crew capsule, often referred to as the Reentry Module in documentation on the program, was essentially an enlarged version of the Suzaku spacecraft. Unlike Suzaku, the retrorockets, electrical power, propulsion systems, oxygen, and water were located in a detachable Adapter Module behind the Reentry Module. A major design improvement in Taka was to locate all internal spacecraft systems in modular components, which could be independently tested and replaced when necessary, without removing or disturbing other already tested components.
IIa. The Reentry Module
   Many components in the capsule itself were reachable through their own small access doors. Unlike Suzaku, Taka used completely solid-state electronics, and its modular design made it easy to repair. For abort capabilities, engineers briefly contemplated did away with a launch escape system, instead opting for a pair of ejection seats. It was reasoned that, in the event of an accident, the Sekidō II's hypergolic fuels would cause a smaller explosion, however, at NASDA's insistence, it was very nearly fitted with an escape tower such as those used on Suzaku and later on Ryū.

   Taka was the first ūchunaut-carrying spacecraft to include an onboard computer, the Taka Guidance Computer (TGC), to facilitate management and control of mission maneuvers. This computer, sometimes called the Taka On-Board Computer (OBC), was very similar to the Tenjin Launch Vehicle Digital Computer. The Taka Guidance Computer weighed 26.75 kg. Its core memory had 4096 addresses, each containing a 39-bit word composed of three 13-bit "syllables". All numeric data was 26-bit two's-complement integers—sometimes used as fixed-point numbers—either stored in the first two syllables of a word or in the accumulator. Instructions could go in any syllable. Unlike Suzaku, Taka used in-flight radar and an artificial horizon, similar to those used in the aviation industry. Like Suzaku, Taka used a joystick to give the astronauts manual control of yaw, pitch, and roll. However, Taka added control of the spacecraft's translation (forward, backward, up, down, and sideways) with a pair of T-shaped handles, one for each crew member. Translation control enabled rendezvous and docking, and crew control of the flight path. The same controller types were also used in the Ryū spacecraft.
IIb. The Adapter Module
   The "Adapter Module", often referred to as the Service Module, was split into two separate parts. These were the Retro Module (RM) and Equipment Module (EM), both of which were, regardless of mission, vital to a successful flight during the Taka program. The Retro Module contained four solid-fuel TE-M-385 Hoshi-33I retrorockets, each spherical in shape except for its rocket nozzle, which were structurally attached to two beams that reached across the diameter of the retro module, crossing at right angles in the center. Reentry began with the retrorockets firing one at a time. Abort procedures at certain periods during lift-off would cause them to fire at the same time, thrusting the Descent module away from the Sekidō rocket.

   Taka was equipped with an Orbit Attitude and Maneuvering System (OAMS), containing sixteen thrusters for translation control in all three perpendicular axes (forward/backward, left/right, up/down), in addition to attitude control (pitch, yaw, and roll angle orientation) as in Suzaku. Translation control allowed changing orbital inclination and altitude, necessary to perform space rendezvous with other craft, and docking with the Hokkyokusei Target Vehicle (HTV), with its own rocket engine which could be used to perform greater orbit changes. Early short-duration missions had their electrical power supplied by batteries; later endurance missions used the first fuel cells in crewed spacecraft.
III. — New Faces
   With the announcement of the Taka program, the need for new ūchunauts had been clear from the outset. Initially, it had been planned that, like with the Suzaku program before it, the program would be closed to anyone who was not a member of the military, however, this requirement was waived for two cases, those being Hakaru Akase and Hayate Morita. Ultimately, the new group, Ūchunaut Group 2, would be announced in 1962, while a further selection of twelve ūchunauts for Group 3 would come in 1963. Unfortunately, Group 3 was filled with tragedy, as two of its members died during training, while another died before he was scheduled to fly. Of course, not every member of Group 1 flew either; Kanji Akasaki, owing to injuries sustained in a crash in 1964, would be taken off flight rotation until the late-60s, in time for the Ryū program. Likewise, Fumio Rinzaki had retired from spaceflight to instead go into politics, while Hirotami Nanbu chose to return to the Air Force. Those remaining ūchunauts would, for the most part, fly during the program, although some would have to wait until the Ryū and even Kyūden programs to fly.
IV. — Go for Launch

Launch of Taka 1

   On the 16th of April, 1964, Taka 1 lifted off from LC-14 at Kintei Air Force Station, marking the first flight, albeit uncrewed, of the Taka program. As a result, its main objectives were to test the structural integrity of the new spacecraft and modified Sekidō II launch vehicle. It was also the first test of the new tracking and communication systems for the Taka program and provided training for the ground support crews for the first crewed missions. It was followed up in early 1965 with the launch of Taka 2, which was a suborbital flight meant to test the spacecraft's heatshield. Incidentally, the second flight's capsule was the first spacecraft to be reused, being repurposed as a test article for the IDAF's Manned Orbiting Research Laboratory, or MORL, in 1966.

   The first manned flight of the Taka Program, Taka III, lifted off on the 21st of March, 1965. Crewed by Suzaku veteran Iehiro Fujie and Natsuki Sanada, the mission lasted just five hours, completing three orbits as the crew ran a number of tests on the vehicle ahead of the more complex missions yet to come. While it is less notable than perhaps Taka IV and VIII, Taka III did see the first orbital maneuver by a crewed spacecraft shortly into the flight.  Furthermore, though perhaps a dubious honor, Taka III led to a change in materials used in space suits, as the landing resulted in Fujie cracking his suit's faceplate. Future suits, including those used to this very day, now make use of a stronger polycarbonate plastic in lieu of the previous acrylic.
IVa. Out for a Stroll

Ūchunaut Hayate Morita makes Daitō's first spacewalk

   Taka IV lifted off on the 5th of June, 1965, carrying ūchunauts Kensuke Hatori and Hayate Morita into a 289-by-165 km, 32.5 degree orbit. Their mission, which lasted for just over four days, saw Daitō attempt its first extravehicular activity (EVA), colloquially called a spacewalk. By the time it had launched, this was not a world first, however, it was nonetheless vital to the success of the Ryū program, as well as to any future programs in Low Mundus Orbit, so the mission was not changed in any way, not that there would've been time. Even still, this EVA would not go without issue, as though it was largely successful, Morita came relatively close to both heat stroke and decompression sickness towards the end of it, though this was more due to him overexerting himself during the EVA than any issue with the suit.

   This EVA wasn't the only objective of the Taka IV mission, of course. Carried aboard the spacecraft were eleven different experiments, which included: Ka-8, which measured the electrostatic charge in the spacecraft, Ka-9, which was an experiment in simple spacecraft navigation where the crew used a sextant to measure their position using the stars, Ma-1, which measured the electrostatic charge in the spacecraft, and a number of others. Ultimately, the mission was a resounding success, landing four days later in the Kyne.
IVb. Docking Waltz

Taka VI as viewed from Taka VII

   A particularly memorable mission from the Taka program was the joint Taka VI-VII mission, which launched on the 3rd and the 7th of December, 1965, respectively. The twin spacecraft were tasked with completing the country's first orbital rendezvous, as well as an admittedly dangerous EVA which saw the pilots of each spacecraft trade place mid-flight, resulting in the first two-man EVA as well as the first transfer of crew between two orbiting vehicles. More importantly, however, was the modification performed on the Taka VII spacecraft, which allowed it to function as a target vehicle for Taka VI, with the two spacecraft ultimately docking by way of a stripped down version of the docking port used on the Hokkyokusei target vehicle. As a result, Taka VI and VII were able to knock out a number of objectives for the program, while future missions would instead refine the techniques developed. Taka VII would spend a further week in orbit, while Taka VI returned to Mundus two days after the docking.
IVc. Legacy of the Taka Program

Taka XII lifts off with a Tenjin V booster in the background

   Ultimately, the Taka Program, while often forgotten owing to its place between the Suzaku and Ryū programs, was an incredibly important period in NASDA's history, as without it, Daitō would've never had a chance of making it to the Moon, let alone to develop its presence in Low Mundus Orbit. The ripples of the program are felt to this very day, even if they are not immediately noticeable, whether by intention or not. For while NASDA had officially brought the program to a close, moving on to the next phase of its exploration of the cosmos, there were others that wished to make use of the spacecraft, and not for the benefit of all mankind. The Space Operations Headquarters wanted in on manned spaceflight.

[Daitō]

Chapter Five, Part One — The Long Road Ahead
I. — Origins and Overview

Ryū Program Patch

   The Ryū Program, also known as Project Ryū, was the third Daitōjin human spaceflight program carried out by NASDA, which, while not achieving it first, succeeded in preparing and landing humans on the moon by the end of 1969. Formally conceived during the Rokuda administration in early 1960 as a follow-up to Project Suzaku, it was first intended to carry a crew of three into low mundus orbit. At the time, it was proposed that missions could include ferrying crews to a space station, circumlunar flights, and eventually, crewed lunar landings. In May 1960, Dr. Yasuji Chujo, serving at the time as NASDA's Deputy Administrator, announced the Ryū program to representatives of Daitō's aerospace industry in a series of conferences. Preliminary specifications were laid out for a spacecraft with a mission module cabin separate from the command module—piloting and reentry cabin—and a propulsion and equipment module. On the 18th of August, a feasibility study competition was announced, and on October 16, study contracts were awarded to Zayasu, Aizawa, and Negishi. Meanwhile, NASDA performed its own in-house spacecraft design studies led by Emon Uehara, to serve as a gauge to judge and monitor the three industry designs.

   Following the successful launch and return of Suzaku 3, Prime Minister Shiba, during an address to the Imperial Diet, announced that Daitō would push forwards with the goal of landing a man on the moon before 1970. As a result, Project Ryū became, overnight, a matter of national prestige and a household name. For many, it was a chance to prove the strength of Daitōjin industry in the post-war world, as well as potentially a chance to boost investment in the country. But more than anything else, it would serve to inspire a generation, to show them that anything could be achieved so long as they tried. For the sake of future generations, it was argued, this endeavor was supremely important.
II. — NASDA Expansion
   At the time of Shiba's proposal, only one Daitōjin had flown in space merely two months prior. There was much doubt early on—even within NASDA's ranks—that his ambitious goal could be met. At times, there were proposals made by his administration as late as 1964, though ultimately never presented, for a joint Daitōjin-Achkaerinese lunar mission so as to eliminate the duplication of effort. With the clear goal of a crewed landing replacing the more nebulous goals of space stations and circumlunar flights, NASDA decided that, in order to make progress quickly and prevent cost-overruns, it would discard the feasibility study designs of Zayasu, Aizawa, and Negishi, and instead it would proceed with Uehara's command and service module design. The mission module was determined to be useful only as an extra room, and therefore, was held back for later missions. In late 1961, using this design as a baseline, they held another competition, ultimately contracting Zayasu to build the design, in part due to its long-standing partnership with the Agency.

   In order to land humans on the surface of the moon within a decade, at the time the most significant burst of technological creativity and largest commitment of resources in peacetime ($164 billion, adjusted for inflation) ever made by a nation in peacetime until the Hōrōsha Program. At its peak, the Ryū program is estimated to have employed more than 400,000 people, all the while requiring the support of over 20,000 industrial firms and universities. This cost, though astronomical, paid off in helping to build the modern world as we know it. Everything from freeze-dried foods to integrated circuits and from fire-resistant materials to dialysis machines can, in some part, be traced to funding for Ryū and similar programs at the time.
IIa. MSC and LOC

Vertical Assembly Building (VAB) under construction, c.1965

   It became clear that managing the Ryū program would far exceed the capabilities of Dr. Itokawa's Space Task Force (STF), which had been directing the nation's crewed program from NASDA's Otsu Research Center. As a result, in late 1962, Itokawa was given authorization to grow his organization into a new NASDA center, the Manned Spaceflight Complex. A site was chosen in Yuzawa, Fukui Prefecture, on land which was donated by Yushiro University, and NASDA's administrator, Ryuzō Dojima, announced its conversion on the 18th of September, 1961. It was also clear NASDA would outgrow its practice of controlling missions from its Kintei Air Force Base launch facilities in Shiojiri Prefecture, Tsukishima, so a new Mission Control Center would be included in the MSC. The Manned Spaceflight Complex would be renamed the "Kazumasa Toshinari Manned Spaceflight Complex", frequently abridged to the "Toshinari Space Center" in 1970, by the Imperial in honor of Prime Minister Kazumasa Toshinari's death in 1969.

   It also became clear that Ryū would outgrow the Kintei launch facilities in Tsukishima. The two newest launch complexes were already being built for the Tenjin I and Ib rockets at the northernmost end: Launch Complexes 23 and 27. But an even bigger facility would be needed for the enormous rocket necessary for a crewed lunar mission, so land acquisition was undertaken starting in July 1961 for a Launch Operations Complex (LOC) immediately north of Kintei at Takeshima Island. The design, development and construction of the center was conducted by Dr. Iehisa Takashi, a former member of Dr. Itokawa's team at Susaki. Takashi was later named the LOC's first director. Construction began in September 1962.

   The new Launch Operations Complex included Launch Complex 29 (LC-29), a Launch Control Center (LCC), and a 3.7 million cubic meter Vertical Assembly Building (VAB), in which the launch vehicle would be assembled on a mobile launcher platform and then moved by a crawler-transporter to one of several launch pads. Although more were planned, only Launch Complex 29A and 29B would be completed by October 1965, with 39C being finished a year later following delays. The LOC also included an Operations and Checkout Building (OCB), where Taka and Ryū spacecraft were initially received prior to being mated with their launch vehicles. There, the Ryū spacecraft could be tested in two vacuum chambers capable of simulating atmospheric pressures up to around 76 km, or in other words, nearly a vacuum. The Launch Operations Complex would be renamed to the Akasaki Space Center in 2022, following the death of the ūchunaut who had started it all.
IIb. Organization
   Administrator Dojima recognized that, in order to keep the Ryū program's costs under control, it would be necessary to develop greater project management skills in his organization. In order to accomplish this, he hired Dr. Kakutarō Hoshino for a high-ranking management position. Hoshino accepted, however, he required that he have a say in any NASDA reorganization necessary to effectively administer Ryū. Dojima then worked with Deputy Administrator Chujo to reorganize the Office of Crewed Spaceflight (OCSF). Hoshino was formally appointed Deputy Associate Administrator for Crewed Space Flight on the 26th of July, 1963. Under Dojima's reorganization, Doctors Itokawa and Takashi reported to Hoshino.

   Based upon his experience on missile projects, Hoshino recognized that many skilled project managers could be found among the higher ranks of the Imperial Daitōjin Air Force, so he got Dojima's permission to recruit General Sakichi Kamei, who earned a reputation for his effective management of the Sekidō program, as OCSF program director. He was able to get the approval of Kamei's superiors to loan him to NASDA, however, this came with the condition that Kamei be made Ryū Program Director. Hoshino agreed to this proposal, and from January 1964 until January 1970, General Kamei served as the program's director, after which he returned to active duty.
III. — The Disaster
IIIa. Plugs-out
   On the 21st of February, 1967, the crew of RT-204—ūchunauts Akira Sagara, Hayate Morita, and Takauji Sanada—entered their capsule as part of a "plugs out" test, intended to determine whether the spacecraft would operate nominally on internal power. Passing this test was necessary if NASDA wanted to make the March 7 launch date. The test was determined to have not been hazardous, a result of neither the spacecraft nor the rocket having been loaded with fuel or cryogenics and all pyrotechnic systems being disabled. Little did anyone present know, however, that none of the crew would exit the spacecraft alive.

   At 2:07 PM, Sagara, then Sanada, and then finally Morita entered the command module in their pressure suits, and were strapped into their seats and hooked up to the spacecraft's oxygen and communication systems. It should be noted that Sagara noticed a faint odor in the air circulating within his suit which he described as reminding him of spoiled milk, and the simulated countdown was put on hold at 2:27 PM while air samples were taken. No cause of the odor could be determined, so the countdown resumed at 3:49 PM. During the investigation into the accident, the odor was found to have not been related to the fire. Three minutes after the count resumed, the hatch was installed. This hatch was made up of three parts: a removable inner hatch, which stayed inside the command module; a hinged outer hatch which was part of the spacecraft's heat shield; and an outer hatch cover which made up part of the launch escape system's cover, which protected the spacecraft from aerodynamic heating during launch and from exhaust in the event of an abort. The boost hatch cover was partially, though not fully, latched in place as a result of the flexible boost protective cover being slightly distorted by cabling run under it to provide simulated internal power. After the hatches were sealed, the air in the cabin was replaced with pure oxygen at 115 kPa, 14 kPa higher than atmospheric pressure. The simulated countdown was put on hold again at 7:27 PM while attempts were made to troubleshoot a communications problem. All countdown functions up to the simulated internal power transfer had been successfully completed by 7:07 PM, and and at 7:20 the count remained on hold at T minus 10 minutes.
IIIb. The Fire
   During this hold, the crew spent their time running through their checklist again, when at 7:33:57, a momentary increase in AC Bus 2 voltage occurred. Nine seconds later, one of the ūchunauts, generally believed to have been Sagara, exclaimed "Fire!". This was followed by two seconds of scuffling heard over his open microphone. This was followed at 7:34:06.1 by another ūchunaut, likely Morita based on recordings of the incident, saying "Uh, we've got a fire in here.", which in turn was followed by a badly garbled transmission which said, roughly, "We've got a bad fire... We're trying to escape... Let us out!" which ended with a cry of pain.

   The fire, fed by the cabin's pure oxygen atmosphere, caused the pressure to rise to 200 kPa, far above the spacecraft's inner wall. This resulted in the capsule rupturing, with fire and gas rushing out through open access panels to two levels of the pad's service structure. The intense heat, dense smoke, and ineffective gas masks designed for toxic fumes hampered the ground crew's attempts to rescue the crew. Immediately, there were fears that the command module had exploded, or at least would, and the resultant fire could cause the solid fuel rockets in the LES to ignite, which would have likely killed nearby ground personnel and potentially destroyed the pad. As the pressure was released by the cabin rupture, the rush of gases inside caused flames to spread across the cabin, starting the second phase of the disaster. The third phase began when most of the oxygen was consumed and was replaced with atmospheric air, which practically quenched the fire and left high concentrations of carbon monoxide and heavy smoke inside the cockpit, as well as large deposits of soot which soon covered most surfaces.
IV. — The Investigation
   In keeping with Deputy Administrator Chujo's instructions under Management Instruction 8713.6, which defined Mission Failure Investigation Policy And Procedures, NASDA's existing accident procedures, based on military aircraft accident investigation, were modified to provide the Deputy Administrator the option of performing independent investigations of major failures, beyond those for which the various Program Office officials were normally responsible. It declared, quote, "It is NASDA policy to investigate and document the causes of all major mission failures which occur in the conduct of its space and aeronautical activities and to take appropriate corrective actions as a result of the findings and recommendations."

   Immediately after the fire, Administrator Dojima asked Prime Minister Giichi Inukai to allow NASDA to handle the investigation according to its established procedure, pledging that it would be truthful in assessing blame and that it would keep the appropriate members of the Diet informed. Deputy Administrator Chujo then directed the establishment of the Ryū 204 Review Board, chaired by Dr. Itokawa, which included Ūchunaut Kanji Akasaki, spacecraft designer Emon Uehara, and eight others. Chujo ordered that all Ryū 1 hardware be impounded, to be released only under the authorization of the board. After thorough stereo photographic documentation of the CM-07 interior, crews began the long and painstaking process of disassembling the spacecraft using procedures developed on the identical CM-08 spacecraft and conducted a thorough investigation into each part. The board also reviewed  the crew's autopsy reports and interviewed witnesses. The board finally published its report on the 19th of May, 1967, in which they identified several major factors which caused the fire and the ūchunauts' deaths, which included the following:
   ‣ An ignition source, most probably related to, quote, "vulnerable wiring carrying spacecraft power" and "vulnerable plumbing carrying a combustible and corrosive coolant".
   ‣ A pure oxygen atmosphere at higher than atmospheric pressure.
   ‣ A cabin sealed with a hatch cover which, given the circumstances, could not be removed quickly enough at a high pressure.
   ‣ An extensive distribution of combustible materials in the cabin.
   ‣ Inadequate emergency preparedness, such as rescue or medical assistance, as well as crew escape.

   In later years, many would come to point to the Ryū 1 disaster and the response, which included numerous redesigns to hardware carried aboard the spacecraft, as being the moment that Daitō lost the race to be first to the moon, as these changes would result in delays to the program.

[Daitō]

Chapter Five, Part Two — To the Moon, One Step At a Time
I. — Ryū 2: The Phoenix

Ryū 2 Launch

   Ryū 2 (RT-206) was the first manned spaceflight of NASDA's Ryū program, seeing the resumption of human spaceflight by the agency following the tragic fire that claimed the the crew of Ryū 1 on the 21st of February, 1967. Commanded by veteran ūchunaut Kensuke Hatori, the crew also included command module pilot (CMP) Takamori Sato and lunar module pilot (LMP) Ryūji Nakamura, who held the position despite the mission not having a lunar module. The three ūchunauts had originally been planned to fly on the second crewed Ryū flight, and then later as backups for Ryū 1. Following the fire, crewed flights were suspended while the cause of the accident was investigated and improvements were made to the spacecraft and safety procedures, as well as while unmanned test flights were made. Determined to prevent a repeat of Ryū 1, the crew spent many long hours monitoring the construction of their spacecraft. Training nonetheless continued over the course of the 20-month pause that followed the Ryū 1 fire.

   Ryū 2 was launched on the 18th of October, 1968, from Kintei Air Force Base, and lasted for eleven days before splashing down in the Kyne. During the mission, extensive testing was performed, including the first live television broadcast from a Daitōjin spacecraft. Despite tensions between Takamori Sato and ground controllers, the mission was deemed a complete success, giving NASDA the confidence to attempt to send a crew into orbit around the moon in December. Of the crew, only Ryūji Nakamura would fly again for NASDA, serving as the commander of Ryū 10, as Kensuke Hatori had already announced his retirement, while Sato's tensions with ground control resulted in his grounding. Ryū 2 fulfilled its ill-fated predecessor's goal of testing the CSM in low Mundus Orbit, marking a significant step in putting a crew on the moon.
II. — Ryū 3: Circumlunar Dreams

Mundusrise

   Originally planned to be the second crewed orbital flight test of the Ryū CSM and LM, to be flown in an elliptical medium Mundus orbit in early 1969, Ryū 3's mission profile was changed in August to a far more ambitious CSM-only circumlunar mission to be flown in December 1968, as the LM was not ready to make its first flight. Thus, the crew of Ryū 4—Akihiko Deguchi, Joji Saiga, and Hitoshi Saruwatari—was reassigned to Ryū 3, while the previous crew was assigned to 4. This left Deguchi's crew with two-to-three months of less training, with LM training instead being replaced with translunar navigation training.

   Ryū 3 lifted off from Launch Complex 29A on the 16th of December, 1968 at 11:36 UTC, using the mighty Tenjin V's three stages to achieve Mundus orbit. The T-Ia first stage and T-II second stage both landed in the Kyne. The T-IVi third stage injected the spacecraft into low Mundus orbit, but remained attached to the spacecraft in order to perform the Trans-Lunar Injection (TLI) burn that would take the crew to the moon. Once the vehicle was in Mundus orbit, the crew and Yuzawa-based flight controllers spent the next two hours checking that the spacecraft was working properly and was ready for TLI. Due to the nature of the flight, the proper operation of the T-IVi was critical, and on the previous uncrewed flight, the stage's engine had failed to reignite. At roughly 2 hours and 28 minutes, CAPCOM (Capsule communicator) radioed, "3, You are Go for TLI." This message meant that Mission Control had officially given permission to the crew to go to the moon. The T-IVi engine reignited on time and performed the burn perfectly. Over the course of nearly five minutes, the spacecraft increased its speed from 7,600 m/s to 10,800 m/s, necessary to reach their destination.

   After the burn, the CSM separated from the upper stage and rotated the spacecraft to take photos of the T-IVi . As preparation for later flights, which would require docking with the lunar module, the crew also practiced flying in formation with the spent stage. While they rotated it, the crew had their first views of Mundus as they moved away, marking the first time humans had viewed the entirety of Mundus at once. At five hours post-launch, mission control sent a command to the spent T-IVi stage to vent its remaining fuel, changing its trajectory. The T-IVi, with a test article still attached, posed no further hazard for the crew of Ryū 3, passing the Moon's orbit and entering a 0.99-by-0.92-astronomical unit solar orbit with an inclination of 23.47° inclination from Mundus's equatorial plane, with an orbital period of approximately 340 days. To this day, it remains a derelict object, likely to orbit the sun for many years to come if not retrieved.

   On the 18th of December, at 7:16 PM UTC, 13 hours prior to entering lunar orbit, the crew of Ryū 3 became the first to enter the gravitational sphere of influence on another celestial body. At the time that it happened, Ryū 3 was 62,377 km from the moon and was travelling at 1,220 m/s relative to it. Though a historic moment, it was one which was of little interest to the crew, as they were still calculating their trajectory with respect to the pad at Kintei. They would continue to do so until they performed their last mid-course correction, switching instead to a reference frame based on ideal orientation for the second burn they would make in lunar orbit. The last major event before Lunar Orbit Insertion (LOI) was a second mid-course correction made retrograde to their direction of travel, and was made to reduce the spacecraft's speed by 0.61 m/s, in turn reducing the closest distance that the spacecraft would travel around the moon. At 64 hours into the flight, the crew began to prepare for their first LOI burn, which needed to be performed perfectly. Owing to orbital mechanics, it would also be on the far side of the moon, which meant it would be done without contact with ground stations. Finally, at 68 hours, the crew became the first to pass behind the moon, losing radio contact. For some time, people on the ground waited helplessly, not knowing if the crew would reach orbit or fly on, never to return.

   At exactly the calculated moment signal was received from the spacecraft, much to the elation of those back on Mundus, it was confirmed that the spacecraft had safely entered its desired orbit around the moon, roughly 311.1-by-111.8 km in altitude. They had made history once more, and this time, there was a chance to celebrate, albeit short-lived as the mission was packed with experiments and tasks to perform. Over the course of the next twenty hours, Joji Saiga, the mission's CMP, reported on the terrain they passed over. In one instance, he described the surface as appearing, quote, "gray, like gypsum plaster or a sort of grayish sand", while also making note of numerous landmarks. After all, one of the crew's major tasks was reconnaissance of planned landing sites for later missions to the moon, especially one in Mare Serenitatis, which was planned to be the landing site on Ryū 6. The launch time of Ryū 3 had been chosen to give the crew the best possible lighting conditions for observing the site. Eventually though, their mission would have to come to an end, and by the 22nd of December, they were home.
III. — Ryū 4 & 5: A Handful of Moondust, Just Out of Reach
IIIa. Ryū 4: Flight Test

Isao Terada performs a stand-up EVA

   By comparison to its predecessor, Ryū 4 was seemingly less impressive, instead being dedicated to qualifying the Lunar Module for use in the upcoming landing. Flown in low Mundus Orbit, it was crewed by Jin Nakamura, Isao Terada, and Hiroshi Yamaguchi, and launched on the 9th of March, 1969. A key part of the mission focused on testing the lander's descent and ascent engines, as well as docking the Ryū CSM with the LM. Other tests included  procedures to transfer from the Lunar Module to the Command Module in the event of issues on docking, such as an inability to open the hatch or secure a hard dock, as well as to test out the portable life support system (PLSS) outside of the LM cabin. Of course, transferring between spacecraft wasn't new—Taka VI/VII had successfully demonstrated the docking of crewed spacecraft and transfer of crew in 1965—however, it needed to be proven that it could be done from the LM as a contingency, otherwise even going to the moon would be out of the question.

   Originally, the mission had been scheduled to launch on the 28th of February, 1969, however, as the crew had, as one record puts it, "caught a cold", it was decided to postpone the mission until they had recovered. Around-the-clock maintenance shifts were required, which resulted in the delay costing NASDA around $1.25 million. Nonetheless, the mission launched on the 9th of March, well within the day's launch window, and it largely went without a hitch, although the second stage ever-so-slightly underperformed. This issue was, however, accounted for by the third stage, which was commanded to burn for a few seconds longer than had initially been planned. Flight day 3 saw the commander and lunar module pilot—Jin Nakamura and Horoshi Yamaguchi—enter the LM and checkout the systems onboard before performing a maneuver to move the entire spacecraft with its descent engine. Such a procedure was intended to demonstrate lifeboat functionality aboard the spacecraft, should issues be encountered during later flights. Over the next few days, further tests, including the first free flight of the Lunar Module with its crew as well as the aforementioned EVA would be performed, and the crew would return to Mundus on the 19th of March.
IIIb. Ryū 5: So Close, Yet So Far

Ryū 5 Lunar Module

   Finally, on the 20th of May, 1969, Ryū 5 lifted off from LC-29B on a voyage to the moon. NASDA described it as a "Dress Rehearsal" for Daitō's first moon landing and designated it a "Ka" mission, intended to test all spacecraft components and procedures short of an actual descent and landing. While ūchunaut Yojirō Sasaki remained aboard the CSM orbiting the moon, his colleagues, Nariyasu Takase and Haruo Amago boarded the Lunar Module and descended to within 15.6 km of the lunar surface, the point where powered descent for a landing would've begun, before rejoining Sasaki in orbit. While it was a physical impossibility, owing both to a lack of fuel and the weight of the particular LM carried on the mission, many went on to criticize the decision not to push forwards with a proper landing, as the decision not to push forward meant Daitō narrowly lost the race to the moon.

   At 1:43 PM on the 24th of May, Takase and Amago boarded their lunar module "Atom"—named after the main character of the eponymous show "Mighty Atom"—and departed their CSM. As an aside, the names picked for the CSM and LM were deemed to be "undignified" by NASDA, which quietly mandated that all future flights pick callsigns not based in popular culture. Following the undocking, Takase and Amago deployed the spacecraft's landing gear and inspected the craft's systems, all the while the CSM performed an 8.3 second burn with its RCS thrusters to separate the spacecraft by roughly 9 meters, after which Sasaki visually inspected the LM from the CSM. Another burn brought the spacecraft to 3.2 km apart, after which the LM performed its descent orbit burn for 27.4 seconds while the crew tested the vehicle's landing radar as they approached the 15 kilometer altitude where future missions would begin their powered descent. Shortly after, the crew separated from the descent stage and returned to the CSM, after which point they would return to Mundus by the 28th of May. With the success of Ryū 5, the path was now clear to land on the Moon. However, due to poor weather and repairs being necessary for the rocket that would carry Ryū 6, they would miss their chance to be first. Nonetheless, NASDA, like it had in 1957 and again in 1961, pushed forwards, aiming to match their rivals and in some ways, exceed them.

[Daitō]

Chapter Six — Hello From Above
I. — Ryū 6: "Any Landing You Can Walk Away From..."

Ryū 6 "Safely" Landed on the Moon

   Originally scheduled to launch on the 12th of July, 1969, Ryū 6 was intended to be the first manned mission to the moon. However, owing to poor weather at Kintei Space Center on the day of the launch, it was ultimately delayed to the 23rd. This was just long enough of a delay that the Federal Republic of Rokkenjima, on the 20th of July, was able to land a crew on the lunar surface in the Sea of Tranquility. It was a blow that proved demoralizing to Daitō, who had so very nearly claimed victory from the jaws of defeat, but even so, they had to push on. They couldn't just let the work put in over the last decade go to waste, and with this defeat, newfound interest in the program brought further funding to allow the country to not only match the achievements of the Rokkenjimans, but to surpass them. But before any additional funding could be secured, NASDA had to actually land on the moon. Thus, on the 23rd of July, as the world's attention remained upon the crew of Soluna V, the crew of Ryū 6, comprising ūchunauts Kanji Akasaki, Natsuki Sanada, and Masamura Hiraiwa, lifted off from LC-29A on a voyage now to be second to the moon.

   Four days passed, and as the crew of Soluna V came home, the crew of Ryū 6 was waiting in lunar orbit, ready, at long last, to match the achievement of their Rokkenjiman peers. Akasaki and Hiraiwa boarded their lunar module, given the callsign Ōtori, or "Phoenix", and undocked from their CSM at 16:21:00 UTC. Sanada, alone aboard Fusō, inspected Ōtori as spun before him to ensure the craft was not damaged and that the landing gear had fully deployed. With that ensured, and as the crew began their descent to the Sea of Serenity, Akasaki and Hiraiwa found themselves passing landmarks on the surface between two and three seconds early, and thus reported that they were "long", or that they would land kilometers west of their desired landing site. Ōtori was travelling too quickly. The problem may have been mascons—concen­tra­tions of high mass in a region or regions of the Lunar crust which contained a gravitational anomaly, potentially altering Ōtori's trajectory.

   Roughly five minutes into the descent burn and 1,600 meters above the lunar surface, the LM Guidance Computer (LMGC) distracted the crew with the first of several unexpected 1201 and 1202 program alarms. In mission control, it was very nearly decided to abort the landing, however, it was quickly determined that it was safe to continue the descent, and this information was relayed to the crew. As it happened, the alarms indicated "executive overflows", meaning the guidance computer could not complete all its tasks in real-time and had to postpone some of them. As the descent continued, Akasaki decided to take manual control and find a better, safer site to land at, which meant bringing the spacecraft much closer to the surface. Just one wrong move and they would crash and in all likelihood, not make it home. Ultimately though, they could not find a safe landing site within reach and were prepared to abort when the spacecraft—crew included—went silent. The last thing Mission Control heard from them was a shout from Hiraiwa to "watch out!" and then nothing.

   The worst had seemingly happened. A crew had been lost on the surface of the moon, never to return home. Of course, NASDA wasn't going to give up, and for nearly five hours, as millions around the world held their breath, they tried to reestablish contact to no avail. Five hours, where their families back home didn't know if they would see their loved ones again. Five hours, when many around the globe offered prayers for these two brave voyagers, supposedly lost in pursuit of the heavens. As the Emperor at the time, Emperor Kunan, prepared to read a contingency statement for the event of the loss of the crew, an address to forever memorialize two of the nation's sons who dared to journey out into the unknown, and as the world prepared to say goodbye, a lone voice called out from the dark, daring to make its presence known. Kanji Akasaki, Mission Commander of Ryū 6, had survived, and so had Masamura Hiraiwa. Though comms and telemetry had been knocked out, they had safely landed, albeit in a less than soft fashion.

   It was a triumph, outshone in many regards by Soluna V, yes, but perhaps in some ways more memorable, as though they were the second, they had, against all odds, survived. Now came the question of how to get them home. It was actually much more simple—by the standards of NASDA, anyways—than it would've appeared. The spacecraft, despite being landed at an incline, was only tilted by around 14°, well within the margin for ascent, though later missions would very much avoid that extreme of a tilt. After spending several more hours on the surface, the crew would board Ōtori and lift off from the surface, he spacecraft adjusting its inclination as it ascended to account for the tilted launch platform, and in time it would rendezvous with Fusō. From there, the crew would return to Mundus, safely landing in the eastern Kyne on the 31st of July, 1969. Against all odds, NASDA had matched Rokkenjima's feat not within the year, but within less than a week. Now, the path to the future was finally open.
II. — Ryū 7 - 14: Exploration of the Moon
IIa. "Ki" Missions

Ryū 8 LM at Fra Mauro, c. 16 April, 1970

   Following Ryū 6, NASDA immediately jumped into what it was calling the "Ki-class" missions, which called for "precision crewed lunar landing demonstration and systematic lunar exploration." in the Ocean of Storms, at Fra Mauro, and at Censorinus crater. Ryū 7 specifically saw its crew land within 165 meters of the previously launched Tankōsha 4 lunar lander, which had landed in 1967 with the goal of taking samples of the lunar surface. It was followed by Ryū 8, which landed in the Fra Mauro Highlands and was, as a result, the first manned mission to the lunar highlands. Over the course of two EVAs, the crew collected nearly 42.8 kg of moon rocks and soil and deployed a number of experiments, some of which, despite being designed to survive a year, wound up operating until 1978. Ryū 9 landed at Censorinus Crater on the 4th of November, 1970 and spent over a day on the surface. Like the previous Ki-class missions, just two EVAs were performed, and unlike in the later Ke-class missions, provisions did not allow for an extended stay. However, during the two EVAs performed by the crew, the area around Censorinus was heavily explored, albeit this was hampered by a lack of an LRV as seen in later flights.
IIb. "Ke" Missions

Driving the LRV, c. 12 April, 1971

   The "Ke-class" missions constituted the third and final phase of lunar surface operations during the Ryū program, as well as the most extensive. Comprising six missions, this final phase of the Ryu program is notable for its use of the Lunar Roving Vehicle, or "LRV", which allowed ūchunauts to explore a far wider section of the lunar surface. Crews during these "Ke" missions drove a total of 214.5 km, exploring areas of the moon such as the Hadley-Appenine formation, Taurus Littrow, and Schroter's Valley, during which time they collected nearly 750 kg of moon rocks and other soil samples. Perhaps most emblematic of these missions, Ryū 15, the final manned lunar mission undertaken by NASDA in the 20th century, saw a crew land at Rima Hyginus on the 13th of December, 1972, where they spent just under four days on the surface. During that time, they spent close to 24 hours on EVA, which included a number of excursions using the Lunar Roving Vehicle. During the mission, they collected 183 kg of lunar material and set a record for distance travelled on the lunar surface, that being 43.8 km. But all good things had to come to an end, and on the 16th of December, 1972, the crew of Ryū 15 made ready to say goodbye. With a precision emblematic of it's near-flawless mission, Ryū 15 embarked from the moon for the eighth and final time in the history of mankind. Humanity's first exploration of another world was now safely and successfully completed, thanks in no small part to the efforts and the attention of those on Mundus, who could only look on as vicarious participants as the legendary voyages came to a bittersweet end.

Final Words on the Moon
Cmdr. Yoshiki Nakamura,
Ryū 15

   "... I'm on the surface; and, as I take man's last step from the surface, back home for some time to come—but we believe not too long into the future—I would just like to say what I believe history will record. That Daitō's challenge of today has forged mankind's destiny of tomorrow. And, as we leave the Moon at Rima Hyginus, we leave as we came, and, Kami willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind."

[Daitō]

Chapter Seven — A Home in Space
I. — Tenjin-Ryū Applications Program

A T-IVi derived "Wet Workshop"

   The Tenjin-Ryū Applications Program (TRAP) was created as early as 1966 by NASDA in order to develop science-based human spaceflight missions while reusing hardware developed for the Ryū program. TRAP was the ultimate development for a number of official and unofficial Ryū follow-on projects studied at various NASDA labs. However, the TRAP's ambitious initial plans became an early casualty when the Inukai government declined to support it adequately, partly in order to fund the then-escalating Sipuran War and also to fund domestic programs. Thus, FY1967 ultimately allocated just above $80 million to the TRAP, compared to NASDA's original estimates of $400 million necessary to fund a full-scale TRAP program for that year, while close to $1 billion being necessary for FY1968. The TRAP eventually led to Kyūden, which absorbed much of what had been developed under Tenjin-Ryū Applications.

   NASDA management was, of course, concerned about losing the more than 400,000 workers involved in the Ryū program after landing on the moon in 1969. A reason Hisamitsu Itokawa, during the 1960s, advocated for a smaller station after his large one—never truly likely to have been built—was denied was because he wished to provide his employees with work beyond developing the Tenjin rockets, which would be completed relatively early during the program. NASDA set up the Ryū Logistical Support Office (RLSO), originally intended to study various ways to modify Ryū hardware for scientific missions, in 1963 in order to facilitate his proposal, with this office evolving into the Tenjin-Ryū Applications Program. Initially, the TRAP office was an offshoot of the Ryū-J bureau, also known as the Ryū Extension Series. RES was developing technology concepts for mission proposals based on the Tenjin Ib and Tenjin V boosters. These included, though were not limited to, a crewed lunar base, a Mundus-orbiting space station, the so-called "Grand Tour" of the Outer Solar System, and the Tabibito program of Nergal Lander probes.
Ia. Ryū Extension Series Lunar Base

The proposed Lunar Orbital Survey Mission

   The Ryū lunar base proposal saw an uncrewed Tenjin V used to land a shelter based on the Ryū Command/Service Module on the moon. A second Tenjin V would carry a three-person crew and a modified CSM and Lunar Module to the moon. The two-person excursion team would have a surface stay time of nearly 200 days and the use of an advanced lunar rover, as well as logistics vehicles to construct a larger shelter. Owing to the length of the mission, the isolation experienced by the remaining crew member in orbit was a concern, and so it was decided instead that the LM would be modified to allow for all three members to land on the surface, were it to be given the go-ahead.

   As the name suggested, the Ryū Extension Series would've been seen as an extension of the ongoing Ryū program, which would take part in a series of four phases. The first phase, the standard "Ryū Phase", would've commenced with the first moon landing and would last for four missions, or alternatively until sufficient experience had been achieved to allow the next phase to commence. As actually flown by NASDA, these missions corresponded to Ryū 6 to 9. Phase Two was intended to commence two years after Ryū and consisted of four flights of the "Extended Lunar Module" (ELM), a modification of basic Ryū Lunar Module hardware. ELM missions extended lunar stay time to 3 or 4 days with landed payloads approaching 450 kg. This scenario corresponded to Ryū 10 to 14.

   Phase 3 was indicated after the Lunar Surface Exploration phase and would be the end of the initial buy of Ryū spacecraft. This 28-day lunar polar orbit mission would be flown after the Ryūs and ELMs, in order to have several sites already explored in the event that the program was cancelled. The mission would carry a crew of two, who would dock with a modified KA-8 reconnaissance satellite in order to map the entirety of the lunar surface. This was to be followed up, through 1975 and 1976, by a fourth phase, the "Lunar Surface Rendezvous and Exploration" (LSRE) phase. LRSE nominally consisted of two dual-launch missions. A Lunar Payload Module (LPM) would be delivered by an uncrewed cargo carrier to the surface and provide a rendezvous target for a crewed ELM that would arrive up to three months later. The crew would stay for up to 14 days on the surface.
Ib. Lunar Extension System
   Following the Ryū Extension Series, the basic Ryū hardware would evolve into the Lunar Exploration System, or LES. The result was intended to be ever-expanding permanent stations on the moon. LES represented the last lunar base concept studied by NASDA prior to the cancellation of further Tenjin V production. LES would use a new Lunar Landing Vehicle to land payloads on the lunar surface and extended CSM and LM Taxi hardware derived from the Ryū program would allow crews to be rotated to the ever-expanding, and eventually permanent, lunar base. A nuclear reactor would be landed at some point near the station and would provide power to it. There would be seven phases, starting with the original Ryū program before ramping up to longer-duration stays with a larger crew.
II. — Kyūden

Kyūden as photographed by its departing final crew

   Kyūden was the first Daitōjin space station. Launched by NASDA for roughly 24 weeks between 1973 and 1974, the station saw four separate three-ūchunaut crews: Kyūden 2, Kyūden 3, Kyūden 4, and Kyūden 5. Major operations included an orbital laboratory, a solar observatory, Mundus observation, and hundreds of experiments. However, before it ever saw its first crew, the station would encounter serious trouble during launch and deployment, as the station lost its micrometeorite shield and one of its solar arrays, while debris from the micrometeorite shield also became tangled in the remaining solar panels, preventing their full deployment and leaving the station with a major power deficit. But before more can be said about the missions, one must understand the basics around the space station and its components.

   By volume, Kyūden was the largest monolithic space station put into orbit, with roughly 351.6 cubic meters of space available for the crew. The station featured multiple "modules", of course, but these are different from what would be seen aboard more modern stations like Zenshoen, being directly integrated with one another and launched in that configuration, and thus it is perhaps better to refer to them as components. There were six components on launch which should be noted: the payload shroud, which protected the station during launch, the Tenjin V instrument unit—a result of the station being derived from a T-IVi upper stage—the Multiple Docking Adapter, the Airlock Module, the Orbital Workshop, and the Ryū Telescope Mount. The Orbital Workshop, which served as the primary living quarters for the crew, was divided into two vertically-stacked floors, with the lower floor serving as crew quarters while the upper was filled with scientific instrumentation. The Ryū Telescope Mount, or RTM, was controlled from within the station's Multiple Docking Adapter, or MDA, which was situated just above the airlock module.
IIa. Kyūden 2: Orbital Repairmen

Launch of Kyūden 2

   Kyūden 2 lifted off from LC-29C on the 25th of May, 1973, carrying ūchunauts Natsuki Sanada, Iehiro Yamakawa, and Haruto Shimura. The first crewed mission to Kyūden, it was launched in the shadow of the station's launch, which had resulted in significant damage on the 14th of May: its micrometeorite shield, and one of its primary solar arrays had torn loose during launch, and the remaining primary solar array was jammed. Furthermore, without the micrometeorite shield, which was also designed to provide thermal protection, Kyūden was baked in the sun, and the rising temperatures inside the station released toxic materials into the station's atmosphere and endangered onboard film and food. The crew had planned to launch a day after the station, but instead had been forced by these circumstances to train practicing techniques as they were developed by the engineers. Ground controllers purged the atmosphere with pure nitrogen four times before refilling it with the nitrogen/oxygen atmosphere for the crew, while the Imperial Daitōjin Air Force used a KA-8 satellite to photograph the damaged station.

   When Kyūden 2 lifted off from LC-29C, it was the first Tenjin IB rocket to launch in almost five years, as well as the first launch from LC-29C. Booster performance was nominal throughout the flight save for a brief incident, where a momentary glitch nearly threatened the mission. When the Commit signal was sent to the Tenjin booster at ignition, the instrument unit sent a command to switch the launch vehicle from internal to external power. This would've shut down the booster's electrical system, but not its propulsion system, and likely would've caused the rocket to become uncontrolled, requiring the LES to be activated while Range Safety destroyed the errant launch vehicle. However, the duration of the cutoff signal was less than a second, too short of a time for the electrical relay in the booster to be activated, and thus, nothing happened and the launch proceeded as planned. The glitch was later traced to a modification of the pad electrical equipment and as a result, corrective steps were taken to prevent it from happening again.

Ūchunauts work to free Kyūden's "Solar Wing", 7 June, 1973

   Upon reaching the station late on the 25th of May, Sanada flew the CSM around to inspect the damage, then soft-docked with it to avoid the necessary station-keeping while the crew ate and flight controllers planned the first repair attempt. They undocked at just after midnight, and Sanada positioned the CSM near the damaged solar panels so that Shimura could perform a stand-up EVA, trying to free the array by tugging at it with a  3-meter hooked pole, while Yamakawa held onto his legs. This failed, and consumed a significant amount of Kyūden's nitrogen maneuvering fuel to keep it steady in the process. With that attempt, the crew docked with the station again, and upon entering deployed a collapsible parasol through one of the station's two small scientific airlocks, which was designed to act as a sunshade. Successful deployment of the sunshade dropped temperatures inside to an acceptable level.

   Two weeks after arrival, Sanada and Shimura performed a second EVA, this time proving successful in freeing the stuck solar array and increasing the electrical power to the station. They had prepared for this repair by practicing in a Neutral Buoyancy Simulator at the Toshinari Manned Spaceflight Complex. Without power from the panel, the second, third, and fourth Kyūden missions would've been unable to perform their main experiments, and the station's battery system would have been severely degraded. During this EVA, the sudden deployment of the solar panel structure caused both ūchunauts to be flung from the station's hull, although they would safely recover from this and would subsequently complete the EVA. For nearly a month, the crew made further repairs to the station, conducted medical experiments, gathered solar and Mundus science data, and performed a total of 392 hours worth of experiments. The crew returned to Mundus on the 24th of June, setting a record for the longest stay in orbit to that date, though it would later be beaten on subsequent missions.
IIb. Later Missions

An ūchunaut on EVA, Kyūden 3

   Following the dramatic Kyūden 2 mission, NASDA launched a trio of subsequent missions to the station. Kyūden 3 launched on the 29th of July, just over a month after the return of the previous crew and lasted for sixty days. During the mission, a total of 1,084 ūchunaut -utilization hours were tallied by the crew, during which time further scientific experiments in the areas of medical activities, solar observations, Mundus resources, and other fields were performed. Over the course of the mission, three EVAs were performed for a total of 13 hours and 44 minutes. Of particular note, spider webs were spun by two female Albionic garden spiders as part of an experiment on Kyūden 3, with the experiment being designed to test whether spiders could spin webs in space, and, if so, whether these webs would be the same as those that spiders produced on the ground. It was found that the webs were finer than those found on Mundus, they varied in thickness in places and were often slightly more asymmetric than those on the ground. Later experiments found that having access to a light source could orient the spiders and allow them to build their normal asymmetric webs when gravity was not a factor.

   Kyūden 4 would take the previous record of sixty days in orbit and shattered it with a staggering eighty-four days in space. Launched in late 1973, the crew was also the first to spend the new year in orbit, something which would come to be a regular part of manned spaceflight in the years to come. The most notable "event" of the mission, although it is ultimately a myth, was the supposed strike that the crew of Kyūden 4 took in December. Allegedly, as the media reported, the crew complained about the workloads NASDA was putting them under, which was, in all fairness, true, however, a communications failure became mixed up with a rest day given to the crew on the 27th of December, owing to the timing. This, mixed with none of the crew flying again—all of them retired before the UHS program's first launch—led to this myth becoming popular, however, historians and NASDA officials alike, as well as members of the crew, confirmed that there was no such strike aboard. Kyūden 5, the final mission to the station, was considerably shorter, only lasting for 28 days between March and April, 1974. It is notable for having boosted the station's orbit in the hope of eventually reusing it during the UHS Program. With its completion, the first phase of Daitō's long-term habitation of space came to an end.

[Daitō]

Chapter Eight — Unmanned Missions of the 1970s
I. — Cytherian Dreams

First view and clear image of the surface of Ishtar, taken by Kinsei 8 on October 17, 1975

   Of course, while many would focus on the manned exploration of outer space, it is still important to touch on unmanned missions, especially as, following the end of the Kyūden program (and, by extension, the Ryū program as well), the 1970s would largely be dominated by the robotic exploration of our solar system. While lunar missions largely died off, save perhaps for a flyby of our nearest neighbor, Luna, in late 1973, as well as the Particles and Fields Subsatellites (PFS) which were deployed during the Ryū program. The aforementioned flyby, performed by the Sen'in 10 probe, would lead to the probe also flying by Ishtar later that year in order to perform a gravity assist which would take it to Nabu. As it would happen, this would be the first mission undertaken by NASDA to Ishtar, though it would certainly not be the last.

   Unlike the Sen'in program, which was primarily focused around flybys and orbital missions to foreign bodies, the Kinsei program was entirely focused on the exploration of Ishtar. Its very name reflects this, as it is the Ōnishi word for the planet. Although the vast majority of missions during the course of the program would be orbital surveys, a few missions would enter the planet's atmosphere, and a pair even successfully landed on the surface. These were Kinsei 8 and Kinsei 9, which landed on the surface in 1975, although due to the hostile environment on the planet, they would not operate for more than 53 minutes. The missions would hold the honor of producing the first images from another planet, as well as, in the case of Kinsei 9, the first audio recording. Following this mission, Daitō would send a number of atmospheric probes to the planet, including some which would deploy balloons to study the upper atmosphere. On one such occasion, in 1978, one of the balloons failed, but its payload managed to survive the descent and continued to transmit readings from planet's surface for a brief period of time. This would mark the last time that a Daitōjin spacecraft actually landed on Ishtar, as well as the country's last mission to the planet until the late 1980s.
II. — The Sands of Ares

Proof test article of the Gyūki Nergal Lander

   NASDA did not, by any means, ignore Nergal either during the 1970s. At the height of the Ryū program, proposals had been made for expansive missions to the red planet ranging from the proposed Tabibito series of probes which would've been launched aboard Tenjin V rockets to rovers and even manned missions. However, with the end of production for the mighty Tenjin V in 1968, it became clear that these plans would, ultimately, not come to pass. Instead, NASDA's efforts surrounding Nergal would primarily revolve around orbital missions under the Sen'in program, as well as a pair of landers as part of the Gyūki program. Sen'in 9 was the first mission to Nergal undertaken by Daitō in the 1970s, launching in 1971 and arriving in orbit around Nergal later in the year. It was the first Daitōjin spacecraft to orbit another planet, and it carried a payload similar to its predecessors, Sen'in 6 and Sen'in 7. Despite this, due to the need for a larger propulsion system to control the spacecraft in Nergal orbit, it weighed more than both spacecraft combined. The spacecraft would remain active for 349 days in orbit around Nergal, transmitting 7,329 images and revealing river beds, craters, massive extinct volcanoes. The spacecraft was deactivated in October of 1972.

   The Gyūki program, by contrast, consisted of a pair of identical spacecraft, Gyūki 1 and Gyūki 2, which landed on Nergal in 1976. The mission effort began in 1968 with the proposed Tabibito program, which would've sent a series of landers to Nergal in 1976, 78, and 80 as a prelude to a manned landing. When these efforts collapsed, the program was reconfigured to utilize two larger landers launched separately aboard a pair of Sekidō III rockets. Each spacecraft was composed of two main parts: an orbiter designed to photograph the surface of Nergal from orbit, and a lander designed to study the planet from the surface. The orbiters also served as communication relays for the landers once they touched down. After orbiting Nergal for roughly a month each and returning images used for landing site selection, the orbiters and landers detached; the landers then entered Nergal's atmosphere and soft-landed at the sites that had been chosen. Gyūki 1 touched down on the surface of Nergal nearly two weeks prior to Gyūki 2's arrival in orbit, coming to rest in Chryse Planitia. Gyūki 2 landed in early September, and from there, the two probes conducted their missions as planned. The orbiters continued imaging and performing other scientific operations from orbit while the landers deployed instruments on the surface. Following the Gyūki program,  NASDA would not return to the red planet until the 1990s.
III. — The Grand Tour, Part One: To Marduk and Beyond

Marduk as Captured by Tabibito 1, c.1979

   The Tabibito Program, not to be confused with the earlier proposed series of missions to Nergal, is an ongoing mission run by NASDA whose initial purpose was to visit the outer four gas giants. As of the present day, though their conclusion is likely fast approaching, they have been re-tasked to explore interstellar space, though this task is one which they were not designed for. Originally born as the "Grand Tour" program, the two Tabibito probes were actually originally to be a part of the Sen'in program. They were then moved to a separate program, dubbed "Sen'in Marduk-Ninurta", but were then renamed to the Tabibito program as it was thought the two probes had progressed sufficiently beyond that of the Sen'in family to merit a separate name. The Tabibito program was similar to the Planetary Grand Tour planned during the late 1960s and early 70s. The Grand Tour would take advantage of an alignment of the outer planets discovered by Daisuke Hayata, an aerospace engineer at NASDA's Flight Propulsion Laboratory in Takahagi. This alignment, which occurs once every 175 years, would occur in the 1970s and make it possible to use gravitational assists to explore Marduk, Ninurta, Anshar, Kishar, and Ramman. The Planetary Grand Tour was to send several pairs of probes to fly by all the outer planets along various trajectories, including Marduk-Ninurta-Ramman and Marduk-Anshar-Kishar. Limited funding ended the Grand Tour program, but elements were incorporated into the Tabibito Program, which fulfilled many of the flyby objectives of the Grand Tour save for a visit to Ramman.

   Both Tabibito 1 and 2 would launch in mid-1977, with the latter actually launching before the former. Nonetheless, Tabibito 1 would quickly overtake its twin, reaching Marduk by 1979. The two probes would explore the Mardukian system for a few days that year before using a gravity assist to continue on towards Ninurta. This would occur in 1980, however, that is a story for another day.

[Daitō]

Chapter Nine — UHS, Part One: The Mundus-Orbiting Shuttle
I. — Rise of the Reusables
Ia. Design Process

Early concept of how the Shuttle would be serviced

   On the 18th of September, 1968, as the Ryū program neared its design completion, NASDA and the Imperial Daitōjin Air Force released a joint study concluding that a new vehicle was required to satisfy their respective future demands and that a partially reusable system would be the most cost-effective solution. The head of the NASDA Office of Manned Space Flight, Eiichi Nagao, announced the plan for a reusable shuttle on August 9, 1968. NASDA issued a request for proposal (RFP) for designs of the Integrated Launch and Re-entry Vehicle (ILRV), which would later become the Shuttle. Rather than award a contract based upon initial proposals, NASDA announced a phased approach for the Shuttle contracting and development; Phase 1 was a request for studies completed by competing aerospace companies, Phase 2 was a competition between two contractors for a specific contract, Phase 3 involved designing the details of the spacecraft components, and Phase 4 was the production of the spacecraft.

   In December 1968, NASDA created the UHS Task Group to determine the optimal design for a reusable spacecraft, and issued study contracts to Zayasu, Aizawa, Shinoda, Negishi, and Ochiai. In 1969, the UHS Task Group issued a report that determined the Shuttle would support short-duration crewed missions and space station, as well as the capabilities to launch, service, and retrieve satellites. The report also created three classes of a future reusable shuttle: Class I would have a reusable orbiter mounted on expendable boosters, Class II would use multiple expendable rocket engines and a single propellant tank (stage-and-a-half), and Class III would have both a reusable orbiter and a reusable booster. In September of that year, the Space Task Force issued a report calling for the development of a shuttle to bring people and cargo to low Mundus orbit (LMO), as well as a space tug for transfers between orbits and the Moon, and a reusable nuclear upper stage for deep space travel. After the release of the UHS Task Group report, many aerospace engineers favored the Class III, fully reusable design because of perceived savings in hardware costs. Harunobu Aoki, a NASDA engineer who had helped to design the Suzaku spacecraft, patented a design for a two-stage fully recoverable system with a straight-winged orbiter mounted on a larger straight-winged booster. The Imperial Daitōjin Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory argued that a straight-wing design would not be able to withstand the high thermal and aerodynamic stresses during reentry, and would not provide the required cross-range capability. Additionally, the Air Force required a larger payload capacity than Aoki's design allowed. In early 1971, NASDA and IDAF leadership decided that a reusable delta-wing orbiter mounted on an expendable propellant tank would be the optimal design for the UHS orbiter.

   After they established the need for a reusable, heavy-lift spacecraft, NASDA and the IDAF determined the design requirements of their respective services. The Air Force expected to use the Shuttle to launch large satellites, and required it to be capable of lifting 29,000 kg into an eastward LMO or 18,000 kg into polar orbit. The satellite designs also required that the Shuttle have a 4.6 by 18 m payload bay. NASDA evaluated the Ka-1 and Ki-2 engines from the Tenjin rockets, but determined that they were insufficient for the requirements of the shuttle. In July 1971, they issued a contract to Zayasu to begin development on the Sa-15 engine. NASDA reviewed 29 potential designs for the UHS program and determined that a design with two side boosters should be used, and the boosters should be reusable to reduce costs. NASDA an the Air Force elected to use use solid-propellant boosters because of the lower costs and the ease of refurbishing them for reuse after they landed in the ocean, though many continued to advocate for liquid propellant boosters for decades to come. In January 1972, Prime Minister Giichi Inukai approved the Shuttle, and NASDA settled on its final design in March. The development of the Shuttle Main Engine (SME) remained the responsibility of Zayasu, and the contract was issued in mid-1971 but given updated specifications in April of 1972. That August, NASDA awarded the contract to build the orbiter to Aizawa, the external tank contract to Negishi, and the solid booster contract to Oguchi Technologies.
Ib. Development

The UHS Pathfinder, c.1977

   On the 3rd of June, 1974, Aizawa began construction on the first orbiter, OV-101, later to be known as Shirotsuru. Shirotsuru was designed as a test vehicle, and did not include engines or heat shielding. Construction was completed on September 13, 1976, and Shirotsuru was moved to Ashiya Air Force Base in Tottori Prefecture. Aizawa also constructed the Main Propulsion Test Article (MPTA)-098, which was a structural truss mounted to the ET with three Sa-15 engines attached. It was tested at the Imperial Space Technology Laboratory (ISTL) to ensure that the engines could safely run through the launch profile. They conducted mechanical and thermal stress tests on Structural Test Article (STA)-099 to determine the effects of aerodynamic and thermal stresses during launch and reentry. The beginning of the development of the Sa-15 SME was delayed for nine months as Uechi Technologies challenged the contract that had been issued to Zayasu. The first engine was completed in March 1975, after issues with developing the first throttleable, reusable engine. During engine testing, the Sa-15 experienced multiple nozzle failures, as well as broken turbine blades. Despite the problems during testing, NASDA ordered the nine Sa-15 engines needed for its three orbiters under construction in May 1978.

   NASDA experienced significant delays in the development of the Shuttle's thermal protection system. Previous NASDA spacecraft had used ablative heat shields, but those could not be reused. NASDA chose to use ceramic tiles for thermal protection, as the shuttle could then be constructed of lightweight aluminum, and the tiles could be individually replaced as needed. Construction began on on Tenryū in the 14th of March, 1975, and it was delivered to Kintei Space Center on the 21st of March, 1979. At the time of its arrival at the KSC, Tenryū had 6,000 of its 30,000 tiles remaining to be installed. However, many of the tiles that had been originally installed had to be replaced, requiring an additional year of installation before Tenryū could actually fly. On the 3rd of January, NASDA commissioned a second orbiter. Later that month, Aizawa selected Shirotsuru for conversion into a full orbiter, although it would not begin for a little while. In mid-1979, NASDA ordered two additional orbiters, OV-103 and OV-104, which were named Shunkotsu and Kaiyō. Construction of OV-105, later named Nagata, began in 1982, but NASDA decided to limit the orbiter fleet to four at that time. When Shunkotsu was lost, however, the orbiter was completed and later entered service. This restriction on the number of orbiters was lifted in 1997 as NASDA began working on the Block II orbiter fleet.
Ic. Testing

Shirotsuru during the Approach and Landing Tests

   After its arrival at Ashiya Air Force Base, Shirotsuru underwent flight testing with the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, an Aizawa AS-500 which had been modified to carry the orbiter. In February of 1977, Shirotsuru began the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) and underwent captive flights, where it remained attached to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft for the duration of the flight. On August 11, it conducted its first glide test, where it detached from the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and landed at Ashiya AFB. After four additional test flights, Shirotsuru was moved to Susaki Space Flight Center (SSFC) on the 16th of March, 1978. Shirotsuru underwent shake tests in the Mated Vertical Ground Vibration Test, where it was attached to an external tank and solid rocket boosters, and underwent vibrations to simulate the stresses of launch. In April 1979, it went to Kintei, where it was mated to an external tank and solid rocket boosters, and moved to LC-29. Once installed at the launch pad, the shuttle was used to verify the proper positioning of the launch complex hardware. Shirotsuru, despite becoming a fully operational orbiter, was taken off the flight line in 1984 to assist in development of the SLC-3 at Izena AFB in the Amami islands. In 1979, Tenryū was mated to its external tank and solid-rocket boosters, and was moved to LC-29 on the 28th of December. The final countdown to the first flight of the UHS Spacecraft had begun.
II. — UHS-1

Liftoff of UHS-1

   UHS-1 was the first orbital spaceflight of NASDA's UHS program. The first orbiter, Tenryū, launched on the 16th of March, 1980 and returned on the 19th of March after 54.4 hours in orbit, during which the spacecraft orbited Mundus 37 times. Tenryū carried a crew of two—mission commander Kanji Akasaki and pilot Akiya Sakai. It was the first Daitōjin crewed spaceflight since Kyūden 5 in 1974, as well as the maiden test flight of a new Daitōjin spacecraft to carry crew, though it was preceded by the previously mentioned Approach and Landing Tests. Kanji Akasaki and Akiya Sakai were selected as the UHS-1 crew in early 1978. Akasaki stated that as the Chief of the Ūchunaut Office, he recommended himself to command the mission. Akasaki, with three missions already under his belt (having commanded the Kyūden 3 mission in 1973), was the most experienced ūchunaut in NASDA at the time as well as the only member of NASDA Ūchunaut Group 1 still in service. Sakai, by comparison, was a relative newcomer, having joined NASDA as part of Group 7 after the cancellation of the IDAF's MORL program. He was the first of his group to fly.

   The first flight of the UHS program occurred on the 16th of March, 1980, when the orbiter, Tenryū, lifted off from Pad A, Launch Complex 29, at Kintei Space Center. The launch took place at 12:00:18 UTC. A launch attempt had been made two days prior, but had to be scrubbed when the orbiter's four primary general purpose computers (GPCs) failed to provide correct timing to the backup flight system (BFS) when the GPCs were scheduled to transition from vehicle checkout to flight configuration mode. Not only was this the first launch of the UHS orbiter, but it marked the first time that solid-fuel rockets were used for a NASDA crewed launch (although previous systems had used solid-fuel motors for their escape towers or retro rockets). UHS-1 was also the first Daitōjin crewed space vehicle launched without an uncrewed powered test flight. NASDA's mission objective for the maiden flight was to accomplish a safe ascent into orbit and return to Mundus for a safe landing of Orbiter and crew. The only payload carried on the mission was a Development Flight Instrumentation (DFI) package, which contained sensors and measuring devices to record the orbiter's performance and the stresses that occurred during launch, ascent, orbital flight, descent and landing. All 113 flight test objectives were accomplished, and the orbiter's spaceworthiness was verified.

   Ignition of the three Sa-15 engines was sensed as a sharp increase in noise. The stack rocked "downwards" (towards the crew's feet), then back up to the vertical, at which point both Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) ignited. Sakai likened lift-off to a "steam catapult shot" (such as when an aircraft is launched from an aircraft carrier). The stack's combined northwards translation and climb above the launch tower's lightning rod were readily apparent to Akasaki. After clearing the tower the stack began a right roll to a launch azimuth of 067° True, and pitched to a "heads down" attitude (to reduce loading on the wings). Simultaneously control was passed from the launch team in Tsukishima to the team at Toshinari Space Center. Tenryū's main engines were throttled down to 65% thrust to transit the region of Max Q, the point during ascent when the shuttle undergoes maximum aerodynamic stress. This occurred 56 seconds into the flight at Mach 1.06. The wind corrected value was 29 kPa (4.2 psi). The two SRBs performed better than expected causing a lofted trajectory, and were jettisoned after burnout at 2 minutes and 12 seconds. After 8 minutes and 34 seconds MET, the main engines were shut down and the external tank was jettisoned. Two twin-engined Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engine burns of 86 seconds duration initiated at 10 minutes and 34 seconds MET and 75 seconds duration at 44 minutes 2 seconds MET inserted Tenryū into a 246 × 248 km orbit.

   Over the course of the mission, the crew would test the spacecraft in orbit and run a number of experiments, however, in time, they would return to Mundus, landing at Shirasu Air Force Base due to poor weather at Ashiya Air Force Base. The UHS program had seen its first flight succeed, and the age of reusable spacecraft had dawned. In the months and years that followed, a number of further test flights would be performed, including a mission to recover Ryū 4's lunar module, which also saw the first EVA of the program in August of 1981. It marked the first time that an object in orbit had been recovered by the Shuttle, and now, the module remains on display at the Imperial Air and Space Museum alongside Ryū 4's Command Module and Tenryū itself. By late 1981, test flights came to an end and the new era was born.