Roleplay > History

In Pursuit of the Heavens — A History of Daitōjin Spaceflight

<< < (2/2)

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.

--- Quote ---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."
--- End quote ---

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.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page