Part 23: Spring 1962: Post-Vote
Equipment is purchased for these two missions and they are scheduled for regular launching.
Ranger Research is conducted with pretty good results. Also I only just now noticed that the Max R&D and Max Safety period are almost exactly the same on this guy. Interesting.
Kicker B, a very necessary piece of equipment for the Gemini/Shuttle school of Lunar Landings. Luckily it's not a particularly expensive piece of machinery to work with.
And lastly, a look to the future. I'm honestly not sure if there's any penalty on the Orbital Duration D mission or not as it doesn't update appropriately for the level you're trying. I think it'll be a -1 at worst though, assuming the Duration C mission this season doesn't go wrong.
MEANWHILE...
If I hadn't been planning on stopping the Vostok launches before, I definitely would be now. That thing is cursed.
The Politburo has... "graciously" allowed me 90 MB to work with this year. I gave them this multi-year document on the holy grail of Soviet technology, the Soyuz, and how we could get it to the moon very quickly with proper funding... and they gave me 90 MB. Perhaps they saw what I realized shortly afterwards... something I overlooked.
Docking. I thought I could get away without using the docking module with this method, but it's still needed. It's far too late to start trying to work that into the budget now... one of the scientists, however, has a new idea.
He slipped it into conversation casually while we were going over the results of the latest bouts of research into interplanetary satellite technology and the Proton rocket system. A new space capsule and a rocket the size of which has never even been imagined previously... but there would be costs. Monetary, intellectual, time... many different costs. Perhaps even human lives if it fails. Sometimes, though...
You have to give up position in the present for possible gains in the future. The Cosmonauts we have won't stand for it, we can't afford to hire any more at the moment, but with some very careful planning and enough time... I get the feeling this could work.
Just barely, but it could work...
Spring 1962 Launches
No surprises here, moving on.
If I had a MegaBuck for all the bullets you guys have been dodging on these missions lately, I've have like 5 MegaBucks.