LinuxGal: "Hey, Clippy, assume that leftover Saturn IB and Saturn V hardware was not utilized for launching Skylab, or staffing Skylab with crew, or conducting the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. List all hardware (such as S-IVB stages, or Command Service Modules) that was built or partially built and would have been available for a continuation of the space program during the 1970s."
Clippy:
A great science fiction novel based on a similar premise is Voyage, by Stephen Baxter, written in the mid-1990s. It's an alternate history in which the U.S. continues with outward human exploration using hardware descended from Apollo/Saturn, rather than limit human travel to low earth orbit with the space shuttle. It culminates with a human trip to mars in the 1980s.
1/3
I loved this book, but I suspect most would find it dull. It's incredibly detailed, and thus might appeal to people who liked "The Martian". But in contrast to The Martian, the detail is not just technical, but also in the national politics of the era, and the internal politics of NASA and its contractors. It's slow moving, spanning about 15 years, and the first really dramatic thing doesn't happen until a few hundred pages in.
2/3
The main character is a rookie astronaut. It follows her career path, emphasizing the tedium of it. It contemplates the different things that the space program meant to test pilots (the source of most astronauts back then), vs engineers, vs scientists, and the tensions between them. Baxter did his homework, and the book feels extremely authentic. I came to it fairly knowledgeable about the space program of that era, but it took my depth of understanding to a new level.
3/3
Basic premise is "What if the Russian's landed on the moon first?" From there we keep the spacerace for other achievements. Each season jumps forward a decade from the 70s to 2010s.
Also as someone that studied history and almost became a history teacher, I like seeing how some historic events played out differently and how they change the world in unexpected ways in the show.
It really is my favorite Sci-Fi show on TV right now.
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