Even with the knowledge we have currently, the earliest Mars landing will be in the mid 40s to early 50s.
Blue Skies in Camelot (Continued): An Alternate 80s and Beyond
- Thread starter President_Lincoln
- Start date
Wow. Well then I hope RFK can get it funded and that NASA realises what they will need to get a person to Mars ITTL, even if it takes 15 years or till 2003
I don't think you realize how much of a stir this will cause.
Current funding at NASA is around 20 billion dollars a year.
And budget hawks are still clamoring about it.
Funding this will mean spending more money than for defense continously, for 15 years.
This will have to be a global, drawn out process.
A true effort of humanity.
No I'm just hoping that the people ITTL can get to Mars quicker than we have in our timeline. Though that is a great show
A good way to age up RFK is to combine his face with RFK JR's
I believe that's been brought up a few times, and I imagine the fact that he's not going to lose his brothers or his cousin is going to help as well.
I've never seen it brought up, so I thought I would. I'd like to think he becomes a Senator from New York in the 2000's or so.
That's even better genius! Let's just say that this is what President RFK would like in his 60s by the end of his office in 1989 ITTL. Absolute perfection!A good way to age up President RFK is to combine his face with his son, RFK Jr.
With everything that's happening to him in Present IOTL, he's not going to that path and indeed get every help from his siblings, cousins, and the whole Kennedys ITTL.
How about he'd run for US Senate of New York in the 90's ITTL? That would be interesting to imagine geniuses.
I could see RFK running for Senate. I just hope he has a good partner by his side.
Any geniuses here have suggestions on who can we matched RFK, Jr. to? While he's born in 1954 (The Boomer Generation), we need someone from his generation that their relationship and marriage would strengthen them up to Present ITTL.
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Yeah, RFK's quest for a manned mission to Mars is definitely not aiming to do so by end of the 1980s. The space station Freedom is the first step of creating an orbital supply and base system (ala what @aksolute suggested above). That is considered a prerequisite for further exploration. Indeed, as others have pointed out, an Apollo-Svarog-esque mission of "land on the surface and come back" is virtually impossible for Mars. Going to Mars will require the ability to produce necessary materials on the Martian surface.
Nice pic! Thanks for sharing.A good way to age up RFK is to combine his face with RFK JR's
As has been mentioned before, ITTL, expect Jr. to be much better adjusted. I won't say too much yet as A. It could be considered "current politics" and B. he's still relatively young ITTL. But I'll be sure to cover him more as the TL carries forward.
I have a possible spinoff idea that people can contribute to:
Tales of a better world. It shows profiles of original characters from the timeline.
I can give two examples:
Andrea Stone: A writer who is heavily inspired to pursue a writing career in sci fi and spy fiction in part by Marilyn Monroe. A major feminist, she gets tapped to write the Winter Trilogy for Star Wars. Is initially somewhat controversial amongst the fandom, partially because sci fi and fantasy was a boys club for a while but also because she’s bold (Winter, the main character is a spy who is all too willing to use sex to get what she wants, and even when not on duty is pretty casual about it. The story doesn’t judge her for taking multiple men into her bed).
Andrea also has a career in Spy Fiction, though she leans more tinker tailor soldier spy than Connery bond (while some of the later versions of Bond ultimately earn her respect the Connery Bonds ultimately don’t due to the rampant sexism…..though she does give the ending of YOLT credit.)
Jane and Joseph: Zimbabweans trying to build a relationship in post unity Zimbabwe. Jane is a white Zimbabwean and the daughter of a wealthy farmer….and Joseph is the son of one of the workers.
Tales of a better world. It shows profiles of original characters from the timeline.
I can give two examples:
Andrea Stone: A writer who is heavily inspired to pursue a writing career in sci fi and spy fiction in part by Marilyn Monroe. A major feminist, she gets tapped to write the Winter Trilogy for Star Wars. Is initially somewhat controversial amongst the fandom, partially because sci fi and fantasy was a boys club for a while but also because she’s bold (Winter, the main character is a spy who is all too willing to use sex to get what she wants, and even when not on duty is pretty casual about it. The story doesn’t judge her for taking multiple men into her bed).
Andrea also has a career in Spy Fiction, though she leans more tinker tailor soldier spy than Connery bond (while some of the later versions of Bond ultimately earn her respect the Connery Bonds ultimately don’t due to the rampant sexism…..though she does give the ending of YOLT credit.)
Jane and Joseph: Zimbabweans trying to build a relationship in post unity Zimbabwe. Jane is a white Zimbabwean and the daughter of a wealthy farmer….and Joseph is the son of one of the workers.
On the social justice front I think that for Jon Burge there needs to be a MAJOR scandal that not only sees someone exonerated, but also lays bare the full scale of both the corruption and depravity.
There’s a real case (Kevin Cooper in CA), where there’s a pretty strong likelihood he’s innocent but a lot of vested interest in upholding the system means he’s still on death row (a law firm hired to do an independent investigation limited their review to documents presented at trial despite a.) acknowledging that it was important to examine all documents in the state’s possession and b.) actually having subpoena power to twist the state’s arm if they had truly wanted. The guy they had to evaluate claims of evidence tampering was also close friends with the guy Cooper accused of doing most of the tampering. Unsurprisingly the investigation said that there was no tampering or misconduct). The Wikipedia article sums up the whole sordid story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Cooper_(prisoner)
Going back to Burge I think that there could be a case similarly fucked up (ie an innocent man was framed for a monstrous crime. There’s a lot of racial tensions and the guy gets death row.) Burge is majorly involved, using torture to get a confession.
Ultimately the early 90s see DNA testing done and the testing not only fully proves the guy’s innocence, it also reveals the actual perpetrator (a white man, while the guy tortured into confessing is a black man). This triggers more of an investigation into Burge’s crimes that results in dozens of other cases being overturned and triggering a nationwide debate on policing (the unions violently resist the conclusions of the report).
Burge ultimately looses his pension for it and while not jailed for torture is jailed for perjury (happened to Burge OTL).
There’s a real case (Kevin Cooper in CA), where there’s a pretty strong likelihood he’s innocent but a lot of vested interest in upholding the system means he’s still on death row (a law firm hired to do an independent investigation limited their review to documents presented at trial despite a.) acknowledging that it was important to examine all documents in the state’s possession and b.) actually having subpoena power to twist the state’s arm if they had truly wanted. The guy they had to evaluate claims of evidence tampering was also close friends with the guy Cooper accused of doing most of the tampering. Unsurprisingly the investigation said that there was no tampering or misconduct). The Wikipedia article sums up the whole sordid story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Cooper_(prisoner)
Going back to Burge I think that there could be a case similarly fucked up (ie an innocent man was framed for a monstrous crime. There’s a lot of racial tensions and the guy gets death row.) Burge is majorly involved, using torture to get a confession.
Ultimately the early 90s see DNA testing done and the testing not only fully proves the guy’s innocence, it also reveals the actual perpetrator (a white man, while the guy tortured into confessing is a black man). This triggers more of an investigation into Burge’s crimes that results in dozens of other cases being overturned and triggering a nationwide debate on policing (the unions violently resist the conclusions of the report).
Burge ultimately looses his pension for it and while not jailed for torture is jailed for perjury (happened to Burge OTL).
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