Eschenbach in English...
"The Carpetakewrs" was published by Tor. I just read it, it is very nice new-classical space opera with good world building and realistioc caracters (albeit they all appear episodically, the story IS the main character!). Higly recommended, but not AH. Well, nobody is...
A-bomb rate of production
This was discussed recently...
With what? What was the US rate of A-bomb production in 1945? This will be a long, costly and difficult war. Both sides understood it so here we are...
A-bomb supply shortage...
I also think that the a WWWII at this time will require to use A-bombs. However, the US rate of production was a few A-bombs per year. Therefore their effect will be more political than anything else. Given the hard grip the Soviet government had on the...
alt. space travel origin
A few alternatives:
- more merciful end fo the WWI for Germany, no WWII, the space travel starst as suborbital flights growing from high altitude record flights, no dangerous rockets that tend to blow regularly, the militaryrealizes later the applications and starst...
semi ASB version
This one is hard to make...
The only thing that comes to mind is a major
asteroid hit in the continental USA, so they
simply can not affort it. The rest of the world
starts agressive space programs to defend
itself against further hits, the moon bases are
part of...
NASA-like agency vs. a military project
I find it difficult to have a NASA-like agency this early primarily because thie means a civillian space program. It is most likely any such program to be developed via some branch of the military.
Of course, this is a detail, the real problem is...
is this it?
As mentioned above, Bulgaria was one of the most loyal Soviet allies...
I would guess that a Third front was oppened on the Bolkans and this is the reason why Bulgaria eventually became a "Western" country but I am afraid this breaks the post-1945 constraint.
the larger picture + some possible consequences
Yes, the same problem would apply to the trip to Mars. I am not sure about the Mars surface...
As for the cancellation... I am afraid it is not the solar flares, though they might have contributted too.
Look at the nature of the Moon...
If you are asking about the Ottoman invasion - it coinsided with a Civil War between the hairs of the trone. Essentially, BG was divided into a few kingdoms and they didn't help each other. In fact, some even fought on the side of the invaders.
This is not quite true - even today in BG exists a muslim population with genetic lines clearly descendent from the slavs (blue eyes, blond hair). They are called "pomaks".
Now that you said this... The Ottoman incursion in Europe happened right after a few waves of black plague. In fact, Silverbeg used a related PoD in "The gates of the Worlds" series... Anybody knows if there were plagues in OTL Byzantium at the time?
"Energia" for sale
"Energia" never exploded (see astronautix.com). I suspect someone is mixing the infamous N-1 boosted from the Soviet Moon Landing program N1-L3 from the late 60s early 70s. Energia was developed as a replacement for N-1. It was launched twoce: with a mock-up (albeit it...