Line #23 Literature/EyesTurnedSkywards


1	->''"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return."''
2	--> -- Commonly attributed to '''Creator/LeonardoDaVinci'''
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4	''Eyes Turned Skywards'' is an [[AlternateHistory alternate spaceflight history]] timeline found on the [[Website/AlternateHistoryDotCom alternatehistory.com]] forums. The difference from our timeline is that after the 1969 Moon landings, NASA doesn't choose to develop the Space Shuttle, but instead continues to use hardware based on the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn rockets. Eventually, an international space station is built in the late 80s/early 90s, ten years before the International Space Station began construction in our timeline. A return to the Moon occurs in 1999 (the 30th anniversary of the Apollo program). The Soviet Union/Russia comes to use a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TKS_(spacecraft) TKS spacecraft]] instead of the Soyuz, and China comes up with their own manned spacecraft a decade earlier than our timeline's Shenzhou program. The timeline also details other differences, such as unmanned space probes, and changes in pop culture due to the butterfly effect, and is usually presented in a history book-like, dialogue-free format.
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6	The thread can be found [[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=208954 here]], and a summary (along with some [[http://wiki.alternatehistory.com/doku.php?id=timelines:eyes_turned_skyward_media nice images]]) can be found at the [[http://wiki.alternatehistory.com/doku.php?id=timelines:eyes_turned_skyward Alternate History Wiki]]
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8	Finished as of early September 2015, as anything beyond 2015 would be less realistic and pure speculation.
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10	Not to be confused with the ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7307180/1/Eyes-Turned-Skywards fanfiction of the same name]].
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13	!!This work features the following tropes :
14	* AlternateHistory: Focusing on alternate developments in spaceflight and space exploration.
15	* AllohistoricalAllusion: ''Challenger'' and ''Discovery'' are names for space station modules instead of Space Shuttles.
16	* CoolSpaceship: There are lots of [[https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=timelines:evolution.png those]] as well as the [[https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=timelines:launchers3.png rockets]] that launch them into orbit.
17	* DifferentWorldDifferentMovies: The "Interlude" updates guest-written by Tropers/{{Brainbin}} (author of ''Literature/ThatWackyRedhead'', a timeline that's all about this trope) sketch out how popular culture evolves differently in this timeline, starting with the original plans for a ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]'' {{Revival}} in TheSeventies playing out as intended on the small screen instead of being re-worked into [[Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture a movie]]. It airs on NBC - the same network that cancelled [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original]] ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]'' - starting in 1977, under the name ''Star Trek: The New Voyages'', resulting in TOS instead acquiring the retronym TOV, for The Original ''Voyages''.[[note]]in OTL, the plan was for the intended sequel series, ''Sta Trek: Phase II'', to be the flagship series of a planned fourth TV network called the Paramount Television Service; the head of Paramount's parent Gulf & Western, Charles Bluhdorn, mothballed the plans over fears that it would bleed money, leading to the conversion of the pilot for ''Phase II'', "In Thy Image", into ''ST:TMP''[[/note]] (''WesternAnimation/StarTrekTheAnimatedSeries'' likewise becomes TAV, for The Animated ''Voyages''.) This jump-starts an entirely different course for the wider ''Franchise/StarTrek'' franchise.
18	* DoubleBlindWhatIf: The thread on alternatehistory.com begins with a depiction of an in-universe forum thread speculating on what it would be like if NASA developed the Space Shuttle instead of continuing with Saturn rockets and Apollo spacecraft. They wouldn't have known that the Space Shuttle program would end up becoming way more expensive than anticipated.
19	* ForWantOfANail: The point of divergence is George Low becoming administrator of NASA in February 1969 instead of Thomas Paine. This leads to NASA not developing the Space Shuttle, and various differences in space programs around the world.
20	* FunWithAcronyms: A unmanned resupply spacecraft derived from Apollo called the AARDV ([[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment Autonomous Automated]] Rendezvous and Docking Vehicle), also known as the Aardvark.
21	* InSpiteOfANail: The Soviet Union still collapses in the early 1990s. The Apollo lunar landings still stop in the 70s, but not before having one more landing (Apollo 18) than the real life Apollo program. In addition, Apollo 13 still has its mishap. Humanity doesn't return to the Moon until 1999 with the [[https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=timelines:art4_homestead.png Artemis program]].
22	* MoonBase: In the late 2000s, a small outpost called [[https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=timelines:orion_cut2.png Orion]] lands on the Moon. This is followed by the larger [[https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=timelines:armstrong.png Armstrong Base]] in the 2010s.
23	* RetroRocket: The [[https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=timelines:starcat-flight-2.jpg X-40]] was the first automated vertical-landing reusable rocket, developed in the early 1990s (similar to the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_Douglas_DC-X DC-X]] in our timeline). This later led to the development of the [[https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=timelines:tb1_launch.png Thunderbolt]] rocket by a private company called Star Launch Services, which accomplished the same feat as [[UsefulNotes/SpaceExplorationTechnologiesCorporation SpaceX]] ([[https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=timelines:tb1_land.png reusable first stage]] of an orbital rocket) but over a decade earlier.
24	* SpaceStation: Space Station ''[[https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=timelines:foc-d.jpg Freedom]]'' (different design from the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Station_Freedom cancelled project]] found in our timeline) is a co-operative project between the United States, Europe, Japan, and Canada, constructed from 1988 to 1991. This timeline has its own version of the Soviet ''[[https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=timelines:mir-alone.jpg Mir]]'' station, which is much larger than the real life ''Mir'', however, it is never fully realized after the collapse of the Soviet Union. China later co-operates with Russia by adding its [[https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=timelines:mir-tiangong.png own module]], named ''Tiangong'' [[note]]technically one of the Russian modules, never finished or launched before[[/note]], in the mid-90s. China later builds their own station called [[https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=timelines:eastern-dawn.png Tianjia]], and Space Station Freedom is replaced by Space Station [[https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=timelines:discovery.png Discovery]] in the 2010s.
25	* SpacePlane: The [[https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=timelines:x33_flying.jpg X-33]] is a prototype/technology demonstrator for a future single-stage-to-orbit space plane. It successfully performs [[https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=timelines:x33_apex.jpg a flight]] in 2000, reaching a maximum altitude of 30 miles. A larger version is later used as a booster for the fully-reusable two-stage [[https://www.alternatehistory.com/wiki/lib/exe/fetch.php?cache=&media=timelines:starclipper.png Starclipper]] launch vehicle. (The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-33 real life counterpart]] of the X-33 was cancelled instead due to technical problems)
26	* ShownTheirWork: The alternate developments in space exploration shown in the timeline are highly plausible technologically, economically, and politically. There is a lot of technical and scientific detail.
27	* WhatIf: "What if NASA continued to use Apollo and Apollo-derived spacecraft?", and other spaceflight history what-ifs.

Context Literature / EyesTurnedSkywards