Retro-Rockets Red Glare. A cold war solar system ATU

[captainjack]

1953: Project Prometheus and Operation Fleaflicker

The war has been stalemated since the soviet thrust across the Rhine was cut off and destroyed in 1950. Vast air attacks on the UK have consistently kept it unusable as a base for long range strikes on the Soviet homeland. Mass B-29/50 raids from southern France or Iceland have been consistently unable to penetrate past Poland or the east Baltic sea without destruction. Leningrad was damaged by Atomic weaponry at the cost of 70% of the strike aircraft in the most successful such raid. The Mig-15 has proven to be a terrifying air defense fighter against unescorted bombers, even the new B-36 - of which half were lost in the Leningrad raid.


Germany and Poland have absorbed dozens, perhaps a hundred nuclear strikes from small dirty tactical strikes up thru the 50kt Nagasaki busters. East and west line up on opposite sides of the Rhine, keeping dispersed and dug in against tactical strikes. R-1 and the new R-2 rockets occasionally bombard eastern France and Southwest UK with Diebner bombs and radiological weapons. Both homelands are locked into fortress economies, currently safe from attack, but surrounded by devastated allies.


Nov 7, 1953, Cold Lake USAFB, Alberta, Canada: Project Prometheus.


Seven orbital Bombers designed by Eugene Sanger from his original Silbervogel Antipodal bomber scream into the air at the end of 10,000 foot long rail tracks. Launched in three waves, the bombers carry seven Atomic bombs, three of the now all-too-common fat man design, four carrying Super Oralloy Weapons estimated at a half megaton each - an order of magnitude more the the fat man bombs.


One of the rail boosters of the second wave explodes at separation, destroying Prometheus 5 and it's launch track; the remaining two rails launch the final bombers successfully. Two of the remaining six break up and are destroyed as they begin skipping off of the atmosphere. All will be destroyed during final re-entry, but four will deliver their bombs first: two superbombs on Moscow; two fat man bombs on command and control sites in the heartland of Russia. The capital is pulverized, and amidst the hundreds of thousands of casualties, two key ones are included: Stalin and Beria. As well, Molotov, Malenkov, Bulganin, most of Presidium and Stavka command including Zhukov. The Soviet military and government is effectively decapitated; even more, news of Stalin and Beria's death creates a growing power struggle among the few survivors, paralyzing the response.


Operation Fleaflicker

As the strikes in Russia are confirmed, the remaining long-range bomber and Ficon squadrons launch from the newly built Frobishers bay AFB, passing over the ruins of Thule on their way to Russia. Soviet air defense is hampered but not crippled as expected; few bombers ever make it to targets. The survivors will land, ditch or bail out across northern Canada, Greenland and Scandanavia; it is effectively the death of the western strategic bombing force. However, despite this failure, as the bombers and their fighters are attacking soviet airspace, NATO commits all remaining ground force reserves in what is to be the last, desperate offensive of WWIII. Widely dispersed NATO forces cross the Rhine; winter slows down the attacking forces and burdens supply, but gives tactical surprise, and, along with the sacrifice of SAC and Bomber command, removes the specter of nuclear air attacks from the equation.


Within three brutal weeks, NATO forces are at the Wesser and the Main, and the uneasy alliance that currently ruled the USSR (Nikita Kruschev, and the only surviving Marshals Ivan Konev and Vasily Sokolosky) requests a cease-fire. With logistical support failing across the blasted German battlefield, NATO, quite literally on its last legs, desperately grabs the olive branch, accepting what will be an indefinite armistice. Germany between the Wesser and the Oder becomes the northern region of a DMZ that will stretch to the Adriatic. The troops remain on the lines, and will for the next thirty years; at least the wounded will be home by Christmas.


Next....so how does this get us into space ?

 

[BillDowns]

Next....so how does this get us into space ?

The US military leadership realizes that LEO space stations can drop nuclear weapons nearly anywhere, and space-based fighters have a possibility, however slight, of intercepting enemy missiles and antipodal bombers.

It takes almost 10 years, but by the end of Kennedy's first tenure, two LEO space stations are operational, with first-strike nuclear weapons, and defensive space fighters.

The Soviets are not standing still, but develop along similar paths. They have one LEO station by '63 with another coming along.

The space-race has become a reality, with higher stations, and eventually the moon becoming important bastions.

An aside, does the Air Force still get created in 1949?

 

[epicenter00]

As an American, I have to say it's great reading a history where the those filthy Reds get the living daylights pounded out of them!

However, as an objective GM trying to make a game setting, I don't think a NATO/American victory is a good way to spur on a setting of expansion into space - while Europe is devastated and so is much of the Soviet Union, it seem the mideast, Asia, the entire southern hemisphere and most importantly, the United States and Canada are untouched by nuclear weapons. While the scenario Bill outlines will explain expansion to the moon or so, it doesn't explain why there'd be expansion into the solar system.

While Whartung's idea of some sort exotic material would work best for expansion, I feel you want to avoid such a neat "gimmie."

However, I do indeed have a suggestion and not just criticism:

Nuclear winter and variant/faulty science.

* Your world's conditions caused the COMINTERN to never fail; there might have been tensions between Russia and China, but they cooperated past 1943 - right up until your Cold War turned hot. While never seriously a threat unlike the Soviet Union, the China of that world would have nevertheless been a threat if left unchecked would do what the Soviet Union couldn't. What it'd effectively mean is that the US and its European allies engaged in widespread use of nuclear weapons in the Far East and the mideast to check Chinese and Chinese-sponsored communist forces. The Chinese, with aid given by the Soviets make their own nuclear weapons and use them on the allies and their Asian bases in Asia. Even if the Chinese no longer exist/are a threat, this increases the numbers of nukes used, increases the number of burning cities, and helps to bring about nuclear winter. Strikes in the mideast using "bigger is better" nuclear weapons hit hithero unknown oil deposits that gutter and burn for years, sending up great clouds of sooty smoke.

* Communist sympathizers in US reveal to the Soviets that the Japanese 'fire balloon' attacks during WW2 might have worked if the Japanese kept at it and only failed due to information blackouts by the US. Cheaper than sending bombers, the COMINTERN release thousands of 'fire balloons' into the jet stream to the US where they cause widespread fires and even firestorm conditions.

* The continental US is eventually hit by nuclear strikes. This might be as easy as a few freighters from supposed "neutral" countries docking in some remote area of Mexico. The troops and local sympathizers/workers-at-gunpoint swiftly grade an airfield, and technicians swiftly assemble medium or even short-range planes capable of carrying nukes into the US. The Soviet pilots know this is a one-way trip so their planes can fly out to their maximum range. By basing Soviets in Mexico and by saying there's a limit to the size of the airplanes that can be carried on freighters, you can prevent a lot of the US's east coast cities from being devastated, leaving the US power structure and much of the population and industry intact. The Soviets use a large number of "dirty bombs" as well to make large areas of the US uninhabitable. Places like the US west coast and midwest are devastated however. In return, the US more or less blindly retaliates against Mexico (remember, most of the US's troops are off overseas) by nuking likely sites.

You would probably have to push your ATU's NATO war-ending strike further back in time or put the starting date earlier. Either way. In this world, nuclear fallout has rendered much of the northern hemisphere's farmlands to be unusable. The great soot clouds further have locked much of the northern hemisphere into winter-like conditions. What's more, scientists note the radioactive soot move further and further south every year on prevailing winds. It's estimated within another 15 years, the world will be locked a nuclear winter.

For now, through brute force, the US and USSR have seized fertile areas in the southern hemisphere to feed their hungry populations. However, the coming nuclear winter is estimated by scientists to last 250-500 years, depending on predictions. These predictions don't have to be correct, or they might be. It doesn't really matter provided people believe them.

The first idea was the use of "vault" type living conditions; by use of nuclear power and digging far underground, a combination of fallout shelter and city could be created to "ride out" conditions on Earth. The problem with the idea was that scientists have found that radioactive particles, carried by prevailing winds, have extensively contaminated groundwater supplies. The science to cheaply filter them out simply doesn't exist yet.

However, the other side of this science is that scientists have figured out a way to sustain human life other worlds besides Earth - as long as there is sufficient water. Both sides are in a mad scramble to find sites in the solar system to colonize that have water. Due to the understanding of nuclear weapons and the realization that while such sites are limited in number, nobody uses nukes in colonies because they ultimately want the colony sites. While closer to Earth is better (and not everyone has completely given up on Earth anyway), there's benefits to trying to colonize worlds further away as they're less likely to be attacked.

 

[captainjack]

Hmmmmm. Excellent comments from both of you. I've already made some changes based on the perception that the USSR got the stuffing knocked out of it -my intent wasn't to create that result. I can see now what suggested it - I added the bomber attack of Fleaflicker while writing it up, and it made the operation look much more successful than I wanted. I've rewritten the original post in question -does that seem to give less of a clear victory to NATO and/or stuffing kicking to the USSR ? I'm explicitly not aiming for a twilight 2000 style result. My goal was to create a situation where orbital assets broke the stalemate in a very visible and impressive way, but left both combatants still very much able to continue as operating powers.

On that note, too, I have ideas already about Asia and nuclear winter effects; I'll post them ( and other thoughts) later, as I need to sleep....

 

[captainjack]

1953-58 : Post Bellum, Ad Astra





After the armistice, it was clear to both sides that the key to the next war was orbital superiority. For the Western Alliance, this was underlined by the destruction of the strategic air forces in the final raids; even after enduring a nuclear strike and command decapitation, Soviet air defense was able to stop conventional bombing attacks. The Soviet Union had a devastated capital to counter the arguments of the Air Marshals. Both sides had made it plain that extensive use of tactical nuclear weapons had changed the face of land and sea warfare forever. Across the board, it was accepted that expensive and extensive military assets were easily countered by much cheaper nuclear weapons, and the lions’ share of what military spending was left went to development of space assets.


The Western alliance had advanced rail based launch systems, whereas the Soviet bloc had developed advanced rocket capacity. Both immediately rushed to grab superiority with their homegrown systems, and to simultaneously catch up in the opponents systems.


For the next five years the soviet rocket forces and the newly reorganized United States Aerospace force were able to loft communication and spy satellites and frantically competed to develop survivable manned vehicles; By early 1956, both sides had developed maneuverable orbital fighters and, more critically, preliminary launch platforms for nuclear weapons. Still grudgingly at peace Earthside, both were involved in discreet campaigns to destroy the unmanned orbital assets of their opponents. By 1958, however, it was clear to both sides that unmanned assets in orbit were ineffective due to the ease of their destruction; unsurprisingly, both sides finally deployed manned platforms which were attacked and destroyed by their opponents.


Next : The first Orbital War.

 

[captainjack]

Orbit War One: Mercury, Vostok, and the triumph of cumulative risk.



The First Orbital war (1958), while politically indecisive, was mainly a proof of concept for orbital conflict. Both sides relied on single seat earth launch interceptors (Hermes/Mercury and Vostok series orbital craft); The initial USAF Hermes Orbit Interceptor relied on rail boost whereas the Vostok used direct rocket launch systems. The USAF Mercury Interceptor, deployed mid war, was an uparmed Hermes designed for rocket boost, which had proven a more rapid, (if less reliable) deployment system for intercept missions responding to Soviet launches.


Both the Vostok and the Hermes/Mercury had minimal weapon capacity , limited maneuverability, endurance and apogee. As a result mission duration was limited, as was actual engagement time and maneuverability. Craft in this period had much more capacity for evasion than controlled interception, but for both sides, actual maneuvering fuel and endurance was sharply limited, resulting in indecisive missions against manned targets. The usual goal of an offensive mission was to knock out a particular unmanned and non-maneuvering satellites; typically, if such an attack was detected at launch, an interceptor was launched to engage the attacker. The usual result of an engagement was for both craft being forced to maneuver to avoid attack, expending all discresionary maneuver fuel, and having to abort, leaving the target unharmed. In several cases, either or both of the craft lost sufficient maneuver ability to successfully reenter, and if a rescue mission was impossible, were lost attempting to return, or became derelict.


While the popular press played up the image of raging space dogfights, only three actual combat kills occurred; most intercepts were resolved by one of the combatants aborting, or surrendering when unable to further maneuver without losing return capability. This was known as a “gentleman’s kill”, and allowed the loser to return to earth after acknowledging defeat; while this procedure was officially discouraged, and then banned by the command of both sides, it was almost universally accepted by both sides.


Despite the actions in orbit, most of the losses in both forces were the result of launch or reentry failures. In particular the rate of launch failures increased dramatically in intercept missions due to the unwillingness to reschedule or abort a launch.


Wartime mission failures invariably resulted in a dead pilot , and ran about 6% per launch/recovery cycle for both sides; while this seems small, the cumulative result was an ~50% death rate across 10 missions; the existing astro/cosmonaut corps could not sustain these losses, especially as the rate of mission launches increased in the final months to an average three day turnaround per pilot. As a result, unlike typical air combat, where loss rates are typically asymmetric, both sides faced an almost total loss of skilled pilots, and after approximately 11 months, decided on a cease fire.

The lesson learned for both sides was that ground based interceptor forces could not be relied on for long term conflict. Accordingly, when the second orbit war broke out in 1961, both sides had larger and truly maneuverable craft (Gemini/Voskhod) operating from either long orbit missions (stretch Gemini,dual Voskhod fighter/tender) , space stations (the Soviet Almaz, USAF MOS), and the first larger fighter conveyors (The USAF Agena I and II FiCons,and the Soviet TKS tender).

 

[captainjack]

wow, more self indulgent blather !

The 1959 LEO treaty, and the evolution of the UN



If the first major consequence of the First orbital war was speeding up long term and long range space operations by the superpowers, the second was clearly the initial LEO treaty that was negotiated as a result of the war.





Before the war, the civilian benefits of satellite/orbital technology had been obvious, and exploitation of this potential was a major goal of both private industries and the non-aligned developing nations (Argentina, Brazil, India, South Africa). While only a few private or Non-aligned powers had lofted satellites, the Orbit war destroyed them all by direct attack, or as a consequence of other attacks.




Both the run up to the war and the result of the war was an almost complete degredation of orbital infrastructure: in short, no sooner was a satellite lofted than it was destroyed.


As most space exploitation was military, anything in orbit was potentially a weapon. Indeed, the main casus bellum for the war was the “neutralization” of a large scientific satellite that proved to be an nuclear platform (from debris analysis); that it was also manned was the stated issue, but both sides knew that the lesson of project Prometheus was that gaining nuclear high ground was decisive. Once nuclear weapons were potentially in orbit, no satellite could be trusted. Unfortunately, as previously discussed the operations required to control LEO had exhausted both sides resources and personel and was unsustainable, and simultaneously unavoidable.


The desire for both of the superpowers to disengage from active orbital fighting coupled with the non-aligned powers desire to have an orbital infrastructure to create the the 1959 LEO treaty. In its simplest form, the LEO treaty declared that non-military satellites and operations were off limits to attack, but were also completely open to inspection and verification. Military operations were unaffected, but made responsible for collateral damage. Secondarily, the UN was tasked to undertake enforcement, inspection and orbital cleanup, a duty vested in the UNPAX forces patrolling the Eurasian DMZ areas.


Many historians mark the beginning of the estrangement of both the USA and the USSR from the UN, although the 1957 relocation of the UN headquarters into the BENELUX Mandate is also significant. Regardless of the cause, the LEO treaty clearly showed that by unified pressure (economic and political) the non-aligned powers could dictate some terms to the superpowers; increasingly, the UN became the vehicle for such action. A bipolar world was beginning to evolve into a tripartite world.

 

[captainjack]

Hey look, ITS ALIVE !

Thought I could jumpstart my own interest in this setting by finishing up the story. So, after about two years or more....Red Stars and Rockets: what happened next !


The second orbital war flared in 1961 and dragged on, continuing in fits and starts until ending in 1963, with the treaty of New Dehli.



While generally regarded as an accidental war, it was nonetheless inevitable in retrospect, given the continuing militarization of earth orbital (and, after 1959, the lunar surface). A second, and less well understood cause was the fact that in reality, both sides were operating beyond the bounds of their current technology and resources. In truth, many of the craft used thru this period would have(at best) qualified as testbed or prototypes; due to the press of the cold war they were tested in active missions, direct confrontation, or, post 1961, front line operations. Accidents are a natural result of experimentation, and under the pressure of the east-west confrontation, easily become disasters.



The 1961 catastrophic deorbiting of the newly deployed USAF Manned orbiting labratory#4 during a confrontation/provocation with Vostok 17 was the spark that started the second war. Both sides faced what seemed to be a sudden, unexpected attack, followed by a sudden cascading failure of communication and observation capacity, possibly by hostile action, and escalated accordingly.



It was little consolation that post war examination of blackbox data and operational telemetry concluded that the explosion of Aug 16, 1961 was due to an electrical failure in the reserve LOX tanks when the new station was brought up to full emergency power due to the approach of the Vostok Interceptor. That the explosion/collision destroyed the Soviet craft simply increased the uncertainty of what happened; the disruption of both sides’ overloaded communication and orbital C3 infrastructure by secondary debris guaranteed that a tragedy became a war.

 

[SpaceBadger]

More, please!

 

[captainjack]

as above, so below

The second orbital war was carried out both in space and on land. The large demilitarized zones of Germany and Northern China became battlegrounds once again; but unlike the first conflict, the forces were small, highly mobile, and nuclear capable. As with the Orbit war, the clashes earth showed that offense had greatly outstripped defense, and both sides rapidly depleted their available first line forces and came to use tactical nuclear bombardment to respond to enemy breakthroughs. Due to the highly dispersed and small uit organization, the actual military casualties were quite small, but they represented the elite of both sides forces.

While the battlegrounds, still unrecovered from 1953, were much less densely inhabited than beforehand, the civilian casualties were enormous, and the collateral environmental damage was extreme. Both the superpowers homelands were largely safe from direct attack, but the overall damage and radiological contamination began to effect even the safest of homeland havens. By 1963, both sides were forced to institute food rationing, and a second world-wide famine was already spreading. Most of the Third estate (as the nonaligned powers were known as to the media) were able to feed their populations, but only in the core countries, and even then at similarly rationed levels. Nonetheless, the growing reliance of the superpowers on food imports from the Non-aligned powers gave the UN and PAX forces the leverage needed to broker a ceasefire. The second orbital war ended with no political or territorial advantages gained by either side, and a bitter extended winter was to make 1964 one of the bleakest years in history.

Socially, nations that survived the post war years tended to become highly centralized, tightly controlled planned economies and societies. Despite the vulnerabilities of such, metropolitan areas expanded in population, if not in size, with military installations moving as far as possible from the refugee choked cities. With all sides populations becoming highly concentrated, and critical climate damage, a tacit understanding between the powers limited strike to military targets wherever possible. Protracted nuclear war had come to stay.

In space, both sides had little to show that could be considered successful. The willingness to use tactical nuclear weapons as a standard element proved that offense had again trumped defense. Orbital missle installations were spectacularly unsuccessful after the first hour of the war, and orbit denial strategies insured that no new stations could be deployed. Use of indiscriminate orbital mines and simple debris fields insured that NEO would likely never again have permanent military stations.

While the rational solution would have been detente, and possibly a final negotiated end to the war, neither side was able to make the political and social sacrifices needed to do so. As a result, as the war ended, both sides reached for the moon to gain the high ground and impose a final peace on their enemies.

 

[SnichtheWalrus]

60's life

Life in the 60's

Education: With the Third World War and the Orbital Wars the mathematics and sciences have received increased funding from grade schools to Universities. Competitions/Science Fairs/Debates in some places rank in popularity with sports events. Textbooks deliver the official world that our side will prevail using science and technology. Social Studies receive increased funding since there are more 'foreign' students from the various alliances. All High Schools/Universities have ROTC.

Life in Uniform: From children to adults most people spend some time in uniform. From Boy/Girl Scouts to Young Pioneers to Military Service most have values of service to the country drummed into them. Most are trained to think on their feet and trust their leaders since they are given more responsibility. Crowds on the streets have a usual variety of uniforms mixed in and many clubs/restaurants have discounts for soldiers and veterans. The Aerospace/Rocket Forces are seen as the elite on the cutting edge of science, the new Knights of the Stars. Ground/Naval forces are seen as useful but composed of those who aren't smart/lucky enough to be in the space forces.


Community: Most of the post-1945 generation have grown up under a strong central government and think there is no other way. Everyone carries ID and Ration Cards. Media is reviewed by the Military/Intelligence services before publication and is advised on what to cover. Those reporters/companies who ignore such advice can be military reactivated or closed. Much of the economy is managed and planned by computers and technocrats. Even the Soviets have allowed some freedom as long as the Five Year Plan meets goals. Dissidents and unproductive elements are drafted to work 'cleanup/reclamation' programs in the war damaged areas where your life expectancy is measured in years.

Non-aligned: While the Russians and Americans glare at each other, many in the non-aligned world have taken advantage of the opportunity. With less restrictions, better climate in some places and more liberal attitudes the NAM nations have become the testing lab for radical ideas. Brazilian music blares from radios, models walk the runways in the latest Indian designs. Art from Bangkok and Hong Kong graces the walls. Dissidents and rebels hold discussions in coffee houses and subversive books are published.

 

[captainjack]

Nice !

 

[captainjack]

One small step over the edge.....

​

The first attempts to reach the moon were both hasty and desperate. Of the four missions from both sides that attempted to establish a foothold, some were initially successful, but none survived to return. The 1962 moon orbit missions resulted in a twin Soyuz missing return insertion and being lost; the newly deployed Apollo succeeded in achieving a return trajectory but suffered a series of failures culminating in a non-survivable re-entry failure. The three Gemini landing mission racing the Soviet attempt resulted in one crashed lander, and a mutually destructive combat in lunar orbit between the orbital elements. The single surviving two man USAF lander and the two single man soviet landers, as planned, touched down within five miles of each other. The Lunar Gemini had the potential for earth return, whereas the Soviet LK landers did not. Once the orbital assets had been mutually destroyed, contact was lost with both teams, and never regained. Limited observation from earth (orbital observatories being eliminated) suggested that both engaged in a long range duel with light mortars before a cross-lunar attempt was made by the marooned Soviet team to destroy (or possibly capture) the Gemini lander. At some point, at least one small tactical nuclear weapon was detonated, destroying the site and killing any surviving crew.

​

If both sides managed to learn any lesson from the Lunar and Orbital debacles, it was this: Chemical rockets and small, fragile capsule-based craft were no longer viable weapons or long range systems; nor was orbit a viable environment for long term military assets. Relentlessly, the quest for the high ground now turned to the moon.

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

quick question:

given that:

A) rocketry tech is more advanced (or left-shifted, at least) than our timeline,

and

B) both nations have shown no compuctions about using nukes.


why has neither side deployed the ICBM systems that dominated our time lines cold war?

since both sides have access to LEO, they clearly have access to rockets able to put a fairly heavy load into orbit, or alternately a much heavier load (eg a big nuke) into a sub orbital flight to any point on earth.

unless the development of ABM systems proceeded at an even more breakneak pace, I don't see why both homelands are not radioactive waste by now.

 

[captainjack]

quick question:

given that:

A) rocketry tech is more advanced (or left-shifted, at least) than our timeline,

and

B) both nations have shown no compuctions about using nukes.


why has neither side deployed the ICBM systems that dominated our time lines cold war?

since both sides have access to LEO, they clearly have access to rockets able to put a fairly heavy load into orbit, or alternately a much heavier load (eg a big nuke) into a sub orbital flight to any point on earth.

unless the development of ABM systems proceeded at an even more breakneak pace, I don't see why both homelands are not radioactive waste by now.

Two reasons, really.

One, Mutual Assured destruction works in this time, as well as our own. And, like that it works day to day, and no longer, with a real chance of failing increasing each day it succeeds.
ABM use has not been successful, and so all there is to rely on is the fact that MAD strategy works...for now. One can look at the willingness to use nuclear weapons in this timeline as somthing that would make all out bombardment more likely, or, from the concrete results, erase any lingering belief in a winnble full scale excange. Either side can kill their enemy and themselves with the twitch of a finger; the quest is for a way to make retaliation impossible.


There were any number of times IRL post 1963 that a mutually catastrophic nuclear exchange could have occurred; I do think we were moderately lucky to have survived, especially since the final solution was to ratchet tensions up intil the USSR collapsed -luckily, without a last stand strike.

So, I'm allowing that to work in this timeline; but again, it only works for today -tomorrow is another matter, and we find out only when it fails.

Oh, and reason two. It would make for a crappy game. Because I never enjoyed twilight 2000, gamma world, aftermath or any of the post nuke survival fantasy rpgs. So, this has to work for now so we have the world I want to have as a game.

 

[tancred]

Captainjack, I hope you get this published someday, because I want the whole thing.

May never run a game in that setting, but would like to have the whole thing to read. You have the gift of story telling. I suspect you read a lot of Harry Turtledove...

 

[captainjack]

One very small, secretive step......



It will probably never be clearly know who the first successful lunar explorers were, nor for which side they served. In a more peaceful world, perhaps, the moon landing would have been a public display of national will, or technology- essentially a piece of dramatic propaganda to humiliate the opposition. In reality, the moon landings were military missions to gain and map the new high ground, and as such, as secret as possible.
It is known that across 1965 and 66 both east and west used nuclear propelled heavy lifters to orbit and then land materials on the moon to build the national bases, redoubts and missile silos. What is also clear is that crews were already present on the moon, and had been for some time.
While theoretically at peace, or at least ceasefire, both sides actively attempted to sabotage or impede the other sides construction once on the moon. While only partly successful (both sides successfully installed military bases by 1967), this set the tone for the constant low level skirmishing on the Lunar surface.
While only a few missiles were installed by either side, they were uniformly armed with the massive new fusion boosted warheads that had been developed by the end of the orbit wars, making them potent final strike weapons. Initially intended as deterrence weapons, their potential as first strike weapons had the actual effect of drastically destabilizing the shaky ceasefire between East and West.
By 1968, tensions were rising once again, and the lunar skirmishing was spreading once again to earth's orbitals. Given that both sides had deployed ICBMs earthside with fusion warheads it seemed fated that the next outbreak of war would be conclusive, if not survivable.
However, in October of 1968, everything changed.