Chapter 180: I Never Fail!
Lin Ran shook his head and said:
“Of course that’s impossible.
Didn’t my earlier explanation say that if we cooperate with the Soviet Union, there are four possibilities in total?
Without us, the probability of Gagarin returning is 5%, or even less than 5%.
But with our assistance, the chance of him returning could be increased to 30%.
Still very low, but better than nothing.”
Honig then asked: “But Professor, based on my understanding of NASA’s progress, our spaceship is still in the design process. Where do we get a spaceship from now to provide for Gagarin’s return?”
Lin Ran explained: “Who said we have to provide a spaceship?
The mission we’re originally scheduled to carry out this year is a Moon soft landing.
What we need to do is remove all the original sensors, lunar rover, radio equipment, and such things from the lunar landing spacecraft, and replace them with fuel equipment.
We will send the fuel to the Moon, and have Gagarin manually complete docking and fuel transfer on the Moon.
Mr. President, this proposal requires both sides to precisely calculate the launch window and orbital parameters.
I believe the Soviet people’s launch window is already determined now.
So what we need to do is get the Soviet people to provide us with as much complete data as possible, the more data the better, the more complete the better.
Only then can I ensure that our spaceship launch can land in the same area on the Moon as Gagarin, and that he can find our fuel supply box within the time limit for extravehicular activity in his spacesuit and bring it back to the spaceship.
So our time is running out.”
McNamara was well aware of the difficulty involved: “Professor, are you saying that you will calculate our launch window and orbital parameters based on their launch window and orbital parameters?
Ensuring that our landing point and Gagarin’s landing point differ by no more than five kilometers?”
Lin Ran nodded and said: “Exactly, and they launch first, we launch later.
I also need to ensure that after Gagarin lands on the Moon, he can visually observe our lunar module landing on the Moon, so he knows which direction to go to retrieve the fuel supply package we’ve prepared for him.”
Honig and everyone else were stunned; more precisely, everyone present who had even a little knowledge of the field was stunned.
“Professor, can you really do it?” Honig asked.
McNamara murmured: “If there’s anyone in this world who can pull this off, I think it’s probably only the Professor!”
The rumored probability of the Apollo Moon Landing returning smoothly was roughly equivalent to the probability of humanity crossing the Pacific Ocean in a washing machine.
Such statements were exaggerated.
But the proposal Lin Ran described, at this point in time, was indeed comparable to crossing the Pacific Ocean in a washing machine.
There were too many difficulties to overcome.
First was the soft landing, which requires the spacecraft to reduce its speed to near zero upon contact with the lunar surface to ensure the equipment remains intact and can continue subsequent tasks.
Previously, America had never succeeded in a soft landing.
If it doesn’t soft land, the fuel tank crashing into the lunar surface carries a high risk of explosion.
Next is precision; precision requires calculating the opponent’s landing point, with both sides launching from Earth at different times and from different launch points, yet the final landing points must be almost identical.
Finally, the timing; the landing time on the Moon can’t differ by too much either.
From every aspect, the requirements are too high.
Lyndon Johnson asked after hearing this: “Professor, how confident are you?”
Lin Ran said: “Thirty percent, at most thirty percent confidence in getting Gagarin back to Earth successfully.”
Lyndon Johnson nodded and said: “Alright, Professor, I understand. I still need to think about it some more.”
Lin Ran said: “Okay, Mr. President, I remind you of one thing: the sooner you decide, the higher the probability of saving Gagarin.
Our time is really running out.”
Lyndon Johnson’s mind was filled with intense internal conflict.
He didn’t want the blame for failing the space race to fall on his administration, nor did he want to cooperate with them to send a Soviet person into space and bring him back safely.
Lin Ran was right; if America helps bring him back, it would certainly maximize the mitigation of the impact from the Soviet Union achieving the Moon landing first in the space race, but this is still cooperation between America and the Soviet Union.
In the past, the military and hardliners in Washington were dissatisfied with Kennedy’s conciliatory attitude toward the Soviet Union, and Lyndon Johnson had similar concerns.
“Professor, Mr. President asks you to stay overnight in the White House guest room; he may want to discuss countermeasures with you at any time.”
As people left the President’s office one by one, when Lin Ran was leaving, the White House Chief of Staff quickly approached his ear and whispered.
Lin Ran nodded and said: “Okay.”
Finally, only three people remained in the Oval Office: Lyndon Johnson, Jack Valenti, and Hubert Humphrey.
Jack Valenti was a longtime confidant of Lyndon Johnson and a core member of the Johnson team.
Hubert Humphrey was not the Humphrey from Yes, Minister, but Lyndon Johnson’s Vice President.
Both were confidants among Lyndon Johnson’s confidants.
“You two, I want to hear your opinions.”
Jack Valenti spoke first: “I think the Professor’s opinion makes sense. If viewed purely from the perspective of public opinion, this would certainly be the most effective way to quell public opinion.
If Gagarin returns, we get the credit; if Gagarin doesn’t return, the Soviet people sent him to his death to win the space race.
Either way, we occupy the moral high ground.
But this will also cause dissatisfaction among some people, dissatisfaction among some hardliners against the Soviet Union.
But if we do nothing, we’ll face the same problem: a powerful offensive from the Soviet Union in public opinion.
Mr. President, I’m sure you’ve seen the immense pressure President Eisenhower faced in public opinion after the Sputnik Moment.
Even Nixon losing to President Kennedy later was partly influenced by the Sputnik Moment.
The Soviet Union achieving the Moon landing first would undoubtedly be much worse than Sputnik.
Cooperating with the Soviet Union displeases conservatives; not cooperating with the Soviet Union affects your reputation and support rate.”
That was enough said.
The Sputnik Moment refers to the Soviet Union launching the first satellite, which the media portrayed as a landmark event symbolizing the Soviet Union catching up in technological strength.
After Valenti finished, Humphrey continued: “Johnson, I think we should cooperate with the Soviet Union.
You know that’s always been my stance.
On some international affairs, we should cooperate; the Cold War doesn’t mean confrontation only and no cooperation in every situation.
Besides, cooperating with the Soviet Union in space is itself President Kennedy’s dying wish; we’re helping President Kennedy fulfill his dying wish.”
Unlike Jack Valenti, whose every statement was from Johnson’s interests, Humphrey, as Vice President, still had some of his own political ideals.
His consistent advocacy was for nuclear disarmament and international cooperation.
Besides advocating easing relations with the Soviet Union and limited cooperation, Humphrey also advocated “increasingly encouraging autonomy and freedom of action in other countries within the Soviet bloc.”
In plain terms, he believed in dividing the relationship between the Soviet Union and its allies using a more inclusive stance to split the Soviet allies.
When Humphrey expressed his political views in speeches, he used China as an example.
He believed in exploiting the rift between China and the Soviet Union, using diplomatic and economic means to encourage contact between China and Free World countries, pushing China to take a more independent stance on the international stage.
After they finished, Lyndon Johnson fell into thought, and moments later said: “You know, it’s not just conservatives who don’t want to ease relations with the Soviet Union or end the Cold War; the military feels the same.”
Humphrey nodded: “Of course I know—interests. Stopping the Cold War and large-scale disarmament is no good for the military.
But the point is, this is limited cooperation in the aerospace field; it’s the Soviet Union providing data to us, not us providing data to the Soviet Union.
Given that we’re planning a large-scale landing operation in Vietnam next year, this already fully demonstrates this White House’s determination and will in confronting the Soviet Union.
Just this one cooperation in space won’t provoke much opposition from the military.”
Humphrey knew Lyndon Johnson worried about ending up like Kennedy.
That gunshot was always reminding Lyndon Johnson: you’re President, sure, but if you cross the line, we can make you nothing.
“Okay, I understand,” Lyndon Johnson said.
He thought for a moment, then got up and walked to the telephone,
“Edgar? This is Lyndon Johnson.”
“Mr. President, so late—what important event is it?” Edgar Hoover’s voice came through.
Lyndon Johnson first gave a general description of the situation, then asked: “Edgar, based on your intelligence gathering among the public, what attitude would the public have toward us cooperating with the Soviet Union on this space matter?”
On the other end of the line, Hoover was already exasperated by the Soviet people.
He never imagined the Soviet people would have so much damaging material, some of which he had indeed done, some he absolutely hadn’t, but the Soviet people had photos, and once released, whether he did it or not, he was done.
After hearing this, Hoover knew Johnson was using public opinion as a pretext but actually seeking his opinion; given Kennedy’s example, it was normal for Lyndon Johnson to respect his opinion.
Considering his current distorted cooperative relationship with the Soviet Union—ugly as it sounded, being controlled—Hoover said: “Mr. President, I think the White House can decide this matter; public opinion isn’t important, is it?”
Hearing Hoover’s stance, Lyndon Johnson made up his mind: “Where’s the Professor? Valenti, bring the Professor here.”
Lin Ran wasn’t asleep at this time, of course; he’d been thinking a lot, because in this spacetime, advancing the Moon landing by several years wasn’t easy.
Considering the limited effectiveness of spacesuits at this time, the landing point could differ from Gagarin’s by at most two thousand meters.
“Professor, I’ve decided; we’re going to cooperate with the Soviet people,” Lyndon Johnson said.
After hearing this, Lin Ran sighed inwardly: sure enough, it’s aerospace.
Only in the aerospace field would such international cooperation spirit be shown.
During the Cold War, Gagarin could become a global idol and gain massive prestige in the Free World.
After the Cold War ended, there were international cooperation projects like the International Space Station.
“Good, then there’s just one last issue: cooperation still needs Soviet agreement; they need to provide as complete data as possible to us.
From launch time to data collected by sensors during the launch process, the more complete their data, the higher our chances of success,” Lin Ran said.
Lyndon Johnson said: “Leave that to me.
Nikita will be willing to cooperate.
Professor, what you need to do is succeed, and succeed.
One more thing: is it possible for us to do a live broadcast?
Live broadcast America’s Moon rescue; the Soviet Union lags behind us in radio technology.
Though it’s a Soviet person up there, America is executing the rescue, and American television stations are doing the full live broadcast.”
Clearly, even a non-expert like Lyndon Johnson knew America had a very clear advantage in civilian technology.
Lin Ran thought for a moment: “We can absolutely do it with simple debugging.
But still, time is running out.
We can use slow-scan television technology to transmit images in real time from the lunar surface.
The only issue is that the images might not be clear enough.
Plus, the lunar probe’s energy is limited, and the video equipment’s power consumption and weight have strict requirements.
This requires redesign.
The good news is that our Moon landing program has always included television live broadcast, so we have a relatively complete solution.”
In 1962, America’s Telstar satellite achieved the first trans-Atlantic television signal transmission, proving the feasibility of long-distance video transmission.
In 1964, America’s Surveyor program planned to use slow-scan television (SSTV) technology to transmit low-resolution black-and-white video from the lunar surface.
In other words, at this time, purely from a technical standpoint, the foundation for television live broadcast existed.
NASA’s complete deep space network and high-gain antennas provided the necessary technical foundation for image transmission.
The Soviet Union could do it too.
But on one hand, the Soviet Union had to send a person up, leaving limited payload space for other equipment, not necessarily weight and space for video equipment.
On the other hand, real-time video requires fast data decoding, transmission, and ground decoding technology, and the Soviet people lacked sufficient signal processing speed for real-time video playback.
Taking the original spacetime’s example of the Soviet Union’s Luna 9 in 1966, its image sequence transmission took several seconds per frame, making the overall process more like slow motion than real-time video.
After Lin Ran finished, Lyndon Johnson excitedly waved his fist; with this comparison, he wasn’t afraid of any accidents.
“Professor, I have only one requirement: during the design process, make sure to prominently feature the American national flag on the fuel tank!
The American national flag must be in front of the live broadcast lens the whole time,” Lyndon Johnson said. “I’ll go connect with Nikita via the hotline right now.”
Lin Ran nodded and said: “Good, I’ll go prepare to start work.
Also, President Johnson, I may need real-time calls with Korolev to communicate situations at any time.”
Lyndon Johnson nodded: “I’ll give you temporary security clearance; I’ll issue a presidential order for you shortly.”
As is well known, America is a nation governed by lawyers, with endless regulations.
For such sensitive technical cooperation, let alone with the Soviet Union, while the National Aeronautics and Space Act doesn’t prohibit space cooperation, National Security Action Memorandum 285 restricts cooperation with the Soviet Union, and all such cooperation involving the Soviet Union must undergo strict review.
The same applies to allies.
In the 1970s, due to external pressure, America decided to transfer some nuclear weapon technology to France, but due to legal restrictions, the White House at the time wasn’t sure it could bypass the law, so their strategy was for the President to sign a clearance order, and American experts to use “negative guidance” or “Twenty Questions.”
“Twenty Questions” meant French experts constantly asking American experts yes-or-no questions, with American experts only answering yes or no, gradually narrowing it down until they got the answers they wanted.
The entire aid process was highly secretive, not notified to Congress, and only exposed in the late 1980s by scholar Richard Ullman’s article “The Secret French Connection” in Foreign Policy magazine.
The reason Lyndon Johnson agreed so readily was also because the entire cooperation process involved the Soviet Union providing data to America.
Korolev was startled awake from sleep; his secretary was waiting outside. He looked carefully—there was more than one person; a bunch of people were waiting for him.
He checked the time: it was already 1 a.m.
“Comrade Ivan, what happened?” Korolev asked.
Ivan’s voice came from outside the door: “Comrade Korolev, the Kremlin wants you to come over immediately; the car is waiting outside. The Americans want to cooperate with us; NASA Director Randolph Lin wants to speak with you personally.”
Korolev felt the voice didn’t sound real.
At this hour, Randolph talking to me, the Kremlin—I must not be awake yet.
Only when November’s cold Moscow wind hit him from the doorway, making him shiver, did he realize Ivan was telling the truth.
“Comrade Korolev, the general situation is this: America somehow learned of our Moon landing program and hopes to cooperate with us to increase the astronaut’s probability of successfully returning to Earth.
Nikita and the other committee members are already on their way to the Kremlin.
We need your professional judgment on whether to cooperate with America and whether there’s any other conspiracy involved.”
The Kremlin comrades briefed Korolev on the situation in the Volga car.
Korolev nodded and said: “I understand.”
Upon arriving at the Kremlin, nominally it was a call between Lin Ran and Korolev, but in reality, Lin Ran’s voice could be heard by everyone in the Kremlin, and similarly, Korolev’s voice could be heard by everyone in the White House.
“Korolev, to make a long story short: your Moon landing program is an incomplete Moon landing program, one that only considers sending a person up without considering how to bring him back to Earth. It’s a plan that disregards the hero’s life to win the space race,” Lin Ran said.
Korolev took a deep breath. “Sorry, Randolph, I don’t know what gave you that misconception.
For you to make such a wrong judgment without knowing any specific details of our Moon landing.”
Korolev knew Lin Ran was right and couldn’t admit it on the call—who knows if it would be recorded and leaked to the outside.
“Isn’t it obvious? Your high-thrust rocket hasn’t undergone complete testing, your space docking technology is equally imperfect, and you’re relying solely on one successful Moon soft landing.
Treating the person as an item loaded in a spacesuit, safely delivering him to the Moon, then sending back a few photos and video images counts as mission accomplished.
As for whether he can return safely, that’s just praying to God.
The probability of success is probably about the same as crossing the Pacific Ocean in a washing machine.”
Korolev’s voice grew cold: “Professor, you’re the Director of NASA, not the Soviet Space Agency; you have no right to meddle in our aerospace affairs.”
In the White House, Lyndon Johnson signaled Lin Ran to soften his tone and not mess things up.
Lin Ran nodded to indicate understanding: “Korolev, I’m not here to accuse you.
But we can cooperate.
Only through cooperation can we possibly bring the hero who goes to the Moon back to Earth intact.”
Cooperation—sure enough, just like the news on the way; Korolev thought, “We don’t need cooperation. But if you have a good cooperation proposal, we can consider it after this Moon landing succeeds.”
No one would ask how America knew about their Moon landing; no one would think America didn’t have accurate, reliable information.
As for how the information leaked, that’s for the subsequent investigation, not for discussion now.
The Kremlin only cared what the White House side really wanted.
Lin Ran said: “You just need to send the person up.
We’re doing a Moon soft landing this year anyway; we’ll handle sending the fuel to the Moon.
Our Surveyor program this year was originally planned to soft land a probe on the Moon; now the probe becomes a fuel tank.
Precisely landing the fuel tank near your astronaut’s landing point.
Your astronaut finds the fuel tank and completes the fuel transfer, reducing your required payload and effectively increasing the astronaut’s return probability.”
Korolev was shocked by this outlandish idea after hearing it: “Randolph, are you joking with me?
How could you possibly achieve Moon landing precision of just a few hundred meters?
I admire your optimism.
Encountering difficulties in landing precision, it’s already impressive if Surveyor deviates from the landing point by just a few kilometers!”
Korolev thought Lin Ran’s proposal was pure fantasy.
“No, Korolev, you have to believe me—I can do it!
What you need to do is give me your launch data: when you launch, data during the launch process, all of it.
NASA will handle the precise Moon landing!
Don’t forget, I never fail!”
Lin Ran’s tone was utterly calm; even transmitted over the transoceanic phone line, everyone in the Kremlin could feel the confidence in his voice.
Please give a monthly ticket!
