Coldonia

oopsies

sad!

Same here, I lost the original

Galayar wrote:

The 1969 GAF Racing Season: Formula 1, Race One, Smilets Circuit
(Continuing from This Timeline...)

Ad Astra

"Поехали!"
-- Yuri Gagarin

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The Equatorial Exploration Accords.

On the surface, such an agreement sounds quite irrelevant, tying 3 nations from around the global equator and dedicating them to joint exploration. An agreement to pool resources and funds and establish building zones for further collaboration. An act that, when agreed on, went completely under the radar from both domestic and international audiences as a result of its assumed benignness. However, this worked exactly as intended, and so the world turned its head away from the movement of Oncadian and Wosekan workers and construction materials into Melihosnovis, and stayed turned away as construction began on a new, major installation in the Melinian countryside, far from the prying eyes of spies and informants. Security remained tight and information scarce as buildings rose and pipes were laid. Mouths remained shut and phone lines tapped as scientists and engineers began to flock to the newly constructed base, complete with living quarters and labs for all of the staff. Eventually, when the crises stopped, and the eyes of the world were finally free to gaze upon the work being conducted at the newly christened Centre Spatial Mélinien, they found a fully furnished and operational Spaceport, one of only a few operational in the world not constructed from an existing ballistic missile testing site.

And they were determined to show off their achievement.

After months of testing rocket engines and equipment, firing test rockets and ensuring optimal weather conditions, the time had finally arrived for their most difficult mission yet, and potentially the first of many on a journey to the stars.

~~~

A cylindrical tube rose into the sky, resting on a raised platform separated from the rest of the structures on the base. It was a derivative of a medium-range ballistic missile, designed for the Oncadian Republican Navy to be fired from one of their ships, and rise high into space before crashing back down onto its target, carrying a significant yield of explosives. This time, though, it would be modified to carry computers and monitoring equipment, and be laden with sensor arrays and radio transmitters for communicating with the crew on the ground.

The goal was clear: the probe would shoot high into the sky before detaching from its boosters, shedding its empty fuel tanks, and assuming its place in low orbit over the planet, all the while transmitting its data for the entire duration of its operation back to radio arrays in Oncadia and in Melihosnovis. As the sun rose over a sparsely clouded and calm morning in the Melinian countryside, the silence was broken by a tremendous thunderclap and the roar of a rocket engine rising into the clouds. For a moment, it seemed there were two suns as the engine let loose a cacophony of light and sound, trailing far up into the blue skies above. But after a few tense minutes, with the men on the ground waiting with bated breath, confirmation of a successful fuel tank detachment came over the radio, and soon after, confirmation of the probe's successful placement into a low orbit over the planet itself.

The first few radio transmissions came from beyond, carrying messages seemingly from the heavens itself.

Nordicrome wrote:

Hello I was with 21st for a long time then logged back on years later to find this region is the New Rome.

Hello