Skylab-2 Timeline (1975)

This is the timeline of the Skylab-2 reality for 1975
<-Skylab-2 Timeline (1974)
==January==
*January 11: Soyuz 17 docks with Salyut 4.
*January 23: Gemini XX, piloted by Charles M. Duke Jr., docks with Skylab. This is the second launch of the man-and-cargo Gemini variant, and the last Gemini to officially use a roman numeral designation.
==February==
*February 10: Soyuz 17 undocks from Salyut 4, and thumps down in Kazakh SSR.
*February 13: Soviet scientists confirm the initial effects of the Spice.
*February 20: Soviet scientists test the transtator against individuals under the influence of the Spice, and determine that it seems to work.
*February 26: The Peoples Republic of China learns of the Spice by comparing reports from agents in the USA and USSR.
==March==
*March 2: Chairman Mao Zedong announces that the Peoples Republic of China will 'soon' have a space station 'grander than those of other powers.' The order is very stressful for his subordinates, who need to carry it out (especially for those who know why, and thus know that it's not just an ego project, and that getting it up there sooner rather than later is genuinely urgent).
*March 7: The transtator is tested by NASA, and proven to work. The CIA begin plans to place transtators in US embassies and other secure locations, in the hope of at least detecting psychic spies.
*March 9: Harley-Davidson Clifftmobile (see June 17, 1974) goes on the market.
*March 14: New Zealand finds out about the Spice from a 'friend' of the cultural attaché in New Zealand's Beijing embassy. PM Bill Rowling begins making plans.
*March 25: A transtator experiment at the Rhine Research Center appears to generate psychic energy, at least enough to allow communication between two transtators isolated from each other in a pair of solid Faraday cages. One psychic present reports felling an odd 'thumping' sensation during the test.
==April==
*April 3-7: The parliaments of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as the National Assembly of Guyana, among others, begin debating the idea of reviving the BLACK ARROW programme as a possible British Commonwealth launch vehicle, with an aim toward an eventual manned space programme, and either a British Commonwealth space station, or British and/or Commonwealth modules and astronauts on an existing space station (most likely the expanding Skylab, but Salyut is at least mentioned, mainly to put pressure on the Americans). South Africa is not invited to participate, due to the apartheid policy, nor are India and Pakistan, due to British racism (they are the two biggest non-white members of the British Commonwealth - and have no intention of being lead by the British again).
*April 5: The British ambassador meets with President Ford; immediately following that meeting, Ford tells his secretary to cancel all appointments for the next few hours, and to inform the Director of Central Intelligence that he has a meeting with the President at his earliest convenience (a polite way of saying 'now, if not sooner'). This meeting covers the fact that Russia and China both know about the Spice, as do the British and several other Commonwealth nations (though not India, Pakistan, or South Africa, for reasons noted above), and the question of why exactly the President of the United States needed to find this out from the British ambassador, rather than from his own intelligence service.
*April 6: William E. Colby resigns as DCI, replaced by George H. W. Bush. Director Bush is read in on PROJECT MELANGE, and the number of countries that they know or suspect are now aware of it. Soyuz 18 docks with Salyut 4, bringing cosmonauts Vasily Lazarev and Oleg Makarov to the station.
*April 17: Weitz and McCandless leave Skylab in Gemini XIX.
*April 23: Gemini 21 launches with Robert L. Crippen and William Lenoir. The spacecraft first soft-docks, then performs an inspection of the station, before hard-docking. Skylab is boosted into a slightly higher orbit, using a pair of small rockets in the Gemini 21 equipment module.
==May and June==
*May 1: Several Commonwealth nations release various artists' conceptions of the proposed 'British Commonwealth Space Station Victoria,' along with the general specifications. The designed payload mass is smaller than that of Skylab, and the vehicle is required to be able to function as either an independent station, or a component of a larger one. Prominent on both the UK and Canadian designs is a large robotic arm baring a red maple leaf. The New Zealand design has the main habitation module inflate, to allow for much greater internal space compared to payload mass and launch-fairing size. The Australian variant is particularly ambitious, being designed to be assembled in orbit from several parts and multiple launches (thus allowing it to massively exceed the designated payload mass), and forming a Stanford Torus with a pair of counter-rotating wheels. The Guyanan station, by contrast, consists of Argo Service/Habitat Modules (based on NASA's latest artists conceptions of those) linked together by adaptors - the sparse notes suggest getting NASA to design some of said modules to stay in orbit when the Command Module splashes down, and buying said used modules.
*May 22: Sydney Pact signed and ratified in several British Commonwealth nations, agreeing to share space resources in a combined agency to be named later.
*June 6: 'Royal Astronautical Society of the British Commonwealth' officially chartered in London. Though styled after traditional social clubs to emphasize the civilian nature of the project, the RASBC is governed and sponsored by the member governments of the Sydney Pact.
==July==
*July 15: Both halves of the Apollo-Soyuz mission launch on schedule. Wally Funk becomes the second woman, and first American woman, in space.
*July 17: Apollo and Soyuz dock in orbit.
*July 19: Apollo and Soyuz undock.
*July 21: Soyuz returns to Earth.
*July 22: Apollo splashes down safely.
*July 27: Soyuz 18 undocks from Salyut 4, and thumps down safely (with a fairly large load of Spice, as these things go).
==August==
*August 7: Gemini XX is piloted back to Earth by astronaut Charles Duke. The return to Earth's gravity after nearly eight months without it is quite stressful for him, but he is able to handle it, and NASA physicians are optimistic about future long-duration flights.
*August 18: National Enquirer publishes an article on CIA telepaths performing mind-control experiments on unsuspecting US citizens.
==September and October==
*September 9: John B. McKay and Anthony W. England reach Skylab in Gemini 22.
*October 4: Soyuz 20 brings Pyotr Klimuk and Vitali Sevastyanov to Salyut 4.
*October 15: China's Long March 2 rocket fails to make orbit, much to the irritation of Chairman Mao.
==November and December==
*November 3: Long March 2A launches successfully, putting a small satellite with two female mice on it in orbit. The mice seem to be reasonably healthy at this time.
*November 5: The satellite carrying the Chinese mousetronauts reenters the atmosphere. The heat shield works, and the parachute... mostly works; one mouse survives.
*November 17: Gemini 21 returns to Earth.
*December 31: Donald H. Peterson and Millie Hughes-Fulford arrive at Skylab aboard Gemini 23. Dr. Hughes-Fulford is the first woman aboard a space station, and the first female payload specialist.
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