I really need to find the original novel that I have somewhere, with the stranded Mercury. I see the updated version everywhere. This is a story that can be updated for whatever the current spacecraft being flown. There was even a shuttle version written, Shuttle by David Onley, or it is as close to the same concept that I have read.
You'll like this! http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2671/1
Quote from: Ronpur50 on 07/05/2015 03:38 pmI really need to find the original novel that I have somewhere, with the stranded Mercury. I see the updated version everywhere. This is a story that can be updated for whatever the current spacecraft being flown. There was even a shuttle version written, Shuttle by David Onley, or it is as close to the same concept that I have read.Yep -- in the original novel, the main character who flew the 3-day Mercury mission instead of Shepard (because Shepard was slated to fly the first Gemini, with a new astro named Masters) was also a member of Caidin's fictional 2nd astronaut class, but unlike in the movie and updated book, his name was Dick Pruett, not Jim Pruett. His best friend, and the guy who pilots the Gemini to the rescue, is named Jim Dougherty, not Ted Dougherty.The overall plot of the original book is very similar to the updated novel/film, but of course references Mercury/Gemini technology. The one big thing that was incorrectly mapped out of the Mercury technology into the Apollo spacecraft, cited as the likely cause of the de-orbit failure, was a failure of a horizon scanner that's connected into the logic of the SPS ignition system. This was a plausible malfunction for a Mercury, but never for an Apollo spacecraft -- the Apollo had no horizon scanner, and indeed you could start the SPS motor by opening the ball valves feeding the combustion chamber directly, cutting out the thrust vector control system and both the CMC and the SCS.So, while Caidin needed to have some way to describe the malfunction, by choosing to energetically arm-wave around the same issue he used successfully in the original novel, he lost a little bit of credibility with me.
No pilot figure is included, but I have plenty of 1/72 scale astronauts from the Airfix Lunar Module kit. I chose a seated one and had to remove his legs so he would fit inside.
