AHC: First human lunar landing by a country other than the USA, USSR, or Germany with a POD after August 31, 1939

[SpudNutimus]

Have a country other than the USA, USSR, or Germany land a living human on the moon first with a point of divergence after the start of WW2. To be clear you can't get around the requirements by just changing the government of one of these countries, so for example the Russian Federation still wouldn't be allowed, it has to be a separate country entirely.

 

[Nyvis]

Have a country other than the USA, USSR, or Germany land a living human on the moon first with a point of divergence after the start of WW2. To be clear ypu can't get around the requirements by just changing the government of one of these countries, so for example the Russian Federation still wouldn't be allowed, it has to be a separate country entirely.

France doesn't collapse entirely, Franco-British union happens, maybe they can do it?

 

[Coiler]

Have China do better more quickly in the postwar period or just give their space program a higher priority, and they could probably do it given enough time/money.

 

[Catalunya]

What about the Cuban Crisis going hot, and someone like Brazil goes to the moon first instead

 

[Charles EP M.]

Britain or France are the obvious ones, if you can PoD them to not take as big an economic beating: big powers with a lot of industry and intellect. There'd be the drive to do it as well, keeping up with the Joneses in the US and USSR and such. (And even with a beating Britain could've potentially nabbed Von Braun and his chums (though we'd not have the money to make it by 1969 with that PoD).

 

[SpudNutimus]

Have China do better more quickly in the postwar period or just give their space program a higher priority, and they could probably do it given enough time/money.

Honestly I feel like this would probably go in a similar direction to the USSR's lunar program if it did happen early enough to compete with the US and USSR, in that it'd likely get close but be undermined by untested technical problems due to the sheer rush of development (probably even more so than the USSR to be honest considering how much of a shorter period China industrialized over), as well as bureaucratic infighting within the space program to try and take the top spot of national space hero. Good general idea though.

 

[Warthog]

Zambia, obviously

 

[Charles EP M.]

And now I'm rereading the Down The Tubes article on Orbit and wondering when someone's going to collect some of these strips, I don't care who,

 

[Warthog]

And now I'm rereading the Down The Tubes article on Orbit and wondering when someone's going to collect some of these strips, I don't care who,

I had a good five years of them, but lost them during a house move in the mid 80s

 

[Charles EP M.]

I had a good five years of them, but lost them during a house move in the mid 80s