The greatest nations of Earth set sail on a new sea with the promise of new knowledge to be gained
and new rights to be won; won and used for the progress of all mankind.
But the technology that propelled the human race across the solar system had no conscience of its
own, and whether it became a force for good or ill would ultimately depend on man. By 1983,
the question of whether the Solar System would be a sea of peace, or a terrifying
new theater of war was fully answered, and that answer came in the Jamestown Crisis.
Established on the edge of Shackleton Crater, on October 12th 1973, Jamestown was the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration’s first permanent lunar settlement. Its construction
represented a significant victory by the United States of America in its ongoing rivalry and
competition against the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as part of the so-called “space race”.
The Soviet Union would respond with its own permanent settlement,
“Zvezda” on the opposite edge of the crater one year later.
The close proximity of these two bases was not a coincidence,
but rather the result of the favorable conditions for human settlement surrounding Shackleton. The
constant illumination of the crater’s rim made it an ideal location for solar panels, while
the perpetual darkness within the crater itself created the conditions for water-ice deposits.
Both the Soviet Union and the United States would harness these natural resources and others,
but competition for them would lead Shackleton to become another front
in their ongoing Cold War. Several incidents centered on these bases would occur over the
following decade, including the brief internment of a Soviet cosmonaut who had run out of oxygen
near Jamestown. As a consequence, the Outer Space Treaty, which had formed the basis of
international law in outer space and expressly prohibited the establishment of military bases,
military activities and weapons testing, was routinely ignored and broken.
By 1983, both Jamestown and Zvezda had expanded in size. Jamestown in particular had undergone
two major expansions, with new living quarters and laboratories powered by a nuclear reactor.
This expansion was made possible by the “Sea Dragon”, a two-stage sea launched super heavy
lift vehicle and one of the largest rockets ever produced at that time.
Sea Dragons would continue to resupply the base, and were vital to its sustained operation.
That same year, tensions between Jamestown and Zvezda, the United States and Soviet Union,
rose dramatically with the seizure of an American mining claim;
357 Bravo. The site was home to high lithium content,
while Soviet knowledge of its very existence came as a shock to the US intelligence community.
Its seizure represented a significant escalation on the part of the Soviet Union and coincided
with anti-American protests and a dramatic hostage situation in the Latin American nation of Panama.
Tensions were further inflamed with the downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007,
which had strayed into prohibited Soviet airspace due to a navigational mistake. These incidents
together seemed poised to finally cancel the long planned “Apollo–Soyuz Test Project”,
the first crewed international mission to be carried out by the Soviet Union and United States.
With the intention of deterring future Soviet aggression on the moon
or on Earth, US President Ronald Reagon ordered the retaking of 357 Bravo.
This was only possible with the rapid training and deployment of special marine units.
In the first operation of its kind, US Marines were able to approach the claim undetected
on a Lunar Surface Access Module piloted through a narrow cavern leading into the site. Upon landing,
these marines were able to retake 357 Bravo without firing a shot.
That such a victory had been achieved without any loss of life provided a significant boost
to American prestige and worldwide opinion, but represented another milestone in the
militarization of space. US elation over the recapture of 375 Bravo would be soured just
weeks later, with the shooting of two Soviet cosmonauts near the site. Though initially
believed to be acting with hostile intent, the Soviet personnel were unarmed, and had in fact
been reaching for their translation cards when they were fired upon. One cosmonaut was killed,
while another; Rolan Baranov, survived and requested asylum within the United States.
In response to what it termed the first violent act on the moon,
the Soviet Union announced its intention to blockade Jamestown using its space shuttle
the Buran. Future Sea Dragon launches would be destroyed by the Buran, under the justification
that the United States intended to use these rockets to deliver nuclear weapons to Jamestown.
Unable to deescalate the situation, the United States instead accelerated the
launch of Pathfinder, a next-generation shuttle that could escort the next Sea Dragon launch.
An attack on Jamestown itself occured in the midst of this intensifying crisis,
precipitated by the USSR to secure the retrieval of Baranov. Five Soviet cosmonauts,
armed with automatic weapons, fired on the base’s central module, resulting in its depressurization
and the death of several astronauts. A standoff ensued, during which Soviet cosmonauts
attempted to breach the remainder of the base, trading sporadic fire with American marines.
During the fighting, Jamestown’s reactor was damaged and its coolant pump shut down.
Without a fail-safe, it was poised to undergo a meltdown,
destroying Jamestown and rendering Shackleton Crater completely uninhabitable.
In lunar orbit, a secondary showdown centered on the Soviet quarantine occurred between Pathfinder
and Buran. While on Earth, the Soviet Northern Fleet was deployed off the coast of Panama,
placing it in missile range of the Johnson and Kennedy Space Centers.
At the height of the confrontation, it was estimated that up to ten nuclear warheads
were targeted at Houston alone. The alert state of the United States Armed forces
was raised to Defcon 2, and open war appeared imminent.
Yet while the space race in this moment seemed to have laid bare the full extent of human folly,
the Jamestown Crisis also demonstrated the highest levels of human greatness. Three events,
undertaken independently by cosmonauts and astronauts on both sides,
would ultimately succeed in preventing nuclear war.
On Jamestown, astronauts Gordon “Gordo” Stephens and Tracy Stephens, acting with improvised
spacesuits made mostly of duct tape, succeeded in restarting the settlement's coolant systems,
preventing a meltdown at the cost of their own lives.
In Lunar orbit, rather than risk firing upon Buran, Pathfinder instead fired its payload
of missiles at Sea Dragon. Acting mainly under the prerogative of astronauts Edward Baldwin
and Sally Field, their shuttle destroyed its own escort, saving the Soviets from needing to enforce
their blockade and stopping the further deployment of nuclear material to the moon. In Earth’s orbit,
almost simultaneously, the astronauts and cosmonauts of the Apollo-Soyuz mission,
in defiance of their government’s inaction, moved to dock with one another, finally completing their
historic mission, one whose importance was only amplified by the crisis surrounding it.
Had the situation of Jamestown or the confrontation between Pathfinder and Buran
ended just slightly differently, then the symbolic gesture of Apollo-Soyuz
would have made little difference. In the end however, as images of American astronauts
and Soviet cosmonauts shaking hands in orbit were broadcast across the world,
the effect on President Reagon and Soviet General Secretary Yuri Andropov was profound.
A mutual pullback of forces was agreed upon, ending the standoff.
The actions of Gordo and Tracy Stephens would make them heroes and martyrs of the space race,
while those of Ed Baldwin and Sally Field would be covered up. The destruction of Sea Dragon
was blamed on faulty circuitry, allowing both sides to save face
and begin to work together. The Jamestown Crisis was the closest the Soviet Union and United States
ever came to open war, but it proved to be the catalyst for renewed cooperation,
and the prelude to the greatest era of exploration in human history.