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Red Skies - Kermangrad
Sep. 17th, 2020 05:14 pmHaving completed their arctic training, Novice Cosmonaut Pilot Gennadi Vasiliyevich Kermanov, Engineer Andrei Yevgenyevich Kermanov, and Scientist Tatyana Raskolnikova Kermanov launched aboard Lunnik 21 to aid in construction of the new modular munbase and then relieve the crew of the current LZhM base.
The first action on arrival, was for Comrade Andrei to perform a detailed survey around the nearside monolith. Because of the large footprint of the Dolgosrochnaya lunnaya baza, it would be important for the base modules to be assembled on a flat area.
The flattest, most consistently level area around the monolith was a sizable triangular area just to the northeast. 89 by 135 by 94 meters, the area was more than large enough for the munbase and had a slope of only 4.1 degrees. Further to the northwest was a similarly sized area with a similar slop but that area slopped in another direction, with a slight ridge between the two. It was decided that the base modules would be placed in the triangular point nearest the monolith so as to maximize any expansion towards the wide part of the triangle to the northeast.
Less than a week later, the first module, an airlock, arrived, standing on end. Like all the modules, it was attached to its offloading ramp, which would be lowered after landing so that it would be rolled off and, under its own power, roll into its final location.
A few days later, the command module arrived and attached itself to the airlock module.
Two days after that, the first habitation module arrived. And while it had suffered a storage leak, destroying 400 kg of borscht, there was still plenty of supplies still available and both the LZhM and Lunnik crews were able to move into the new and relatively spacious munbase.
It was officially called Zvezda.
Over the next six weeks additional modules arrives. A laboratory, a cargo module, more habitation space, and another airlock. When complete, Zvezda had nine modules, room for a maximum population of 30. Four and a half tons of supplies would sustain a full crew for a month before needing resupply but the plan was to maintain a crew of only six for the time being while technologies were developed to be able to make the base self-sustaining.
The size of the base had led the crews to refer to their new home-away-from-home as “Kermangrad” instead of the official Zvezda name.
There was even talk of, somehow, designing and building onion-domed towers.
The first action on arrival, was for Comrade Andrei to perform a detailed survey around the nearside monolith. Because of the large footprint of the Dolgosrochnaya lunnaya baza, it would be important for the base modules to be assembled on a flat area.
The flattest, most consistently level area around the monolith was a sizable triangular area just to the northeast. 89 by 135 by 94 meters, the area was more than large enough for the munbase and had a slope of only 4.1 degrees. Further to the northwest was a similarly sized area with a similar slop but that area slopped in another direction, with a slight ridge between the two. It was decided that the base modules would be placed in the triangular point nearest the monolith so as to maximize any expansion towards the wide part of the triangle to the northeast.
Less than a week later, the first module, an airlock, arrived, standing on end. Like all the modules, it was attached to its offloading ramp, which would be lowered after landing so that it would be rolled off and, under its own power, roll into its final location.
A few days later, the command module arrived and attached itself to the airlock module.
Two days after that, the first habitation module arrived. And while it had suffered a storage leak, destroying 400 kg of borscht, there was still plenty of supplies still available and both the LZhM and Lunnik crews were able to move into the new and relatively spacious munbase.
It was officially called Zvezda.
Over the next six weeks additional modules arrives. A laboratory, a cargo module, more habitation space, and another airlock. When complete, Zvezda had nine modules, room for a maximum population of 30. Four and a half tons of supplies would sustain a full crew for a month before needing resupply but the plan was to maintain a crew of only six for the time being while technologies were developed to be able to make the base self-sustaining.
The size of the base had led the crews to refer to their new home-away-from-home as “Kermangrad” instead of the official Zvezda name.
There was even talk of, somehow, designing and building onion-domed towers.
