# Dashanalune 0

Given a long time, in the seventies, my grandfather told me a story. On the first manned flight to the moon - which took place just before the war.

About how the scientists of the USSR, built a spaceship - capable of reaching the moon.

But, since in order to reach the moon, the ship needed to go beyond the limits of the Earth’s magnetic field, and to experience the impact of monstrous cosmic rays, it was decided to first launch a small space rocket with a cat. To find out if a person can survive. A light bulb was installed on the rocket, which blinked, signaling that the cat was fine.

The rocket with the cat successfully overcame the radiation belts, but when landing on the moon it bent down and fell. And scientists, observing the landing site in the telescope, decide that the cat died - could not withstand radiation.

Departure of the rocket with people was canceled.

But, the creator of the rocket, Professor Karin, decided to take the risk. And violating the ban, he, along with the team sneaks into the rocket and starts to the moon. From the overpass in the suburbs.

He still does not know that the space hare, the pioneer Peter, who got into the rocket using confusion, is flying with him in the rocket.

The rocket safely crosses the radiation belts, but when landing on the moon it also gets damaged - the surface of the moon is strewn with boulders and the rockets simply have no place to sit.

So our heroes are trapped on the moon - they cannot report to Earth that they survived, they cannot start and they run out of oxygen.

On Earth, meanwhile, despondency reigns. The crew of Professor Karina did not return from the moon. Obviously, they also fell victim to cosmic radiation. It was decided to postpone the launch of the second spacecraft - until they develop a way to protect the crew from the rays.

But the Soviet cosmonauts do not give up.

They find a mineral from which the professor can extract oxygen. They make a sortie - jumping, from a boulder to a boulder, in conditions of light lunar gravity, they cover the distance to the ship with a cat and set it vertically.

Now the light signaling that the cat is alive shines on Earth.

An earthly astronomer, in mourning, for a professor who was killed on his colleague who died on the moon, for the last time glances at the moon through a telescope. And notices flashes in one of the craters!

The light is on - it means the cat is alive! - He shouts, running into the office of the Director of the Institute of Space.

LIGHT BULB IS ON - THE CAT IS ALIVE !!! - shouts director of the institute. - So Professor Karin could survive! Urgently launch a second rocket!

The second rocket flies to the moon, where it sits down on the landing site cleared by our heroes without any problems and returns to Earth after conducting a research program of the moon.

All saved. Including a cat.

Attentive readers have probably already noticed that my grandfather is not the author of this story - he told me the plot of the 1935 Soviet film “Space Flight”. Some deviations from the plot can be explained by the fact that in the late USSR there was an unofficial ban on early films about space exploration and they were not shown either in cinemas or on TV, and my grandfather simply thought about the details forgotten after years.

For me, this story is precious because, after listening to it, I caught fire on space exploration. Then there were other stories about the exploration of the planets of the solar system.

To an adult they seem naive and stereotyped to me - with all-knowing scientists, ubiquitous hare-pioneers, lunar bases of aliens and glorious astronauts, who only slightly lose in their stubbornness to astronauts.

But this was the time.

The modern reader, alas, is deprived of the pleasure of reading such books. Literature 50-60th obsolete, and modern writers do not write such books.

Therefore, following the covenant of J. B.I. Zorg, I decided to write a similar book myself. So that in it were: the near future, space flights, terrible lunar and earthly secrets, the cosmic hare, the rivalry of superpowers and other attributes of the genre.

At the same time, as it should be according to the canon, the story should be strictly science fiction. Therefore, I plan to publish the story on Habré - so that readers can point out to me errors to correct them. (Scriptwriters of the "Space Flight" consulted with Tsiolkovsky - but I, alas, do not have any familiar scientists).

It can be said that the story will be written in co-authorship - at the end of the story I will indicate all those whose remarks were used when writing. In this, I am not original - Kir Bulychev, for example, wrote in co-authorship with the readers of Pioneer truth one of the stories about Alice.

I just want to warn you - like Kir, I will use only individual reader phrases: # Dashanalune is not a Burime novel. I have a finished story and I will stick to it.

What else?

There will be many characters in the story. Some will hold different points of view. But, do not be in a hurry to be indignant - if you are not satisfied with the views of one of the characters, write a reasoned objection - and I will put them in the mouth of another character, letting the reader decide who is right. (I warn you once again that the characters and the author have different points of view on many issues).

The story is written in the genre of "crypto history." The explorations of the moon in their universe are different from those known to us. Many heroes are real historical figures, they speak and act differently. I did this not with the aim of denigrating the American lunar program, but with the goal of creating a reality in which the facts we know add up to a different picture. Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins - sorry.

Looking ahead, I want to note in advance that some of the negative emotions that Daria experiences with respect to the Chinese team are no more than the consequences of realism. And these feelings are justified and mutual. Realistic taykonavt will not be happy hare on the ship, alas and oh. I myself treat the space program of China with great respect, and I hope to show them with dignity and realism.

And the last: Smile. I invite you to participate in an exciting (hopefully) game. Do not take it to heart.

So:

- Houston, we have problems. Eagles are sbrendili.

- Colombia, I do not understand you. SAY AGAIN. Repeat.

- Eagle can not fly. White disassembled the remote.

- Problems with the module? Confirm.

- I do not confirm. This is not a module issue. This is a problem with White. Listen yourself, - said the first interlocutor, clicking the toggle switch. There was a new voice interspersed with interference:

- ... go on my God. We can't take off. We can't take off. White disassembled the remote. I asked why, but he does not respond. It all started after the landing. I was preparing to exit the module, and White just sat. Then he took out the tools and began to disassemble the console. At first I did not interfere, I thought that White was looking for a problem. We had alarms from landing. But he did not talk to me. I grabbed his arm so he answered - and he hit me with a wrench. Smashed his head. Broke my fingers on my hand. I was cut off. I came to myself in a couple of hours. Shit included cabin depressurization. I barely managed to fasten the spacesuit and connect the PLSS knapsack. The console and life support system has already been disassembled. I cannot collect and start. Reception

- Grissom, calm down. This is Colombia. What is White doing now?

- And I know? Outside the module mounts something.

- Take a look.

- You need, you and see. I once had enough. He's fucked up. Dolbonuty, - hysterical notes were clearly heard in the voice of the speaker.

- Grissom, calm down. You have to go see ...

“Stop, stop, stop,” I said, unable to bear it, “What kind of petrified mammoth shit have I just listened to?”

“The historical record of the first landing of a man on the moon,” answered the OO.

- And who is Armstrong? - I asked. Despite all my humanitarian needs, I well remembered which of the people first landed on the moon. In the end, I was going to repeat his feat. Become the first in many lists - the first woman on the moon, the first space tourist on the surface of another planet and the first space hare.

- No one. Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin - at this time sat on the aircraft carrier Hornet and crammed their scripts. As a command module splashed down, they swam up to it under water to get out with fanfare and television cameras.

- I do not understand. You, like these boobies, "Lunar conspirators", do you think that the Americans were not on the moon?

- These are not. The first people on the moon were Virgil Grissom and Edward White.

- ... yeah. And scientists have established that Illyad and Odyssey were written not by the famous blind narrator Homer, but by another blind Greek of the same name. Why should the Americans replace astronauts if they still landed on the moon? What's the point?

- Werner von Braun has always performed the tasks. In his chiefs, Hitler first walked. You can't argue with Hitler. Brown is used to doing exactly what he is ordered to do. Without a nurse and "I did not understand." And the task assigned to Werner was not just "Landing a man on the moon" - but "Guaranteed trouble-free landing of a man on the moon on the first attempt."

- I did not get that.

- You are not a politician, Dasha. This is for you a trip to the moon - the achievement of science and the human spirit. The peak of the development of our civilization. And for politicians, landing a man on the moon was a promotional event designed to establish America’s world domination. Any failure, accident - would be instantly spun the enemies of America. The colossal triumph that united the nation could instantly turn into a terrible failure if the astronauts were killed. This should have been avoided. At any price.

“That is ...” I said, and fell silent, in the hope that the OO would continue. The method tested from school did not disappoint.

- The first pancake, of course, is not always lumpy. But often. Here, as in a lottery, it may or may not. And since under the terms of the assignment, the failure was absolutely unacceptable, it was necessary to insure. And the agency has developed a plan in case the mission fails - if everything goes well, then fine - we are the first on the moon. Astronauts crashed when disembarking? Bad, but not fatal. Go to plan "B". We have already printed photos of the landing and astronauts doubles are sitting on the aircraft carrier, so we are in any case in the queens, ”OO continued.

- Not. Does not converge somehow. Such a conspiracy cannot be done in secret. What the two know, the pig also knows, ”I repeated, the most popular argument read on the Internet against the theory of the lunar conspiracy.

- Yeah. Shassss. Do you know how the directors provide the secret of the film finale before the premiere? Thousands of onlookers revolve around the set. And this is not counting the onlookers on the site itself - the unskilled workers of the scene and other illuminators. Everything seen here is transmitted to the social network.

It would seem that under these conditions there can be no talk of a finale.

And she is. Since the famous ending reduces the profit from rolling, the directors have learned to keep a secret even under close observation. The director simply shoots two finals - good and bad. What gets into the tape - he knows only. So here, the secret of the lunar scam was ensured first of all by the fact that although it was carried out in plain sight, it was no different from preparing for an ordinary flight. The scam was divided into dozens of episodes, with each episode, taken separately, did not cause any suspicion.

Making a moonshine surface in a studio on Earth? This is a training ground for astronauts. Shooting photos? Illustrative material. Substitution of astronauts? Quarantine requirement for returning from the moon. Several people knew the whole truth. At the same time, to discredit possible leaks, the agency spun the most stupid and irresponsible "unbelievers" - in the sense, supporters of the lunar conspiracy. Money was thrown up, positions were given. So soon, "Lunar Skeptic" and "idiot" became synonymous. You get stuck in these conditions for people to open their eyes - when everyone looks at you as a clown.

- What about the broadcast of the first landing? Was the whole world following her?

- Just recorded in advance. It was transmitted from the Columbia command module rotating around the moon. And when Colombia left for the Moon, they switched to a specially launched satellite - the translator. Also, they would continue to broadcast, happen that with Colombia. Show Must Gow, as they say. So, when the lunar landing module was covered with a copper basin, the world did not notice anything.

- And what happened, I did not understand something.

- And no one understood. One of the two astronauts who landed on the moon, White, instead of carrying out a research program - setting the flag and singing the anthem, suddenly began to disassemble the landing module and assemble some device from its parts. The second astronaut, Grissom, tried to stop him, got a screwdriver on the head and no longer intervened. He later contacted Colombia several times during the day. Colombia, if you don’t remember, was at that time orbiting the moon.

I imagined how an astronaut locked in a tight tin can with a madman makes contact with a ship in orbit. As he more and more falls into despair, realizing that he will no longer return to Earth. As he scolds the minutes to the inevitable end - the oxygen tends to run out.

It was especially easy for me to understand his feelings. Me, locked in a cramped coffin of a tiny orbital plane, a Boeing X-37B, which hangs in a low reference orbit. You've probably seen this little guy in the news. The shuttle became a star on the air twice: first, after returning from the first flight in 2010. I was still quite petty then, but I remembered it. Against the backdrop of large, real shuttle, Buran and Discovery, this orbital plane seemed so pretty. Like a pony.

The second time, the shuttle got into the news a year ago, when a group of hackers seized control of the shuttle hanging in orbit and drowned it in the Pacific Ocean. Well, everyone thought they were drowned. As I now know, the shuttle was picked up by a group of NGOs, placed on a diesel submarine and re-equipped to deliver a person into space.

Me.

To be continued:

Illustration: S. Zhekhovsky to the book by E. Zhulavsky “On the Silver Planet”

Scene after the credits: