Since this is a NASA playthrough I could in theory compare it with the historical launch dates of the Soviets, but we all know they never landed on the moon as the N1 failed. So that would be running a game against an opponent doomed to failure.
So,what I will do instead is run this NASA game and compare it against the results I acheived in my previous soviet playthrough. So here I'lll be trying to outdo the commie version of myself.
My intitial plan is to launch a satellite, and then proceed directly to Mercury and lunar satellites. If I have excess research and financial capacity, I will look at side projects. Also at this stage I have not decided if I'll use Apollo or Gemini moon landers - I'll see how the game progresses. Suffice to say that I will use Gemini if I feel I'm lagging behind.
1.1955 - Opened the Explorer program. I had one expensive but not very good scientist, so I have dismissed him. This may slow me down a bit in the short run.
3.1955 - Opened Jupiter C rocket program
3.1957 - Successful Explorer satellite launched. So I have managed to best my red self by 1 season, and sent it the same time as RL soviets did. Not bad, seeing that I have 2 scientists (manned spacecraft and manned rocket oriented) in perpetual training, both have their skills in the 80s at this point. all's ready for Mercury.
4.1957 - Sucessfully launched sputnik. . I opened the Mercury and Atlan programs.
1.1958 - Opened Pioneer IV program.
3.1958 - Opened Thor-able booster program. This one will obviously go for my satellite missions. Sucessfully completed extended sputnik.
1.1960 - Risky Suborbital unmanned Vostok launch (Vostok capsule just 80% reliable) sucessfull
2.1960 - Subortbital manned Vostok flight (Now they've beaten me to it)
3.1960 - Uncrewed orbital Vostok.
4.1960 - Orbital duration I Vostok
1.1961 - Successful Mercury suborbital test - This is so much later than my soviet manned missions that its embarassing really. I waitited till the actual mercury capsule reached 80 reliability though. Slow and steady will hopefuly win the race.
2.1961 - Successful Mercury suborbital manned mission Opened Titan II program.
3.1961 - Successful Mercury orbital test. Opened Gemini.
4.1961 - Successful Mercury orbital manned mission
1.1962 - Successful Mercury orbital manned extended duration I mission. This is the final Mercury mission, closing program.
2.1962 - Opened Titan II C program. Thor able exploaded after launch on a Pioneer IV mission. This will delay my satellite plans.
2.1963 - Opened Saturn V program. Successful Pioneer IV mission, Suborbital unmanned Voskhod
3.1963 - Failed suborbital gemini test
1.1964 - Successful Gemini suborbital test
2.1964 - Orbital unmanned Voskhod Successful manned Gemini suborbita. Seems I have caught up with the reds! Opened Apollo program.
3.1964 - Successful Gemini manned orbital test, Luna 3 Flyby
4.1964 - Successful Gemini manned orbital, Orbital manned Voskhod. Well, its a tie with the reds!
1.1965 - Successful Pioneer 2 lunar orbiter,
3.1965 - Successful Gemini EVA orbital duration II, Luna 2 Impactor. I'm clearly ahead of the reds with the manned space missions at last!
1.1966 - Successful Gemini rendezvous with another vehicle
2.1966 - Voskhod Spacewalk
4.1966 - Failed Rangr lunar impactor (This pushes my Titan program back)
1.1967 - Unmanned Soyuz suborbital test. Failed Apollo suborbital test. Well, this will probably cost me the race.
2.1967 - Successful Ranger lunar impactor. Opened Surveyor, pened Atlas-Centaur
3.1967 - Orbital unmanned soyuz test, launched on an N1
4.1967 - Successful Apollo unmanned suborbital test flight, Manned orbital Soyuz, launched on an N1. Ok... the reds are ahead. I remember this part from my soviet playthrough and it was a risky corner-cuting move, but it seems it paid off.
1.1968 - Successful Apollo unmanned orbital test flight. Opened biosatellite program (will act as a test field for my Atlas-Centaur).
2.1968 - Zond 5 lunar flyby, Successful Apollo unmanned Lunar landeer test in low earth orbit with EVA
3.1968 - Unmanned lunar N1LK flyby test, Successful Apollo lunar flyby. Woo! I seem to be ahead of the reds again! Though not by a large margin, but one step ahead. Opened Pegasus satellite, as I have surplus manpower and money at this point.
4.1968 - Successful Apollo LEM test in moon orbit, Manned lunar N1LK flyby. Well, this is it, next stup is moon surface!
1.1969 - Manned orbital lunar N1LK test. Timothy Rodgers becomes the first human to set his foot on the moon. Americans cheer as the stars and stripes appear on the moon.
However, this was not meant to be a day of triumph. Shortly after correctly doocking with the Apollo, disaster strikes. A catastrophic failure occurs during LEM jettison, killing the astronauts and destroying the craft. At NASA, jubilation quickly turns into crushing sorrow. In a spurr of the moment TV speech, the newly elected Richard Nixon vows that "Americans will return to the moon. Flags all over the country are flown at half mast. In an uncharacteristic speech at the UN, Brezhnev expresses his condolences to the families of the deceased and americans as a nation.
Well, obviously this didn't go as planned. Had a very bad roll. But, "the show must go on". Apollo will eb severely delayed, but I am determined to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion.
2.1969 - Bad luck continues for NASA, the planned biosatellite mission fails at countdown. The new Atlas-Centaur booster is obviously not up to the task.
3.1969 - Lk lander test in orbit, Successful biosatellite mission (using regular old atlas this time around). In a last ditch effort to steal some glory from the inevitable soviet moon landing, NASA launches its soft landing moon probe. This ends in failure, as the probe shuts itself down after impact. Doom and gloom overcomes NASA.
4.1969 - Soviet Lunar landing, Successful pegasus satellite mission. The USSR becomes the first nation to bring its cosmonauts alive from the moon. The leader of the soviet space program in his memoires will record this as a "bitter victory".
1.1970 - Successful Apollo lunar landing mission. One year later after the tragic Apollo 6 mission and just one month after the soviet manned lunar landing, NASA launches Apollo 7. This time everything goes smooth, the crew arrive on the moon surface safely and then return to earth. Despite this, there's little celebration at NASA. Being beaten by teh soviets, albeit by a very near margin is very depressing.
Well, this was an interetsing playthrough. In early 1969 I was twarted by a horrible disaster after my astronauts successfully completed all activities on the moon surface. Thus the first man on the moon was an american, but the first man to safely return from there was a soviet cosmonaut. However the soviet mission was a less impressive, smaller 2 man module. And the next season american managed to return their astronauts from the moon safely aboard Apollo 7.
All in all, this playthrough seems to show that competitive games of BASPM can turn into a dramatic, teeth-grinding contest, where victory can be lost literally on the last streach. I think the competitive game mode will be a great success.
