Presidential Address (Attention Rasvidi)

President Carlton steps up to the podium in the capital building and the television cameras turn from the various reporters towards the president. He begins to speak:
“Good evening everyone. I am here to speak to you about our neighbor Rasvidi’s recent announcement that they plan to land on the moon. They have also announced intentions to begin developing weapons in space. As you all know, the GNSA has for many years been the premier space program in the region and has operated on the belief that space should be a peaceful, neutral place of science and exploration. Not war. However, if Rasvidi wishes to begin building and launching these weapons that is their right and we will not stop them. But let it be noted that Gracealona will never launch such weapons of our own and on the behalf of our entire government we would like to publically express our disapproval of these weapons. Gracealona also wishes to encourage the abolishment of the Rasvidian space weapons program.

Also, in order to insure that Gracealona continues to be the leading nation as far as aerospace technology and continues to capitalize on the private industry this attracts. Gracealona will also initiate a program with the goal to land a man on the moon and grants will be provided to the GNSA to accomplish this goal. The GNSA has already launched a lunar orbiter that has begun scouting out landing sites and intends to use both our Trinity Shuttles as well as the Vista Space Station to our advantage in reaching this goal.

However, let this goal never be interpreted as a hostile act towards our ally Rasvidi. We hope to continue to be allied with our western neighbor Rasvidi for many years to come and hope that this moon landing goal that we share will be seen as a friendly competition of sorts. That having been said, we hope that what will from this point on be known as the ‘Nexus Project’ will achieve it’s goal and we will see a Gracealonian flag planted on the moon. Thank you.” And with that the president left the podium and exited the hall.

Chairman Pralnikov stood at a podium, at the front of the press hall. It was a long room, about 250 meters by 25 meters. The ceilings were also staggeringly high, stretching nearly five stories above the heads of the reporters. Lining the hall were long banners, bearing the colours of the Rasvidi flag, and behind the Chairman hung a massive flag that must have weighed many hundreds of pounds.

As the echoes of the reporters and journalists began to die down, he cleared his throat and leaned into the microphone. "Comrades, this press conference has been called in response to rival ambitions in our close friend and neighbour, the Federal Republic of Gracealona. President Carlton earlier announced his intentions with the Nexus Project, which directly parallel our own space projects.

I am here to say that we support our neighbours in their scientific and political determinations, and we as their comrades are at their disposal. While we will continue to seek potential military applications in orbit despite objections, we will also offer military protection to our neighbours using this technology. They are our friends, and for some of us they are our wives and husbands and sons and daughters and brothers and sisters.

This is not all I have come here to speak about, however. I am also here to announce our intentions to create a joint space program with our neighbours. We extend this offer knowing that peaceful cooperation is in the best interests of both our nations, and that technical expertise and specialization on both sides of the border will benefit exponentially from such an agreement. Together, Gracealona and Rasvidi can achieve above and beyond what other nations are capable of. Our relationship his historically been complex, marred by wars and alliances, but one thing has been consistent: We have always been able to depend on one another in the face of an outside threat.

Long Live Rasvidi, Gracealona and the glorious Revolution!"

There was silence amongst the crowds of reporters after he finished, but as he began to step down from the podium the hall erupted to a deafening barrage of questions and speculations escaping from the reporters. Before their questions could be answered, however, the Chairman had left and they were being escorted out of the building.

Secure E-mail
To:Chairman Venedikt N. Pralnikov
From:President Andy Carlton

Dear Friend,
In regards to your recent speech expressing desire to work together with us to achieve our common goal of landing a man on the moon, we accept. We wish to invite all the people working on your lunar project to travel to McKinley Space Center; the main space center of the GNSA. Gracealona would of course pay to fly them and any equipment they require into our nation. Once they arrive, together with Gracealonian scientists and engineers working on the Nexus Project, they can begin to develop plans for the vehicles we will use to land our astronauts on the moon. I think we should also agree right now that the first flight to land on the moon will carry a joint crew of both Rasvidian and Gracealonian astronauts as well as a joint landing team. I believe that this joint project between our nations is a great way to solidify our new alliance. And both Rasvidian and Gracealonian astronauts making the first ever moon landing will boldly show the world that we are a force to be reckoned with
Sincerly,
Andy Carlton
President of the United States of Gracealona

TO: President Andy Carlton
FROM: Chairman Venedikt N. Pralnikov

This sounds like an excellent endeavour. We shall send a team of technicians, rocket specialists, physicists, mathematicians and several Rasvidi rocketry designs. They will be headed by Vilhelmi Lenskaya, my chief science advisor. We will also begin selecting astronauts for the mission, and we will narrow them down based on the crew specifications of any craft that have been developed. We also provide you with psychologists to analyze the mental and emotional stresses of such a long and distant journey and develop remedies to this.

We also agree that both nations will have astronauts, but one issue we foresee as being a source of potential tension is over which astronaut gets to be first on the moon; a potential solution we have found is having a Rasvidi born astronaut of Gracealonian ethnicity being the first, as we have a substantial population of ethnic Gracealonians in Kazan and nearby regions.

Long Live the Revolution,
Venedikt N. Pralnikov
Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of Rasvidi

TO: Chairman Venedikt N. Pralnikov
FROM: President Andy Carlton

I say that we do not worry about who will step on the moon first for now and focus instead on the technology we will use to land there for now. It would be ideal if we could allow the astronauts to decide amongst themselves, but this likely wouldn't work out.

Also, all of the Gracealonian astronauts we have selected have flown into space before and spent time onboard Vista. Therefore they are familar with life in zero gravity and living in space. As your space program is realitivley new I assume your astronauts have had little to no expreince in space. Considering this, we would like to extend an invitation for up to 6 of your astronauts to take a trip aboard one of our Trinity Shuttles. The shuttle would be piloted by two of our astronauts and they would help to train your six astronauts during a 10 day stay in orbit aboard the shuttle. The trip would also include a two day visit to Vista so your astronauts can see the gem of the Gracealonian space program while the shuttle transers monthly supplies to the station.

Sincerly,
President Andy Carlton

(OOC: I don't know if you've seen my GNSA post in my database. If you haven't you might want to so you see what the heck I'm talking about.)

TO: President Andy Carlton
FROM: Chairman Venedikt N. Pralnikov

This is most acceptable. We would also be more then willing to assist in maintenance and crew rotations of 'Vista', as well as refueling once our shuttle program becomes functional. We hope that our joint space program, which our government has taken to unofficially calling the "Rasvidi-Gracealona Space Initiative", will become the jewel of Tiberiam and her nations.

As per our recent treaty, Rasvidi has set aside $30.6 billion (1% of our total GDP) to this project.

Long Live the Revolution,
Venedikt N. Pralnikov
Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of Rasvidi

(OOC: Okay now that there has been a timescale established for roleplay, how long should it take for us to achieve our goals?)

(OOC: Well if we wanted to be realistic it would probably be about 4 or 5 years :/. I'm not sure I want to wait that long. Why don't we just start an Rp of devloping the vehicles for now?)

(OOC: Well in my space post, I mentioned that Rasvidi could have people on the moon by two years. That would be about... five and a half months IRL. So yeah we should maybe roleplay the construction of vehicles and the establishment of an independent Rasvidi space program to complement Gracealona's and maybe establish a rival space station)

(OOC: Sounds good. Maybe time to move to a new thread in international?)

To:Rasvidian Government

We realize that a great rift has been struck between our two nations in light of recent events. However, we wish to continue to work with you on this project and feel we can still accomplish our goal together. We understand that we are asking much of you as your scientists and the vast majority of your people hold much anger towards the people and government of Gracealona. We feel like continuing the program and succeding in our goal would be an excellent way to ease tension between our two nations. Understanding your anger in response to our choosing of self preservation over our honor and duty to you we will understand if you choose to end the joint project. If you choose to end it all of your contributions to the project will be immediately returned to your government with the promise of us not using it. We would be lying to say that the Nexus Project would not be continued by only the GNSA in your absence, but we still wish for the joint project to remain intact and functioning after the fighting has ceased.
Sincerely,
Robert Lerwick
Director of the Gracealonian National Space Administration (GNSA)

[Bump for Ras]