Looking Glass Land

ISA SECURE DATABASE

"LOOKING GLASS LAND" — SUMMARY

TOP SECRET//LG/SAR-HG//ORCON/NOFORN

Timeline

Timeline color key

Prime

Looking Glass Land

Both

1850s

Year	Date	Event
1859	1-2 September	The Carrington Event occurs. One of the largest geomagnetic storms on record, a major coronal mass ejection occurs at around noon on September 1 and impacts the Earth less than a day later, causing auroras bright enough to read newspapers at night in some areas, and visible as far south as the Caribbean. Telegraph operators around the world report receiving electric shocks and being able to transmit with their power supplies turned off, when systems aren't disrupted by the storm.
		A damaged Hoomiku space station arrives from 1955 on a hyperbolic trajectory around Earth.
		A damaged Hoomiku space station arrives from 1955 on a hyperbolic trajectory around Earth.

1910s

Year	Date	Event
1912	10 April	RMS Titanic departs Southampton on her maiden voyage, bound for New York via Cherbourg, France and Queenstown, Ireland.
		The members of Project Hourglass arrive in Southampton from 2013 and board the Titanic in order to secure an artifact that is clearly of Hoomiku manufacture from the ship prior to its sinking. They are booked in Cabins B-51, 53 and 55 for the voyage under names which appear on the official manifest in the future.
1912	14-15 April	RMS Titanic strikes iceberg on her maiden voyage and sinks 2 hours and 40 minutes later, killing more than 1,500 people. News of the disaster shocks the world and leads to the establishment of new safety standards on the seas.

1950s

Year	Date	Event
1955	5 November

1960s

Year	Date	Event
1962	26 October	Cuban Missile Crisis: President John F. Kennedy meets with the Executive Committee of the National Security Council (EXCOMM) and confides that he believes an invasion of Cuba is the only way to remove Soviet nuclear missiles from the island. He is persuaded to wait and continue with diplomatic and military pressure. The situation is at an effective stalemate. On Ishonko, researchers from the Royal College of Alkonost meet with King Zalkyo Jeskalt to discuss the situation on Terra. Two schools of thought exist within the College: a first advocates for immediate intervention in order to resolve the crisis or shape the situation to one beneficial for the Otonichi while the second advises that doing nothing is the only possible option, due to the possibility of the crisis either resolving itself (peacefully or otherwise) or of the mere presence of an outside force defusing the situation in a way that would be undesirable to the empire. At an emergency meeting of the royal Cabinet, a lone researcher for the College convinces the king to allow the crisis on Terra to continue until it reaches its inevitable conclusion, with Terra running headlong into the Great Filter through nuclear war. The king agrees and orders no intervention be carried out.
1962	27 October	Cuban Missile Crisis: As tensions reach a boiling point between the United States, Cuba and the Soviet Union, Soviet submarine B-59 is surrounded by a group of American ships, which begin to drop depth charges in an attempt to force the submarine to surface. Unsure whether war has already broken out, Captain Valentin Grigorievitch Savitsky and political officer Ivan Semonovich Maslennikov agree to use a nuclear-tipped torpedo. Flotilla commander Vasili Arkhipov, whose vote is required in order to authorize the launch, disagrees and denies the launch, averting what could have been the opening shot of World War III. The submarine eventually surfaces and leaves the area. This day, later known as "Black Saturday", is one of the closest moments in Terran history to possible Armageddon.
1967	27 January	During a dress rehearsal for the launch of Apollo 1, a cabin fire ignites and kills Command Pilot Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger B. Chaffee. Major changes to the design of the capsule and to procedures are implemented in the aftermath of the disaster. The cause of the fire is never conclusively determined. Decades later, investigation by members of Project Bootstrap reveals that the direct cause of the accident was sabotage of the cabin electronics by elements of the Otonichi Intelligence Services working to sabotage Terran spaceflight activity. Apollo 1 is their first major attempt, and while it results in a temporary setback of the Apollo Program, their efforts do not work as intended. They regroup and formulate new plans.

1980s

Year	Date	Event
1986	28 January	Space Shuttle Challenger explodes during launch of STS-51-L, killing all 7 on board, including school teacher Christa McAuliffe.
		Space Shuttle Challenger explodes on the launchpad during launch of STS-51-L, killing all 7 on board, including school teacher Christa McAuliffe.
1986	9 June	The Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident releases its report and submits it to President Ronald Reagan. The cause of the disaster is found to be a failure of the O-rings in the right Solid Rocket Booster due to the cold conditions at launch, which led to the escape of super heated gasses and the subsequent breakup of the vehicle 73 seconds after launch. The report also notes a number of contributing causes to the accident and criticizes NASA management decisions that led to the accident.
		The Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident releases its report and submits it to President Ronald Reagan. The cause of the disaster is found to be the unauthorized activation of the range safety system onboard the Shuttle at the moment of booster ignition, destroying the Shuttle, the launch pad and killing several ground personnel and spectators. The report concludes that a valid command was sent to the system to arm and activate it at liftoff, but records from Patrick Air Force Base and testimony from the Range Safety Officers indicate conclusively that no command was sent from them. The failure is attributed to a serious fault or outside tampering, but the exact cause is never determined with certainty. The report includes testimony from Morton-Thiokol engineer Roger Boisjoly, noting the possibility of a failure of the Solid Rocket Booster O-rings during launches on days with very low temperatures. Initially seen as a possible cause for the accident, investigators cannot conclusively find evidence for this as a cause for the disaster and the subsequent discovery of the range safety system activation leads to a lack of further investigation into this possibility. It is included as a mere footnote in the report.
1989	24 March	The New York Times publishes classified documents obtained by CIA analyst Jack Thornwell which contain numerous details on projects involving the Hoomiku performed by both the United States and Soviet Union. The story becomes a media sensation overnight and Thornwell is arrested within hours of publication.

1990s

Year	Date	Event
1990	24 April	Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-31, carrying the Hubble Space Telescope into orbit.
		Space Shuttle Discovery is destroyed shortly after liftoff, killing the 7 astronauts onboard and destroying the Hubble Space Telescope. An investigation is immediately launched and all future Space Shuttle missions are grounded indefinitely.
1990	15 November	The Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Discovery Accident releases its report and submits it to President George H. W. Bush. The cause of the accident cannot be conclusively identified, but it is most likely believed to be a major manufacturing defect in the vehicle's External Tank which caused a catastrophic failure and in-flight breakup of the vehicle. Despite safety modifications introduced after the Challenger accident, the report concludes that a reevaluation of the entire Space Transportation System is required before America can again launch astronauts into space.
1991	29 January	At the 1991 State of the Union Address, President George H. W. Bush announces the cancellation of America's manned space program and shifts NASA's priorities to the cause of robotic exploration of the Solar System. The three remaining Space Shuttles are decommissioned and placed on display in museums, with Space Shuttle Columbia placed on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C..
1993	21 October	The House of Representatives narrowly votes to approve funds to continue the construction of the Superconducting Super Collider in Waxahachie, Texas. The project, roughly 1/5th of the way to completion, faces increasing scrutiny on Capitol Hill due to reports of project mismanagement and skyrocketing costs. Over the next few months, a staff shakeup leads to lower cost projections and a revised timeline for completion, with the massive particle accelerator due for activation before the end of the year 2000.
1993	27 October	The House of Representatives votes 283 to 143 to reject a Conference Committee report with continuing funds for the Superconducting Super Collider. The project is officially terminated. Access shafts to the 14 miles of completed tunnels are filled in and over the next year, the project is officially wound down and abandoned.
1995	August	A private expedition to the wreck of the Titanic is carried out by a group of French treasure-hunters. After contracting the Russians in order to use the R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh and its MIR submersibles, a number of artifacts are recovered from the wreck. INTERPOL, acting on a tip, arrests the men and confiscates the artifacts, a number of which corrode due to improper cleaning and handling. The artifacts are eventually sold to Magnolia Parks and Entertainment, for use in a future museum devoted to the ship.

2000s

Year	Date	Event
2002	4 July	At a press conference at the Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory, researchers from the SDC and GEM experiments announce the discovery of a new particle with properties consistent with the Higgs boson at an energy of 125.3 ± 0.6 GeV/c2 and 126.0 ± 0.6 GeV/c2, respectively, with a significance of 5 sigma (a probability of a chance result being as strong being less than 1 in 3 million). In attendance at the event is Peter Higgs. President Bush praises the discovery as a national and international triumph.
2003	1 February	Space Shuttle Columbia is destroyed during reentry over Texas, killing all 7 astronauts aboard. An investigation is immediately launched and all future Space Shuttle missions are grounded indefinitely.
2003	26 August	The Columbia Accident Investigation Board issues its report. The immediate cause of the accident is revealed to be a breach in one of the reinforced carbon-carbon composite panels on the left wing of the Space Shuttle, caused by foam from the External Tank striking the panel at supersonic speeds. During reentry, plasma entered the wing and compromised its structure, leading to the eventual destruction of the vehicle due to loss of attitude control. The report also indicates a large number of faults with NASA decision making policy and risk assessment procedures, as well as a culture where deviations from design criteria were regularly accepted so long as mission success was not compromised. The report makes numerous recommendations for future spaceflight operations. The International Space Agency's fleet of Orbiters, recently approved for construction, begin to undergo design modifications to allow for higher crew safety standards.
2007	5 June	Magnolia Parks and Entertainment announces plans to commission a replica of the RMS Titanic from Harland and Wolff in Belfast. The company plans to moor the ship at a specially built pier on the Atchafalaya River near the city of Magnolia Bend, Louisiana until a study concludes that extensive and impractical dredging of the river will be needed. Alternate plans are placed in motion to construct a museum in New York at Pier 54, and the company enters into talks with the City of New York to begin construction to open the museum in time for the 100th anniversary of the sinking.
2008	September	As the subprime mortgage crisis continues to rattle financial markets in the United States, Lehman Brothers declares bankruptcy on September 15th, causing the Dow Jones to plunge. American International Group (AIG) is taken over by the Federal Reserve the next day and worried investors begin to make runs on banks, leading Washington Mutual to declare bankruptcy. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, a $700 billion proposal for the US Treasury to purchase troubled assets and supply cash directly to banks to avoid further collapses, is rejected by the House of Representatives on September 29th, sending the Dow plunging by 770 points and throwing markets around the world into chaos. The Great Recession begins to rock the United States.
2008	4 November	Edward Marshall is elected 44th President of the United States, defeating Arizona Senator John McCain.
		Barack Obama is elected 44th President of the United States, defeating Arizona Senator John McCain.

2010s

Year	Date	Event
2011	21 July	Space Shuttle Atlantis lands at Kennedy Space Center, concluding STS-135 and ending NASA's 30 year Space Shuttle program. The ISA adopts a new numbering system for its flights, beginning with STS-163, a final mission for the Department of Defense, launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. All future ISA Space Shuttle missions launch from LC-39D and E at Kennedy Space Center and SLC-7 at Vandenberg is decommissioned.
2011	23 December	Phoenix 4, carrying two Americans, a Russian and a Finn lands on the Moon at Schroter's Valley, becoming the first manned mission to do so since Apollo 17 in 1972.
2012	April
2013	25 November	Members of Project Hourglass travel to April 10, 1912.
2016	8 July	A week and a half before the Republican National Convention, presumptive nominee Donald Trump announces that he is suspending his campaign, throwing the race for the Republican nomination into chaos. At a press conference announcing the event, Trump implies that he is withdrawing from the race against his will due to coercion by outside forces and hints of a "witch hunt" against him. He does not, despite repeated questioning, establish what forces he is referring to.
2016	19 July	On the fifth round of voting, Senator Arlen Hawking of Idaho wins the nomination for President, defeating Texas Senator Ted Cruz. In his speech to the convention, Hawking pledges to unify the party and begin the process of making the nation prosperous once more.
2016	8 November	Arlen Hawking is elected 45th President of the United States, defeating former Secretary of Energy Elizabeth Gaines.
		Donald Trump is elected 45th President of the United States, defeating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
2017	29 August	North Korea launches an intercontinental ballistic missile, which flies over Hokkaido, Japan before crashing into the Pacific. With tensions on the Korean Peninsula reaching a dangerous tipping point, the United Nations Security Council meets to discuss options. President Trump states that "all options are on the table" and threatens to retaliate with "force unlike anything they've ever seen" should any further provocation occur.
2017	29 October	Five snow leopards are arrested after attempting to sabotage the upcoming launch of Shenzhou 12 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Inner Mongolia. After intense interrogation, Chinese officials announce to the world that the saboteurs are not terrestrial leopards and that they are part of an operation intentionally tampering with affairs on Earth, specifically, Terran spaceflight programs. An emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council is called. The men are convicted and sentenced to execution by China while an intense global effort is launched to find anyone else suspected of being associated with the program. Propaganda appears almost overnight across the globe: "Beware the Otonichi scourge!"

2020s

Year	Date	Event
2008	4 November
2012	April