The Soviet Zvezda project was begun in 1972. It was planned to deliver prefabricated modules to the Moon using the N1 rocket, Russia’s answer to the Saturn V, and assemble the base on the lunar surface. This plan had the advantage of creating a base that could be made operational far more quickly than its American counterpart. However, the project suffered serious delays because of the problematic N-1, and after 1970 the plan was abandoned in favor of the Zond orbital station. Having observed the failure of Operation Lyre in 1972, however, the plan was canceled in 1974 without a shot being fired.
Operation Lyre took place on March 17–19, 1972. Over 200 specially-trained US troops moved overland from the Horizon base, assaulting Walhalla on the morning of March 19. The attack was the culmination of a plan that had begun six months earlier: an initial rocket attack aimed to knock out the base’s heavier defenses while ground troops in modified space suits conducted a ground assault.
The attack was a complete failure. Although the initial rocket barrage did some damage to Walhalla’s heavier defensive weaponry, lighter point-defense weapons wrought terrible havoc among the Americans, who were forced back three times before abandoning the attack. Details of the mission are still classified, and the casualties were hidden within the military losses for the First Battle of Quảng Tri which began on March 30.
The main effects of Operation Lyre were to knock out the Sonnengewehr and cause minor damage to the V-9 rail gun. Some called this a partial success, although neither weapon had yet been able to cause serious damage on Earth. However, it undoubtedly had an effect on the Black Sun’s decision to abandon Projekt Mjölnir and accelerate plans for the next phase of the Bifrost Protocol.
With the failure of Operation Lyre, the Horizon base was abandoned and the survivors were shuttled back to Earth. The Apollo program was wound down: two more missions were flown, but the pretense was no longer necessary: the United States had abandoned the Moon.
In the Soviet Union, military planners considered their options. Work on the Zond project was still hampered by flaws in the N1 rocket system, and despite the damage to two of Walhalla’s long-range weapons a Nazi reprisal attack was feared. For the next two decades, both superpowers switched their priority from attacking the Moon to defending the Earth.
After Operation Lyre, the technological advantage switched back to the Soviet Union. It already had a working orbital station thanks to the Salyut program, while the United States was forced to catch up with the Skylab project. Through the later 1970s and the 1980s, orbital stations of increasing sophistication served to provide early warning of approaching threats and, if necessary, direct ground-launched missiles to their targets.
Building on the Zvezda concept, the Soviet Union already had advanced plans for space station construction as early as 1971. Salyut 1 was launched in April of that year, and had been intended as a dry run for the construction of the planned lunar orbital station when the failure of Operation Lyre made both superpowers rethink their strategy. Russia’s Almaz program aimed to create a series of military space stations using Salyut technology, but after three missions it was decided to focus instead on automated defense satellites coordinated from a single manned station. This project continued under the Almaz name through the later Salyut missions of the early 1980s and the construction of the Mir station. Salyut 7, the last of the series, remained in orbit until 1991.
Barely a year after Operation Lyre, NASA launched Skylab I, an orbiting scientific station whose stated purpose was to make astronomical observations, survey the Earth from space, and conduct experiments in zero gravity. It also had a classified mission: to detect approaching spacecraft and direct the fire of ground-launched missiles. This mission was largely carried out by automated systems, allowing Skylab to work continuously between the three manned missions to the station. Upgrades to Skylab’s detection and communications systems continued throughout its lifetime, and there was a plan to use the Space Shuttle to boost it to a higher orbit, but delays in Shuttle development prevented this operation from taking place. Skylab finally dropped out of orbit on July 11, 1979, breaking up on re-entry. The largest pieces came down near Perth in Western Australia.
The Soviet military had developed the Istrebitel Sputnik (IS; Fighter Satellite) concept in the 1960s as part of the Zond project, which saw the orbiting moonbase as the command and control center for a fleet of attack satellites parked in lunar orbit. Like the Zond space station, it was a simple matter to adapt the system for use in Earth orbit, both looking outward for approaching Nazi craft and looking out for rival US satellites.
Upon detecting an enemy launch from the lunar surface, the Zond command module would direct the nearest IS satellite toward it: the satellite would detonate a fragmentation warhead which was effective at a range of up to half a mile.
Until 1983, US orbital defense relied on missiles launched from the Earth’s surface. That year, however, President Ronald Reagan launched the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI). Nicknamed “Star Wars,” this ambitious program surrounded the Earth with a network of satellites armed with X-ray lasers and rail guns. The project was sold to the public as a defense against Soviet intercontinental ballistic missiles, raising Cold War tensions to a pitch not seen since the Cuban Missile Crisis, but equally important was its ability to detect and destroy incoming Nazi saucers.