Worldbuilding questions

[Tyyr]

Well the biggest problem is that without WW2 you've got no V2 and the V2 is the grand daddy of all modern rockets. Though if Germany doesn't go apeshit they've got one hell of a brain trust going with physics and rocketry. They could very well be one of the world leaders in the field.

[Sionnach Glic]

If anything it would take longer for space technology to develop. No Second World War means no development of the Vengence Weapons, and thus little research into rocket technology. It'll also mean slower development in a number of other areas, as well. Expect aviation, radar, jet propulsion, nuclear weapons and a host of other inventions to come later than they did historicaly.

Also, has your world avoided the Cold War? If so, expect further delays in space technology. The Cold War resulted in the Space Race, which helped fuel R&D into space technology as both the Americans and the Soviets tried to beat each other to various achievements and innovations.
Remove both WW2 and the Cold War, and you may be looking at humans landing on the moon several decades later than we really did.

[Captain Seafort]

Remove both WW2 and the Cold War, and you may be looking at humans landing on the moon several decades later than we really did.

If at all - without the motivation of beating the Soviet Union to the punch, what reason is there to go to the moon other than idle curiosity?

[Sionnach Glic]

A valid point. It's quite possible that humans will not go to the moon until it stops being so costly. Why bother when you can just send probes?

[Tyyr]

Because humans aren't satisfied with probes? Exploration is part of our nature?

That said Apollo was an incredible leap forward in technology. With nothing like the space race to motivate it I can see it not happening until well... now. Also given how much it cost for what we got in the absence of a motivation like beating the Russkies I can see people not wanting to go until you can do some significant work there, maybe even establish a base.

[Mikey]

I think to match "our" level of spaceflight tech, you'd have to invent, via author's fiat, a reason for von Braun to have existed.

[Sionnach Glic]

Because humans aren't satisfied with probes? Exploration is part of our nature?

Oh, I agree we'd go there eventually, but without needing to beat another world power to the landing, we'd probably have waited until it wasn't so freaking expensive.

[Captain Seafort]

Because humans aren't satisfied with probes? Exploration is part of our nature?

Competition is part of our nature - that's what drove the age of exploration, from Da Gamma to Livingstone.

[Lazar]

Because humans aren't satisfied with probes? Exploration is part of our nature?

That said Apollo was an incredible leap forward in technology. With nothing like the space race to motivate it I can see it not happening until well... now. Also given how much it cost for what we got in the absence of a motivation like beating the Russkies I can see people not wanting to go until you can do some significant work there, maybe even establish a base.

Well, my timeline tends more to the multipolar great power system than to the bipolar superpower system, but I think there still could be competition to get to space - maybe just with more countries competing. A related question: do you think Germany would be hampered by not having access to low-latitude territory?

[Captain Seafort]

Yes. It might be worth altering your PoD to pre-WW1, and have them keep their colonies.