TCS: Alternate History Origin Point?

[Alex]

Quick thought: When does the alternate history timeline of this story truly begin? Anyone have any ideas? Has this already been answered somewhere?

I got excited when I read the premise because I enjoy a good alternate history, especially when realistically done and combined with cool world-building as the author showcases here.

However, I assumed the alternate timeline would begin with the meteorite hitting Earth (a reasonable and big change).

But it appears that the alternate history timeline began before that. Two items indicate this early in the book:
1. The President Dewey news cap on the very first page of chapter one, shows Dewey is the President, which didn't happen (the "Dewey Defeats Truman" incorrect headline of the Chicago Tribune comes to mind).
2. Related, it appears the Americans are faster than the Soviets in the book at putting up satellites, beating the Russians and making Sputnik not an event (same news cap).

So I wonder: When was the point when the timeline split? All other historical facts, especially about WWII, gender and racial roles, etc. seem intact. And why was it done?

Was the election with Dewey and Truman the split point, with Dewey winning (extremely possible and predicted) the mark? Or was it something else? Or not defined at all? Why make the point before the meteorite? Was it to give the Americans a little leg up and make it more realistic that they would lead the international space program, rather than the USSR? That would make a bit of sense, especially considering if a meteorite hit the USA, Russia would be given an even bigger advantage in the space race and leave the world in the dust.

I realize this is a great question to post before the author interview (which I haven't heard), but I started the book late, so alas.

[Julie]

Alex wrote: "Was it to give the Americans a little leg up and make it more realistic that they would lead the international space program, rather than the USSR?."

Yes, it's a tweak to make the premise work while mostly keeping our historical 1950s setting intact. From the afterword: "The point being that if people had thrown money at him in 1945, von Braun had a plan to get people to Mars. So I put a president in power who would throw money at him, and then I dropped an asteroid on D.C."

[Trike]

Yes, a bit before the meteor strike, sometime after FDR’s death in 1945 and the election of 1948, but I think the Dewey win is the biggest point of departure.

The only reason the USSR launched a satellite before the US did was because von Braun was 1) an ex-Nazi and 2) had a slow-and-steady approach to rocketry, so politicians chose the Vanguard project over his Jupiter project.

No one really thought Vanguard was ready, and that was proven when it exploded on the launchpad. On live TV. It was the 1950s version of Challenger. But von Braun was able to step up and successfully launch Explorer atop the Jupiter-C just a few weeks later.

The US had announced that they intended to launch a satellite in 1957/1958, so the Soviets under Khruschev basically threw all their money at a program to beat the Americans into space. They ended up only beating the US by a couple months and Explorer was vastly more sophisticated than Sputnik.

[Shad]

The historical note stated that she had Dewey win to give the space program a boost to correct the timeline she established in Lady Astronaut of Mars I believe.

[Alex]

Ah, thanks for the replies! Still halfway through the book, so haven't gotten to the historical note at the end of the book yet. Makes sense considering the science, as well as the way she had locked herself in with the stories.

I think dramatically, the meteorite is a slightly cooler timeline deviation spot, but the Dewey Defeats Truman moment (while smaller in scale) is totally possible switch as well.