Test Flight: Conclusion - Shooting Stars

[Angelo Kerman]

I've been working very hard this past year, and modding a lot too, so I haven't had much time to actually play the game. So I thought I'd round out the year with a short story...

The story album thus far.

Part 2

Edited January 1, 2017 by Angel-125

[Mister Dilsby]

Nice! I very much like the 2 seat capsule, at first I thought you clipped up a Gemini out of stock parts but now I see it must be a custom 'stock-a-like'  

Edited December 27, 2016 by Kuzzter

[Just Jim]

Nice!!!  

But if you don't mind me asking, where did you get the rocket gantry? Is that part of the MOLE mod?

[Benji13]

9 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

Nice! I very much like the 2 seat capsule, at first I thought you clipped up a Gemini out of stock parts but now I see it must be a custom 'stock-a-like'  

It's from the M.O.L.E mod. I highly suggest getting it. 

[Angelo Kerman]

3 hours ago, Just Jim said:

Nice!!!  

But if you don't mind me asking, where did you get the rocket gantry? Is that part of the MOLE mod?

The launch gantry is a FASA launch tower. The latest iteration that I use comes from BDB: 

 

[Just Jim]

1 minute ago, Angel-125 said:

The launch gantry is a FASA launch tower. The latest iteration that I use comes from BDB: 

 

Thanks... I'll check it out.  

[Angelo Kerman]

3 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

Nice! I very much like the 2 seat capsule, at first I thought you clipped up a Gemini out of stock parts but now I see it must be a custom 'stock-a-like'  

Yup, that's from the MOLE, one of my main focuses this year. Finally finished it.  Well, there are some 1.875m solid rocket boosters I'm making this week, and maybe an X-20 down the road...

[Angelo Kerman]

[Angelo Kerman]

[Angelo Kerman]

And the final part:

Spoiler

 

Edited January 1, 2017 by Angel-125

[Just Jim]

Awesome... love the ending!!!  

[adsii1970]

Great spoiler! It says so much... Keep going and I look forward to seeing what happens next!

[Angelo Kerman]

Last but not least, a couple of news stories of missions I considered for Test Flight, but rejected...

Kerbals Orbit the Mun and Return Safely

Kerbal Space Center: Gene Kerman, Flight Director for the world's only Kerbal Space Program, announced the safe recovery of Valentina Kerman and Bob Kerman, flight crew for the historic Titan-Brumby-2 mission, known as TB-2 at the Kerbal Space Center (KSC).

“With Bill and Jeb’s phenomenal test flight behind us, we knew we had the means to orbit the Mun,” Gene Kerman said during the post-landing news conference. “The Titan-Brumby worked like a champ, getting TB-2 into orbit and providing the initial kick to reach the Mun. Brumby’s OMS Kit did the rest and TB-2 settled into munar orbit, the first time that anybody had ever done that. We even had the first spacewalk in orbit of the Mun, when Bob stepped out to reset some science experiments and collect their data.”

Aerial and satellite images of the Titan-Brumby-2 launch

 “Our first attempt to orbit the Mun on TA-12,” Valentina added, referring to the twelfth Titan-Appaloosa flight, “was a good test of the Appaloosa and the Corvette upper-stage engine, but we didn’t have the fuel to orbit the Mun. Bob and I were honored to make the [world’s first munar] flyby, but we were ready for a rematch with TB-2.”

Bob Kerman watches the TB-2 launch after he and Valentina perform their Trans-Munar Injection Burn.

“Mission objectives called for TB-2 to rendezvous with Mecho Relay 1,” Gene continued, referring to a communications relay satellite already in munar orbit that was visited by TB-1, “but it didn’t have the delta to reach either it or Mecho Relay 2.” The Flight Director explained that TB-2 lacked the fuel needed to reach either of the communications relays, an objective of the mission.

“We were a bit concerned that TB-2 didn’t have the delta to come home, but we had a backup plan already in place. Mecho Relay 3. We launched the relay with Coach [logistics] modules filled with monopropellant to refuel TB-2 with, and a day later, Valentina docked with it and met the lunar docking mission objective. We even got credit for starting the first munar “space station,” though we have a real station in planning. Anyway, we then transferred monopropellant to TB-2 and used Mecho Relay 3 to maneuver into a better orbit to return home from. Since there wasn’t enough delta remaining in the Mecho’s tanks to reach its target orbit, we simply de-orbited the relay.”

Mecho Relay 3: Pre-planned or rescue mission?

When asked if the Mecho Relay 3 was a rescue mission, Gene Kerman responded. “It was a contingency plan already in place in the event that the fuel situation didn’t work out. The astronauts were never in danger. In fact, it gave us time to meet more of our mission objectives. Bob performed the first spacewalk around the Mun, for instance, to retrieve some science data and reset some experiments.”

TB-2 not only performed the first docking around the Mun and the first spacewalk around the Mun, Bob and Valentina made several observations of the munar surface, including reporting two unusual sightings, one near the north rim of the East Crater, and one near the East Farside Crater, that they couldn’t explain.

The first docking around the Mun.

“We don’t know what they were,” Bob added, “but what I do know is that we should send a follow-up mission. If the SCANSat mission we’re working on goes well in Kerbin orbit, maybe we can send one to the Mun.”

An anomaly on the Mun?

After the docking and refueling operation, TB-2 performed a Trans-Kerbin engine burn to set course for home. A day later, Valentina and Bob successfully re-entered the atmosphere and made a safe splashdown.

"We're pleased with the performance of the new Brumby," Gene concluded the briefing. "It has much better visibility for rendezvous and docking compared to the Appaloosa, and it's purpose-built for holding two astronauts. We have many more missions planned."

4 minutes ago, adsii1970 said:

Great spoiler! It says so much... Keep going and I look forward to seeing what happens next!

 

42 minutes ago, Just Jim said:

Awesome... love the ending!!!  

Thanks guys!

And the last news story...

Kerbal Space Program Launches the World's First Space Station

Kerbal Space Center: Ionic Symphonic Protonic Electronics hired Kerbal Space Program (KSP) to deliver a station into orbit that had space for 5, power production, an antenna, and 2,500 Electric Charge. Following the completion of the Titan-Brumby-2 mission, KSP proceeded to develop and fly the station, which would become the first space station to orbit Kerbin. "We’ve wanted to launch a space station into orbit ever since YAML-10 put Jeb into orbit," says Gene Kerman, Flight Director for Kerbal Space Program. "So when Ionic reached out to us to build a station for them, we saw the makings of a cooperative agreement. We'd develop the technology for space stations and the means to transport kerbals to and from them, and Ionic would profit from our shared research. So after TB-2 [Titan-Brumby-2] orbited the Mun with Valentina and Bob, and all the stuff we learned from that, we began working on the station."

The modified Titan I launch vehicle, with four BAAC "Thumper" solid rocket boosters, successfully ignited its engines and lifted off the launchpad, sending the Mark One Research Laboratory (MORL) on its way.

A staging event to jettison the spent solid rocket boosters resulted in an explosion of some kind. Flight Control immediately began to assess the situation.

"We were really concerned about the anomaly," Gene said. "If the launch failed, we'd not only lose the station, but we'd have faced financial penalties for failing to deliver the station on time." Telemetry data indicated loss of an engine on the Titan I lower stage. However, Flight Control determined that the stage had sufficient propellant and thrust to continue the mission. “The Fulcrum engine lived up to its name and kept the rocket on course,” Gene said.

Flight Control jettisoned the payload fairing once atmospheric pressure reached safe levels.

The Titan I continued to increase MORL's velocity until burnout. Its staging event was nominal.

"The Titan I upper stage performed admirably," Gene continued during the post-launch news conference. "It performed its orbital insertion burn to place MORL into a 72km by 92km orbit, and then circularized its orbit. Once on the dayside of Kerbin, the Titan I upper stage separated from the station and performed its de-orbit burn. Stage Recovery teams then proceeded to the splashdown site to recover and refurbish the upper stage. Meanwhile, we did some on-orbit tests and so far, so good."

Despite the engine-out event on the Titan I, Kerbal Space Program managed to successfully deliver MORL into orbit. Per contract negotiations, KSP will use the station to support a Mark One Laboratory Extension that they will fly at a later date, and conduct space research that they'll share with Ionic Symphonic Protonic Electronics.

"With a design life of about 4-6 months," Gene concluded, "We'll have enough time to do several experiments before we need to de-orbit the station. So while MORL is the world's first station and short-lived, it won't be the last. In fact, we're already entering negotiations with other companies to put stations in orbit around the Mun and Minmas. We get paid to put stations in places where we want to go and do science, and we share our findings with our benefactors, who are interested in the spin-off technology. It's win-win."

----

That's it for Test Flight: A KSP Mission Report. Test Flight was a test flight in more ways than one. One of the things I wanted to explore is what format works best for my mission reports. I kind of like both the comic format and the news report, so maybe what I can do is have a main storyline in comic format and news reports for things that don't really fit in the comic...