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Lauren - I Moho Flyby 1

Mission: Flyby Moho. Harvest science.

A few posts ago, I launched a small Moho flyby probe, Lauren - I. It has arrived at Moho. I am overly excited. I suppose that I should tell you lot that this is actually my first ever Moho mission, be that in this career, or ever.

Spoiler

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So, after an 81 day cruise, Lauren - I is finally nearing Moho's SOI. The sun is ridiculous from this distance.

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And our brave little explorer catches her first glimpse of her target, Kerbol's nearest companion; Moho.

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This is one barren little world. Lots and lots of 'Charred Brown' paint was obviously needed in the construction of this body.

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Also, that's a bloody huge crater.

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That was blisteringly fast. I'm talking over 7km/s. That fast.

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So, that's our first ever Moho flyby done, and over 600 science points gathered.

Also, we got some awards:

Spoiler

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Edited by NotAgain
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On ‎08‎/‎05‎/‎2017 at 10:37 PM, UnusualAttitude said:

And how is Letayushchi coming on? :)

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Have a look...

 

She's actually a dream to fly. Rotates easily at 80m/s, behaves well, can continue to accelerate at a 15 degree pitch-up (she weighs 50 tons, and is using two panthers, so I'm pretty happy about that) and even performs mild aerobatics.

Edited by NotAgain
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Kulak P - 1

Mission: Test out the new variant of the Kulak spacecraft, and give Maldin and Vergee their first taste of spaceflight by rendezvousing and docking with the unanticipatedly well-used Pressurised Orbital Docking Target.

Launch Vehicle: R-5a

Crew: E1 Nauki Kerman (Commander), P0 Maldin Kerman (Mission Pilot), and S0 Vergee Kerman (Crewkerb).

The Kulak is a fairly long-serving spacecraft operated by Metkosmos. It's been through two iterations already, and has flown eight missions, including two to Kerbin's first space station, Krepost 1. To add to its list of accolades, it forms the basis of the Oligarch CSM, Metkosmos' Mun ship, and took part in the first 'Interkosmos' mission with another space agency, the Half Mun - Kulak Test Project, when Kulak 4 docked with HMF - 9. Up until now, the Kulak has flown two Kosmonauts at a time in (relative) comfort. Now, the primary contractors for the spacecraft, Tantares, have figured out a way to squeeze an extra Kerbal inside the spacecraft. And so, the Kulak P varient was born.

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Credit for the marvellous patch goes to @DiscoSlelge.

Spoiler

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This is it. One of the last sleek, beautiful R-5a launchers.

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So, this is the crew of Metkosmos' first ever three-crew mission: from left to right, we have S0 Vergee Kerman (Crewkerb), P0 Maldin Kerman (Mission Pilot and the one with puple hair) and E1 Nauki Kerman (Commander).

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This will be the 4th last R-5a launch, and penultimate crewed one.

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This mission will serve as a five day long, highly intensive test mission for the new varient of the spacecraft, and a training mission for Vergee and Maldin, especially Maldin, who's set to fly on Oligarch 2 as the Surface Excursion Module (lander) pilot and Commander.

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After orbital insertion, the upper stage is discarded and the Kulak angles itself into the sunlight.

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A couple of burns later, Kulak P - 1 meets up with the PODT.

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Now comes Maldin's first true test: docking using the CADS system and docking camera.

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He can also use the externally-mounted cameras on the PODT to help him align the spacecraft.

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But, against the odds, he manages a perfect soft-docking on the first attempt.

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Now, the crew of the mini-station will spend five days on board.

 

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Muna 9/Munakhod 1 Launch

Mission: Launch the Muna 9 Orbiter and Lander, and the Munakhod 1 rover.

Launch Vehicle: R6 (O)

It's high time we continued Metkosmos' long-running Muna program. So here's an orbiter/lander/rover mission.

Spoiler

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It's been quite some time since Metkosmos launched a Munar probe, the last one being Muna 8, which launched more than two years ago. This is the long-awaited continuation of the Muna programme.

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The spacecraft will be launched on what's becoming a rather rare launcher, the R-6 (O), one of the products of the much-delayed Alnair programme.

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The misson for today is to land a somewhat odd lander on the Mun, and deploy the KSSM's first ever off-world rover, Munakhod 1.

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The second stage is another element stolen from the Alnair programme, the third stage of the ALV. It took some work, but we managed to integrate it with the R-6 (O) core booster.

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The aeroshell was one of our major concerns about the mission, as we thought it would destabilise the rocket. But it didn't, and here it is separating.

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The hypergolic second stage finishes its job after putting the spacecraft in orbit, and it decoupled

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The new ZIRP transfer stage ignites for the Trans-Munar Injection. It won't separate just yet, as it's still needed for the midcourse correction burn.

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Which it makes about three hours before crossing into to Munar Sphere of Influence.

 

Kulak P - 1 Return

Mission: Return Nauki, Maldin and Vergee to Kerbin.

Spoiler

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While Muna 9 cruises, the time has come for Kulak P - 1 to return home after five days at the Pressurised Orbital Docking Target and a fairly intensive programme of tests of the new spacecraft's equipment and the two novice members of the crew.

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E1 Nauki Kerman makes an EVA to check the vehicle before re-entry after a minor Kraken during undocking.

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The spacecraft orients itself to make its deorbit burn.

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The engine is fired, leaving the spacecraft on a suborbital trajectory.

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Firstly, the orbital module is decoupled, which allows the parachute to be deployed.

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The service module is then separated and left to burn up.

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This should give you an idea of how cramped the descent module is.

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The descent module and the debris from the orbital and service modules leave trails of glowing plasma as they plunge through the atmosphere.

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The parachute deploys, and the capsule lands in the grasslands.

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Obligatory after-mission group shot!

 

Muna 9 Arrival

Mission: Arrive. Enter orbit. Land.

Spoiler

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After about a day of cruising, Muna 9 has arrived. And yes, that orbiter is based around the descent stage of the Surface Excursion Module.

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The orbiter performs the braking burn.

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The lander separates from the orbiter.

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Kerbinrise!

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The lander initiates powered descent.

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Fun Fact: Muna 9 is landing within 15km of Blue Anchor - Firedance IV's landing site. That's where E1 Wensie became the first Kerbal on the Mun.

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Almost there...

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Nearly...

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Contact!

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Munakhod 1 is deployed.

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Munakhod will be spending her first mission in this crater. That mission will conclude after the landing of Oligarch 2.

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Where are your tracks, little rover? You're beginning to worry me.

 

Meanwhile at the KSC...

Spoiler

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"Wherner, do we know where that actually ended up?"

"Nein..."

 

Edited by NotAgain
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Lauren - I Course Correction

Mission: Perform a course correction for our little Moho probe to put it on course for a second flyby of Kerbol's closest neighbor.

Spoiler

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The time has come for our little Moho probe to put itself on course for a second flyby of Moho. To do this, the probe ignites its monpropellant engine for a 181m/s burn. This places the probe on a course for a second moho flyby, this time passing over the North Pole. I'm hoping to spot the fabled Mohole, but I'm not sure which pole that's at. If it's at the South Pole, so be it, that's our target for flyby number three. After flyby three, I may change the probe's orbit arouond the sun to improve our chances of eventually entering orbit around Moho, a secondary goal of this mission. If Lauren - I can't make orbit, then nevermind, as we'll be launching a dedicated ion-engined orbiter for Lauren - II.

 

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AMV - 02 Flight 4

Mission: Go and invesitgate some anomalies detected from orbit.

Crew: S2 Bob Kerman (Commander), P1 Tedgee Kerman (Mission Pilot)

Today, we go looking for trouble, and choose to run away from it.

WARNING: Spoilers for anomalies within. I've put them in their own spoilers within this one, just to be sure.

Spoiler

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This is AMV - 02, my current exploratory airship. I'm taking her out to exploit her ridiculous fuel efficiency and investigate three anomalies reported by our various scanning satellites.

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This mission is crewed by S1 Bob Kerman (Commander) and P1 Tedgee Kerman (Mission Pilot).

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The airship's course takes it sweeping up north and then north-west towards the poles, past [REDACTED], up north-north-west via [REDACTED] and on up to [SERIOUSLY REDACTED. LIKE, HOW DID YOU EVEN GET THIS FILE?] where Commander Bob will carefully analyse the [STOP TRYING. YOU'LL GET NOTHING] with the aim of learning as much as possible about the [NOPE]'s [NOT HAPPENING].

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After getting a little bit off course, Bob and Tedgee have to stop over night before proceeding with their first set of investigations.

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As Kerbol and Sentinel rise, so do Bob and Tedgee.

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Literally. They rise. A good couple of kilometers.

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And then, after several minutes of fruitless searching in the mountains, the mission's first target is spotted in the valley below.

Spoiler

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Bob dons an environmental helmet to protect himself in case the anomaly turns nasty, but it turns out to be an unnecessary precaution. Bob studies the monolith, plants a flag and returns to the airship.

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Once Bob is aboard and has decontaminated properly, Tedgee kicks the propellers into forward thrust, takes off the airbrakes and heads out along the valley, rising sedately.

Spoiler

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After another couple of hours of cruising, the crew of the little exploratory airship encounter their second target, what appears to be a bloody huge dish. Is it a communications antenna? Is it a radio telescope? Is it a tracking station, like our own? We may never know. Namely because we didn't land.

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Continuing towards the top of Kerbin, Tedgee and Bob take a little while to absorb what I can only describe as wonderful views while meandering serenely northwards.

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Now there's an odd sight, the ice cap just suddenly starts.

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Now that is a truly alien-looking landscape.

Spoiler

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AMV - 02 lands and waits until morning, as she's not sufficiently far north for the sun not to set, and Bob wants some light to work by. When the sun rises, this is what he sees.

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Donning a full EVA suit this time, Bob walks down to the UFO's crash site from where Tedgee landed the airship at what is presumed to be a safe distance (i.e. out of line-of-site, behind a small rise). It's clearly not of this world. He plants a flag and begins analysing the obviously alien vehicle, but he rapidly concludes that this is WAAAY outside of his job description, reccomends the site for further study, and hightails it back to AMV - 02 and calls for recovery.

 

 

Edited by NotAgain
SP&G
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EOTER Arrival

Mission: Enter orbit of Eve, and attempt a landing.

After a tense period of waiting, the highly ambitious Eve Orbital and Terrain ExploRer mission has arrived at Eve.

Spoiler

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This is a big moment for ANSEB, as they've never been first to anywhere, but now it looks as if they'll be the first to land on Eve.

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After orbital insertion, the braking stage decouples and goes wandering off into space.

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Following that, the Eve Terrain Explorer (ETE) separates from the Eve Science Orbiter (ESO) and uses its own little propulsion module to de-orbit into Eve's atmosphere and put itself on a trajectory to land on the purple marble. The ETE was more of an afterthought for the mission, as the Matchstick II-CES that launched the mission had a few hundred kilos of mass budget left over after the ESO had been designed. It's a fairly simple lander, comprising of an OCTO 2 core on a heat shield with a parachute stuck on top. It's got a robust, simple antenna and gets power from a little RTG and four little solar panels. In terms of instrumentation, the lander carries a barometer, thermometer and seismometer.

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Here, we see the lander's flight computer being programmed to collect data during atmospheric entry.

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And the ETE goes screaming through the thick, oppressive atmosphere of Eve.

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By some miracle, the tiny little lander survives and deploys its parachute over the night side of Eve and settles in for a long, slow descent to the ground.

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Once the parachute fully deploys, the lander slows to about 1.1m/s.

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Ah, look. Isn't the sun shining through the hot, thick, toxic atmosphere pretty?

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It looks like ANSEB have finally beaten everyone else to the punch on something, and the EOTER mission has now paid for itself five or six times over.

 

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Evera 3 Arrival and Landing

Mission: Arive, enter orbit around Eve, and deploy the lander.

Mere days after the Eve Terrain Explorer landed, Mekosmos have rocked up and told ANSEB that this state of affairs just can't continue, and they shall now demonstrate their dominance of the Eve system.

Spoiler

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Eager to re-claim their title of 'Most experienced and/or best Eve explorers' from ANSEB, Metkosmos' Evera 3 probe has arrived at its destination, and is seen here entering orbit under the power of its own liquid-fuelled engine.

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Evera 3's lander is significantly more advanced than ANSEB's Eve Terrain Explorer (ETE), and larger, too. It weighs more than double what the ANSEB lander weighs, and has a more extensive compliment of instruments. It also has a camera, so we should be able to see what Eve looks like from its surface.

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After separating from the orbiter (which then returns to orbit), the lander goes barreling through the atmosphere towards the almost entirely unknown surface of the planet often known to the Kerbals (and me) as the Purple Marble.

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Late in the atmospheric entry, the lander flips around, leaving it facing into the wind, but, by some miracle, the backshell holds out against the onslaught, and the lander makes it through the heat of slamming through the atmosphere at over 1km/s

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A handful of kilometers above the ground, the parachutes deploy, slowing the lander to a bit over 20m/s.

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This was the first image that the camera on the lander caught of Eve's surface.

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Significantly lower, the parachutes un-reef themselves and the lander drops to a stately 7.8m/s.

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Closer to the ground, now the camera can capture the surface in much better detail, revealing rolling, deep purple hills, wreathed in purple haze.

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The lander touches down and deploys its antennas and magnetometer.

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Then, Evera 3 deploys its soil scoop, disturbing the topsoil, and allowing the instrument's camera to peer into the layers of soil just beneath the surface.

 

Elizabeth - I orbital insertion

Mission: Put the Elizabeth - I mapping orbiter in low polar orbit of Eve.

Third in this window's Eve flotilla is the KSA's first Eve mission, a mapping orbiter, which is about to enter orbit.

Spoiler

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So, GEB - 3 spacecraft has arrived at Eve, ready to science the mulch out of this crazy, poisonous rock.

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Elizabeth - I ignites its engine for orbital insertion and burns a sizeable quantity of its fuel.

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The rest is spent establishing a low polar orbit for scanning purposes.

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Now, the spacecraft will map the entire planetary surface.

 

Cassiopea 2 arrival

Mission: Put the Cassiopea 2 probe into an elliptical orbit around Eve.

Spoiler

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The Ken-Tech Cassiopea 2 has also arrived, carrying the first privately-owned off-world lander.

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The tiny little lander is quite similar to the ETE in design, featuring an RTG with auxiliary solar arrays for power, and a small instrument package.

 

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I think that it's about time to share another 'glimpse of the future' with you guys. This time, we're looking far into the future. The first time this'll fly is Year 12, on Greenwood 3.

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This is my prototype Duna base for my upcoming Greenwood missions, mostly made up of inflatable modules, and solar powered. With a little hope, it'll have enough life in its batteries to see it through a Dunan night. It's equipped with a greenhouse, mainly for contingency purposes, two labs, an ISRU, two habitation modules and a recycler module (again, mostly for contingency purposes). This design will support six Kerbals as the crews of Greenwood missions 3 through to 9. That's one test mission (Greenwood 3), five science missions (Greenwood 4 to 8), and one last mission to construct a permanent habitat on Greenwood 9, which will then be used as the primary outpost for exploration of the Dunan surface from Year 25 onwards.

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After a few days off due to being swamped in schoolwork, sleep deprivation and total burn-out, WE'RE BACK!

Elizabeth - II orbital insertion

Mission: Put the Elizabeth - II probe into orbit of Eve and onto a trajectory to intercept Neith.

The ambitious little Small Eveian Moons Mission has arrived at Periev and is about to make its orbital insertion maneouver.

Spoiler

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Continuing our series of Eve arrivals after a few days off, we have Elizabeth - II, our ion-engined Neith/Gilly orbiter arriving at Eve and using its chemical braking stage to enter orbit.

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Once the probe is in an eccentric orbit of Eve, the braking stage separates.

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And the ion engine takes over for the inital transfer to Neith.

 

Cassiopea 2 landing

Mission: Land the Cassiopea 2 mission on Eve.

The time has come for the first privately-owned off world lander to land. Let's hope that these students didn't mess up.

Spoiler

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After the orbiter makes the de-orbit burn, releases the lander and returns to orbit, we come to Cassiopea 2, the University of Ken-Tech's first attempt at an off-world lander, wandering down towards Eve's atmosphere and (hopefully not) a firey demise.

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The aforementioned fire starts licking at the spacecraft as it enters Eve's high atmosphere.

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Red-hot plasma soon envelops the lander as it howls through the Eveian atmosphere.

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And starts to break up. Wonderful. Just what we needed. Absolutely fantastic. That other trail of plasma you can see is the antenna. It wasn't even deployed. Curse these students!

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Now antenna-less, the lander deploys its parachute on the automated sequence.

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The parachute fully opens at relatively low altitude to save me from having to watch as it descends at less than 2m/s from 5km up.

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The solar arrays and magnetometer also deploy on the automated sequence, and one array is destroyed by the magnetometer flipping the lander sideways upon deployment.

 

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Sorry that I'm being a bit slow at the moment, but I've got exams to get through. I'll pick up the pace again in the summer holidays.

Evera 4 orbital insertion and landing

Mission: Put Evera 4 into orbit around Eve, and land the lander.

We're back with another Eve arrival! This time, it's Evera 4, a carbon copy of Evera 3, which landed previously.

Spoiler

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The Evera 4 spacecraft (another Type 2 Evera) has come out of its cruise phase and is preparing to enter orbit around Eve under the power of its little LF/O maneouvering engine.

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The little bipropellant rocket engine ignites, putting the remarkably stubby-looking spacecraft into an eccentric orbit around Eve.

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Once at its apoev, the maneouvering engine makes a short burn to place the lander on a trajectory that passes through the atmosphere, and then releases the lander to make its own way down. Don't worry about it losing power, folks, as it's powered by the marvel of nuclear technology! (By that, we mean a small lump of decaying plutonium heating some thermocouples in a tin.)

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After the lander is released, the orbiter re-ignites its engine to push its periev above the planets atmosphere.

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The lander then has a firey meeting with that hell-hole commonly known as Eve.

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The meeting only gets more firey as it goes on.

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And, just like with Evera 3, the lander flips around in the lower atmosphere.

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To make matters worse, the hi-gain dish antenna is ripped off when the backshell separates. Fortunatley, unlike Cassiopea 2, this lander has two other antennas, the lo-gain and the back-up, neither of which have been destroyed.

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The on-board camera is activated for the first time and the lander captures images of what looks like an extensive purple body of liquid, with mountains on the far side, just visible out of the thick, toxic haze.

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The two parachutes deploy to slow the lander to a more reasonable (and survivable) speed.

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Just before touchdown, the camera captures this image, showing a single solitary boulder. Don't worry, rock, we'll give you some company!

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TOUCHDOWN! Evera 4 has landed! Now, we'll run the scientific experiments aboard the lander.

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Ooh, that's gonna be helpful if/when we ever build a base here. Little to no radiation sheilding needed. (Also, @CobaltWolf, who writes the science defs for BDB? Beacuse *you're.)

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I think that we can leave this little lander to it, cheerfully scooping the regolith and observing the planet's magnetic field.

 

Edited by NotAgain
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Nearly there... The Eve missions are nearly over...

Evera 2 orbital insertion and landing

Mission: I think you can guess that pretty easily...

At last, the final Type 2 Evera has arrived. I'm particularly proud of the last few pictures of this album.

Spoiler

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It's been a long couple of weeks of Eve encounters, insertions and landings, and I promise that I'll get you lot something more exciting over the weekend. But, until then, here's Evera 2 arriving (weirdly) after Evera 3 and 4. Oh, the quirks of orbital mechanics.

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You guys know the drill by now. At this point, the combined orbiter/lander has made a short burn at apoev to put the spacecraft's periev inside the atmosphere. After that, the lander is decoupled and left to, well, land while the orbiter raises its periev again.

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This time, due to a mis-calculation on my part, the lander made four aerobraking passes, as it wasn't low enough to deorbit, but eventually, it came down.

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This time, we tried jettisoning the backshell early in the re-entry to avoid the lander flipping around. Suffice to say, looks like that was the root of the problem.

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After a significantly less hair-raising atmospheric entry than Evera 3 or 4, the parachutes are deployed, and we get this lovely view of the Eveian sunrise.

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As per usual, the camera is activated during descent, and captures this image of the aforementioned sunrise.

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The landing site is on a relatively small island or peninsula (I'm not sure), remarkably accurately landed in a small area of the 'peaks' biome, with a serious expanse of sea just down the hill.

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I'm very pleased with the results of this somewhat troublesome mission. Despite a difficult and uncooperative launch vehicle, and trajectory problems upon atmospheric entry, we've netted over 300 science from this little lander.

 

Elizabeth - II arrival at Neith

Mission: Enter orbit around Neith. And maybe take an excessive risk and try to land.

While Evera 2's been landing, Elizabeth - II has been creeping up on Eve's second moon, Neith.

Spoiler

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This will be this first ever time we've tried to put a spacecraft into orbit of Neith. it's only been explored once before, by Evera 1 on its single flyby of the little world. Hopefully, the KSA will be able to upstage Metkosmos.

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The little 'Atom' microionic drive carries the probe into orbit, and the history books.

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But why stop there? Neith's gravity is so measly that Elizabeth - II's ion engine can overcome it, so the mission controllers decide to take a gamble, and order the probe to attempt a landing. Here, we see the spacecraft descending over one of two purple rocks.

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Close to the ground now, we have to be careful not to damage the solar arrays, as we need those to power the engine for the liftoff and return to orbit in a couple of days.

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And TOUCHDOWN! Elizabeth - II can join the long list of things of things that simply shouldn't be where they are, and have no idea how they got there.

 

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Rover Ops

Mission: Drive the two operational rovers that I currently have.

I, at the moment, operate two rovers across the Kerbol system, one on Duna and one on the Mun. There is another, but it got messed up by a Kraken attack after I updated from 1.0.5 to 1.1.2.

Spoiler

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This is Intrepidity, my little Duna rover. (To give you an idea of scale, those are full size OX-STATS on the back. The core and wheels are scaled down to 50%). She's exploring an area around where the Grace - V lander that brought her here touched down.

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She's equipped with five instruments, a geiger counter, a thermometer, a barometer, a seismometer and a Laser Light Ablation Imager (LLAI). The rover also carries two cameras: a true-colour, front-mounted wide angle camera, and a grainy black and white panoramic camera. The PanCam actually consists of eight little NavCams all attached to one mast. Currently, the PanCam is non-functional, but I'll keep trying to fix it, and you lot will hopefully get some panoramas from my little rover, wandering another world, soon-ish...

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Intrepidity is currently on her way down a fairly tall slope into Duna's Maria, stopping off at interesting rocks on the way down.

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This is my other rover, Munakhod 1, which anyone who has been with me since I started this thread will already be familiar with.

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She's wandering around the crater she landed in, waiting for the Oligarch 2 mission to land, so Maldin can check on her. After that, the little rover will head off to investigate one of the most historically significant sites on the Mun, where both Katie IX and Blue Anchor - Firedance IV landed, and where Wensie became the first Kerbal on the Mun.

 

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Muttle 2 launch

Mission: Launch the KSA's new Muttle and dock it to Kerbin Outbound, ready for operations.

Launch Vehicle: Firedance IV

So, here we go with another Firedance IV. The time has come for us to finally launch Muttle 2, which will allow us far easier and cheaper access to both Mun and Minmus.

Spoiler

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Gene and Wherner have been getting seriously excited over the last few days, going on about 'cost savings', 'scientific opportunities' and 'awesomness'. You see, the new Muttle will allow us to land up to five Kerbals at once on Minmus or the Mun, whithout the constant need for expensive expendable landers, meaning that we can reserve those for serious scientific missions, not tourism and crew rotations. Also, the costs of a Muttle Expedition lie in the fuel and the costs of a Half Mun (or OAA Carbon) mission to Kerbin Outbound, which brings the cost of a Mun mission down from about 125,000 funds per head to about 30,000 to 40,000 funds per head. So it's understandable why everyone's so excited.

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In fact, Gene and Wherner are so excited about this 'new dawn' that they've organised a party for the launch day. All the KSC staff, the media and various dignitaries, including Sergei Kerman, director of Metkosmos, have been invited to a party labelled as 'Drinks, Nibbles and the Dawn of a New Era'.

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With most of the big names in Kerbin's spaceflight industry present, the five huge 'Regor - A' engines of the first stage ignite and haul the huge lifter and its revolutionary payload off the launch pad at Kape Kanaveral and starts its sprint into space.

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Despite the concerns of the KSC staff (who know that heads will roll if such a public launch goes awry), the first stage burns out and separates cleanly in a cloud of smoke from the separation motors. The hydrolox fuelled second stage then ignites and the vehicle continues its long push towards orbit.

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The interstage skirt, which took the structural load of the payload and upper stage during the first stage burn the separates and drops away.

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The next thing to go is the aerodynamic nosecap that I had installed to protect the docking port and keep the lines of the vehicle vaguely clean.

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After the chaos of the first few minutes of the flight, the solar arrays deploy and all four outboard engines on the second stage shut down, leaving just the central engine firing, and allowing us far greater control during maneouvers.

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This core engine then ignites and places the new Muttle into Low Kerbin Orbit.

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After a couple of maneouvers, the second stage is jettisoned.

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And the main engines of the Muttle ignite to match velocity with the station and bring itself closer.

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Docking this thing is a labour of love when it's fully fuelled, as it weighs over a hundred tons, and uses two kilonewton RCS blocks. Basically, I had to be really careful to thread the Muttle in above and around Eleanor A - I and not to destroy either spacecrafts' solar arrays. But, against all the odds, I managed it, and the Muttle is ready for her first mission.

 

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To: Director Sergei Kerman, Metkosmos.

From: Major Arletsonov Kerman, Metarian Army Space Force.

Re: Retraining of Kosmonauts and other matters.

 

Greetings, Komrade.

Due to the recent increase of tensions between the Motherland and the United States of Kenair, coupled with the collapse of the recent treaty, the Military Orbital Operations Executive Council has decided to step up the MASF's operations in space, back to the level that they were in the Krepost 1 era, or even further, if relations between the KSSM and the USK deteriorate more. To acheive this, they request and require your own cooperation and the cooperation of your agency on the following matters:

  1) The MASF will need Kosmonauts if it is to operate in the desired way. To acheive this, the council has requested that the entire Kosmonaut Korp recieve training in orbital reconnaisance and espionage. The council understands that Kosmonauts Barina, Crisla, Nauki and Narigh have all flown on military missions, but that was multiple years ago, and they will require training using the latest techniques and technology.

  2) To ensure that Metkosmos can continue to operate in its scientific capacity (as this has brought great prestige to the Motherland), the MOOEC will cover the costs of training an additional class of six Kosmonauts, under the condition that the EPK - 1 mission proceeds on schedule. The disciplines of these Kosmonauts will be left up to you.

  3) Building on the success of the Type 1 Smotritel missions, the MOOEC has decided to push ahead with the launches of the Type 2 satellites. The same security procedures from the Type 1 missions will be left in place for the non-military staff at Kaikonur.

  4) The Council has also demanded a continuation of the Krepost programme in order to keep an eye on the "squishy bourgeoisie" in Kenair. This, too, will be from their own pocket. Given the success of the new Besstrashnyy station, they have decided to leave many of the details of the project up to you. They have, however, stated that the station must enter an 80km x 80km polar orbit. The members of the council have said, though, that the launch of Krepost 2 must be "glorious and highly public", but must not allude to the actual goals of the station. Therefore, some missions to the station must be civilian missions with scientific goals. I think it would be wise to allocate an impressive launch vehicle. The ALV should be perfectly sufficient for the payload, but personally, I'd go bigger.

The MOOEC have appointed me as the Metkosmos Liaison Officer. Well, actually, I fought long and hard for the position, as I know you don't play nicely with the alternatives, and we've been friends for going on thirty years. I should be able to offer you some leeway with the council, but remember that, if you mess this up, it'll just be a cattle-class ticket to the Brennenbek Salt Mines for you and some serious photo editing for us.

I look forward to hearing from you, Komrade, take care,

Arletsonov.

 

 

 

To: Major Arletsonov Kerman, Metarian Army Space Force.

From: Director Sergei Kerman, Metkosmos.

Re: Retraining of Kosmonauts and other matters.

 

Good evening, Arletsonov,

I was very glad to hear of your appointment as liaison officer for this new spate of projects. Almost as glad as I was when my new assistant made me some djeng that didn't taste like the old ration packs we used to send our kerbs up with this morning. Honestly, Tvetslyana is the best assistant I've ever had, but I have no idea how she can drink the stuff she usually comes up with. She must have a stronger stomach than even Crisla.

Anyway, with regards to the MOOEC's new set of demands: AAARGH.

Well, I suppose I ought to be thankful for the new Kosmonauts, but seriously? Another station? We're barely managing the logistics for Besstrashnyy! But, if they're certain, then I suppose it can be achieved. If they want to make a spectacle of the launch, then I'd recommend using the Letayushchi Kirpich. That should certainly be impressive. I've consulted briefly with the Letayushchi Kirpich team, and they've said that a payload could be flown on LYK - 2, our second crewed flight, and the first polar orbital one. It'll be risky, and I'd prefer to put it on a later flight, perhaps LYK - 5, but given the MASF's attitude to risk-reward ratios, I don't think you'll particularly mind.

Regarding Smotritel 4, 5 and 6, that should be achievable. We still have large amounts of the hardware at Kaikonur for launching R-7s. The new upper stage could pose a challenge, but probably nothing we can't deal with. The security protocols shouldn't be a problem.

EPK - 1 is the only bit of those demands that is actually on schedule. I'd go as far as to stake my career on it flying on schedule. In fact, I suspect that I'll just 'disappear' if it doesn't. Alnair 0A is slated to launch within half a year, and the first crewed mission of the ship should occur in just over a year.

Thank you for warning me of this before it comes to my attention via cafeteria gossip.

Your overworked, but ever loyal friend,

Sergei.

Edited by NotAgain
Typos, mainly.
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StrutCo - 1 arrival

Mission: Complete a couple of contracts relating to StrutCo - 1.

So, the StrutCo - 1 probe has arrived. It'll be entering orbit around Aden (Eve's third moon). There won't be much commentary on this post, as I've just spent several hours in hospital, and I'm typing on a broken finger. Sorry.

Spoiler

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Oooh. Purple.

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Oooh. More purple.

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On ‎07‎/‎07‎/‎2017 at 0:28 AM, insert_name said:

Sorry about your finger, what happened?

It got trodden on and snapped.

In other news, I'll put together another update later today, but this thread could be a bit quiet over the next week, as I'm on a residential work experience placement.

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Riiight. Sorry about not getting that update uploaded on Saturday, but I spilled my drink on my laptop, and it's been drying out. It appears to work, and normal service shall be resumed on Friday.

Thank you,

The management.

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As promised, normal broadcasting shall now be resumed...

Letayuschi Kirpich Approach and Landing Test

Mission: Test out the LYK's atmospheric handling characteristics.

Crew: P1 Maldin Kerman (Commander), P1 Barina Kerman, P1 Nataise Kerman

Spacecraft: MKK Ponyatnost (OV - 12)

The time has come for the orbiter MKK Ponyatnost (OV - 12) to make her first flight. (Hey, @UnusualAttitude, you might find this interesting.)

Spoiler

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In order to qualify the MKK Ponyatnost for actual operations in space, she's been brought down to the KSC to make a short atmospheric flight carrying Metkomos' three pilots. Why aren't we doing this a Kaikonur, you ask? Because I haven't actually paid to open the runways there.

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So, giving us a lovely view of her various powerplants (two J - 404 "Panther" jet engines for atmospheric use, two CA - O-90 OMS engines and one CA - ST-25 "Toelle" orbiter lift engine) Ponyatnost takes off from the Kape and soars into the mid-day sky.

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Our flight crew today consists of P1 Barina Kerman, P1 Maldin Kerman and P1 Nataise Kerman. All three of them come from aviation bckgrounds, and this stands them in great stead for flying the Letayuschi Kirpich. 

Barina served with distinction as a fighter pilot for ten years before joining Metkosmos in the first Kosmonaut class (her, Crisla, Nauki and Narigh) flying piston engined fighters for several years before becoming commander of Metar's first MAC - 17 supersonic interceptor squadron.

Maldin also flew with the Metarian Air Corps, but he flew bombers. In his twelve year career before being snapped up as part of the second Kosmonaut class he spent seven years on piston engined strategic bombers before spending about a year on low-level strike bombers, and then spent four years on KRN - 9 super-long range nuclear bombers.

Nataise, however, doesn't come from a military background. She spent five years as a test pilot before becoming the youngest Kosmonaut ever when she became part of the second Kosmonaut class, and still maintains her "any landing you can walk away from" attitude.

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The objective of this mission is simply to figure out if the spaceplane will hold together during atmospheric flight. In case it isn't, there's a whole-crew ejection system installed.

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This shot affords us a great view of the various greebles of the orbiter, including the aft RCS blocks, the various engines, the braking parachute and the Metarian markings.

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After flying out to sea for a couple of minutes, the Ponyatnost's pilots turn her around to head back to the KSC runway, and decide to test out the RCS at the same time.

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Barina, stop. Seriously. BARINA, THIS ISN'T ONE OF YOUR SUPERSONIC INTERCEPTORS! DON'T TREAT IT AS SUCH!

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So, after some minor barrel-roll related shenanigans, Maldin sticks the landing beautifully and deploys the braking parachute to bring the 50 ton orbiter to a halt before it runs out of runway. In other news, Barina was sent directly to Director Sergei's office as soon as she got back to Kaikonur, and there's been a lot of shouting coming from there for the last half hour.

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And we get our group shot. From left to right, we have P1 Maldin (the one with the purple hair), P1 Barina, and P1 Nataise.

 

Edited by NotAgain
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Half Mun Flight - 21

Mission: Deploy the Serena XII communications satellite, and grab a couple of EVA reports

Orbiter: KSS Dauntless (OV-7)

Launch Vehicle: Prometheus - III 122K

Crew: P1 Tedgee Kerman (Commander), E1 Bobcott Kerman (Flight Engineer), S1 Diacca Kerman (Mission Specialist), S1 Erfel Kerman (Mission Specialist).

The Half Mun orbiter Dauntless launches on her 5th mission, carrying the Serena XII communications satellite into polar orbit.

Spoiler

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So, here we have another Half Mun stacked up on a Prometheus III 122K launcher, preparing to carry the new-generation Serena - XII communications satellite into low polar orbit around Kerbin.

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Crewing the mission today we have (from right to left) P1 Tedgee Kerman, commanding his first ever Half Mun mission, E1 Bobcott Kerman (Flight Engineer and OAA Kerbonaut on an Interkosmos placement), S1 Diacca Kerman (Crewkerb) and S1 Erfel Kerman (Crewkerb). Both Diacca and Erfel are ENSA Kaikonauts on Interkosmos placements. As you can see, we're very heavy on foreign and private Kerbals for this mission. This is the product of the ongoing 'Interkosmos' exchange program, of which the Half Mun program has played quite the significant part.

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And so, the first ever polar orbit Half Mun mission leaps away from Launch Complex 2 at Kape Kanaveral, propelled by the two huge solid rocket boosters.

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Not only is this the first polar orbit mission for the Half Mun programe, but it's the first ever crewed polar orbit mission, too.

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At T + 32 seconds, the kerolox fuelled core stage ignites and further flattens the crew. At T + 37 seconds, the boosters cut off and are jettisoned and the rocket carries on towards the inky void.

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Disregard that explosion. Absolutely nothing to worry about. No problems at all. I certainly didn't jump out of my skin when this happened.

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The reusable second stage continues to push the spaceplane towards orbit.

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Now, we get to see the new Enhanced Upper Stage Recovery System (EUSRS) in action. Basically, it's a control core for the stage that allows it to burn its remaining fuel in order to slow down and not burn up like last time.

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And it works beautifully first time round, for once.

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While the second stage drops into the atmosphere, the orbiter ignites its OMS engines to enter orbit.

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After orbit is acheived, the External Fuel Pod is jettisoned, balancing the orbiter.

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After two orbits, the brand new comms sateliite is released and bounces around the confines of the cargo bay for a few moments before the orbiter translates away.

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The satellite then makes a minor (<2m/s) course correction and deploys its solar arrays and various antennas and angles them towards their various targets.

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After another couple of orbits, one of the ENSA Interkosmos exchanges, S1 Erfel Kerman, goes on a brief scientific EVA. (OOC I needed a couple of EVA reports from over the ice caps and poles.)

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Now concluding the mission after two days in orbit, we get a lovely beauty shot as Dauntless aligns to deorbit and aim for the KSC runway.

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The orbiter heads on into the atmosphere and starts to get toasted by the air resistance.

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Now howling along at a bit above 35km, Tedgee starts steadily turning the orbiter to fine-tune his approach to the runway.

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Coming in a little bit high and fast, Tedgee lines up, sticks out the landing gear and then throws out the airbrakes.

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And he brings a highly succesful mission to a close by utterly nailing the landing.

 

Edited by NotAgain
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