Angelo Kerman

Awesome! And a little confused.. Is Mr. Dilsby now in Jeb's fighter and Jeb's fighter is docked to the Gumdrop?

Yup, definitely optional. In lieu of a true mass effect core, I'm looking into a contragravity generator. Think of hover mode from my Kerbal Flying Saucers' gravitic engine, but built for Blueshift as an alternative. The generator cancels 95% of a planet's gravity, leaving the craft's inertial mass- and its delta-v- intact. Here's a quick look (with the S2 warp core standing in for the generator's 3D model): The closes analogy to this device would be the "Hack Gravity" cheat function, but only applied to the vessel.

Unfortunately I'm unable to circularize the orbits of nearby spacecraft along with the active vessel. The game just won't let me do it. Just another limitation of warp dragging... The idea of a tractor beam though... Perhaps I could modify the stock grappler code so that it draws a beam...

That would actually be more like the stock Advanced Grabbing Unit. Instead of a claw, you'd have a beam of light.

"Cannot timewarp while vessel is warp dragging" is what people will see if they try to timewarp while warp dragging. Thanks for the suggestion! I'm also looking into the possibility of auto-circularizing while warp dragging...

This is a tough one, do you have steps to reproduce it?

Oh yeah, warp dragging during timewarp is definitely not possible. The moment that I add cruise control velocity to all the loaded vessels, they instantly fly out of formation and off to who knows where. I'll have to see if I can add a failsafe to prevent timewarp during warp dragging.

Star Frontier can't exceed light speed while dragging the asteroid, but that's ok. Warp Dragging accounts for the mass of nearby vessels now. It doesn't work when you warp during timewarp though. It might be possible but for now it's real-time only.

Yeah, I hate to say it but a mass effect core in KSP isn't practical. There's too many places where I'd have to change how delta-v is computed, plus it fundamentally changes the rocket equation. On top of that, to keep acceleration low, you'd have to throttle the engines way back, and lose the cool exhaust plume effects. In order to get a vessel that looks cool with exhaust effects and has high acceleration and high ISP (essentially what a mass effect core does) I'd have to fiddle with engines, fix joint strength, and who knows what else. Just not worth the effort, especially when I have a gravitic engine already in Kerbal Flying Saucers. So, instead, I'm looking at an old phenomenon from the early days of Blueshift: warp dragging. Back in the day, if you went to warp when another ship was in physics range, the other ship would be dragged along with you. It was a bug, and one that people used to drag other things like asteroids around. I'm thinking about making that possible again, but the active warp engine would need to account for the other object(s) mass. That would mean you could drag other objects, but they'd slow you down. Warp Dragging would be an optional feature that you can configure in Settings.

I was able to investigate creating a mass effect core and suffice to say that it's no simple task due to the way that KSP calculates mass in various places. There was a mod some time ago that had a method that technically worked, but it really messes with the delta-v calculations. For those interested, it's this one: I'm finding that to get a proper mass effect core to work would require a large amount of effort that might not be worth the trouble.

Sounds like Excursion will undergo a major refit!

Wow! Glad you were able to recover some useful stuff!

Chapter 2 Karbal Kerman, space news correspondent for Kerbal News Network, just finished covering Phoenix Aerospace’s Münflight announcement. It was an intriguing idea to capture the nostalgia of the early days of spaceflight! He looked forward to covering it as the announcement became reality. For now, though, he had to finish editing his exposé on the political corruption that happened over fifteen years ago when KSP was making their Shuttle Decision. His research showed that Drax Aerospace influenced members of Kongress to choose the Drax Shuttle Launch System over the Lindor Shuttle, a competing design. Correction, make that two competing designs. The Kerman Air Force proposed a smaller orbiter- their first Blackstar proposal- that launched on a piloted and winged version of the Lindor L-1C first-stage booster. The winged booster was supposed to provide almost all the velocity needed to reach orbit and then detach the orbiter. The orbiter would finish attaining orbit while the booster reentered the atmosphere and landed at a convenient airbase. It was one of the first fully reusable shuttle designs- except it didn’t work. The booster wouldn’t survive reentry heating due to the technology of the day, and any kind of additional heat shielding would’ve made the booster infeasible. But that got Karbal thinking… What if the Lindor Shuttle became SLS instead of Drax’s Shuttle? How would history have played out? Karbal took some notes, checked some of his old files, took some more notes, drafted an outline, and before he realized it, it was morning already. He realized that he had something that the alternate history buffs would love to read, so Karbal slept a few hours, created a pen name, and began writing… * (ALT) Keep Looking Up Part 1: The Shuttle Decision Jool 31, 1991: The Space Shuttle Mariner was poised on Pad A at the Kerman Space Center, ready to launch for the very first time. Four years ago, Kongress approved the Shuttle Launch System, just as it happened in our timeline. But in this alternate timeline, things are different. After the renowned investigative journalist Karl Kerman published an award-winning article on Drax Aerospace’s efforts to illegally influence Kongress’ decision, they immediately rejected Drax’s Shuttle proposal in favor of the Lindor Shuttle- and the Drax executives landed in jail. John Kerman, veteran of eight K-20 KerbalSoar flights- including one to each of Kerbin’s müns- was the Kerman States’ most experienced astronaut and was the command pilot of the first Shuttle flight. Joining him was rookie astronaut Roberta Kerman, one of the first of a new class of Shuttle astronauts. John looked out of Mariner’s windows and silently thought about how much the space center had changed. Given how long it took to process a Lindor launch vehicle, KSP added Pad B and Pad C along with another Vehicle Assembly Building to handle the expected workload. Off in the distance, he could also see Pad Alpha, built to handle Kerman Air Force K-20s that began polar flights to Dolores Air Force Station after Münflight 3. He knew that the KAF Skyhawk, sitting in its VAB, was fully stacked on its Edna booster and ready to fly in case Mariner experienced a malfunction in orbit and her crew needed rescue. But once the Shuttle began flying with its full crew of four, the K-20 could no longer rescue a stranded Shuttle’s astronauts. And once Shuttle became fully operational, the Air Force intended to retire their fleet of K-20s in favor of the larger and more capable vehicle. In fact, by consolidating all missions on the Shuttle, redundant architectures like the K-20 and its Edna launch vehicle, and all their support facilities, could be eliminated to save costs- and to justify the high flight rates needed to keep Shuttle costs low. Three seconds before launch, the first stage’s Kerbodyne KE-1 Mastodon engines roared into life and quickly built-up full thrust. The Lindor struggled to be free, and right on time, explosive bolts in hold-down posts detonated, granting the giant rocket’s wish. Simultaneously, the three service masts on the launch tower quickly scurried out of the way to ensure that the Lindor could rocket into the sky unopposed. At nearly 500,000 Funds per flight, it was hard to justify the throwaway Lindor 5. Fortunately, engineers had previously experimented with a solution when KSP launched Skybase into orbit- an experiment that proved to be a success. They built the Lindor L-9R- the official name for the heavily modified Lindor 9 Reusable First Stage Booster. Based on the venerable L-1C first stage that sent a total of six missions to the Mün and Minmus, the L9-R had nine Kerbodyne KE-1 Mastodon engines (The L-1C had five, plus two more that powered expendable boosters) and a stretched fuel tank. 1 minute and 26 seconds after liftoff, at an altitude of 28 km and traveling 948.3 meters per second, the L-9R completed its burn. Mariner’s flight computers then commanded the first stage to separate from the rest of the vehicle, and stack decouplers and separatron solid rocket motors got to work rapidly putting distance between the spent booster and the rest of the rocket. Two seconds later, the five RE-I5 Skipper engines powering the L-2 second stage ignited, and the Lindor Shuttle continued her climb. As with its L-1C predecessor, the L-9R separated from the stack at a relatively low altitude and speed, and that translated to experiencing less atmospheric heating than other proposed reusable Shuttle designs. As a result, the first stage coasted another 32 km higher before unlocking its propellant reserves and making an engine burn in preparation for its next phase of operations. Thanks to a technology transfer agreement with the vonKerman Republic, the L-9R was equipped with “grid fins” that helped steer the stage towards its landing zone on Welcome Island. Coupled with four deployable landing legs that were up-sized versions from the vonKerman’s recoverable boosters, the L-9R could land safely, be refurbished, and fly again. For Mariner’s first flight, the Lindor vehicle stack used the same L-9R that launched Skybase into orbit, albeit refurbished and modified to apply lessons learned from its first flight. But once again, the reusable booster proved its worth and landed safely. And given its cost savings, KSP was already in the process of building three more reusable first stage boosters. 7 minutes and 42 seconds after launch, the Lindor Shuttle’s L-2 second stage completed its duties and separated from Mariner, leaving the orbiter to circularize its orbit. The L-2 stage remained unchanged since the days of launching K-20s with their D1B upper stages into orbit. It represented dependability and reliability. Unfortunately, the legacy hardware also represented the greatest expenditure of the Lindor Shuttle. Unlike the first stage, the second stage, coasting 150 km above the surface and traveling at 3,675.1 meters per second, was traveling too high and too fast to safely reenter the atmosphere. So, while Mariner completed its circularization burn via its single Skipper engine, the L-2 stage burned up eight and a half minutes later. But engineers had to wonder- could it too be recovered? John and Roberta breathed a sigh of relief and congratulated each other (even though the flight computers did all the work)- they were in orbit! With the launch completed, they got to work transforming the vehicle into on-orbit mode. They started by opening the payload bay doors, turning on the bay lights, and extending the high-gain antenna. Like Pathfinder- the first K-20 KerbalSoar- the Lindor Shuttle had payload bay doors, but unlike its predecessors, which replaced the bay with a crew cabin on subsequent K-20s, Mariner’s payload bay was a permanent addition. The size of the payload bay- and thus, the overall size of the shuttle, was dictated by Kerman Air Force requirements. Simply put, they wanted the ability to launch their large, “classified payloads” (we all know that they’re spy satellites) into orbit and to retrieve them for servicing as needed. In their competing Blackstar orbiter proposal, the Air Force designed a bay that could handle payloads up to 7.5m long and 1.875m in diameter. Realizing that they needed as many Shuttle flights as possible to keep costs down, KSP’s design met those requirements and even exceeded them. The Lindor Shuttle had a bay that could fit cargo up to 2.5m in diameter and had an airlock and docking equipment while still having plenty of room left over for the Air Force’s classified payloads. The payload bay was more than enough to handle KSP’s payload requirements- especially since the Lindor itself could still launch what they had in mind. Even on her maiden flight, Mariner was put to work. With a series of carefully timed engine burns, John piloted Mariner over to Skybase for a fly-around to check on the station’s status. A year ago, a trio of his fellow astronauts departed the station on Sojourner, the last operational civilian K-20 that made its final flight. Since the K-20 was designed with the Mk 1 Clamp-O-Tron Junior docking port and Shuttle used the larger Mk2 port- another gift from the vonKermans, and one that ensured that all spacecraft could dock together regardless of origin- Shuttles visiting Skybase needed an adapter. Fortunately, Mariner carried one. After John finished his fly-around, Roberta got to work. Nestled in Mariner’s payload bay was the Docking Adapter Module, a specialized component that KSP engineers built based on the venerable Mark One Laboratory Module. The DAM had both types of docking ports at each end of the module. But more than just a docking adapter, the DAM was a dedicated prototype greenhouse capable of growing food for the astronauts. KSP hoped to demonstrate that with the right edible plants that could also renew the air supply, spacecraft could carry fewer supplies for long-duration missions. Attached to the Mk2 port was Mariner’s other primary payload: the Teleoperated Maneuvering Vehicle. Tested last year via an Edna launch, engineers designed the TMV to maneuver hardware in space and position it for assembly. The first TMV had issues with receiving ground commands, but a thorough check of its software resolved the bugs, and this time, Roberta piloted the craft from a console in Mariner’s cockpit. After performing pre-flight checks and unlocking the propellant flow valves, Roberta fired the explosive bolts holding the DAM and TMV in Mariner’s payload bay, and the Shuttle’s first cargo took flight. With practiced precision, Roberta maneuvered the TMV out of Mariner’s payload bay and slowly piloted it over Skybase. She lined up the Mk 1 docking ports and slowly approached the space station. A few meters before docking, she rotated the TMV to line it and the DAM up with Skybase’s orientation. The DAM docked with the windmill-like station with a satisfying clunk. “Excellent job, Mariner,” Mission Control called out from the radio. “Seals look good. You’re go for TMV undocking and transpositioning.” “Roger that,” Roberta responded. Her hands played across her console, and the TMV separated from the Docking Adapter Module. As the constellation of spacecraft approached Kerbin’s nightside, the rookie astronaut piloted the TMV back into Mariner’s payload bay and docked with the aft docking port. She made it look easy. As she locked the TMV’s propellant tanks, John initiated the next phase of the mission. He expertly oriented Mariner to line up its docking port with the newly vacated port on the DAM. With precision movements and patience, Mariner’s docking port lined up with the DAM, and John nudged the orbiter “up” to dock. And just like that, the airliner-sized Shuttle, longer than Skybase, docked with the station. The astronauts secured Mariner and then transferred to the DAM’s greenhouse. After turning on the lights and opening the shutters, they took a break. That’s when things started to go wrong. Skybase started to tumble in space! The structure groaned and flexed at the two docked Clamp-O-Tron Jr ports as Mariner and Skybase fought for control over which set of gyros would orient the station in space. The astronauts quickly evacuated back to the shuttle while Mission Control went through their emergency procedures for Skybase. Together, both station and shuttle switched off their gyro systems, allowing the complex to slowly stop oscillating. A root cause analysis session later determined that both Skybase’s and Mariner’s flight control computers decided that they were responsible for orienting the complex and sent commands to their respective gyro systems. Because of their positions relative to the center of mass, the complex began to flex- almost to the breaking point of the DAM/Skybase docking interface. Disabling both primary gyro systems resolved the issue. By activating the backup gyros in Skybase’s logistics module- which were not as powerful and were closer to the center of mass- Mission Control stopped the flexing and got the station reoriented properly. But lesson learned; orbiters must relinquish control to the station when they visit, and the station needed to use the gyros closest to center of mass for orientation. And as part of the mitigation efforts, KSP came up with a “Naming Priority” system to help determine which spacecraft should have control at any given time. With the situation under control, John and Roberta went back to the greenhouse to continue their work. Currently configured as a botany lab, the module had numerous sensors to monitor plant growth in microgravity. The results of the experiments would enable future crews to reconfigure the lab into a greenhouse, but for now, John and Roberta were satisfied that after hooking up all the tubes, power cords, and sensors, there were no issues when the finally turned the whole thing on. Next, the astronauts double-checked the seals between the DAM and Skybase before entering the station. They noted some buckling in the metal transfer tunnel, but they verified that there were no air leaks. Nonetheless, Mission Control made a note to bring up some struts to reinforce the connection between the DAM and Skybase. John opened the hatch, and the two made their way into Skybase’s logistics and airlock modules. After performing their checks and not noticing anything out of the ordinary, John and Roberta transferred fresh EVA equipment and repair kits to the logistics hub. The final stop of their tour was the orbital workshop proper- the converted D1B upper stage. Roberta noted an odd smell that turned out to be an out-gassing of various plastic components that were repeatedly exposed to heating and cooling. Mission Control took note to send up more air filters along with fresh supplies of Snacks, fresh air, minerite, and other items. Skybase also needed four Refit Kits to set up the machinery needed for its next phase of operations. But that would have to wait for another flight. For now, John and Roberta were content to complete assessing the state of Skybase and noting what needed updates and repairs. The astronauts returned to Mariner, and over the next two days, they conducted tests and evaluated its on-orbit performance. They found that the orbiter performed remarkably well thanks to the experiences gained from flying the K-20 KerbalSoar. They particularly liked using the TMV to maneuver payloads in space- no clunky robot arm needed! But their time at the station had to end, so John and Roberta boarded Mariner, undocked, and put some distance between themselves and Skybase for their trip home. Forty-four minutes later, Mariner performed her deorbit burn and eleven minutes after that, she hit the upper atmosphere. As with the K-20, the Shuttle aimed for an impact point a few hundred kilometers short of KSC, and then pitched upwards enough to both glide to the space center and slow down. It was both an art and a science to slow down right above the space center, but unlike its predecessor, Shuttle had jet engines to ensure a safe return. So, it came as no surprise when Mariner overshot the space center by 37 kilometers, and John had to light the jet engines and turn the ship around. “We heard some bangs and shimmies on the way down,” John remarked. “It sounded like something went boom,” he said calmly, as if reporting the weather. He set Mariner down on the runway with barely any concern, and then taxied over to the spaceplane hangar and stopped just outside of the structure. Once the pair shut down the orbiter’s systems, they deplaned and stood outside for a publicity photo. The first flight of the new Shuttle was a success! Well, almost a success. Engineers examined the spacecraft to find out what the “bangs and shimmies” were. As it turns out, they were the result of the wingtip RCS thrusters sheering off from the extreme heat and pressure of atmospheric re-entry. They’d have to be redesigned for the next flight...

I've had an insane work schedule coupled with moving for the past month and a half, and am still working on the multi-segment warp coils. No ETA as yet. Part of my goal is to not put timelines out as that caused a lot of burnout before. It depends upon time, interest, work, etc.

Well done! Congratulations on achieving all your primary and secondary objectives at Sarnus. Great use of gravity assist and conservative fuel burns, and way to go with the hole-in-one atmospheric probe landing on an island in the middle of a lake.

Oof! That's gotta sting. Kind of looks like Mr. Dilsby went near a Gumdrop... Random thought: In years past, Bill has noticed when the game updates happened. I wonder if he's had time to notice the switch to KSP 1.12.5...

I haven't been back this way in awhile. Yes, Buffalo 2 is feature complete at this point and is just in maintenance mode. I may have some bug fixes in a few days, mostly configuration errors.

Chapter Deux Major Kelbin Kerman, Kerman Air Force, woke up. It took him several minutes for him to figure out why he was so cold, and where he was- and for that matter, who he was. Kelbin was captain of the Atlantis, DSEV-05. He and his crew had left Kerbin. For the past several years, he'd been in cryosleep while his ship coasted towards Jool. He vaguely recalled that some time ago, the exploration team on Duna discovered a Face that clearly resembled a kerbal, and that it emitted a powerful radio transmission aimed straight at Jool. That's why KSP built Atlantis- to find out why that signal was sent. But wow, what a dream! It was like the other monolith dreams- very vivid and indistinguishable from realty, like he was living in another Superimposed Alternate Variant Existence. But there was no monolith in deep space for him to communicate with. Still, in his dream, he saw kerbals flying winged spacecraft To the Mun, then they built a space shuttle, and then he saw himself as the CEO of a commercial space company. He couldn't imagine winning the lottery, let alone starting a space company with the winnings... Kelbin looked around, realizing that there was some kind of noise going on. Apparently, it was an urgent noise. There was a voice speaking. It sounded... metallic, robotic- urgent. "...imminent," the voice said loudly as the klaxons wailed. It was giving him a headache. Kelbin wondered what the urgent robot voice meant by imminent. "Terrain, terrain," the robot voice said insistently, "pull up, pull up! Collision imminent!" Kelbin listened to the words again, and groggily climbed out of his revere. His head was still foggy though. Apparently, the ship was about to hit some terrain? He wondered how since Atlantis was a space ship, a Deep Space Exploration Vessel. He made his way to the bridge of the ship to look around and see what "terrain" they were about to run into out in deep space. Kelbin got into the command chair out of habit and checked his displays. "Ha," he said, looking at the displays, "false alarm. There's no terrain! Now, what would set off the alarm?" Kelbin looked out the window, but only saw the blackness of space. Granted, the ship had a greenish glow about it, but still, just black space out the windows. He rolled the the ship ninety degrees, and the green glow got brighter. "Hm, he said simply. Then he looked at the orbit and saw the problem. "Oh... Ok, I just need to fire up the engines and correct the orbit." There was, unfortunately, a slight problem with that. For some reaosn, flight computer had jettisoned the ship's supply of explodium, the unstable nuclear salt water that powered Atlantis' rockets. He wondered for a few moments what would cause the computer to jettison the explodium. It was, stored in a state that was almost supercritical, maybe that was it? The ship hit Jool's upper atmosphere and screamed in protest as pieces of the ship ripped away. "Well, this sucks," was the last thing that Major Kelbin Kerman, Kerman Air Force ever said. Happy April 1st!

Chapter 1 The timeline was tight, but they’d done it. They completed the SCV Endeavour- DSEV-04- in time for the upcoming Duna launch window. Named in honor of the homebuilt rocket that the astronauts on Duna built- out of salvaged parts no less- to replace the flawed and broken Estonian lander that cost them their mission commander, the name “Endeavour” was unanimously chosen by the ISC’s DSEV Naming Committee. Though the crew of the Kopernicus wouldn’t get to see Endeavour launch due their being in cryosleep and still coasting home, the ISC knew that they’d be happy to know that the newest DSEV was named in honor of their homebuilt ship. Like the SCV Discovery before her, the Space Consortium Vessel Endeavour was a Discovery-class Deep Space Exploration Vessel that incorporated the latest technology; things like a shipyard-configurable modular construction and revolutionary graviolium-fueled gravitic engines. She used the same modules as Discovery, including the hab ring, a liquids container module filled with propellium, and of course the gravitic propulsion system. But her command hull benefited from lessons learned from building Discovery- the “neck” of the hull, to which other spinal modules are attached, had a pair of staterooms mounted above and below the connector for the ship’s captain and executive officer to occupy. Given the tight quarters, the staterooms were a welcome addition. The ISC also leveraged the Discovery-class’s modular mission system for Endeavour’s maiden flight. While Discovery had an inline hangar dedicated to transporting two Shuttlepods to Laythe along with a Type 1 Cargo Rack to bring two large Drop Pods and a space station, Endeavour had less hardware to haul. As a result, shipwrights fitted a new Inline Spacer Tank instead of a Shuttlepod Hangar and attached two Radial Shuttlepod Hangars to its flanks. They also omitted the Type 1 Cargo Rack. The design gave a more fashionable, proto-battlestar look offered a more compact layout than Discovery and gave the ISC the opportunity to test different configurations for their modular DSEV spacecraft. And for this mission, the Spacer Tank’s dorsal and ventral docking ports sported an expansion to Duna Basecamp. The crew arrived at Magic Boulder Shipyard two weeks before the Duna launch window opened, checked out their new ship, and thanked the yard workers for all their hard work. Right on time, they departed the station, performed their “burn” for Duna (gravitic engines don’t throw flame out the back, but traditional terminology dies hard…), and bed down into cryosleep for the long journey to the Rusty Planet. With two Discovery-class ships in flight, the ISC eagerly waited to evaluate their performance before they began to build the next two…

Prologue To The Mün had been an expression among kerbals to describe something impossible until two nations, the Kerman States and the vonKerman Republic, landed on both of Kerbin’s müns. After that feat, nothing seemed impossible. The Kerman States- via their Kerbal Space Program- set their sights on a kermanned mission to Duna, but they knew it would be expensive, so they created the reusable Shuttle Launch System to replace their expendable rockets. Then they partnered with the mcKerman Kingdom’s Ministry of Space to build Starlab, their Kerbin Orbiting Station. With their reusable infrastructure in place, the two nations began planning for their trip to Duna. Then the Laythe Surveyor sent back some intriguing results about Jool’s innermost mün… The space agencies immediately pivoted away from Duna and created Project Laythe, seceding cisminmar space to commercial companies such as Orbital Dynamics, who single-handedly created the space tourism industry, built the first fully reusable, single-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle, and became the first company to capture an asteroid, dubbed the “Magic Boulder” for its exotic resource. Meanwhile, KSP and the MoS invited the vonKermans to participate in Project Laythe, and the three agencies collaborated to build the First Jool Fleet. Among the many vessels in the Fleet, Nautilus, the first Deep Space Exploration Vessel, brought eight astronauts and kerbonauts to Jool’s innermost mün. After assembling Laythe Base from a collection of modules shipped with the Fleet, the crew spent sixty days on the surface conducting experiments- and discovering phytoplankton in Laythe’s oceans! With their exciting discovery making news, the crew returned to the Nautilus to spend another three years in cryostasis traveling home. As the Nautilus (DSEV-01) coasted back towards Kerbin, the Ministry of Space spearheaded a renewed effort to reach Duna and provided most of the funding for the budget conscious Kopernicus (DSEV-02) and the Third Duna Fleet. After a disastrous landing that caused the death of Ribler Kerman, seven kerbals explored the Rusty Planet- and made some amazing discoveries along the way. Most importantly, they discovered that ancient Kermantians somehow visited Duna thousands of years before modern kerbals- and seemingly without advanced technology! That discovery inspired the spacefaring nations to form the International Space Consortium and unite under one banner to explore the solar system and look for more signs of Kermantian visitations. And with their mission complete, the crew boarded the Endeavour- a makeshift rocket that they cobbled together from salvaged parts- and returned to DSEV-02. When the launch windows opened once more, Discovery (DSEV-03) – a next-generation spacecraft that emerged from the Deep Space Exploration Vessel (Experimental) program- launched towards Jool. Meanwhile, Kopernicus (DSEV-02) coasted towards home and DSEV-04, slated for Duna, neared completion. DSEV-04- as well as DSEV-03 and Newton (DSX-01)- were powered by a revolutionary gravitic propulsion system created by Orbital Dynamics that changed the nature of spaceflight forever. Though the technology was still in its infancy- and rather expensive- gravitic propulsion stood ready to take over from chemical and nuclear rocket technology- if a steady supply of the exotic matter, known as graviolium, could be found beyond the deposit from the Magic Boulder… Without a doubt, commercial space companies made huge advancements in spaceflight and propelled kerbalkin closer to the stars. But not all commercial space companies enjoyed fruitful success… “…And so, with a heavy heart, I must regretfully announce that Phoenix Aerospace will cease operations… and let the staff go…” Phil Kerman, CEO of Phoenix Aerospace somberly said. His staff smiled but he could see the micro-expressions on their faces. The micro-expressions of his soon to be former employees mirrored his own sadness. Starlab’s retirement also meant the conclusion of their Kerbin Orbital Transportation Services contract, which reduced their revenue significantly. Worse, KSP declined to buy more Power and Propulsion Element spacecraft or Refueling Modules for Gateway Station. He’d hoped that Phoenix Lab would serve as the cornerstone of tourist trips to the Mün, but thus far, the only customers were the ISC’s two prototype Deep Space Exploration Vessels. It was, unfortunately, a matter of time before Phoenix Aerospace ran out of money. And that time was soon. Phil sighed, letting the news sink in before continuing. “But we’re going out with one last hurrah.” He paused again, and his employees were on the edges of their seats. “We’re going to reenact a Münflight...” The crowd cheered for several minutes. When they settled down, Phil continued. “Before the Board of Directors made their decision, we were planning to offer a Münflight experience to two paying tourists that captured the nostalgia of the first flights to the müns. We can’t perform an exact reenactment, of course, since today’s technology is much more advanced than what the first astronauts had, and some key hardware no longer exists, and we don’t have a heavy lift rocket, but our Firebirds are the grandchildren of the K-20, and like their grandparents, they can go to the müns and back. Now, here’s what we’re going to do…”

I’ve seen a few alternate history mission reports lately, and they’re fun to read. Stories like Kānāwai: Ares to Mars and A DIRECT Transition – If DIRECT Took To The Skies. They inspired me to write an alt history report of my own. But rather than tread on alternate Earth history, I wanted to explore an alternate history from my own JNSQ mission reports- and do it in a way that didn’t involve time travel or some other science fiction trope (ok, maybe a little). Looking through my To the Mün mission reports (To the Mün, Shuttle Launch System, Commercial Space Ventures, Flight of the Endeavor), I found the perfect Point of Departure in my timeline: At one point, I seriously considered basing my Shuttle Era on a “what if” picture that I found where the vonBraun Ferry Rocket was perched atop a Saturn V. Then @benjee10 released his outstanding Shuttle Orbiter Construction Kit, and @Invaderchaos released SOCK Recolored , and I absolutely had to use it for my Shuttle Launch System mission report. But what if I hadn’t gone that route? This mission report is an opportunity for me to explore that “what if” scenario while still advancing my main timeline. Since this mission report happens in two saves, I plan to mark the alternate history sections with “ALT” for Alternate Timeline. Hopefully that’ll avoid confusion; this is a new format for me so please bear with me. Chapters Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 --- Mod list A mapping of months Listed below are the names of the 12 months in my save, mapped to the Gregorian calendar months: Acama January Huitzil February Chimal March Itzcoatl April Moctez May Axaya June Jool July Tizoc August Ahuit September Cuitla October Cuahoc November Montezu December

Sooo glad to see the Intrepid- and more importantly, Jool Odyssey- take flight again! It was a fun project to work on, and I'm glad to see it put to good use. I can't thank @Mister Dilsby enough for returning to the forums and finishing such an iconic story!

That made my weekend. "It's far easier for civilized men to behave as barbarians than it is for barbarians to behave like civilized Men."

I conducted a test flight of my Voyager-class Deep Space Carrier. It's inspired by Project Grissom.

I think Val is testing action/reaction collisions... with her fist!