purpleivan

More antics with rovers today, as a redesigned version was sent to science base on the Mun. With the rock that flummoxed the Mk1 rover having been was scanned, Shellwise (the pilot of the new rover) and scientist Miltop, went in search of bigger game. Shellwise was curious to see what the scanning arm does... apparently it makes things orange. With their bounty of science points in the bag, the pair headed back to base. Next up it was the turn of the unkerballed program to do its part, with the Yay Magnets sent off to the Mun (and now heading to Minmus) to take magnetometer readings.

With Malvan and Miltop stuck with a useless rover arm, there was only one thing to do... send another one. This version had the arm mounted on the side rather than the top of the rover and had a crew of just one, a pilot by the name of Shellwise. So yet again a rover with the science gathering power of a robotic arm was headed for the Mun. One other change was to take the smaller of the two tanks off the transfer stage, to make that part of the package less wasteful. Another dawn, another day landing on the Mun. Shellwise lit up the terrier on the tansfer stage and started his decent. So long Mr Transfer and thanks for the Dv. Shellwise set the rover down just meters from the landing site of the first version, but a little closer to the base. Ok... remember to turn off that SAS Shellwise. Easy does it. Shellwise wasted no time in dashing over to the rock that Malvan and Miltop had been staring at for some considerable time. He then let rip with the scanning arm, draining the thing of all its sciencey goodness. Miltop was not pleased. "Hey... that's my rock". There were other things to scan though, so Miltop stowed her chagrin at Shellwise grabbing the first scanning on Mun glory, and jump onboard. So what next, what next... aha, how about this! Ah yes... tasty, yummy crater science. Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble. The data was fired back to the KSC and the big points board in the R&D dept. rang up like a slot machine. But Miltop and Shellwise were not done with their scientific plundering of the area around the base. How about that crater over there, surely it's full of rich rewards. Shellwise hopped out on to the surface to get a close up look of the arm in action. So what's the results Miltop? Miltop was not amused with the results of the scan. "It's another crater... whadda ya want, a medal". Ok, so the craters seem to be all the same, but surely these rocks must have some variety. Nope... survey says "it's a rock". With some results in the bag from their trip (although not as much as they'd like), the pair headed back to base. Wow, 90 whole points, that was really worth sending two rovers and 3 crew to the Mun for... oh well. So what would sir like to purchade today, how about some fine (almost new) aerodynamic parts. Nope, I think I'll go with some actuators, can't go wrong with actuators. 90 science points would be be a pretty poor haul for the day, so it was time for something unkerballed to screech into orbit, on top of an SRB. The SRB did the work of getting this happy little probe above the atmosphere, then it was turn of the ever reliable Terrier to push it into orbit. Well, not quite to orbit, the probe's own engines were needed for the last couple hundred m/s, the separation from the booster showing that probes can have fun too. With orbit established it was time for the Yay Magnets to show off its party trick and grabbing a magenetometer reading from low orbit. Next stop the Mun, but on the way a reading from high over Kerbin. Then high over the Mun... can you guess what comes next. Pretty predictable really. Almost 200 science points from Yay Magnets and it's now on course for an intercept with Minmus, then will head into Kerbol orbit for a reading there. But what to do with the latest bit of science. How about some new landing parts. Todays events might have been a little on the dull side, no heroic battery packs, or 1st landings on a new world, but it was good solid work that pays the bills. Next up... a trip to Duna.

It was time once more for some scientific skullduggery in A Sciencing We Will Go. Heroes were revealed. Rovers were launched. Rovers were landed. Rovers were happy. Rovers were really happy. Then rovers were sad.

Somewhere on the dark side of the Mun, a devious plan was being set into motion, a plan to make off, like a thief in the night, with illicit science. A plan that called for... The Lab. Boo... BOO... BOOOOO I hear you say. Well, my crack team of Kerbal lawyers inform me that the lab is a legal part (except in some states) and that any points that the lab gathers is real, hard earned science. Ok, ok... it does feel like the plan going to be. 1. Land Lab and begin the sciencing. 2. Hit the warp button. 3. PROFIT. But, but, but... the points, THE POINTS. In this case the points were in a good cause... wheels. For some reason, known only to kerbals, the science of rolling around on circular objects is a particularly difficult field of research, so much so that it's possible to go interplanetary before having access to a decent ride on the surface. So this scientific smash and grab is all in the cause of providing my team some wheels that don't look like they were ripped off a shopping cart. Plus... I'm lazy. Plus, plus, I won't use it again... honest. The mun lab was set to transmit it's amazing haul of scien... what.. what was that... are you sure. Hmmm... 70 points... really? That is not going to give my brave kebonauts the ride they so richely deserve. Let's try the Minmus lab. Well the thing is stuffed with fat juicy ill-gotten (and we all know that's the best kind) science, but that's not going to work. It doesn't have the battery capacity to transmit it back to Kerbin. On Minmus the two poor scientists, with their backs to the wall, unable to transmit their illicit hoard back to base, made a desperate plea for help. When the innocent (well... not that innocent) call in the darkest of times, there is only brave defender that will leap their rescue. Launched in the depth of night (ok...it''s nearly dawn), their secret defender made its way to orbit and once there was revealed to be... The Batt Yes... The Batt will save them, it always does. With bravery cunning and just the right equipment stuffed into its belt. In this case a g-jillion batteries. With all the speed its pair of Sparks could muster The Batt swooped to Minmus and found the scientists adrift and helpless (ok... stuff with fuel and science points) in orbit, having made their escape from the evil clutches of the surface. The Batt gave everything it had (ok... about 1/2 its juice) to let the scientists transmit their illicit, nay, fraudulent, science home. The Batt doesn't judge (what... really) it just comes to those in need, even if that need is for someone to come and aid and abet them in an act of scientific larceny. Hurrah (or Booooo, depending on your point of view), as with the help of The Batt, 500 science points were fired back to the KSC, allowing the finest brains on the planet to fashion some reasonably sized wheels. Said wheels were then hastily slapped onto a Mk2 Lander Can (in rover format) and launched to orbit. Once in orbit the crew of Malvan and Miltop lit the Terrier that powered the transfer stage and headed Munward. As Kerbin gets smaller, the Mun gets bigger... it's a good thing. Oooo... Mun very big now, time to think about geatting this thing to the surface. Well the transfer stage was a bit over done, given that it was dumped with about 5% of it's fuel remaining just a few km above the surface. The 1200m/s in the landing stage was hardly worth dragging along. Still, it will make for a nice stable platform to set down on. The pair made a good job of coming down close to the lab. Ah yes... it surely is a fine landing platform. So lets abandon it with about 3/4 of its fuel remaining. The pair were very excited to be on the Mun. So much so they tried out an impromptu breakdancing routine (strange... I don't remember having to turn off SAS in a rover on the Mun before... oh well). Feeling somewhat nauseous, the crew of the rover stopped their antics and headed over to the lab to say hello. Then they went searching for the nearest rock to try out the equipment that this rover was sent all the way here to use. That would be the scanning arm mounted on the roof. Hmmm... the arm says it's a no-go on scanning the rock. Something about it being too far below the base of the arm. Ok... time to break out those breakdancing skills again Malven suggests. Well that didn't work. The arm just wiggled around useslessly then folded back up again. Then an idea occured to Miltop. Lets try "parking" to the side of the rock, maybe that will help. Nope... that arm still doesn't want to scan anything. Maybe we'll just sit here and think about it for a while.

More science hunting for me. A lab was delivered to the Mun for Bob. Who wasted no time in heading over to his new office. His crewmate and welcome company, headed out to pick up a surface sample. Bob the bozo forgot to pick one up in his rush to the lab. Hi... the name's Rolin, pleased to meet you. Meanwhile a similar vehicle headed for Minmus, dropping of a couple of relay sats on the way. Before landing at the top of the cliffs overlooking one of the Flats.

On day 6 it was time to step things up science wise, with a couple of labs. Once going to the Mun the other, Minmus. Rolin Kerman (Pilot) headed out first in the direction of the Mun (hopefully). On approach to the Mun a small relay satellite was released. Before being put into a polar orbit. Ah, Mun... the big pocket fluff ball in the sky. Quite a few relays in Mun orbit now. None arranged in any kind of carefully placed pattern, with maximised coverage and minimal positional drift. Nope, just a bunch of 'em thrown into random orbits and then hoping all goes well. It's the kerbal way! With a good chunk of the descent burn made, the transfer stage ran dry and was detached. The lab set down a few dozen metres from Bob in the Mun Hopper. This design was a real handful, given it's tendency to yaw when under thrust. One of the engines must have been slightly misplaced. But luckily this thing had plenty of fuel, so a slow and highly inefficient landing was made. In no time at all Bob was out of the hatch and tearing across the dirt towards the lab. Lots of space, lots of toys and someone to natter with. "Oh boy, oh boy... can't wait to try out this thing" Just need to get inside first. With Bob safely (and excitedly) in the lab, Rolin headed out the hatch to collect a surface sample. The name's Rolin Kerman... I'll be here all week. With this carefully posed photo taken, it was down to the serious business of sciencing, with the lab stuffed with data and the processing started. One down, one to go. Next up was the lab headed for Minmus, starting with a dramatic night launch. En-route to Minmus readings were taken in high Kerbin and Minmus orbits and stuffed in the lab. Phonand (scientist) went out to reset the experiments, while Lozor (engineer) checked the stocks of board games and decks of cards. Once in Minmus SOI, two relays satellites were released. Once headed for a wide (roughly) equatorial orbit and the other, polar. Just before touchdown on the surface, the transfer stage was dumped, which headed for the steep slope at the edge of the the Minmus flats nearby, before starting a long roll to the bottom. The lab meanwhile made a nice soft landing at the top of the slope, from which the flats can just about be seen. Phonand headed once more to reset the experiments and to grab a surface sample and EVA report. Once back inside, the science machine was cracked up to full steam ahead, busily processing its hoard of data.

Bob continued his exploration of the biomes of the Mun in my science game. But first order of business was fuel (from the tanker)... not getting far without that. Back on the surface Bob continued to chase rocks, but they aren't much good at running. Or at playing hide and seek. Ahem... Bob, we can see you too. After stops in the Polar Crate and at the North Pole, the Mun Hopper took a trip back to somewhere more equatorial, in the shape of the East Farside Crater. No-one to play catch with here... not even a rock.

Time for a little more science, or a lot. Ooo look... 753 science points to spend, now what to carefully invest this windfall on, have to think long and hard about this, consider all the... SPENT! With that out of the way it was time to send Bob in the Mun Hopper some much needed fuel. With tanks brimmed once more, there was just the choice of landing site to make. Er... Polar Crater. Getting pretty busy around here. Nice clear signal to the KSC from here over the crater. On the surface a nice signal is to be had, even if Kerbin is just below the horizon. Bob feels at home here, up on top of this little world. Bob's a kerbal of action, a kerbal of adventure, a kerbal of danger... ... ooo look, a rock! Bob decided this was the perfect time to play hide and seek... by himself. With fun and games over, it was time to head for another landing site, this time at the very top, at the North Pole. It's a strange land up here, almost as if someone was trying to hide something amongst all the lumps. After much picking, attempting, rejecting and moving on to another landing site, in that dodgy landscape, Bob finally set down on a small plateau. Readings were taken and sent back home. Bob checked the time... it was time... to head to another landing site. Once in orbit it was noticed that the tanks were looking a little on the dry side, so another meeting was arranged with the tanker. The tanker was drained, bringing the Mun Hopper's own tanks up to about 60% full. The next landing site took a pretty big plane change, burning up a decent amount of that 60%, even before heading to the surface. With the tanker empty, there won't be many more landings after this one. Bob looked out towards the impressive cliffs at the edge of the East Farside Crater, as he decended into it. Another silky smooth landing (Bob doesn't like to brag, but he'll make an exception in this case) followed by the now routine collection and transmission of data. With the hard work done, there was just the matter of reseting the experiments, before settling in for the evening (or whatever it is up here) and grabbing some dinner. Back at the KSC, the science team had another 633 science points to play with. With some extra science instruments added to what's available it's looking like the next step might be to send up a replacement for the Mun Hopper. Something in the shape of a MPL-LG-2 lab. I can almost feel the science points starting to flow.

Until fairly recently, in my contracts free career game I played as a challenge entry, I'd rarely used SSTO's. Until then I'd had a handful of spaceplanes, that could just about make orbit, carrying minimal payloads. My first working spaceplane ... and then my second, overshooting the KSC quite a bit on re-entry. Those were a couple of years or so ago, but these below were made in the last year. More recently reusability became a necessaity for my entry to the The No Contract Career Challenge, which had the goal of unlocking the tech tree and and fully upgrading all buildings, without using contracts in a career game. That meant getting into space cheaply as soon as possibly, so I came up with the "Reuso" series of SSTO vertical launchers. Reuso 1 - Good for putting 5 tons into an 80km orbit, before safely returning to the launch site (or close to it anyway). Reuso 2 - This provided launches for kerballed missions to Kerbin's moons. Allowing Val to enjoy the delights of "walking" on Minmus. Reuso 3 - with a much improved lifting capability (about 30 tons to orbit), it provided cheap interplanetary travel for the first time, including a way for one plucky kerbal to make it to Jool and back. Reuso 4 - the big workhorse of the latter stages of my challenge entry, with it's capability of putting 50 tons into a 90km orbit. This lofted landers for Dres, Eeloo, Gilly, Laythe, Tylo, Val, Bop and Pol. It even sent this SSTO spaceplane to Laythe.

I've built quite a few stations over the years, but these are probably my three favourites. Grand orbital space station challenge I made this one called KOSTAR for this challenge and as has become a bit of a theme with my stations, it housed a number of micro craft for a bit of kerbal joy riding. The little things could just about make a trip to and from the Mun surface. As the challenge had the requirement that all crew could be returned safely to Kerbin, the four arms could detach, fly back, re-enter and then parachute to safety. Even made a documentary style video about it. Space Hotel Challenge Another challenge entry, this time for one n Kerbin orbit. Skylab-alike This was the result of one of those "it's Saturday afternoon, what can I throw together in the next few hours" moments. A somewhat Skylab looking contraption. Once launched on a Saturn V type launcher, it required a little assembly (attaching the 2 solar panel "wings") in orbit by a robotic helper. With the station complete a crew visited in a vaguely S IV-B launched vehicle.

For me it was my first Eve (failure to) return mission. It was the typical, massively asparagused lander, that would throw brave Malzor Kerman back into Eve orbit. All was set for the liftoff, but after the first staging, there was a small explosion and the thing lazily leaned over and headed towards the surface, where it shortly after exploded in fine pyrotechnic display. An investigation then ensued to determine the cause and after much searching it turned out to be a fuel line that had snagged on a ladder, rather than the tank it was attached to. This meant that the 2nd stage tank drained of fuel, instead of drinking from one in the 1st stage, causing an imbalance in thrust/CoG, plus a not yet emptied tank and engine being detached, resulting in a bad, bad day for the program. Still it did give me the opportunity to put down a 2nd, unmanned (and so very slightly different) lander as a rescue vehicle, just a few hundred metres from where the pilot of the original was patiently waiting for hs ride home. Here's Malzor, before realising he'd riden here in a lemon.

Just realised that I've not posted anything here for ages. So what have I been doing... er... aha! Recently it's been a change of pace, from the penny pinching of my last game (a contracts free career game) to the budget busting antics of a science game. But like most things, you start simple. First you walk. Then you run (after runaway science planes). Then you drive... or at least try to without crashing into the pool. Then you fly. Then you send probes to interesting (but not too far away) places. After that you send a kerbal to do the same thing. Then you fly a little further. But the scientists get envious of the pilots having all the fun, so they demand rides of their own. So they can hunt for science in the wild. With some mishaps along the way. Then after a long day's sciencing, they can take a look at the universe around them and wonder what it's all about. It's about the science points stupid!

The sciencing continues, after a bit of a work enduced hiatus. A probe was sent on an escape trajectory to gather some basic information about the environment outside Kerbin's SOI. Then Bob headed out on the first flight of a scientist in the game (can't let the pilots have all the fun) in the Mun Hopper, a refuellable Mun lander, packed with all the science gathering gizmos, this level of the tech tree allows. Once on the surface fun and frolics were had (and don't forget the sciencing). Mishaps were had too... ... with inevitable consequences. The locals turned out to be friendly, if not very talkative. Mun Hopper now sits in orbit waiting for a tanker craft to be sent from Kerbin, so the sciencing can continue.

Another day another... data point... or several. In the 4th day of this tale of science chasing, first it was the turn of the unkerballed craft division to show their stuff, with the flight of Sunny Side Up. Hurtling upward on an SRB, this was going to be science done on the cheap. With the SRB's fuel expended, it was time for a Terrier to finish the job of getting this bargain basement probe into orbit. Once in orbit it was time for the Spark to... er, sparkle, in chucking this thing out of Kerbin orbit, to taste some sweet, sweet, Kerbol science. And here it is, streaming its way back to the KSC. Lots and lots (well, a temp and pressure reading) heading back to HQ. Now it's time for the mini lab to do its thing and boost up the science haul for the mission. Oooch... missed it by this much, well.. by 15.38% to be precise. With the last minute failure of the probe team to get a full set of data, Bob was keen to show what a real scientist could do. Bob Goes to the Mun - Part 1 Strangely for a science game, this once has so far not flown a single scientist. That chance with the launch of Mun Hopper, a large lander, designed to hop (who'd have guessed) around on the Mun (wow... what a surprise), gathering science and sending it back to Kerbin. From orbit the transfer stage/Mun orbit relay took over from the launcher and set th vehicle on its way to its target. Enroute, Bob took some Mystery Goo and mini lab readings, then headed out the hatch to reset the devices. Immediately after orbit was established, the transfer stage was separated, to allow it to be place in a different orbit to the lander. Here the unkerballed vehicle, nicknamed "Mr Top Hat" for obvious reasons, can be seen ready to perform its relay duties. Ok... back to the kerballed part of this mission. Bob was keen to begin his tour of the sights and science of the Mun with a trip to somewhere simple. So Lowlands it is... time to hit the brakes. Once on the surface Bob decided to ignore mission guidelines and not place a flag at his landing site. Instead he set about the important task of gathering science. That would be the full smash (well, as full as it gets at the current stage of the tech tree) of science data gathering. With pockets filled with data and said data transmitted back to the KSC, it was time to hop. A short hop in this case, into the Northwest Crater, which Bob has set down just outside of. A couple of minutes later the satisfying slurp of science being drunk from the environment of the crater could be heard. Either than of Bob is a particularly loud drinker. One little thing to mention, which the more observant may have been noticed. What is that thing that looked like a a small relay satellite doing docked to the lander. Well, that would be a small relay satellite that should not be docked to the lander obviously. It had been intended to drop this off in orbit, after Mr Top Hat, but Bob in his rush to get to the surface ended up hauling it down there with him. Quietly ignoring his missing an important step in the mission, Bob headed out onto the surface one more. With gathering of science at the landing site completed, he took a moment to take a little look around his termporary home. He spied something off in the distance and started to bound across the dusty surface towards it. Silly Bob... don't you know you have a rocket pack. Why yes I do and here it is in action. Ooo... this looks interesting Bob can feel his science senses tingling. Surely something like this must be just oozing with the good stuff. What!.. nothing... not even a special surface sampe to take in the vicinity. Next time I'll bring something to make a kind of scientific smash and grab with. Some kind of robotic arm should do the trick. The people in the R&D dept. say that if we keep hauling back the science, then they're sure to come up with such a thing. So what about that rock over there, maybe it has some scientific goodies to yield. "Anything under it Bob?" "Er... nope." "How about on top of it?" "That was be a negatve KSC... it's just a rock." Bob was not amused at the Mun keep the secrets of its craters and rock from him. This distracted him on his return flight to the lander. "You ok Bob, your bio monitor numbers just spiked". "Err... no, no problem... I've got this". "I don't got this." "Bob, medical reports a really large spike." "Ouch!" After a long pause. "Owwww!" "Bob, you ok up there?" "Fff... Fine... just fine." "Ok, safety tip... take it easy this time." Once back at the lander Bob took a moment to catch his breath and to take a look at the sky. "That's a lot of stars." "1, 2, 3... sometime later ... 7265, 7266." "How's thing going there Bob?" "Nothing KSC, I er... awww" "1, 2, 3..." Finally the counting was done and the Nortwest Crate had surrendered all it's secrets, so it was time to head for another exciting destination. This time the hop would be a lot longer, all the way to the Highlands at the edge of the Polar Crater. Enroute that little freeloader was set loose. "Time for you to go and earn your keep little buddy." With the small relay satellite put into orbit, Bob set about the task of putting the lander down in the Highlands. Science was grabbed, a rocket pack was (carefully) used and the locals were chatted to. "Hah... not fooling me this time buddy, you're just a boring rock". With another set of data wending its way back to the KSC, the Mun Hopper, made the big hop back towards orbit. Back in orbit, there was nothing to do but wait for a shipment of fuel from Kerbin. That and checkout the view of home from the window. Back at the KSC, the science team were very pleased with Bob's progress on the Mun, that so far had, added around 700 science points to the kitty.

After a little while (checks calendar... wow, 3 weeks!) it was time to get back to the old science game, with a trip to Minmus Liftoff was dawn, with Jeb the only one along for the ride. In what seem like no time Jeb was in orbit of the little green ball of science. Of course it wouldn't be a true scientific trip without some shameless, self promoting selfies of the pilot. Once on the surface, temperature and pressure readings were taken and attempted to be transmitted back to the KSC. What'd'ya mean, no Kerbnet connection, this thing's bristling with antenna, just look at it. Ah... Jeb's had landed on the far side of Minmus from Kerbin, so unless he has some massive rock penetrating transmitter on board (checks the inventory... that's a no) then it's either a long wait on the surface for Kerbin to appear in the sky, or head to orbit. Jeb's not one for sitting around and waiting for things, so it was time to run (well... lazily hop, it is Minmus after all) back to the ship. That Ant engine is small but it's the decent little workhorse for a vehicle this size on Minmus. Ok, blast off would be a bit of an overstatement, but it's good enough to get back into orbit. With orbit established and Kerbin in line of sight once more, it was time to send the haul of science picked up on the surface. Half an orbit later it was time to head for home. With the transit burn done, there was only about 5% of the fuel remaining in the tank. Again Jeb saw the long drift home as an opportunity for some pics for the album. Not far to go now, but quite a steep angle. With re-entry over with the capsule plopped safely in the ocean just off the coast, bringing with it some science to scrape off the hull. This brought the total from the trip to about 500 tasty nutritious science points.

Ah the joys of "realistically" refuelling your vehicles. In my Kerbin Sorta Circumnavigation I used this, the Juice Moose for a while to hook up to my tanker planes (Juice Gooce), which in turn flew out to the boat that I was sailing around the planet in. It had enough capacity to fill a couple of tankers, but it too needed refuelling, courtesy of Recover/Launch. I used it a few times but in the end couldn't be bothered, when recovering the tankers and relaunching them was so much easier. Important given that the boat was fuelled over 60 times to get around the coastline. Hello there friend... nothing to fear.

Like the OP, it's back to the heady days of July 2014 for my first screenshots. They're not of my earliest attempts, I guess it took a few days to find out about the screenshot button. This was my first probe to orbit the Mun on July 25th, which was flown as the first step towards a kerballed landing and is my earliest pic. It was followed up with a probe sent to the surface on August 2nd, to check out the surface before a kerballed landing. I followed that with a series of Apollo like missions (8, 9 and 11), that worked their way up to putting 2 kerbals on the Mun surface and even returning them home safely as a bonus. Mun orbit test of CSM August 2nd. Test of CSM and lander in Kerbin orbit on August 3rd (00:42) Mun landing on August 3rd (13:18). Shock horror... Jeb was not on the mission. So the paudits went to Harry and Tomner Kerman instead. This is my first pic of a kerballed mission, taken a few days after the Munar orbit probe flight on July 30th. Looking back at my old pics, one thing that stands out to me are the large number that are taken after midnight on weekdays. So I was clocking up the flight hours big time in those days.

I'd usually steer clear of something like this, leaving KSP to it's own happy world(s), but in this case reality seems to be gatecrashing that party. I think it's safe to say that given his attempts to label a certain cave diver something very innapropriate with zero evidence, his run ins with the SEC (including potential stock price manipulation), not to mention his antics attempting to reopen a factory in California, in the midst of a pandemic, in direct opposition to the guideance of the state of California... etc. that Musk is at least, a controversial individual. As for SpaceX, a very different matter. They (and by that I mean their many tallented and hard working engineers) have done astounding work to achieve what they have and are clearly the foremost private launch company globally.

Here's some of my summer trip to the central/western part of Norway. Some where I was staying in Hol. This one on my way there. First night at Hol, it was the day after midsummer and this was at 1am. Dinner earlier that evening. The weather when I left Hol... not quite as nice a drive as the 27 degrees with clear blue skies I had on the way there. On my way from Hol to Flåm/Aurlandsvagen... about to go up into the mountains. It was actually pretty warm up here, well it was late June. Took this on the way back to Hol. When I passed this on the way out to Flåm the water in this little lake was the blue-est thing I've ever seen. Now I've crossed the top, time to head down there. The fjord at Flåm. The fjord cliffs that rise up above the town, highest is almost 1km high. A little inland from Flåm. The town and dock at Aurlandsvagen. Views of the fjord at Aurlandsvagen These were taken closer to home in and around Vollen. These were taken in Svelvik. Verket, just across the water from Svelvik.

Nothing wrong with that

But when you do go chemical and light it up for the transfer, there's that "ah... this is the life" moment, as you see the remaining DV for the burn rapidly reduce.

It's a bit like the time I accepted a contract to recover a part from the surface of the Mun. When I go there the part was a command seat... try picking up one of those with a grabber.

More science snagging ensued today, with a trip for Jeb to the Mun's surface. That does not look good. Flag raised and science grabbed, it was time to wake up that lazy, sleeping on the job spacecraft. Ah... the wonders of an overpowered SAS unit. Kersploosh!... and all in, a couple hundred science points to add to the kitty.

On the 2nd action packed day of science orientated spaceflight a kerballed trip to the Mun's surface in the Muno Lando was planned, with two kerbals heading for Kerbin's nearest neighbour. Liftoff went by the book, however for a vehicle capable of taking a crew of two, it was surprisingly light on occupants. In his eagerness to depart, Jeb fired up the engines while Bob was still getting his suit checked out. Bob was not pleased. Well Jeb could apologise later, assuming that he made it back. The vehicle was only just about capable of a return trip, so there was a chance of him ending up trapped in high Kerbin orbit. The trip to the Mun was uneventful, and once in orbit Jeb climbed out of the capsule to get the kind of photo that the PR department always pesters for. With the important task of pandering to the press dealt with, it was time to head down to that barren grey surface for some tasty science morsels. Barren check, grey, double check... looks like this is the right place. The Muno Lando made it down in one piece, standing proudly on the surface... who needs landing legs anyway. Apparently the Muno Lando does, because as soon as Jeb left the capsule, the vehicle slowly tilted over and dropped down flat on the surface. Maybe it just wanted to take a nap after its journey here. Well... no point in worrying about that now, there's an EVA report, surface sample and another PR photo to snag, before working out how to get that thing into a launchable orientation. With his pockets full of grey sand, Jeb bounded back towards the Muno Lando, with some thoughts on how to get that thing upright. Fortuantely the vehicle had a dedicated SAS unit installed to help with controllability of the vehicle, with its ascent stage attached, in Kerbin orbit. This came in handy for the righting of wrongs (wrong angles that is) With the vehicle upright once more, Jeb slammed the throttle lever down and the Muno Lando leapt towards orbit. An orbit of 7500m was established, high enough that there wasn't any risk of smashing into any mountains and low enough to give a fun view of th e surface whizzing by. Jeb decided to get out and for the feeling of the wind in his hair... well, not exactly wind, nor exposed hair, but passing less than 2km above the highest peaks was a little hair raising. Jeb couldn't hang out in Mun orbit indefinitely, tomorrow's pizza day in the canteen and Jeb does not want to miss that, so time to head back to Kerbin. On re-entry the temps on the Mk1 Lander Can almost redlined, narrowly avoiding a "poof and you're gone moment". Having once again escaped a fiery death (what.... again) Jeb's vehicle gracefully plopped into the ocean, having boosted the program's sceince by a couple of hundred points. Now he just has to avoid the attention of an extremely annoyed Bob when gets back to the KSC.

Ups and downs in my first ever Science game. Ups. 1. Placed a probe on the Mun that was only intended to sit in orbit. 2. Val returned safely from a Mun orbit mission. Downs 1. Val's vehicle (the Muno Uno) had no antenna, so significantly less science goodies resulted from the mission than expected. 2. Jeb dropped his first car (a science grabbing runabout) in the Astronaut Complex swimming pool. 3. He then totalled his first plane after it got away from him while on EVA on the Runway Island. "Hey come back here". "I mean it, I will not be kind, no 1000 hour service for you". "Just... can't... keep... up". "Uh oh". "Awwww... rats".