pTrevTrevs

Perhaps.

Skylab 5 Part 2:

In a world where funding is no issue… Actually a few months back I think I was pondering whether to go Shuttle or ETS/AAP after I finished my moon landings, had one too many drinks, and decided “¿Porque no los dos?”

Skylab 5: We Renovate Anything!: July 1975: NASA prepares to round out Phase One of Skylab's lifetime with the addition of a final manned mission added to the original planned series of three. Skylab 5 was initially planned to use the new Apollo Block III spacecraft and Saturn IC launch vehicle, and would have flown a 60-day mission to the orbiting outpost to continue the research begun by Skylab 2, 3, and 4. Unfortunately, complications with the new Saturn and its new facilities at the reactivated LC-34 and LC-37 Saturn Launch Complex threatened to postpone the vehicle's man-rating certification far into next year. Bonus: One of the secondary objectives of Skylab 5 was to perform orbital observation of the launch of Satcom 1 on the first 3000-series Delta. From its position in GEO over the Pacific Ocean, Satcom would provide reliable communication between Alaska, Hawaii, and the mainland United States.

Nice! EDIT: I misread the GitHub page. All is well.

So many neat retextures and still nobody has made an accurate early tile pattern variant for Columbia that they’re willing to release…

Trailcam footage of Skylab EVA:

Well, the other part of my decision to do this was that I want to fly shuttle missions from LC-39 and I couldn’t justify the idea of keeping those pads equipped with infrastructure for both Saturn and STS hardware. Hence the downsize to the original Saturn pads.

Modernized LC-34 isn't real, it can't hurt you. Decided it would be stupid for an ETS-type NASA to continue using Apollo lunar infrastructure for a smaller vehicle like Saturn IC when they had two perfectly good Saturn I pads available that don't require a six-to-eight hour drive from the VAB to the pad. Might make a copy of this setup next door on LC-37 so I have a couple pads for launching generation 2 Saturns.

Aw crap, the Chinese done licked the MOL. Can't have anything in Houston...

Nothing much to share tonight, just a couple stills of the launch coverage of Skylab 5. Will share more once the mission has progressed a ways: Bonus non-BDB-related screenshot:

Not the Amish lunar program!

"I will never make LRV parts because of how badly wheels are done" -Someone who will eventually break down and make LRV parts, including his own wheels

Isn’t this a photo from Ryan Nagata, the spacesuit replica builder? It sure as heck isn’t an in-flight photograph. This is where we’re supposed to keep the spare tire and the jack, yes?

1974-1975: Solar Observation Two Ways: November: Skylab 4 launches on its planned three-month endurance mission aboard the orbiting station. This is to be the longest planned mission in Skylab's initial service life, with its duration extended by the arrival of an experimental cargo ferry about halfway through the crew's stay. This will also be the last Skylab mission to make use of the legacy Block II CSM, with the Skylab 5 mission planned for Autumn of 1975 slated to break in the Block III interim Apollo spacecraft. This mission also features a night launch, the first (and likely only) for the Saturn IB. January 1975: AARDV launches aboard its own Saturn IB from LC-39B. For its first mission, AARDV is partly filled with a ballast of water to test its ability to maneuver while heavily loaded. Additionally, food, oxygen, and other supplies are carried aboard the vessel inside its large pressurized hold. It will remain berthed to Skylab until shortly before the end of Skylab 4's stay, providing additional storage space and testing the full range of its new systems. For the first time, an American vessel makes use of an automatic rendezvous program, however the final docking process is controlled by the crew from the safety of their command module using a television monitor linked to a camera aboard AARDV and a hand controller carried up with them. Skylab 6 will deliver some kind of docking control module to further streamline the process and provide extra safety to crews who visit the station throughout the planned "Phase 2" operations through 1979. February, 1975: Tried my hand at replicating one of the later OSO spacecraft, specifically OSO-8 launched aboard a Delta 1910. As far as I can tell the Delta which launched this spacecraft also had a unique paint scheme: February, 1975: As Skylab 4 nears the end of its stay AARDV 1 is loaded with garbage and jettisoned from the station. Skylab 4 itself will return home in around ten days.

Incidentally, does anyone know why Discovery had a teardrop in the first place?

The lunar terrain in those images looks nicer than it has any right to look.

I'm overdue for my screenshot tax, but better late than never. Have a couple a e s t h e t i c Skylab photos: The new IVA is super great too; it's nice that the first seat to be filled is directly facing the nadir window so I can watch clouds go by... Additionally, in early January of 1975 the crew of Skylab 4 performed a short EVA to inspect the station's hardware in preparation for the arrival of the experimental AARDV 1 supply freighter. Now slightly over one month into their three-month mission aboard the station, the cargo of propellant, consumables, and hardware to be delivered by the AARDV will allow for a possible extension to four months, virtually double that of the previous tenants' stay.

"Please let me develop lunar Starship for Artemis missions, I promise I am stable and can be trusted not to make the same mistakes that would have befallen an Apollo direct ascent"

Oh, fantastic. Kinda makes me feel dumb that I missed that.

Okay so, I tried this, and it worked! For all of five minutes, that is. I pruned out the most recently added ship from the build list, and upon loading the game the KCT window worked normally, but then I went to fly a certain ship (one that was already in flight prior to all this) and the window broke again within minutes. The console kept registering this single error message:

New?

Thanks a ton, I'll try this out!

Having another problem (fortunately it's one that I've seen others experience before) where the KCT window breaks down and appears as this immovable bar on the right side of my screen: I've seen this happen both after leaving the VAB and adding something to the build list. It seems like it's a problem with this particular save since I can reverse this by rolling back to an earlier persistent file. Unfortunately, the problem pops up again shortly after loading an earlier save, usually from the causes mentioned above. And here is my .log file: https://drive.google.com/file/d/16eHTgPaf9F-G4YzZ-a6Oml1KyjNcl3f1/view?usp=sharing

Countdown until someone makes a forklift with the new LM ramp