pTrevTrevs

Very nice! It’s good to think about what might have been!

Right here. EDIT: Actually the IUS itself is from BDB, but the ASE is from the link above.

That would be the MMU port from Cormorant Aeronology, and it totally didn't work right. I tried to cover it up with my choice of screenshots, but the port that I connected to SPARTAN actually broke off when I released the flyer, and I wasn't able to truly retrieve it. I'm not sure if I built it incorrectly, or if KSP just does not like the closed-loop part trees that get created when a vessel docks to itself.

STS-51-G: Arabian Nights: June: 1985: Discovery's fifth flight to orbit carries a special significance to the nation of Saudi Arabia, marking its first foray into manned spaceflight. Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, flying as a payload specialist, will help deploy the Arabsat 1B spacecraft and become the first Arab, first Muslim, and first royal figure to fly in space. In addition to Al Saud's historic flight, STS-51-G will deploy two HS-376 satellites and operate the first in a series of small free-flyer Shuttle payloads known as SPARTAN.

So I use this one: Technically I don't think it's meant for KSRSS, and to be honest it's kind of jank (runway lights seem broken and Vandenberg AFB isn't set up right), but it *does* work. I placed my own buildings around the Edwards map decal to make the base appear more populated, though.

STS-51-B: Spacelab 3: With the outstanding success of STS-9 and Spacelab 1 the Shuttle program experienced a massive influx of new research opportunities, as the potential of the Spacelab pressurized module slowly became understood. Already it has served as a cargo space for Skylab freight on STS-12, but STS-51-B would fully realize Spacelab's capabilities as an independent orbital research laboratory. Somewhat counterintuitively, this second scientific flight of the Spacelab pressurized module would be designated Spacelab 3, a side affect of NASA's modernized STS naming conventions. Over the course of seven days in orbit, the crew of Space Shuttle Challenger would conduct experiments across a broad range of disciplines, including materials processing, fluid mechanics, and animal biology. The latter would be accomplished using a pair of squirrel monkeys and twenty-four rats, serving as live test subjects. Spacelab 3 would also be the first demonstration of the Spacelab hardware in a fully operational configuration, paving the way for even greater achievements further down the line... Short post tonight, both due to my lack of energy and the mission's overall uneventfulness. Hope to have more for you all in the very near future, however!

Let me just say, I don’t have any Soviet mods like Tantares installed right now. Sorry.

STS-51-D: Tower of Power: In 1974, less than six months after the crew of Apollo 19 left the lunar surface, the launch of the Skylab space station very nearly ended in catastrophe when a premature fairing jettison tore off the station's micrometeoroid shielding and one of its two primary solar array wings. Despite an impressive repair effort undertaken by the first two crews of the the station which saw the installation of a new shield and the salvaging of the remaining SAWs, Skylab suffered from a chronically short power supply throughout the 1970s, a problem which would only grow as the years lengthened. In addition to normal wear and tear on the electrical systems, in 1978 one of the four solar panels on the Apollo Telescope Mount failed entirely, as its connection wiring experienced a complete physical disconnect from the station's electrical system. Skylab crews quickly learned to work around this handicap by limiting station experiments and budgeting power usage, but by 1984 the electrical situation ahs become too serious to ignore. By now, Skylab was over a decade old, and its solar panels produced a mere fraction of their former electrical output. To solve this problem as soon as possible the STS-51-D mission, originally slated for deployment of the third Syncom IV satellite, was remanifested to carry the affectionately-named Power Tower, a new utility module designed to replace the station's aging solar panels with a pair of massive rollout solar arrays producing 25kW of electricity. Planned for April of 1985, the flight would last ten days and involve some of the most intensive examples of on-orbit construction in history, including two EVAs. The flight would use Space Shuttle Discovery, once again cleared for flight after her secret mission in January, and carry a crew of six. As the skies cleared on April 12, 1985, all appeared well except for one thing...

STS-51-C: [REDACTED]: January 24, 1985, Space Shuttle Discovery is minutes away from her third flight into orbit. Right on the mark at T- 00:09:00- much later than usual- press coverage begins, with pre-launch commentators on a noticeably shorter leash than normal. As the first mission dedicated entirely to the deployment of a Department of Defense payload, STS-51-C is not permitted the usual fanfare and ceremony accompanying a typical Shuttle launch, and the general public knows next to nothing about its objectives. All that is released by the DOD's public relations officers is that the mission will launch from Kennedy Space Center LC-39A, deploy its payload into a higher orbit using the Inertial Upper Stage, and return home three days later. Until the USAF deems the flight worthy of being declassified, that is all they will ever know...

STS-51-A: Two Up, Two Down "Say the line, Trev!" sigh Ace Satellite Repo Company, Spacecraft For Sale! Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about STS-51-A. Originally slated as a simple satellite deployment mission, the second flight of Discovery received a radical makeover when the two HS-376 spacecraft deployed in February of 1984 by STS-41-B failed to ignite their PAM-D perigee kick motors. Unwilling to eat the insurance payment for losing two spacecraft on a Shuttle launch, NASA organized an effort to capture both satellites and return them to Earth for repairs and relaunch. Such a feat had never been attempted before, but if any vehicle could achieve it, it was STS. The two stricken spacecraft, Palapa B2 and Westar 6, were both drifting in LEO, right where Challenger had left them months before, and their recovery would necessitate intricate coordination between astronauts on EVA using MMU jetpacks and the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System. Furthermore, STS-51-A would attempt to deploy two additional satellites to GEO on its flight, the first an identical HS-376 to the two spacecraft that were to be recovered, the second a Syncom-IV Navy comms satellite. In November of 1984, the show begins... Historically, this would also be the final flight of the Manned Maneuvering Unit. Despite its three successful spaceflights, NASA determined the system impractical in the face of the SRMS's versatility and- after the Challenger disaster- too dangerous. I have no plans to retire the MMU in my own service, but we shall see what missions I can scrape up for it. Today, of the two flown articles, MMU-2 is on display at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, while MMU-3 hangs suspended above Space Shuttle Discovery in the Udvar-Hazy Center in Washington, D.C.

This looks like my last HOI4 game

It's possible to just turn off the name on the relevant parts and use a conformal decal to make your own. In my opinion it even looks a little better.

*sigh*, It's been awhile... STS-41-G: Radar, Radiation, and Refueling: October 5, 1984: Space Shuttle Challenger launches on STS-41-G. This busy yet underrated mission will see the deployment of an earth observation satellite, the operation of a new ground imaging radar, and a spacewalk to test a new method of fuel transfer in orbit. It will be the final spaceflight of FY1984, and will therefore also be the final shuttle mission to carry the -41 suffix.

Previews for STS-41G and STS-51A:

Eh, probably not. Might add Endeavour eventually, but I don't really have much in the way of plans past STS-51-L. I can see it getting hard to decide which orbiter to use for which mission, and once Atlantis arrives it'll only get harder to do so.

STS-41-D: The Discovery of a Lifetime: The year is 1984. The Space Shuttle program is in full swing, seeing launches every few months and reaching new heights with every mission it completes. A third orbiter has just joined the fleet, finally relieving the Challenger from her status as America's only active shuttle. Named Discovery, she is the lightest orbiter yet and incorporates numerous improvements built on the experience gathered from her predecessors. With a greatly reduced number of thermal protection tiles, internal structural improvements, and new lightweight thermal blanket insulation, Discovery is the first orbiter capable of launching the US Department of Defense's planned heavy payloads, and in the years to come she and her younger sister, Atlantis, will be frequent use as a carrier of DOD hardware because of this fact. Meanwhile, the space station Skylab continues its long service, having now spent an entire decade in orbit. Tended by Apollo Block III crew taxis and AARDV resupply freighters launched aboard Saturn IC, the station has been home to dozens of astronauts for stays of up to six months in duration, and the wear and tear of orbital operation is beginning to show on the old hulk. Furthermore, earlier this year President Reagan announced plans to construct a new station, christened Freedom, with the first module set to launch no later than 1990. Skylab now enters the final task of its lengthy career; serving as a testbed for Freedom. A new set of solar arrays are to be delivered to the station in 1985, pioneering a design of new ultra-lightweight rollout wings, but in order to verify that the concept works before committing it to a station it must be tested. This will be one of the chief aims of Discovery's maiden voyage...

Just the standard stuff. EVE, Scatterer, KSRSS Reborn's visual effects, Planetshine, Distant Object Enhancement, and TUFX.

It's just a homebrew of the Tundra LC-34 and the Atlas VIF. I scattered a few other structures around to make it appear realistic as well. I think LC-37 comes with Katniss's Cape Canaveral for KSRSS, but it's just made up of two of the Tundra vertical test pads.

BDB-Related Spaceflights of 1984: "Literally 1984": 1984 is a big year for NASA, and sees the first flights of several new pieces of hardware which will be invaluable to the administration going forward. However, the year also sees a number of setbacks and failures, the impact of which is uncertain at this point. The Space Shuttle flies five times this year, a record made possible by the introduction of a new orbiter to the fleet. Apollo/Saturn, on the other hand, sees fewer flights this year than ever before, and to some this signals an imminent end to NASA's faith in the venerable lunar-derived hardware. Saturn is down but not out, however, and a new upgrade may just be the thing to propel it back to center stage as one of NASA's premier heavy lift vehicles... February: STS-41B performs the first untethered spacewalks and achieves the reflight of the SPAS-01 satellite, although an electrical problem with the remote manipulator system prevents it from being deployed on free-flight. March: Skylab 84-A, photographed here from inside the Vertical Integration Facility at LC-34, begins its mission to the station. Around six hours after launch, instruments indicate a higher-than-acceptable temperature in the Apollo spacecraft's fuel cells, and by T+10 hours the mission is aborted out of fear that the fuel cell may explode. Skylab 84-A was to have been the first mission to land in the Gulf of Mexico and be recovered by a smaller coastal task force, but due to the early mission end it instead splashes down at a contingency landing site in the Indian Ocean and is recovered by the USS Enterprise. April: Space Shuttle Challenger launches on STS-41C, a dual-purpose mission to deploy the Long Duration Observation Facility and to repair the Solar Maximum Mission satellite. The flight sees the first practical use of the Manned Maneuvering Unit, as mission specialists perform an untethered spacewalk to capture the satellite and bring it into the payload bay. June: Intelsat 5-9 launches onboard an Atlas-Centaur rocket. Once a staple of commercial and government launches alike, the long-serving Atlas-Centaur is now yet another expendable launch vehicle seeing less and less business due to the Shuttle's rising fame. July: Skylab 84-B launches to perform the mission originally attempted by Skylab 84-A several months prior. The crew of five spends four months aboard Skylab and returns to a pinpoint landing in the Gulf of Mexico, just offshore of Panama City Beach, Florida. Incidentally, this is to be the final manned launch of Saturn IC, as the workhorse rocket's successor is nearly ready... August: STS-41D sees the first flight of Space Shuttle Discovery. The mission deploys three communications satellites and carries the OAST-1 payload of scientific instruments. Included in this package is a large rollout solar array intended to test designs soon to be used on Skylab and the recently-announced Space Station Freedom. The large panel is extended and retracted several times during the mission and studied for any flaws or vulnerabilities. October: STS-41G deploys the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS), and performs a spacewalk demonstrating the use of a new orbital refueling system for small spacecraft and satellites. Challenger also carries an improved version of the Shuttle Imaging Radar first flown on STS-2 to produce radar maps of the Earth from space. November: On Discovery's second flight, STS-51A, two communications satellites deployed on STS-41B are captured and returned to Earth for repair. Westar 6 and Palapa B2 both experienced failures of their PAM-D perigee kick motor and were left stranded in their initial orbits. The crew of STS-51A makes use of the MMU to retrieve both satellites and return them to the Orbiter's payload bay, where their omnidirectional antennas are removed to fit inside the closed doors. Discovery returned to Kennedy Space Center at the end of a highly successful mission. December: Saturn SA-401, the first of the new Saturn Multibody series of modular launch vehicles, launches from LC-37. Saturn MB incorporates a number of design changes developed with experience from Saturn IC and Space Shuttle launches. The first stage has been stretched an additional two meters, and the classic black-and-white Saturn paintjob has been eschewed in favor of ET-like spray-on foam insulation. While the S-IVB remains the same, it now makes use of the 500-series APUs, allowing for ullage to restart the J-2 engine in-flight. The old Apollo SLA-derived fairing has been replaced with a straight-sided modular fairing, with a payload adapter designed for integration with the Centaur-G upper stage and IUS. Finally, while not being flown on this mission, Saturn Multibody features support for up to four UA-1205, 1206, or 1207 solid rocket boosters to lift extra heavy payloads. Thanks to these improvements, Multibody can loft payloads that the Shuttle cannot, whether it be due to size, mass, or energy requirements, and while STS is slated to launch multiple interplanetary spacecraft before the end of the 1980s it will ultimately be Multibody that carries the biggest and heaviest payloads to other worlds going forward.

STS-41C: New Maximums: April 1984: The Solar Maximum Mission satellite has been adrift in orbit for years, after an attitude control failure forced it into standby mode in November of 1980. STS-41C will attempt an intensive repair operation to restore the spacecraft to its full capabilities, demonstrating the feasibility of such an operation in addition to saving one of NASA's most invaluable heliocentric observatories. Secondary mission objectives include performing the first direct ascent shuttle launch, deployment of the Long Duration Observation Facility (Because there's no proper LDEF mod out there and I can't be asked to kitbash it), the usual assortment of middeck experiments, and onboard filming of critical mission events using an IMAX camera.

The sunshade? I think I have it scaled to around 1.5m. Will check and edit this post when I have a value for you. Anyway, some sneak peeks of the future: I've flown missions all the way through STS-51A, but I like to space them out to keep the thread from getting cluttered and give others a chance to post their missions.

Everybody gangsta til Redstone-Delta

Uh yeah, I'd like to report a gamebreaking issue...

Neptune Camera, or TUFX?

STS-41B: Alright Fine, You Win: I mean, come on... would anyone forgive me if I didn't use this screenshot as my headliner? February 3, 1984: The second flight under NASA's new spaceflight designation system is about to begin. As usual, this flight is being performed by Challenger, the workhorse of the Shuttle fleet and currently the only orbiter in active service. Today's primary objective is the launch and deployment of two communications satellites, Westar 6 and Palapa B2. This task is one that has been completed several times already, first on STS-5 and again on STS-7 and STS-8, leading some to assume at first glance that this would be a rather unremarkable mission. Such onlookers could not be further from the truth...