pTrevTrevs

I built it in the SPH around one of the structural panels from Making History. The hinges which allow the back and front to unfold are from the SOCK Canadarm, and those sections themselves are built around a backbone of cubic struts. The rover wheels are also Making History, and the greebles on the rover are mostly from BDB. The foil-covered boxes on the front are Pioneer Orbiter parts, the deck at the back holding the surface scanner is the Skylab/Spacelab science pallet, the high-gain antenna is from Strawman (best I could do, given the circumstances), and the seat backings are Ranger batteries. I folded the whole thing up according to the real LRV's design, slapped a decoupler on the bottom, attached a structural panel and a regular hinge, saved the whole thing as a subassembly, and imported it to the VAB where I mated it to the LM's descent stage. @CobaltWolf, next time somebody asks you to make the LRV, direct them to this post and tell them that if I can figure this out so can they.

Apollo 16 Part 1: Descartes Before the Horse: After five lunar landings, NASA geologists were finally confident that they understood the formation of the lunar mare, vast lava flows covering the lowest points on the surface. With two landings in lunar mare, Apollos 11 and 12, two more at the edges of the mare regions, Apollos 14 and 15, and a further fifth, Apollo 13, at a formation created by the same impact which formed Mare Imbrium, the wealth of material and information available on these regions was incredible. Now, researchers turned towards the lunar highlands, where it was believed that evidence regarding the pre-mare history of the Moon could be uncovered. While Apollos 13 and 15 had recovered pre-mare lunar material, no mission had actually visited the highland region itself. Of particular interest to the planners of Apollo 16 was a region that had been under consideration as a landing site ever since the pinpoint landing technique was first proven by Apollo 12, Descartes. Descartes was much further south than any previous landing site, meaning that its material would be uncontaminated by ejecta from the Imbrium impact. Moreover, the Descartes formation the the adjacent Cayley Plains were suspected to have been formed through lunar volcanism, although only samples from the area could provide conclusive evidence for this theory. Thus the objectives for Apollo 16 were clear: sample Cayley-Descartes and determine the presence of volcanic activity in the region. Launch was scheduled for late March, 1972.

If we’re talking about QOL and polishing work, has anybody else had trouble getting the LM ascent stage back into orbit in 2.5x scale games? Seems to me like it just doesn’t have the fuel to make it back up there. To be fair, my LMs have been flying with extra stuff added on, a small RTG for consistent electrical power, consumables storage for Kerbalism life support, et cetera, and have been launching into a retrograde orbit, but none of that should matter enough to keep them out of orbit…

“You know what? Screw you! *Un-Soviets your TKS*”

Soon... Anathema to anyone who does not confess that John Young is the coolest astronaut in history; may Tsiolkovsky curse you for eternity so that your S-IVB cryogenics always boil off before TLI.

Took me a bit longer to figure out what was wrong with these pictures than I’d be proud to admit.

Seriously thought this was real video footage for a second. Good job!

It’s gonna be even better once we get the 1973 texture variants for the all-white S-IB and S-IVB aft skirt.

I won't be surprised if this question has been asked before, but does anyone know if a "Grand Tour" launch window such as the one used by the Voyager probes in 1977 appear at a reasonable time in a new KSRSS game? I'm about ten years in to my current game and just now starting to gain outer planets capability.

I thought about it, but figured it might be too confusing. Maybe next time though.

Apollo 15 Part 2: Exploration at its Greatest: One of the primary objectives of Apollo 15's operations at Hadley-Apennine is the discovery of anorthosite, a type of igneous rock which, although not rare by any stretch of the imagination, would serve to validate one of the leading theories about the Moon's geological history. As the hypothesis goes, the lunar maria were formed by vast lava flows which erupted during the Moon's geologically active period. As volcanic activity engulfed the lowlands pieces of the original crust, composed mainly of anorthosite, is thought to have broken loose and floated to the surface before coming to rest on the new mare's surface. The highland regions of the moon are already known to be anorthositic in composition, but if a piece of anorthosite could be uncovered in a mare-covered region like Hadley the origin of the dark lunar seas could be firmly cemented. EVA 2 will explore the surrounding highlands, namely Hadley-Delta, as well as begin the search for anorthosite on the valley floor. EVA 3 will take the astronauts westward into the Imbrium basin, where it is hoped anorthosite may be more abundant if none is found in the vicinity of Hadley. Either way, the next two days will be extremely busy for all three astronauts, as the CMP continues his schedule of lunar observation from orbit. Up next, Apollo 16 and the seriously most underrated moon mission in history. Fight me Apollo 15 fans, John Young cometh; and quickly at that....

There should already be white variants of all the command module parts in the dev branch, along with Skylab and boilerplate variants.

Apollo 15 Part 1: Apollo's Zenith: That's right, part 1. These J-series missions are gonna be about twice as much work to cover as my earlier ones, so I'm gonna split them into two parts, one from launch to the end of EVA 1, and the other from the start of EVA 2 to splashdown. Historically, Apollo 15 was planned to be the last H-class lunar landing, scheduled to land at Censorinus crater sometime in early 1971. With the decision to launch Skylab as a dry workshop causing the cancellation of Apollo 20 and the Apollo 13 incident spooking NASA into cancelling Apollos 18 and 19, the decision was made to make Apollo 15 the first J-class mission instead, so that scientists could get the absolute most out of the few remaining flights. With this revision to the mission profile came a retargeted landing site, Hadley Rille. Rilles in themselves are particularly fascinating, riverbed-like formations that exist only on the Moon; geologists theorize that they are collapsed lava tubes or remnants of the Moon's volcanic past, however the site of the rille at Hadley is unlike any other place on the Moon. Located between the vast Mare Imbrium and the towering peaks of the Apennine Front, Hadley Rille features a diverse array of geologic specimens, and a single mission to the site would have the opportunity to sample three unique formations: the Imbrium basin, the rille itself, and the Apennine highlands. Originally considered as a grand finale for Apollo 19 or 20, Hadley was chosen as the ideal place to push the new J-class hardware to its limits, hopefully proving to Congress that Apollo was still worth supporting by the wealth of discoveries it yielded. The Apollo 15 spacecraft represented the ultimate evolution of the Apollo moonship; in the CSM a new suite of scientific instruments and high-powered cameras derived from Corona-era reconnaissance technology enabled the command module pilot to study the lunar surface from orbit like never before. While the SIM bay's two cameras would work in conjunction with a laser altimeter to produce high-fidelity maps of the lunar surface, two boom-mounted spectrometers would study the surface in search of evidence of ancient volcanic activity. After recovering the crew from the lunar surface, the spacecraft would also deploy a small subsatellite to study the lunar gravitational field and measure the levels of plasma particles in the vicinity of the Moon. To support all the new equipment, the command module pilot would perform a spacewalk during the return journey to retrieve film canisters from the SIM cameras, making history as the first person to perform an EVA in deep space. The Lunar Module, meanwhile, was entirely redesigned in some respects. A larger DPS nozzle, longer propellant tanks, and a steeper descent profile all combined to enable more mass to be placed on the lunar surface; an advantage which would be exploited through the addition of the Lunar Roving Vehicle, more diverse ALSEP experiments, and additional consumables to stretch the maximum surface stay to three days. The Ascent Stage features reworked plumbing which would route waste products into the Descent Stage in order to lighten the craft and enable every possible gram of surface material to be hauled back into orbit, while the astronauts' spacesuits featured extensive redesigns which, among other things, increased comfort and mobility, increased consumables endurance, and allowed for easier recharging of the PLSS backpacks to provide up to three EVAs on the lunar surface. The LRV, which would make the ride to the lunar surface in a formerly empty quadrant of the LM Descent Stage, would be unfolded like a sofa bed and lowered onto the ground, after which it would be capable of taking the astronauts farther from their landing site than they could have hoped to achieve on foot. It featured a series of photo and color television cameras which could be operated by a controller in Houston, allowing geologists on Earth to supervise a moonwalk for the first time, pointing out features to the astronauts that they wanted retrieved or investigated. Additionally, the rover's camera could be used to acquire external footage of the lunar module's liftoff from the surface, as well as film of the landing site following the crew's departure. Set to be the most ambitious flight to the Moon yet attempted, Apollo 15 sat on Pad 39A on a clear afternoon in may 1971 (historically July), ready for liftoff... Also, while I'm at it I guess I should point this out: I think it's due to my using the Kerbalism compatibility patch by @Grimmas, but the mapping camera in the SIM bay acts like it doesn't have any sample space remaining even though it's not collected anything. I've been able to fix animation issues on the other SIM experiments myself by modifying his config, but I'm not sure how I would go about fixing this one.

Yep, that was my first thought, but I've checked it over and I don't think autostrut is causing this issue. I could have missed a part, but I'm pretty sure that I never even used the feature when designing the rover.

A little preview of the Falcon on the plain at Hadley: Unfortunately I'm having some issues getting the LRV to unfold. Right now I think it has to do with the rover being slightly larger than the empty bay for it in the J-series descent stage, and I don't know if there's an easy way to fix that in-flight, short of tampering with my persistent file to have the hinge be unfolded already. Hell, I feel like that would cause more problems that it's worth. Worst case scenario, I hyperedit a new rover up there and continue from there, but I don't think I'll be getting this done anytime soon. In the meantime I have some satellite launches to show off, I guess. KH-1 Hexagon on Titan-IIID: Explorer 43 on Delta M6, anachronistically launched to heliocentric orbit, because the spacecraft's historical MEO/HEO regime was tapped out in terms of solar wind and charged particle science: DSP 1 on Titan 23C. This spacecraft was the first in a series of satellites designed to detect ICBM launches and nuclear detonations, both to safeguard NATO against a nuclear strike and ensure compliance with nuclear test ban treaties: Of course, I don't get anything out of launching a satellite like this, but it's fun to pretend. Maybe someone should set up a contract pack for military orbital launches, with orders for navigation constellations, missile detection satellites, SIGINT and ELINT payloads, and good old-fashioned optical reconnaissance spacecraft.

Hmm, and this is the last we’ll be seeing of the shuttle for awhile since the Columbia incident is just around the corner, no?

Thanks, I do use EVA Follower for the surface traverse shots. Starting next mission it’ll probably be featured a lot less since I’ll have the LRV to use instead. If you like these narrative-style mission reports, you should read A Man on the Moon by Andrew Chaikin. It’s where I first learned about lots of the little anecdotes I try to write in, and it also made up the backbone of the source material for HBO’s From the Earth to the Moon.

Apollo 14: An Early Visit to Taurus-Littrow: [Author's Note]: In our timeline, had the Apollo 13 landing successfully explored the Fra Mauro formation, Alan Shepard's Apollo 14 crew would have landed near Littrow crater, specifically at a point a little west-northwest of it on the edge of Mare Serenitatis. After *the incident*, Apollo mission planners decided that Fra Mauro was a more geologically-important site, given its potential yield of old pre-Imbrium material, and so the original H-3 Littrow landing site went unused. Since KSP does not model oxygen tank explosions and jury-rigged LiOH canisters, however, I had no such complication with '13's mission. Because of that I'm free to explore the original Apollo 14 landing site at will, except I figured that landing at H-3 Littrow would mean abandoning Taurus-Littrow on Apollo 17, which in my mind was unacceptable. The small valley in the Taurus mountains is one of the most geologically intriguing sites on the lunar near side, perhaps second only to Hadley Rille, and I'll sink this entire space program into the ground before I let it go unvisited. That orange soil is mine, dammit! Anyway, I've tried to contrive an in-universe explanation for the change in landing sites, since I guess I'm basically writing these in a style echoing ETS or Ocean of Storms now. While the crew of Aquarius explored the Fra Mauro highlands in April of 1970, their command module pilot aboard Odyssey exploited his unprecedented time alone in lunar orbit to perform the first detailed orbital geological studies of the Moon. Equipped with top-notch training from renowned geologist Farouk El-Kerman, Apollo 13's CMP arrived in lunar orbit more prepared than any of his predecessors to examine the mysterious terrain of the Moon from above. During one of his passes over the Taurus Mountains, on the edge of Mare Serenitatis, the pilot found himself staring intently at a peculiar valley between two large massifs. Lunar highland material spilled down from the peaks onto the valley floor, but much of it was still covered in the smooth, dark mare material seen further west in Serenitatis proper. What's more, this valley displayed telltale signs of volcanic activity, raising new questions about the region's geological history. While the Apollo 14 mission slated for October of that year was already preparing to visit a site a little north of this area, its crew quickly agreed to the switch upon examining Odyssey's developed film and photographs of the area. Only six months remained before launch at this time, but the crew charged headfirst into a new round of training to learn the new mission, practicing everything from the more strenuous travel across the hilly massifs to the steeper descent profile necessary to clear the mountains on the way in. By launch day these three astronauts had easily become the world's top authorities on this small patch of lunar terrain that had been virtually unknown less than a year prior. Apollo 14's commander could not be blamed for his overzealousness; after spending the last five years on medical suspension due to a disease of the inner ear, Jebediah Kerman was eager to get back in the pilot's seat. Besides the return of its noteworthy commander, Apollo 14 features a number of interesting peculiarities which have been included to help bridge the gap between the so-called "H" missions, of which Apollo 14 would be the last, and the upcoming "J" missions. The command module Kitty-Hawk was loaded down with more propellant and consumables than any previous moonship, and was also equipped with the unique Hycon camera, a modified aerial reconnaissance camera designed to be mounted in the circular window of the command module's hatch. The Hycon was electrically operated, designed to compensate for the spacecraft's orbital velocity, and could obtain higher-resolution topographic images of the lunar surface than any camera previously flown onboard a manned spacecraft. During the mission it would be used to image future landing sites, specifically Descartes. On future missions the Hycon would be replaced by yet more powerful cameras in the command module's SIM bay. All things considered, the new equipment and competent crew made for an excellent lineup to end the first act of Apollo lunar surface exploration. With this report I've actually caught up to myself. I haven't flown Apollo 15 yet, but hopefully I can get to it this week. I was able to make a personal modification to Grimmas's BDB Kerbalism patch to fix the animations on some of the SIM bay instruments (literally just had to add the parts to the list in the file that fixes animations for things like the MESA pallet). Next AAR will probably be on the various satellite launches that have happened. Pioneer 10 went up earlier today, DSP-1 last night, and Jumpseat about a week before that.

Gonna be pretty difficult to fit anything with wheels in that quadrant without some way to fold it up. You might be able to store the bulkier parts in the descent stage’s inventory slots and have a Kerbal attach them on the surface during EVA, but it would be a pretty awkward solution no matter what.

No sir, I don’t like it.

Ideal timeline.

I always like seeing extended Saturn I concepts; the rocket was really underused historically.

Uhh, I’ve always understood that the LM was temporarily powered up during the translunar voyage to check it out and give television audiences a tour inside it, but its legs and antennas weren’t deployed until reaching lunar orbit (but before undocking from the CSM). If a problem with the LM had been discovered then the crew could always perform some sort of lunar orbital observation contingency mission and then return to Earth by using the SPS to perform a standard TEI. Possibly. Actually, theOcean of Storms scenario for Apollo 13 is in turn a reference to an actual simulation that had been run during the training for Apollo 13, in which the SimSups threw a cabin depressurization at Ken Mattingly while he was alone in the CSM and Lovell and Haise were “on the surface” in the LM. Flight controllers didn’t pick up on the issue until some 45 minutes later because it was triggered right as Odyssey slipped behind the Moon, but Mattingly noticed the depressurization and donned his spacesuit to wait it out.

Apollo 13: Jim Lovell, Eat Your Heart Out: Apollo 12's spectacular touchdown at Surveyor Crater opened a whole new realm of possibilities for Apollo lunar exploration. Instead of being constricted to broad surveys of the Moon's geographical regions, missions could now focus on specific landmarks or locations of interest. One such location was the Fra Mauro formation, in particular Cone Crater. Fra Mauro was formed by debris ejected from the same impact which created Mare Imbrium, and was therefore not composed of the same material as the surrounding Ocean of Storms. It was, in a sense, an island in that ocean. More intriguing to geologists, however, was what lay underneath Fra Mauro's wrinkled terrain. When the Imbirum impact formed the highlands of Fra Mauro, it covered up the original lunar surface which had originally made up the area, shielding it from whatever impacts and volcanic activity happened afterward. Because of this, scientists believed that a deep study of Fra Mauro would yield valuable information about the Moon's origin, maybe even producing samples of the original lunar crust. Key to this expedition, then, was Cone Crater. Cone is a relatively young crater, but it was thought to be large enough to have punched through the layer of Imbrium ejecta which composed most of the highlands to reach the underlying material. In addition to seeking a deeper glimpse into Cone, Apollo 13 will also be the first lunar mission to not land on a lunar mare, so if all else fails the mission will almost certainly recover a much different collection of sample material than was collected by Apollos 11 and 12. The eager optimism of the science teams is by no means universal, however. The number thirteen has long been an object of superstition and dread, and while it is superstition alone which fuels certain people's doubts about the mission, some have noted the ominous alignment of mission parameters which cause the unlucky number to show up again and again in timetables and plans. The required launch window for Apollo 13 will lead to the Saturn V lifting off at exactly 1:13 local time, in the 24-hour format commonly used by mission itineraries this becomes 13:13. The voyage to the Moon will have the spacecraft entering the Moon's sphere of influence on April 13, 1970, at which point the crew will be far enough away from home that a mission abort would require several days to complete. Additionally, some have raised concerns over the name chosen for the Apollo 13 command module, Odyssey, which refers to "a long journey, fraught with many hazards". Although few real concerns are present as the launch countdown begins, some find themselves more troubled over the perfectly sunny launch of Apollo 13 than the violent and stormy launch of its predecessor a mere five months past... These are getting pretty long to write up; but I'm really appreciative of all the positive feedback I'm getting from them. Hope y'all continue to enjoy my AARs.

There’s a submod for this that focuses on texture variants, I think it’s called SOCK Recolored or something like that. You might do better to ask there. Also Challenger had a slightly different tile pattern around her side hatch, as well as more TPS tiles on the sides of the payload bay like Columbia had on her earlier missions.