Matuchkin

Add? Certainly. Make sure? Certainly not. Not all craft have a docking port in case of any contingency, hoping for the extremely unlikely event (real-life wise) of a hero launching to save them. The rescued crafts should have a chance of having a docking port- some will, some won't. Also, I would recommend another vital point: 5. The certainty about the state of the mission target craft should vary. 5 a) Some missions would be the ordinary bring-crew-back rescue flights. 5 b) Other mission briefings will be somewhat uncertain about the craft's condition. 5 c) In other missions, the rescuer will not know anything about the craft's conditions. The mission, in this case, will be a mission in which the player searches for any debris or remains of the ship and/or crew. If he gets to the debris, he wins. Bonus points are rewarded for the retrieval of a few pieces of the ship or the frozen/ scorched corpses of the crew members. If the crew are not found alive/dead, money is obtained anyway (the mission's objective is to search for remains, not save the crew. 6 d) There will be several contracts in which absolutely nothing is known about the target ship- its location, its crew status, whether it even exists as a ship anymore. The player, at this point, would use long range antennae to find the ship, searching through any planet's SOI (or interplanetary space). The ship may be found deserted, the crew may be found whole, separated or missing (dead or alive). Otherwise, the only found remnants of the ship may just consist of pieces of scrap. Note: On each of the missions, crew reports from rescuing astronauts near the ship will just be about the ship's status and the crew's status. On the last two mission types, the crew report will include whether the ship or the crew is missing.

*Que the inspirational music I still remember the numerous lander and rocket tests I did for my mun missions. Those were awesome, unnerving, and explosive. Now, I have a whole history of mun missions waaaaay behind me, with gains, losses, and weird stuff happening at the time. Thanks for giving me this wave of nostalgia. We do all start from somewhere. At least it's not like War Thunder.

*atmospheric compression. The speed at which most objects reenter on Kerbin is at two-thousand-something meters per second. In real life, nothing would happen at that velocity except for mild mach effects, but Squad has to induce ultrasonic effects on reentering objects (I think you guys know why). Therefore, reentry effects start taking place at very low speeds. On Kerbin, 3000m/s is synonymous with 10,000m/s on Earth. The reason why that is unusual to everyone is because real-life rockets don't usually start flaing during launch. Will ask for a mod to improve that problem. Probably Nathankell would agree to take care of that, as he's our awesome realism-guy.

Well, how about the idea? What do you think?

Oh, okay. Sorry, I didn't see the mk2 part of that comment.

So you just create a horizontal rocket with a twr of like 30? 1. That's obviously cheating, and is not the point of this challenge (the OP challenged himself to do something not done before. With those kinds of rockets, that is not an achievement). 2. It isn't even a "plane". In fact, it can't even be described as "plane (extreme sarcasm)" or "TECHNICAL BUT NOT QUITE CONSIDERED A PLANE", because it isn't a plane. It's a rocket, and rockets are easy. Not trying to be rude, sarcastic, or insulting. Sorry for any mis-phrasing.

By the way, I'd think you need this. It's called the HTV-2 hypersonic glider. Developed by DARPA and launched in 2009. It reached speeds of 5833m\s. If you listened to my advice about using mods, you can use this design and propel it with an engine.

Well, I don't see it happening in stock KSP. Since he challenged himself, he has the right to alter his mod limits- so either it's that, or it's nothing, I guess. He can not possibly go full stock on this, so why not make it a bit more realistic via RSS and FAR? You can try to use the stock aerodynamics model and atmosphere model, but you will have to exaggerate everything extremely. By that, I mean EXTREMELY extreme. B9 procedural is mandatory in this challenge also, and nothing is possible without it. Also, with FAR, RSS and B9, this will be extremely interesting, other than in stock when the only rules are "more power, less weight, and you're dead if you go past mach 3 so give up". I hope the creator of this thread agrees with that, it's his choice...

I was recently on a thread called Where's Albatross 1 and 2? I was one of the first to answer, and this is how the following conversation went: ME: “A few species of Albatross 1 and 2 were found recently, hiding in the mountainous region of Kerbin's desert. They got frightened quickly, and ran away. A few times, an Albatross 2 mating call was heard (engines revving), and the calls were usually responded to by a Ravenspear Mk2 aero-spike engine. No calls from Albatross 1's were ever recorded, and it is extremely hard to locate any of the aforementioned species on Kerbin, as they may be near extinction.” OTHER GUY: “The last Albatross 1 was piloted to extinction by Jeb” ME: “Yes, Jebediah Kerman did manage to find, capture and kill an Albatross 1, speculated as the last in existence. It was realized that Jebediah Kerman's Junkyard and Spaceship Parts Incorporated was a business kept aloft by poaching- mostly in the areas of the Ravenspear Mk2 (due to it's high-end aerospike). Jebediah Kerman was later captured, fired from the Kerbal Space Center, and incarcerated until execution. The Kerbal Space Center later failed because of that loss, and closed down permanently”. Makes me wonder, what if we get someone to make a career mode in which the player uses science and skill to find the traces of the near extinct Albatross 1, 2 and Ravenspear Mk2 species? Perhaps, in the end of the career, the player will have to incarcerate one of the species, bringing it to a "zoo" (or somethin'). Just for the sake of humour.

Do you happen to know a certain song called Like a Boss, by Lonely Island?

I had a mistake there. The Aurora is a whole different craft. It is still top secret, and most people do not even know it exists. There have been very few sightings, with people seeing a black isosceles-triangle-looking-thing in the sky. In most appearance occasions of the Aurora, city residents hear a series of very strong sonic booms, but don't see the source.

Ah, that's the thing. I recently noticed that 3km/sec on kerbin is synonymous with 8km/sec IRL. That is because, while 3km/sec would just be average supersonic flight on Earth, on Kerbin it is supposed to act as if a vessel is going ultrasonic, inducing the effects of reentry on a vessel. For that reason, launching rockets can start burning, hypersonic jets will be flaming, etc. Here's a recommendation: Use Real Solar System and Ferram Aerospace Research for a short while. In contrast to what people might think, those mods might make things easier- in RSS, flight effects are more realistlic, and you won't experience devastating ultrasonic effects on your plane while traveling at measly supersonic speeds. With FAR, there are more things that you can do to your aircraft that will enable it to withstand huge speeds, other than reduce mass+ add thrust. Also, don't go fully stock on this one. Use B9 Procedural Wings, to get wing angles and curvatures unseen in stock wings. Otherwise, you will have a horrible time reaching your high-hypersonic goal. I also have my own ideas on how to do this with jet engines: Your plane will need to have as much intake capacity as possible (I won't reccomend AJE here because I know you're all sick of my love for realism). Just use POWERFUL jet engines to fling yourself out of the dense stratosphere, gaining speed. Then, when at altitude, fire up the jet engines. They won't have enough oxygen, but they might fire at a low thrust, nudging your jet along. Doesn't work? Use rocket engines- it will still be an achievement if you do it in the atmosphere.

I recently replied to a thread where this amazing guy dared himself to go 6000+ m/s. I'd like to give you a small craft reccomendation: go to the thread, go on the wikipedia link I posted, and create a jet capable of high-hypersonic to ultrasonic velocities. I want to see what you can do with FAR. Good luck Link:

Take the distance, divide it by ten. What, you can't move a decimal point back one space?

Some nice links for assistance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypersonic_speed#Classification_of_Mach_regimes Photo of the "Aurora" Hypersoar. Top secret until a few years ago, I think. Notice the curvature, wedge shape and stubby flying wing design that starts to take place in Hypersonic aircraft. As well as that, here's a photo of the Waverider X-51A. Notice that, at those speeds, aircraft start taking the shape of missiles. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-51#/media/File:X-51A_Waverider.jpg And that's just at hypersonic speeds. Your planes are currently in that regime, between 1710-3415m/s. You are trying to go at what is classified as "high-hypersonic", from 3,415-8,465m/s. I quote wikipedia: "Thermal control becomes a dominant design consideration. Structure must either be designed to operate hot, or be protected by special silicate tiles or similar. Chemically reacting flow can also cause corrosion of the vehicle's skin, with free-atomic oxygen featuring in very high-speed flows. Hypersonic designs are often forced into blunt configurations because of the aerodynamic heating rising with a reduced radius of curvature." -"Hypersonic Speed." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 06 Jan. 2016. At these speeds, thermal shielding is a main concern, as is the corrosion of the aircraft itself. You, as a matter of fact, are trying to go past 6000m/s, close to the Ultrasonic regime. Aircraft start looking like sharp wedges. At this point, past 8,465m/s, the only way to get around the trouble is by building a reentry capsule with an engine at one end. A powerful rocket engine. To go at those speeds under the stratosphere is pure insanity; expect to melt. Keep in mind that you are going close to the ultrasonic regime, on a planet in which objects heat up even more with speed. Read the wikipedia article, heed my advice. At this point, it is better to do it with FAR, because everything I said to you right now will apply to the game with that mod installed. However, I voted that you can fullfill your ambitious challenge, and am here to encourage you. Godspeed.

Holy god, you're awesome. I would never have the guts to do that.

I got the demo version by accident in 2011. After that, I somehow quit playing for a few years, then bought the full version on Dec 31, 2013. Does that count?

Hullcam?

Hold on, I see that Earth's atmosphere reaches out until 130km. Isn't the Kármán line at 100km?

Seriously? That is actually possible? I didn't know that. Is it possible to attach parts on the inside edge of the fuselage? Then, we would have a nice capsule to put seats in. That will be amazing. Speaking of that, is it possible to EVA in the 2.5m-3.75m adapter?

Well, wouldn't that be just developing more "cargo bays" and parts? Shouldn't that take just as much time as any other update? Same as last quote. I do not know anything about programming, but, since Squad managed to get cargo bays into the game with ease, shouldn't this work by the same principles? Please correct me if I'm wrong. Thank you. Well, the main thing that impedes motion in kerbal spacesuits is the massive helmet. Remove that, and you can move around much more freely in any cramped space. I say we leave the free movement to the larger, less cramped science modules/ crew storages. When a kerbal enters a command capsule from the inside, he instantly sits down at the controls and cannot be moved around the capsule. Good thought, though. I'ma like that comment.

Instead of putting up a ready crew module/ cabin, we can just put a "crew cabin shell" into the parts menu. It will be like a cargo bay (with a hatch instead of huge swinging doors), so kerbals can move around in it. Then, there can be parts such as a battery, computer, seat, experiment glovebox (etc) that can be dragged+dropped into the cabin shell. Why not?

We need a system of like 10 equally sized planetoids orbiting each other, with a ring system that goes all over the place because gravity. That planetoid system will be orbiting a stupendously huge gas giant, orbiting yet another flabbergastingly collosal ice giant, orbiting Kerbol. Seems easy. What can possibly go wrong? Right?...

1. A kerbal may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A kerbal must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A kerbal must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Yes, Jebediah Kerman did manage to find, capture and kill an Albatross 1, speculated as the last in existence. It was realized that Jebediah Kerman's Junkyard and Spaceship Parts Incorporated was a business kept aloft by poaching- mostly in the areas of the Ravenspear Mk2 (due to it's high-end aerospike). Jebediah Kerman was later captured, fired from the Kerbal Space Center, and incarcerated until execution. The Kerbal Space Center later failed because of that loss, and closed down permanently.