Paranoid Shark

Is there a mod that makes the ships that kerbals need rescuing from actual ships and not just pods/cabins? I would like to have to rescue a kerbal or ship by refueling it, or maybe it is out of power, engine failure etc. Also multiple kerbals on one ship?

Grrr... SM you are going to drag me back to KSP again... thought I had managed to quit.. Current addiction is Elite:Dangerous. In all seriousness, thanks for picking this back up, it give me a reason to finally finish my Tylo shuttle project. I'll have a go at Mun Commander level on my next day off, it shouldn't be too much trouble to modify one of the existing fleet... bonus points for Minmus as well? Kit

Thanks for the badge! Total science was 13,016 if you are still recording that in the OP.

Thats awesome! Definitely check out the shuttle challenge that @Speeding Mullet is currently running. You have already completed quite a few of the missions!

Hey, STS-12 was a lot of fun. It really challenged me. I wanted to run this with existing shuttle hardware that i had designed and the specialize the payloads. The mining base would refuel the shuttle so it could get back to orbit, but how to get it home....? With another shuttle of course! The initial plan was for the 2nd shuttle to refuel at Bop or Pol and then head over to Laythe to refuel the other shuttle that would hopefully make it back to low Laythe orbit. I then thoroughly nerd-sniped myself and turned a relatively simple refueling mission into the rest of a Jool5 attempt. A lander was designed for Tylo and Vall, Giant legs were found and fitted to the shuttle so it could land vertically on Bop or Pol. I then further complicated everything and decided that both shuttles would be launched at the same time, and I was going to do the Jool5 at Jebadiah's level so science experiments were stuck on every almost every lander. What actually happened... Part 1 (Takeoff, Transfer & Laythe Exploration) Part 2 (The rest of Jool5) Part 3 (Laythe rendezvous, Transfer to Kerbin & Landing) This was my 1st visit to the Jool System and I will definitely be back soon. I wanted to land the Shuttle on Bop or Pol, but the miner had to refuel at both locations anyway, and I really didn't feel like making 2 extra landings (one in the shuttle and one more refueling trip) I may go back later to see it it was possible to land this design on Vall as well. I only need to design a Tylo shuttle, and then hopefully a true shuttle Jool5 would be possible. Looking forward to the next mission wherever it goes! Ps. @sdj64 Can I have a Jool5 badge as well? The only mod that I used that isn't on your list is Shuttle Lifting Body. My total science gathered was 13,016.

Hey, Here is STS-11. I was done with this a while ago, been too busy with other things to upload the pics. I had to do an EVA transfer at my Duna outpost as I forgot that it only had a senior port on it. Whoops! The refueling rover/base was a slightly modified version of the base that I designed for the next mission. I received over 4.5 million credits for this mission, as I completed Explore Duna, Plant Flag on Duna, 4 Science contracts and 3 Grand tours with the flybys of Mun & Minmus at the end. STS-11 STS-12 is completed as well, 172 days till the return window opens. Thanks, Kit

@zolotiyeruki, I imagine that you will have to run both missions , as only 1a and 1b are designed to be potentially ran together. Also one of the key skills that is being tested in STS-11 is the ability of your shuttle is to be able to aerobrake into an orbit that you can easily rendezvous with your station. I just had a look at your STS-9 album and it looks like imgur has muddled the order up again. Also I could not see any screenshot that showed how much your asteroid weighed when landed. @Speeding Mullet will need that to put you on the leaderboard!

Hey, I have a 400 day wait till STS-12 arrives at Jool, and a 1 year and 20 day wait until the departure window for STS-11 returning from Duna, so I decided to tackle the monster Ore Pod. I wanted to only use hardware that I had already designed, to stop me from just building something way too big. The Orbiter (Voyager) is the same design as the one that orbited Duna, apart from the single tail fin has been duplicated and moved onto the wings. The ET & SRB's are the same setup as the one that launched Voyager II to land on Duna, just there are two sets of them. STS-2b Modular building is so nice when it works! Kit

Well, I'm back off holiday, and have finished STS-10 last night. This was easy compared to STS-9 (potato wrangling). I had a contract to create a Remote Tech network for Duna, so that pretty much completely funded this mission. I also had a rescue contract from a low Ike orbit, (welcome aboard Seelee Kerman!) pop up as I was on the way to Duna. STS-10 I had a grand tour contract that I was going to try to complete with this shuttle (flyby of Duna, Ike, Mun, & Minmus), but didn't quite have enough Dv to do the necessary maneuvers after my way too efficient Kerbin aerobrake! This was my 1st night landing, and I won't be trying it again anytime soon. STS-11 and 12 have already been launched, on an upgraded version of Voyager. STS-11 is 5 days out from Duna aerobrake, STS-12 will arrive in the Jool system in around 400 days. Kit

@zolotiyeruki, I think the problem that @Speeding Mullet is having is that everybody else's entries to this challenge are galleries that have the images arranged like a comic book. We have a beginning (launch & circularisation), middle (payload deployment) and end (de-orbit & landing). Yours are like somebody has cut up the comic book and then put them back together in the wrong order or even muddled up one story (mission) with another. On the imgur site you can log in and edit your albums. When in the editing mode, look for the re-arrange images button on the right side. You then just have to drag and drop them into the correct order (top left to bottom right). Have a look at some of my previous missions if you want a bit more clarification. Don't feel that you have to annotate every image (I don't) but the annotations do help if it isn't quite clear what is going on in the image, or if you are missing an important screenshot. If you want to add annotations, again go to the edit mode and click on an individual image. You will then be able to give it a title and/or descriptive text at the bottom. Hope this helps! Kit

It weighed 69.997 Tons when landed. STS-10 is going very well, I'm finding it easy compared to the Asteroid mission! With my career save I missed the 1st departure window messing around rescuing kerbals from the surface of Minmus. To solve this I ran the launch, transfer to Duna, aerocapture and transfer to low Duna orbit in a new sandbox save. I then Hyper Edited my Shuttle into orbit of Duna with the same fuel levels that the sandbox shuttle ended with... Hope this ok! Voyager is currently waiting for the return window back to Kerbin, I deployed the Station and a 5 satellite Remote Tech network that covers Duna at 95% and Ike at 80%. I am going to launch the Laythe mission before the first Duna mission is back at Kerbin and the second Duna mission has even been launched as I don't want to have timewarp through 5 years... I think Kerbal Alarm Clock is going to be essential! Kit

The "No SSTO's" apply for the launch from Kerbin.... It's what makes this challenge different from the various SSTO challenges. The Shuttle then has to complete all the rest of the challenge. SSTO is fine for the rest of the challenge, as per the two people that have completed both of the Duna challenges. As for air breathing engines, lots of our shuttles have them. @Speeding Mullet hasn't rejected any on that basis, so I guess they are good! Hope this helps, Kit

Hey, It was expensive because of two failed launches. Both of the fairing based shuttles failed to make orbit the 1st time. However I did manage to land/splashdown both of them without payloads or nosecones, so at least the crews survived! Onto STS-9... I got quite frustrated with this. It turns out KAS winches and grappling hooks are not very strong and even more Kraken inducing than the Claw. When planning this mission I was going to attach the two claw pods to the top of the asteroid after the last aerobrake pass before landing. I was even going to have a Kerbal ride it down in one of the seats. I may go back and try it again if I feel like going for a closer landing to KSC! STS-9 I'm possibly going to send the two orbiters to Jool for STS-12. One shuttle will land on Laythe, the other will carry an ISRU and a Miner for Pol/Bop so that both shuttles can get back to Kerbin. Before that, I'm off to Duna! Kit

Hey @Speeding Mullet, Thanks for the new badge, I really enjoyed building my station. The escape pods also come in useful for rescuing kerbals from orbit of Kerbin, Mun or Minmus (gotta earn the 1.5 million that I spent on the station back somehow) Is my shuttle with the two orbiters cleared for take-off for future missions then? 1st attempt at STS-9 was going very well until I came to the final aerobrake pass (120x40km orbit) and the shuttle broke up at 27km. I had mined the asteroid down to 100tons, and was going for a parachute assisted re-entry. (I later calculated that even if I had made it to deploying my parachutes, I had less than half what I needed) My 2nd attempt at that asteroid is underway (Class C, 146 tons). I have used Voyager (my nuclear shuttle) to intercept 9 days out, so I have plenty of time to mine it down to a more manageable mass. Does it really affect the handling that much? It seems like the drag on a Class C is crazy and however much you try to control it, it will still be a ballistic entry, with no chance of actually using the shuttle to glide. My 2nd version of the payload has two claw pods with enough chutes to land around 120tons. As for STS-12 I think that we should do a Jool Mission. It needs to be harder than landing on Duna, so just delivering a station is out. I think that commander level should be a Jool-5 with the shuttle landing everywhere but Tylo (you have to carry a separate lander for Tylo in your payload bay though). I cant see any way that you would be able to take off a shuttle from Tylo without the ET & SRB's. Pilot level would be a Jool-5 with the shuttle as the mothership, and as many different landers as you need. When @Alchemist (congrats by the way) eventually completes that, I have no idea what you would do for the mission after that! Your Thoughts? Kit

Hey, Here is STS-5 to STS-8. No new mods. STS-5 STS-6 STS-7 STS-8 STS-8 is also a fuel pod mission, 350km orbit. I have no idea how to even start the asteroid challenge. First step will be to update to 1.1.3! Kit

A small update, Orbital assembly hit a couple of kraken moments (random explosions, Kerbals on eva being flung very quickly away from the station etc) I believe that I have fixed them. I wanted to show off my new delivery methods for each of my modules for my station. I decided that if I was to do 4 flights, I would try to do each one with a different design of shuttle. The original fairing Shuttle: STS-5 (delivered the station core) My longer range Shuttle with nuclear OMS delivered the Engineering section, then came home via The Mun I then had two large, but relatively light modules (Science Labs & Escape Pods) to send to orbit, so I did this.... (I hope this is allowed) The last two modules that I had to launch were a fuel pod and a massive solar array, so I put the Fairing Shuttle on steroids, and came up with this. Everything is in orbit, hopefully construction will be finished by Wednesday. Kit

@Speeding Mullet have a great holiday. I have uploaded the Subassemblies for STS-Apollo and the Hubble service mission if anyone else wants to play with them. https://kerbalx.com/ParanoidShark/craft In other news, I have almost finished my station. Kit

Hey, I have finally finished the design on my "Faring Shuttle" that is now named Typhoon. Here it is delivering the core/hab of my station for STS-5. Mods used that affected the design/performance of my shuttle: Mechjeb Kerbal Engineer Better Burn Time RCS Balancer Dang It! Fuel Tanks Plus (External Tank) Space Y (SRB's) Stage Recovery (SRB Recovery) RemoteTech I've had a look through the previous challenges, and I think that this is a first for a faring based cargo delivery shuttle! I had oodles of delta-v to spare, even with the incredibly inefficient ascent, so I think this design definitely has potential! Thanks, Kit

Hey, I have had a little time to work on STS 5-8, my station is going to take 6 flights till it is fully operational though! Here is a few highlights from the design process. I could not get a Mk4 shuttle to work so I looked at other ways of getting an oversize payload up to orbit. The problem was the cargo bay, so i thought, why is a cargo bay required? I decided that as long as the rest of the shuttle came down it might count as reusable... The plan is to re dock with the nose cone after payload deployment. Still need a name however, any suggestions?

@Alchemist I agree completely, the alternative payloads that I have done don't really highlight the performance of the shuttle, as it was the payload that completed the mission rather than the shuttle. They were no harder than sts-4, but only because I have done multiple mun landings already. Kit

The comsats have to end up in kso, the shuttle does not have to go to kso as well though. Deployment altitudes depend on what badge you want, there are more details in the OP. Be aware that the payload may need some modification, as it was built a few versions ago. I experienced problems with fuel routing, others have had problems with phantom lift caused by the cases for the comsats when the cargo bay is closed. Kit

Hey, I had a bit more time today, so here is the Hubble servicing mission I have been working on. (STS-3b ) The engine has quite a bit more fuel as I wanted it to be able to remotely de-orbit Hubble if needed. Primary mission objective was to install the Maneuvering/De-Orbit engine. The secondary objective was to install the new solar panels. Finally, if possible the original panels would be re-installed on the ends of the new panels. The MMUs would then be returned to the shuttle. The Maneuvering engine would then be activated and Hubble's inclination will be corrected to 28.5°. Payload is stock, my standard mods for my shuttle. Once again, @Speeding Mullet thanks for running this challenge! Kit

Here is STS-Apollo. This was so much fun. I have to tidy up the subassembly a bit, but then I'll post it for everyone to play with. The lander has a few power issues at the moment. Apollo has lots of extra Dv if you go for a standard splashdown, but recovery by the shuttle is also possible! Payload is stock, Mod list for the shuttle is the same as previous STS missions. Kit

Ahh, You misunderstand me. I was inspired by your combining of the two programs. I wanted to combine them in the other way, with a Shuttle deploying an Apollo CSM/LM from LKO. Kit

Hey, So the plan for the HST Servicing mission is to launch to 500km then hohmann transfer to rendezvous. MMUs will dedock from shuttle with the new panels attached and dock with the HST manuevering engine. Then plan is to dock the engine to HST, then remove the old solar panels with one MMU whilst the other MMU docks the new solar panels. If everything goes to plan, the old panels (if I dont break them as they will still be deployed) will then be docked onto the end of the new panels. This will then be repated for the other side. The MMUs will then dock together to make the return trip back to the shuttle. Finally there will be a plane change maneuver to bring the HST to 28.5° inclination. I have also been inspired by @ZooNamedGames Saturn Shuttle I wondered if it would be possible to design an Apollo CSM/LM that fits in a CRG-100 bay. I'm at work at the moment, but you'll get pics of it tomorrow hopefully. It has enough fuel to dedock from the shuttle in LKO, hohmann transfer to the Mun or Minmus, land and then return to Kerbin (Apollo style) or for added bonus points dock with the shuttle in LKO to return everything but the descent stage (if you went to the Mun rather than Minmus) to the KSC. As for the Space station, I've kinda hit a wall, as I love @Nertea's Space Station Expanded mod, I made an awesome Core + Hab for my station, but his 2.5m 6way hub is too wide for a Mk3 bay when you put docking ports on the faces. I'm in the process of a new shuttle design, possibly using Mk4 parts just so I can get the Core to orbit... I also have an upgraded version of my shuttle that has a nuclear OMS system, larger SRB's and ET, that should be able to deliver the standard fuel pod to orbit around Duna, or the (short lived) 84 ton pod to 1000km. I still havn't tackled your 168 ton monster though! I just dont have enough time to play with all of my cool designs. I'm setting up a kerbalx profile so you guys can have a go with all the stock payloads, but my shuttles are so mod dependant I doubt that they will appeal to many people. Kit