michal.don

Alright, I'm at work I have a bit of time now, so I'll try to check the new entries. Here we go: That's an advantage of a large cargo bay - you can put all kinds of goodies into it at once While eyeballed all the way through, it sure qualifies for the "pilot" level badges - congratulations! And when you get more comfortable with your shuttle, you might revisit these missions to get the "commander" level badges - the gold stars are sooo shiny (next page reviews coming very soon)

Alright, I'm back home! The holiday was really nice, and I've seen some pretty intersting places - for anyone interested, here's an example: (Yes, that's the Chernobyl sarcophagus in the back, and no, you're technically not allowed to go on the roofs there ) I can see that quite a lot of shuttle-flying happened while I was gone, and I'll do my best to review it sometimes soon - probably tomorrow. So, please, hang on for a while longer, I have a lot of laundry/unpacking/housekeeping to do right now Michal.don

Oh, and also guys, I'm going on an adventure, and I don't.... a holiday for a week, so, I won't be able to review any entries for the rest of June. So, please, stand by, fly some rockets for a while, and when I'm home again, we'll pick it up where we left Michal.don

Thanks for the screenshot, as expected, everything is in order I think the main advantage of your design are the large control surfaces/tail fins in the back of your vehicle - they add a lot of drag, which in this case is a good thing Cargo bay doubling as an airbrake, useful when not carrying expensive delicate payloads I'd agree, this station is indeed a reason to feel good, probably proud, and maybe a little bit smug It's a really nice design, built in a well-managed series of mission! Good job, here's your badge, and good luck in the next missions! This is where they start to be really interesting. "It's not a bug, it's a feature" Thanks, I'll have a look at it when I have a bit of time! Michal.don

You're welcome - I hope you enjoyed flying them I wouldn't be too scared of going beyond LKO though. Some of the missions are not too difficult. Especially Duna STS-1 requires nothing but a bit more bang in your fuel tanks. And there are the "test pilot" missions, I think it's worth a shot, you might be pleasantly surprised

Welcome to the challenge! Wow, that's an interesting LV configuration, I don't think we've seen another one like that Makes me wonder about abort procedures...... Anyway, a very well flown mission, and a pinpoint landing, too! Here's your first badge, hopefully the first of many more: Looking forward to seeing more! Yeah, reading the fine print on the bottom is very important, sometimes.... Island airfield is A-OK. Six perfectly executed shuttle/spaceplane missions to build and crew a spacestation - what's not to love here? Great job, and a mighty fine station design! Some of the reentry procedures must have been quite brutal though - in one screenshot is says the higheest G-load has been 63 gees, poor kerbals..... Here's your badge, and it's time to go space potato hunting! Wow... You made the procedure look easy.... And it is not easy at all, which I learnt the hard way Very good job, your kerbals live to fly another day and the vehicle is safe. And I really like your shuttle design - would you mind sharing the craft file, so I can examine how exactly it works and fly it a bit? Thanks, and here is your badge:  Good job! Nice mission and telescope/MMU design, and a precise landing! One detail though - could you please share a screenshot of the final telescope orbit for me to verify? And, in the future missions, could you add one or two screenshots of atmospheric reentry? This is often the tricky part Thanks, and here's your badge: ...and after several missions to space and back, the test proved that the orbiter can indeed fly and land.... Out of curiosity, is the cargo bay open on purpose, or did it happen by accident? Good job, and now to the more challenging test pilot missions! I hope I did not miss anything, Michal.don

...and this is how a veteran pilot lands his shuttle You got the requirement just right, looking forward for the next one (which I saw on the next page, there is a buttload of entries again..... ) the docking would not be a problem, but the fuel transfer, I would object to But nevermind, you did it the proper way, and in a routinely looking manner, good job! An MK2 Hubble? I'm impressed And I'm really glad someone decided to take this small-sized approach, to balance the monstrosities the others are flying here Very good job, on this mission, and now comes the real question - will you manage to build an Mk2-sized station, or does the time for a bigger shuttle finally come? (reviews of the next page coming soon)

Thanks for clearing that up! Well, the launching of a support shuttle is a no-go. Unless the rules of the mission state so, you can not launch anything besides the actual shuttle that does the job. Support launches are allowed for some of the Duna and Jool missions, but not for the munar ones. But you might design a landing/engine module, and fit it inside the cargo bay with the research facility, if you manage to design it compact enough....

Oh, of course not, I admit I just forgot that you completed the STS-4 mission already You're clear to build the station, and here's your badge: Yeah, this one looks much better, beautiful The RTLS isn't easy, when the engine switches off, the shuttle starts really fighting back. In my run, it was a wrestling match all the way to space.....

I'm not sure what you mean by that question. You'll obviously need some sort of engines to land on the Mun..... The STS-2a looks good, and the gliding capacity of the orbiter saved the day despite being a little too long on the approach Here's your badge: Again, looking good! Nice job on the docking, not the easiest thing to do. And if your shuttle manages to land the pod, it really is a capable design! Heh, you certainly did not waste aby time, that's a lot of flights Great telescope design, and great assembly work on orbit! The reentry was a bit off indeed, but that's where the advantage of having a lot of wings showed, again Good job, and a third badge for you! Heresy! While I'm not a fan of locking crew inside a fairing, I have no objections now The shuttle is really nice, I love the looks of it! And a mighty capable craft, too. So, here's your badge, congratulations! Yes, that's a proper way of deploying a telescope! By the way, the reentry procedure is quite a brutal one - over 15 Gs on a shuttle? Shame on you No further objections from me now, here's your badge: Aww, such a cute little shuttle with such a little cute cargo bay..... I love the design so much.... Great mission, here's your badge: While it's a nice rescue mission, I can't award the badge for it. The rules state that you must do the missions in the right order, and you skipped STS-3 (the Hubble). I understand it will probably need a new shuttle design, but as the later missions require a large cargo capacity, you'll eventually need to design one anyway. When you complete the STS-3, I'll gladly award you the badge for this mission though Aerial football with space potatoes - I love it!! And I also love how ugly the shuttle is, it's beautiful This made my day, thanks! And here's you badge, a very well deserved one! I hope I did not miss anything, it's been quite a lot of entries Michal.don

Yup, I found out that you wrote a lot of stuff here, not just the Kraken. Do you have a list of all your mission reports? Or do I just stumble upon them by chance, like I did with this one? Thanks, Michal.don

Thanks for clearing that up. 1) - nah, as you said, just adding a crew pod is not that difficult, so I won't make you refly the whole mission just because of that. But you should install some crew capacity for later missions - I suppose you'll want to use this shuttle for some of the future missions? 2) - Alright, that makes sense. But, for future missions, be careful about that cheat menu. If it weren't for your shuttling history, it would be a bit suspicious 3) - thanks for the craft file. But I'm considering charging you with an assault on my computer - nearly 800 parts??!!! This type of abominations has no place in my space program I checked the craft, and it seems like some sort of KER mess-up, the orbiter has around 4,000 m/s of delta-V, without payload. So, all thing said, I offer you a deal - you get your badge without having to fly the whole mission again, but you add some crew capacity to you shuttle, and demontstrate the new design with a crewed mission to the LOP-G. Does that sound good? That's a properly precise orbit - kudos to you Good job on making your shuttle cargo-proven, now there's nothing in your way for the few future missions! I'm curious how far this design will be able to go without significant changes. Here's your badge: Michal.don

While the STS-4looks just fine, the STS-3, unfortunately, doesn't. Quoting the rules: "This will require assembly with the 2 MMUs you will design, as the solar panels need to be attached on-orbit with Kerbals." You can't just add a bit of monoprop and a thruster or two to the solar arrays. You have to design 2 MMUs (manned maneuvering unit), which will pick up the arrays from the cargo bay, attach it to the telescope, and redock to the shuttle. Payload design is the main goal od this mission, so you are not eligible for a badge this time, sorry. Welcome to the challenge! Thats a really nice peewee shuttle you have there It seems it has a pretty goog gliding capacity too, and you hit the runway quite precisely! Your missions indeed do qualify for the STS-1a and STS-1T badges, wear the proudly!  About the cargo question - yes, it has to be in a cargo bay. If this wasn't the case, people would just launch a rocket with a cargo and slap a small shuttle next to it, which is not the spirit of this challenge. You will probably need to design a new, bigger shuttle for some of the missions here. Glad to see you again The slightly higher orbit is not that much of an issue. But I'd like to poke at a few other things..... 1) - There is no crew in the shuttle, and no crew pods either - the shuttle should be manned for all missions. 2) - The infinite fuel thing. While I do appreciate the honesty, why did you even turn it on in the first place? Some sort of a bug, was it still on from some sort of testing, or what happened there? 3) - The shuttle has a bit over 9,000 m/s of delta-V, with the payload still inside. This sounds like a bit too much - what kind of engines are those? Would you mind sharing the craft file with me, or at least the stats of the engines? Seems a bit like some sort of dark magic to me..... I'd like to know a bit about that before awarding the badge. Sorry for that, I hope you understand my uncertainties. Welcome to the challenge! You managed to design a very nice spacecraft there! It has a lot of wings compared to the real thing, and it shows in the cross-range capacity on the first test pilot mission you flew. Both the missions look really nice and controlled pretty much the whole time, maybe with the exception of almost-not-stopping-on-the-runway, but that's really not a problem So, here are your badges, and I'm looking forward to seeing more!  Michal.don

Alright, I just finished this first "book". And I have to say, this is one of the best things I've read around here, ever. I came for the mission report, and found myself enjoying the completely space-unrelated stuff the most (for example the asylum part really sent chills down my spine, the feeling of something utterly horrible having happened was really strong in that part). I don't think my limited english is enough to fully describe how much I enjoyed this piece of writing, and how much I'm looking forward for the next one. I just wanted to let you know that your story entertained me greatly, and the rep-notification-fiesta will carry on, but in a different thread Thank you, Michal.don

One spoiler with the whole report would have been enough, this must have been a lot of work Thanks!

Of course, six out of five doctors warn that shuttle flying is highly addictive..... STS-2a looks very nice, sats properly placed, reentry and landing are on the point as well. STS-2b is fine too, the two fuel pod bonus missions are not pilot/commander classified, you can land the darn thing wherever you please, so being just a bit long on the landing doesn't really matter. So, two new badges for you, wear them proudly! Also, since you seem to like the shuttle flying, you might want to try the "test pilot" missions too - they are in the end of the OP, but do not have any pre-requisities, so you can fly them in the meantime while I'm reviewing entries Oh, and one more thing - could you place the mission report screenshots in a "spoiler", so the page is not too picture-heavy? Thanks, Michal.don

And this is how it's done Good job on proving your shuttle payload capable! As you noticed, it's tricky to design a shuttle that flies well both full and empty. And, as you will find out soon enough, especially reenter and land both full and empty No, seriously, nice job, here's your badge, and good luck in the future endeavours! Michal.don

Is the pod still in its orbit? If so, I'd like to check all the resources - including ore and monopropellant, that's why I asked for the resource tab screenshot If not, I'll try to check it from the STS-2b mission report, sorry for being so punctual..... Glad you decided to join in, welcome to the challenge! That huge ET with engines seems to do quite a lot of work on the way up, and should be more than enough for the first few missions. And since you figured out the reentry and landing, I guess the next mission will not take too long I hope you enjoyed the first one, and will enjoy what's coming next! Here's your first badge, congratulations! The commander feature gold start, while pilot badges have them in silver. Michal.don

Congratulations on completing both of the missions! For the future missions however, I'd like to ask you to add a few more screenshots though - especially during launch (booster separations etc) and landing (to prove you hit the runway to qualify for the commander level badges). Also, would you please provide a screenshot of the fuel pod with the resource tab open, so I could check if the pod is still full? Thanks! Other than these details, the reports look good, and if the fuel pod is indeed full, here are your badges: Michal.don

A new test pilot mission is ready! We're going to rescue Skylab! All the information is in the OP. Good luck! Unfortunately, I can't review any entries today, hopefully I'll get to that tomorrow. Michal.don

Welcome to the challenge! For being your first shuttle, I must say that the design looks pretty capable - large cargo bay, and a powerful launch system. Good job on landing on the runway too - learning the flight profile is not an easy thing to do! The only minor problem I see is losing an airbrake on landing - maybe it's possible to retract them just prior to touchdown? Other than that, great mission, and I'm looking forward to seeing more from you Here's your first badge, commander, wear it proudly! Yeah, the images are scrambled a bit, but I think I can see what happened in your missions. First - your LOP-G design is really nice, I like the hammer-like shape Second - is that a new shuttle design? I don't recall the drop-tank-boosters, but I might have just forgotten.... Third - the ions really do look great on the screenshots...... So, great job on building the station, and here's your badge: Congratulations! Michal.don

Sorry, but I can't make any promises now - my job is keeping me busy until friday, and one of my best friends is getting married this weekend (yes, I'm approaching that age now ). Bute hopefully during the next week.....

Is this thing still alive gents? Things started to look interesting, it would be a shame if it ended right now.....

Yeah, thats Hubble, and..... No, that's pretty much it. Shuttle was a perfect machine for missions that nobody needed or wanted. Still, I can't help but love the shuttle, it's more of an emotional rather than a rational thing for me And about the techno-hippies - I love the concept, let's start a techno-hippie union Thanks for the link! But I think that apart from the "one orbit" requirement, it's basicly an easier STS-2b (fuel pod recovery). I'll think on it though, maybe I'll figure out a way to make it more challenging. Michal.don

Well, sort of... There was an ATO abort mode, the "Abort to orbit", which was even used on a real mission once - the STS-51-F. One could argue it wasn't a "real" abort, since it meant going to a lower orbit than the originally planned one intead of hauling the thing home as soon as possible, but it was the safest, and if possible, the preferred abort mode for STS flights. Michal.don