michal.don

Hello, welcome to the challenge! What place is better than this one? Not to brag, but there probably are not that many.... Jokes aside - your orbiter looks really great, and it seems to handle pretty nicely as well. Concerning the mods - I don't see any problem with the ones you use, except for the autopilot. This challenge is about both designing and flying the shuttle. Limited use of autopilots is allowed (holding attitude during reentry), but most of the ascent and the final aproach and landing have to be done manually. I hope that it's not a problem for you, but that's how the

Yeah, the docking process looked like it was quite a struggle - the fuel pod is a really tight fit on your design But mission successful, and the landing looked quite graceful, considering you were hauling 40+ tons of cargo. Good job, and here's another badge for you: (next page coming soon)

(I'll check the STS-2b later, but here are the answers to your questions) Well, the telescope doesn't need to work at all - it pretty much comes to roleplaying on this one. If you enjoy it, you can make the telescope pretty complex, and pretend it does awesome science stuff. If you don't, you can slap two tanks together and claim it's a telescope. Designs of the telescopes here varied a lot, and some were really impressive, but the rules do not state it has to be. There are no size requirements, either. What is required though is the assembly, specifically solar array(s) installation

Alright, several new entries over the weekend, let's have a look at them! Welcome to the challenge! And thanks for re-uploading the larger screenshots, the small ones were pretty... confusing Good job on your first mission, you managed to get your shuttle to orbit just fine, and the reentry seemed to bring you to the general vicinity of the KSC - just a bit of practice, and you'll be landing on the runway without any trouble So, here's your first badge, pilot! Congratulations! One small detail though - could you, please, hide the screenshots in a spoiler for

No reason why that would not be allowed. I'm just curious how you'll manage the docking with the very tight cargo bay, that's all

Alright, now we have a proof of your shuttle's notable cargo capacity to (at least) LKO, and with quite a bit of fuel to spare! Very precise orbit, and a pinpoint landing, so a badge for you: I can't help but notice though, the fuel pod is quite a tight fit in the cargo bay - I'm curious how much trouble it's going to do in the recovery mission.... Wow, the Octosats look very good And very nice usage of action groups to deploy all the stuff on them simultaneously, looking very nice in the video! Very good job building the comm network, and it seems you're getting th

Exactly as @hoioh said, gold star is for commander level, and silver branches are for "modded" category.

Ah, alright then From the video, everything seems ok, so congratulations on the first (hopefully, of many) successful mission! One thing I'm curious about is the ascent though - it seemed pretty inefficient to me - is this on purpose, to get out of the atmosphere as soon as possible, or did you just not care too much, because of sufficient margins on the first mission? In any case, here is your first badge: and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next! Michal.don

I'll wait for the final video edit, but this looks very good I like the shuttle design, and find the huge fairing the proper kerbal way of launching it Sure, you can launch multiple modules in one shuttle, but there have to be four total shuttle flights.

Ok, the traffic here got a little more intense recently, many new faces around here - I love it First thing I'd like to announce - after some thinking, I decided to adjust the rule considering autopilots during atmospheric flight. From now on, attitude control instruments (like mechjeb's SmartASS) are allowed during the reentry, to keep the shuttle in a desired attitude. The final approach and landing still have to be flown manually though, and that's one thing I'm not willing to change. Second - I'll leave the special Christmas mission online for about a week in Janu

Good job! Nice detail of adding the openable shutter to the telescope And yes, the "separotrons" seem a bit excessive Anyway, nicely flown and definitely badge-worthy, so here you go: That's quite the dedictaion, welcome back And I'm more than happy to award you the badge, good job! Are you sure the fairing is not actually making the aerodynamic properties worse? It sure doesn't look very aerodynamic.... Anyway, good luck with your mission, I'm curious how it will turn out! Successful rendezvous and crew transfer, precise reentry and a pinpoin

Thanks for understanding Good luck with your missions, and let us know when you plan on streaming your attempts, I'm sure some of the folks here would love to watch it live

While I would encourage aiming the reentry more precisely ( ), I think in this case the autopilot can be used to "just fly straight for half an hour". But usually, it takes just a few test flights to get the hand of a new shuttle, and you should be able to get it to reenter in the general vicinity of the chosen landing spot. So, in conclusion, you can use the autopilot to "hold the stick", but please, do not try to make it do more, because I would not like it to set a precedent for others. Michal.don

@Artienia, @4x4cheesecake, thanks guys! I'll edit the previous post, and allow custom made fuel pods.

Welcome to the challenge! To answer your questions: 1) I'm not familiar with that mod, but from the name I suppose it's a collection of parts with size between mk2 and mk3? Generally, mods are allowed here, with the exception of really overpowered engines and some straight cheaty stuff, which I do not think will be the case here. 2) Yes, no problem with that. 3) The fuel pod here is 2.5m in diameter, I don't know the dimensions of the mk2.5 parts. Before I'm able to give an answer to this one, I'd like to ask @Artienia about his fuel pod - I honestly do not remember allowin

I can see a few new entries, and a few new faces - so let's do another round Wow, the screenshot of booster separation looks so good Great mission with two stops on different celestial bodies, three presents recovered and a pinpoint landing - very good job! A Christmas badge for you, my friend: I second that (next page coming soon)

Thanks, now I can see all I need, here's your badge: good job! Ok, let's put it this way: In the first two Mun missions (STS-1 and STS-2-4), each shuttle has to land on the Mun.

No problem, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything important Good luck with the second flight!

Alright, holiday madness is over, all the family meetings survived with mental health mostly intact, so let's get to business Sorry, but some bad news on my part - the final orbit is not within the required parametres (Pe and AP difference too big). Unfortunately, I can't award the badge. Oh, I just noticed the edit, disregard, everything is in order, so the badge is rightfully yours On the other hand, this is right and proper, very good job! So, at least one badge for you, congrats! Ho ho ho, Santa Shuttle is coming to town Great job

Please, hang on for a while longer, I don't have the time to manage the thread every day, I'll hopefully get to it tomorrow

So the crazy LV really works Mission looks good, but I'll have to ask for at least two more screenshots documenting: 1) The final orbit of the fuel pod, for chcking the tolerances 2) The pod with the resource tab open, to check if it's still full Thanks! Actually, that would be no-go. I have to draw a line somewhere, and while it would not be such a big issue in this mission, it's not possible to utilise infrastructure not built by the shuttle program. If I let this go, some people would launch all kinds of stuff to help them in their missions. So, try the fuel-bal

Of course! My craft file doesn't work in 1.3? I tried using only stock parts i thought have been present for a long time.

I sort of got used to hard things not taking too much time around here, but it still surprises me how quick some of you are Nice report, beautiful pictures and great job getting all three presents in one go - I hope you enjoyed the mission and, of course, a Christmas badge for you: Michal.don

Same here Unfortunately, no... Just a nice picture I found on google Yeah, the seismometer ribbons are quite part-heavy But they are there just for the looks, feel free to remove them if you suspect things would go too laggy

My fellow shuttle-holics, there is a special Christmas mission available for the duration of the holidays. You will be catching lost christmas presents in space and delivering them to the North pole (the full description is in the OP) There is also a special badge for anyone who completes this mission I hope you will have fun with this short mission, and I wish you all very happy holidays, hopefully spent with the people who you care for and who really matter in your life. All the best to all of you, lots of luck and happiness in the new year, And I