michal.don

Damn, I just noticed I missed the mission part of your post! But I saw it now, and it looks great! Awesome atypical telescope and solar array design, and a succesfull maiden voyage of a new orbiter+LV combination - congratulations! Definitely a badge-worthy endeavour, so, here goes: Good job! Awww, this one's even better

Sorry for the slight delay again, full christmas-madness is starting to take more and more of my time.... Interesting debate about the CoM shifts and possible CoT adjustments - that's one of the things I love about this thread.... Anyway, let's check the entries: Great execution of the free return maneuver - and without correction burns, good job! And great improvised change of landing site, that's a feat worthy of a great test pilot And, I don't know why, but I absolutely love the screenshot of the shuttle changing the inclination in the atmosphere - that's a great pict

It's an AutoCAD drawing with pictures inserted. If you want just the basic timeline with travel times, they are possible to download, the link to them is in the original post of the challenge

I believe it comes from SpaceY suite of mods, I'm not really sure which one, to be honest... Aaaand I see I did not touch this mission for half a year, shame on me

As @hoioh said, there used to be a "standard" telescope for download, but no more - the payload design is a part of this challenge now. Read the requirements for orbital assembly carefully Michal.don

Welcome to the challenge! Sure, the rules state that only the atmospheric flight has to be done manually, MechJeb is fine for the orbital operations. Looking forward to seeing your first entry, Michal.don

That's an example of fine piloting skills, especially the very steep reentry and a precise landing. I'm curious though - did you nail in on your first try, or was some iterative trying needed to get the landing location right? In any case, great mission, and a well-deserved badge for you. Congratulations! No, you can design a new shuttle for every mission, if you'd like Or modify and existing one to suit the specific mission. No problem with that. Michal.don

Well, I'm not going to ban anything, and feel free to show multiple methods To be honest, I did not think of that... But I do not see any reason why not, you just need to complete the pre-requisite missions to get the badge

well, yeah I had it almost ready for some time, I just wanted to test some of the parts a little bit more before I released it. But I'm confident it's definitely doable, even without the final few tests, so I'll just let you do your thing and not worry too much

Ah, what the hell, here's a mission for you STS-6T is officialy go, the mission is focused on booster recovery. The details are in the OP, and yet another badge to claim: Hope you enjoy it, Michal.don

@Kerbolitto, @zolotiyeruki, @4x4cheesecake, @hoioh, @sturmhauke, @Ozelui - thanks again for the ideas, and for your confidence in my judgement - I'll try my best not to disappoint As you said, I'm trying not to force too specific mission requirements to let you do your thing, your own way. So probably no ramp requirements. But you are right about the rovers - we did not use too many of those, so I'll try to incorporate those in one of the coming missions. Since you asked, i'll probably release a "Test pilot" mission soon, maybe even today, and one "Main" mission soon-ish - I have t

That's a very welcome surprise, looking forward to it very much Glad to see you back!

Also, if you want some inspiration, there happen to be plenty of awesome shuttle designs in "my" STS challenge. (A bit of a shameless plug, I admit ) But feel free to browse the entries a bit, and maybe even fly a mission or two, we have a small but passionate shuttle community over there Michal.don

I know the aerobraking can be tough in some instances, but hey, that's what the wings are for....

Yes, that part is a bit confusing, I remember struggling with that myself, back in the "shuttle flying, not challenge-running" days It means you have to capture by aerobraking to a stable orbit within the planet's SOI. Then you may adjust the orbit however you like.

Also, I finally tweaked and edited lots of small things in the OP and the rules. And quite a bit of spelling errors, too If you happened to stumble on anything out of place, or straight wrong, please, let me know so I can fix it too

Yes, pretty much. You have to design the telescope, the attachable solar arrays, and the MMUs (Manned Maneuvering Units) and do the assembly in orbit.

The first (and very impressive) shuttle Jool-5 got the Skunkworks badge, and a link to the mission is in the OP... But I can't award a Skunkworks badge for every shuttle Jool-5, otherwise all of you lot would have one pretty soon Ah, alright, I thought you were going for the commander level (where the sats have to be equidistant). If that is not the case, here's your "pilot" level badge: congrats

Sorry for the wait again guys, It seems it's becoming a pattern, I'm a bit busy the last few weeks. I'll try to get here and review your entries at least twice a week, but I can't promise that, unfortunately. Thanks for your patience! Thanks for the offer, but since @mythic_fci is back, I'll probably ask him, when the time comes. From my view, not really. Skunkworks badge is for impressive engineering or flying achievements, along the lines of "wow, I never would have thought that was possible". But I might create a badge saying "wow, I never thought someone would thing of some

Well, possibly... I have to think it through, and eventually, outsource the badge creation to somebody, since my MS paint skills would prolly not be enough...

I'd say, scanners would be allowed, but anything directly used in the Jool mission would not. Yeah, I consider creating another type of badge for using especially crazy contraptions in the most unusual ways..... Well, I don't know... This challenge moved from using a lot of subassemblies (CommSats, Hubble, etc) to encouraging everybody to use their own. And I have not awarded this badge, yet. But it looks really cool, so I'm considering it. Could you please send me the craft file, so I can test it myself, and see what it can/can't do? Would be much appreciated.

I wouldn't pack too much stuff for the trip there - Eve aerobrakes can be quite brutal, so the lighter the better.... But your call

More missions are definitely coming, don't worry. But I try to make the missions that they are more than just "go there and back". I like then to have some sort of "purpose", or a special twist caused by the specific location. I'm not saying we will not go to Eeloo/Dres/wherever, but I don't think it will be in the next one or two missions. Well... Not perfect, but pretty close. THe purpose of the comm network is to cover most of the surface for significant period of time. So, not neccessarily the Ap and Pe have to be perfect, but orbital period should be precise enough to not drift to

Two different shuttle, robotc arm assembly (!), and a good looking station - what's not to love Nice payload design, well executed, and four pinpoint landings, that results in a new commander badge for you - congratulations! Always glad to see new pilots come here, welcome to the challenge! Interesting shuttle design, the wing-mounted engine pods have their pros and cons. And considering the amount of struts on them, I suspect the cons demonstrated themselves rather strongly Also, quite hazardous choice of orbit, flying just a hundred or so metres above the atmosphere

Sorry for the slight delay again guys, I had quite a busy couple of days. So, let's get to it! Yes, it shows well that you enjoy this kind of missions Great MMU work up there, and therefore, a new badge for you. Congrats! Man this shuttle looks awesome And, I know you're a shuttle veteran, but it's always nice to see such precisely and perfectly executed first mission I'm getting curious how far you'll be able to take this design, but my guess is very far. To make sure, is the shuttle stock? Just to be sure I'm awarding the right badge. If so, here it is: