Whisky Tango Foxtrot

I consider my Kerbals ready for interplanetary missions in they've planted flags on the Mun and Minmus. I don't bother to have them leave Kerbin's SOI since they'll be doing that anyway on their first trip. The only time I've ever sent Kerbal astronauts (as opposed to Kerbal tourists, who are pointless to level up) to another planet without a science lab either on their ship or in orbit around their destination planet was when I sent my first mining crew to Gilly, and while it was a bit annoying doing burns without manoeuvre hold it ultimately wasn't a big deal.

I connect a lifter vehicle to the top of the module as close as I can get to the COM. I then bring it down as close as I can get to the base. When I get close to the ground, I set the lifter's throttle to just enough to cancel out gravity and manoeuvre the module into position using RCS. Once it's docked, I extend the legs and send the lifter back into orbit. This, of course, only applies to bases on airless bodies. I suppose similar techniques could be used for Duna, but I haven't tried it yet. I have another plan for setting up a multi-part base on Laythe but the components are still in transit, and I don't even want to consider what I'd need to do to set up a surface base on Eve.

I was able to rescue my Laythe station and SSTO (which I'd left in orbit around Jool after realizing that I didn't have enough fuel to capture at Pol.) I've already refuelled it at Foothold Station and sent it on its way to Laythe.

Lots of developments this time. First of all, I sent a ship to Eeloo. This craft has all the equipment I need to run a mining operation. It's got a surface base with a drill and ISRU, a tanker ship to transport fuel from the surface into orbit and a fuel depot station to make that fuel easily accessible to arriving ships. It's being propelled by the newly-launched prototype of my new model of large-scale tug (which I posted testing screenshots of previously in this thread.) I had to make a couple of revisions to the tug since that last posting, most notably a set of struts that were needed to prevent its NERV engines from wobbling during burns. This unfortunately brought its weight up to slightly more than the tug it's replacing, but it also has a larger monopropellant capacity than its predecessor (160 units vs. 120 units) and when I drain its tanks to an amount equivalent to that craft's maximum capacity it ends up being lighter again. The Eeloo ship was just a warm-up, though, and honestly could have waited for another transfer window or two before launching. However, just after the Eeloo window arrived a transfer window to Jool opened up. "It's fifty-five million kilometres to Jool. We've got a full tank of liquid fuel, 1500 units of ore, it's dark and we're wearing spacesuits." "Hit it." So after spending years sending unmanned equipment shipments to Jool, it's finally time to send some Kerbals to play with the toys orbiting (or en route to) the Gassy Green Giant. The first ship is crewed by Natalie Kerman (Scientist,) Harburry Kerman (Scientist) and Bardun Kerman (Engineer,) all fresh from their training missions on the Mun and Minmus, along with more seasoned explorers Mitfen Kerman (Scientist,) Matuki Kerman (Scientist) and Linia Kerman (Pilot.) It consists of a command/science module for Foothold Station along with a "portable station," a minimalistic one-piece space station intended to be transported via tug between Tylo, Vall and Bop in order to support science landings there (as I have no plans for permanent stations around those bodies.) This ship had to use a bit of an unusual launch procedure as it didn't carry enough liquid fuel to make the trip. Instead, it took advantage of the fact that the portable station contains an ISRU unit along with a 2.5m ore tank, allowing it to manufacture its own fuel during the trip. It couldn't generate liquid fuel quickly enough to keep up with the rate that it was being burnt by the tug, though, so it needed two burns to eject itself from Kerbin. The second ship is crewed by Geldra Kerman (Scientist,) Gracy Kerman (Pilot,) Gillene Kerman (Pilot,) Wilalla Kerman (Engineer,) Diella Kerman (Scientist) and Ronfurt Kerman (Engineer.) It consists of a habitation module and power-communications strut for Laythe Station, a ship intended to land on Tylo and return to orbit, along with a pair of FL-T100 fuel tanks with docking ports on either side that serve no purpose other than providing a part that can be returned to Kerbin after landing on Tylo and Laythe. While still on the subject of Jool, one of my previous missions to the planet has arrived. Sort of. This ship, consisting of a core module for Foothold Station (freeing it from its reliance on docked vessels for probe cores,) the beginnings of Laythe Station and a Beetle SSTO modified for operations on Laythe captured successfully at Jool and put itself on an encounter trajectory with Pol, however either due to insufficient testing before launch or inefficient burns en route it ended up not having enough fuel to slow itself down to an orbital speed over the tiny moon. I had to detach most of the payload, leaving it orbiting Jool, and just bring the tug and one of the station cores with me to rendezvous with the station. After docking, I immediately re-filled the tug's fuel tank with the fuel stores on the station and sent it off to re-capture its drifting cargo. Hopefully it'll be able to complete the trip this time, but I'd settle for just getting the equipment onto an orbit that doesn't intersect with Tylo's. At least then it'll be able to stay on a stable orbit around Jool without much risk of being ejected into a solar orbit or put on a collision course with Jool or one of its moons.

I'm not sure if an engineer can re-pack a parachute that's been cut, and I didn't want to go through the trouble of testing it. I needed to transport some ore from the Minmus mine into orbit (for a mission I'll likely post about soon,) anyway, and I didn't have a container on-hand to do so so I thought I might as well launch this one and have it move the ore before I sent it to Duna.

Sent some new equipment to Duna. That's an ore transport module with built-in landing legs (since my procedure for docking my current module with Duna's surface base involves landing on the ground nearby to get rid of the parachutes before lighting the rockets again for a powered descent onto the docking port) and a new command/science module for Duna Station with built-in radiators that should allow Duna Station's ISRU to run even when no tugs are docked with it. The module on the front is a communications booster consisting of a RA-2 relay enclosed within a 1.25m service bay, and will allow the tug to remain in radio contact throughout the trip. The tug carrying the equipment is newly-constructed and joined with the command module in the Spaceplane Hangar (I launched this via SSTO,) allowing it to stay attached without putting a docking port in the middle of the cupola window. The tug will remain in the Duna system permanently, transferring personnel and equipment between the Duna and Ike installations. The tug that it will be replacing has also just left Duna. This one is carrying a tug (originally meant for Eeloo and sent to Duna when Explorer 1's outer planets mission included a refuelling stop there; the mission has since been re-worked to consist only of direct flights with a different solution for getting a rover to Eeloo) on its way to Jool. I plan to land the tug permanently on Vall.

My tourists landed successfully on Moho. I was a bit worried about this because the fuel depot I have orbiting Moho doesn't carry enough oxidizer to fully fill the lander's tanks, and the lander would have to make two trips to Moho's surface in order to complete the contract (as it only seats two and I had four tourists who wanted to land.) However, full tanks are only necessary if the lander is meant to land on the surface and return to orbit in one go. If I landed on my mining outpost then I could go down with the tanks only half filled, siphon fuel from the outpost (or, more accurately, from the fuel truck that I leave docked with the outpost, since the outpost itself doesn't have any fuel storage) for the return trip, then top up with the remaining fuel at the depot for the second landing. Even that was a bit dicey, though, since I'd sent the fuel truck up to the depot to add more fuel to its tanks just after the tourists did their ejection burn from Kerbin, which left its own tanks depleted. I figured that filling them up again before the tourists got there wouldn't be a problem but changes in how heat and radiators are handled in 1.3.1 changed the already-slow pace of fuel production to something absolutely glacial. I was able to coax enough fuel from the outpost to make the trip, though, and the tourists are now safely back at the depot waiting for a transfer window to Eve (where they'll refuel for the trip back to Kerbin.) The lander itself is going to stay behind for future missions.

After spending years away from home and establishing surface bases and space stations around Ike and Duna, the original Duna expedition crew, the first Kerbals to leave Kerbin's SOI, are coming home. In other news, my tourist bus has arrived at Moho. They're still in a highly eccentric orbit around the planet (to lower the dV costs of their plane-change manoeuvre) and it'll be a week before they're in position to make their rendezvous burn with the Moho Fuel Depot (where they'll take on the oxidizer they need to land) but at least they're safely captured within Moho's SOI. Moho captures take a lot of fuel, and even though I'd tested this flight before I launched it I was still worried about running out while still on an escape trajectory and stranding the tourists on a solar orbit.

My career save is just about to hit year 10. I've been using this save since I first started playing KSP back in 1.2, and the only time I restarted was a couple of months ago when I wanted to try going through the early parts of the tech tree again with what I know now about the game and what its parts can do. I've since gone back to my original save, though.

One mission that gave me a lot of trouble was early in my career when I accepted a "Test Poodle engine on an escape trajectory out of Kerbin" contract. I hadn't unlocked 2.5m fuel tanks yet and the only 2.5m engine I had was the Poodle given to me by the contract. I also didn't realize that I could re-stage an already-used engine in order to test it, or that the engine didn't have to have a useful amount of fuel to complete the contract. The line of "Poodlemobiles" I cobbled together to try to get an unused Poodle engine onto an escape trajectory were some of the most Kerbal-y things I ever attempted. Eventually I gave up and just waited until I had enough of the tech tree unlocked to complete the mission easily.

Nah, the sun's still screwy in 1.3.1. Apparently fixing another bug introduced this one. Hopefully it'll be fixed soon.

I designed a new tug. This is the third revision of my "Interplanetary Pusher" line of large-payload, long-range tugs, however unlike the Mk.2 this one is a total redesign from the ground up. While the original version only had one 2.5m docking port on the front and the Mk.2 added two additional 1.25m ports to the sides, with this one I moved the engines to the sides and placed a single shielded docking port on the back. This means that, unlike the Mk.1 which could only dock with Clamp-O-Tron Sr. ports, and the Mk.2 which required precise weighting to use the 1.25 ports for anything other than refuelling this one has both ports inline with its centre-of-thust and can easily transport cargos using both port sizes at the same time. I've also put its more fragile components (such as its antenna and RTG) inside the service bay at the front, which means that with the shielded port closed (or a heat-resistant cargo docked to that port) this vessel is capable of aerobraking. I haven't tested braking from interplanetary velocities, but if I drop it from just above Minmus's height to 52km the only parts that get anywhere close to dangerously hot are the A.I.R.B.R.A.K.E.S., and I can just retract them if I need to do some more intense braking. On top of all that this craft has more powerful RCS engines than its predecessors, includes two external command seats in its service bay (allowing it to transport Kerbals in emergency situations) and is still slightly lighter than the Mk.2. I think I'm going to wait for some of my Mk.1 tugs to return before I start launching these "for real," but I can see them becoming an important part of my fleet.

I'm a bit uncomfortable with the amount of time my Ike/Duna crew's spent away from home, mainly because whenever a Duna transfer window opened I always had more pressing matters to attend to than sending a relief crew and return module. I did end up sending them eventually, though, and the relief crew has already taken up their posts in the Duna and Mun space stations and ground bases, so now the original crew is loaded into the return module waiting for a transfer window to come back. As for leaving Kerbals stranded because of a design and/or piloting error, fortunately I've been able to avoid that so far. I tend to "simulate" my missions before I launch them, especially the manned ones, so I haven't sent any Kerbals somewhere where I can't get them back. The fact that I'm pretty quick on the F9 key also helps.

I've put probes into orbit around every body in the stock system. I've landed Kerbals on the Mun, Minmus, Gilly, Ike, Duna, Moho and Eve. I've made unmanned landings on Dres, Pol, Bop, Vall and Laythe, and of those only the Laythe landing was a one-way trip (the vehicle was an aircraft with only jet engines for propulsion and was never designed to leave the planet after landing.)

https://alexmoon.github.io/ksp/

Untitled Spacecraft

I've accomplished quite a few things over the course of my KSP career. I've mined Moho, launched from Eve, landed a plane on Laythe and build a station around Pol but none of that could have prepared me for what I was to attempt next: To land on a planet that doesn't even exist! Okay, I know, the "Dres doesn't exist" joke is getting old. Still, this is my first landing on the planet, albeit unmanned. I'd already put a science/relay/scanner satellite into polar orbit around the world but I'd never touched its surface (outside of F5F9 "simulations".) The purpose of the landing was to install an unmanned (although it does have crew capacity that's not currently being used) mining outpost on Dres's surface. I'd done something similar on Moho but unlike that outpost this one would use full-sized drills and ISRU equipment, allowing for much quicker fuel production. It touched down without issue, using its fuel transport vehicle's rockets to lower it to the surface. Its landing site had roughly 11% ore and its drills and ISRU went to work immediately. Good thing, too, since the first ship it's going to need to refuel (the Explorer 1 science ship) is already en route. Explorer 1 is packing enough liquid fuel that it would probably be able to turn around and return to Kerbin even if the outpost mission had failed, but without oxidizer it wouldn't have been able to send its lander down to the surface, making the mission a bit of a waste.

I had some tourists who wanted to go to Moho. I also had a new lander that I wanted to send to Moho. It takes a lot of fuel to go to Moho. I'd initially hoped that if I filled the tug, the lander and the passenger module's side tanks to capacity with liquid fuel I'd have enough to make the trip, but during testing it turned out to be woefully insufficient. That front module is a Mk1 tank surrounded by two layers of Mk0 tanks on radial decouplers. I've already ejected the "top layer" of 20 tanks (they were used up during my ejection burn) and will be ejecting the inner layer of 12 additional tanks during my plane change burn. I'll be keeping the central Mk1 tank for future missions. Luckily, this ship will be leaving its lander behind at Moho which will save some weight for the return trip. That trip will also be going via Gilly rather than being a direct Moho to Kerbin hop, so it'll be far less fuel-intensive.

It looks like Val and Bill are in one of the Mk1 Crew Cabins. You need to transfer one of them (preferably Val) to the cockpit for the plane to be controllable. Just having a pilot somewhere on the vessel isn't enough; they have to be in the command pod.

Explorer 1 has embarked on her second mission and is now en route to Dres. Her crew this time consists of pilot Obgel Kerman, engineer Joezor Kerman and scientists Wehrely and Mirtha Kerman. The role of lander pilot was deemed redundant and omitted from the roster. Attached to her stern is a small orbital outpost based on a similar design to the one now orbiting Moho. Unlike my full-sized stations it consists mainly of a fuel depot and relay, with no on-board science lab and minimal habitation space. It will be used in conjunction with the mining equipment already en route to the planet to give future missions a quicker turn-around time by providing a easy access to a large supply of rocket fuel. Two landers are being brought along for this mission: A two-person reusable lander which will be left with the station and a single-occupant, single-use lander which will be used for Explorer 1's main science landing. This vehicle lacks any kind of landing legs of its own and will instead touch down on the wheels of the science rover attached to the bottom. After running its science experiments and allowing its pilot to plant a flag and gather samples from Dres's surface the lander will detach itself from the rover and re-unite with Explorer 1 in orbit. It will be returned to Kerbin for analysis while the rover will be left on Dres's surface permanently, ensuring that it will always be possible to obtain scientific readings from the planet. Hopefully this will help quiet some of the conspiracy theorists who insist that Dres's entire existence is a hoax, but I'm sure that will remain an ongoing battle.

Looks cool. I want to point out, though, that the idea behind my SSTO was that all of the parts meant to get the ship through Kerbin's atmosphere (wings, jet engines, oxidizer tanks, etc.) would be left behind in LKO while a central core section, optimized for space travel, would detach and continue onward. When its mission was complete, the core section would then return to the aerodynamic section and re-attach for re-entry and landing. It looks like you still have some wings attached to the core section, which would just be dead-weight in space. It also looks like you're detaching the nose in a way that can't be re-assembled.

I designed a new rover. It's meant for Duna, but it gets up to 48m/s on Kerbin. It can be controlled either remotely or directly via the command seat on top, and can carry two Kerbals in its crew cabin. I wanted something with an enclosed cabin (as opposed to my previous rovers, which only had command seats) so that it could be used to allow Kerbals to replenish their EVA propellant if they're stranded far from my mining base. It's quite stylish, if I do say so myself.

Wow. There's stretching, and then there's this.

I consider a rocket to be on the excessive side if it uses a Mammoth engine.

I landed a probe on Vall The only real purpose to this landing was to set the "Landed on Vall" flag on the communications booster attachment (the cone with the dishes on top of the probe) since it's going to be returning to Kerbin. The probe itself is staying in the Jool system. More importantly, Explorer 1 has returned to Kerbin! The ship made her capture burn without issue, carrying her own crew, the crew of the Gilly mining operation (which has since been made fully automated,) the lander used to land on Moho and the capsule that represents all that remains of my land-and-return mission to Eve (aside from the flag left on the surface.) She also has a tug attached to her back, since the tug needed to return from Eve at the same time and I didn't want to bother with planning out two sets of manoeuvres. Explorer 1 herself was never meant to land on Kerbin and is needed for a mission to Dres due to launch in less than 100 days time, so getting all the needed parts and equipment down to Kerba Firma was a fairly complicated operation. Fortunately, I already had one of my Beetle SSTOs in orbit with the equipment to do so. First, the Eve capsule was detached. It had its own probe core, solar panels and reaction wheels so I just let it drift in space while I attended to the rest. Next, I undocked the Moho lander and attached it to the Beetle's nose-mounted docking port in order to take on some liquid fuel and oxidizer for the de-orbiting process. With the lander secured and fuelled, I dispatched my Grabber probe from the Beetle with a parachute to attach to the Moho lander. With the lander now equipped for re-entry, I set it aside for the time being and retrieved the Eve capsule that I'd left adrift a few minutes prior. Next I docked Explorer 1 with the Beetle and transferred her crew and passengers over to the pair of four-person landing capsules in the Beetle's cargo hold. After releasing the landing capsules, I turned my attention back to the Eve capsule and brought it in to dock inside the Beetle's now-empty cargo hold. With the capsule secure, I released the grabber probe and allowed it to drift out into space. At some point I'll send a tug to dock with it and bring it to one of my other SSTOs (I often have to launch them with no room in their cargo bays for grabbers of their own) but for now I'm just going to leave it where it is as its probe core and solar panels will allow it to operate on its own indefinitely. With the equipment now prepared for re-entry, I turned my attention back to the crew, still waiting in their re-entry capsules. The capsules were sent down one at a time, with the first containing Meligh Kerman (the pilot for the Gilly mining operation,) Megsa Kerman (Gilly mining engineer and also the Kerbal sent down to Eve's surface,) Mary Kerman (Explorer 1's commander and pilot) and Trabin Kerman (a pilot rescued in LKO and sent down with the Explorer crew since there was a seat available.) Aboard the second capsule were Kerford Kerman (Explorer 1's chief engineer,) Jonbro Kerman (Explorer 1 lander pilot,) and Explorer 1 scientists Berdia Kerman and Lemnard Kerman. With the crew safe on the ground, the Moho lander executed its re-entry burn. This craft was initially meant to accompany Explorer 1 on its upcoming journeys to the outer planets (hence its use of an RTG instead of solar panels,) but subsequent developments led to the design of new landers for those missions, and at any rate bringing the lander down would allow me to complete my latest "Explore Moho" contract, which required the recovery of a craft that had been to Moho's surface. Still, it was never designed to land on Kerbin so I was a bit concerned about whether or not it could handle re-entry and landing. While it did start tumbling late in the re-entry process, by that point it was going slow enough that re-entry heat had already started to drop off and it was able to make landfall completely intact. Finally, there was the routine operation of de-orbiting the Beetle SSTO in order to bring its unique cargo to the KSC for analysis. All in all, I'd call this mission a complete success.