ShuttleHugger

STS-71C Atlantis Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Martha Cummins (CDR), Victoria Rowbottom (PLT), Anna Protz (MS1), Ridley Warren (MS2), Jasmine Nowell (MS3), Kyung-Hee Min, South Korea (PS1), Gökhan Yıldırım, Turkey (PS2) Backup Crew: Yeong-Gi Jeong, South Korea (PS1), Ata Dilşad, Turkey (PS2) Payload: Kerbstar 10 commsat, KoreaSat 1 commsat, Turksat 1 commsat, 8 GAS Canisters Payload Mass: 8,022 kg Launch: June 1, 1987 4:09:00 from Pad 39A at KSC Mission Duration: 5d0h34m46s Landing: June 6, 1987 4:43:46 at KSC Statistics & Milestones: 56th Space Shuttle mission; 8th flight of Atlantis; 29th landing at KSC. Payload specialists Kyung-Hee Min and Gökhan Yıldırım became the first kerbals from South Korea and Turkey, respectively, to fly in space. Narrative Summary: After a one-day delay due to rain, Atlantis lifted off just before dawn on June 1, 1987, and, after a smooth ascent, was placed into a 44x104km orbit; this was perhaps the most perfectly targeted ascent of the Space Shuttle Program to date. The OMS burn at MET 14m inserted Atlantis into a 72x104km orbit, inclination 0.4 degrees, period 31m49s. At MET 2h03m46s the motor to open the #6 GAS Canister in the payload bay (an experiment from Aperture Laboratories and the University of Colorado) failed, preventing the experiment from functioning. It was allocated a flight slot on an upcoming shuttle mission to redo the experiment. At MET 5h16m the crew completed a very brief OMS burn to lower the orbit to 72x101km, and a second longer burn at MET 5h32m to circularize the orbit at 100x103km, period 32m44s. The crew spent the remainder of the day activating the seven working GAS Canisters in the payload bay. At MET 1d4h01m49s, the #1 battery in the shuttle aft compartment short-circuited. Kerbstar 10 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 1d5h01m50s. The first PAM burn one orbit later placed the satellite into a 100x2,887km transfer orbit. At MET 2d1h03m47s, the #2 battery in the shuttle aft compartment also short-circuited. At MET 2d3h56m47s, the #15 oxidizer tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking. Kerbstar 10 reached its operational orbit just before crew wake-up for FD4. KoreaSat 1 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 2d5h28m24s. After one PAM burn the payload was in a 101x2,880km transfer orbit. At MET 3d1h29m54s, the battery in the Turksat 1 probe core short-circuited; this was not on-orbit repairable. KoreaSat 1 reached its operational orbit just after the crew awoke on FD5. At MET 3d4h16m44s, the #6 oxidizer tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking. Turksat 1 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 4d0h29m03s. The first PAM burn placed the payload into a 102x2,875km orbit. At MET 4d1h06m44s the #14 oxidizer tank began leaking. At MET 4d2h31m54s, the deployment motor on the #4 GAS Canister failed. Turksat 1 reached its operational orbit early on FD6. At MET 4d4h30m12s the battery in the orbiter flight deck failed. The crew completed the deorbit burn at MET 5d0h15m. Entry interface occurred at MET 5d0h21m30s. Cummins and Rowbottom brought Atlantis in for a hard landing at KSC, with wheel stop at MET 5d0h34m46s. Next Up: Columbia is scheduled to lift off on July 3 on the Kerbin Observations Mission. In Other News: The Kerbal States Congress has approved the construction of a fifth operational Space Shuttle orbiter in order to meet the flight rates necessary to support the Space Station Liberty program and projected increased demand for flights in the 1990s. To be constructed largely from flight spares created during the construction of Discovery and Atlantis, the new orbiter, OV-105, could be delivered to KSC as early as mid-1989.

STS-72B Discovery Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Ronnie Queen (CDR), Rahman Danniel (PLT), James Hasenkamp (MS1), Carsten Lupo (MS2), Lionel Mollown (PS1), Emma Parish (PS2) Payload: GPS II-4, GPS II-5, GPS II-6 navigation satellites Payload Mass: 7,998 kg Launch: May 27, 1987 1:13:49 from SLC-6 at Dessert Air Force Base Mission Duration: 4d5h58m10s Landing: May 32, 1987 1:11:59 at Dessert Air Force Base Statistics & Milestones: 55th Space Shuttle mission; 13th flight of Discovery; 5th launch from and 4th landing at Dessert Air Force Base; 12th dedicated DOD mission, and second to be unclassified. Narrative Summary: Discovery lifted off on the first launch opportunity on May 27, 1987, to place its GPS satellite payloads into GPS Plane C. It was placed into an initial 23x214 km orbit. The OMS burn at MET 17m placed it into a 72x214 km orbit, inclination 66.8 degrees, period 35m41s. At MET 4h26m the crew performed an OMS burn to raise the orbit to 102x214km, and a second at 4h44m to circularize the orbit to 97x106km, period 32m44s. At MET 1d4h58m14s, one of the reaction wheels aboard GPS II-4 failed, but as this satellite was in the forward position in the payload bay, no on-orbit repair was possible. At MET 1d5h21m48s GPS II-4 was deployed from the payload bay. The first PAM burn one orbit later put the payload onto a 105x1,469km transfer orbit. The second PAM burn and two RCS burns placed the satellite in its operational 1,581x1,583km orbit, period 2h59m35s. GPS II-5 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 2d4h17m43s. The first PAM burn half an orbit later placed the satellite onto a 97x1,510km transfer orbit. The second PAM burn and one RCS burn placed the satellite into a near-operational 1,506x1,582km orbit, but due to miscalculations the satellite was in the wrong position with respect to GPS II-4, and so it was left to drift until the relative phase angle reached an acceptable value. GPS II-6 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 3d4h47m44s. The first PAM burn one orbit later placed it into a 98x1,506km transfer orbit. Like GPS II-5, the angle with respect to GPS II-4 upon insertion into near-semi-synchronous orbit was incorrect and it was left to drift until it reached the correct angle. The crew conducted the deorbit burn at MET 4d5h39m, but overshot slightly and lowered the periapsis to -9 km. Entry interface occurred at MET 4d5h45m10s. Discovery made a smooth touchdown at Dessert AFB at MET 4d5h58m10s. The mission went very smoothly overall, with no malfunctions of the orbiter itself. Next Up: Atlantis is currently standing ready on Launch Pad 39A. Launch on Mission STS-71C, carrying three commsats and the first Korean and Turkish astronauts, is scheduled for May 36.

Thanks! I do not have a publicly-available craft file, mostly because a key part of the look are custom decals and I'm not sure how to deal with that. The shuttle is also pretty finicky to fly.

Soyuz TM-6 Druzhba Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Up: Kirill Giorgadze (CDR), Maksim Yakolev (FE), Tamara Popov (RC); Down: Filipp Sokolovsky (CDR), Anastasiya Chayka (FE), Anna Ignatova (RC) Backup Crew: Anna Krupin (CDR), Dmitri Maisuradze (FE), Modest Nikolaev (RC) Launch: May 15, 1987 0:20:34 from Site 33 at Woomerang Cosmodrome Docking: May 16, 1987 2:39:46 at Kvant's aft port Undocking: May 20, 1987 0:11:30 Landing: May 20, 1987 1:34:30 in the Indian Ocean Mission Duration: 5d1h13m56s (spacecraft), 216d4h15m09s (crew) Narrative Summary: The fourth long-duration Svoboda crew lifted off onboard Soyuz TM-6 into the predawn darkness on May 15, 1987. The spacecraft callsign was Druzhba (Friendship), in recognition of the upcoming join SSSR-USA docking mission that would take place during their stay on Svoboda. The first stage underperformed, but two burns with the second stage inserted the spacecraft into an 82x84km orbit inclined 1.0 degrees from that of Svoboda. The crew completed a burn at 0:44 to zero out their inclination with respect to Svoboda, and a second at 1:21 to raise the orbit to 82x155km. During the burn the forward monoproplleant tank in the Soyuz service module began leaking. More than half of the spacecraft's fuel was lost to space; mission managers ordered the rendezvous with Svoboda to go ahead, but began pondering contingencies. If the second tank also sprang a leak, the spacecraft would not be able to return to Kerbin on its own. After deliberations, the Markosmos leadership decided to proceed with docking, then have the outgoing crew return to Kerbin on Soyuz TM-6. The Soyuz TM-7 launch would be moved up, while the Soyuz TM-5 capsule would remain at the station slightly beyond its certified life. Due to the riskier nature of these missions, the Interkosmos cosmonaut planned for Soyuz TM-7 would be bumped to the next mission, with cascading effect. At 1:51 on May 16, the crew completed a burn to set up a 1.4 km pass by Svoboda at a Delta v of 17.6 m/s one orbit later. The crew commenced the terminal rendezvous sequence at 2:28. Soyuz TM-6 docked to Kvant's aft port at 2:39:46, moments after orbital sunset. Soon thereafter they opened the hatches and joined Sokolovsky, Chayka, and Ignatova aboard Svoboda for an abbreviated few days of joint operations. On May 20 the EO-3 crew of Sokolovsky, Chayka, and Ignatova bid farewell to their replacements Giorgadze, Yakolev, and Popov and boarded the malfunctioning Soyuz TM-6 spacecraft for their ride home. They undocked at 0:11:30, backed away from Svoboda, and completed the deorbit burn at 1:20. Two minutes later the reaction wheels in the command module computer unit failed. The three modules separated at 1:26:46, entry interface occurred at 1:28:30, and splashed down at 1:34:30 in the Indian Ocean at 13d40m21s N, 134d49m21s E.

STS-61O Challenger Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Casimir Deniau (CDR), Ellis Beitel (PLT), Bill Kerman (MS1), Zachary Averesch (MS2), Alanna Zelenko (MS3), Paquita Oquendo, Mexico (PS1), Lucia Santos, Brazil (PS2) Backup Crew: Amparo Maradona, Mexico (PS1), Estefania Duarte, Brazil (PS2) Payload: DoCielo 2 commsat, AztlanSat II commsat, Maritime Commnet B commsat, 4x GAS Canisters Payload Mass: 6,596 kg Launch: May 13, 1987 0:54:00 from Pad 39B at KSC Mission Duration: 4d4h39m22s Landing: May 17, 1987 5:33:22 at KSC Statistics & Milestones: 54th Space Shuttle mission; 17th flight of Challenger; 10th Space Shuttle launch from Pad 39B; 28th landing at KSC. Payload Specialist Lucia Santos became the first Brazilian kerbal to fly in space. Narrative Summary: STS-61O debuted the new ACES pressure suits, featuring improved safety, lighter weight, and better comfort as the Shuttle Program moves towards the Space Station Liberty era. The crew posed for a pre-launch group portrait at the launch pad: Left to right: Oquendo, Averesch, Beitel, Deniau, Kerman, Zelenko, Santos Challenger lifted off on the first launch opportunity on May 13, 1987, carrying three commsats for Mexico, Brazil, and the Kerbal States Coast Guard. It was placed into an initial 25x211km orbit. The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 17m to place the orbiter into a 73x211km orbit, inclination 1.2 degrees, period 35m36s. At MET 4h44m the crew completed an OMS burn to lower the orbit to 72x101km. At MET 4h47m25s, the #4 battery in the orbiter aft compartment short-circuited. They completed a second OMS burn at MET 4h58m to circularize the orbit to 99x102km, period 32m41s. Later in the day the crew activated the GAS Canisters in the payload bay. At MET 1d2h01m45s, the shuttle's #3 battery also short-circuited. DoCielo 2 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 1d5h11m10s. The first PAM burn one orbit later placed the payload into a 100x3,081km transfer orbit. The upper stage PAM burn and two correction maneuvers placed the payload into its operational geosynchronous orbit. AztlanSat II was deployed from the payload bay at MET 3d0h47m48s. 31 minutes after deployment, the battery in its probe core short-circuited. The first PAM burn shortly thereafter placed the payload in a nearly perfect 100x2,863km transfer orbit. Thanks to the excellent first PAM burn, only a single RCS maneuver was necessary to insert the satellite into its operational orbit. At MET 3d4h03m38s, the deployment motors in the #4 GAS Canister in the payload bay failed. Maritime Comment B was deployed from the payload bay at MET 3d4h38m36s. The PAM burn one orbit later placed the payload into a 99x2,970km transfer orbit. The upper stage PAM burn and two RCS correction maneuvers delivered the satellite to its operational orbit. The crew closed the payload bay doors at MET 4d4h04m, and completed the deorbit burn at MET 4d4h20m. Entry interface occurred at MET 4d4h26m04s. At MET 4d4h31m21s the internal battery in the #2 fuel cell short-circuited. Deniau and Beitel brought Challenger in for a hard landing at KSC with wheel stop at MET 4d4h39m22s. Next Up: Discovery is scheduled to lift off on May 27 from Dessert AFB carrying three more GPS satellites on mission STS-72B. In Other News: The Mishchenie 28 freighter undocked from Svoboda on May 13, and disposed of itself in the Pacific Ocean. The Soyuz TM-6 spacecraft lifted off from Woomerang Cosmodrome on May 15 and docked with Svoboda the next day. A mission report will follow. In Meta: This mission, with payload specialists from Mexico and Brazil, was, of course, my nod to the team who made KSP, in thanks for making such a great game. On a personal note, I surpassed 1000 hours playing KSP during this mission!

I'm back! It's been a rather long hiatus, but I've picked KSP back up and should be posting new missions here at least intermittently. It will probably take a very long time (each orbiter is rated for 100 missions and I've only flown a little over 50 flights total), but I do have some plans for a Shuttle Mk. 2 and perhaps a Shuttle C heavy launch vehicle for the late '90s-early '00s. Mishchenie 28 Launch Report (I don't usually post mission reports for cargo missions, but here's one just to have some actual content in this post...) The Mishchenie 28 freighter lifted off into the predawn sky from Site 33 at Woomerang Cosmodrome at 0:38:16 on April 29, 1987. The booster slightly underperformed on launch, leaving the vehicle in an initial 5x122km orbit, but at 0:47 the spacecraft completed a contingency burn to raise its orbit to 80x122km, period 32m44s, inclination 45.4 degrees (or 0.2 degrees with respect to Svoboda). At 1:01 it conducted another burn to zero out its inclination with Svoboda's orbit, and a third at 1:04 to raise the orbit to 81x155km and set up the rendezvous sequence. Due to unlucky phasing at the time of launch the catch-up sequence was unusually long. At 1:34 on April 30 the vehicle conducted a burn to set up a pass by Svoboda at 1.5 km distance and 42.3 m/s Delta v one orbit later. Mischchenie 28 began the terminal rendezvous sequence at 2:08, and docked to the aft port of Kvant at 2:22:16. After docking, Svoboda had a total mass of 23,590 kg.

STS-61Q Columbia Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Abe Dykstra (CDR), Ted Valencia (PLT), Ethan Santoro (MS1), Kolby Baart (MS2), Fred Langbrook (MS3), Takeshi Akiyama, Japan (PS1), Yukiko Watanabe, Japan (PS2), Mao Suzuki, Japan (PS3) Backup Crew: Aiko Moto, Japan (PS1), Kenji Matsumoto, Japan (PS2), Hoshi Maki, Japan (PS3) Payload: Spacelab J-1: Spacelab Pressurized Module 2, Spacelab Vacuum Pallet Payload Mass: 6,714 kg Launch: March 18, 1987 5:30:00 from Pad 39A at Kerbal Space Center Mission Duration: 10d0h35m57s Landing: March 29, 1987 0:05:57 at Edwards Air Force Range Statistics & Milestones: 53rd Space Shuttle mission; 18th flight of Columbia; 22nd landing at Edwards AFR. Commander Abe Dykstra became the first kerbal to fly on the Shuttle five times, while Payload Specialists Takeshi Akiyama, Yukiko Watanabe, and Mao Suzuki became the first Japanese kerbals to fly into space. Columbia surpassed 100 days of flight time, and the Shuttle fleet as a whole surpassed 300 days, on this flight. The first launch abort of the Space Shuttle Program occurred on this mission. Narrative Summary: Columbia lifted off into clear Florida skies on the first launch opportunity on March 18, 1987. It carried the second Spacelab pressurized module and a large number of experiments sponsored by the Japanese government, academia, and industry. After a nominal liftoff, problems quickly developed. 59 seconds after liftoff, the water tank in the orbiter middeck began leaking. At 1 minute 38 seconds after liftoff, the #2 (port) space shuttle main engine failed at an altitude of approximately 20 km. Under the guidance of mission control, the crew were able to execute a successful ATO (abort to orbit) by keeping the remaining two SSMEs at 100% thrust for the remainder of the ascent, as the engines were normally throttled down to 67% at this point in flight. Vehicle control after the abort was significantly more difficult than usual due to the asymmetric thrust of the two remaining SSMEs. Commander Dykstra recalled in a post-flight media briefing, “The vehicle just didn't want to fly straight. I had to wrestle the dang thing all the way up into orbit, the master alarm blaring the whole time.” The ascent nonetheless placed the orbiter into a preliminary 43x219km orbit. At MET 19m the crew completed an OMS burn to place Columbia into a 74x219km orbit, inclination 3.2 degrees, period 35m55s. Due to the water leak and lost supplies, mission controllers determined that the mission would need to be ended two days shorter than planned (with return on Flight Day 10 rather than 12) in order to not run into safety margins for consumables. Blue Team (Valencia, Santoro, Langbrook, Akiyama) went to bed at MET 30m, while Red Team (Dykstra, Baart, Watanabe, Suzuki) worked to activate all orbiter systems. The two teams swapped spots at MET 3h00m. Langbrook and Akiyama began activating Spacelab, while Valencia and Santoro prepared to maneuver the shuttle. They conducted an OMS burn at MET 4h12m to lower the orbit to 74x129km, and a second at MET 4h28m to circularize the orbit to 128x132km, period 34m45s. At MET 1d0h00m Red Team moved into Spacelab and began the mission's program of scientific experiments. Despite the excitement of the launch and the shortened mission duration, the remainder of the mission proceeded much more smoothly with a successful program of science. While the remainder of Red Team began shutting down Spacelab, Commander Dykstra began preparations to lower Columbia's orbit. Dykstra completed an OMS burn at MET 9d0h24m to lower the orbit to 100x128km, and a second at MET 9d0h40m to circularize the orbit to 98x100km. At MET 9d3h00m the final crew exchange occurred, with Red Team going to bed for their final on-orbit sleep cycle and Blue Team taking over to begin closing out all orbiter systems. The crew completed the deorbit burn at MET 10d0h17m, targeting landing at Edwards due to heavy rain at KSC. Entry interface occurred at MET 10d0h23m31s. The approach to Edwards was significantly hotter than normal, but Dykstra and Valencia nonetheless brought Columbia in for a bumpy landing with wheel stop at MET 10d0h35m57s. After landing and being returned to KSC, Columbia was rolled into Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 3 for its Double Downtime maintenance period to perform additional maintenance and upgrades, including fitting the orbiter with a GPS receiver unit. Next Up: Challenger is scheduled to lift off on May 12 on mission STS-61O, carrying Brazil's first astronaut and a cargo of commsats.

I have thought about it some, but I'm a little reluctant as my past experience has been that having too many mods installed (especially visual mods) tend to make the game chug on my machine. I already have issues with the game running slow (depending upon payload the shuttle can have anywhere between 250 and 450 parts upon launch), and I don't want to make the game run even slower.

STS-72A Discovery Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Eddie Schuchardt (CDR), Quinn Anker (PLT), Cecilia Trevis (MS1), Elizabeth Britton (MS2), Martina Moreno (PS1), Bedwyr Slovak (PS2) Payload: GPS II-1, GPS II-2, GPS II-3 Global Positioning System satellites Payload Mass: 7,998 kg Launch: March 8, 1987 0:30:00 from SLC-6 at Dessert AFB Mission Duration: 5d5h51m48s Landing: March 14, 1987 0:21:48 at Dessert AFB Statistics & Milestones: 52nd Space Shuttle mission; 12th flight of Discovery; 4th launch from and 3rd landing at Dessert AFB; 11th dedicated DOD mission, and first of these to be unclassified. The 25th spacewalk of the Space Shuttle program took place on this flight. Pilot Quinn Anker and Mission Specialist Cecilia Trevis became the first members of KSP Astronaut Group 11 (selected 1985) to fly. Narrative Summary: The first launch opportunity, on March 1, 1987 (pushed back one day due to forecast rain on February 34), was scrubbed at T-1h03m. While the crew were ingressing the orbiter, the external tank developed a hydrogen leak. Troubleshooting and fixing the problem took four days, plus time to roll the Shuttle Assembly Building (SAB) on and back. Discovery lifted off on the second launch opportunity one week later. The orbiter was placed in an initial 20x234km orbit, after an ascent marred only by some issues with the flight control software briefly locking repeatedly. At MET 6m48s the #3 oxidizer tank began leaking; as the orbiter had not yet used any of its own fuel, all of the contents were lost to space. An OMS burn at MET 17m placed Discovery into a 72x234km orbit, inclination 66.5 degrees, period 36m24s. At MET 32m57s one of the antennas aboard GPS II-1 failed, but as this satellite occupied the forward position in the payload bay on-orbit repair was not possible. At MET 2d04h05m one of the probe core batteries aboard GPS II-3 failed, triggering a repair spacewalk and a one-day extension to the mission. At MET 2d07m58s one of the monopropellant tanks aboard GPS II-3 began leaking. The crew conducted an OMS burn at MET 4m50s to lower the orbit to 71x99km, and a second RCS-assisted OMS burn at MET 5m04s to circularize the orbit to 98x99km, period 32m32s. GPS II-1 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 1d5h20m15s. Five minutes later, one GPS II-1 had drifted to a distance of half a kilometer from the shuttle, its lower PAM stage ignited to place it into a 99x1,473km transfer orbit. Over the next few hours the upper stage PAM burn and two RCS maneuvers placed it into its operational 1,581x1,583km orbit, period 2h59m35s. At MET 2d2h01m16s one of the antennas on GPS II-3 failed; its repair was added to the agenda for the EVA. GPS II-2 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 2d4h47m52s, and the PAM lower stage was ignited several minutes later when the phase angle with respect to GPS II-1 equaled the planned value of 21.4 degrees. Just before the second RCS burn to insert GPS II-2 into its operational orbit, one of its onboard antennas failed. Cecilia Trevis exited the airlock at MET 3d4h38m15s, followed by Elizabeth Britton one minute later. Trevis repaired the shorted battery and broken antenna aboard GPS II-3, and patched the leaky monopropellant tank. The spacewalkers then retreated inside Discovery. EVA time was 3m55s for Britton and 5m28s for Trevis. At MET 4d4h43m38s another one of the antennas aboard GPS II-3 failed. Mission managers decided to go ahead with deployment rather than stage another spacewalk. At MET 4d4h45m34s the #15 liquid fuel tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, less than a minute before GPS II-3 was scheduled to be deployed; the deployment was put off for one orbit to allow the crew time to focus on the malfunction. GPS II-3 was finally deployed from the payload bay at MET 4d5h25m51s. At MET 4d5h26m16s the #3 oxygen tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking. The first stage PAM burn placed the satellite into a 98x1,516km transfer orbit. After the second PAM burn and two RCS burns it reached its operational orbit, but shortly thereafter another of its antennas failed. The crew completed the deorbit burn at MET 5d5h31m. Entry interface occurred at MET 5d5h37m08s. Schuchardt and Anker brought Discovery in for a smooth landing at Dessert AFB with wheel stop at MET 5d5h51m48s. Next Up: The day before Discovery landed, Columbia was rolled out to Pad 39A at KSC. It is scheduled to launch on March 18 on mission STS-61Q, an international space lab mission sponsored by Japan that will see the first Japanese astronauts reach space.

Thanks! Most of them are hand-drawn, at least partially. For most of the patches, I first draw the main elements with pencil on paper, and then scan them. I use GIMP to composite everything together, and add the color, text, and geometric shapes. A few of the patches are purely digital compositions, usually because they require angles of the shuttle that my limited artistic skills aren't up to reproducing; in those cases I digitally trace over a screenshot to get the perspective I want. It took me dozens of test flights in another save game to get the design right before STS-1. The wings on my external tank were my way of keeping it from flipping on launch. The malfunctions are produced by the DangIt! Continued mod.

That's not really on my radar for the Station--I want to build it more like the ISS actually was--but I would consider using a Shuttle C for the Duna program I have notionally planned for the late 90s or early 00s.

Kvant Launch Report Quick Summary: Crew: None Payload: Kvant Laboratory Module; Kvant Transfer Module Payload mass: 8,917 kg; lab module only: 7,192 kg Launch: March 1, 1987 1:32:15 from Site 42 at Woomerang Cosmodrome Launcher: Neitron Docking: March 2, 1987 0:42:42 to Svoboda's aft port Narrative Summary: On February 31, the Svoboda EO-3 crew of Sokolovsky, Chayka, and Ignatova boarded Soyuz TM-5 and closed the hatches to Svoboda. They undocked from the aft port at 1:54:00 and backed away to a distance of 40 m. They paused the spacecraft there while Svoboda rotated itself to present the forward port towards the Soyuz. They redocked to the forward port at 2:04:09, 10m09s after undocking. This would be the last time that the Svoboda core module would be in free flight with no docked modules or spacecraft. This maneuver cleared the aft port for the launch of the Kvant module four days later. The first additional module for space station Svoboda, the Kvant laboratory module, lifted off aboard a Neitron rocket on March 1. In addition to laboratory space and equipment, it carried some 70 days' worth of supplies for the station crew. Kvant itself was not designed for free flight, and so it was launched attached to a Transfer Module (derived from the Soyuz/Mishchenie service module) to steer it safely to the station. A smooth ascent placed the module and upper stage into an initial 72x111km orbit inclined 0.5 degrees with respect to that of Svoboda. At 1:44 the Neitron upper stage relit to zero out Kvant's inclination with respect to Svoboda. Kvant and its transfer stage then separated from the upper stage to proceed with the rendezvous. At 2:15 it performed a burn to raise its orbit to 72x155km and set up a rendezvous sequence with Svoboda. At 5:53 it performed another burn to set up a 1.0 km pass by Svoboda one orbit later at a relative velocity of 50.3 m/s. Kvant commenced the terminal rendezvous sequence at 0:28 on March 2. Kvant docked to the aft port of Svoboda at 0:42:42. At 1:38 the built-in battery in the Kvant aft compartment short-circuited. Soon thereafter the EO-3 crew opened the hatches and entered Kvant for the first time on-orbit. At 1:14 on March 3 the crew deployed Kvant's own solar arrays. Kvant's transfer module was undocked at 0:53:00 on March 4. Shortly thereafter it performed a maneuver to dispose of itself in the Pacific Ocean. After disposal of the transfer module, Svoboda and its docked spacecraft had a total mass of 20,360 kg.

I do like the Dual Keel design, but given the amount of effort that I need to put into every flight (especially complex missions like the assembly flights will be) I didn't want to be overambitious. It's already going to take me at least 23 missions to assemble, so at least 6 months of IRL time (practically more because they'll be interspersed with other flights).

I think it's going to be somewhere between the IRL ISS and the Bush-era Space Station Freedom design. I'm planning to use the HabTech2 mod for the truss, so that will be basically identical to the ISS. The module configuration will be more like the later Freedom designs than the ISS. This is my current planned (subject to change) module configuration (left is front view, right is top view): I particularly like the Freedom design feature of two parallel modules, so I use that in several places. Given my rate of progress on the missions so far, though, it may be up to another IRL year before I even start building the station...

Soyuz TM-5 Yastreb Launch Report Quick Summary: Crew: Vasilisa Kalnins (CDR), Georgiy Bogomolov (FE), Wedad Zaman, Syria (RC) Backup Crew: Petras Vinogradov (CDR), Gerasim Romanov (FE), Hadiyya Abbas, Syria (RC) Launch: February 19, 1987 1:45:44 from Site 33 at Woomerang Cosmodrome Docking: February 20, 1987 2:36:44 at Svoboda's aft port Narrative Summary: The Mishchenie 27 freighter undocked from Svoboda at 1:05:00 on February 17 and dropped itself into the Pacific Ocean for disposal, thus opening a docking port for Soyuz TM-5. Soyuz TM-5, callsign Yastreb, lifted off from Woomerang Cosmodrome on February 19. This was the first Soyuz rotation flight to Svoboda, allowing the EO-3 crew launched on Soyuz TM-4 to remain in space for longer than their spacecraft was rated for. This was also the first Interkosmos flight to Svoboda, carrying Syrian Air Force pilot Wedad Zaman for a week-long stay aboard Svoboda, during which time he would conduct a variety of experiments. The launch placed the spacecraft into a 94x155km preliminary orbit, inclined by 0.9 degrees with respect to that of Svoboda. The crew completed a burn at 2:05 to align their orbit with that of Svoboda. At 1:48 on February 20 they made another burn to adjust the orbit to 102x155km and set up a pass by Svoboda at 1 km distance and 45.5 m/s Delta v one orbit later. It docked to Svoboda's aft port at 2:36:44. One orbit later the crew opened the hatches and Kalnins, Bogomolov, and Zaman greeted Filipp Sokolovsky, Anastasiya Chayka, and Anna Ignatova aboard the station and began a week of joint operations. Soyuz TM-4 Almaz Landing Report Quick Summary: Crew: Vasilisa Kalnins (CDR), Georgiy Bogomolov (FE), Wedad Zaman, Syria (RC) Undocking: February 28, 1987 2:16:30 Landing: February 28, 1987 3:03:12 Mission Duration: 119d5h43m51s (spacecraft), 9d1h18m28s (crew) Narrative Summary: On February 28, 1987, the downgoing crew of Kalnins, Bogomolov, and Zaman boarded Soyuz TM-4 and bid farewell to Sokolovsky, Chayka, and Ignatova aboard Svoboda. They undocked at 2:16:30. They completed the deorbit burn at 2:48, and experienced a nominal re-entry. The parachute failed to deploy automatically, but the crew were able to deploy it manually at an altitude of ~1.5 km. They splashed down at 3:03:12 in the southern Indian Ocean, at 6d4h52m S, 149d20m08s E.