Kuiper_Belt

Another Timeline Expect the Constellation overview soon! Just putting finishing touches on a couple parts of the mission!

Family Photo The mod list included in the original post is what I use. It's not fully updated but it gives a good idea. As for reference photos I usually first look at the Wikipedia, and a website called spacefacts. I don't go out of my way to recreate a ton of real shots but those are good reference for that as well as looking at the state of the Orbiter, Payload Bay, Satellite etc. In addition I also consult these nice PDFs 1 & 2 for the Orbiter's exterior and the given stack.

STS-51-A - The Ace Repo Co. - November 8th, 1984 Space Shuttle Discovery's second flight would prove to push Space Shuttle missions to new heights. Earlier in 1984 STS-41-B launched two satellites Palapa B2 and Westar 6, then debuted the Manned Maneuvering Unit. Palapa and Westar both suffered from faulty apogee kick motors, but were otherwise healthy. STS-51-A would show the world what a Shuttle could do. One could simply describe the mission as "Two Up, Two Down". Commanded by Fred Hauck, 51-A marked a new era of Space Shuttle Commanders, specifically Hauck was the first non Apollo era astronaut to command a Space Shuttle. Piloted by David Walker and crewed by mission specialists Joseph Allen, Anna Lee Fisher and Dale Gardner. Together they formed The Ace Repo Company, with the express mission of deploying two satellites and recovering the two previously launched aboard STS-41-B. The satellites indicate the domination of Hughes Space and Communication with all of the satellites involved on the mission being built by Hughes, 3 being the HS-376 (one of the most popular commercial comm sat busses ) and Leasat being the one HS-381. With one scrub behind the crew, Ace Repo Co. prepared for liftoff at 7:15 EDT. After the 8 and a half minute ride to orbit was over, Discovery opened her payload bay to reveal the suite of equipment necessary to complete the mission at hand. In the later half of the payload bay were two satellite dispensers the forward dispenser carrying Anik D2 and the aft carrying Leasat-1. Ahead of the dispensers were two Spacelab Pallets. Installed on them were their respective Satellite mounting hardware and the Apogee Capture Devices or "Stingers". Designed to be inserted through the nozzle of the Apogee motors of the to be captured satellites, the Stinger would mounted to the included Manned Maneuvering Unit and piloted by the astronaut to capture the desired satellite. Anik D2 would be the first deployed on Flight Day 2 on the far side of Earth. Before being released the satellite would be spun up to 30 revolutions per minute and deployed. The Hues series of satellites are spin stabilized with the communications antenna placed on isolated plates that stay pointed at Earth at all times. After reaching the operational orbit the HS-376 would deploy the extendable solar skirt and various transmission antenna, beginning the service life of Anik D2. Afterwards on Flight Day 3 Leasat-1 would be deployed from Discovery. After the satellite deployments, Ace Repo Co. would begin to maneuver to rendezvous with Palapa B2 for capture. On Flight Day 4, Discovery is close enough to Palapa B2 to begin the first EVA of the mission. Beginning at 13:25 UTC on November 12th, Mission Specialists Joseph Allen and Dale Gardner would step outside and prepare the MMU for free flight with assistance from Anna Lee Fisher who would control the CanadArm. For EVA-1 Joseph Allen would pilot the MMU towards Palapa. Palapa was spinning at the time of rendezvous but after capture was brought down to 1 revolution per minute but when brought back to the payload bay attempts to grab it with assistance with the CanadArm were unsuccessful but with improvisation from the crew and brute force the satellite was placed in the mount. EVA-1 took 6 hours flat to complete ending at 19:25 UTC and was as success. Now the Ace Repo Company could maneuver and rendezvous with Westar 6 EVA-2 Began on November 14th at 11:09 UTC where Allen and Gardner stepped outside for the final time. Gardner would get to pilot the MMU and capture Westar 6. EVA-2 was a resounding success being significantly easier to capture and secure the satellite. Gardner and Joseph then held up a "For Sale" sign in front of the satellites for a bit of fun and then ended the EVA after 5 hours 42 minutes at 16:51 UTC. This would be the final time the Manned Maneuvering Unit would be used and the last untethered EVA until the SAFER test in 1994 on STS 64. The final day of the mission the the crew prepared for reentry closing payload bay doors and performing the reentry burn. STS-51-A and The Ace Repo Co. touched down at Runway 15 at the Shuttle Landing Facility in Cape Canaveral Florida at 6:59 EDT, marking the last use of the MMU and no mission like its kind would ever be conducted again. The Space Shuttle would continue to service, deploy and recover satellites but would lack the majesty of floating alone in the abyss. Thank you for the wait. This mission was a wonderful experience to make and I need to figure out how to integrate the MMU into alternate history missions. I think the next Shuttle Skylab will see an MMU but we'll have to see. But before the Shuttle Skylab... The Constellation Program Architecture Is Coming Soon!

The Home Stretch Finished off the mission today! Westar VI was a breeze compared to Palapa B2 in terms of recovery. It helps I did most of it in daylight but I also knew what I was doing. Expect it within the next 24 hours or so! If you are talking about the old Columbia ejection seats then I do not unfortunately, though its on the todo list! If you are talking about the danger dorito then you're in luck! You can follow the link to the drive file with it uploaded there, or you could just copy the image enclosed in the spoiler! Step 1: Go on EVA Step 2: ??? Step 3: Notice you are at near luminal speeds Step 4: Profit If this isn't Kerbal than I dont know what is! Constellation Is On Deck!

Kraken Bait Been working on the flight for most of the day! Mission was going smooth until reloading physics range, a spontaneous change of cameras position, the altimeter being measured in trillions and the resulting Unity error! The mission is taking much longer than expected, sorry for the delays .

STS-51A On Pad Playing Around with Tiled Columbia Expect STS-51A soon, Constellation soonish and Skylab Power Module soonish2 !

reColor has escaped my mind! Thank you for bringing it back to my attention. I like the orange white tank, it gives me creamsicle vibes Looks quite interesting! I'll have to keep my eyes on this in the future. This is by no means a promise but should the right circumstances arise in the near future, I wouldn't mind giving it a shot. Do not count on it I want to see a public version as much as you guys. Finished the STS-51A payload bay configuration, tomorrow is planned to be satellite finalization and stack config finalization!

STS-51A In Progress & Constellation Is In The Works

The International Space Station - H-1 2006 - Impending Arrivals The first half of 2006 would mark the last period of time where the Shuttle wouldn't regularly be visiting until the fleets eventual retirement. After Discovery's return as STS-121 the ISS would resume assembly with new truss segments and habitable modules being lifted to the orbiting laboratory. The first activities of the new year would involve the launch of a satellite. Expedition 12 EVA 2 & Deploying Suit Sat - February 3rd, 2006 Expedition 12's second and final EVA included several activates, such as retrieving and monitoring various experiments and equipment on the exterior of the station. Moving, and securing components of the station , including the now compromised Mobile Base System. To add to the excitement would be the deployment of SuitSat-1, an old Orlan EVA suit that had been stuffed with electronics to become a satellite with a radio transmitter for students across the world to receive and attempt to transmit to. Long after the 5 hour 43 minute EVA was completed, SuitSat-1 would reenter the atmosphere at 16:00 GMT on September 7th of 2006. Departure of Progress M-54 - March 3rd, 2006 Following a 175 day stay attached to Zvezda''s aft port, periodically boosting and supplying the station with consumables, Progress M-54 would undock at 10:06 UTC on March 3rd to deorbit and provide an extra docking space for Soyuz TMA-7. Progress -54 would burn up over the pacific at 13:52 UTC ending the 177 day mission. Soyuz TMA-7 Port Relocation - March 20th, 2006 The crew of Expedition 7 now grown discontent with their spot attached to Zarya's nadir port and having already docking to Pirs left one option, the newly vacant Zvezda aft Port. At 06:49 on March 20th Valery Tokarev and William McArthur undocked from Zarya and pulled around to Zvezda's aft port and docked at 07:11 UTC, just 21 minutes apart from the laboratory. Now with Zarya's nadir port cleared, the Expedition 13 crew could arrive at the orbital outpost. Launch & Arrival of Soyuz TMA-8 & Expedition 13 - March 30th, 2006 (The Kerbals in this image must have used some crazy good fertilizer around Site 1/5) Sitting atop Gagarin's Start at the Baikonur Cosmorome the crew of Soyuz TMA-8 awaited their voyages start. Consisting of Pavel Vinogradov and Jeffery Williams of Expedition 13 and Marcos Pontes of the Brazilian Space Agency the crew would lift off at 07:30 local time. After launch Pontes became the first Brazilian in space. After spending 2 days in a rendezvous orbit, the crew of Expedition 7 confirmed docking of Soyuz TMA-8 at 04:19 UTC marking the beginning of the one week join Expedition 12/13 mission. Soyuz TMA-7 Departure & Landing - April 8th, 2006 After a 187 day stay aboard the, ISS Expedition 12 and Marcos Pontes, climbed into Soyuz TMA-7 and undocked from Zvezda at 20:28 UTC on April 8th. After reentering the atmosphere, the crew would land down at nearly 05:00 local time. Progress M-56 Launch and Docking - April 24, 2006 With the now unoccupied Aft Zvezda port and no new Soyuz launches for the foreseeable future, Progress M-56 would launch at 21:03 local time to dock tot Zvezda's aft port to provide orbital maintenance capabilities as well as ferry supplies to the Expedition 13 crew. Docking to the ISS at 17:41 UTC on April 26th after the two day rendezvous orbit, the station would enter a drought of activity through the rest of April and all of May. Expedition 13 EVA-1 - June 1st, 2006 Since February a crew hadn't stepped outside the station, but Expedition 13 would end that streak. Included in the 6 hour 31 minute EVA the crew would repair components of the Elektron oxygen producer, retrieve an experiment and contamination monitoring device and make repairs on the Mobile Base System. Departure of Progress M-55 - June 19th, 2006 After a launch and docking in December of 2005, Progress M-55's 179 day stay at the outpost came to an end on June 19th, 2006 to allow for its replacement to launch and dock. The spacecraft separated from the station at 14:06 UTC and deorbited nearly 4 hour later. Progress M-57 Launch & Docking - June 24th, 2006 Standing by on the Soyuz U at Site 1/5 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Progress M-57 would lift off from at 20:08 local time, with a planned docking in 2 days time. Progress M-57 docked to Pirs at June 26th, 16:25 UTC marking the final major event at the ISS, prior to the next shuttle flight in 8 days. STS-121 Coming Soon & Congratulations to Jeb and Boeing with the Successful Starliner Mission to the ISS! Can't wait to cover it in a gazillian years

It Is Important To Maintain Routine H1 2006 Missions coming soon! (Had been delayed due to some mod changes and various technical difficulties. Currently my height map is still screwed up but I think I've got a solution!)

Thanks! I used Balliisticfox's neutral configs generally. I have every TUFX profile they've got on their github and I generally switch between them and Alverro's configs You can thank Lemon Cup for that! We plan on making a new version, but I as of now we dont really plan on releasing craft files for them as they are quite janky to use sometimes .

STS-89 - Practice Makes Perfect - January 22, 1998 Late on a January night Space Shuttle Endeavour and their crew, sat atop Pad 39A, waiting for the Earth to fall under Mir's orbit. Marking the eighth mission to Mir by a Space Shuttle, this would be Endeavour's first voyage to a Space Station and would not be her last. Endeavour would next fly counterintuitively STS-88 later in the year, to deliver Unity, the first U.S. module of the International Space Station, signaling a new chapter in international space collaboration, and the next generation of space station. Endeavour and the crew sat back waiting for the clock to run down for a launch at 22:26 EST. (This will be a screenshot oriented mission. Less description -in fact none! Prepare for a screenshot dump!) After 8 days 19 hours in space and 4 days 20 hours docked to Mir, Endeavour touched down at Runway 15 of the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility, right around sunset at the cape. Wrapping up her first and only mission to the Russian station, Endeavour would be processed for 11 months before beginning her voyage to the Infant ISS for STS-88. Hopefully you enjoyed the mission! Now that I've completed two missions each with a varied content style I'll spend some time thinking about how I should proceed with the style. Any feedback you could give would be appreciated. I'll be posting a poll soon with the next missions I'm thinking of conducting and you fellows could show me what you'd be interested in! I've got a lot of free time now so I hope to be posting more missions more frequently between this and ISS Adventures. I also switched back to KSRSS but that isn't super important. Happy to be back in business and more missions coming soon! Catch you later

I just opened them ! For real now, I downloaded the dev version of Katniss Cape Canaveral (It kept saying the file was corrupted so I had to repair it with WinRar which wasn't difficult) copied only the VAB files over to instance of Katniss Cape Canaveral I already had installed in the game data (This would be version 1.2.2), booted up the game, deleted the old OSSNTR VAB and placed the Katniss VAB in its place (Note: the little protuberance where stages are brought into the VAB prior to stacking is supposed to be facing south) I have the Katniss VAB set to .6 scale as a middle ground to look big from the launch pads and be close to the appropriate scale. Top open the doors you need to click on the dark grey part above the each door. Kerbal Konstructs is kind of wacky such that if you open/close a door while another door is in the process of its open/close animation it will pause it. This allows you to have partially open/closed doors but when you try to resume the animation it will snap to the state it was previously attempting to reach, so if you paused it on the way to it being fully closed when you attempt to resume the animation it will snap all the way to closed and begin to open as the game thinks its closed all the way. Hopefully this makes sense. Here is a nice picture before rollout and then a shot of Mir

Taking a Lovely Stroll Outside! STS-89 Coming Soon!

The International Space Station - H-2 2005 - Back To Business After the visit from Space Shuttle Discovery, the Space Station now must be prepared for further assembly. After a drought of assembly missions due to the Columbia disaster and subsequent grounding of the shuttle fleet, the Space Station would need to be restocked with more supplies, but before this happens the crew of Expedition 11 would need to step outside. Expedition 11 EVA-1 - August 18th, 2005 Expedition 11's only EVA had -several objectives including but not limited to, the retrieval of the retired Matroska Experiment and one Biorisk experiment canister, removal of the Micro-Particles Capturerer and Space Environment Exposure Device Experiments, and installation of a docking camera for the European Automated Transfer Vehicle. The crew would begin the EVA at 19:02 on August 18th. After 4 hours 58 minutes of work outside the Station the crew would reenter the Pirs airlock at 00:00 August 19th , after completing all objectives. This EVA was originally going to be followed up by a second EVA but was cancelled. Departure of Progress M-53 - September 7th, 2005 Progress M-53 after spending 80 days docked to the orbital laboratory would undock from the Zvezda at 10:25 UTC, carrying garbage to be disposed of as well as making space for Progress M-54. Eighty three days after the Mission began, Progress M-53 deorbited and burned up over the Pacific Ocean, carrying garbage generated by the ISS crew. Launch of Progress M-54 - September 8th, 2005 Twenty three hours after the pervious undocking, Progress M-54 lifted off from Site 1-5 at Baikonur Cosmodrome to replace Progress M-53 carrying fuel and supplies for the soon to be growing station. After liftoff, Progress would be placed in a 2 day rendezvous orbit with the ISS for docking at 14:42 UTC, September 10th. Once docked the crew opened the hatch and revealed -among other things- a radio transmitter for a satellite that would be deployed from the ISS the following year called SuitSat. SuitSat would however not be deployed by Expedition 11 but Expedition 12, which was next to launch. Launch of Soyuz TMA-7 - Delivery of Expedition 12 - October 1st, 2005 With lift off at 08:55 local time Commander Valery Tokarev, Flight Engineer William McArthur and Spaceflight Participant Gergory Olsen lifted off from Site 1-5 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome with a docking 49 hours from liftoff after coasting for 2 days in a rendezvous orbit. This would be the last mission for all of the crew. Soyuz TMA-7 approached and docked with Pirs at 05:27 UTC on October 3rd beginning a one week joint stay with the crew of Soyuz TMA-6 before their eventual departure. This would also mark the beginning of Soyuz TMA-7's 46 day stay attached to Pirs. Return of Soyuz TMA-6 - The Departure of Expedition 12 - October 10th, 2005 After 83 days attached to Zarya and 176 days attached to the Station in total Soyuz TMA-6 was filled up with the crew of Expedition 11 and Gregory Olsen to make the return trip to Earth. Soyuz TMA-6 undocked from Zarya at 21:49 UTC on October 10th. On October 11th at 06:09 local time, Soyuz TMA-6 would touch down in Kazakhstan marking the end of Sergei Krikalevs legendary space flight career. Now with Zarya's nadir port clear, Soyuz TMA-7 could move to free Pirs for a resupply craft. Before this, the crew would need to step outside. Expedition 12 EVA-1 - November 7th, 2005 Following Expedition 11's EVA expedition 12's EVA had two primary objectives, the installation of a camera on the P1 Truss segment to aid in future Truss Segment installation, and to jettison the Floating Potential Probe. The FPP was an instrument designed to measure the Plasma surrounding the Space Station and compare the electric potentials but had failed. The EVA began at 15:32 UTC on November 7th. After 5 hours and 22 minutes outside the orbiting lab, the crew entered at 20:54 UTC completing all objectives. Expedition 12 had completed the first Quest based EVA since April of 2003. Soyuz TMA-7 Port Relocation - November 18th, 2005 For 19 minutes, the Expedition 12 crew were apart from the ISS in their Soyuz moving from Pirs to Zarya's nadir port to allow a Progress to dock to Pirs in the future. At 08:46 UTC Soyuz TMA-7 undocked from Pirs and at 09:05 they we now attached to Zarya. Launch of Progress M-55 - December 21st, 2005 Launching aboard a Soyuz-U Progress M-55 lifted off at 23:38 local time from Site 1-5 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. After launch Progress M-55 entered a 2 day rendezvous orbit. The docking of Progress M-55 to the orbital outpost marks the end of visits to the Space Station for 2005, specifically at 19:46 UTC, December 23rd, 2005. The next year would see ISS construction resume with many more flights, both from Russia and the United States. Hope this is a good return to the series. The Station was treated by Lemon again and boy does it show! Absolutely stunning! This was rather refreshing considering what life has been throwing at me in as well as from having taken a break from KSP! Can't wait to work on the series more. Hopefully you are just as excited as I am for the next missions. Up Next, H1 of 2006! PS: GOOD JOB STARLINER!!!!

Returning to the Earth like the Return of this Thread! Hopefully the thread wont crash and burn like the Progress will) H-2 2005 Missions Coming Next Week! P.S. Go Starliner!

I've collected my decals and put them into a folder and uploaded them! Enjoy! An image with Columbia's gold Tail Service Port from a little while back (You can tell cause I'm using the non RMM SSME's)

This is very a very exciting prospect. I've found in the packs I've been using recently some clouds look fantastic and some look how should I say this, exceptionally angular , from what I've gathered from what you've said this would potentially eliminate this as you could use the full texture on the smaller cloud systems which would be joined by other smaller systems to form the major cloud systems. This questions is based in my lack of understanding on the subject but would this eliminate the texture seams from traditional cube maps? Overall I think this would be a fantastic avenue to peruse. I would guess you're working on the cutting edge of what EVE can do as I've never seen this before. I'm not a modder so I don't really know if I fully understand the meaning of the paragraph but I don't need to be one to think it sounds very exciting!

A House Warming Gift - STS-9B These are a couple screenshots from a Space Shuttle Mission depicting the delivery of the Skylab Nodal Module, based off of the planned Shuttle Based Skylab revitalization plans using the wonderful new Skylab Parts! You can see the mission in its entirety here: Thank you for these wonderful parts! The mission wouldn't have been nearly as good without these beautiful models.

Nope, I just adjusted the Waterfall Config manually and tweakscaled them down. That does lower the thrust so where ever you see an SSME you actually see 2 clipped into each other . A appropriately kerbal if you ask me !

Never Has The Flamey End Looked So Good! Fantastic work on these models!

Have you found a solution for the bricked Titan and Venusian Atmospheres? I sat around and tried messing with the config files but I never found any solution. Lastly but most importantly your pictures look great!

I spent a day in Paint 3D a while back and with at wonderful PDF with all the Shuttle Exterior Markings for each mission. Literally just as I went go find it on google to link in this post I found another wonderful PDF for the SRBs and ET! So with the shuttle marking guide I sat down and made a bunch of flags that looked similar to the various markings to get closer and closer to realism. Subsequently I realized that I needed those gold umbilicals.I made them as flags from screenshot of the side of the aft fuselage part. I personally plan on releasing them but I have to sit down and make an American flag at the correct aspect ratio at some point so I don’t need to keep carefully clipping two flag conformal decals together. I might also make some more decals but who knows !

Watching this mod being developed has been fantastic. I really appreciate the frequent updates! The work you've been putting out has truly been stunning! I do have a couple questions though, Are you designing this with KSRSS at 2.5x Kerbal Scale or normal Kerbal Scale? What are the clouds looking like at lower orbits? I curious because, generally fool around in LEO at 300 kilometers above the surface with the Shuttle and ISS so this would be the regime where I would hang out the most. Is this going to be like the wild texture overhauls in PRVE like this or a more scaled down less intensive version? I've prefer the nutso realistic texture but completely understand if you bias toward performance. I'm not a modder and my lack of understanding of making a mods, makes watching this mod come alive all the more impressive. Can't wait to eventually play with this!

STS-9B - Expand The Lab - June 1980 Authors Note: This will be a modified version of NASA's plan to revitalize Skylab for the Shuttle Program. This is Episode 2 of 4 As I 've already conducted Skylab Reboost. Perhaps I'll expand on the idea of Shuttle Skylab, but I want to first conduct the missions NASA had planned, the delivery of the Nodal Module, dedicated refurbishment missions, and the power module. I personally plan to deliver the power module and then conduct refurbishment missions as to allow Skylab to be at full power. Bottom line, real -ish Mission, modified for artistic liberty . Enjoy! After a resounding success with STS-2A, and the Teleoperated Retrieval System, Skylab was now safely in a higher orbit and NASA had a station with nearly 12,500 cubic feet of pressurized volume and a reusable space truck at their disposal. It isn't all good news however. Skylab has been in orbit for more than 9 years and it solar panels have degraded significantly. Compounded with the fact that Skylab lost its port solar array, Skylab had a serious lack of power preventing it from being simply reactivated. The solution was to add an additional power module with two massive solar array wings. Preceding this addition, Skylab would first be outfitted with a Nodal Module, proving both adequate clearance and compatible docking hardware for the Space Shuttle. Now far a beyond traditional probe and drogue port of the Apollo Era, the Space Shuttle sports the new Androgynous Peripheral Attachment System or APAS-75 docking port created jointly by the Soviet Union and the US for the Apollo Soyuz Test Project. 5 days prior to launch. Houston released the latches and allowed the TRS to undock from the forward port of Skylab. After backing off from the station, Skylab was ready for the guests. Flown by Challenger STS-9B tucked away in the payload bay sits the Skylab Docking Module, featuring 1 Male Apollo Docking Mechanism to attach to Skylab's forward port and then 1 APAS-75 docking port 1 facing forward. Radially 4 APAS-L ports (This is not a real port just one I "invented” for the sake of the design) A stripped down version of APAS 75 strictly for berthing components. In addition is a Spacelab Pallet, carrying four docking adapters each featuring APAS-75 and APAS-L ports. With a crew of 6, mission control stood by for the liftoff in the evening. With a target inclination of 50 degrees, Space Shuttle Challenger is in the" heads down wings level" position on the launch azimuth, next phase being booster separation 2 minutes 7 seconds into flight, after which for 6 minutes it will use the 3 main engines to coast the rest of the way to orbit. After reaching orbit, the STS-9B crew conducted burns to perfect the rendezvous course with Skylab. After completing maneuvers the crew situated themselves to retrieve the SDM from Challengers payload bay. After berthing the SDM to the Shuttle Docking System, the crew can begin attaching the docking adapters to the radial ports. Now the the SDM was completely outfitted with its docking adapters, the crew now coasted until they met up with Skylab. After two days in a rendezvous orbit, Challenger's crew could clearly see Skylab through the windows and now began approach and docking procedures. Lets listen in. Houston. we are 75 meters out. Rodger, Challenger. Proceed past the hold point. Houston, Proceeding past the hold point. 50 Meters out Houston, 10 meters out, holding. Challenger, remain holding for a moment, you will be entering a brief blackout period. Rodger, Houston. See you on the other side. ~143 Seconds Later Challenger, this is Houston, you may resume your final approach. Rodger, Houston. Resuming Approach Houston, Soft Capture Confirmed. Challenger, prepare for Probe Retract and Hard Capture. Welcome to Skylab. After Skylab 4's departure in February of 1974 STS-9B is the first manned Spacecraft to dock to Skylab in 6 years. However, due to Skylab's power deficit, the crew will not be entering station as Life Support systems have been long deactivated. The crew however will demonstrate pressurizing the intermediate space between the APAS-75 ahead of actually entering the SDM on future mission. The next scheduled mission to Skylab, STS-16C will enter the SDM but not enter Skylab itself, saving the grand reveal for STS-21D. However, the crew of STS-9B does get one nice surprise. A 1 man EVA to establish connections between the SDM, docking adapters, and forward Skylab port. Lastly, the crew of STS-9B will verify joint control between Skylab and Space Shuttle Challenger, affirming the ability for possible reboots using the Space Shuttle Orbiter itself. No longer compatible with the current TRS stationed in orbit, a mission will be launched with the express purpose of replacing the current TRS with a new model with an APAS-75 port, then recover the old TRS for refurbishment. After exhibiting complete control authority over Skylab, Challenger repositions Skylab in its normal orientation and prepares to undock. Challenger and the crew after backing away reorient for an OMS burn to lower the orbit for reentry preparations over a two day period. After closing the Payload Bay doors, Challenger prepared for it entry burn to land at the KSC, in an hour's time. Challenger landed after spending 9 days in orbit, landed at Kennedy Space Center's Runway 33. Challenger would be refurbished and see several missions before its next flight to Skylab in early 1982. Hope you liked this installation of Shuttle Adventures! I plan on covering the Shuttle-Skylab more especially with the focus on the Skylab IVA by Zorg! The next mission I conduct will be presented in a less worded format, only having a brief introduction and conclusion section. I'm thinking a Shuttle Mir mission, its been too long since I've flown to Mir . Until then, So long!