Kuiper_Belt

Its so nice to have this back! I remember when I first found this thread when you started it up! This was the standard I based my series off of. I cant wait to see where this goes from here!

It's Good to Have You Back STS-114 Coming Soon!

I personally love the series and watching it come together! I'd say you're doing a great job and I can't wait to see the next installments!

I’d suggest Nuclear reactors. We know they work in space so I don’t see why you couldn’t use them. The Space Shuttle had a concept of a little package at the bottom of an external tank that could store large and cumbersome payloads you could slide a reactor into that little compartment and berth it to the ET. It would make a lot of sense that this sort of thing has orbital infrastructure.

Atlas Agena and Delta M - Sleek Rides to Deep Space! Team Atlas or Team Delta? That's the question...

Yeah, that’s what I assume. In the NASA document I was looking at while writing about the EVAs they write that it was for the “unlikely event the crew could not return to the outpost”. I presume that if the Russian Segment was compromised they could return to the station get the Soyuz, close the hatch, pressurize it, and return home. Then later, a shuttle could come along with equipment and stage repairs from the US segment. NASA also wrote that other systems were put on automatic function. Whether that’s for the same reason as closing hatches or just the fact that the entirety of the crew is outside the station I don’t know but remember these are just babblings of a random KSP engineer. PS: Here are the documents if you’d like to see: one & two

The International Space Station - H1 2005 - Preparation For Reunion For nearly 2 years the International Space Station hadn't seen a Shuttle. Roscosmos being the only lifeline for resupplies, and crew rotations. The hiatus would come to an end in six months but before Discovery's liftoff , the ISS still needed to see launches for the crew and regularly scheduled maintenance. Kicking off 2005 would be Expedition 10s first EVA. Expedition 10 EVA 1 - January 25th, 2005 EVA-1 was conducted by both the crew of Expedition 10 Leroy Chaio and Salizhan Sharipov. After they separated the US and Russian Segments when they closed the hatches the EVA official began at 1:43 AM CST. Stepping out of the Pirs airlock, the crew began to knock out objectives, the first of which was to install a Universal Work Platform on Zvezda. Mounted on the said platform was Rokviss, a German experiment that tests robotic components for future use on the ISS. After initial installation, ground control noticed that the experiment had not turned on correctly but after unplugging and repluggin wires, the experiment was registered as working by ground control. In addition, Chaio and Sharipov moved a commercial Japanese commercial micrometeorite experiment from one mounting point to another right next to its previous location. In addition, they went to investigate environmental systems vents on Zvezda. When they arrived the noted a brown oily substance took photos for ground and sent them for further analysis. The EVA after lasting 5 hours and 28 minutes came to a close when Chaio and Sharipov entered Pirs at 7:11 AM CST. After entering the station, the crew doffed their suits and reopened hatches between the US and Russian Segments. The crew began to prepare for departure of Progress-M51. Undocking and Deorbit of Progress M-51 - February 27th, 2005 Docked to the Zvezda's aft docking port since Christmas Day of 2004 Progress M-51s new gifts had been unloaded to the station and replaced with trash for Progress M-51 to dispose of. February 27th 2005 at 16:06:30 UTC, Progress unlatched from Zvezda and backed away from the complex ending its 64 day stay at the station. After 10 days of floating adrift, Progress M-51 ignited its engine for one more time to deorbit on March 9th 2005 at 17:03:11 UTC after its 77-day mission. Progress M-51 successor, Progress M-52 launched the day after M-51 was undocked. Expedition 10 EVA 1 - January 25th, 2005 Progress M-52 was the first launch tot the ISS for 2005 and carried supplies such as experiments, food water, and oxygen for the crew. Standing atop the Soyuz U carrier rocket Progress M-52 lifted off from Site 1/5 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome for a rendezvous with the International Space Station at 00:09:18 local time. After spending two days in the stand rendezvous orbit, Progress M-52 docked to Zvezda's aft port on March 2nd, 2005 at 20:10:08 UTC. The crew opened the hatches and began unloading the supplies brought by Progress. After being situated. Expedition 10 prepared for their second EVA. Expedition 10 EVA 2 - March 28th, 2005 Two months after their first, Chaio and Sharipov of Expedition 10 once again donned their Orlan space suits and exited Pirs for the second EVA. After closing hatches again between the segments the EVA official began at 12:25 AM CST. Their objectives included new antennas to facilitate docking for the new European ATV. In addition Sharipov deployed an 11 pound Satellite from Pirs 2 hours after the EVA started. Finally the crew went to the back of Zvezda to install a GPS antenna. After a total of 4 hours and 30 minutes outside the Station, the crew reentered Pirs, at 4:55 AM CST. This would be the final EVA for the Expedition 10 crew members, their time outside totaling nearly 10 hours. With their mission slowly coming to a close, the crew of Expedition 10 prepared for the arrival of the next guests of the Station. Launch and Docking of Soyuz TMA-6 and Expedition 11 - April 15th, 2005 Standing by at Baikonur Cosmodrome's Site 1-5 was Soyuz TMA-6. Carrying a crew of three the rocket stood waiting for its early morning liftoff. Expedition 11s crew consisted of Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and Astronaut John Philips. In addition was ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori, who would return with Expedition 10 on Soyuz TMA-5. At 5:45:25 Soyuz TMA-6 lifted off and began the trip to the ISS. Once they reach orbit the crew will coast for two days until they close in on Pirs. On April 17th, 2005 at 2:20 UTC the crew of Soyuz TMA-6 docked to Pirs and officially began joint Expedition 10 and Expedition 11 operations. The crew opened hatches, greeted one another, conducted handoff procedures, and prepared for Expedition 10 and Roberto Vittori's return home. Undocking and Return of Soyuz TMA-5 and Expedition 10 - April 24th, 2005 On April 24th, 2005, Salizhan Sharipov and Leroy Chaio of Expedtion 10 and Roberto Vittori of Soyuz TMA-6 climbed into their return ship and undocked from Zarya's nadir port at 18:44 UTC marking an end to the 193 day stay at the station. Soyuz TMA-5 backed away from the station and prepared for reentry and landing 4 hours later. The undocking was controlled manually to save power due to a faulty battery. Landing 56 miles north of Arkalyk, Soyuz TMA-6 and the crew landed safely in central Asia, ending the 25th crewed flight to the ISS. The Expedition 11 crew now alone conducting research in orbit, prepared to make Soyuz TMA-6 a little more lonely, to make space for their next resupply. Departure of Progress M-52 - June 15th, 2005 Progress M-52 after being used to deliver Supplies to the ISS gets to participate in its next purpose as all other Progress have done before it, become a garbage truck. After fulfilling its first task the crew of Expedition 10 and 11 filled it up with garbage and sealed the hatch. After spending 105 days docked to the Zvezda aft port, Progress M-52 undocked and baked away at 20:16:10 UTC on June 15th. After spending a few hours back off Progress M-15 fired its engines for the final time lowering its orbit to burn up over the pacific, disposing of all its cargo, and ending its 108-day mission. The crews on the ground now prepared its replacement and the Crew of Expedition 11 awaited its arrival. Launch and Docking of Progress M-53 - June 16th, 2005 Progress M-53 carried Food, Water, Oxygen and Science Experience for the crew to use on orbit. Standing by at Site 1/5 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome on its Soyuz-U Progress M-53 lifted off at 04:09:34 local time on June 16th 2005. After reaching Orbit, Progress M-53 coasted for two days in the standard rendezvous orbit, reaching the ISS on the 19th. Once docking was initiated the KURS automatic docking system failed and resulted in the TORU manual docking system being used. Piloted by Sergei Krikalev Progress M-53 was brought into close proximity with Zvezda's aft port and docked on June 19th 2005 at 41:31 UTC. The crew unpacked Progress M-53 and attended and prepared for other activities. The crews slated EVA necessitated the moving of the Soyuz. Port Relocation of Soyuz TMA-6 - July 19th 2005 EVA's out of the Russian segment are unique because the airlock, Pirs, is also a docking compartment. It is standard procedure to have only Progress ship docked to a docking compartment while EVAs are conducted so that a lifeboat Soyuz isn't obstructed during an EVA. This is why Krikalev and Philips got into Soyuz TMA-6 and undocked from the ISS at 10:38 UTC. After spending 30 minutes undocked, the crew docked to Zarya's nadir port at 11:08 UTC. The crew reentered the station and prepared for the Launch of Space Shuttle Discovery over the next couple of days. Coming Up Next, The Return To Flight, STS-114!

H1 2005 Missions and Space Walks Coming Soon! I made a mistake! Soyuz TMA-5 and TMA-6 were shot occupying the wrong docking ports. I'll be reshooting the relevant images over the next couple days. Sorry for the inconvenience !

A Sunset Launch With Atlas Agena Agena, Welcome to Space!

Here is an idea to consider. The ET was fueled via the Space Shuttles ET fuel line connections with the fuel being supplied to the shuttle via tail service masts. What you could do is place a docking port on the ET decoupler and refuel it by Shuttle Flights with modified Shuttle Centaur Tanks to hold more fuel. How many would you need? Not sure! I just thought of this while reading you post .

NASA engineers get so many more tools than us KSP players . I bet they use the Alt+F12 menu from time to time for tests ! This would have been true initially. In fact I've played around with its Shuttle Configuration. It was actually the first thing I did when making the craft as the dimensions needed to fit in the payload bay. (I always think of this image as the little Shuttle Nesting Dolls) A flight had been scheduled (STS-136 in April 2007) prior to the cancelation of the X-38 in 2002 and the Columbia Disaster. But NASA knew that the Shuttle would be retired at some point and the X-38 was a possible solution for crewed flights to and from the ISS. ESA and DLR also showed interest in the project early on and were involved with its development.

Shuttles Will Never Go Out of Style - The X-38 Crew Return Vehicle + Delta IV Medium ++ I'm confident that the X-38 could have flown on the existing Delta IV M+ 5-4, but with a service module to assist in rendezvous, a second RL-10-B2 and the associated mounting, then I believe a third or fourth pair of GEM 60s would be necessary. For KSP, since the X-38 is a clipped mess of parts, it weighs a ton! The Delta IV core is under fueled and needed a third pair of GEM 60s to get off the ground. The GEM 60's thrust is lowered to increase burn time so that the core could burn more propellent and have a higher TWR at booster separation. Never would have thought the RS-68 would be under powered . I got this idea from doing research on the X-38 where it was mentioned the possibility of being flown on Delta or Ariane 5 here. I really like how it turned out! If you want more images to look at from the flight, I've got an Imgur Album if you'd like .

MOAR BOOSTERS! - Space Shuttle Booster Upgrades WIP The X-38 CRV - A Shuttles Shuttle I'm really pleased with how I got the CRV to look! I think I got the shape down pretty well but that's up to the eye of the beholder . I found the service module to be a lot more nebulous from my research, as a result I just made my own realish one. I'll probably put it on some conventional rockets at some point and play with it! Both of these projects are rather close to being "Production Ready" but I'll be busy IRL for a while so the missions will be coming slower. Another issue is that ISS is not the bulk standard ISS. That's the original! With the ambitious Russian Segment which adds crazy amounts of parts and then the US HAB and CAM modules (In the previous image you can spot the CAM in the top left, the HAB on Tranquilities port CBM and the Science Power Platform in the bottom right (Yes I know the Science Power Platforms Solar panels shouldn't gimbal on the beam I don't want to turn off the sun tracking in configs as the panels I'm using are used on Mir)). With CRV STS, Soyuz, Progress, HTV and ATV all docked, We might push 1000 parts (OG ISS + CRV is 677 parts). This symbolizes a general issues with high part counts that would manifest in converting my already quite effective space heating PC to a fireplace so I'll be working on getting part welding working, hopefully soon. Next mission coming hopefully soon !

International Space Station Blueprints - Documenting Canceled ISS Components The International Space Station is the largest, most complex, and most expensive thing ever launched to orbit. One nation would find making a Laboratory the size of the ISS quite the challenge, but contributors from several nations, the bill can be split but with the cost of complexity and having to create fair deals. The ISS is composed of many of such deals, for example Nodes 2 and 3. Harmony and Tranquility were fabricated by the European Space Agency in exchange for the U.S. Launching the European laboratory module, Columbus, on the Space Shuttle. At the end of the day, money is the deciding factor many things, and the ISS is subject to that idea as well. Many things have been canceled over the course of the ISS' life. Currently in our place in the ISS Adventures thread, the Space Shuttle is grounded. To add some variety to the thread while the Shuttle is grounded, we'll be covering the axed plans to the ISS. Currently in 4 to 5 installments . 2 dedicated to U.S. Segment and canceled Shuttle Flights, then 2 to 3 to the Russian Segment. We'll be covering things from the Science Power Platform to the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle and hopefully everything in-between. The screenshots I'm showing are currently my initial designs of the Original ISS Configuration outlined in the original agreement. There were several changes over time on both segment and we plan to document everything we can find. The first installment planned is the canceled modules of the U.S. Segment Hopefully everyone is as excited as I am and I cant wait to share this with you guys!

Been playing around with the beta and whipped up a Shuttle LRB concept! I love the plumes so much ! The SSME 35s fit great in the Bluedog LDC Titan engine cluster. SOFI probably would not have been used on the boosters but it looks too awesome to pass up on that . But going from small to big... the TMI engine is beautiful! The ship is a little cursed but I feel it adds to the charm . Fantastic work on these engines! As a staunch RS-25 lover I'm happy to see it get treated so well

Thanks! The SCA is comprised primarily of parts from STX Neist Air and Conformal Decals to paint the entire plane. A tone of tweak scaled parts as well.

The International Space Station In 2003 - A Year of Tragedy and Recourse STS-107 - February 1st, 2003 13:59:32 UTC Space Shuttle Columbia on flight STS-107 had spent nearly sixteen days in orbit conducting experiments and was reentering the atmosphere when on February 1st, 2003, at 9:00 AM, fifteen minutes before scheduled touchdown, Columbia disintegrated due to a flawed Thermal Protection System. After a collision with stray external tank foam, a hole on the leading edge of the left wing resulted in decreased thermal insulation which resulted in the entire crew being killed and the orbiter destroyed. The Space Shuttle Program was grounded resulting in all planned missions being effectively canceled and the construction of the International Space Station being halted indefinitely. Space Shuttle Atlantis was slated for launch to the ISS as apart of the original STS-114 mission just one month later and Columbia would have flown to the ISS later that year as a part of the original STS-118. The future of the Laboratory was in doubt as the station was still incomplete. In addition due to the lack of resupply missions from the Space Shuttle the ISS would accumulate significant amounts of waste, inhibiting work. The agencies began to formulate the procedures for the following years as NASA investigated the Columbia disaster and worked to get the fleet ready for flight. At the moment the only other nation launching missions to the ISS was Russia leaving them the sole launch provider to the ISS in any capacity for the time being. The Departure of Progress M1-9 - February 1st, 2003 Progress M1-9, just two hours after the disintegration of Space Shuttle Columbia, prepared for undocking from the ISS carrying waste from the Expedition 6 mission. Undocking from Zvezda's aft port at 16:00:54 UTC Progress M1-9 retreated from the ISS after its 125-day stay at the station. It proceeded to deorbit and reenter the atmosphere on February 1st, at 20:00:28 UTC, just 6 hours after Columbia disintegrated. With the newly freed aft port, Expedition 6 now prepares for the arrival of its next resupply. The Launch and Docking of Progress M-47 - February 2st, 2003 Standing at Site 1/5 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Progress M-47 atop a Soyuz-U carrier rocket awaits the first launch after the Columbia Disaster. Carrying scientific experiments, food, water, oxygen, and other supplies, Progress M-47's Soyuz engines spool up to flight speeds and lifts off at 5:59 local time about 23 hours after the disaster. After reaching orbit, M-47 coasts to the ISS over a period of two days approaching the aft port of Zvezda for an eventual capture at 14:49 UTC on February 4th. After docking, Expedition 6 opens the hatch and unloads all the supplies to the station, and prepares for their replacement by Expedition 7. The Launch and Arrival of Soyuz TMA-2 & Expedition 7 - April 26th, 2003 For the first time since Expedition 1, a Space Shuttle would not be delivering an Expedition to the ISS. In addition, this would be the first of several expeditions hosting only two crew members. Composing the Soyuz TMA-2 crew and the Expedition 7 was Yuri Malenchenko, Space Station Commander and Flight Engineer Ed Lu. Expeditions 7 through 12 would only host two crew members for the duration of the Space Shuttles grounding and reinstatement. the primary objective of these missions was to maintain the ISS and conduct limited amounts of experiments. Due to the decreased crew size, only 15 experiments would be conducted over the six-month period. Standing atop the Soyuz FG carrier rocket, Malenchenko and Lu counted down for their launch. As the engine wound up to flight speed the crew lifted off from Site 1/5 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 8:53 AM local time. Once in orbit, Soyuz TMA-2 would coast for two days, perfecting its rendezvous with the ISS. Once in close range, Soyuz begins its final approach of Zarya's nadir port. Soyuz TMA-2 and the Expedition 7 Crew docked to the ISS and greeted the Expedition 6 crew on April 28th, 2003 at 23:17 UTC. The crew spent nearly five days together exchanging the rolls and preparing to end Expedition 6. The Departure of Soyuz TMA-1 & Expedition 6 - May 3rd, 2003 Following the six-month stay aboard the station, Nikolai Budarin, Kenneth Bowersox, and Donald Pettit boarded Soyuz TMA-1 and closed the hatches marking the end of Expedition 6. At 22:43 UTC Soyuz TMA-1 undocked from Pirs, ending the 183-day stay aboard the ISS, leaving the two crew members of Expedition 7 alone in space for the next six months. Soyuz TMA-1 backed away from the ISS and prepared for its reentry burn 3 hours later. Due to a technical error, Soyuz automatically aborted the much more crew hospitable aerodynamically controlled reentry for the much harsher ballistic trajectory which resulted in the spacecraft being 300 miles away from the predicted landing zone. After touching down in Kazakhstan at 8:04:25 local time, the crew of Soyuz TMA-1 lost communications with Mission Control due to an antenna being shed during reentry and several not deploying. Eventually, communication was restored after landing via an emergency transmitter. As a result, all following missions would be supplied with satellite phones for the quicker establishment of communication should it be lost. Expedition 7 would now spend time doing limited experiments and maintaining the station until they received their next resupply. The Launch and Docking of Progress M1-10 - June 8th, 2003 Progress M1-10 was the first resupply for Expedition 7 and carried fuel food water oxygen experiments and other supplies for the 2 man crew. Standing by for launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome's Site 1/5 Progress M1-10's Soyuz U carrier rocket engines spools up to flight speed and prepares for liftoff at 16:34 local time. After reaching orbit, Progress M1-10 coasted to its rendezvous with the ISS over a period of 3 days. Progress M1-10 docked to Pirs on June 11th, 2003 at 11:14 UTC. The Expedition 7 crew began to unload the delivered cargo and continue with their duties on the station. The Final CAIB Report - August 26th, 2003 The Columbia Accident Investigation Board released the final report of the Columbia disaster's cause and the appropriate course of action onward. 29 total recommendations were made to keep Shuttle flights safe for future flights including but not limited to, the elimination of foam shedding, increasing the orbiters ability to sustain minor damage, developing a practical way to inspect and repair the Thermal Protection System of the Shuttle while on orbit (This would manifest as the OBSS) and developing better simulations to assess foam strikes. Columbia was described by astronaut Sally Ride as having "echoes of Challenger" in the sense that both accidents were caused by "failures of foresight." If you would like to read more about this subject I would recommend this NASA document. The Departure of Progress M-47 - August 27th 2003 Progress M-47 had spent approximately 204 days docked to Zvezda's aft port. After being filled with waste from the station M-47 undocked on August 27th, 2003, at 22:48 UTC and proceeded to back away from the ISS and prepare for its deorbit burn around three hours later. Progress M-47 burned up over the Pacific Ocean at 2:37 UTC on August 28th. With the departure of Progress M-47, the crew of Expedition 7 could prepare for their final resupply mission for their mission on the station. The Launch and Docking of Progress M-48 - August 29th, 2003 Progress M-48 would deliver the final cargo resupply to the ISS while it was crewed by Expedition 7. Progress M-48 carried Food Water Oxygen and additional supplies such as experiments to the station. Standing by at Baikonur Site 1/5 Progress M-48 began its flight with liftoff at 7:48 AM local time. After reaching orbit, Progress M-48 coasted in orbit for 2 days after which it began to close in on Zvezda's aft docking port. Progress M-48 reached the ISS and docked to the Zvezda aft port on August 31st, 2003 at 3:40 UTC. At which point Expedition 7 prepared to open hatches and access the equipment and supplies brought by the Progress. This would be the final time Expedition 7 oversaw an arrival of Progress but they would see one last departure. The Departure of Progress M1-10 - September 4th, 2003 After 85 days attached to Pirs, Progress M1-10 disconnected from the International Space Station at 19:41 UTC on September 4th, loaded with waste generated by the Expedition 7 crew. Progress M1-10 would back away from the ISS and stay in orbit for an additional month as a part of an earth observation experiment. After a month had passed, Progress M1-10 fired its engine and deorbited on October 3rd, 2003. M1-10 burned up over the Pacific Ocean at 12:38 UTC, ending its 117-day mission. Expedition 7 was coming to an end with their replacements coming in about 2 weeks. The Launch of Soyuz TMA-3 and Expedition 8 - The Last Launch ISS Bound of 2003 - October 18th, 2003 Soyuz TMA-3 would launch the second expedition after the Columbia disaster, Expedition 8. Once again crewed by 2, Station Commander Michael Foale and Flight Engineer, Aleksandr Kaleri. Along with two expedition crewmates was Pedro Duque, an ESA astronaut who would fly with the pair to the ISS but then leave with Soyuz TMA 2 and Expedition 7. The crew of Expedition 8 sat in their seats aboard their Soyuz-FG carrier rocket awaiting launch. Roaring to life at 11:38 AM local time, Soyuz TMA-3 and their crew lifted off from Site 1/5 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome. After reaching orbit, Soyuz TMA-3 coasted for two days until they reached the ISS at which point they began to close in on Pirs. Soyuz TMA-3 docked with Pirs on October 20th, 2003 at 07:16 UTC and opened hatches shortly thereafter. The joint Expedition 7-8 crew began to prepare the station for the switch and did join experiments, Pedro Duque conducting experiments specifically commissioned by ESA which went by the name Cervantes. Expedition 7 and Pedro Duque prepared for their departure in just a week. The End of Expedition 7 and Departure of Soyuz TMA-2 - October 27th, 2003 After 182 days and 16 hours as Expedition 7, Yuri Malenchenko and Ed Lu relinquished their leadership of the International Space Station to the crew of Expedition 8. Alongside Pedro Duque of ESA, the trio entered Soyuz TMA-2 and closed their hatches. The crew undocked from Zarya's nadir port, ending their 182-day 17 hour time docked to the ISS. The crew backed away from the laboratory and prepared for reentry in about 4 hours. After 184 days in space for the Expedition 2 crew and 9 days for Pedro Duque, the crew reentered the atmosphere via the planned aerodynamic reentry method, proved the Soyuz TMA vehicle and landed in Kazakhstan on October 28th, 2003 at 8:40 AM local time. The Columbia Disaster severely changed the planned road map for the ISS. With its completion now delayed significantly and no U.S. launch option, Roscosmos would do the heavy lifting in terms of launching crew and cargo to the orbiting laboratory. 2003 was rather conservative in nature with no planned EVAs and designed to keep the station in working order until construction could resume but there was still a lot of work to be done by NASA to get the Shuttle Fleet back off the ground. Up next, The activities of the ISS in 2004!

Shuttle Adventures 2021 - An Awesome Beginning That is the first image that I took for Shuttle Adventures! It's been 298 days since I started this thread and I became active in the forums and I'd say it's been really something awesome! I've found a real nice corner of the internet where myself an others post their adventures with the Space Shuttle. I've loved these past months and I've love this project and I'll continue to maintain it for hopefully a long time! It's been a wild ride and I hope you've all enjoyed it as much as I did and I cant wait to continue! More missions coming soon and Have a Happy New Year!

ISS Activities in 2003 Coming Soon! Hello! I planned on getting this installment out before the end of the year but I just didn't have enough time . Luckily we can start this next year off strong with some posts! I would like to thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the support for this series and making 2021 such a wonderful time for my KSP enjoyment and just a great year in general! This series isn't even six months old and we've already covered 4 years of the life of the ISS! Thank you again and have a Happy New Year!

Missions To The International Space Station - Volume 2: Apr 2001 - Nov 2002 ISS Adventures, the sister series to Shuttle Adventures has seen a lot of missions over the last couple months since Volume 1. In addition to myself and @lemon cup, we've added a new member to the project. Author of the International Manned Laboratory series, @D0m1nu2! As previously stated these posts are designed to keep from double posting between threads but keep these missions well documented as these missions are very important to the Shuttle Program. Note, These missions are only through April 2001 and November 2002. This is due to the fact that after 2002, The Shuttle was grounded due to the Columbia Disaster meaning there weren't flights until 2005. Every mission is linked with its designation and date so feel free to open up a new tab and enjoy some wonderful screenshots and the summary of the missions! STS-104 & The Quest Airlock - July 12th, 2001 By: Lemon Cup STS-105 & Expedition 3 - August 10th 2001 By: Kuiper Belt STS-108 & Expedition 4 - December 5th 2001 By: Lemon Cup STS-110 & The S0 Truss - April 8th 2002 By: Kuiper Belt STS-111 Expedition 5 & The Mobile Base System - June 5th 2002 By: Lemon Cup STS-112 & The S1 Truss - October 7th 2002 By: Kuiper Belt STS-113 & The P1 Truss - November 24th 2002 By: D0m1nu2 At the point of writing this, this is where we now are! I hope you guys enjoy and more missions coming soon!

Congratulations on release! I've been watching this since you started in September and I've been loving playing with it for the past couple weeks! After a year or so in heavily modded sandbox, this tech tree has really revitalized my love for career mode. The love and care you've put in the mod really shows and I can't wait to see where this goes from here!

The screenshots don’t lie! I’m very intrigued as to what you’ve done and how to go about recreating this! Awesome job!

STS-125 - The Final Hubble Servicing Mission - May 11th 2009 After the Columbia Disaster, The Space Shuttle Program was grounded entirely. Prior to the disaster, The next mission to Hubble after Servicing Mission 3B would be Servicing Mission 4 by Columbia on April 15th of 2004 with several others planned. All planned missions were immediately canceled with the grounding of the Shuttle Fleet. With new guidelines of all missions being able to reach the ISS and a retirement date set for the Shuttles, A final Hubble servicing mission was under serious question of not happening. Space Shuttles couldn't reach the ISS and Hubble during one mission due to their orbital inclinations being very different (Hubble at 28.5 and The ISS at 51.6) and lack of fuel to perform such a plane change. Should a Shuttle lose its ability to reenter while servicing the HST, there would have no way to save the crew. Luckily engineers and scientists at NASA figured out a solution. The Hubble Space Telescopes scientific value was astronomical and it's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope wasn't slated for a launch until 2011 and would be continued to be delayed until late 2021. With this considered NASA needed to figure out a way to reach Hubble safely. Should a shuttle be damaged and could not reenter a second Shuttle would be on standby stacked and ready for flight to rescue the crew. Launch Pad 39-B which had been deactivated since 2006 for modifications and use by the Constellation Program was reactivated to host a Shuttle for an STS-125 contingency mission. This resulted in the situation where two Shuttles stood side by side. STS-125 flown by Atlantis would have STS-400 flown by Endeavour to rescue her. Due to delays with this mission Endeavour was swapped with Discovery for the contingency mission, STS-401 to differentiate the orbiter being used. After further delays STS-401 was reverted back to STS-400 when Endeavour after flying STS-126 was restacked allowing Discovery to fly STS-119. Atlantis stood at Pad 39-A with five major elements in her cargo bay. From fore to aft, The External Orbiter Docking System & Airlock with the Docking Apparatus removed, The Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier, The Orbital Replacement Unit Carried, The Flight Support System, and The Multi-Use Logistic Equipment Carrier. Atlantis' crew of seven stood by waiting for their liftoff at 1:39 PM EDT. After reaching orbit, Atlantis deployed the payload bay doors and prepared to grapple and begin the OBSS survey. After the OBSS survey was completed and the OBSS stowed, Atlantis continued to coast to rendezvous and capture Hubble. Carried to orbit by Atlantis were The Wide Field Camera 3, The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, replacement gyroscopes, replacement batteries, the Soft Capture Mechanism, New Outer Blankets, The fine Guidance Sensor, replacement science and data handling busses. and additional components to repair the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). These components would be the center of attention for the five planned EVAs by the STS-125 crew. RMS Capture was confirmed on May 13th at 17:14 UTC on Flight Day 3. The next task was to attach Hubble to Atlantis via the Flight Support System. Hubble was berthed to the FSS at 18:12 UTC 58 minutes after RMS Capture. Now the crew of STS-125 would prepare for the following EVAs of this mission. EVAs 1,3, and 5 were conducted by EVA Crew 1 consisting of John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel. EVA's 2 and 4 were conducted by EVA Crew 2 consisting of Michael Massimino and Michael Good. STS-125 would retrieve a relic and hero to the any fan of Astronomy and Cosmology, The Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement or COSTAR, which corrected the Hubble primary mirror's spherical aberration. COSTAR could be removed as the new experiments had been built with the Mirrors dimensions fully realized making COSTAR obsolete. (I didn't do separate EVAs and I wont be separating them here due to the resulting length of this post. I would highly recommend you read up on them as they’re quite interesting!) At the end of Flight Day 9, All five EVAs had been conducted leaving Hubble ready for the future, ready to last until its successors come to replace it. The crew of STS-125 regrappled Hubble and prepared to release it from the Flight Support System at 11:24 UTC on May 19th. At 12:57 UTC on May 19th 2009, the crew of STS-125 released Hubble from Canadarm marking the last time humanity had Hubble within their grasp. Atlantis would back away and observe Hubble fully redeploy. Taking final pictures before they back away for good. After a final inspection, Atlantis was cleared for landing and Endeavour was relinquished from its position as STS-400 on May 21st. The crew of STS-125 initially planned to land on Flight Day 12 May 22, but due to repeated Weather problems at Kennedy and Edwards needing to be activated Atlantis stayed in orbit until May 24th 2009 when she deorbited and prepared for reentry. After spending 12 days and 21 Hours in space Atlantis touched down at Runway 22 of Edwards Airforce base in California at 8:39 AM Pacific, May 24th 2009. Afterwards Atlantis would be loaded onto the SCA and flown back to the KSC in Florida, leaving Edwards on June 1st and arriving at Kennedy Space Center June 2nd. STS-125 marked several milestones for the Shuttle Program. First being the Final Hubble Servicing Mission. Second, it was the final landing at Edwards Airforce Base. Third, this was Atlantis' first non space station related flight in 14 years. Lastly, this was the final free flight of a Space Shuttle mission, All subsequent missions would rendezvous with the ISS. At this point The Shuttle Program was winding down, eight more missions remained for The Shuttle Program, with an additional being added at the end. Meanwhile Hubble was as alive as ever working well through the 2010s and still going in the 2020s. STS-125 was one of the most important missions for humanity's understanding of space. Hubble's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope would be delayed significantly longer and should a fault have occurred with the unserviced Hubble, the scientific community would have lost one of its most important tools. Luckily, we live with Hubble still functioning to this day with so much more science to discover. Coincidentally this post coincides with a rather important milestone for astronomy! As I write this the James Webb Space Telescope is standing by for a launch in French Guiana on an Ariane 5 launch vehicle awaiting launch in 7 hours and 54 minutes for launch on Christmas Day. If all goes well, we'll live at the remarkable point where we'll have two massive space telescopes peering into the void to see the beautiful universe we live in and if you ask me that would be the best Christmas present of all. Merry Christmas everyone and Godspeed James Webb!

I'd say the biggest problem with multiple Aerobrake passing's would be radiating the heat of the TPS. I am definitely not educated enough in material science nor thermodynamics to know if this is a valid concern . LH2 Boiloff would be large concern there for the realism aspect. Overall with the residual hydrogen on SSME startup I believe the best course of action would be to use the RCS or the OMS. You'll have to ullage the fuel anyway and you'll be moving the shuttle ahead of the residual cloud. Then when you ignite the SSMEs the hydrogen is already rather far away. I hope that made sense!

Interesting! Can’t wait to see it!