Interplanetary Welcoming Express! - EveEx Fascination Sets Out!

[Geschosskopf]

This is hilarious. Thanks.

[Cydonian Monk]

This is hilarious.

^ What Geschosskopf said!

... the suspicious kind of quiet that usually means something dangerous, expensive, or otherwise ill-advised is about to happen...

Somebody better take inventory of the canaries at the space center.....

[GehringGame]

This is hilarious.

Thanks to the both of you!

Somebody better take inventory of the canaries at the space center.....

I'm not sure my Kerbs have any canaries left by now unless they order in bulk. There's a lot of "It will be perfect! It blew up!" that goes on.

[GehringGame]

---

Mission Report: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

---

#7

Exploration Mission: Eve and Gilly

Moniker: EveEx 1

Objectives: Scout for possible build sites on Eve and Gilly, return science to assist future missions, complete contracts to keep accountants happy

Vessel: EveEx Fascination

Crew: 4 (undetermined)

The SEAK public relations team was grumpy. All of their attempts to promote the Interplanetary Welcoming Express’s first interplanetary mission had proven futile. The Kerbal media were much more interested in the majestic Jool-5 behemoths, meticulously engineered reusable crew shuttles, and hyper-profitable mining hulks being launched daily by the other space programs. Descriptions of the DunEx There and Back Again in the kerbal news media ranged from the comparatively kind “missing the point†to the more scathing “unfortunate-looking collection of scrap.†The blogosphere was even less kind, but the PR team didn’t feel like those comments could be repeated in public.

The Interplanetary Welcoming Express had an unique, far seeing vision, but to the majority of the public it just sounded like tripe. More public buy-in to their mission statement would be necessary before SEAK’s purpose was enough to generate hype on its own. The PR team needed something tangible that they could promote with gusto – a new, beautiful, impressive ship that would not only capture the hearts and wallets of the public, but also serve as a great billboard for SEAK’s hotels when aliens visited the Kerbol system. They knew that the best way to present such an idea to the SEAK admins was to make sure the hors d’oeuvres-to-content ratio during the presentation was positive.

The SEAK admins liked finger sandwiches and things on toothpicks wrapped in prosciutto. They thought about this as they watched the nervous public relations manager flip through slides in the KSC’s most posh conference room. Cupcakes were brought out as an artist’s rendering of a shiny interplanetary vessel was displayed on the screen. This, the SEAK admins thought, must mean that it’s a brilliant idea. They wiped their hands of frosting, applauded, picked their teeth, said what a wonderful idea it was, and began delegating tasks furiously. If Bill Kerman’s to-do list had been a living, sentient being at this point, it would have wept profusely.

The SEAK admins had approved a handsome sum of money for the construction of the new craft, despite prophecies of doom from the accounting team. For once in his career with SEAK, Bill Kerman had a proper budget and enough time to polish a design. He was a happy kerbal.

The new craft was to be constructed, fueled, and crewed in time for the Eve launch window coming up later in the year. Because of the size of the final vessel, it was split into four segments for launch.

The SEAK PR team thought that such a majestic new ship required a majestic new name. The kerbal news media had neither a knowledge of human literature nor an appreciation of names which cleverly (the PR team thought) reflect the purpose of the mission. Therefore There and Back Again had flopped in terms of public appeal. The new name needed to be something that would conjur visions of luxury and cause hands to involuntarily move towards their owners’ wallets. It needed to sound like a cruise ship, so the PR team came up with the EveEx Fascination!

Crew selection for the EveEx mission wasn’t yet finalized, but the admins had come up with a short list of final candidates. Jeb was first on this list. After all, SEAK had gone through the trouble of returning him from the Mun so that he could pilot the next venture into interplanetary space.

The space center was full of energy. Four Blue Dragons launching in quick succession had a way of generating it. The only kerbals who weren’t busy drooling with excitement were Val, Eilla, and Neilberry aboard the DunEx There and Back Again. They were in the middle of season three of The Real Kerbals of Pilot’s Landing which, incredibly, they all three liked.

Launch number four delivered the key central piece of the EveEx Fascination to orbit. Now with all four sections zooming around Kerbin, the mission controllers at the space center had several months to complete the construction and prepare the final crew and cargo launch.

The SEAK admins patted themselves on the back for orchestrating the successful launch of their new interplanetary ship and went off to celebrate while the mission controllers began the slow process of steering the sections together for final assembly in low Kerbin orbit.

---

Thanks for reading! Be sure to check back in for the next update. While construction continues on the EveEx Fascination, the DunEx There and Back Again crew will be returning to Kerbin!

[Mister Dilsby]

Great looking ships, a nice clean heavy lifter. Love the shots of it taken as if from observers on the ground. Laughed at the 'hors d'ouveurs'

[Geschosskopf]

Wow, what a monster . I wish you luck on the eventual atmospheric encounters at Eve.

[GehringGame]

nice clean heavy lifter. Love the shots of it taken as if from observers on the ground.

Thanks! My last serious playthrough was back with the old aero when I could launch any monstrosity I pleased. With 1.0 I'm really enjoying the challenge of designing rockets and payloads to work with the fairings. As for the screenshots, would you believe I just now discovered that the camera has a lens zoom function? New favorite thing.

Wow, what a monster . I wish you luck on the eventual atmospheric encounters at Eve.

I designed it with Eve in mind, but I did it very unscientifically so I'm sure I will need plenty of luck to avoid exploding

[Angelo Kerman]

Really loving the series and art style! Are there earlier series?

[GehringGame]

Really loving the series and art style! Are there earlier series?

Thanks! Glad you're enjoying it. This is the first series I've done to document my brave kerbals' exploits though they have had plenty of undocumented adventures in the past. Side note: I love the look of your colony modules! I'm on the fence about using a mod like that for my future space hotels. If it's stable for 1.0.4 then I think that is on my short list for future inclusion!

---

Mission Update: DunEx Crew Comes Home!

---

The DunEx There and Back Again was back, and Val, Eilla, and Neilberry were ready to go to their respective and very separate homes where they wouldn’t have to see each other for at least a good week. However, SEAK mission control was so busy launching the pieces of the EveEx Fascination that nobody at the space center noticed. Val was peeved by the silence at mission control. They hadn’t included a return scenario in the flight plan manual. “Just call on your way back and we’ll figure it out,†they had said, but now they weren’t answering. Lovely.

The There and Back Again's fuel system had originally been drawn up on the back of a greasy napkin. Val recalled this annoying fact when she checked the nearly empty fuel gauge. (Editor’s note: This isn’t just for story telling purposes, I used every drop of fuel on this mission, even the monoprop). One of the junior engineers had probably misinterpreted a cheesy smudge as a six instead of an eight on the tank capacity specs, but it was no use speculating now. They would need to drop the ship into an aerobraking trajectory to prevent them missing capture entirely. Mission control’s response to this maneuver was silence. Val interpreted this as furious warnings and admonitions, then took pleasure in ignoring them as she burned the last of the fuel to drop their periapse to 45 km.

The ship had been designed to aerobrake in Duna’s thin atmosphere, and shoddily designed at that. Doing the same at Kerbin was not in the plan (was there ever a plan?) but luckily the craft rattled through the initial pass in one piece. (Editor’s note: There wasn’t a plan, if I’m honest. No part of the ship was designed to perform in Kerbin’s atmosphere. Sometimes I go with the mantra “launch now, plan later.â€Â)

If all had gone well, the There and Back Again would have performed a small burn to raise its periapse to a stable altitude above the atmosphere. The crew would then have been rescued, presumably, whenever mission control realized they were back. Considering the big fat zero that was reading on the fuel gauge however, all was not going particularly well. The crew had half an orbit to say farewell to the camper-van-in-space that had been their home for the better part of two years. Val shot a stinging zero-g ping-pong shot at Neilberry for old time’s sake, Eilla grabbed two of her favorite romance novels, and Neilberry bade a somewhat tearful goodbye to the oversized sandwich kitchen that he had come to know and love. As the ship fell back towards the atmosphere, Val dragged Neilberry back to his seat - which he had to share with as many salvaged sandwich makings as he could carry - and the crew strapped in. There was still no word from mission control, but there was a small ping on the comms. The mobile tracking station from the TV network launches had picked up their descent.

Fortunately, the There and Back Again’s lander had a couple of emergency parachutes. Considering the corners that were cut with its design, the crew considered this an outright miracle.

Incredibly, the lander sailed free of the disintegrating There and Back Again and the parachutes deployed slowing the descent to an uncomfortable but survivable landing speed. They had come in over the desert and crashed down into the sand while chunks of singed countertop from the sandwich assembly station and bits of the nuclear engines rained down around them. The landing legs (overbuilt for the soft Ike landing) barely held together during the 12 m/s touchdown, but they held.

The mobile tracking station was happily pinging away about the successful landing, but otherwise mission control was still silent. The three argued about which way to go for a while before setting off on foot. Neilberry had made a few sandwiches but they were all egg salad so nobody wanted them.

Edited July 9, 2015 by GehringGame

[Geschosskopf]

Wow, bravo on the deadstick landing. I wasn't betting on it working. Great story.

[GehringGame]

I wasn't betting on it working.

Neither was I! I think I originally intended to have the capsule separate from the lander but I forgot the decoupler in the original design. I thought for sure it would explode a little bit at landing, but the power of landing legs is mysterious and strong it seems

[Angelo Kerman]

Lol, nobody wants the eggsalad sandwiches. Can't say I blame them. Side Note: Glad you like the art. Multipurpose Colony Modules is defunct but its successor, Pathfinder, is shaping up nicely as I roll the art assets into the new mod. Pathfinder is playable but in flux. Deep Space Exploration Vessels is basically done and stable though.

Anyway, looking forward to reading more of your adventures.

[GehringGame]

(...) its successor, Pathfinder, is shaping up nicely as I roll the art assets into the new mod (...) Anyway, looking forward to reading more of your adventures.

Great, I'll definitely keep it in mind. Some days I want to keep my game mostly stock, other days I want to mod the crap out of it glad to have you as a reader! I'll try to keep things interesting.

[GehringGame]

Well some game instability issues followed by vacation are going to cause some delays on the next installment. I had hoped to send the EveEx Fascination on its way this week, but my game is crashing every few minutes. Rest assured the Interplanetary Welcoming Express will continue as soon as I get that sorted!

[McPoisoned]

Great work man! So much fun reading this

[GehringGame]

Great work man! So much fun reading this

Thanks, McPoisoned! Glad you're enjoying it.

Ok, I think I have most of the instability in my save ironed out. My plan is to get the EveEx mission on its way before I leave for vacation next week. In the mean time, here's a little "in between" installment of what I've been doing while troubleshooting my mods.

---

Mission Update: Pick-Up Service, Orbital Construction

---

Natina Kerman was the head pilot for all Kerbin operations. She was also forgetful. Two days ago the DunEx crew had returned (granted, in a somewhat unconventional fireball fashion) to the surface of Kerbin, and it had taken those two days for Natina to make the link between the big red circle on her calendar and the happy pings coming from the Mobile Tracking Station. "I knew there was something I forgot," she grumbled to herself. This was a phrase she was used to saying, so she had perfected an irritable-yet-apologetic tone over the years. Way back when the There and Back Again had been launched, Natina had been given pick-up duty for their return.

SEAK didn't have much need of aircraft anymore, and the few old service planes they did have laying around were small two-seaters. Luckily for Natina, Bill had been investigating larger, space-capable aircraft off the books before SEAK had restructured and mothballed the project. One such example sat collecting dust in the back of Bill's private experimental hangar. Fortunately for the DunEx crew, Natina was feeling nosy that day and went poking around.

Bilmund accompanied Natina as copilot. He was still new to SEAK after his rescue from Munar orbit, and he needed more training time on his log before he would be allowed to crew an interplanetary mission.

Val, Eilla, and Neilberry were sweaty, grumpy, and tired of wading through hot sand. Each of them felt like they wanted nothing more than to dive head first into a vat of ice-cold strawberry jello. Each of them that is, except Eilla, who despite the desert heat still dreamed of a relaxing soak in her hot tub.

Meanwhile, the staff back at SEAK mission control were watching the Hactar 2 AI system connect the port drive section of the EveEx Fascination in orbit above Kerbin.

Night had fallen before Natina finally spotted the three kerbals trundling over the dunes

The DunEx crew were tired and Val was in a particularly sour mood. They had been forgotten about after all. Still, they were relieved to climb into an air conditioned passenger cabin where they would be able to sleep their way back to the space center.

As Natina guided the experimental plane back up off the dunes, Hactar 2 connected the starboard drive unit to the EveEx Fascination's hull. The ship was beginning to take shape!

---

Thanks for reading! I'm hoping to complete the remaining construction of the EveEx Fascination with one more launch. The keen-eyed observers among you will notice that the two mapping satellites the ship launched with are missing. This is because, once again, I put non-retractable panels on board which prevented the drive sections from docking when extended. So I ditched them. I want to re-design them anyway, so I'll bring new ones up with the final payload and crew launch.

[Mister Dilsby]

EveEx Fascination lives up to its name, good looking craft! I see you put heat shields on your Eve ship as well, hope they work for both of us

[GehringGame]

Thanks! The PR team would be happy to hear that and yes, fingers crossed on the heat shields working. Your craft at least look a little more robust than mine. The Fascination can get a little... wiggly.

[GehringGame]

---

Mission Update: EveEx Fascination Sets Out!

---

Bill’s experimental plane arrived back at the space center just as a Blue Dragon was being installed on the launch pad for the fifth and final EveEx construction launch. Buzzing the launch pad might usually have been an exciting prank, but Val, Eilla, and Neilberry were just ready to take a well-earned vacation.

Natina set the plane down on the runway and the five kerbals took a moment to observe the EveEx crew as they boarded their rocket. “Glad it’s somebody else’s turn,†they thought.

The DunEx There and Back Again was ancient news by now to the SEAK staff. They were entirely preoccupied with the construction and launch of their first properly impressive interplanetary vessel. Things seemed to be going well without exception. Kerbal media were following the construction with what seemed like genuine interest - although the internet media sources still panned the Fascination, comparing its design to childrens’ drawings that their parents keep even though everyone knows they are trash, and composing whitty headlines like “Cruise Ship? Try SNOOZE Ship.†Still, the PR Team counted this a victory over the reception the There and Back Again had received.

The engineering staff was happy because so far everything was fitting together in orbit. The science staff was happy because the Fascination’s large payload size meant they could send new experiments to Eve and Gilly. The admins were happy because there was enough room in the crew quarters for them to include a fully-realized VIP club lounge, a zero-g decorative water feature (don’t ask how it works), and, surprisingly, an economy-sized cabaret theater.

The crew and payload got to orbit, despite the payload pushing the Blue Dragon’s weight limit. The primary payload was accompanied by a redesigned Eve mapping satellite and a specially designed drop pod that Bill had drawn up for Jebediah. When the admins asked who had allowed it to replace the Gilly mapping satellite on the equipment manifest they were met with shifty gazes and unintelligible mumbling until they gave up in annoyance. Installation of the final components of the Fascination was trivial and quickly completed thanks to Jeb’s preference for speed over safety. (Editor’s note: By “trivial†I mean “infuriating.†Docking is hard and the Fascination is laggy).

Docking the payload with the main ship happened so quickly* (Editor’s Note: *slowly) that Jeb’s drop pod had had time to drift over a kilometer away from the craft. Jeb figured this would be a great time to give it a test drive and went out to grab it. He flew it back rather more rapidly than anyone was comfortable with.

With the drop pod parked in its holding bay, the crew found their way to their seats (the ship looked bigger than they had expected on the inside) and fascened their harnesses for the Kerbin escape burn. The EveEx Fascination was complete! All told it comprised the main ship, two surface probes, a SEAKmap Beta mapping satellite, Jeb’s drop pod, and the two sections of the undisclosed Eve payload.

Once the burn was complete and the Fascination was on its course for the purple planet, the ship lit up in all its luxurious glory. Thanks to the winning pitch by the PR Team, the Fascination was designed to evoke the same sorts of feelings one might get when traveling on a cruise ship. This was clear for the crew, who were busy trying to turn off most of the mood lighting and spacey ambient muzak that had come on all over the ship. Back on the ground however, most of the SEAK staff was wondering the same thing: “Now that it’s finished… Does it look ugly? It kind of does, right? I feel like it wasn’t supposed to look like that.†After some head scratching they agreed to let it go and celebrate the launch with liberal quantities of candy and party beverages.

---

Thanks for reading. I'm heading off on vacation, but I'll resume updates when I return!

[Geschosskopf]

Wow, quite a ship. Love the "mood lighting". Good luck with the aerobraking and have fun on your vacation.

[Mister Dilsby]

Have a great vacation! We'll have to compare aero-breaking (and -burning and -exploding) notes when you get back.

[BejeweledSun0]

Your intro kinda has a nice 'Douglas Adams' humor to it. Well done, and remember your towel!