KRRAKC - Missions of a Rescue Program - Purple, With a Chance of Deep Haze and Rain

[Starhawk]

54 minutes ago, Commander Zoom said:

I'm a big fan of the new Thundercraft look.  More "meh" on the Lightning, but I'm the wrong person to ask about spaceplanes.

Thank you!

That's exactly the kind of feedback I was hoping for.

Happy landings!

[Starhawk]

And so the joy and pride that accompanied the successful rescue of Burdorf from Vall's orbit finally had the 'old school' engineers grinning and accepting the congratulations of their younger colleagues.  Both groups recognized the excellent engineering work that went into Thundercraft 1 and the team was thus made whole again and Gene and Wernher breathed a sigh of relief.

The exultation was, as usual, short-lived due to the impending arrival of Gilry's craft in the precarious position of heading for imminent doom upon reentry if something wasn't done.  The entire team agreed that the suggestions from engineers Lury and Jacia out at Whoopstooshort Base that the capsule be released and re-klawed from the rear to maximize protection afforded by the heat shield.
Unfortunately, the theory couldn't be tested because Bill's simulator wasn't working and Bill was in hibe out at Dres, but all the engineers thought 'it's probably her best chance'.

The KRRAKC pilots took control of Gilry's pod and performed the release and re-grab on the first attempt.  While the pilot corps whooped and cheered, the engineers gathered near the monitors and readouts and huddled together with 'concern' on their faces.  Gilry plummeted in toward Kerbin at completely unprecedented velocity.

The service module including solar panels, RCS equipment, fuel tank, and engine was jettisoned just 70 km above the edge of the atmosphere.

And Gilry prepared to become the fastest Kerbal to ever fly in Kerbin's atmosphere.  One way or the other, she was finally home.

Next time, we'll see the rest of Gilry's descent as far as it goes...

Happy (hopefully, anyway) landings!

Edited April 21, 2016 by Starhawk

[max_creative]

Dres lander = DRES DRES WHOO!!! 

[Starhawk]

7 hours ago, max_creative said:

Dres lander = DRES DRES WHOO!!! 

The Dres mission involving Val, Bob, and Bill is, as indicated earlier, far outside the scope of this mission report.

However, I did think that I'd slip this image in somewhere at some point, so now seems like the time.

Here's Val landed at Dres. (Bob and Bill are still in the lander.)  Dres is about as interesting as the photo indicates.

On another note, Dres is the last celestial body in the system to be added to my browser's spell-checker.

Happy landings!

[max_creative]

3 hours ago, Starhawk said:

The Dres mission involving Val, Bob, and Bill is, as indicated earlier, far outside the scope of this mission report.

However, I did think that I'd slip this image in somewhere at some point, so now seems like the time.

Here's Val landed at Dres. (Bob and Bill are still in the lander.)  Dres is about as interesting as the photo indicates.

On another note, Dres is the last celestial body in the system to be added to my browser's spell-checker.

Happy landings!

Exactly! Dres has cool asteroids, and a big canyon, and it's a geologist's dream!

[Starhawk]

26 minutes ago, max_creative said:

Exactly! Dres has cool asteroids, and a big canyon, and it's a geologist's dream!

The landing site where the team ended up had no distinguishing features, unfortunately.

 

max, please trim the images from your quotes.  This thread is already very pic-heavy.

Happy landings!

[max_creative]

4 minutes ago, Starhawk said:

The landing site where the team ended up had no distinguishing features, unfortunately.

 

max, please trim the images from your quotes.  This thread is already very pic-heavy.

Happy landings!

Ok. Got it. A little more Dres? Please?

[Mister Dilsby]

1 minute ago, max_creative said:

Ok. Got it. 

No, you need to go back and edit your posts to remove the images that the OP already posted. This is critical for everyone to do on a Mission Reports thread. A reader scrolling down the thread should find the images of the mission in order with no repeats. When you quote and include the image it screws that up. Don't be lazy; if you don't have time to trim the images, don't reply with quote.

Sorry to post this rant on your thread @Starhawk but I really hate when people do this on mine. 

[Starhawk]

11 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

Sorry to post this rant on your thread @Starhawk but I really hate when people do this on mine. 

No apologies necessary!

Also, I believe that I may have leaked some rant on the Kerbfleet threads once or twice. 

Happy landings!

[max_creative]

17 minutes ago, Kuzzter said:

No, you need to go back and edit your posts to remove the images that the OP already posted. This is critical for everyone to do on a Mission Reports thread. A reader scrolling down the thread should find the images of the mission in order with no repeats. When you quote and include the image it screws that up. Don't be lazy; if you don't have time to trim the images, don't reply with quote.

Sorry to post this rant on your thread @Starhawk but I really hate when people do this on mine. 

Problem @Kuzzter, it's not working. I just spent 10 minutes straight trying to fix it.

[Starhawk]

Just now, max_creative said:

Problem @Kuzzter, it's not working. I just spent 10 minutes straight trying to fix it.

Are you trying to do it from a mobile device?

That could be an issue, if so.

Happy landings!

[max_creative]

1 minute ago, Starhawk said:

Are you trying to do it from a mobile device?

That could be an issue, if so.

Happy landings!

Yes. Every single post I've made is from mobile,

[Starhawk]

1 minute ago, max_creative said:

Yes. Every single post I've made is from mobile,

I'm not sure if there's a solution for the problem.

If there is you'll probably find it here:

Happy landings!

[Starhawk]

Gilry crossed the atmospheric boundary moving at over 5.4 km/s with a smile on her face.  The comforting sound of Gene Kerman's voice on the comm system helped her to relax.

She quickly realized the jeopardy posed by the jettisoned section of the craft as parts of it began to explode uncomfortably nearby.

She watched with relief as the last piece exploded without damaging her vehicle.

The plasma enveloped the craft along with the expected comms blackout.
Gilry was no different from any other Kerbal and the dancing colours of the plasma outside her craft distracted and comforted her as the descent continued.

The craft reached periapsis and the altitude began rising again but the craft was losing velocity very rapidly.  It looked like the scientists and engineers had calculated correctly and that she would neither fly away from Kerbin helplessly nor burn up on reentry.

Then, as the pretty plasma effects disappeared, Gilry once again began thinking of the fact that she was falling rather fast.

Gene's reassurances were not sufficient to convince her that the craft was properly engineered (especially after her experience with Integrated Integrals out at Vall).

The 'chutes opened and deployed properly, of course.

With a final 'Thunk' and a last slam back into her seat, the craft stopped all movement.  A smile stole over face as she realized she had finally made it.

She was home.

And that marked the completion of the first rescue contract taken after the inauguration of KRRAKC.

 

There are a number of things going on now.  There is still the Ike rescue with the replacement ship.  I won't focus on that but might drop in a couple of screenshots.
And there is still Cambles' craft on its way in to Kerbin.  We have a contract for science data from Laythe.  I still anticipate Joan taking the old Tri-Flyer down once the Lightning arrives in the system.
There's another contract that some genius back at KSC decided to accept for testing an aerospike on Tylo's surface.  The science lander was designed to be capable of a Tylo landing so I guess we'll send it down.  It will need the miner to go along and act as a tanker for refuelling after ascent.
We brought only four Scansats with us when we came and I still plan to use the Thundercraft 2 to move one of them over to Bop so we can get data from all five of the moons.
And, other than that, there's only the small matter of an Eve rescue to think about.

The adventures of KRRAKC will continue.

Happy landings!

[Starhawk]

So, out at Ike the 'tow truck' has arrived.  This is basically a modified Thundercraft 1.  This was, however, built during the 'dark time' of the feud between factions within the engineering staff so the designers were a bit distracted and replaced the four Gigantor solar arrays with a single 1x6   Quite sufficient really as long as one makes sure the craft is oriented correctly.

Kimbe doesn't seem overly happy with the rescue process at this point.

She now has to go back into hibe for a year and a half while she waits for the window.

Moving along a couple of hundred days we have the arrival at Kerbin of Cambles' Scrap containing our third rescuee since KRRAKC began.

Mission control decided that periapsis was a little low and tweaked it ever so slightly to push it over 30 km.  Probably just OCD on their part.
Thundercraft 1-3 proceeded in toward Kerbin and the final leg of the voyage home.

The transfer stage was decoupled and Gene continued to talk the newest member of KRRAKC through the descent.

"The decoupled stage will experience rapid shock heating and probably explode quite nearby.  Don't be alarmed," he said, "Nothing broke on the descent stage the other two times."

"That was kind of pretty." Cambles responded.

"OK.  It's all exploded away now." Cambles reported cheerfully.

"We're going to lose comms for a bit while you experience the greatest shock heating.  I'll be back with you once the flames stop."

"OK Cambles.  You're almost home." said Gene in his most comforting manner.  "It can be very frightening when the flames disappear, but we've got you and your 'chutes will bring you safely down."

"Whoooo!" replied Cambles, "This is fun!"

Gene muted his mic and turned to Wernher.  "We're going to want a psych eval on this one.  Looks like we may have another 'anomalous personality' on our hands." he said with a grin.

With the completion of another rescue the KRRAKC team all began to feel more confident and more united than ever before.

Naturally, there is always someone else in need out in the dark of space.

There are still more kerbs to rescue.

The adventures of KRRAKC will continue.

Happy landings!

Edited April 28, 2016 by Starhawk

[Little Hyena]

Thanks about the welcome I really apriciate if

 

[Little Hyena]

"It"

 

[Starhawk]

13 hours ago, Little Hyena said:

Thanks about the welcome I really apriciate if

My pleasure, Little Hyena.

You can edit posts you already submitted by clicking on the 'Edit' link which is next to the 'Quote' link at the bottom of a post you've created.

Happy landings!

[Starhawk]

With the very foundations of the Kerbalverse once again shifting and changing KRRAKC finished a couple of more missions.

The first was sending Jeb up in a spaceplane to complete a low orbit rescue.  Haven't had one of these in forever.  Very enjoyable and relaxing.

And our heroes out at Whoopstooshort Base have braved the rigours of Tylo descent to get the precious science and to complete a part testing contract.
The landing involved a little shouting, considerable fear, and one damaged landing leg.  Fortunately, those were the only problems and part test and science gathering were successful.

The Kerbalverse jerked and shifted, and then did it again.  And then once more.

So far, everything is still intact.  Looks like we made the transition!

Lightning arrived and docked at Whoopstooshort, followed by Thundercraft 2.
Here it's flying by Tylo and getting gravity assisted into Jool orbit.  Laythe and Jool make a rather striking background.

And here are Lightning and Thundercraft 2 docked at Whoopstooshort station.

We are finally ready to go and retrieve Trama's crew cabin from Vall's surface!

With the completion of some contracts, others popped up.

I should have cropped those pics.  Sorry about the readability.

Anyway, to complete the Laythe rescue contract we got last time, we have to use our last Thundercraft 1.  This presents Joan and I with a new dilemma.  We had planned to use the last Thundercraft 1 to send Trama home in her crew cabin.  Hmmm.  Well, we do have Thundercraft 2.  Perhaps we'll send Trama and her crew cabin home with Thundercraft 2.  They could be dropped into LKO and a cheap short-range 'tow truck' could be sent up to bring them down.  Thundercraft 2 could then refuel and meet us at Eve.  Or we could build another one and have that meet us at Eve if the timing is better.  It's not exactly an expensive craft, after all.

We need to replace the Thundercraft 1 ships, and one of those can be used for the Gilly rescue.  The engineering staff haven't figured out how the replacement ships will attach yet.  Or how they'll be sent to Eve.  Or how they'll be lifted into orbit.  Let alone having any design work done on the Eve lander.

All the pilots at Whoopstooshort are very excited about the arrival of the two new craft.  There are concerns about how well the klaw will work under the new physics regime, and the pilots are working hard in the simulator.

Next time, Thundercraft 2 is going to Vall!

Happy landings!

Edited May 4, 2016 by Starhawk

[spacebrick3]

Great series! When is the next update coming?

[Starhawk]

1 minute ago, spacebrick3 said:

Great series! When is the next update coming?

Thanks very much!

As a matter of fact, I'm hoping to post the next update later today.

Happy landings!

[Starhawk]

Obemy undocked the Thundercraft 2 under Joan's watchful eye and began to move it slowly away from the station.

"All systems are functional." Jacia called over the comms.  "Engine gimbals are locked.  Take note that Vernor thrust will require opening the service bay first..  The reaction wheel is spun up, however, so you shouldn't need the Vernors."

"No problem." Obemy replied, "It's handling beautifully."

A couple of weeks later Obemy carefully inserted the ship into a highly inclined Vall orbit designed to approach the target zone from the best direction.  (i.e. Not from behind the mountain.)

 

Joan could feel the low rumble of Lightning's three engines as she burned to set up the rendezvous with Thundercraft 2.  It felt good to be in the pilot's seat again.

"All right.  Rendezvous is set.  Once we dock and get finished fuelling, we'll be ready." Joan announced.
"All the pilots worked hard in the simulator.  Since I had the most success with the capture simulations, I'll pilot Thundercraft 2 down, complete the capture, and re-orbit.  Felix, Obemy.  You're my two most experienced pilots.  I'll need you ready to support.  You too, Dabelle.  Get prepped to monitor all ship's systems."

Rendezvous, docking, and refuelling proceeded without difficulties.  The deorbit trajectory provided yet another view of Jool and its inner moons.

 

"Final approach.  Range 40 klicks." Obemy reported. "Speed is 830."

"Burning!" announced Joan.  "Computer shows time to impact at 102 seconds."

"Range 28 klicks.  Speed 756." said Obemy.

"You're coming in a bit to the East." Felix said.

"Range is 5.2, speed 374.  You're hot."

"It's okay." replied Joan.  "I won't overshoot by too much.  There... and down.  Well, not the 'closer than 100 metres' that I was hoping for but I'll take it.  Now just a couple of short hops.  Open the service bay and prepare to activate RCS."

"Oui Madame." responded Dabelle.

A few minutes later...

"You're on it, Ma'am!" cried Felix.

"Dabelle!  Arm the klaw!" Joan said sharply.  She took a breath and locked her eyes on the navball as she almost hovered down toward her target.

"Klaw armed." replied Dabelle.

"You're drifting." said Felix.

"I can see that!" she shouted as she gently maneuvered the ship as it descended.  "Almost... almost.  Krap!  I missed." she announced as she landed nearly on top of Trama's crew cabin.

"Third time's the charm." Joan said as she prepared to try and grab her target once again.  "It better be, 'cause all this hovering is depleting the fuel supply very fast.  Gently, gently...  It's locked! Full throttle!  I can't hold a vector!  The stupid computer shifted the control point.  Dabelle!  Switch control to the probe core!"

"There, accompli.  Is that better, Madame?" inquired Dabelle.

"Yes.  I can hold a course now." said Joan.

"Watch out!" shouted Felix.  "You're headed for the mountain!"

"Got it!" cried Joan as she wrenched the controls to avoid impact.  "Turning.  Turning.  I think we'll clear it."

"Made it!" she exulted as the craft cleared the rocky surface.  "The thrust offset still feels pretty serious.  We'll have to try and deal with it once we make orbit."

Soon Thundercraft 2 was well on its way to orbit of Vall along with its precious cargo.

 

Once safely in orbit the klaw was unlocked and the crew cabin pivoted to a better location closer to the CoM and the klaw was then relocked.  The process was rather comical since the crew cabin seemed to have a propensity to flail wildly once the klaw was unlocked.  Nonetheless, we successfully adjusted its position which significantly improved handling.

The various gyrations during ascent led to a suboptimal choice of heading and resultant orbit.  This required Lightning to make a fairly large inclination change before rendezvous.

Thundercraft 2 almost had enough fuel to get back to Whoopstooshort without refuelling, but it would have been very tight even if possible.  So Lightning changed inclinations to Thundercraft 2's almost retrograde orbit.  A small fuel transfer ensued, the ships disconnected and both headed back to base without further incident.

 

Thundercraft 2 performed beyond expectations.  Wernher, the KSC engineers, and I were all very pleased.  Thundercraft 2 is a very capable and versatile craft and will be a fine addition to the range of craft available to our KRRAKC Kerbals at Whoopstooshort Base.

There are a few tasks to complete before we pack up the whole kit and kaboodle and head inward to Eve.

The missions of KRRAKC will continue.

Happy landings!

[Mister Dilsby]

Wow, excellent dustoff with the Thundercraft 2 klaw! I know how hard that maneuver is  Also going back an update or 2, as much as I like TC2 on its own it's even nicer-looking docked with the rest of the station. You really have a great 'model railroad' going here for your continuing adventures!

[Starhawk]

5 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

Wow, excellent dustoff with the Thundercraft 2 klaw! I know how hard that maneuver is

Thanks!  It was definitely one of those moments of great achievement.  Only I couldn't stop to enjoy it right away because I was much too busy switching the control point back to the probe core, not crashing into the mountain, and trying to reorbit.

I wish I had that mod that automatically takes screenshots for you.  I was so busy flying that I didn't get any shots from klaw capture until I was well on the way to orbit.

5 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

 Also going back an update or 2, as much as I like TC2 on its own it's even nicer-looking docked with the rest of the station. You really have a great 'model railroad' going here for your continuing adventures!

Thanks again!  I very much like Whoopstooshort Base and its attendant flotilla.

Speaking of which, I'd like to ask for some ideas for a couple of the ships that support Whoopstooshort.  I need new names for the Jool Miner and the Jool Science Lander.  They've always needed new names, of course but now I'm starting to plan for leaving Jool.  If anybody has any ideas for names, I'm eager to hear them.

We still have a recovery mission at Laythe, a rescue at Pol, and a contract to get science from Laythe's surface which all need to be completed before we can prep to head inward to Eve.

Happy landings!

[Starhawk]

With the changes to the universe it seemed appropriate to try and enhance the visuals a bit.  I installed SVE, Scatterer, and DOE.  I have not yet tweaked any of the settings, but it looks a lot better to me.  Jool seems a bit washed out.  Or maybe I'm just too used to that original unearthly (unkerbinly?) green colour.

Moving on to the Laythe recovery mission, the final Thundercraft 1 ship detached from the station.  Here, you can see RCS thrusters pushing it away from the station.

And here it's headed for Laythe.

And here we see it after the successful capture of Lusel's Debris.

The next task for our intrepid kerbs was to deploy the first Firebolt to go and rescue Franna from orbit of Pol.

After setting up the encounter burn for Pol, it became immediately obvious that there was a huge design flaw in the Firebolt.  No extra batteries.

Fortunately, we emerged from Jool's shadow before the node, but we would have to be very careful with planning maneuvers with the craft.

The KRRAKC crew were up to the task and the ship entered Pol's SOI and prepared for the capture burn.

And, despite the limitations of the craft, rendezvous was completed and Franna EVA'd over to the rescue ship.  She doesn't look too pleased, yet.  Hopefully that will change.

And, finally, we jump all the way over to Ike for a quick look at Kimbe's Scrap just before the ship burns for home.

I'm afraid I didn't have time to put in any story for this update.

Next time, we tackle the last remaining Jool contract.  Science data from the surface of Laythe.

Happy landings!

Edited June 1, 2016 by Starhawk