Misguided_Kerbal's Closet

[Misguided Kerbal]

I might have forgot about this. Not that I've maken much progress though, either. Anyway, here are more pics that nobody will ever see

To summarize - The old Mungate Station (launched in Year 2 of the save, it's currently Year 9) is upgraded with a new fuel module in preparation for the new Percheron series lander. The venerable Pegasus Heavy is also pulled out of the shed to launch a new rover design to Homestead base, which I am quite proud of.  I totally didn't crash the rover into the side of a habitat due to loss of power, nope, not me. Finally, the new Percheron lander takes to the skies, and for some reason the poodle's plume doesn't work.

Edited December 6, 2021 by Misguided Kerbal
Oh wow new page

[Misguided Kerbal]

Forgot to post pics here again (honestly, I'm not sure why I still post here. Maybe for the sake of record keeping?)

Spoiler

Couldn't really think of something good on the spot.

 

To summarize -
 

(I'm pretty lazy, if you can't tell)

[Misguided Kerbal]

I've been busy (too busy, in fact, to even post here apparently).  

So uh, let's try something new: time to turn this into a mission report (ish). I've always wanted to do a finished mission report, but of course you can't really just go ahead and start a mission report in the middle of a save (unless you're doing a Jool-5 or something, which hopefully will be soon). But anyway, why not do it here?

First up, GalaxyComm, a new super powerful relay system:

Spoiler

It's a pretty standard, typical mission. A HUGE (I mean HUGE) relay sat to HKO. The new Thunderbird II launcher is pretty slick though, if I do say so myself.

The sat isn't very heavy.

Not the cleanest fairing deployment, but it worked

And just look at that. Absolutely massive reflector arrays (paired with transmitters, of course)

(is shiny)

However, that's not high enough. Let's move it to a higher orbit.

And, final orbit. GalaxyComm will go a long way to supplementing the existing StarComm relay network.

 

The EV-3 Scorpius leaves Duna after a long and productive expedition, being the first crew to successfully land on Duna (it's all in here, just a while back. The pain of running parallel programs.)

Spoiler

Kerbal Alarm Clock is a lifesaver.

Goodbye, Duna. Kerbin, here we come! 

 

Of course, the Koviets are not to be left behind. Meet the Leonov, the Koviets' (admittedly, inferior) response to the ANTS nuclear tug:

Spoiler

Stereotypical Moniya Launch from Kojave Sands (the desert really is beautiful though, with the land shaders)

Beautiful separation. However, without the boosters the thrust goes into a sharp decline. The Moniya simply just isn't powerful enough to loft such a heavy payload (by Koviet standards)

However slowly, the core stage pushes on.

With some uh.. creative maneuvers (radial out), the upper stage barely manages to pull an orbit.

Meet Leonov 1, the first of the Leonov tugs (hopefully with more to come). Of course, this isn't all for nothing...

 

However late the response may be, the Koviets aren't willing to simply sit around while the other united KEC nations march on forward. Meet Lunik, the Koviet Mun landing project.

Spoiler

First, a Komrade spacecraft is launched from Kojave Sands, with 2 crew members onboard.

Unlike the heavy Leonov, the Moniya has no problem putting the lightweight Komrade into orbit (the basic Komrade was, after all, originally designed for the Korolev launcher)

The Komrade is placed into orbit, and heads to meet its ride to the mun, Leonov-1.

Hi, too much images you say? Sorry, I'm a sucker for plumes.

Rendezvous and Docking is relatively straightforward, as to be expected from a spacecraft as proven as the Komrade (2nd generation, of course.)

The stack awaits its sibling, ready to head to the mun.

Spoiler

A little oversight here: I meant to launch the lander first, but I forgot. 

Next up on this launch campaign, Leonov-2. One thing to note, this launch was during an eclipse so it looked pretty cool. (maybe the eclipse is bad luck, just saying...)

Leonov-2, ready for departure. One more launch to go, the Grasshopper mun lander.

I'm pretty proud of this design. For one, it's compact, and it's also quite unique. This was born out of a vision to share some sort of common infrastructure with the Komrade. (In actuality, there was only one 1.25m 2-person pod and that was more spacex themed.)

As light as it is, the Molniya practically leaps off the pad (with 4.5 twr, it's bound to do so.)

(It was so fast, I couldn't even catch booster sep)

Somehow, the first stage ends up in orbit as well. 

As the Lunik has no onboard control, this second stage has been specifically outfitted with a drone core to allow rendezvous with the Leonov-2.

And, docked. Both vessels now await departure.

First to go is the Grasshopper-Leonov 2 stack, dubbed Lunik 2 (the other stack is Lunik 1)

It settles into orbit, awaiting the Komrade and its crew.

The Komrade leaves the Leonov tug, and heads to dock with the Grasshopper.

Fully docked, and ready to go. Time to land.

Turns out, without the comforting hand of mechjeb, I've been getting pretty rusty (for reference, the last fully manual landing I did was the landing of Ares 3 on Duna). This was the fifth attempt. However, we made it!

Spoiler

...

are you kidding me.

I tried reloading quicksaves, and even doing some weird stuff:

for some reason, nope.

what a disappointment.

However, there was an issue with the airlock systems and after a few hours of trying, controllers at Kojave gave the order to abort.

If nothing else, I really do like the design of the Grasshopper, especially the upper stage.

I told you it's cute.

Look at the little thing go!

After merely a day on the Munar surface (so close, yet so far), the crew of Lunik (1?) are ready to leave.

A quick visual inspection is performed. No problems are found, other than the annoying airlock.

The tiny upper stage is left to deorbit.

Meanwhile, Komrade rejoins Leonov. Time to head home.

Lunik 1 lands, surprisingly close to the KSC.

 

Of course, the Koviets aren't going to just let the Lunik disappointment forever hinder their progress. Officials claimed it was 'just a test of the surface hardware.' Meanwhile, the Koviets have a new surprise up their sleeve:

Spoiler

Meet the new Pletsek launcher. Using the same 2.5 m core technology as the KEC alliance, but retaining the traditional 1.875m cores as boosters, Pletsek is finally a challenge to the KEC's stable of launchers, particularly the Thunderbird line.

For the simple task of lifting the new ACTS spacecraft (intended as a successor to the cramped Komrade), Pletsek is simply overbuilt.

The new ACTS spacecraft uses a state of the art Pandora command pod, seating up to 4 kerbonauts. Using the same monopropellant engine technology as the Grasshopper, ACTS promises a cheaper and more efficient way of powering a spacecraft.

After a few orbits, the ACTS is ready for deorbiting (a new station for the ACTS is yet to be constructed, as Kerbin Station, a project led by the KEC, is still in the works. Who knows, maybe a new Koviet station? Koviet expeditions to Duna or Eve? Do note that the EV-4 tempest Gilly mission, which still hasn't left yet, is a joint KEC-Koviet project.)
 

And, splashdown! 

 

Edited January 29, 2022 by Misguided Kerbal
somehow I accidentally pressed enter and submitted the post before I was done.

[Misguided Kerbal]

Oh boy, it's been a while eh? But in the pursuit of documenting the history of my save, I shall continue on my quest of uploading to imgur albums and copy pasting links.

And boy, have I been busy. Really busy. I don't think I've ever had this many pictures (I had 705 items in my screenshot folder before the usual cleanup, which is translated into 21 imgur albums of screenshots. They could be consolidated into less, but I split them up into missions/parts of missions. Mods, if you have a problem with all these images, please let me know.

Anyway, here's a quick recap of what happens:

- Voyager Station, Molniya Station, and the KISS all get deorbited. They've been in orbit in a long time (look back through the pages, everything has been documented here).

- The Koviets finally land on the mun (for reals this time). 

- Kerbin Station, and the Koviet counterpart Molniya II are constructed and brought to full operational capacity.

- A new crew shuttle is designed, tested, and flown, and subsequently used for Kerbin Station.

- The Koviets construct Nauka station, a station in a highly inclined Munar orbit. (Soon they'll also build one at Minmus).

 

Jeez even that quick recap seemed long. Let's get on with it. (Everything below will be in chronological order).

 

First, probably the most minor thing, a quick rover excursion. (I was inspired after reading some of @king of nowhere's delightful mission reports)

Spoiler

Using the MMEV already stationed at Homestead Base, Roddock and whoever the other guy was (I forgot their name) go for a quick drive. 

If you look, you can see Homestead base in the background. It's located at the bottom of a crater, so there are steep walls to climb. 

The (short) trek continues.

The MMEV is purpose built for such a task. You can't really see it here, but there are two spark engines attached to the rear, which gives it a boost when needed (especially for someone impatient like me). However, the MMEV can climb the walls on motor power alone, going at 5 m/s. The engines push that to 21 m/s.

Cresting the edge, we're at the top!

Roddock goes outside to simply plant a flag and admire the sights. it's quite a view, though you can't see Homestead base from here (it's not within render distance, as the rover climbed nearly 2km).

Flying is fun.

And that's it for the short trip, we'll get back to them later. Now there's the problem of going downhill on a 45 degree slope...

 

Next up, Voyager Station is deorbited. 

Spoiler

Voyager Station has been around since pretty much the beginning of the KEC's space program. It's got a lot of history, (so much, in fact, that I forgot about it after the construction of the KISS.) 

However, it's been a good run, but it has to go. No need to contribute more space junk to the ever growing collection of it, since it'll be decommissioned anyway.

First up, the crew pack up into the Traveler capsule, almost ancient by current standards, a relic. However, it's still functioning and there's no point in throwing away a perfectly good capsule. The remaining 5 crew stay onboard Voyager Station, awaiting a crew ferry.

The Traveler endures its travels safely and lands west of the KSC, the last of its kind. 

Meanwhile,  the KEC hires a Kraken to ferry down 3 more crew, hoisted up on an Eagle booster.

(did I mention the plume?)

However, the Traveler wasn't the only relic still onboard. In fact, Voyager Station still contains a Pioneer capsule intended for emergency use. It just so happens that with 3 crew allocated to the Kraken, the remaining 2 fit perfectly into the Pioneer. Due to my laziness proper maintenance of the systems, the Pioneer was perfectly usable. So away they go.

The Pioneer safely makes it back to Kerbin, not too much of a surprise.

Meanwhile, the Kraken deorbits Voyager station using its hefty service module, and undocks with the final remaining crew.

(you can't really see anything)

The Kraken safely brings the crew back to Kerbin.

Spoiler

funnily enough, I had a kraken attack while descending with the Kraken under timewarp (I accidentally engaged the monopropellant engines with the parachute active. I managed to recover, but as a weird side effect about 200 or the 300 debris was deleted. Weird side effect, but unfortunately no pictures.)

 

We're only getting started. Next up, the assembly of Molniya II.

Spoiler

First up is the core module, with the main solar panel arrays, the airlock, and a few other things like communication and radiators.

Everything is deployed with little issue, the massive solar arrays unfolding perfectly.

Next up, the first Zvezda service module is launched.

The Zvezda is a neat little module. In fact, I might even repurpose it for future Koviet interplanetary missions. Hmmm...

I just really love the aesthetic of this tiny little service module. 

And, docked. One down, three to go. I'll spare everyone (well, the two people that are reading this) most of the nearly identical screenshots of the 3 more launches (4, including the crew launch.) The only real thing of note is that during launching of this station, I discovered that the Pletsek launcher was simply too powerful with all 4 boosters for this meager payload, so the Pletsek Light (one core), Pletsek-2 (two boosters), and the full Pletsek Heavy are developed. You'll be seeing those in the future.

You see this module? I call it the Domoy (I'm sure everyone can pick up on the naming scheme now). Anyway, it's heavy enough that I can't include a service module (CoM problems with the Pletsek). The Leonov tugs already in LKO will be used to push these to rendezvous and docking.

An ACTS (actually, two) are launched to fully crew the station.

And Molniya II is fully complete. It can easily accommodate two more ACTS, and I'll probably dock them in time. But for now, Molniya II is at full operational capacity.

 

Of course, with its successor in place and fully operational, the original Molniya Station can now be decommissioned and deorbited.

Spoiler

And with Molniya II complete, the Koviet Union temporarily has 2 fully operational stations in LKO (beating out the KEC, with an unimpressive 0. Don't worry though, they'll come back soon enough.)

However, it is only temporary, as now Molniya Station can be decommissioned and deorbited. First, the 3 remaining original Komrade modules leave with their crews, one by one.

(The original Komrades have no floats)

Finally, Molniya itself is deorbited using the service module of the remaining resupply ship.

(wow look, a cross!)

 

Now let's get to arguably the most exciting stuff here, the Lunik campaign.

Spoiler

It's time for the Koviets to finally land on the mun for good (at least, after the forgotten landing of Komrade 10 and the disappointment that was Lunik 2), following a clean sheet redesign of the original Lunik design and hardware, with everything only tied together by name.

First up, the Cricket lander is launched on a single-core Pletsek Light.

Being such a lightweight vehicle, it's fits perfectly into the payload capability of the Pletsek Light (at one point, I thought of just swapping the whole thing out for a single core Glushko.)

Next, the Solokov, or 'falcon' tug is launched.  Finally, the Koviets have a formidable rival to the KEC's ANTS nuclear tug, with a Wolfhound engine packing loads of punch.

Looks absolutely amazing.

Next, an ACTS-L, the uprated version of the ACTS for lunar operations, was launched with the 3 crew onboard.

The ACTS has multiple jobs. First, it maneuvers to dock with the Cricket, and then the whole stack proceeds to dock with the Solokov tug.

The Lunik stack is now fully assembled and ready for departure.

Moskow, Lunik-3. You are go for Munar injection.

Lunar Injection was flawless, and the stack easily settled into a stable Munar orbit.

Time for the landing. Thomplan and Lesby board the lander, while the remaining crew member (I forgot their name) stays aboard the ACTS.

The Cricket makes its landing on a gentle slope, just on the rim of a large crater.

Thomplan descends the ladder.

Lesby follows suit.

Thomplan plants the flag.

Obligatory photo op.

Woah, what's that thing?

A very cratery crater.

I'm too lazy to walk Thomplan all the way back, so he flies.

Thomplan and Lesby get to work deploying the surface science.

It's Lesby's turn to see the sights.

She makes her way to the edge of the crater. What a view!

More cool rocks!

The footprints left behind almost look real.

Spoiler

An unexpected kraken attack kills Thomplan. Turns out my last quicksave was right after the landing... let's repeat that process again.

The crew will stay overnight in the lander before taking off. After all, they are exhausted from the extensive EVA (and they need to wait for the optimal rendezvous window.)

Liftoff!

The Cricket makes its way to rendezvous with the ACTS stack.

With the crew safely back onboard, the lander is jettisoned. In future operations, the Cricket lander will be docked to a station, refueled, and reused.

Time to leave.

I uh.. managed to accidentally get the stack into a retrograde orbit.

Due to the retrograde orbit though, the reentry is relatively gentle.

 

Not to be outdone by the Koviets, the KEC presents their latest project: Kerbin Station.

Spoiler

Kerbin Station has been a long time coming, so it's great to finally get all of this out of my head. Let's get to it. Using cheap, expendable Thunderbird-2 launchers (not to be confused with the Thunderbird II launcher), the modules were cheaply and inexpensively launched. 

The first, and also the simplest launch, the central connecting node, Unity. Followed by the node, the Command Service Block Challenger is launched.

Next, the central docking module Gateway is launched.

A docking port was lost due to Mechjeb automatically deploying the fairing, but otherwise a flawless launch.

Followed by Gateway, the identical truss sections are launched.

Now this is starting to look like a real station. 2 more modules to go, the Destiny habitation module and the Quest airlock module.

The modules arrives on the usual expendable tug.

Finally, the station is complete. A Callisto spacecraft is launched to man the station to bring it to IOC.

The routine task of transpositioning is performed, with an effortless extraction of the orbital module.

Spoiler

Finally, with crew onboard we can admire the beautiful IVAs by Nertea. They never get old.

A quick spacewalk is performed to admire the space station.

Not bad, if I say so myself. 

 

Due to Kerbin Station having an unprecedented crew capacity, the KEC debuts its next spacecraft: the falcon.

Spoiler

The revolutionary shuttle design, with a crew capacity of 6 is inspired by the original Phoenix SRLS spaceplane. Using a recoverable tank and cheap expendable SRBs, the new spaceplane, dubbed Falcon, is a new paradigm in crew launch.

After multiple unmanned test flights, a crewed test flight is cleared for launch, with just 2 kerbals onboard.

The launch is flawless and the Falcon easily makes it to orbit.

Its next job is to rendezvous with the KISS, performing a fly around of the soon to be retired station.

Like all new spacecraft, an obligatory EVA is performed.

Time to go.

(Since I overestimated my reentry profile, I had to ditch the falcon in the ocean. But overall, a successful flight!)

With the success of the Falcon, a fully crewed mission is cleared for Kerbin Station.

The Callisto is moved from the primary ports to one of the ports on the Multiple Docking adapter (The Falcon can't dock with those ports)

Because of the need for symmetry even more crew (Currently the Station has 9 crew onboard, 6 from the Falcon and 3 from the Callisto-Thunderbird), another Callisto-Thunderbird is launched.

The KISS is now officially at full operational capacity. Whoo!

 

With Kerbin Station completed, the KISS is decommissioned and deorbited, to befall the same fate as its cousin Molniya.

Spoiler

First up, the last of the Komrade I generation departs the KISS. It's even a Komrade-A, featuring the Docking Port Jr. 

Another routine process for a reliable generation of spacecraft. Finally, I can say with confidence that this is truly the last of the original Komrade series.

Next, another Traveler. I thought I had gotten rid of all of them, but I'm pretty sure this is the last one.

Another routine process, with the last Traveler spacecraft recovered. I really hope this is the last one.

Finally, the Kraken departs the KISS as well.

With all the crew gone and safely back on Kerbin, the KISS itself is finally deorbited using an old resupply module.

Funnily enough, the solar arrays caused so much drag there was minimal atmospheric heating, and most things stayed perfectly fine.

Finally, the solar arrays are sheared off in the lower atmosphere, and the rest of the remaining KISS disintegrates in ocean.

 

With the new generation of Kerbin space stations complete, the Koviets launch a new station.. to the Mun.

Spoiler

In an effort to outpace the KEC and build their own munar base and infrastructure, the first step is now to establish a new station in low munar orbit.

Using slightly modified Zvezda modules from Molniya II and a custom core module, Molniya is relatively inexpensive and easy to construct, while lacking no capability.

The remaining fuel in the second stage is used to place the stack into a Munar injection, while the service module attached to the core does the rest.

half eclipse? Not sure what that is.

The new station, christined Nauka, is placed in a lower orbit at ~70km for a more scenic view better efficiency for the Cricket landers. It is also placed in an almost-polar inclination. Unlike the KEC's equatorial Mungate Station and the corresponding Homestead Base, the Koviets plan to one-up that by building a base near the poles to take full advantage of the water ice and possible ore located there.

 

The boosters are staged a tad bit early.

One down, one to go.

A munar eclipse occurred, putting the Mun in total darkness.

Pretty neat sight.

Nauka is now complete.

 

If you somehow read through all of that (or just didn't bother to read everything), then wow, thank you for making it down here. I've been wondering if maybe I should turn this into an actual mission report, if the two people that read this think that's a good idea. Anyway, that's it to probably my longest ever forum post. More will come soon (and in much shorter amounts).

Edited February 17, 2022 by Misguided Kerbal