totm sep 2021 Space Station Freedom - A Kerbalized recreation of Space Station Freedom from Eyes Turned Skywards

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

13 hours ago, ra4nd0m said:

So how does block 3 apollos acomplish soft groud touchdown? Are they using brake motors like souyz or inflatebles like starliner should?

Yeah it’s Airbags, thanks @pTrevTrevs

[ra4nd0m]

Thanks for an answer! But I have another question!) For docking between Freedom modules APAS is used correct? So why are they continue to use Apollo docking system between mission module and capsule? 

[billbobjebkirk]

4 hours ago, ra4nd0m said:

Thanks for an answer! But I have another question!) For docking between Freedom modules APAS is used correct? So why are they continue to use Apollo docking system between mission module and capsule? 

They actually use CADS, an international docking system developed between NASA, ESA, and NASDA in the timeline for docking between Freedom Modules and Apollo. The old Apollo Probe-and-Drogue is still used on the actual capsule because it would require so many changes to alter the docking system (Especially since CADS has a wider diameter) that you'd basically have to redesign the entire capsule.

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

22 hours ago, billbobjebkirk said:

They actually use CADS, an international docking system developed between NASA, ESA, and NASDA in the timeline for docking between Freedom Modules and Apollo. The old Apollo Probe-and-Drogue is still used on the actual capsule because it would require so many changes to alter the docking system (Especially since CADS has a wider diameter) that you'd basically have to redesign the entire capsule.

Yeah exactly. Zorg Just released the CADS yesterday too, and Freedom had been updated to reduce the parts again and to convert all the ports to CADS

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

Freedom Expedition 7

July 1990

(Note: This mission was made a few days ago, so it doesn’t have the new mission modules and the new Freedom, but the next one will.)

3 Months after the Arrival of Expedition 6,  the crew of Expedition 5 are ready to leave the Station. With it, they will bring back valuable experiments and research done on the Crews 6 month stay, but it will also allow the HRSI tiles mounted on the service module to be tested as it Reenters. 

Before this happens though, Expedition 7’s CSM , Liberation, is readied on the pad along with its M02 booster to prepare for its launch to Space Station Freedom.

The Crew of Expedition 7 consists of:

-Commander Springsteen Kerman

-CSM Pilot Onion Kerman

-Mission Specialist Steven Kerman (ESA)

-Mission Specialist Borb Kerman

-Mission Specialist Zere Kerman

The mission objectives of Expedition 7 are much more interesting since Freedom reached Initial Operational capacity Almost a year before as the construction of Freedom is to now continue, Starting with the docking of the P2 Truss segment the next month, and the Centrifuge gravity Lab, later in the year. 

“Liberation, we have confirmed crew service arm retraction, Comms check, over”

“Houston, this is Liberation, Over, we hear you loud and clear”

T- 67s, initiate F-1A Chilldown sequence 

“Engine Ignition…Hold-downs released, We have a liftoff”

Tower Cleared!

“Confirmed roll program…engine output nominal”

“Approaching F-1A throttle regime”

“Liberation, this is Houston, approaching Max-Q”

“70 seconds until core burnout”

“50 Seconds, Initiate J-2S Chilldown sequence”

“25 seconds, begin G-limiting”

Confirmed Stage Separation 

J-2S Ignition 

“LES jettison confirmed, burn is nominal”

“Liberation, S-IVB burn is nominal so far, switch to Abort mode D”

“160 seconds remaining until burnout”

“55 seconds remaining”

“Confirmed Orbital Insertion, begin engine shutdown sequence”

“SLA Separation”

Liberation beings Transposition and docking to the mission module

 

Docking confirmed

Liberation then Extracts it’s mission module

Liberation proceeds to gradually phase its orbit in order to rendezvous with Freedom 2 days later.

 

Approaching Freedom…

Liberation targets Harmony’s Zenith docking node, and approaches from above

Liberation cruses at less than 1m/s for its final Approach 

CADS soft attachment confirmed…prepare to retract the active docking ring…

Hard Capture Confirmed…Welcome to Freedom Expedition 7!

Thanks for reading everyone, I’ll post Expedition 5’s return some time tomorrow, because it’s currently nearly 1am and I’m really tied lol  

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

Expedition 5’s return to Earth

4 days after the docking of Expedition 7, the crew of Expedition 5 make their way aboard their CSM, Nova, and prepare to depart to earth.

Confirmed Undocking

Retreat completed, prepare for attitude change

After a two day coast, Kuiper Kerman is scheduled to perform a CSM EVA to inspect the heat tiles to make sure they are in a condition not to damage Nova during reentry. However, to do this, everyone but the Pilot Calvin Kerman, must move into the Mission module and suit up in case of depressurisation.

On the other hand, Kuiper and Calvin Kerman must suit up for a full EVA in their A9 suits, with Nova staying open to the vacuum of space for the duration of the EVA. 

Commander Kuiper Kerman exits the hatch

The Silica tiles are intact and in good shape, the crew can prepare to deorbit.

 

Confirmed Mission module separation 

 

Nova prepares to deorbit

SPS ignition Nominal

Nova Proceeds to Orient itself for SM jettison

Clean Separation 

Nova begins to scrape the atmosphere 

Live telemetry from the SM and it’s sensors seem to show the Tiles withstanding heat. 

Despite what the Telemetry showed, there was a weakness in a few tiles resulting in large cracks down the centre. The reduced heat protection led to it succumbing to reentry faster than expected 

Meanwhile, Nova’s heat shield protects it perfectly from the atmospheric plasma building up on it

Prepare for Drogue deployment 

Drogues confirmed 

Drogues fully drawn, standby for mains

Confirmed main chute deployment 

https://i.imgur.com/5sFQWJP.png

Mains fully drawn

Confirmed Touchdown

Welcome home Nova!

 

Thanks for reading everyone. I’m looking for more crew members for Expeditions 8-11, so if you haven’t signed up yet, be sure to and have your custom kerbal sent to Freedom!

 

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

Hey!

The next mission should be coming tomorrow. It’s been ready for a few days, but I’ve been prioritising things like sleep instead of writing it 

Also posts may be a bit more periodic until mid December because I have mock exams to revise and prepare for, and that’s where most of my time is going. I’m hoping to do at least one a week, I think that fits good for me.

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

P-2 Outboard Truss segment

August 1990

Virtually a full year after Freedom reached Initial Operational Capacity, and major expansions ceased, Freedom is preparing again to expand to its Full Operational Capacity (FOC).

In order to do this, an Expansion to the solar arrays are required to support the extra modules and any future expansions. It was planned from the start for the truss to be assembled over 4 flights: The two inner segments with the main truss body and the first set of solar arrays, and the two outer segments, with only a small truss and the second set of arrays.

Being a lighter payload compared to the P1 and S1 segments, the P2 segment only requires a Saturn M02 for flight, however if requires an extended fairing instead of a cargo SLA due to the length of the segment plus it’s AADRVark bus.

The M02 prepares for launch at early dawn - the sky is murky with a dull morning light

Engine Ignition

Liftoff and Tower Cleared

Engine Performance Nominal, proceed with pitch program 

T+ 30 seconds, the Saturn is approaching Max-Q, and it is gradually being exposed into the daylight.

T+175s, Vehicle had passed Max-Q

Initiate J-2S Chilldown

 

S-1F burnout, commence shutdown

Stage Separation

Successful J-2S ignition

Prepare for PLF separation

Fairing Separation confirmed 

Thrust is go at T+5m

P2 communications have been received by TDRS

Prepare for Burnout - T+6.5 minutes

Engine shutdown…prepare for payload jettison 

The P2 outboard truss now prepares for its journey to Freedom. It must perform multiple phasing burns as part of its Hohmann transfer to the Station 

Burn 1 - Apogee raise

Burn 2 - Perigee Raise

P2 is now fully Planar with Freedom, and is only a few Km away.

After preforming it’s approach burns, the P2 Truss prepares to meet Freedom. 

Only about 3km away, Freedom locks it’s Arrays Secondary axis so they don’t follow the Sun, and possibly cause damage during docking

…hello there!

As the P2 Truss approaches Freedom, it lines itself up with Docking point 1, directly ahed of the Fore port on Harmony…

P2 now parks itself ~150m from Freedom, and it proceeds to gradually manoeuvre itself to face the port attachment system on the end on P1

It now begins the Approach

Very close now, moving at >1m/s

 

Truss Capture, and after a quick inspection over 2 orbits, the AARDVark backs away

Now backed away from Freedom, the AARDVark prepares for disposal

Deorbit Burn

 

Reentry

After Multiple EVA’s to attach wires, secure connections and check the integrity of the arrays, it’s finally time to deploy them. Once again, the right side is locked, but the left isn’t 

Confirmed Extension

Successful rotation and Orientation 

 

Freedom - August 1990 - 2 years after launch

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

Hi everyone, it’s been a while lol.

After I posted the last mission, I did another and was gonna publish it, but I held off for a few days because I was exhausted and I’ve had mock exams to revise heavily for. Then ksp stopped loading for like a week and I couldn’t do anything. And I’ve ordered my new computer, which will arrive in about 6 days.

Them it all changed as yesterday I tested positive for Corona. So basically while I’m at home, I’m gonna try and work on Freedom as much as I can, as we are so close to finishing, so I’m hoping to post the last few maybe every few days. Sorry for the long wait lol

PS: if I have time, I might post Expedition 8 today or tomorrow 

[Maria Sirona]

1 hour ago, AmateurAstronaut1969 said:

positive for Corona.

Oh no!

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

35 minutes ago, Maria Sirona said:

Oh no!

Ah thanks for the concern, but it’s alright. It’s bound to happen at some point. I think I just need to get on with it and try and stay positive (as in happy lol)

[Maria Sirona]

Phew(?)

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

Right, so I’m Corona free now, I’m on my Christmas break and I’ve finished my important mock exams. I’ll try and post the next Mission tomorrow, and I’m gonna aim to finish Freedom by January. Sorry it’s been so long hehe.

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

Freedom Expedition 8

October 1990

Late October 1990, almost 2 years since the launch of Challenger, Freedom prepares for another crew rotation.  Arriving will be CSM Unity, with it's crew:

Commander Talv Kerman 

Pilot Cat Kerman

Mission Specialist Kolbie Kerman

Mission Specialist Brooklindevil Kerman 

Mission Specialist YTho kerman

It's Early evening, and the M02 finishes it's fuelling

''T-1m, range safety is go, proceed with the count''

''Ignition sequence start''

''Liftoff!''

''Houston, Unity has wings!''

 

''T+ 30s, chamber pressure nominal''

''T+ 50s, trajectory is on target''

''Commence engine chilldown''

''Unity, prepare for separation''

Confirmed separation

J-2S Ignition

T+ 4m, Thrust is go

Prepare for Shutdown

Successful orbital Insertion

 

SLA separation

Confirmed docking to the mission module

Extraction confirmed - Unity now will preform it's multiple phasing burns towards Freedom

(Loving the new Mission Module btw!)

1st Phasing Burn#

2nd Phasing burn

Approaching Freedom

200m

100m

50m

Colour images from the SSRMS camera systems

10m

Soft capture confirmed

Hard capture - Welcome to Freedom, Unity!

The Flyaround and Expedition 6's return will be coming later tonight or tomorrow, thanks for reading - it's good to be back!

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

The return of Expedition 6

As part of Expedition 6’s departure, a fly-around of Freedom is scheduled for photography and mapping of the Station

Undocking from the Station, Frontier retreats to 200m away from Freedom, Departure point 01

 To initiate the flyaround, Frontier preforms a small burn with its thrusters and begins to stay facing Freedom.

Through the Cupola, the crew spots Frontier

 

Frontier has now swung 90* around the station. Another small thruster fire continues its movement from Departure point 2 onwards

 

The flyaround is halfway complete, Frontier has reached Departure point 3

 

Frontier reaches Departure point 4…

…and proceeds to break out of its orbit around freedom, leaving the ‘keep out sphere’

At Departure point 5, Frontier burns to escape the vicinity of Freedom

Mission module jettison 

Deorbit burn 

SM separation 

Reentry

Drogue chutes deploy at ~20km

Main Parachutes deployed 

 

Touchdown!

 

Thanks for reading everyone. I won’t wish you Merry Christmas yet as I have a few things to share tomorrow about the last few missions of Freedom. Have a great evening!

PS: here’s a sneak peak!

New visual pack 

[Maria Sirona]

Degree is ° and not *. Also merry christmas!

 

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

So I’ve begun to use this new Visual pack, adapted from RSS to use with KSRSS 2.5x, and honestly, KSP has never looked better

 

On 12/24/2021 at 2:30 PM, Maria Sirona said:

Degree is ° and not *. Also merry christmas!

 

Yeah, I know. There just isn’t a Degree symbol on a Mobile device

I hope you all have a great Christmas!

[SpaceFace545]

1 hour ago, AmateurAstronaut1969 said:

So I’ve begun to use this new Visual pack, adapted from RSS to use with KSRSS 2.5x, and honestly, KSP has never looked better

 

Yeah, I know. There just isn’t a Degree symbol on a Mobile device

I hope you all have a great Christmas!

Dude please share your wizardry. I've been trying for ages to get KSRSS to look this good. 

[Kuiper_Belt]

3 hours ago, AmateurAstronaut1969 said:

So I’ve begun to use this new Visual pack, adapted from RSS to use with KSRSS 2.5x, and honestly, KSP has never looked better

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

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

On 12/26/2021 at 2:19 AM, Kuiper_Belt said:

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

 

On 12/26/2021 at 12:05 AM, SpaceFace545 said:

Dude please share your wizardry. I've been trying for ages to get KSRSS to look this good. 

Well, thanks, but I didn’t make this. I’m nowhere near good enough lol. It’s a wip visual pack which I’ve been invited to test etc. I would share it if I could, but at the moment I’m not allowed 

[Spaceman.Spiff]

On 12/23/2021 at 6:01 PM, AmateurAstronaut1969 said:

Mission module jettison 

Deorbit burn 

Shouldn’t the deorbit burn happen first, so there’s no chance of it being stuck with no facilities like on that one Soyuz mission?

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

21 hours ago, Spaceman.Spiff said:

Shouldn’t the deorbit burn happen first, so there’s no chance of it being stuck with no facilities like on that one Soyuz mission?

Probably yeah, but IIRC that’s how it happened. 

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

It's been a while hasn't it, it feels like the time to finish what I started

After the last mission in December, I proceeded to launch another, but I haven't and won't upload it as it doesn't fit in the quality and style I want from the resurrection of SS Freedom. 

I've restructured how I'm going to write and post the missions, inspired by @Talverd's Chasing Dreams alt history, hopefully making them condensed and shorter

There are 7 missions I've planned out to continue the story and finish constructing Freedom, then I am hoping to take on a new project 

I hope y'all are glad that I returned!

Edited April 8, 2022 by AmateurAstronaut1969

[Jacktical]

Good to have you back  

 

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

                                                                                          Expedition 9, January 1991
                                                                                                                Preparing for the S2 truss

An array of tasks!

With the S2 truss being delivered to Freedom next month,  completing it's set of solar arrays, Expedition 9's Apollo capsule, Intrepid, is carrying it's latest crew to the station, trained in installing the new array and facilitating it's docking. The S2 truss will complete Freedom's solar wings and allow for the docking of the Japanese lab 'Kibo'

The crew consists of:

Commander: Truthful Kerman

CSM Pilot: Calvin Kerman

Mission Specialist: Cobalt Kerman - Docking operator

Mission Specialist:  Penguin Kerman - EVA Specialist

Mission Specialist:  Raccourier Kerman - EVA Specialist

Expedition 9's Saturn M02 resting on LC-39A

 Liftoff!

 M02 Booster pitching downrange

Views from the ground tracking cameras

Stage separation

 S-IVB burnout and mission module extraction

 Intrepid preforms its co-orbital and approach burns, expecting a docking in 19 hours time

 Approaching Challenger's aft docking node

  Soft & hard capture confirmed

 

Again, many thanks to @Talverd

He has been a massive inspiration to bringing this series back and for the new structure too.

If you liked this, please check out his 'Chasing dreams' Shuttle alt history thread here!

Edited April 9, 2022 by AmateurAstronaut1969