Jinnantonix's Historical Space Race

jinnantonix · February 9, 2022

This thread is my log of @Scarecrow71s real-world Historical Space Race challenge

My plan is to play both the Soviet and US. I am doing sandbox mode, with the focus on the craft being accurate replicas of the original craft in terms of appearance and function.

KSP Version: 1.12.2
DLC: Both (Making History and Breaking Ground)
Mods
- KER
- MechJeb 2
- EVE
- Scatterer
- Trajectories
- Tweakscale
- Restock
- Restock Plus
- RealPlume
- KW Rocketry Rebalanced

I may add more mods later, but liking the challenge of stock+tweakscale.

I added KW Rocketry to get a Apollo petal adapter and decouplers.

Edited May 23, 2022 by jinnantonix

jinnantonix · February 10, 2022

R7 Semyorka ICBM.
Sputnik 1
Sputnik 2

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1957 August 21	Soviet	First ICBM	R-7 Semyorka
1957 October 4	Soviet	First artificial satellite; first signals from space	Sputnik I
1957 November 3	Soviet	First mammal in orbit	Sputnik II

References:

R-7 Semyorka ICBM

Soviet 3Mt nuclear warhead, mass 5.5t

Sputnik 1

Sputnik 2

Edited February 12, 2022 by jinnantonix

jinnantonix · February 11, 2022

Vanguard 1 (Vanguard TV4)
March 17, 1958
Orbited 1.47 kg (3.25 lb) satellite

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1958 March 17	American	First solar-powered satellite	Vanguard I

Reference:

Design Notes

Stage 1: Grand Central GE X-405. Swivel. Near perfect match, could do with more powerful gimbals.
Stage 2: AJ10-37 . Wolfhound (scaled down to 0.8 m dia to fit in the engine plate).
Stage 3: Grand Central 33KS2800. Flea (scaled down to 0.8 m dia ) <<< I know, right!

I had some trouble with this rocket being so thin relative to height, it has a habit of flipping when approaching maximum dynamic pressure (~300m/s). It appears this was also a problem IRL, with the second Vanguard launch failing apparently for this reason. I found it important to adjust the ascent so the that craft is always pointing very close to prograde.

Edited February 12, 2022 by jinnantonix

jinnantonix · February 12, 2022

Soviet Luna 1

Accidentally becomes the first ever deep space spacecraft.

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1959 January 2	Soviet	First lunar spacecraft; first spacecraft on an escape trajectory	Luna I
1959 January 4	Soviet	First spacecraft in a heliocentric orbit	Luna I

References:

Design Notes

Stage 1: RD-108 Kodiak with 4 x Cubs
Stage 2: RD-107 Kodiak with 2 x Cubs
Stage 3: RD-109 Terrier

Edited February 12, 2022 by jinnantonix

Singhnaut · February 12, 2022

On 2/9/2022 at 3:31 AM, jinnantonix said:

This thread is my log of @Scarecrow71s real-world Historical Space Race challenge

My plan is to play both the Soviet and US. I am doing sandbox mode, with the focus on the craft being accurate replicas of the original craft in terms of appearance and function.

KSP Version: 1.12.2

DLC: Both (Making History and Breaking Ground)

Mods
KER

MechJeb 2

EVE

Scatterer

Trajectories

Tweakscale

Restock

Restock Plus

RealPlume

I may add more mods later, but liking the challenge of stock+tweakscale..

The meeting of the French-Belgian comic strip fans

jinnantonix · February 13, 2022

16 hours ago, Singhnaut said:

The meeting of the French-Belgian comic strip fans

At least TinTin got to the moon. Asterix didn't have the tech. Or did he?

Edited February 13, 2022 by jinnantonix

jinnantonix · February 14, 2022

Discoverer 1:

This was the first of a series of satellites which were part of the CORONA reconnaissance satellite program. It was launched on a Thor-Agena A rocket on 28 February 1959 at 21:49:16 GMT from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It was a prototype of the KH-1 satellite, but did not contain either a camera or a film capsule. It was the first satellite launched toward the South Pole in an attempt to achieved a polar orbit, but was unsuccessful. A CIA report, later declassified, concluded that "Today, most people believe the Discoverer 1 landed somewhere near the South Pole".

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1959 February 28	American	First satellite in a polar orbit	Discoverer I

References:

Design Notes:

Stage 1: Rocketdyne LR-79 Skipper + 2 x twitch (verniers)
Stage 2: Bell XLR81 Terrier

Edited February 14, 2022 by jinnantonix

Singhnaut · February 14, 2022

On 2/13/2022 at 1:37 AM, jinnantonix said:

At least TinTin got to the moon. Asterix didn't have the tech. Or did he?

True. I downloaded a steam file recently for the moon rocket. Nice to meet another fan of both of them

jinnantonix · February 15, 2022

Explorer 6

or S-2, was a NASA satellite, launched on 7 August 1959, at 14:24:20 GMT. It was a small, spheroidal satellite designed to study trapped radiation of various energies, galactic cosmic rays, geomagnetism, radio propagation in the upper atmosphere, and the flux of micrometeorites. It also tested a scanning device designed for photographing the Earth's cloud cover.^[2] On 14 August 1959, Explorer 6 took the first photos of Earth from a satellite.

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1959 August 7	American	First photograph of Earth from Orbit	Explorer VI

References:

Design Notes:

Stage 1: LR-79 Skipper + 2 x Twitch (verniers)
Stage 2: AJ10 -101 Terrier + 2 x Sepratron (ullage motors)
Stage 3: X-248 Mite (scaled down)

Edited February 15, 2022 by jinnantonix

Scarecrow71 · February 15, 2022

@jinnantonix

I noticed that your last couple of videos have none of the UI from the game in them. Is this intentional/by design?

jinnantonix · February 15, 2022

2 hours ago, Scarecrow71 said:

@jinnantonix

I noticed that your last couple of videos have none of the UI from the game in them. Is this intentional/by design?

Yes, I just like the look of the videos without the UI, so I press F2 before recording. If there is something you want me to show eg resource windows, whatever , let me know.

Scarecrow71 · February 15, 2022

28 minutes ago, jinnantonix said:

Yes, I just like the look of the videos without the UI, so I press F2 before recording. If there is something you want me to show eg resource windows, whatever , let me know.

It's all good. I was just wondering is all.

jinnantonix · February 16, 2022

Luna 2:

Originally named the Second Soviet Cosmic Rocket and nicknamed Lunik 2, was the sixth of the Soviet Union's Luna programme spacecraft launched to the Moon, E-1 No.7. It was the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon, and the first human-made object to make contact with another celestial body. The spacecraft was launched on 12 September 1959 by the Luna 8K72 s/n I1-7B rocket.

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1959 September 14	Soviet	First hard landing on another celestial body (Moon)	Luna II

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_2

Luna 2 was identical to Luna 1, excepting the probe was successful in colliding with the moon.

jinnantonix · February 16, 2022

Luna 3

or E-2A No.1 (Russian: Луна 3) was a Soviet spacecraft launched in 1959 as part of the Luna programme. It was the first mission to photograph the far side of the Moon and the third Soviet space probe to be sent to the neighborhood of the Moon.^[6] Though it returned rather poor pictures, the historic, never-before-seen views of the far side of the Moon caused excitement and interest when they were published around the world, and a tentative Atlas of the Far Side of the Moon was created after image processing improved the pictures.

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1959 October 7	Soviet	First three-axis stabilized spacecraft; First photos of the far side of the Moon; First gravity assist returning the spacecraft to Earth	Luna III

By Hiparick - Own work - Vector image created using Inkscape, based on the image from http://www.libma.ru/nauchnaja_literatura_prochee/zerkalnyi_mir/p7.php, which was apparently

scanned from a book. See also http://acmepoug.ru/kosmicheskie-apparati/luna-3-pervye-snimki-tyomnoj-storony-luny.html, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32040264

Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_3

Edited February 17, 2022 by jinnantonix

jinnantonix · February 21, 2022

Discoverer 13 and 14

was an American optical reconnaissance satellite launched on 10 Aug 1960 at 20:37:54 GMT. The last of five test flights of the Corona KH-1 spy satellite series, it was the first fully successful flight in the Discoverer series. On 11 Aug, after 17 orbits, the satellite's reentry capsule was recovered in the Pacific Ocean by the Haiti Victory.

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1960 August 11	American	First satellite recovered intact from orbit	Discoverer XIII
1960 August 18	American	First spy photography from space; first aerial recovery of an object returning from orbit	Discoverer XIV

References:

Edited February 21, 2022 by jinnantonix

jinnantonix · February 22, 2022

Korabl-Sputnik 2

also known as Sputnik 5 in the West, was a Soviet artificial satellite, and the third test flight of the Vostok spacecraft. It was the first spaceflight to send animals into orbit and return them safely back to Earth. Launched on 19 August 1960, it paved the way for the first human orbital flight, Vostok 1, which was launched less than eight months later.

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1960 August 19	Soviet	First animals and plants returned alive from space; first capsule recovered from orbit	Korabl-Sputnik II

The generic Object K design consisted of two modules. The descent module was a sphere 2.3 meters in diameter with a mass of about 2,400 kilograms. It was covered with an ablative heat shield and contained all the equipment needed for returning from orbit. It was designed to carry a single space suit-clad cosmonaut in a semi reclined ejection seat which served a dual purpose: During the early phases of ascent, this seat could eject the cosmonaut away from the craft in case of a problem. Because of mass restrictions, the capsule could not carry a large enough parachute to guarantee a soft enough landing for the pilot at the end of a normal mission. Instead a forced landing procedure was developed where, after reentry was done, the cosmonaut ejected from the descent module at an altitude of about 7 kilometers. He then used his own parachute to make a soft landing separate from the more quickly falling descent module.

[The K-S 2 test flights] ... carried on the 1K No. 1 spacecraft [...] a biological payload which included a pair of dogs named Chaika (“Seagull”) and Lisichka (“Foxy”). The dogs and other specimens would be housed in a container formally known as GKZh-2 (the Russian acronym for “Pressurized Animal Cabin 2”) which would be mounted on Vostok’s ejection seat. [...] Following reentry after the planned 3 to 5-day mission, the ejection seat would be fired at an altitude of 7 kilometers with the GKZh-2 and its passengers descending to Earth separately from the spherical descent module.

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korabl-Sputnik_2
https://www.opennaukri.com/when-soviet-union-launched-the-korabl-sputnik-2/
https://www.drewexmachina.com/2020/08/19/korabl-sputnik-2-the-first-animals-recovered-from-orbit/

Edited February 26, 2022 by jinnantonix

jinnantonix · February 26, 2022

Venera 1

The Venera (which means "Venus" in Russian) program was the name given to a series of space probes developed by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1984 to gather information about the planet Venus. Venera 1 was the first launch from orbit of upper stage into a heliocentric orbit; first mid-course corrections; first spin-stabilization. Both Venera 1 and 2 suffered telemetry failure a few days into the mission.

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1961 February 12	Soviet	First launch from orbit of upper stage into a heliocentric orbit; first mid-course corrections; first spin-stabilization	Venera I
1961 May 19	Soviet	First planetary fly-by (Venus)	Venera I

References:

Stage Data - Molniya 8K78

Stage 0. 4 x Molniya 8K78-0. Gross Mass: 43,400 kg (95,600 lb). Empty Mass: 3,800 kg (8,300 lb). Thrust (vac): 995.300 kN (223,752 lbf). Isp: 314 sec. Burn time: 119 sec. Isp(sl): 257 sec. Diameter: 2.68 m (8.79 ft). Span: 2.68 m (8.79 ft). Length: 19.00 m (62.00 ft). Propellants: Lox/Kerosene. No Engines: 1. Engine: RD-107-8D74K. Status: Out of Production.

Stage 1. 1 x Molniya 8K78-1. Gross Mass: 100,500 kg (221,500 lb). Empty Mass: 6,800 kg (14,900 lb). Thrust (vac): 941.000 kN (211,545 lbf). Isp: 315 sec. Burn time: 301 sec. Isp(sl): 248 sec. Diameter: 2.99 m (9.80 ft). Span: 2.60 m (8.50 ft). Length: 28.00 m (91.00 ft). Propellants: Lox/Kerosene. No Engines: 1. Engine: RD-108-8D75K. Status: Out of Production.

Stage 2. 1 x Molniya 8K78-2. Gross Mass: 24,300 kg (53,500 lb). Empty Mass: 2,000 kg (4,400 lb). Thrust (vac): 294.000 kN (66,093 lbf). Isp: 330 sec. Burn time: 200 sec. Diameter: 2.56 m (8.39 ft). Span: 2.56 m (8.39 ft). Length: 2.84 m (9.31 ft). Propellants: Lox/Kerosene. No Engines: 1. Engine: RD-0108. Status: Out of Production.

Stage 3. 1 x Molniya 8K78-3. Gross Mass: 5,100 kg (11,200 lb). Empty Mass: 1,080 kg (2,380 lb). Thrust (vac): 65.410 kN (14,705 lbf). Isp: 340 sec. Burn time: 192 sec. Diameter: 2.56 m (8.39 ft). Span: 2.56 m (8.39 ft). Length: 2.84 m (9.31 ft). Propellants: Lox/Kerosene. No Engines: 1. Engine: S1.5400. Status: Out of Production.

Design Notes:

RD-107 / 108 -8D7xx Kodiak with Cub verniers
RD-108 Poodle (quad bell) with Cub verniers
S1.5400 Terrier

Edited February 27, 2022 by jinnantonix

jinnantonix · February 27, 2022

Vostok 1

was the first spaceflight of the Vostok programme and the first human orbital spaceflight in history. The Vostok 3KA space capsule was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on April 12, 1961, with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin aboard, making him the first human to reach orbital velocity around the Earth and to complete a full orbit around the Earth.

The orbital spaceflight consisted of a single orbit around Earth which skimmed the upper atmosphere at 169 kilometers (91 nautical miles) at its lowest point. The flight took 108 minutes from launch to landing. Gagarin parachuted to the ground separately from his capsule after ejecting at 7 km (23,000 ft) altitude.

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_(rocket_family)

jinnantonix · February 28, 2022

Mercury-Redstone 2

was the test flight of the Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle just prior to the first crewed American space mission in Project Mercury. Carrying a chimpanzee named Ham on a suborbital flight, Mercury spacecraft Number 5 was launched at 16:55 UTC on January 31, 1961 from LC-5 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The capsule and Ham, the first great ape in space, landed safely in the Atlantic Ocean 16 minutes and 39 seconds after launch.

References:

Design Notes:

Rocketdyne A-7 (Redstone) LV-T30 "Reliant" (no gimbal, control was aerodynamic only, using tail fin rudders)

Edited March 1, 2022 by jinnantonix

jinnantonix · March 1, 2022

Freedom 7

Mercury-Redstone 3, or Freedom 7, was the first United States human spaceflight, on May 5, 1961, piloted by astronaut Alan Shepard. It was the first crewed flight of Project Mercury. The project had the ultimate objective of putting an astronaut into orbit around the Earth and return him safely. Shepard's mission was a 15-minute suborbital flight with the primary objective of demonstrating his ability to withstand the high g-forces of launch and atmospheric re-entry.

Shepard named his space capsule Freedom 7, setting a precedent for the remaining six Mercury astronauts naming their spacecraft. The number 7 was included in all the crewed Mercury spacecraft names to honor NASA's first group of seven astronauts. His spacecraft reached an altitude of 101.2 nautical miles (116.5 statute miles, 187.5 km) and travelled a downrange distance of 263.1 nautical miles (302.8 statute miles, 487.3 km). It was the fourth Mercury flight launched with the Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, from Cape Canaveral, Florida, close to the Atlantic Ocean.

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1961 May 5	American	First pilot-controlled spaceflight	Freedom VII

References:

Design Notes:

Rocketdyne A-7 (Redstone) LV-T30 "Reliant" (no gimbal, control was aerodynamic only, using tail fin rudders)

Edited March 1, 2022 by jinnantonix

jinnantonix · March 3, 2022

Vostok 2, 3/4 and 6

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1961 August 6	Soviet	First crewed mission lasting a full day	Vostok II
1962 August 12	Soviet	First dual-crewed spaceflight; first spacecraft-to-spacecraft radio contact; first simultaneous flight of crewed spacecraft	Vostok III / Vostok IV
1963 June 16	Soviet	First woman in space; first civilian in space	Vostok VI

These missions all used the same craft as Vostok 1. So I won't do a video, just post screenshots of the orbit to show the missions were done.

Vostok 2

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_2

Vostok 3/4

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_3_and_4#Vostok_3

Vostok 6

Spoiler

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vostok_6

Edited March 10, 2022 by jinnantonix

jinnantonix · March 11, 2022

Mars 1

also known as 1962 Beta Nu 1, Mars 2MV-4 and Sputnik 23, was an automatic interplanetary station launched in the direction of Mars on November 1, 1962,[1][2] the first of the Soviet Mars probe program, with the intent of flying by the planet at a distance of about 11,000 km (6,800 mi). It was designed to image the surface and send back data on cosmic radiation, micrometeoroid impacts and Mars' magnetic field, radiation environment, atmospheric structure, and possible organic compounds.

Launched on a Molniya 8K78, same as the Venera 1 probe

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1963 June 19	Soviet	First Mars fly-by	Mars I

On March 21, 1963, when the spacecraft was at a distance of 106,760,000 km (66,340,000 mi) from Earth on its way to Mars, communications ceased, probably due to failure of the spacecraft's antenna orientation system. Mars 1's closest approach to Mars probably occurred on June 19, 1963 at a distance of approximately 193,000 km (120,000 mi).

References:

Edited March 12, 2022 by jinnantonix

jinnantonix · March 14, 2022

X-15

The North American X-15 is a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft. It was operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft. The X-15 set speed and altitude records in the 1960s, reaching the edge of outer space and returning with valuable data used in aircraft and spacecraft design. The X-15's highest speed, 4,520 miles per hour (7,274 km/h; 2,021 m/s), was achieved on 3 October 1967, when William J. Knight flew at Mach 6.7 at an altitude of 102,100 feet (31,120 m), or 19.34 miles. This set the official world record for the highest speed ever recorded by a crewed, powered aircraft, which remains unbroken.

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1963 July 19	American	First reusable piloted spacecraft and first spaceplane	X-15 Flight 90

References:

Design Notes:

The first X-15 used 2 x XLR11 engines, but since this is hard to model in KSP, I used the successor XLR99 engine

XLR 99 = Vector (no gimbal).

The retractable landing gear comprised a nose-wheel carriage with no steering and two rear skids. The skids did not extend beyond the ventral fin, which required the pilot to jettison the lower fin just before landing. The lower fin was recovered by parachute. In KSP skids cannot be accurately modelled (causes explosion and disassembly), so retractable wheels are used instead.

Edited March 21, 2022 by jinnantonix

jinnantonix · March 22, 2022

Syncom 2 and 3.

Syncom (for "synchronous communication satellite") started as a 1961 NASA program for active geosynchronous communication satellites, all of which were developed and manufactured by the Space and Communications division of Hughes Aircraft Company (now the Boeing Satellite Development Center). Syncom 2, launched in 1963, was the world's first geosynchronous communications satellite. Syncom 3, launched in 1964, was the world's first geostationary satellite.

In the 1980s, the series was continued as Syncom IV with some much larger satellites, also manufactured by Hughes. They were leased to the United States military under the Leasat program.

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1963 July 26	American	First geosynchronous satellite	Syncom II
1964 August 19	American	First geostationary satellite	Syncom III

References:

Design Notes:

Launch vehicle is a Thor-Delta-B which is near identical to the Thor-Able launch vehicle used for Explorer 6.

Stage 1: MB-3-1 Skipper + 2 x Twitch (verniers)
Stage 2: AJ10-118D Terrier + 2 x Sepratron (ullage motors)
Stage 3: X-248 Mite (scaled down)

The apogee motor is a solid rocket motor. This needed to be carefully calculated to take the Syncom satellite from Pe=2863km and Ap= 100km to circular orbit.

Syncom 2 - geosynchronous orbit, 33 degree tilt.

Syncom 3 - geostationary orbit, equatorial orbit

Edited March 23, 2022 by jinnantonix

jinnantonix · March 28, 2022

Voskhod II

was a Soviet crewed space mission in March 1965. The Vostok-based Voskhod 3KD spacecraft with two crew members on board, Pavel Belyayev and Alexei Leonov, was equipped with an inflatable airlock. It established another milestone in space exploration when Alexei Leonov became the first person to leave the spacecraft in a specialized spacesuit to conduct a 12-minute spacewalk.

Date	Country	Achievement	Mission/Vehicle
1965 March 18	Soviet	First EVA	Voskhod II

References:

Edited March 28, 2022 by jinnantonix

Jinnantonix's Historical Space Race

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