OJT's Mk.2 Shuttles (All Missions Completed!)

[OJT]

Hello fellas

Time for another challenge. And for a change, I am not doing a Jool 5! This time, we are doing shuttles: in particular, I will be attempting the challenges from Shuttle Challenge v6 monitored by sturmhauke and Artienia. Here's the link to it.

While I am allowed to post my submissions directly there, I decided to make a separate thread for it so it is easier for me to monitor and report my progress. I will be doing the challenges in chronological order starting from Kerbin Series. Here are the details:

• All orbiters will be based on Mk.2 plane parts. This will require very careful design of my payloads since Mk.2 cargo bays are quite small, but it will make the challenge more interesting
• I will be doing as many missions as I possibly can: Kerbin Series will be done fully, I haven't done any planning for the rest for now but it should also be manageable with above-mentioned limitations
• However, non-mandatory missions like Kerbin bonus missions and Test Pilot Series will be skipped     UPD: I WILL be doing Asteroid Bonus Mission and Test Pilot Series. I am still skipping the Fuel Pod missions though UPD2: I managed to do the Fuel Pod missions after all. Mission reports of them further down
• I will be attempting to do Commander ranks on all missions. Incase I will encounter payload size limitations for certain missions, I will be finishing them with Pilot rank
• All missions are done on separate Sandbox save with Normal difficulty. CommNET is also on, which means I will need to bring along antennas for interplanetary missions
• Only mods are KER and visuals. Everything else is stock. This qualifies me for stock entry according to challenge rules

If I forgot something worth noting, I will be expanding this list accordingly.

Badge Progress:

Kerbin Series:        

Kerbin Bonus Series: 

Mun Series:    

Duna Series:   

Eve Series: 

Jool Series: 

Minmus Series: 

Test Pilot Series:      

But for now, let's begin

Kerbin Series: STS-1a

First mission is fairly easy: I simply need to get to orbit and return. For Commander rank, I will need to land on a runway. Definitions of a runway are fairly liberal, I can land on any runway the game provides and even add my own with Kerbal Konstructs mod, but since I am doing a stock entry and since I don't have Making History DLC, this only leaves me with KSC and Island runways

This is the Mk.2 orbiter I made

It is a rather unconventional design dare I say, but it works like a charm! It is a long narrow plane based on my tests with lifting body aircraft. There are two solar panels at the front, shielded docking port on the nose and a cargo bay. In the cargo bay, there is another docking port for payloads and 1k battery in the back. Aerospike engine provides good TWR, decent vacuum Isp, good sea level Isp (incase I will need extra range during atmospheric flight) and is fairly light. It also has airbrakes to control the approach speed at landing easier. It has no RCS thrusters, but I won't be needing them for this challenge

Spoiler

There will be minor changes between crafts that I will be using throughout Kerbin Series depending on the task they need to accomplish, but every single Orbiter will be following the same form-factor and will be the same size: there will be no radical transformations between the crafts I will be using

Let's take a look at the Launch System now

Not much to say about it, fairly simple setup. Two big tanks, 4 big wings, Mammoth engine and a silver fairing around the plane. As you can guess, the orbiter is mounted on the top

Now that we saw our spacecraft, let's fly the mission. First is ascent phase: first screenshot is somewhat dark because I had wrong TUFX config on : / 

Spoiler

At 55 km altitude, fairing is deployed, revealing the Orbiter

Spoiler

Just before getting the periapsis above ground, plane is detached from the Launcher and completes the burn while the Launcher descends back to Kerbin. At the end, 80x81km orbit is achieved

Spoiler

After couple of orbits, I perform the deorbit burn and reenter the atmosphere

Spoiler

I overshot the KSC, but not by much. I simply turned around and glided towards the runway

Spoiler

Smooth landing concludes the STS-1a mission!

Spoiler

Edited June 20, 2022 by OJT

[OJT]

Hey there

Artienia verified the STS-1a report and I got my first (of hopefully many) Commander badges 

Which means I can go ahead with the next mission

Kerbin Series: STS-2a

This is the first mission in the challenge that requires bringing some kind of payload. In this particular mission, I need to deploy some comsats to Kerbin geostationary orbit. For the Commander rank, I need to deploy at least three satellites and they need to be deployed to equidistant orbits, after which the Orbiter must land at the runway

Orbiter model is the same as in STS-1a, but this time there will be cargo in payload bay: three comsats based on QBE probe core

Comsats have small deployable antennas, a bit of fuel for orbit insertion and station keeping, solar panels all around and small reaction wheels. First comsat is held by a docking port, the other two are connected with stack separators and the last sat is strutted to the shuttle to avoid wobbliness

With the changes covered, let's get straight to launch

Spoiler

I will be inserting at higher orbit, since the Commander rank requires me to get to orbit higher than 350km before sat deployment. In the end, parking orbit of 568x573km is achieved. Launcher was jettisoned just before raising periapsis above Kerbin so it does not stay in space

Spoiler

In order to deploy my satellites in equidistant orbits, I first need to insert the Orbiter in a resonant orbit. For this, I used this website for resonant orbit calculations and it gave me an orbit of 1,222,703x2,863,334m. So I matched the plane's orbit as close as I could

Spoiler

Now it is the time to deploy the sats. They were deployed one after another and each performed the required insertion burns. At the end, I got a constellation of three satellites with orbits very close to geostationary. I don't know how precise my orbits must be to satisfy the challenge requirements, but I think this will be sufficient

Spoiler

Orbit of first satellite

Orbit of second satellite

Orbit of third satellite and final constellation

After satellite deployment, Orbiter performs small deorbit burn and proceeds to do couple of aerobraking passes to lower the apoapsis to around 75km. After that, periapsis was raised to roughly the same altitude

Spoiler

After parking in low orbit, I planned the deorbit burn carefully in order to approach the KSC runway at optimal speed. I didn't overshoot the KSC this time, so it paid off

Spoiler

Another smooth touchdown, another mission completed!

[OJT]

Kerbin Series: STS-3

For STS-3 mission I need to bring a space telescope into orbit and then put solar panels on it. In addition, assembly must be performed by MMU units that need to be designed by me and I need to bring along two MMU units for two pilots. For Commander rank, I must deploy the telescope at 550km+ orbit with 25-30 degree inclination and land the Orbiter on the runway

This mission turned out to be trickier than I initially expected. I first assumed that jetpacks count as MMU units: they don't, I missed the requirement that MMUs must be designed for the task at hand. Then I made an MMU unit with a cargo bay on it where panels were stored. My plan was that I would get closer to the telescope with an engineer in MMU seat and then do EVA construction. Turns out engineers can't EVA construct while seated in External Seat... 

At this point I was actually curious on how I was meant to attach the damn solar panels, so I checked out some submissions from other users. The solution turned out to be rather trivial: putting a solar panel on a structure with docking ports, putting a matching port on the telescope itself and docking the two together

This is the setup I came up with

As you can see, limitations of Mk.2 cargo bays start to show. MMU units with solar panels are mounted at the back, telescope is mounted on the front. It has two docking ports, antennas for connection and a probe core (no propulsion systems though). Telescope is actually too thick to fit into closed cargo bay, so the ascent will be done with half of the doors open. I can do this without risking damaging the cargo, since the plane will be in a fairing anyway and the fairing itself is sizable enough to fit the plane with open cargo doors

Aside from the cargo inside, the Orbiter is the same as in previous two missions

Launch is trivial, not much to say here. Except that I flew slightly northeast to get the inclination I need

Spoiler

Final orbit is 595x599km with an inclination of 27.2 degrees. Inclination can be seen in the bottom left corner

After parking in target orbit, deployment operations may begin. First telescope decouples

Spoiler

After that, two engineers board their respective MMUs and dock to the telescope one by one, attaching the solar panels

Spoiler

TUFX causes graphical glitches on some parts, so ignore the wonky looking telescope

Then, engineers undock and maneuver back to the Orbiter. Space Telescope successfully deployed and assembled!

Spoiler

Ready to conduct science

After returning to Orbiter, a deorbit burn and aerobrake to lower orbit are performed. In the end, Orbiter parks at 73x75km orbit and waits for suitable window for reentry

Spoiler

After a suitable window comes up, Orbiter performs one more deorbit burn and reenters the atmosphere. I had to bank a bit during the entry phase to approach the runway at right attitude

Spoiler

Glide and landing was superb

Spoiler

STS-3 completed!

Edited March 24, 2022 by OJT

[Autochrome]

This is looking great! Better than my challenge submissions anyway lol 

Edited March 20, 2022 by Austin_Kerman

[OJT]

Artienia verified the next two missions. Another two Commander badges go into Progress section

 

Let's proceed with next mission

Kerbin Series: STS-4

STS 4 is a unique mission: for this one we will need two Shuttles. One will go into orbit with astronauts onboard, the second one must then rendezvous with the first one. Crew in the first orbiter must then transfer into second one and return to Kerbin. For Commander rank, the first Orbiter must have 6 kerbals onboard and must be launched into 350km+ orbit at an inclination of 25-30 degrees, second one must land on the runway

This mission consists of two parts: STS 4 for first Orbiter and STS 4R for second Orbiter. This report will cover the first one

This is the first Orbiter specification that has noticeable change compared to the ones used in previous missions: one of the cargo bays have been replaced with a Mk.2 passenger compartment to accomodate the kerbals needed for the mission. However, as I mentioned in the first post, the form factor and size of the Orbiter remains the same, keeping the changes fairly minor

Launch to orbit is fairly trivial, so I will keep it short. Final orbit is 375x377km with 25,9 degree inclination

Spoiler

Orbit specs

 

Edited March 24, 2022 by OJT

[OJT]

Kerbin Series: STS-4R

First Orbiter in space, now it's the time to send up the second one. This one has one extra crew compartment and couple of RCS thrusters for precise maneuvering. Other than that it is equivalent to the other one

Since the first orbiter was launched at an inclined orbit, I had to wait a bit for the suitable launch window. When this window came up, engines were fired up on the Launch System

Spoiler

After a couple of days of waiting in orbit, small correction was made

Spoiler

Rendezvous successful!

Docking was very easy: both orbiters had their docking ports on the nose and inline with their respective cockpits. All I had to do was to implement the so-called Lowne method of docking: SAS set on Target and small puff with monoprop thrusters

Spoiler

Crew transferred one by one into the second Orbiter and it then departed

Spoiler

Return phase was basically the same as in STS-3: aerobrake into low orbit, waiting for suitable reentry window and descent towards KSC

Spoiler

I feel like I could do this in my sleep lol

Spoiler

All kerbals return safely to KSC: 6 kerbals from the first Orbiter and the pilot of the second Orbiter, 7 kerbals in total. And with that, STS-4 is completed!

[OJT]

Kerbin Series: STS-5-8

This is the final set of missions in Kerbin Series. Completing this allows me to progress into Mun Series and Interplanetary missions

For this mission set, I need to design and assemble a space station in Kerbin orbit. Space station must be assembled from 4 modules (more detail on these later) and I must carry one module per launch, making it 4 missions in total. For Commander rank, space station must be assembled in 300km+ orbit and all Orbiters must then land on a runway. Inclination is up to player's choice on this one

Kerbin Series: STS-5

First, let's go over module specifications. My space station must have (direct quote from STS Challenge thread):

• A service module with power generation, RCS, engines, and reaction wheels
• A habitation module
• 2 scientific modules

First module to go up will be service module

It fulfills all requirements: it has two Gigantor solar panels for power, it has RCS for days, it has ion engines with surplus of battery charge for orbit adjustments and two reaction wheels: one in a probe core and one standalone. It also has an antenna for comms

Orbiter will be of the same spec as in STS-1 to STS-3 missions. Launch vehicle will also be the same as in all previous missions

I won't go into launch sequence too much, you know the deal by now. Final orbit is 327x329km

Spoiler

Time to deploy the service module. It is undocked and separated from the Orbiter

Spoiler

Deorbit procedure will be the same across all four missions, so I will describe it once: first I lower the orbit to 73x73km, then I do a deorbit burn at suitable moment to approach the KSC at right time and after that I enter the atmosphere

Spoiler

Smooth landing one

Spoiler

 

Edited March 26, 2022 by OJT

[OJT]

Kerbin Series: STS-6

Next is the habitation module

It is relatively simple. It has space for two kerbals (three if they pack themselves tighter), it has four docking ports: one for service module, two for science modules and one extra for the Orbiter

Launch and ascent

Spoiler

Light in-orbit adjustment, and Orbiter encounters the service module and deploys its payload. Note that the habitation module is mounted on its side to fit into Mk.2 bay

Spoiler

Service module makes its way towards the habitation module and docks to it

Spoiler

Two modules down, two to go. Orbiter in the meanwhile returns to KSC

Spoiler

Smooth landing two. First night landing aswell btw

Spoiler

Jool in the background. Maybe we will fly there one day 

 

Edited March 26, 2022 by OJT

[OJT]

Kerbin Series: STS-7

Next two missions will bring the science modules. Both of them are "mirrored" to one another, but otherwise built with same parts

It has all vacuum-compatible science experiments, probe core, antenna for comms, RCS for maneuvering, a single Gigantor solar panel and more battery packs. It also has two docking ports: one for the space station and one extra. It can be used to dock other ships or can be used to expand the space station if such need comes up

Launch and ascent

Spoiler

I actually nailed the timing of the launch: after doing a circularization burn I would encounter the space station in half-orbit, no adjustments were necessary. All I needed was a retrograde burn at approach

Spoiler

Science module was deployed and it docked to the space station

Spoiler

Deorbit sequence

Spoiler

Smooth landing three

Spoiler

 

[OJT]

Kerbin Series: STS-8

Final Kerbin mission, let's do this!

Spoiler

Small adjustment, and a bit later we approach the space station

Spoiler

Deploying the second science module

Spoiler

And the Space Station is finally assembled! Here it is in all its glory. Orbiter also docked afterwards to demonstrate that there is enough space between two Gigantors

Time to return home

Spoiler

Curiously, like on STS-1 mission, I slightly overshot the KSC during reentry and had to reverse again. This was not planned, but it makes for a fitting and matching end of Kerbin missions 

Spoiler

Smooth landing four, this time in westbound direction

Spoiler

One final pan around the Space Station

Spoiler

Science module detail

Service module detail

Final orbit of the space station is 328x330km

And this concludes the Kerbin Series of STS Challenge. See you all in next set! 

[Andetch]

Cool Shuttles - I am inspired to make some Mk2 ones myself!

Edited March 28, 2022 by Andetch

[OJT]

Hello fellas

Kerbin Series is done and dusted and last Kerbin Commander Badges have been achieved (thanks to Artienia). Last one is a special badge limited to people who submitted reports during the April Fools period 

  

Now that's out of the way, we can finally move on to other planetary bodies. And we're gonna start with... Mun Series!

These missions are much more ambitious than Kerbin missions: every mission requires to carry along a sizable payload, 4 of the 7 missions require landing on the Mun (and landing a plane on an airless moon is a challenge in itself). And I'm not even mentioning the extra requirements for the Commander badges!

Nevertheless, Mun Series will be a good preparation for the interplanetary missions and experience gained during these missions will definitely come to use in the future. But let's not get ahead of ourselves and get started

Mun Series: MUN STS-1

In this mission I need to land the Orbiter on the Mun, deploy a research facility and return to Kerbin. For Commander rank however the requirements are more strict:

• Research facility must be manned
• I must aerocapture when returning to Kerbin
• I must land the Orbiter on a runway

The payload requirements in this and future missions and the increased deltaV budget needed meant that the Orbiter from Kerbin Series required a redesign. And so, after lots of testing I am happy to present to you the new Mun Orbiter!

First thing first: new Orbiter is longer. It has more space in payload bay and extra fuel tanks for more fuel. It has an extra pair of landing gear and it also has a pair of large gear in the back to raise the rear of the plane. This is done to deploy the payload on the ground and provide enough clearance for the Orbiter to drive away. And cargo bay doors also open on the bottom now. Inside the cargo bay there's a docking port and two reaction wheels for attitude control. There's antenna at the rear for communication

Spoiler

Let's check out the payload for this mission: a manned research facility

It took a lot of time to make a facility that could fit into Mk.2 bay, but I managed it. It has pretty much everything a surface research facility needs: antenna, solar panels, science experiments and two docking ports. It has space for five, which will come in handy later

Mk.1 Cockpit clips through the cargo bay. To get around this the facility is docked sideways in the Orbiter

Launch System is upscaled: one more big tank and two liquid fuel boosters on the side. Launch System actually turned out to be quite an overkill in terms of dV, but better safe than sorry I guess? Orbiter is in the fairing on top, like in Kerbin Series

We did our introduction, let's proceed to the mission itself!

Spoiler

Final orbit is 72x72km

The Orbiter actually only has enough fuel to operate around the Mun and for return, but not for actually getting to the Mun. But since there are no restrictions on using the Launch System as a transfer stage, the burn will be done with a Booster

Spoiler

Plotting the maneuver

Approaching the Mun

Spoiler

The injection burn was done just enough to get into suborbital trajectory, then Launcher was discarded and Orbiter performed a small burn to return to stable orbit

Spoiler

Final Mun orbit

After picking a suitable location, I started the landing sequence. Landing was vertical until the very last when I tipped the plane forward to set it on its wheels. The whole procedure went smoothly: I am actually quite proud of how well it went

Spoiler

We landed! Time to deploy the payload

Spoiler

Base successfully deployed! Time for a team picture: two kerbals up front are the Orbiter pilots, three kerbals in the back are the research crew that will be staying in the base

Spoiler

Before you ask: the base has reaction wheels, so it can orient itself around when necessary

Location of the base

Base is located on the side facing the Kerbin, so the connection is always established and no relay satellites are necessary

Time to return home. Cargo gear is stowed away and the doors are closed. Plane turns around to face the right ascent direction

Spoiler

Let's roll! Ascent was a bit scary due to the immense length of the plane and the proximitry of the hilltops ahead, but we cleared it and reached orbit

Spoiler

Orbit

Burning towards Kerbin

Spoiler

Planned maneuver

I did three aerobrake passes (the plane handled the heat like a dream) to reach the final orbit of 71x72km, from which I waited for a suitable reentry window

Spoiler

Orbit

Once KSC was in daylight, I initiated the reentry and landing

Spoiler

Smooth landing, as is tradition in this thread

Spoiler

This concludes the MUN STS-1 mission. More in the coming days 

[OJT]

Mun Series: STS-2

Next set of missions requires you to set up a scientific outpost on the surface of Mun. Outpost must consist of three modules. The modules are:

• A habitation module for at least 5 kerbals with power generation, an antenna, and a docking port
• A pressurized rover for at least 5 kerbals, that is capable to dock to the habitation module
• An Emergency Escape Vehicle (EEV) for the whole crew

For Commander rank, the outpost must be constructed near the Poles (further than 60° north or south), and kerbals on the outpost must be able to safely return to Kerbin using the EEV. And of course, as usual, all three Orbiters must land on the runway

First module going up will be the Habitation Module. And good news is, I won't need to do any extra payload design. Remember this?

On 3/30/2022 at 1:56 AM, OJT said:

It has space for five, which will come in handy later

That's right! The manned facility from STS-1 fully satisfies the requirements for STS-2 Habitation Module: space for five, solar panels for power generation, antenna for connection and docking ports. This means I can pretty much reuse the entire System from STS-1 for this mission

Launch sequence

Spoiler

Final orbit is 72x72km

Burning towards the Mun. Since my target landing site must be near the pole, I plan the maneuver to insert into polar Mun orbit

Spoiler

Approach trajectory

Insertion burn. Apoapsis was lowered below surface, booster was jettisoned and Orbiter burned back into stable orbit

Spoiler

Final orbit. Pink marker is the rough area I was aiming for

Landing burn

Spoiler

As you can see the landing spot was in the hills, so I rolled a bit downhill to settle on an even ground

Deploying the Habitation Module

Spoiler

Deployment successful! Extra screenshot to show that it does indeed has 5 kerbals inside

Spoiler

Departure. Since I was launching from a mountainous area I didn't do any dangerous fly-bys of hill crests compared to STS-1

Spoiler

Final orbit of the shuttle and the coordinates of the Habitation Module

Ejection directly into Kerbin atmosphere would be difficult due to inclination of my Mun orbit. So what I've done instead is I entered a highly elliptical orbit around Kerbin and then burned retrograde at the apoapsis to lower the periapsis enough to enter the atmosphere

Spoiler

Two aerobraking passes allowed me to enter a low Kerbin orbit, from which I then waited for a window to return to KSC runway

Spoiler

Nice, comfy landing

Spoiler

 

[OJT]

Mun Series: STS-3

Next up is the Pressurized Rover. This one was probably the trickiest payload to design so far in this challenge. Wheels simply don't fit into Mk.2 cargo bay normally, I tried all kinds of combinations and I wouldn't be able to find a workaround... if I didn't have Breaking Ground DLC

Breaking Ground DLC adds rotation servos, and with those you can make retractable wheels. Since official DLC doesn't count as a mod, the missions are still classified stock

This is how it is mounted inside the Orbiter

Spoiler

Everything from launch...

Spoiler

... through trans-munar burn...

Spoiler

... to Mun insertion was pretty much the same as in STS-2

Spoiler

Landing was carefully planned and the Orbiter landed pretty much next to the Habitation Module. I needed to taxi a bit to park closer to it

Spoiler

Deploying the rover. All of the kerbals in the HabModule boarded the Rover and extended the wheels

Spoiler

Kerbals then went for a short ride around the base

Spoiler

Proof that the Rover was fully seated

The furtherst point I drove away from the base

Rover then docked to the HabModule

Spoiler

Orbiter returns to Kerbin, leaving the base and the kerbals in it. Return sequence was the same as in STS-2, except that three aerobrake passes were done (compared to two in STS-2 mission)

Spoiler

Trans-Kerbin burn

Lowering Periapsis for aerobraking passes

After third pass I shortly burned for LKO and then timed the deorbit to approach the KSC

I almost overshot the KSC, but I thankfully stopped in time. All there left to do was a glide towards the runway

Landing on the runway and concluding the mission

Spoiler

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by OJT

[OJT]

Mun Series: STS-4

Now it's the time for EEV to go to the Mun. Designing the EEV took quite a while, it went through various iterations before I ended up with this

It has parachutes for descent in Kerbin. It has 4 small winglets for stabilization during reentry. Reaction wheels, heatshields, the whole package. And it sits 5 people. What else do you need?

Spoiler

You will see the purpose of the RCS thrusters later

Orbiter is the same as in previous missions. Launch System is a bit different for this one however: it is longer, the main rocket is powered by 6 Vectors and the side boosters are somewhat smaller

I won't go into much detail about how I got to the Mun: the whole process is basically the same as in previous two missions. Just enjoy the eye-candy

Spoiler

Landing was also quite trivial

Spoiler

I landed about 200 meters from the base, so I taxi'd towards it and parked the Orbiter nearby

Deploying the Emergency Escape Vehicle

Spoiler

Orbiter departs to Kerbin. Return was, again, basically same as in previous two missions: I could genuinely copy-paste the reports from previous missions, that's how similar it was. I guess I am very consistent with my planning

Spoiler

Two aerobrakes later the Orbiter lands on KSC runway

Spoiler

Now that the Orbiter is at home, it is time to fly the EEV

First I needed to seat everyone from the base into EEV. However, if you look carefully at the picture of deployment, you will notice that it is placed with the entrance hatch down. I didn't pay much attention at how I mounted the EEV inside Orbiter's cargo bay, and this almost costed me the entire mission: EEV didn't have any probe cores and the winglets prevented it from flipping fully with just pushing. Thankfully, after about 5 minutes of trying to place a kerbal near the entrance hatch and furiously mashing the B button, I did manage to get in. From there it was just a matter of spinning around: EEV's reaction wheels were more than enough for this

Spoiler

First kerbal inside the EEV

Getting the rest

After all kerbals were seated inside, I turned the EEV towards the correct attitude. Then I fired up the RCS thrusters that lifted the nose of the ship and Terrier engine was ignited, allowing the ship to ascend

Spoiler

The procedure from Mun surface to Kerbin followed the same profile as the Orbiter: get to low Mun orbit, burn to enter highly elliptical Kerbin orbit, lower the periapsis inside the atmosphere, reentry

Spoiler

Shortly before reentry, the transfer stage was jettisoned

Spoiler

Ship is a bit too unstable if the reentry is too aggressive, so I actually did one aerobrake and then proceeded towards final reentry

Spoiler

Entry one

Entry two

Parachutes were deployed, and EEV splashed down in the ocean east from KSC

Spoiler

And with that, the Mun STS-2 to 4 series is done! In next mission reports, we will cover the construction of Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, so stay tuned

[OJT]

Last set of Mun missions, here we go

Mun Series: STS-5

For the next three missions, we will be assembling a Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (or LOP-G) - a space station in munar orbit which will act as an outpost for supporting Mun exploration and long duration stay in space. LOP-G must have three modules

• The PPE (Power & Propulsion Element) that generates electrical power and has ion engines for orbital maneuvering
• A science module/docking adapter
• A habitation module

In addition to that, there are special requirements for Commander rank

• LOP-G must have enough space for at least 12 kerbals
• LOP-G must be assembled in polar orbit (inclination between 85-95 degrees) with both apoapsis and periapsis between 600 -700km
• After LOP-G is fully assembled, it must raise its orbit above 2000km (both Ap and Pe)
• As usual, all three Orbiters must land on the runway

First up is the Power & Propulsion Element

Lots of batteries, huge solar panels, RCS capability, reaction wheel, relay antennas and a probe core

Orbiter is the same. Launch System has been adjusted again: main rocket is back to previous config, but the side boosters are a bit different, albeit still powered with Twin Boars

Launch sequence

Spoiler

Burning towards Mun. I did a small mid-course correction to approach Mun over the pole

Spoiler

Approach trajectory

I won't need to land on the Mun in the following missions, so I can ditch the main booster early: the fuel in the Orbiter will be more than enough to carry out the entire mission

Spoiler

Final orbit. Inclination is in lower left corner

Time to deploy the PPE

Spoiler

Time to return to Kerbin. The procedure is like in previous missions (with the highly elliptical orbit and stuff). I also did a burn to line up the orbit with the equator, I had enough fuel to do this

Spoiler

Two aerobrakes and I approach the KSC. Unlike previous missions, I didn't enter a low Kerbin orbit after aerobrakes to time my approach, I just got lucky with the timing. Also unlike previous missions, I undershot KSC so I had to burn with the aerospike to extend my range

Spoiler

Landing

Spoiler

 

[OJT]

Mun Series: STS-6

Next is the Habitation Module for the LOP-G. Simple construction: some crew bays and two docking ports. And before you ask: yes it can only fit 8 kerbals, but the science module (which you will see in next mission report) also has crew space for 5 kerbals, which will bring the total crew space of the LOP-G to 13

Launch

Spoiler

Trans Munar injection

Spoiler

Midway correction

Approaching Mun. Main booster is already discarded by this point

Adjusting the plane to match the LOP-G's orbit

Arriving to the target

Deploying the HabModule and docking the PPE to it

Spoiler

Two modules down, one more to go. Let's get back home. Return is same as in previous missions, I won't repeat myself

Spoiler

Soft landing

Spoiler

 

[OJT]

Mun Series: STS-7

Final Mun mission, let's do it. All we need to do is to send up the Science Module and finish the LOP-G assembly

Space for 5, various science equipment, docking ports and RCS capability. This will be nice addition to the Gateway

Launch

Spoiler

For once I didn't forget to turn on the clamshell deployment

Burning towards Mun

Spoiler

After arriving at Mun, I did couple of burns: first to enter orbit, then to line up my orbit with LOP-Gs orbit and at last to rendezvous with it

Spoiler

Deploying the Science Module. The pilot inside the module then maneuvers towards the LOP-G to dock to it

Spoiler

5 kerbals at the LOP-G, max capacity is 13, so it has enough space to accomodate any newcoming crew

Time to return the Orbiter to Kerbin. Same procedure as in previous missions, you know the deal by now

Spoiler

Couple of aerobrakes and we capture into low Kerbin orbit

Small retrograde puff at the right time to approach the KSC

Landing on the runway, as is tradition

Spoiler

That's not the end of this mission, however. We have a fully assembled LOP-G, now we need to raise its orbit

Spoiler

Starting orbit, inclination at bottom left corner

Burn 1

Burn 2

Final orbit, inclination at bottom left corner

And this concludes the Mun Series! This is the second STS Series that we've done. And now, it is time to move on to interplanetary missions. I will give you a little sneak peak that should tell you where we will be heading next

Spoiler

See you all in next Series!

[OJT]

Ladies and gentlemen

Mun Series missions have been completed, all flawlessly, all with Commander levels, all verified by the STS Challenge mods (badges in the original post). And with Kerbin SOI pretty much conquered (aside from Minmus, but this would be too easy), it is time to start going interplanetary. And, as already teased in previous post, our next destination will be...

Duna

These set of missions provide their own unique challenges. Duna is much farther than Kerbin's moons and its thin atmosphere makes atmospheric flight particularly difficult. Very few people managed to make planes that could fly on Duna, and now to make one that should be able to carry payloads and to be able to reach orbit from Dunian surface? Sheesh

With that being said, Duna series should be manageable: a lot of planning went into this, noticeably more than for Mun missions, and I believe that I managed to do a pretty damn good job. But for now, let's start with the first mission

Duna Series: STS-1

This mission requires you to reach Duna, enter the orbit around it, deploy an orbital outpost and return back to Kerbin. The outpost must have:

• Room for 4 or more kerbals,
• Power generation and storage
• Antenna for communication
• Probe core with SAS

In addition to this, for Commander level the Orbiter must aerocapture both at Duna arrival and Kerbin return, the outpost must be deployed below 70km orbit and the Orbiter must land on a runway

New Series require a new Orbiter, and here it is!

Duna Orbiter is the same length as the Mun Orbiter, however it has significantly larger wing area to allow it to fly and land on Duna (and wing structure itself is radically redesigned). It also has RCS thrusters placed across the plane for precise maneuvering and it has extra monoprop tanks hidden in cargo bay. And there are extra airbrakes to assist with approaches. Aside from that it is similar to Mun Orbiter: Aerospike engine, cargo bays opening at the bottom and large landing legs for clearance while deploying surface payloads. This Orbiter model will be used in all Duna missions without any changes (apart from the payload, obviously)

Spoiler

This is the orbital outpost. Space for five, lots of battery charge, huge solar panels, RCS capability, relay dish and probe core at the back + surplus of docking ports

Spoiler

The outpost will be mounted on its side and half of the cargo bay doors will be left open: plane will be in a fairing, so I don't risk damaging it during Kerbin ascent

Spoiler

And yes, you read it right: I did fit the plane into a 3.75m fairing

Launch System has been reworked: Main Rocket + 2 side boosters and a transfer stage for trans-dunian burn

Let's launch it

Spoiler

Boosters collided with each other after discarding, but they thankfully avoided the Main Rocket

Transfer Stage finished the circularization

Cargo doors are opened so the inhabitants of the outpost can see outside. There are 5 kerbals inside it

This will not be our only launch from Kerbin, however

For this mission, we are allowed to bring along a Support Package. Package can be pretty much anything you desire and it can be launched with both conventional rockets or another STS System, up to player's choice. So for this mission, I decided to bring along a fuel tank

Spoiler

The Fuel Tank is equipped with a probe core of its own, a docking port, an antenna, solar panels and some batteries. It has a transfer stage of its own, although 1/3 of the trans-dunian burn will be done with the ascent stage to conserve fuel for future maneuvers

Spoiler

Now we're doing the Duna burns. After finishing them, the Orbiter will reach the destination couple of weeks ahead of the Fuel Tank

Spoiler

Jettisoning the ascent stage

Leaving the home planet

After a long travel (and a small mid course correction for both Orbiter and Fuel Tank), Orbiter reaches Duna

Spoiler

Transfer stage is discarded before reentry

Spoiler

Due to antenna sticking so far out I had to leave half of the cargo bay doors open, but all components still handled the reentry easily, thanks to smaller (compared to Kerbin) entry speeds, thinner atmosphere and decent thermal ceiling of the relay dish. Orbiter did two aerobrakes in total and at the end achieved orbit of 65x65km

Spoiler

First aerobrake

Second aerobrake

Prograde burn

After some time, Fuel Tank also reached Duna. It also aerobraked, but the transfer stage was not discarded and the Tank reentered with it. One aerobrake proved sufficient and, with some correction burns, the Fuel Tank achieved orbit of 61x65km (I sadly forgot to make pictures of its orbital parameters)

Spoiler

After completing the burns, transfer stage was disconnected

Spoiler

Now I needed to rendezvous the Orbiter with the Fuel Tank. They had similar orbits, but the inclinations didn't match, so encountering the Fuel Tank took some burns with the Orbiter and a bit of waiting

Spoiler

After temporarily docking to the Fuel Tank, the Orbiter returned to its initial orbit of 65x65km that I have shown above. Orbiter only used its own fuel for the maneuvers, leaving the Fuel Tank reserves untouched. After doing this, I deployed the Orbital Station

Spoiler

After Station deployment, Fuel Tank undocked from the Orbiter and docked to one of the Station's ports

Spoiler

Orbital Station deployed and in service! Time to return to Kerbin: after waiting for the transfer window, I performed the ejection burn. Also managed to snag up an Ike fly-by while escaping Duna

Spoiler

After long travel, we return home from our first interplanetary journey

Spoiler

Reentry was effortless: the Orbiter handled the speeds and the heat without any issues whatsoever. I did one more pass afterwards to enter low orbit

Spoiler

After timing my retrograde burn, I descend and approach the KSC

Spoiler

I had to circle around because I braked a bit faster than I planned and I was still in high atmosphere

Spoiler

First runway landing after interplanetary mission. And it was smooth as butter

Spoiler

 

[OJT]

First badge acquired

Time for the second one

Duna Series: STS-2

This is gonna be the mission where I will need to land on Duna and then return back to Kerbin. I will also need to visit the Orbital Station that I sent in Duna STS-1. In addition there are following Commander level requirements:

• I need to bring along a module that has space for at least 2 kerbals. The specifics of the module is up to me: it can be pretty much anything, from surface base to additional section for Orbital Station
• I need to aerobrake/capture at both Duna and Kerbin
• Orbiter must land on a runway

And also, like in STS-1, I am allowed to bring along one Support Package of my choice

This is the payload that I decided to bring for this mission: a Science Module for the Orbital Station

Science experiments, crew bay, solar panels, RCS, the whole shabang

Spoiler

That's how it is mounted inside the Orbiter

As for the Support Package, it is gonna be a big boi: a Nuclear Interplanetary Tug

It has over 8k m/s dV and its relay dish provides enough coverage as far as Duna. It has a docking port, which means it can ferry along the Orbiter and it can also be used to adjust the orbit of the Duna Orbital Station and perhaps even to carry it into entirely new celestial body

First launch will be the Tug. It reached a circular orbit of 72x73km

Spoiler

Next is the Orbiter

Spoiler

Side boosters collided again after staging. Main rocket is fully intact

Both ships then perform the trans-dunian burns (about 10 minutes apart from each other) and depart Kerbin

Spoiler

Small midcourse adjustment later, we arrive at Duna. First ship to arrive is the Orbiter: it discards its transfer stage and enters Dunian atmosphere. One aerobrake proved sufficient to enter low orbit

Spoiler

Next up is the Tug: it also performs one aerobrake, but it also performs two burns and enters slightly inclined low circular orbit. It will be left there for potential future use

Spoiler

Orbiter in the meanwhile is rendezvousing with the Orbital Station

Spoiler

Orbital Station ahead of us (lower right from the Orbiter)

Orbiter is looking huge compared to the base

After docking to the Station, the Science Module is deployed and docked to the Station at the other side

Spoiler

The Orbiter's tanks were almost full, but I still filled them up to the brim using the fuel in the big Fuel Tank. After that, the plane undocks and prepares to descend down

Spoiler

Now we get to see the Orbiter and all of the aerodynamic optimization truly shine. Lots of Duna Series prep hours were spent just for this very moment. The plane banks slightly to the left to approach the Eastern Canyon

Spoiler

Flying on Duna in a winged aircraft is probably one of the hardest things to do in the game: because the atmosphere is so thin, the planes must produce a lot of lift and at the same time be as light as possible. Duna's surface is very bumpy and there are very few truly flat sections, so landing approach speed is critical and must be as low as possibly can. At the same time, the lift generated by the plane must be sufficient to lower the stall speed, because the last thing you want is for your plane to plop on the surface: bumpy surface and low gravity make landings particularly bouncy and makes braking after landing difficult

Pretty much all of the Duna planes I happened to see (on YouTube or other platforms) utilize some sort of gimmick to safely land a plane on Duna. Some build VTOL capable planes, others strap on lots of parachutes to slow the plane down. Many admit to doing a lot of save reloads due to the plane crashing. A lot of people simply use parachutes to land the plane vertically. And so on so forth, you get the idea

Through my testing, I worked out the ratio of wing area to weight of the craft to make slow horizontal landings possible. My best "proof-of-concept" plane had 2.28 wing area per 1 ton which allowed it to safely touchdown at speeds as low as 30 m/s! For comparison, the Mun Orbiter has the ratio of 0.76 wing area/ton and, despite flying pretty well on Kerbin, was absolutely hopeless on Duna. So, after figuring out the benchmark ratio, all I needed to do was to get as close as possible while still making an Orbiter that could complete all of the challenges

The final Duna Orbiter you see has 1.84 wing area/ton and it flies like a charm. It can change direction pretty well, it glides nicely and throughout all of the tests I've done with it, I landed all of my attempts first time without any reloads. In this particular mission, touchdown speed reached around 40 m/s before the plane stalled, but by that point I was comfortably close to the surface and plane gently dropped on Dunian soil. Perfect landing without any parachutes or other trickery, purely through gliding

Spoiler

Velocity right after touchdown

We landed on another planet! Time to set foot on it and plant the flag

Spoiler

Getting back into the Orbiter

After waiting a bit to let the batteries charge up and to get a good encounter window with our Orbital Station, the Orbiter fires up its engines and starts the climb

Spoiler

Turning around towards correct attitude

Full throttle

I've actually NAILED the launch: with a modest burn I would be encountering the Orbital Station directly and with small separation, without any need for parking orbits

Spoiler

After fueling up the Orbiter and waiting for the Kerbin transfer window, I undock from the Station and burn towards home

Spoiler

After some time, we approach Kerbin

Spoiler

Two aerobrakes and small normal burn allowed me to park in an equatorial low orbit, from which I've waited for suitable return window

Spoiler

As the window came about, I burned retrograde and descended towards the runway

Spoiler

I braked very quickly in the higher layers of the atmosphere, so I nosedived towards the runway, performed a roll program and approached the runway from the east side

Spoiler

Butter

Spoiler

Flag coordinates

Spoiler

 

Edited April 10, 2022 by OJT

[OJT]

Hello lads, it's been a while

As is usually the case, real life got in the way and I was kind of bored of the game so I had a break from KSP. I had some free time today and I decided to fire it up again. Besides, I already had everything ready and tested for my next mission, so all I needed to do is to fly it

Duna Series: STS-3

This is the final mission of Duna series. In this mission we are continuing to expand our Duna infrastructure, but it also contains some unique challenges along the way. Here are the tasks, and to make it simpler I will list the Commander rank requirements straight away:

• We must bring along three payloads: a lander for 4 kerbals and two satellites. Lander must be fully reusable and must be single stage: you are not allowed to decouple anything from it
• Orbiter must aerobrake/aerocapture at Duna and Kerbin
• After rendezvous-ing with the Duna Orbital Station, Lander must bring 4 kerbals to Duna surface. Kerbals must plant a flag and then return to Orbital Station. Lander must be docked to the Station afterwards
• After Lander docks to Station, Orbiter must depart Duna, perform fly-by of Eve and return to Kerbin
• While in Eve SOI, the satellites must be deployed: one must be placed into circular polar orbit with >2000km periapsis and the other must be placed into circular equatorial orbit with <150km apoapsis
• Orbiter must land on a runway

Let's show the Lander

This lander took a lot of time to design. The main constraint was the size of Orbiter's cargo bay: my initial plan was to use the Mk.1 passenger bays, but the craft turned out to be way too long, so instead I joined four Mk.1 command pods together. In addition, getting enough fuel to return to Station from the surface required me to clip some fuel tanks, but I didn't clip them in too far and they're still visible (it also kinda adds to the aesthetic). I also struggled alot with putting landing legs in a way that they wouldn't clip through the cargo bay of the Orbiter, but I decided to ditch them in the end entirely and I simply put some RCS thrusters to lift up the nose before ascent like on Mun Emergency Escape Vehicle from Mun STS-4 mission

This is the satellite

Not really much to explain here, just a satellite with lot's of fuel for maneuvering around Eve

This is how everything is packed inside the cargo bay

I added extra docking ports for the satellites at the back. Other than that, the Orbiter is the same as in previous Duna missions

Launch to LKO is standard

Spoiler

I turned off the clamshell for this launch because clamshells severely impacted FPS in previous launches

As is the Duna transit

Spoiler

I spotted a comet on my way to Duna

Decoupling the transit stage and aerobraking at Duna

Spoiler

One aerobrake and a bit of maneuvering later I encounter the Space Station

Spoiler

Docked!

Now time to deploy the lander. Four kerbals from the Station board the lander, undock from the Orbiter and descend towards Duna surface. One kerbal is left in the Station to monitor the situation, as is Jeb and Bill in the Orbiter

Spoiler

Proof that 4 kerbals boarded the lander

Drogue chutes deployed

Main chutes deployed

Landing burn

Landed on Duna!

Planting the flag and posing for a picture

Spoiler

After planting the flag, everyone is back in the lander. Nose is raised with RCS thrusters and main engine is throttled up

Spoiler

Climbing to orbit

Spoiler

I didn't time my launch to approach the Station with direct ascent, so I launched to a slightly lower orbit. I then made a small burn and rendezvous-ed with the Station

Spoiler

Both Lander and Station have matching Junior docking ports. There is enough clearance between where the Lander will be docked and one of the solar panels, but I still folded it in to feel safe. It was unfolded back after docking

The whole Station in fully assembled mode. Fuel tank still has enough fuel inside it to fully refuel the Lander several times, which means the Station crew can go on more surface expeditions

With first part of the mission done, it is time to depart to Eve

Spoiler

Except there is a surprise...

Remember the Interplanetary Tug that I had brought along as a support package in Duna STS-2 mission? I cleared with the STS Challenge mod Artienia if I could use Support Packages in multiple missions and I've got permission to do this. So, I will be using the Tug for the whole "Duna to Eve to Kerbin" trip

First, we need to dock the Tug to the Orbiter. Tug does couple of burns and encounters the Orbiter

Spoiler

To my luck (and I swear I didn't plan this), it was Duna-Eve transfer window. So I plotted the maneuver and burned towards Eve

Spoiler

The fly-by will result in the apoapsis that roughly matches Kerbin's orbit

As soon as I reached Eve and entered its SOI, I deployed both satellites

Spoiler

Proof of Eve SOI

As you can see, Tug has big relay dish, so I will be in control of my satellites

First I entered the highly elliptical orbit with the Equatorial Satellite. Then I quickly switched to Polar Satellite and circularized. It required a long retrograde burn and small radial adjustment. At the end, I switched back to Equatorial Satellite and adjusted its orbit with couple of burns to finally end up in the required orbit

Spoiler

First burn with Equatorial Satellite

Polar Satellite burns

Further Equatorial Sat burns

Final orbit parameters. Inclinations (in lower left corners) might not be super-precise, but the satellites have plenty of fuel remaining, so I can adjust the orbits if necessary

Satellites deployed, switching to Orbiter. It was still within Eve's SOI by the time I finished

Spoiler

I did have to do one extra orbit around Sun before favorable encounter window came up, and I also had to do a substantial correction burn, but the journey still took way less time than I initially expected

Spoiler

The planned maneuver

We're back home

Spoiler

I didn't test whether Tug could handle interplanetary reentries, so I undocked it and raised its periapsis above the atmosphere. I did this at the edge of SOI, so the maneuver took very little deltaV

Spoiler

The Orbiter in the meanwhile is about to aerobrake at Kerbin

Spoiler

Orbiter entered the atmosphere at around 4.4 km/s. Reentry was by far the hottest I've ever survived: some parts creeped over 99% heating according to KER readouts. Even then I didn't slow down enough, so I had to do a retro burn immediately after returning to space to stay in Kerbin orbit

Spoiler

I then quickly switched to Tug and did a retroburn with it to enter stable elliptical orbit around Kerbin

Spoiler

Orbiter did a couple of more aerobrakes before entering LKO

Spoiler

I timed my retrograde burn to approach KSC and descended towards the runway

Spoiler

Runway approach and landing was smooth as always

Spoiler

And with this, Duna Series is finished! This batch was a lot of fun. See you all in the next one 

[OJT]

Hello fellas, it's time for the next series

Eve Series: STS-1

Well I say series, it only has one mission, but hey, I didn't name it like this 

In Eve mission, I must send the Orbiter to Eve and bring along an atmospheric probe. There I must deploy the probe that will dip in the atmosphere, conduct science experiments and return to orbit. After that, I must collect the experiment module and return to Kerbin. For Commander rank, I must aerobrake/-capture at Eve and Kerbin, the probe must dip below 60km before conducting science and the Orbiter must land on a runway

Atmospheric probe has to contain

• at least 3 different science experiments
• a probe core
• a battery

Here is the probe I designed

It has lightest smallest probe core, avionics unit for more SAS control, battery pack and three experiments that can be conducted in the atmosphere. It has an antenna attached for remote control and the experiment module is docked to propulsion module. Propulsion module also has solar panels for electricity generation and winglets for stability during flight. After returning to orbit and rendezvous-ing with the Orbiter, the propulsion module will be jettisoned, exposing the docking port and allowing the Orbiter to dock to it

Spoiler

Orbiter is the same as in Duna series. Only difference is in the cargo bay: docking port is at the other end of the cargo bay, there is also a Remote Control Unit to allow the pilot to control the Atmospheric Probe without needing connection to KSC and there's a small relay antenna for this purpose aswell.

Launch System is also the same as in Duna series. Only difference is the fairing colour

Let's get to it. First we get to orbit

Spoiler

Then we burn towards Eve. Even though we are allowed to bring along a Support Package of our choice, we can do the mission without any additional hardware

Spoiler

After arriving at Eve, I discard the transfer stage and prepare for aerobrake

Spoiler

Flying over the South Pole of Eve

Knowing the difficulty of reentering Eve without heatshields, I decided to play it safe and aerobrake at higher altitudes. After first aerobrake I did a burn to adjust the inclination and after that I did more aerobrakes. I did 7 or 8 aerobrakes before sufficiently lowering my apoapsis. At the end, I parked the Orbiter in 130x130km orbit

Spoiler

I managed to snap a lightning strike during first aerobrake

Adjustment burn

Final orbit

Time to deploy the probe. It burns to lower its periapsis inside the atmosphere and descends into it

Spoiler

Temperature percentage went quite high peaking at 96%, but the Probe survived the whole ordeal like a charm. Experiments were conducted below 60km and the Probe safely returned to orbit

Spoiler

Proof of experiments

Probe first got into lower orbit than the Orbiter and then, when approach window came up, it did couple of burns to rendezvous with it

Spoiler

Probe undocks the propulsion stage. Experiment module has a reaction wheel and enough charge to control all systems, so I can adjust its attitude to make the docking easier. Orbiter in the meanwhile maneuvers towards the module and captures it

Spoiler

Captured!

Now that we did everything we needed, all there's left to do is to wait for a transfer window and then burn towards home. TWR of the Orbiter around Eve is somewhat small, so I split the ejection burn into two burns for efficiency

Spoiler

Arriving home

Spoiler

Two aerobrakes proved to be sufficient to enter low parking orbit. After that, I waited for a good approach window, burned retrograde and descended towards KSC

Spoiler

Approach trajectory

At this point I had basically no fuel in my Orbiter, which meant that I needed to carefully shed off the energy to glide towards the runway and not over-/undershoot it

Spoiler

It all went beautifully. All there was left to do was to land the Orbiter

Spoiler

Another series completed!

Edited April 27, 2022 by OJT

[OJT]

Hello fellas
Coming up is the hardest mission I've done so far in this thread...

Jool Series: STS-1

In this mission we will be visiting one of Jool's moons: Laythe. In fact, we will be landing on it. It is a very far destination with relatively strong gravity, thick atmosphere and very little landmass. Laythe's atmosphere is oxygenated, so this makes use of jet engines possible.

In addition, to get Commander rank I will need to carry along two payloads. These are Surface Ore Refinery and an Atmospheric Exploration Aircraft. Here are the requirements for both

The ground outpost must have:

• Ore refinery and fuel storage with docking port
• Room for 4 or more kerbals

The Atmospheric Exploration Aircraft must have:

• Room for 1 or more kerbals
• Docking port

I will also need to land the Orbiter on the runway

New Series requires a new Orbiter. Here it is:

It is a bit longer than Duna/Eve Orbiter due to having bigger cargo bay. It also packs serious power with 4 RAPIER engines and two Supersonic shock cones on top that supply these engines with air

Here is the Ore Refinery

Space for 4, mining and refinery setup, small tanks for fuel and ore respectively, nuclear generator for power and big antenna for direct connection to KSC

Here's the Atmospheric Exploration Aircraft

I initially tried to make a jet-powered mini-plane, but I couldn't design one that would fit inside the Orbiter. So I decided to go with a helicopter design using Breaking Ground DLC parts. Single-rotor with tail rotor for balance, grip pads for surcafe landings and pontoons for water landings. Small docking port on the front and nuclear generator for power

Here's everything packed inside the Cargo bay

For this mission, we are also allowed to bring along a Support Package. So here's the improved Tug from Duna Series. Bigger relay dish, more fuel and nuclear generator for power instead of solar panels

Now that we introduced everything, it's time to launch it. First goes the Tug

Spoiler

After reaching orbit, I span up the entire ship and then decoupled the last stage. This way I deorbited the transfer stage without switching on the Tug's engines, leaving it fully fueled

After that, Orbiter goes up

Spoiler

I used the last stage of the Launch System to rendezvous with the Tug and dock Orbiter to it

Spoiler

Docking ports on both ships were inline, so I didn't need an RCS system: I simply pointed them towards each other and did a small puff

After this, the stage decouples and deorbits

We will be burning directly towards Jool. The Stack had quite low TWR, so I split up the one long burn into multiple short burns. I think I did 5 or 6 shorter burns before doing the final ejection burn

Spoiler

After long travel, we arrive to our destination: Jool

Spoiler

To preserve fuel, we will be using multiple gravity assists around Jool's moons. First we do a burn near Jool to achieve Tylo fly-by and enter Jool orbit. After that I did 2 more fly-bys of Tylo and Laythe itself (with small correction maneuvers in between) to then approach Laythe at sensible speeds

Spoiler

First Tylo fly-by

Escaping Laythe after fly-by

Second Tylo fly-by

Approaching Laythe

I know from experience (check my second Jool 5 submission) that docking ports are quite sturdy and can survive reentries. So, like in my Jool 5 mission, I aerocaptured with the whole stack to enter orbit around Laythe. After that, I did couple of more aerobrakes to then finally enter low orbit

Spoiler

Final parking orbit

Time to land on Laythe. Tug will do the deorbit burn, undock the Orbiter and burn prograde again. This way the Orbiter stays fully fueled

Spoiler

Sorry for dark pictures: I had to do the burn on the night side to approach the land mass on the sunny side

Lightning strikes

After sufficiently slowing down, the Orbiter glides towards some island

Spoiler

Island turned out to be a bit more mountainous than I expected, so I landed on the shore which seemed flatter

Spoiler

Landed! Time to deploy the payloads. Same structure as on previous Orbiters: bay doors opening downwards and Large landing gear at the back to raise the rear for clearance. Although I still had to sort of wiggle myself away from the payloads, but we got there

Spoiler

I waited for the noon so it would be brighter

Spoiler

Then we deployed the payloads: Ore Refinery extended its legs... and rolled away from the Orbiter because I forgot to put the brakes on. Thankfully it didn't roll too far away from it

Spoiler

There are 3 kerbals inside, but it does have space for 4

Next up is the Helicopter: Bill boarded it, did a small test flight and landed near the Refinery

Spoiler

Unfortunately Helicopter has only one seat, so Jeb had to run towards the Refinery

At the end, a flag is planted and everyone poses for a group photo

Spoiler

Landing location

Time to return home. Jeb and Bill get back into the Orbiter and fire up the engines

Spoiler

I picked the RAPIERS because they can be used as jet engines, thus making the ascents through oxygenated atmospheres more efficient. Despite that, the return to orbit was extremely close: when I reached orbit I completely ran out of fuel

Spoiler

Final orbit

Thankfully, the Tug has more than enough fuel to do the rendezvous and docking by itself

Spoiler

The Stack is assembled back. Now we do two burns to escape Laythe and enter an orbit around Jool

Spoiler

After that, I did couple of correction maneuvers and one Vall fly-by to enter high circular orbit around Jool, where I waited for the Kerbin transfer window and then performed the ejection burn

Spoiler

Vall fly-by

Ejection burn

Escaping Jool

Back in Kerbin SOI

Spoiler

At this point I had two options. I could do a fly-by to encounter Kerbin later at lower speeds, but this would noticeably increase the mission time. Or I could try to enter directly, aerobrake and do an additional retrograde burn, but this would be much riskier and I barely had enough fuel to pull this off. Being the sensible person that I am... I went with the second option

First of all I fully refueled the Orbiter: the Tug had a bit of storage with Oxidizer in it to fill up the Orbiter. Then as I was getting closer to Kerbin, I burned with the Tug, using what little fuel it had inside. Shortly before entering the atmosphere, I decoupled the Tug and aerobraked with Orbiter. The aerobrake wasn't enough to slow down however, so after leaving the atmosphere I did a burn with RAPIERs to finally enter the orbit around Kerbin

Spoiler

After that, It was only a matter of couple of aerobrakes  to get to low circular orbit. However, during those aerobrakes I found out something.

Spoiler

Can you tell what the problem is from looking at this?

I never tested how Jool Orbiter flies with low fuel and it turns out that CoM of the plane shifts noticeably behind the CoL if fuel gets too low. I could fix this by putting all of the fuel in the nose tank. That's the reason all of my Orbiters had a nose tank in the first place, so I could balance the fuel if needed. However my direct entry maneuver used up quite a lot of fuel and what I had left was enough to place the CoM just behind the CoL. You can have a relatively stable plane with this arrangement, but this meant that I needed to be extremely conservative with my fuel and that I couldn't use any of it to extend my range in the atmosphere, which meant that after doing the deorbit burn I needed to glide the whole way to KSC and land it. I glided all of my previous missions, but these increased stakes did make me a bit nervous

After waiting for suitable window, I did a small deorbit burn and entered the atmosphere. My orbit was highly inclined, KSC wouldn't be exactly inline with my trajectory when I'd get close to it and I couldn't burn normal to adjust for it due to reasons explained above. So I banked to the left during pretty much the whole entry phase and prayed that my plane doesn't flip and lose control

Spoiler

I survived! Never thought I'd be this happy from surviving LKO reentry with the amount of hours I spent in this game . And the plane was gliding stable, so all I needed to do was to land it

Spoiler

I wish I had a video of this: this was the smoothest landing I did so far in this game

Spoiler

And with this, all Interplanetary Series have been completed! Only Minmus mission is left among the Main Series, which will come soon 

Edited May 2, 2022 by OJT

[OJT]

Hello everyone

Seeing as I almost finished all Main Series missions (except for Minmus, but that will come very soon), I figured I could aswell try to do the other missions. I had a quick look on the requirements of Bonus and Test Pilot missions and I think I can complete them using Mk.2 parts for the Orbiters. Starting with...

Kerbin Bonus Series: STS-9

In this mission, we simply need to recover an asteroid and bring it back to Kerbin. I also need to land on runway to get Commander rank

List of requirements is small, but that doesn't make the mission less challenging than the others. Making an Orbiter that can recover asteroids and still reenter and fly stable is no easy task and it also needs to pack more fuel than it would otherwise need to compensate for increased weight after hooking up to asteroid.

This is the Orbiter I designed for the task ahead

Large landing gear, huge wings, grabbing unit directly above the CoM and nuclear engine with tons of dV (it is not fully fueled on the screenshot). It also has solar panels for electricity generation, Mk.2 probe core acts as an extra battery storage and there's also RCS thrusters, although they are not aligned in all 6 directions, but it should be sufficient

Here's the rocket that will launch it: somewhat short, one stage and very "orby" fairing

First we need to wait until next morning for suitable launch window: asteroid's trajectory seemed to be highly inclined relative to Kerbin. After that, the rocket ascends towards northeast

Spoiler

As I deployed the fairing, a piece of it hit the winglet (I honestly didn't even know that deployed fairing pieces had collision), but at that point the rocket was about to leave the atmosphere all together and the Orbiter was gonna detach from it anyway, so no biggie

I had way more deltaV that I would need, so instead of waiting for asteroid to get into Kerbin SOI, I decided to escape Kerbin and encounter the asteroid in interplanetary space. So that's what I did

Spoiler

With a bit of small adjustments we encounter the asteroid and hatch up to it. I also picked a class A asteroid so it won't be too big and heavy

Spoiler

I popped up the asteroid on the screen so you can see which dot exactly is it

Asteroid was on an impact trajectory, so not only am I completing the mission, I am also saving the Kerbalkind. I did small adjustment to raise Kerbin periapsis and enter its atmosphere to aerobrake. First reentry was rather toasty, so for subsequent aerobrakes I raised the periapsis a bit more and while at it also adjusted the inclination so it would match the equator

Spoiler

After parking in low orbit and waiting for suitable descent window, I did a retroburn and entered the atmosphere for the final time. During my aerobrakes I noticed that plane was somewhat unstable at higher angles of attack, so I had to do final aerobrake facing directly prograde. It got extremely hot, nose cone reached 98% heating, but we survived. Although at the end of reentry phase I still spun out of control, but this actually allowed me to shed off the velocity much more rapidly. I would've otherwise overshot the KSC but because of that I actually lost all of my speed pretty much directly above it. I also managed to recover from the stall, although I had to fire up the engine briefly to recharge the batteries

Spoiler

I did a small circle to align the Orbiter with the runway

Spoiler

Nice controlled landing

Spoiler

One Space Potato Walnut delivered to KSC for studies

Edited May 20, 2022 by OJT

[OJT]

Finally, I got around to doing the damn mission that I've been promising for quite a while now

Minmus Series: STS-1

In this mission we need to bring a Resource Scanner satellite into polar orbit of Minmus. Then, we need to land in a spot with rich ore concentration, deploy a Rover with a surface ore scanner, scan the soil and return to Kerbin. For Commander Rank, the Rover must have space for at least 4 kerbals, you must bring along extra CommSat and you must land on a runway when you return to Kerbin

Since the deltaV requirements are very similar, I will be using the Mun STS Shuttle for this mission

Here are the payloads: two satellites and a Rover for 4 kerbals

Spoiler

And here is everything packed inside the payload bay

Spoiler

Let's get straight to launch. Standard procedure

Spoiler

Like in Mun missions, I use the main booster as a transfer stage. I also do a mid course correction to approach the Minmus from its South Pole

Spoiler

Circularizing and deploying payloads. After deploying them I lower the orbit of my Orbiter and the CommSat

Spoiler

Scanned the Minmus for ore. I decided to land in the flats

Spoiler

Landing the Orbiter on the flats. Same landing strat as on Mun. Lower gravity makes things easier than on Mun

Spoiler

Deploying the rover, getting into it, scanning the surface and going for a small ride

Spoiler

Getting back into the Orbiter and taking off. I retracted rear landing gear to pitch up easier

Spoiler

Escaping Minmus SOI

Spoiler

First aerobrake to lower the orbit, then I get into low orbit, then I do a retrograde burn and do the second and final reentry

Spoiler

Descending through early morning clouds

Spoiler

Approaching the runway and landing

Spoiler

Another Mission completed! Just need to wait for the mods to verify the entries