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The Hyperion Program: Kerbalkind's Return to Space


Autochrome

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THP - Chapter 9, Part I: Iliad I Launch

 

The first 'Iliad' Mun lander off the production line is finally completed and is stacked on top of the third Hyperion IV. This mission between the Iliad and the Odysseus will be a Low Kerbin Orbit test of the lander's systems, engines, and docking capabilities with the Odysseus spacecraft before the dress rehearsal in Low Munar Orbit. The Hyperion IV vehicle is rolled out to pad TSC 39A, and awaits its launch, along with Odysseus VI's Hyperion I, which is still in the VAB getting ready for its flight to Iliad I in orbit in a few hours time.

Mission Report:

Spoiler

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As you can see, the Hyperion IV first stage has received a new paint job for the vehicle's preparations to be a regular cargo lifter and transition into its current final design.

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Mission Control: "We have engine ignition of the four main engines, liftoff in three seconds from the pad for Iliad I."

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Mission Control: "Liftoff and roll program of the Hyperion IV vehicle on the first complete lander test of the Hyperion Program, go Iliad!"

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Main Engine Cutoff (MECO)

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The fairings separate to reveal the lander payload for this mission, and the Mun Lander of the Hyperion Program for the time being.

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Mission Control: "First second stage engine cutoff, standby for orbital insertion in two minutes."

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Second Ignition of the KDS to insert into orbit. heV27Y3.png

The Kerbin Departure Stage and the first complete Iliad Lander have arrived in Low Kerbin Orbit, and await the Odysseus spacecraft's launch on Odysseus VI in a few hours from pad TSC 39B.

Edited by Austin_Kerman
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I will be taking a small break before starting the Munar missions to prevent from burning out on this series, as I want to post on an around every-other-day post basis.

The second part of Chapter 9 will come out tomorrow if anyone was wondering.

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THP - Chapter 9, Part II: Odysseus VI

 

The first part of the rendezvous mission in Low Kerbin Orbit of the Iliad and Odysseus has been launched, now it is time to send up the spacecraft and return vehicle with crew. The kerbonauts on this mission are the usual Jeb, Bill, and Bob Kerman. The sixth finished Hyperion I is rolled out once again to pad TSC 39B, and the kerbals board the vehicle from the crew access arm for this first space lander test mission.

Mission Report

Spoiler

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Jeb: "Mission Control, we are in the final count now and are ready for launch."

Mission Control: "Roger Jeb, you are go for liftoff in t-minus two minutes."

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Bob: "Liftoff! It's time to head to the Kerbin Departure Stage and lander!"

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Bill: "We have arrived in a 78x96km orbit, standby for payload jettison and instrument deploy."

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Correction burn to put the spacecraft on an intercepting orbit with the Iliad Lander and the Kerbin Departure Stage.

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The crew have arrived at Iliad I, and can spot it with their EVA floodlight through the top window of the capsule.

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Mission Control: "You are go for approach and docking to the Iliad docking port; fuel levels look nominal."

Jeb: "Roger Mission Control, we are approaching now with the spacecraft's systems."

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Bob: "Docked! We are now jettisoning the lander from the Kerbin Departure Stage."

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Jeb: "Goodbye KDS, you have served the lander well."

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Jeb and Bill transfer into the crew cabin of the lander, and prepare for the first crewed testing of the vehicle, and the solar panels are deployed remotely.

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Bill: "Backing away from the Odysseus now, we are prepping the descent engine for ignition testing."

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Before the tests can happen, however, the ladder of the lander must be tested to make sure the crew can get down it when on the surface of the Mun.

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Jeb: "Looks good from here Mission Control, heading back up the ladder now and ready for engine tests."

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Ignition of the descent engine, the reports from the lander's instruments are nominal and the engine is cleared for Low Mun Orbit landing testing on the next mission, Iliad II.

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With all the testing of the descent stage that can be done in LKO, the stage is separated and the ascent engine is fired to head back to the Odysseus nearby.

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Bill: "We have docking back to the Odysseus, transferring back over now."

Bob: "Welcome back guys!"

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The ascent stage is jettisoned, as it is not needed anymore for the remainder of this mission.

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Mission Control: "We have confirmation that the ascent engine has been relit and is deorbiting the ascent stage now."

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The Odysseus also performs its deorbit burn as well, sending it back into the atmosphere for a splashdown in the Eastern Ocean on the night side of Kerbin.

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Bob: "We have reentry! The flames look really nice from the windows of the capsule from here!"

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One of the main parachutes have failed to deploy, but the remaining two chutes can carry the capsule down safely.

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Splashdown of the Odysseus VI capsule for another successful test mission of the Hyperion Program.

 

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8 hours ago, Maria Sirona said:

Wait, which engine does the insertion into Mun orbit? Shouldn't that have been tries out too?

The engine that will insert the spacecraft-lander stack is the engine on the Kerbin Departure Stage, which is why I kept it with the Odysseus through the Mun flyby on Odysseus V. The KDS will be jettisoned into the Mun to prevent space debris.

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The quality of the images in the chapters should hopefully improve because I will be implementing FOV changes and different camera positioning in future launches and missions, which makes the screenshots look better in my opinion.

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I’ve been busy this week; final exams are approaching, schoolwork has been plentiful, and I’ve been under a lot of stress. The next chapter might come soon, but they will be less in number until the end of exams.

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THP - Chapter 10, Part I: Iliad II Launch

 

Now that the Iliad lander's systems have been tested and are ready to work on the Mun, there has to be one last test mission before the first landing on the Mun since the Adventure Program can happen, a mission in Low Mun Orbit to try out the descent phase to the Munar surface, as a sort of "dress rehearsal". Unlike a nominal mission, however, this one will have the ascent stage abort from the descent stage and head back to the Odysseus waiting in orbit and dock before returning home. The third-ever Hyperion IV is set down on Pad 39B, and stands by for launch to Kerbin orbit in the darkness of night.

Mission Report:

Spoiler

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Mission Control: "We have entered terminal count, go Iliad, go Hyperion for orbit!"

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Mission Control: "Liftoff of Iliad II to test out the descent sequence of the lander before the next landing on the Munar surface!"

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First Engine Cutoff

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Orbital Insertion

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The Kerbin Departure Stage will now wait for Odysseus VII in orbit, before heading to the Mun.

Sorry for the large delay in chapters, I have been busy as stated by the previous post.

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THP - Chapter 10: Part II: Odysseus VII Launch


Today, the Hyperion I will launch Odysseus VII to the Kerbin Departure Stage and Iliad in orbit. It will then perform the Trans-Munar Injection Burn to be set on a trajectory for Low Mun Orbit. The crew for this dress rehearsal mission are Denzer Kerman, Valentina Kerman, and a new kerboanaut hired by KASA, Jay Kerman, a more experienced scientist than Bob.

Mission Report:

Spoiler

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Mission Control: "T-minus 30 seconds. Good luck up there crew at the Mun."

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Jay: "Liftoff! We're coming for ya Iliad II!"

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Valentina: "Uh, KSC, we've had a faulty panel separation, we have lost all readings from Solar Panel Two."

Mission Control: "We copy you Val, you should be good for the mission on three solar panels. Wait for the damaged panel to fall off."

Denzer: "Roger."

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Jay: "The panel has safety fallen away from the second stage as we continue to orbit!"

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Denzer: "Orbital Insertion into an elliptical Kerbin orbit of 74x105km. Standby for payload deploy."

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Odysseus Separation

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A correction burn to adjust Odysseus VII's course to the Kerbin Departure Stage.

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Valentina: "Target spotted, me and Denzer are using the spacecraft's thrusters to go around to the lander's docking port."

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Jay: "Easy does it guys, be careful with it."

Val: "I think you worry a little too much."

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Docked to the second Iliad Mun Lander.

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One orbit of Kerbin later, all systems have been checked on the KDS, it is now time to relight the engine to head to the Mun.

Mission Control: "3, 2, 1..."

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Denzer: "Ignition!"

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Val: "We can see that the lander is structural stable for the TMI, all readings are still nominal."

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Engine Shutdown of the Kerbin Departure Stage. The stack will now coast to the Mun for another burn for Munar Orbital Insertion. (That will happen in the last part of the chapter, so watch out for that)

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6 hours ago, Maria Sirona said:

Is Jay male or female? I really like this content :D

Jay is female, and is named after one of the lander name submissions, "Mockingjay".

Thanks for enjoying the series so far!

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3 hours ago, Autochrome said:

(I'm sorry this final part of the chapter is going to come out late, exams are next week and I have recently been having a burnout on KSP.)

Thank you for the info and: Good luck :)

Edited by JoeSheridan
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THP - Chapter 10, Part III: Iliad II-Odysseus VII


The crew of Odysseus VII-Iliad II (Denzer, Val, Jay) are currently drifting through the 'final frontier', travelling to their nearby destination of the Mun. They communicate with Mission Control regularly, and prepare for their Munar test flight of the Iliad II lander in the coming days.

Mission Report:

Spoiler

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The large stack of spacecrafts head through the shadow of Kerbin on their way out of Low Kerbin Orbit and beyond.

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Denzer: "We have reached the Mun's sphere of influence, getting ready to insert into low orbit."

Jay: "Then we'll be a moon of a moon, moonception!"

Val: "Sure Jay..."

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Val: "I can feel the thrust of the Kerbin Departure Stage engine burning, we are entering Munar orbit now."

Mission Control: "Roger Valentina, standby for engine shutoff."

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The KDS is jettisoned once the insertion burn is complete; all that's left is the Iliad and the Odysseus, as the decoupled stage will crash into the Mun.

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After the Kerbin Departure Stage has retreated into the distance, Denzer and Val transfer into the lander and undock from the Odysseus spacecraft while extending the solar panels.

Jay: "Good luck guys down there, I await your return in a few hours!"

Denzer: "Thanks, backing away with Val now."

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The lander is put on a suborbital trajectory to imitate a real landing's deorbit burn.

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The descent burn has started to bring the lander even closer to the Mun's surface before the fire-in-the-hole abort test.

Val: "Everything is lookin' good here, Mission Control."

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Denzer: "Ascent stage engine ignition and descent stage jettison in five, four, three, two, one..."

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Val: "Off we go!"

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Nominal orbital insertion, the ascent stage of the Iliad will now take a few hours to rendezvous back with Odysseus VII to head home to Kerbin.

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Correction Burn of the lander's trajectory.

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Jay: "I spot you guys, you can approach for docking now."

Denzer: "Roger."

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Jay: "Docking confirmed, welcome back crew!"

*Cheering can be heard in Mission Control through the comms*

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The now-useless ascent stage is jettisoned and deorbited into the Munar surface.

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Denzer: "Odysseus engine start acknowledged, we're coming back to Kerbin!"

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One Day Later...

Jay: "Kerbin is getting start to get pretty large outside the front window, we're almost there!"

Mission Control: "We copy you Jay, you and the crew should start the checklists for reentry and landing."

Denzer, Val, and Jay: "Roger Control."

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Reentry of the capsule into Kerbin's atmosphere, landing is imminent.

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Val: "Man, we had it worse in G's during reentry than the crew on Odysseus VI!"

Denzer: "You're right about that Val."

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Main chute deploy.

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Jay: "Splashdown! What an amazing test mission. On behalf of the crew, thank you Mission Control and the rest of Kerbin helping us through this experience!"

Unfortunately, I can't concentrate on both exam-studying and this forum series at once, so I will not post the Munar landing mission chapter until exams are done. I really appreciate if anyone has bothered to keep up with this series, I'll see you guys in a couple of weeks.

Edited by Autochrome
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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey all, I am currently on vacation until Tuesday, which is why there have been no uploads for the past week after exams. When I get back, I might have something special planned for the first Hyperion Mun landing. Thank you for all of  the support of the series that I have been receiving on the forums and Discord, and thank you for your patience.

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The special chapter is going to be delayed a little bit because of things happening outside of this series, like burnout on KSP and becoming a developer on a space game named Aether.  Thank you for all of the support that the series has been receiving over the last week, and I will continue work on the next chapters ahead in the Hyperion Program :).

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THP - Chapter 11, Part I: Iliad III Launch - It's Back! 

The time has finally come, it is time to launch kerbals back to the Mun and to stay permanently on our celestial neighbor up in the skies. The lander that will be used on this mission, Iliad III, is mated to its Hyperion IV launch vehicle in the Vehicle Assembly Building and rolled out to the launch pad a distance away. In the curtain of darkness, the rocket will rise into the sky on top a pillar of flames.

Mission Report:

Spoiler

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The Hyperion IV vehicle sits on the pad, awaiting for its crucial launch into Low Kerbin Orbit to bring crew to the Mun.

Mission Control: "The launch has enter into the terminal count now, ten, nine, eight, seven, six..."

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Mission Control: "Engine Sequence Start, four, three, two, one..."

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Liftoff!!!

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Mission Control: "Roll Program, continuing the launch trajectory."

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Leaving the KSC and also the lower atmosphere of Kerbin.

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Throttle-down of the four main engines to reduce aerodynamic stress on the vehicle as it continues to speed through the atmosphere.

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Mission Control: "Cutoff of the 'Vector' engines as first stage separation is coming up in a few seconds."

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Stage Separation of the Hyperion IV's first stage.

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Continuing to orbit on the second stage.

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Mission Control: "The fairings have been deployed, we can now see space from the camera on the second stage."

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Mission Control: "And a beautiful sunrise of Kerbol over the horizon as engine shutoff is nearing."

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First shutdown of the second stage engine before it will be relighted again on the orbital insertion burn (You guys probably already know this).

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Mission Control: "Readings are go on the 'Wolfhound' engine, insertion is looking to be nominal."

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Mission Control: "Cutoff! We now await the arrival of crew to the lander and Kerbin Departure Stage in a few hours. We will return to coverage then, goodbye."

This part might not seem very special other than there being more screenshots, but once crew enter the picture it will look a lot different. See you guys then.

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