Colonization: CH4: Munbase Alpha - Part 4: Launch of Munbase Alpha (AAR) [pic heavy]

[Patupi]

The mod is KAS, but please, if you quote something long like that, it's common courtesy to cut most of it out. If you see a quote with 'snip' in it somewhere that's what it means. Doing quotes like that just doubles or triples the post length for little purpose. If there is information you need to refer to try to cut most of it out and leave the content you want there, say a few paragraphs or a few sentences.

As to KAS itself, bear in mind all it does is connect two ships into one, it doesn't act like a fuel line. For most fuel types this is fine, but the problem I encountered with VKM One is that liquid fuel and oxidizer both need to be local to work. For example in the same stack rather than just linked. Normal fuel lines you put in the VAB get around this, but KAS cables and pipes don't unfortunately. Unless KAS has updated recently and added attachable fuel lines (I haven't checked the thread in a little while) you'll have to connect via KAS, then use the rightclick+alt on both tanks to transfer from one to the other, so the ship, once the KAS lines have disengaged, will have enough fuel.

I hope that makes sense.

[Patupi]

Munar Transporter

Bill looked up at the vessel and shook his head.

"This is stupid. This was supposed to be a prototype, the test ship to iron out the details." He waved his hand in frustration, taking in the tall launch assembly. "Why is the council rushed all of a sudden? I mean, up till now they've been more hindering than helping, now we're getting pushed from every direction. Heck, they're even pushing the Jool mission now!"

Gene shook his head as he stared at his friend and coworker. Bill had been getting more and more uptight about the Council's shenanigans of late, and frankly Gene shared most of his views. He was just more careful (mostly) how he voiced them and where.

"Bill, as far as the Jool mission goes I'm not sure why they suddenly took an interest. Perhaps just the publicity? At least that mission has been going through development for a long time. She's nearly ready so no problems there I think. This?" He said, also waving at the tall ship on the pad. "I'm not sure of. Honestly this is not what I wanted. We should be going through testing to iron out features. Heck, the Council wanted a different design than this, but we were going to make it smaller. Looks like that isn't going to happen now.

"But why me?" Bill said plaintively.

"You ARE still on the roster Bill. Just because you've stood in for me at Flight a time or two and have been on a desk for the last few months doesn't excempt you from flight duty."

"I wasn't thinking it would. I just... this looks like a heck of a risky endeavor."

"And I want my best Kerbal on the job!" Gene said pointedly.

"Huh, and since Jeb isn't here I get it instead?"

"Oh come on Bill, this isn't news surely? Look, the tests we have done have all been sound. She'll fly OK. Just have faith in Dunkel and Wernher's work."

Bill stared up at the ship while pylons connected fuel feeds to the ship as it sat on the pad.

"I do Gene, I do. I just wish we had more control over the space program's future!"

***

"Not so fast Protorover One, ease it in a little."

Bob stared through the window as Patzer brought the rover in close to the base. With some hesitation he managed to park about twenty meters away and got out, starting to unhook the hoses for refueling the RCS tanks. Bob sat back and sighed. Been a rough day!

"OK, let me know when you're done Patzer." He said into the mike and when Patzer acknowledged him he signed off.

Stretching in the fairly spacious cabin Bob reviewed the controls. Things were going pretty well. After the emergency repair probe core had docked they'd got almost everything up and running again. Gernand was still getting one or two things working, but most was ready and he'd taken the opportunity to tell Loddan to take some rest. Well, with Patzer here they had someone to share the load with at least.

"Flight to Munbase Alpha. Alpha One, do you copy?"

Bob sighed and put the headset back on and hit 'talk'.

"Roger Flight, Alpha One here."

"I have some news. It seems the council has decided to push the transporter forwards as well. She'll be launching in a matter of hours. Bill is taking her up to see you."

Bob blinked, not quite getting it for a few moments.

"Wait, what? Hours? I... I didn't think we HAD a transporter yet?"

"It's the prototype model D we had for a full orbit exercise scheduled for next week. The launch is pushed forwards to... 3am tomorrow morning at present. That's pretty much as soon as we could get her tested and fueled up."

This was getting ridiculous! Someone seriously had to have a word with the Council about their current activities! This was however an open line.

"I understand Flight. I admit I'm somewhat skeptical of the advisability of pushing the schedule so far forwards, but I'm sure KSC knows best." At least he'd said his piece for the record. "Any idea of the ETA of Bill here?"

"Current flight plan looks to have the transporter landing at the Munbase between 10AM and 11AM tomorrow. How have the mining units been behaving?"

"Well, they certainly work. We've tested the system pretty thoroughly, but haven't done long term mining and conversion yet so our tanks are still pretty dry. We'll get set up to mine before Bill arrives so he should have fuel ready when he gets here."

"OK, good." Gene said tiredly. The guy must have been run ragged organizing all this. "Right now the Vanguard shuttles and the Munar Transporters should give us a cheap, efficient method of transferring Kerbals and small amounts of hand held cargo from Kerbin to the Mun. Just make sure to fill the transporter up. Current plans call for it to go from LKO to the Munar surface and back. The Vanguard shuttle can't make much more than eighty to a hundred kilometers altitude on current configuration."

"Understood. At least it allows us to shuttle crew back and forth. Uh... speaking of which, is my term still listed as six months?"

"I'm afraid so Bob. Don't worry, we'll change you out of there, but likely you'll be heading back to take charge again later on. I'd like to keep the personnel there fairly consistent."

"Uh huh, and who's my replacement going to be while I'm absent?"

"That hasn't been decided yet Bob, but officially you are marked as semi-permanent Commander of Munbase Alpha. Leaves of absence to be determined at a later date."

"I'm so glad." Bob muttered, but truthfully he WAS glad. He'd rather be here on the Mun than having to deal with the Council as Gene had to. Maybe he could get Gene transferred up here too? Hmm, probably he wouldn't be too happy with that. Plus Bob wasn't sure Gene had even been through any of the testing procedures.

Outside Bob saw the fuel lines finally thrumming as Patzer stood back to ensure that the pumping went smoothly. He was a little green, but still pretty capable. (Where had that expression come from? All recruits were green!) He'd do OK. If he remembered to switch his lights on in future!

***

Bill checked the booster readouts, again, and nervously bit his lip as he waited for the go ahead. He hadn't been this nervous on a flight in a long time. Normally he just trusted what the KSC crew put out, but the rapid production and lack of safety checking of this just scared him.

"T minus one minute and counting Transporter One." Gene said softly.

"Maybe Jedwig is right. Maybe they all should have proper names?" Bill muttered. "Transporter One just doesn't sound right."

"I'll take that under advisement Transporter One." Gene replied. Bill hadn't thought Flight could hear him!

The last minute seemed to last an age, him checking and rechecking everything. At least he knew what he was doing. Patzer had basically been thrown onto an unfamiliar rocket and told to go in a matter of a few hours. This just wasn't right!

"Five... Four... Three..." Oh here we go! Bill thought to himself while Gene once again did the countdown. He still wasn't supposed to be the one to do that, but since the Munshots he'd done most of them. In fact he'd been more involved in... "Liftoff!"

The thunderous roar blanked out what Bill had been thinking as he automatically hit the ignition controls at Gene's word. The acceleration was pretty high, comparable to some of the other ships he'd flown. At least it wasn't bone shattering acceleration!

"Transporter One, you have cleared the launch clamps. Safe voyage."

Bill didn't acknowledge with more than a nod as he took control of the ship. This was the first launch he'd been on in a long while that looked to be 'not fun' in any way.

Edited October 27, 2014 by Patupi
Bob and Bill confusion

[The Error]

Hooray for More Stuff!

Pushing launches ahead like mad, though?

...

FUN TIMES AHEAD

[Patupi]

Yeah, though this was all done a while back. I did most of this AAR in one huge push, and have since been catching up writing it and uploading the pics! More recently I've been playing it through further, a little bit here, a little bit there, but all this, including the Jool mission, was done in about a couple of weeks real time.

At the time I didn't even think about it. Most of it I had to wait for the next development to be able to do a certain mission (or just to make the ship look cool with those new parts) but at the Munbase launch, and up to the launch of the Jool mission, I just didn't pause. Launched one mission after the other without a break. Totally not the Council's fault However it fits nicely with... well, upcoming stuff

Edited January 21, 2014 by Patupi

[AtomicNinja17]

Nice Job Man keep up the good work

[Patupi]

Munbase Alpha Fully Operational

"Peregrine"

Gene glanced up at the console and frowned.

"I'm sorry, say again Transporter One?"

"Peregrine" Bill repeated. "A name for this vessel, Flight. Why, you have something against falcons?"

"No, no." Gene said, wondering if Bill was feeling alright. "I'll check to see if anyone else has suggested anything, but otherwise sure. We'll go with peregrine."

Near silence reigned again in Mission Control as the soft clicks and beeps accented the murmured conversations while on the screen displays showed 'Peregrine One' now closing to Munar orbit. This was the last piece of hardware slated to head to the Mun and Gene was glad the rush would soon be over.

"Sir?" a young Kerbal said from the doorway into Mission Control "I... have some people wanting to speak to you sir."

Gene took a last check at the consoles but it looked like things were going smoothly for once and waved to Gantly to take over for him.

"Peregrine One, I have some business to attend to. Gantly is taking over as Flight. Safe trip."

Seeing Bill nod on the monitor Gene turned and went to see what the problem was now.

***

In the conference room three Kerbals were sitting there and one standing with his back to the door. Since they all wore high priced suits Gene was starting to worry. The one standing seemed familiar to Gene.

"Ah, Flight director. Glad to see you." He said as he turned to face Gene. Offering his hand and a rather fake looking smile he sauntered over. "Please please, sit. We have thing that should be discussed."

Blinking a little at the effrontery (This was his conference room after all! He didn't need permission to sit.) Gene fixed his expression in what could best be called 'neutral', or as close as he could manage, and sat down in the chair the Kerbal waved at. He remained standing of course. He reminded Gene of a car salesman he'd known a few years ago. Though this guy wore better suits.

"So, I understand the mission is going well? Moonbase all up and running?"

"Munbase." Gene automatically corrected. "We aren't landing on just any moon, this is the Mun after all."

"Ah, yes, of course." Another fake smile, this time a little strained. "Well anyway, everything going to plan?"

"There were some initial teething troubles, but it seems fully operational. We're just awaiting the reusable lander to touch down now. With that we can shuttle crew from here to the Mun without using up non-reusable vessels. Is there something wrong mister...?" Gene asked, leading the guy to do what he should have the moment Gene stepped into the room.

"Hmm? Oh, terribly sorry, did I not introduce myself? My name is Radner. I'm the new head of the Department of Interplanetary Affairs." Gene fought to keep the sudden irritation from his face as Radner continued. "We've been seeing some rather odd reports both from here and from the Council in Latherton D.C. Would it be fair to say that they are... rushing things a little?"

OK, dangerous waters here. If he harped on too much about the Council's interference and the speed they were pushing KSC the result would likely be a funding cut. If he didn't say enough about it then it was likely that the Council's interference would get even more severe.

"I admit I haven't been too keen on the pace the Council has set, but things are proceeding fairly well sir. As I've said the base will be fully operational soon. A matter of a few hours in fact."

"Indeed. I take you have not seen the current memo from the Council then?"

Gene looked down as Radner put a folder down on the table and slid it across to him. Picking it up and opening it he found a series of messages. Some he was aware of, dated yesterday. Some he was not. He almost gasped when he saw the last one.

"Four days?" At least he managed to keep the panic from his voice.

"Yes, I was surprised at that myself. I understand Sendo is very eager to see video footage from the surface of a Joolian moon."

Radner waited patiently while Gene surveyed the last message fully. It was not pretty. Again the Council, in it's infinite wisdom, had decreed that the time table be pushed forwards on the Jool Explorer mission. The current plan was to launch in four months. The wanted launch in four days!

"They do know that even if we did launch now the angle is all wrong?" Gene said carefully, keeping his tone neutral still.

"I believe so, yes. I heard mention of non-whomen transfers or something, but I was fairly certain from other information I received that this is not a good idea."

Gene nodded idly, still trying to think what they were thinking of.

"OK, what they are asking is impossible. The ship isn't finished construction. As it is the design has been changed already from a three part ship to be docked in orbit to launching everything in one shot. That alone is making the engineering difficult. What they asked is no something we can accomplish in a month, let alone four days!"

Radner sighed and turned away, starting to pace up and down the long side of the table opposite Gene.

"I was afraid of this. Unfortunately Sendo has already talked to some of my compatriots in the government and assured them the timeline can be accelerated. I don't think you can wait for the perfect orbital trajectory Flight director. Realistically, what is the earliest you can launch?"

Gene pondered, frantically thinking of some way to put this off. Nothing sprang to mind. This was going to be tricky.

"The ship will be finished in about two months. We can't launch sooner than that. One bright sign is that Wernher seems to be ironing out the bugs in the hibernation systems. In two months we should definitely have them tested enough to be sure of their capabilities."

"I don't think he's going to wait that long Flight director." Radner said quietly, still facing away from Gene. "Is there any way you speed things up a little? Things in the Capital are getting antsy. I'm hoping to dissuade Sendo from interfering in D.C. soon, but he seems to be gaining support at present, not losing it. If the Jool Explorer can at least launch in the next few weeks I might be able to stay his hand. That should give me enough time to deal with his machinations in future."

Gene didn't like the sound of this. Sure, Sendo was getting antsy, but a lot of the rushing wasn't from him but other, influential, members of the council. Maybe he didn't know Sendo as well as he thought?

"Weeks? I doubt it. I don't want to push things, we'll get accidents sir." Gene said carefully. "Realistically I can attempt to cut the time down to slightly less than two months, but I..."

"Five weeks, Flight director. I can give you that I think."

Gene gulped. That sounded terribly final and he didn't even consider haggling Radner down. It wouldn't work.

"I'm not sure I can make that timetable sir."

"Well, do your best hmm? In the meantime I will attempt to mollify Sendo and hope he agrees with this timing. It's the best I can do."

They shook hands briefly and the gaggle of suited Kerbals left. It was only after they'd gone that Gene realized they others hadn't even said a word throughout the whole meeting. Why had they been there in the first place? Intimidation? He hoped not. Looking back at the copy of the message from Sendo Gene scowled.

"Well, best see what the communications center has for me and attempt to write an answer that will 'mollify' the Council, as Radner would say."

With that Gene stomped off to the other end of the complex.

***

Bob looked down carefully as he opened the landing gear. Sure it was a little early, but he wanted to be sure he didn't forget. Happened once on an sub-orbital hop way back. Luckily he'd landed soft enough it didn't damage the engine bell.

"I'm past seventy kilometers altitude and dropping Flight."

"Roger Peregrine One." Gene answered.

Gene had returned a few minutes ago and was back in 'the chair'. That was an in joke at KSC as Gene hardly ever seemed to sit down

"Flight, how does the plot look?" Bill said carefully, watching his own displays. "I make it coming down within twenty kilometers right now."

"We concur Peregrine One. You're re-entry burn should correct that during descent."

Bill acknowledged idly while fine tuning the plotted burn path. He wanted to come in close and was going to use the new autopilot's 'Semi-Manual Automatic Rendezvous and Translation with Auxiliary Spin Stabilization' system for the first time since it had been upgraded. It could theoretically land the ship on it's own now, but Bill didn't trust it to do it as close to the Base as he'd like.

Down and down he fell, finally hitting the ignition switches and the familiar kick the back as the engines lit. The mad dash for the surface of the Mun started to slow and he could actually almost let go of the controls as the SMARTASS held it's orientation to the retrograde marker. As he got lower and started to see the IFF for the Munbase he switched it off and took fully manual control.

"Flight, I'm at two and half kilometers and back on manual. Fine tuning the course now."

This was the tricky bit. He had to come in close enough to be able to refuel the ship with the hoses but also far enough away that the rocket's exhaust didn't damage the base superstructure. Little adjustments here and there and he carefully lined his descent up. He still was not quite coming in vertical and would likely slide over the base before touching down on the other side from where the rover was parked.

"Six hundred meters and closing. Increasing thrust." Bill reported as he saw the base starting to twinkle in the distance.

Slowly, slowly he fell, speed dropping sharply as he neared target. That was when he saw some warning lights flashing on the main panel. Frantically he kept himself calm, searching for the problem. Thankfully it didn't seem dire. Some over-pressure alarms in the lower tanks. Probably from overheating being close to the engines. Lack of testing indeed!

He could see the actual base swelling below him now, the wide, cross shape with the small rover off to one side.

"Fifty meters and closing. The Munbase is visible and I'm on track. Reading slight warnings on lower tank pressure levels. Please confirm Flight."

"Confirm Peregrine One, seems non-life threatening. Definitely need to check it out once you're down."

Bill nodded idly as he circled around the base then eased in closer, closer. This was what he lived for. The thrill of landing something like this on an alien world. For a moment he could almost forget the whole 'not tested' issue and just fly.

With a faint thump the craft touched down and Bill relaxed.

"The Peregrine has landed. Will all passengers move their trays to the upright position and extinguish all smoking materials." Bill said with a chuckle.

"Welcome to Munbase Alpha." Bob's voice came on the line. "I'll get Loddon to help you refuel that thing Bill. Come on down and we'll chat."

Bill didn't need to be told twice and was soon out the hatch and descending to the Mun. He wondered how long his stint here would be?

***

Back on Kerbin Gene was wondering the same, but for different reasons.

"So?" He said, Dunkel standing there arms crossed.

"Six weeks, best I can do." The solid Kerbal said stoically.

"You're sure? I don't want to cut corners."

Dunkel sighed.

"Then it'll be four months. I'll have to cut corners to get it this early. She's a big ship."

Gene looked out onto the VAB floor where assembly of the test vessel was being started.

"Just as long as they don't make us launch the test ship for this. I want this to go right."

"I think Jeb would agree with that. He'll be flying this thing."

"Him, Jedwig and Rodsy is the final plan." Gene answered idly, still staring at the new construction.

"Jedwig and Jebediah on the same flight again? The mind boggles." Dunkel said grumpily. "Well good luck, we're going to need it."

*******

OK, the Munbase is operational! Thanks for reading. Next we're on to the Jool Explorer mission. Stay tuned!

[The Error]

Yay!

Although..is Kerbin doomed, or something? dat Council seems to be suffering a case of OHCRAPOHCRAPOHCRAP GOGOGO

[Patupi]

Left hand... right hand... what am I doing again? *grins*

[Patupi]

OK, just started the new chapter: Jool Explorer. Anyone who's interested, read on!