Angelo Kerman

That's a good point, actually. I ran into a situation last night playing in my career (bugs not withstanding): My quad tilt-rotor couldn't take off again no matter how hard I tried! I had to send Bill, Bob, and Jeb in a modified Fulton airship (the real Fulton is out on a mission) to retrieve it: The airship was kind of a rush job and is unfinished. I might put this into the next chapter...

I hate it when a design doesn't come together!

I tried to fly my quad tilt-rotor back from its mission, but it is underpowered and overweight. To retrieve it, I did this: Successfully flew the airship and tilt rotor back home.

Without launch abort systems, this could be you!

No more fourth wall breeches? pfah! Hey, Mitch! It looks like those Kerbulans are using the same screens that the Fleet does. Let's give them a divide by zero error! "Okay!" * tap tap tap*

I can see Emiko's Jandolin having mysterious PTSD episodes...

She is in my test save too, actually.

Lol, it took me a bit to realize that I had a Jandolin in my test save! Unfortunately she's not in my career save though. Oh well, she is one of the test kerbals that helps me test various mods...

(with debug turned on...)

This is great!

My suggestion is to include that with SETI. You basically set up the processors for one kerbal and one meal per day and go from there. The Hitchhiker is a good example of how to set things up.

Thanks. I'll have that in the next update, which hopefully will be in a couple weeks. I've got something new brewing...

I think there is a stowaway. I don't think it was JJ Kerman (I wonder if he's directing any Lost episodes in addition to his claymation series), and I'm guessing Jeb isn't aboard- oh wait, Jeb does have a tendency to sneak aboard launches...

Dr. Zarkov? Is there also a Flash Kerman?

Inspired by the aviation challenge, I've been flying an airship around Kerbin and visiting all the anomalies in my save as I go. It's taken weeks (work, modding, etc) but I'm about halfway done: I know it doesn't qualify for this challenge, but it's loads of fun nonetheless. You can read the mission report here if you're interested. Thanks for the inspiration!

Kelbin hit his bunk after a long mission planning session that was followed by the captain toasting Lengan, Joeley, and Randall- tonight was the sixth anniversary of their deaths from the Kapollo 1 fire. The young pilot immediately fell asleep… “Kelbin, what’s the LRB thrust reading,” his copilot asked. “Uh, 0.25, er, 25% coming up on LRB sep...” Kelbin’s slumbering mind drifted again… “Kelbin, what was the reading on the graviolium sensor?” “Uh, 1.13? 1.22…?” In his dream state, Kelbin was struggling to remember. Aha! “1.3!” “1.3 what, dude,” Munvan asked, looking over from the koffee dispenser. Kelbin blinked and looked around, struggling to wake up. What a dream, he thought to himself. “Uh, nothing. Let’s get breakfast and head out to that volcano.” “Dude, you sound so enthusiastic.” “Sorry, it’s just that we would be back at KSC today if this whole Kerbin Elcano Exploration Project hadn’t happened. I became an astronaut to explore space, not look for atomic weapons.” Munvan scoffed. “What atomic weapons, dude? Like, we haven’t found any, just those tracking stations that like nobody knows who built, and that monolith. Those are like pretty cool yo, like nobody knew about them until we found them. You want to explore? We’re exploring, dude.” “Yeah, I get that,” Kelbin admitted, “but exploring up there, going where no kerbal has gone before, not down here. You seem pretty relaxed about our situation, how do you do it?” “Stuff like that used to bug me too, dude. It still gets to me sometimes too. Like, I love making new discoveries and writing about them. But like, this one time, I wrote a bunch of papers and watched others benefit from my discoveries before I could, and like I was getting resentful until I changed my priorities. Now I make sure to carve some time out for me, and have a little fun. It’s hard to enjoy the books you like to read if you’re too busy writing, you know? Sometimes work can wait, even if you enjoy it, am I right? So yeah, like, we’re stuck for now, but we’ll get our shot, just gotta be chill about it. “So like, I’m putting my botany skills to use in the ship’s garden to help pass the time. Maybe you need a hobby, dude, like 3D printing or something. Or if you’re really itching to reach space, like maybe find another route to reach your goal.” “Another route? The Kerbal Space Program is the only game if you want to reach space.” Munvan shrugged. “I’ve heard rumors on the Lattice of some kind of commercial space starting up. KSC might not be the only player for long, dude.” --- Kelbin, Munvan, and Payin took the Rio Grande out to Mount Explodius, the extinct volcano, to conduct some geology field research. Thousands of years ago, Mount Explodius blew its top and side in a massive explosion, then promptly died out. There wasn’t much to see, so after taking some samples and readings, the team headed back to the Akron, and the airship made a 20-minute flight to Kerbin’s Heart and Science Center. The next few days were kind of a blur. While the science team spent the rest of the day touring the facilities and giving a presentation, some of the crew took the time to walk around and enjoy the sights. By morning, the Akron went aloft and flew to Lushlands Airport to refuel, resupply, and perform some maintenance on the drilling rig. A day later, they landed at Augury’s Reach to grab some science data, and in the late afternoon the next day, the airship landed at Round Range International for another refueling stop, where the Fulton awaited her for the long trip ahead. In the morning, the Akron headed out to the last anomaly on the continent. “See you guys in a few,” Fredgan, the Fulton’s skipper, radioed. The anomaly, another tracking station, was just off the coast on a small island. Thanks to the language codec provided by KSC, Munvan translated its name tag as “Nye Island.” As with the other tracking stations, Nye Island appeared to be atomic powered and fully operational. Munvan took several readings, left some networked sensors, and drove back to the Akron. The senior staff were talking to KSC when the astronaut trainee returned. “The new SCANSAT software update really helped, Gene,” Captain James said. “We were able set a waypoint and fly right to the anomaly. No more frustrating searches. My sunglasses are off to the engineers at @DMagic Orbital Science.” “Glad it’s working out,” Gene radioed back. “You’ll need the waypoints. When we updated SCANSAT-1’s firmware, we found some new anomalies. One of them is southeast of the Mesa South ATS,” he said, referring to the Anomalous Tracking Station. “No way we’re turning around to check that one out,” Captain James declared. “Agreed, Captain. We’re sending another team. It’ll give us a chance to test out the new Ostrich.” “Sounds good. We’ll add the new ones to our flight plan and-“ “Excuse the interruption, Captain,” Liscella piped up, “but the Fulton is here.” --- “Akron, this is Fulton,” Fredgan radioed, “you guys ready to drag?” “Roger, Fulton, we’re headed aloft now,” Captain James radioed back. “Captain, you’ve done this before, right?” “Yup, back in the Last War. You?” “Uh, simulated, Sir, but my dad used to do aerial unreps during the war.” “Thanks for making me feel old, kid,” Captain James quipped. “Just stick to the manual, you’ll be fine,” he quickly added. He muted the mic. The Captain sighed, then looked at his first officer. “I feel old. I am old.” “Run out of Just for Kerbs, Sir?” “Liscella, how did you-“ “Jim, I’ve know you for six years. I know your quirks. What’s eating you? I know it’s not running out of hair dye.” “Oh, it’s that kid Kelbin. He’s frustrated about being stuck on the ground. I get the same way sometimes, then I think about the fire. I listened to them burn to death over the radio...” “Jim, look at me. It wasn’t your fault. They knew the risks like you did. And seriously, if you still want to go, then stop blaming yourself, and make it happen. If you’re not living your dreams and your dreams are achievable, then you aren’t living, you’re waiting to die. You’re James T. Kerman. Quintuple ace pilot and one of the true original four. Not even Jeb can make that claim. So if it’s something you really want to do, then take the black armband off, and go fly. Sir. And happy birthday. The surprise party is at dinner.” “How-“ “Two tours in ONI, remember?” “Humph. You’re right, if I was serious I would’ve done something about it by now. Just feeling my age. Besides, after this class there won’t be any more pilot billets unless Kelbin quits, and-“ “Uh, Akron,” Fredgan radioed. “Ok, uh, rise to angels 1.1, maintain altitude, uh, hold speed at 5 meters per.” “Copy that, Fulton,” Captain James responded, snapping back to the present. With Fulton as the active vessel, Akron had to hold altitude and speed so that the support ship could dock and transfer supplies. “At angels 1.1, speed holding at 5. Ready for docking.” “Ok, here we go…” “You’re off center, kid, but not bad for your first time. You got your music ready?” “Yes indeed, Captain. Got a lovely tune for you…” “Very appropriate given where the Fulton was hanging out before. Ok Skipper, let’s drag across the North Sea...” --- As the Akron and Fulton dragged across the North Sea, KSC’s newest creation, the Ostrich, took to the skies in search of the southernmost anomaly. The aircraft struggled to gain altitude; it was overloaded and underpowered. Eventually, Major Parie, the Kerman Air Force pilot in charge of the flight and one of The Next Three astronauts, dumped half their fuel to clear the mountains. It wasn’t a big deal since the Ostrich had a half-dozen drills and an ISRU with which to process ore into liquid fuel, but the Akron’s backup support craft needed to be redesigned with better engines. The crew found what they were looking but didn’t expect to find what looked like a giant ancient temple. It took significant effort to land the quad tiltrotor without crashing due to its excessive weight and the high altitude, but in the late afternoon sun, the Ostrich parked next to the causeway. Major Gedra, the expedition’s engineer, immediately began setting up a Pathfinder base at the entrance to the temple’s courtyard. They were going to be there awhile, who built the temple and why it had an atomic signature was top on their list of questions to answer. --- By early morning, as Valentine approached the horizon and Kerbol rose above it, the Akron and Fulton reached landfall, but they still had more distance to cover. As they approached the next anomaly, the two airships separated- Fulton landed to begin drilling for ore, and Akron went on the hunt. Their radar system pinged what looked like another monolith, but the crew was having a hard time finding it. The Akron had to reverse course and head west until they found the monolith on a grassy knoll. Mosa, Bobus, and Munvan took Fido out to the anomaly. Though definitely a monolith the latest one was different. “It’s uh, it’s… green…” Mosa said. “It appears to be made of green granite and it has the same dimensions as the one at KSC and the Bruoso Monolith. Radioactivity is much lower than the other two, it’s a wonder how SCANSat even found it.” “Maybe it’s a kerbal-made copy of the alien monoliths,” Samalla radioed from the Akron. “There is absolutely no proof of aliens,” Mosa quipped. “Oh yeah? Then who made the tracking stations?” Mosa said nothing. “Munvan, is there more of that ‘graviolium’ of yours here?” Munvan ran the core samples through the tiny spectrum analyzer in the rover’s lab. “Nah, girl, but like I did find some exotic minerals.” “Pay dirt,” Bobus said enthusiastically. “Captain,” Mosa radioed, “since the radiation levels are fairly low, I recommend we have the Fulton land nearby and set up the spare Pathfinder base and SEP. They can give us some more details on the… Grassy Knoll Monolith while we go after the next anomaly. We can cover more ground that way.” “Very well,” Captain James responded. “I’ll radio Fredgan. They have to refuel, so they can dig up those exotics in the process.” It only took a short hop for the Fulton to meet up with the Akron again, but it took most of the afternoon to setup the base. The next anomaly would have to wait until morning. Elcano Travel Update

Great story! Really love all the portals and the room designs. They reminded me of Contact by Carl Sagan in a way. I haven't been to Vall since February, and that was a test mission. Technically it was the ship's hologram that landed...

No longer needed. That was when KSP's wheels sucked back in 1.0.

Not that I'm aware of, no.

None of my mods have an up to date Kerbalism patch.They aren't very compatible with Kerbalism due to the way it does things, unfortunately. Someone who uses Kerbalism would need to update the patches for things to work.

Looks great! I 've also been meaning to make a ski jump...

The Hacienda has a built-in drill, and it's the stock drill part module, so I'm not sure. Contracts have always been pretty elusive for me to understand..

Not sure. Maybe after collecting the required ore, try quicksaving and reloading the scene?

I'll see if I can provide you with one, thanks for your help! Found an ancient temple the other day via Kerbinside, was awesome.

Is there a way to force all the bases to be open? I keep having to re-add them in my game. Keep up the great work, I am having lots of fun exploring!