Angelo Kerman

It’s been awhile since I worked on this mod. I think I disabled the drowning feature. I got pretty burnt out from making the boat parts and haven’t returned to it yet. With KSP 2’s apparent demise, I may take another look since I’m starting to think about modding KSP again. At the least SunkWorks needs a few bug fixes. The hard part is that my license to my 3D art program ran out at the end of 2022 and don’t have access to the source files anymore. Learning Blender has been a big challenge too. Eventually I’ll figure it out though. So no promises of new parts and I’m in limbo waiting to see what happens with KSP 2 at the end of the month…

Do you have SunkWorks installed?

Yeah the biggest print shop in Sandcastle can handle the Buffalo 2 cabin parts. I vaguely recall that the Hacienda in Pathfinder had larger storage capacity.

Hm, that's odd! Can you post a video showing that? I just tried myself and am seeing expected behavior. I can turn Boost Mode on and off without issue while in orbit, and acceleration works as expected. Here's a video of that:

Yeah, Sandcastle isn’t set up for printing large volume parts. I recall the biggest was around the cabins for Buffalo 2. For larger parts you might want to use Extraplanetary Launchpads.

No, it's fixed. Right now the DLC is handling static placement, and I don't have control over rotating or moving it. My next investigation is to figure out how I can move statics around as if moving parts around.

Crazy Mode won't work when you're in orbit. You can only use it when suborbital or flying. It should auto-disable but if it isn't then there's a bug that I need to fix.

I'm not sure yet. Right now it's academic research to see how to add custom launchpads and runways. I'd like to have a statics editor that lets you place colony buildings and such, but one that works similarly to building vessels. If I can pull that off, then we'll see from there. I don't know if that means something completely new or possibly an update to Kerbal Konstructs- it's editor needs some help!

Thanks! Currently creating a runway doesn't work and I'm trying to figure out how Making History's Mission Builder does it. Such is the nature of a prototype, but it does integrate with the VAB/SPH launch site selector.

I created a prototype of a mod called Kerbal Statics: It works off-world too: The prototype mod is here: https://github.com/Angel-125/KerbalStatics/releases License is GPLV3.

Make sure you have Fusion Pellets onboard your craft to power them.

I've verified that the T-800 Micro Wheel is loading correctly with Restock. Not sure what you're running into...

Chapter 6 Phil mcKerman, CEO of Phoenix Aerospace, looked at the old photo of Ranger, the K-20, and Parrot, the Münar Excursion Module, separating from the D-1B upper stage during Münflight 3. It depicted the Transposition and Docking Maneuver required to pull the MEM from its storage position into its flight-ready position, and to resettle the K-20 onto the D-1B for the trip home. Each Münflight had to perform this maneuver, and it’s one that he wanted to recreate for their own flight. Then he looked at the diagram of their modernized Münflight stack. Even without being an engineer, he could see the differences. “As you can see,” Harold mcKerman, Phoenix Aerospace’s CTO answered, “we need to make significant changes to the surplus K-20 Service Module that we bought. We’ll remove the fuel tank and rocket motors from the back of the crew cabin and the LES- uh, Launch Escape System and the K-20 Adapter from the front. Then we cap the two ends with International Docking Ports. That will take most of the work. And yes, before you ask, we must do that. The Edna doesn’t have enough delta-v to launch both the Firebird and the service module, even with the Thumper configuration. Plus, we’d have to build a whole new launch tower to accommodate the increased length of the service module. “We launch the modified service module first, along with the Pressurized Mating Adapter and the Mini Payload Maneuvering Vehicle. That requires the custom “Needle Nose” fairing that we never flew, but we have a couple of them in storage. “The Firebird remains unchanged, of course, and the surplus Mk2 Münar Surface Access Module that we bought only needs a few modifications so that we can attach the replica mün buggy and an IDP for the Jool Upper Stage. When we do the Transposition and Docking Maneuver, at the Mün, the MSAM will dock to the PMA. “Our second flight launches the MSAM and buggy. We’ll have to strip the boosters of every piece of landing equipment possible to maximize our delta-v. That means sacrificing the boosters, so we’re choosing ones at the end of their lives that we would’ve turned into core stages. We also need to use the untested Thumper SRB configuration. It’s a risk, but we may as well go for broke… “Once in orbit, it rendezvouses with the Hab Module, and the Mini PMV moves everything into place. Once it’s done, it grabs the buggy’s launch adapter and deorbits. If all goes well, then the Jool Upper Stage docks with the assembly, and we launch the Firebird with her crew. Since we’re concerned about the MSAM having enough delta-v to reach the Hab, as a contingency, the Hab retains its Edna Upper Stage for maneuvering, and as an alternative, the Jool docks with the MSAM and then rendezvouses with the Hab. “With one flight each for the Hab, the MSAM, and the Firebird, we’ll be just within our launch budget,” Harold concluded. “How long will the modifications take,” Phil asked. “About sixty days for the service module mods, according to the engineering assessment,” Harold said, “and less than that for the MSAM and boosters, but that work can be done in parallel.” He could see that Phil wasn’t happy about that answer. “That puts us right before the Nautilus returns,” Phil sighed and lamented, “and not much later, Kopernicus returns from Duna. Even using the Hab as our assembly point instead of Sky Reef, we’re not going to have enough Funds to last past Kopernicus’ return. I was hoping to generate a lot of media buzz for our flight, but the timing is just terrible. We’ll have to ride the media wave in between the two DSEV returns. I really wish one of the big three aerospace companies would’ve bought us…” "There might be a way," Harold said. "Oh?" “You haven’t heard,” Harold asked. “Heard what,” Phil asked. “Orbital Dynamics sent a team to the Mün and found an alien arch- not made by the Kermantians. It’s all over the news…” “I’ve been busy working, figuring out how to stretch our finances,” Phil quipped. “Well, the ISC is bound to send an expedition to the Mün,” Harold pointed out. “…And… if they need a stopover at Phoenix Lab,” Phil thought aloud. “We just might make it past Kopernicus’ return…” * With the recent discovery of the giant arch on the Mün, evidence of Kermantian visitation of Duna, and phytoplankton found on Laythe, it was abundantly clear that kerbals weren’t alone in the universe. But given the point in time in his alternate history story, Karbal knew that none of those discoveries would have happened yet. Even if they did appear in his story, they’d be boring to read about since the real-life discoveries were so interesting! To spice up his alternate history, he’d need his own Alien Space Bat and he thought he had an idea on that. Before he wrote about it though, he needed someone to be a sounding board. Since KSP Insider had been so helpful with his technical consultations- he checked Karbal’s work on the Newton and the Ministry of Space’s capabilities at the time- he reached out to KSP Insider about his ASB. “I’m trying to spice up my alt history story,” Karbal wrote, “something different. Since readers love ASB nowadays- especially considering what’s going on IRL, I thought I’d add my own ASB into the mix. Anyway, I’ve been doing some research, and there are rumors going around that someone conned the world leaders into believing that the world was going to end, and that led to a shift in policy from exploring Duna to exploring Laythe. That hoax must have been pretty convincing! Anyway, rumor has it that the world leaders came to their senses and buried the whole story out of sheer embarrasement. Do you think that a conspiracy like that would work in my story?” “NO,” KSP Insider wrote back. Their strong response surprised Karbal. “The rumors are just that- rumors. Don’t waste your time. Instead of an ASB, I’ve got a suggestion for you that would also explain an increase in the vonKermans’ budget…” Karbal loved the idea. He decided to put the literary wheels in motion during his next post... (ALT) Keep Looking Up Part 5 – Sir Arthur mcKerman Memorial Space Station On the cool morning of Cuatha 2, 1990, An Arrow 4 Heavy blasted into the sky, carrying with it the first element of Kerbin’s newest space station. While the Ministry of Space originally named their complex the Arrow Space Station, they changed the name due to the recent passing of a famous science fiction author: Sir Arthur mcKerman. Sir Arthur was known for many science-fiction works, but he also was credited with the invention of the telecommunications satellite. While he didn’t live long enough to reach space himself, his namesake, the Sir Arthur mcKerman Memorial Space Station, carried a vial of his ashes into orbit. A minute and forty seconds later, the side boosters finished burning their propellants and dropped away, leaving the core stage to continue its climb. Thanks to a technology exchange, the boosters headed downrage to land and be reused. At nearly four minutes into the flight, the core stage dropped away to burn up in the atmosphere. A minute later, the payload fairings separated from the vehicle. Finally, eight minutes after liftoff, the Arrow 4 Upper Stage arrived in orbit with its payload. The Arrow 4 Heavy was overkill for the task, but a standard Arrow 4 lacked the delta-v to safely place the payload into orbit. But once in its parking orbit, the A4US relit to place the payload into a 250km circular orbit before separating and deorbiting. The payload, known as the Arrow Cornerstone, consisted of a modified ATV that had six docking ports instead of the usual two, and its cargo stores contained life support resources exclusively. A week later, the Ministry of Space launched the next element in their space station: the Arrow Hab. Slightly modified from the first iteration, the second iteration had additional batteries and fuel cells built into the docking tunnel adapter. The Hab launched into a parking orbit and then rendezvoused with the Cornerstone, but there was a problem: someone forgot to load the monopropellant! “Not a problem,” said MoS Mission Control, “we’ll just have the Arrow Cornerstone Module dock to it instead.” There was one problem with that plan- someone forgot to load monopropellant on the ACM too! As the two spacecraft flew in formation, engineers pondered the problem until a bright intern came up with a solution: Have both spacecraft target lock orientation to each other so that their docking ports would line up, and then have Arrow Hab perform a gentle burn to approach and dock. It was risky, but it worked! The next week, after some quality control engineers got fired and replaced, another Arrow 4 lofted the Arrow Lab into orbit. Essentially a stretched Arrow Hab, the Lab contained research equipment to study various subjects, such as the effects of microgravity on the kerbal body. The occasion also marked the first flight of the Long Nose payload fairing. Arrow Lab rendezvoused and docked with the growing complex two days later. A week after that, the Newton made her second flight- this time with Valfeld mcKerman (PLT), Nelpont mcKerman (ENG), Nedley mcKerman (SCI) and Calpont mcKerman (SCI) aboard. They docked with the orbiting complex half a day later. Nedley and Calpont immediately began setting up the Arrow Lab while Valfield and Nelpont unpacked Arrow Hab. Once the pilot and engineer completed their tasks, they got to work “testing” the Hab’s entertainment center while the two scientists toiled away in the lab… The next week’s launch brought the Arrow Garden to the station. This modified ATV had an impressive set of windows to enable plants to grow in low Kerbin orbit. Like their fellow astronauts at Skybase, the mcKermans wanted to try growing plants for consumption and life support renewal. Another modified ATV became the station’s airlock module, and a final launch brought a cupola to the station for Kerbin observations. At last, the Ministry of Space announced the completion of the Sir Arthur mcKerman Memorial Space Station. And a couple of days after their announcement, the vonKermans made an announcement of their own: they challenged the Kerman States to a new space race- this time, to Eve!

Meep! Oh! Since their command structure is undetermined, no Kerbulan can take offensive action! Well played, @Mister Dilsby, well played! Now they just have to tell the whole fleet of Kerbulan ships, and the drones...

My next hat trick is to add some kind of custom GUI at the space center that lets you manually adjust MTBF by failure category for custom failure rates.

That would take some advanced shader knowledge to pull off, which I presently don't have, unfortunately. I know that the Singularity mod can make it work for planets, but I've not heard it working for parts. I even asked this very question several years ago... I'm still trying to get it together enough to finish updating the multi-segment warp coils..

I've been on vacation, and I normally don't respond to such requests, but it's also been awhile since I worked on this. Here is EVA Repairs 1.4.4.

I'd recommend instead that you use its successor: Buffalo 2 is a modernized version of the original, makes use of the latest KSP, and mimics the popular Restock art style.

I don't recall adding KIS modules to Buffalo 2, only stock inventory. It should be straightforward for you to do though, just look at the storage capacity of the stock inventory module and plug that into the KIS inventory module.

Plausible deniability: Mr. Dilsby went suborbital, dropped Jeb, the skipped off the atmosphere a ways before careening back down and splashing down.

So, if the no win scenario is to be stranded on Laythe for decades, how does that prevent others from Kerbulan from dueling the Kermans? Is it the One Duel At A Time rule?

Is it me, or does that last panel with Jeb parachuting down to the surface remind you of the opening scene of Predators... .. Or maybe Enemy Mine..

"In my cabin is a device that will make you invinci-" *Valentina shoots the device.* "Never mind..."

Chapter 5 “I still can’t believe that I’ve let you drag me into this,” Adsii Kerman said while sitting in the cockpit of Ascension (Mk-33-02). As the world’s leading expert on Kermantian language and history- which was a hobby, professionally, he was an astronomer and planetary scientist- Adsii Kerman didn’t expect to be riding a rocket into space! The very thought of traveling into space made him uneasy. But he’d more than earned it. Adsii uncovered a conspiracy perpetrated by Drax Kerman to fake the world ending to drive corporate profits. That ruse proved so embarrassing to the world leaders who fell for it that they quietly covered it up. But they had to admit, the hoax did spur the nations of Kerbin to explore space beyond Project Münflight. And if that hadn’t happened, they wouldn’t have learned that somehow, ancient Kermantians, with Neolithic technology, explored the Kerbolar System eons before modern kerbals did. “There’s an anomaly near our mining site on the Mün,” Scott Kerman, CEO (emeritus), majority shareholder, and Chief Test Pilot of Orbital Dynamics said. Technically, Sara Kerman was Chief Executive Officer since the beginning of the company, but somehow, he ended up being a Co-CEO. But he finally stepped away from that role last year to focus full time on his love of flying- not that he ever stopped doing that when he formed Orbital Dynamics. It’s just that now, his life is less stressful. “We need your expertise to study it. Besides, it’s company policy that every employee makes at least one orbital flight,” Scott pointed out. “I know but I- oh…” Adsii looked out the window at Kerbin orbiting below them. They’d just reached orbit nine minutes after takeoff. Despite the queasiness in his stomach from microgravity, he couldn’t help but stare outside the windows in awe and wonder. “There are no borders,” he said. “Exactly,” Scott answered. Two and a half hours later, Ascension arrived at Homestead Hotel (currently in-between paying customers) and docked at the orbiting outpost. It was the last time that Mk-33-02 would do so; Ascension was on her last flight before retiring to the Kerbal Spaceflight Museum, formerly known as the Boneyard. Orbital Dynamics’ gravitic technology revolutionized spaceflight, and it was cheaper to build a new Mk-33 than it was to tear down and rebuild the existing ones to use gravitic engines. After Ascension retired, Dauntless and Resolute would soon follow. Scott, Maxpond, Frolie, and Adsii went from one end of the hotel to the other and boarded Seagull, a Finch-class Modular Orbital Transfer Vehicle. The Seagull used to be powered by an Orbital Cargo Transfer Vehicle to bring tourists to Kerbin’s müns and back and needed special landing equipment to reach the surface. Now, though, thanks to gravitics, Seagull had a single GND-01 Quantum gravitic engine and a set of fuel pods equipped with landing gear. No more cumbersome cryogenic engines and fuel tanks needed! Once aboard, they stowed their gear and Scott prepped Seagull for launch. After turning on the lights, powering up the converter, and generally making themselves comfortable, Seagull departed Homestead Hotel. Half an hour later, they were on their way to the Mün. Four days later, they arrived in its Sphere of Influence, but it took another couple of days to rendezvous and dock with Oasis. “Lots of obsolete cryogenic tech here,” Frolie remarked. He helped design and assembled all the hardware that regularly ferried propellium and oxidizer from the south pole. Once again, the four astronauts had the run of the place while they waited for the landing site to emerge from darkness. Four days later, they departed the station and headed to the surface. Adsii thought that it was surreal to see trace amounts of dust hovering above the surface... When they won the DSEV(X) competition, Orbital Dynamics used Seagull to test the Discovery-class’s gravitic engine. It worked well, but it left the testbed with an overpowered engine. So, when the Seagull deorbited, it came to a dead stop relative to the ground and slowly started to freefall. But that gave Maxpond an idea. “Hey, Scott,” she called out from the cockpit, “you know how we always use Hohmann transfer orbits, even with gravitics?” “Of course,” Scott answered. “These engines are so powerful, we don’t have to do that. We can keep accelerating in a straight line. Do a Brachistochrone trajectory instead of a Hohmann.” “A what now,” Adsii asked. “A Brachistochrone trajectory,” Maxpond answered. “You always accelerate, but you accelerate in the opposite direction halfway to your destination to slow down. Regular engines don’t have the delta-v to do that, but gravitic engines do.” “Who names their kid Brachistochrone,” Frolie mused. “Don’t ask me,” Maxpond responded. “Anyway, I think we should give it a try sometime. Imagine going to Minmus in just a few hours instead of weeks.” * Fifteen minutes later, Seagull landed safely on the ground near the Orbital Dynamics Cryogenic Mining Outpost. No kerbal had set foot on the Mün’s south pole before, so this was a special occasion. Maxpond and Frolie stepped out first, followed by Adsii, who promptly face-planted into the regolith. “Watch that first step,” Maxpond said playfully. Scott didn’t do much better, but he quickly got back up on his feet. They all took a moment to appreciate the beauty of the place, staring at clouds that shouldn’t be there, before Frolie broke their reverie and grabbed some repair kits. “Don’t take all of our space kits,” Maxpond warned. “I’ve only got three,” Frolie said, not looking back. Some time ago, the drills failed one by one until none remained operational. He approached the drills and realized that he couldn’t reach them to effect repairs. He ran back to the group. “Who packed the jetpack,” he asked. Frolie got blank stares in response. “Uh, can we hover Seagull over the rig then?” “Sure,” Scott answered, and the astronauts piled back into the lander. After everyone got back inside, Scott expertly hovered the Seagull over the mining rig and Frolie hopped out. It didn’t take him long to reset some breakers and turn the drills back on. Once he completed his task, he got back into the lander, and they set out to find the nearby anomaly. Despite their best efforts though, they couldn’t find the anomaly. “We’re right on top of it,” Adsii said, “but there’s nothing there.” “Well, let’s go somewhere else then,” Scott said. “We’ve got plenty of supplies. We can hop over to the equator and check out some more anomalies, and then head home.” Seagull leaped into the sky once more, heading north towards the equator. Half an hour later, they hit pay-dirt and found a green monolith stuck into the regolith. Adsii and Frolie both got out to look. Neither one was overly surprised about finding a monolith on the Mün given that the Kermantians had clearly been to Duna. They marked the spot and then hopped back into the Seagull for another trip. Another anomaly was 100km away, give or take a few kilometers. “Two minutes and we’re there,” Scott remarked. It didn’t take long for the crew to find the anomaly: an enormous rock arch. “Would you look at that,” Adsii said. “That thing is enormous!” He shook his head in disbelief. “How could the Kermantians make such a thing?” Adsii took some notes, marked the location of the rocky arch, and shook his head in disbelief once more. Scott shrugged. “Let’s look for more anomalies,” he said. The other two nearby were in darkness, at least for now, so he selected the last one in light. It was a mere 878km away- about fifteen minutes travelling time. A short while later, Seagull found the anomaly- another enormous arch. Adsii updated the coordinates of the anomaly while Scott flew the lander down to the surface. It looked very similar to the previous one. They rolled under it, astonished by its size, and then took off again. The team spent another couple of days in orbit waiting for the remaining anomalies to emerge from darkness. Two of them were monoliths like those found on Duna and Kerbin, but the third, located at Site W-N01S, was another arch- or so they thought. “What’s that glinting,” Frolie asked, pointing to the top of the rocky arch. Scott approached from the side and swung the Seagull around to get a look at the enormous structure from the front, and then gasped. Unlike the other rocky arches, this one had a broken shell that revealed a clearly manufactured metallic structure with large glowing lights. The metal arch was easily as thick as the length of the Seagull and approximately 120 meters tall. The exposed parts of the golden material appeared to be weathered or scuffed from exposure to the near vacuum of space. “There’s no way the Kermantians built that,” Adsii said. * “Good job with the L-2R,” KSP Insider wrote. “We were ready to conduct a gradual test program of low altitude hops, a high-altitude hop, then a test landing into the ocean before attempting to land at Welcome Island. Your fictional version’s test program was a too short, but the crash at the end was a nice touch. We would’ve learned more with an accelerated test program, but it would also have been much more expensive. “Also, the cone shapes on the bottom of the upgraded Drakken’s boosters would cause excessive shock heating. A tube-shaped fairing would alleviate that. Finally, the vonKerman Republic had a very restricted budget post Münflight, which is why they didn’t build a Shuttle comparable to ours. It was only after feeling embarrassed about it that they finally flew Kallisto. Developing their own Shuttle and superheavy booster would’ve bankrupted their space agency. Without a large budget increase, I doubt that the vonKermans would fly their Drax-ish Shuttle more than once or twice a year. They would need a significant goal to get more Funds- which would of course compete with their new orbiter for funding…” Karbal prided himself on accuracy and had to think about how his fictional vonKermans afforded their shuttle. He wasn’t sure that technological parity would be enough. Maybe they needed a new goal? He’d had to do more research. Meanwhile, he read another comment. “What about the Ministry of Space,” another poster wrote. “MoS launched Arrow Lab during a test flight before KSP invited them to join Project Starlab. They also had their Arrow Crew Vehicle in development too.” Karbal knew about Arrow Lab and the conic-shaped crew vehicle, but he was just waiting for the right time to introduce it. With the Skybase International storyline concluded, he decided that now was the right time… (ALT) Keep Looking Up Part 4 – A Gentleman’s K-20 At the Yeager Astrodome, the Ministry of Space- the mcKerman Kingdon’s space program- readied their first launch since the end of Project Münflight. During Münflight, the space agency supplied several Arrow Transfer Vehicles to help refuel the Kerman States’ missions to Kerbin’s müns. The agency grew out of a need for the Kerman States to increase its launch capability at a time when they lacked the industrial capacity to do so. By providing space technology to the mcKerman Kingdom in exchange for launch services, they got what they needed while forming a new partner in space. But not all partnerships last. When Münflight ended and the Shuttle Era began, KSP needed as many payloads as it could get for Lindor Shuttle. Moving Kerman Air Force flights to Shuttle helped, but they wanted more. In their search for more payloads, KSC engineers calculated that a single Lindor flight could deliver more propellant to orbit than the series of Arrow flights did- and for cheaper once the L-2R began regular flights. To that end, they cancelled their MoS contracts for future refueling flights. Despite that, the Ministry of Space had other plans… The new Arrow 4 launch vehicle consisted of a recoverable Common Core first stage powered by a single RE-M3 Mainsail engine and two 48-7S Spark engines providing roll control. The design enabled the Arrow 4 to use a pair of recoverable Common Core boosters to form the Arrow 4 Heavy variant (the central Common Core was flown in expendable mode), but for this flight, the vehicle had twin expendable S1-SRB-KD25k Kickback solid rocket boosters to help the vehicle during its initial flight. The Arrow 4 lifted off, burned through its Kickbacks, and discarded them as it continued its climb. Later, the first stage expended its propellants, and it too was discarded, leaving the Arrow 4 Upper Stage to continue the work. A single RE-I5 Skipper engine powered the upper stage and its cargo all the way to orbital height, but just before orbital insertion, the vehicle jettisoned its payload fairings. Finally, after nearly attaining orbit, the upper stage dropped off its cargo- a prototype module called Arrow Hab 1- and arched back down to burn up upon reentry. Meanwhile, Arrow Hab 1 lit its maneuvering engines and finished circularizing its orbit. After deploying its antenna and solar arrays, the module was ready to work. The Ministry of Space hired the Arrow Space Corporation to derive the Arrow Hab from their Arrow Transfer Vehicle. While the service and propulsion section remained nearly unchanged, engineers replaced the cargo section with a habit module that could seat four kerbals. Recycling systems could convert their waste products back into breathable air- and even something edible- and it even had an entertainment center to keep kerbals from going insane on long-duration missions. But before putting any kerbals inside, MoS wanted to be sure that they’d work. Arrow Hab contained waste products for the recycling systems to test with, and they’d need time to process the resources. But that was fine, MoS Mission Control had Arrow Hab spend 30 days in orbit conducting automated tests before they declared it a success and deorbited it. The only thing that engineers wanted to add to the next iteration were more batteries and a fuel cell… The Arrow Hab test flight shocked KSP, which assumed that the mcKerman Kingdom would shut down their space program after their contracts dried up. But they saw an opportunity as well. To shunt more payloads to Lindor Shuttle, they invited the mcKerman Kingdom to participate in Skylab International. Instead of launching Arrow Hab on the Arrow 4, KSC offered to launch them in the Lindor Shuttle for ridiculously low prices. But to their surprise, the Ministry of Space declined. Instead, their next spaceflight revealed the Arrow Newton to the public. Built and tested in secret, the Newton was best described as a “Gentleman’s K-20” given how closely it resembled the K-20 KerbalSoar- but with refined lines. The overall design of the Newton mirrored the K-20, but there were significant differences. First, Newton was physically larger than the K-20 in all three dimensions. Second, the body of the glider was more rounded and wider. Third, the nose of the craft had a shielded Clamp-O-Tron Junior docking port to facilitate docking from the front as well as the back. Fourth, Newton sported wheeled landing gear instead of landing skids. Fifth, the spaceplane had a pair of jet engines for maneuvering and landing, whereas the K-20 was a pure glider. Finally, with a total capacity of six kerbals, Newton had twice the crew seats of the K-20, but like the modified KerbalSoar, Newton could also fly without a crew. Like she was about to do today. The second Arrow 4 launch vehicle performed exactly as the first instance of its kind, discarding its spent stages during the climb into orbit and providing nearly all the velocity to attain orbit. Newton’s service module- just a modified version of the Arrow Transfer Vehicle’s propulsion system- finished orbital insertion, attaining a 128.4 km by 172.1 km orbit. Shortly afterwards, the service module deployed its solar arrays while the spaceplane started its fuel cell. Newton spent the next five days testing various systems such as its RCS thrusters and its nose-mounted docking port before lining up with the Yeager Astrodome for landing. She had no trouble orienting for the deorbit burn and everything worked as expected. Just before hitting the atmosphere, Newton discarded its service module to prepare herself for atmospheric flight. As the service module plunged to its doom, Newton’s heat shield deflected and soaked up the heating that it generated as it slammed into the atmosphere to slow down, generating a plasma sheath along the way. Soon enough, the spaceship turned aircraft started its jet engines for the final trip home. Minutes later, Newton’s autopilot lined up on the runway and touched down perfectly, slowing to a stop near one of Yeager Astrodome’s large hangars. Though it suffered a couple of minor issues on its flight, the spaceplane returned home safely. With their milestones met, the Ministry of Space was ready for the next stage in their space program: kerballed spaceflight.

I just had a thought: what happened to that Kraken Egg?