Angelo Kerman

Those look neat! I've heard of Orbital Decay before and thought about using it, but one reason I'm keeping the debris is for the story that comes after SLS. I actually have a use for the debris..

Chapter 6 “The dream of having space stations in orbit has been around for a long time,” Gene continued, “but they became popular because of fictional series like the KSOS Mission Chronicles and Mϋnlight Mile. Until we flew the prototype MOLE space station though, they were just fiction. Next, we delivered Unity Station to Minmus orbit for the Mϋnflight Drakken Test Project. It remains in orbit to this day. More recently, we launched Skybase, our first long-term space station, into Kerbin orbit. We flew three K-20 KerbalSoar missions and thus far, two SLS missions to the station, and we’ve learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t. Unfortunately, Skybase is nearing the end of its service life so it’s time for the next logical step. “Ladies and gentlekerbs,” Gene a bit louder. “I’m proud to announce the latest joint venture between Kerbal Space Program and the Ministry of Space: Project Space Station!*” He waited a moment for the slide to appear on screen before continuing. “Project Space Station takes what we learned from Skybase and applies it towards an advanced Kerbin Orbiting Station that will become a world-class research facility in space. This station will help us learn orbital construction techniques in space, long-term habitation, space-related stress management and reduction, and much more. It will challenge us to create new technologies that will enable us to reach Duna. And Project Space Station will be the next important step in becoming a truly space-faring civilization.” Gene switched to the next slide. “Here, you can see the various modules that comprise the station. The Starlab Core Module forms the cornerstone of the station. It and all the modules to the left of the core form the Kerman States Orbital Segment. But without the Pier Docking Service Module, Starlab wouldn’t get very far. Pier and everything to the right of it form the McKerman Kingdom Orbital Segment. Not shown are things like grapple fixtures and the station’s robot arm, and KOS is likely to undergo some revisions before orbital assembly, but what you see is close to the final revision. “The space station will be kebal-tended initially, meaning it will only be staffed when a Shuttle visits it in much the same way as the SLS missions to Skybase. But once we launch the Pier and the Kerbal Return Vehicle- a lifeboat if you will- we can permanently staff the station with a crew of two. And once the Tranquillity Habitation Module flies, we can increase the staff to five astronauts. “The Shuttle will handle crew rotations exclusively until the Ministry of Space develops their Arrow Crew Vehicle. But that is down the road a bit. Both SLS and Arrow Transfer Vehicles will periodically resupply the station. “It will take some time to build the flight hardware, so we will continue flying to Skybase for a few more missions. Starting with SLS-6, Phase One of Project Space Station will fly two McKerman astronauts-“ “What about the vonKermans,” an overzealous reporter yelled out. “Weren’t they invited to participate in Project Space Station?” “Good question,” Gene answered, trying to hide his annoyance. “We reached out to them, but they politely declined. As I was saying-“ “Why did they decline,” the reporter persisted. Gene took a deep breath and exhaled to calm down. “They said…” *** Announcing Project Space Station had the desired effect. With SLS flights becoming routine, the public attention on KSP began to fade. But the new project captured their imagination once more. And hinting at reaching for Duna gave just enough of a foothold to parlay that interest into a fever pitch not seen since Project Munflight. The next three SLS flights did nothing to hold public interest, however. SLS-6 and SLS-7 were essentially repeating SLS-5’s mission to deliver MIDAS satellites to L5US-3. SLS-6’s external tank failed to enter the atmosphere and the orbiter had to return to Kerbin after delivering MIDAS-B when its life support supplies ran low. Worse, Jeb missed the reentry corridor by nearly 100km. But SLS-6 set the record for the largest crew count in a spacecraft with its 7-kerbal crew, made the first pre-dawn landing at KSC, and Sammal Mckerman and Seanner McKerman became the first astronauts from the McKerman Kingdom to reach space. SLS-7 fared better. It was the maiden flight of Spirit, and this time, the orbiter carried extra life support consumables. With proper timing, the external tank’s deorbit kit had enough delta-v to hit the atmosphere and it broke apart. The crew again included the McKerman scientists as part of the crew. After Spirit dropped off MIDAS-C, the orbiter docked with Skybase for a 10-day layover. While Sammal and Seanner performed experiments, Mission Control ignited L5US-3’s engine once more and it set out to deploy the MIDAS constellation. Ten days later, with its research kits expended, Skybase completed its mission. With KOS on the horizon, KSP elected to not resupply the station and instead detached the Logistics Adapter Module upon Spirit’s departure so that a future ATV mission could dock and deorbit the soon to be derelict station. It was the first time that a shuttle retrieved a payload from orbit that was launched by another spacecraft. And to top it off, Hensen, the mission commander, landed Spirit without activating the jets. SLS-8 brought MinSCAN 2 into orbit along with a crew of Maxpond (CDR), Johnsted (PLT) and Richny (ENG), the first all-rookie Shuttle crew. After deploying the probe, Freedom returned home, spending less than a day in orbit. Once again, the shuttle didn’t need its jet engines. With SLS-9, things got interesting again. Mariner carried Dudmon (CDR), Samger (PLT), and Gerrim (ENG), into a 249.3km by 253.2km orbit- and due to a miscalculation involving removing its deorbit kit, Mariner brought its external tank into orbit as well. KSC engineers vowed to never do that again… Tucked away in Mariner’s payload bay was a familiar friend. Though the K-20 KerbalSoar retired after the end of Project Mϋnflight, its legacy lived on in the form of the K-24 Kerbal Return Vehicle. KSC engineers took the K-20 airframe, stretched the fuselage, covered its upper surface in thermal blankets and kept its underside metallic heat shield. Then they clipped its wings, only to redesign and reattach them via hinges. Next, they tucked an advanced probe core into the flared end of the glider and gave the K-24 a set of parachutes for emergency landings. Finally, they took the truncated service module that was originally designed for space station flights and truncated it even further; it only needed to deorbit the KRV. By the time that they were done, the craft could bring up to 5 kerbals back from the space station, and it fit into the Shuttle’s cargo bay with its wings folded. Mariner carefully plucked the KRV from its payload bay, deployed the glider, and returned home. Once more pilots didn't use the jets. KSC again considered removing them- at least for heavier payloads... After spending several days in orbit, the KRV deployed its wings, performed its deorbit maneuver, dove into the atmosphere, and went subsonic about 150km away from KSC. Its radar determined rough terrain in its landing path, so the KRV armed and deployed its emergency chutes. It touched down 125km away from the space center, but the SeaGoat was ready to retrieve it just as it retrieved its predecessors during the KerbalSoar program. With the KRV validated, KSP was ready for its next phase of operations… [*] Named after an old video game of the same name…

I didn't need it anymore, it was wobbly, and the parts look terrible.

Drakken Palast (my Tianhe analog) is open for business at last! ... and in planning...

That was removed when the dedicated centrifuge parts were added. But with Breaking Ground robotics maybe I can add an updated version back in.

Oh man, things are going to get crazy, and fast! Now I wonder why the alien craft hasn't responded. Which of the three possibilities will play out...?

Chapter 5 Unlike Mariner, Freedom lacked high-temperature thermal tiles on its wing roots; they proved to be unnecessary, and all future orbiters would not have them as well. Additionally, Freedom lacked the extra fuel cell generators since they also proved unnecessary. But otherwise, the orbiter was the same as its sibling. OV-201 was originally going to be named Magellan, but fans of a popular science fiction series called the KSOS Mission Chronicles (now out of print) conducted a write-in campaign that successfully changed it to Freedom, named after the series’ shuttle. The prototype orbiter validated the Space Shuttle’s airworthiness, participated in the ground vibration tests that verified the SLS launch configuration, served as a test article to ensure proper fit of various pieces of equipment, and helped astronauts train to land the orbiter before the K-23 Shuttle Training Aircraft became available. Today though, Freedom transitioned from a test vehicle into an operational orbiter. Freedom carried Dudmon (CDR), Samger (PLT), Gerrim (ENG), Jofrey (ENG), Santrey (SCI), and Danwig (SCI). Previously SLS-1’s pilot, Dudmon was more than ready to be SLS-5’s mission commander. While Samger and Danwig were new and Jofrey only flew once on Skybase 1, Gerrim and Santrey were old pros at spaceflight. They both first flew into orbit on the KS-14 flight that tested a prototype space station and flew on Munflight 1- Santrey even walked on the Mun. They flew again on Munflight 6, where Gerrim walked on Minmus and helped the vonKermans set up Hause 2. They flew a third time, spending 60 days conducting research during the Skybase 2 mission. And because they made such a great team, the duo was flying a fourth time together on SLS-5. SLS-5 launched into a 178 km by 188.1 km orbit around Kerbin. Due to the low orbit, Freedom’s external tank also achieved orbit, but while the deorbit kit was supposed to push the tank into the atmosphere, it lacked the delta-v needed to do so. KSC engineers made a note to add extra propellant for the next couple of missions. After securing the craft for orbital operations, Dudmon and Samger conducted several burns to rendezvous with their target over the course of three days... *** The Kerman States’ space program and the McKerman Kingdom’s space program were not the only space agencies that suffered financial cutbacks after the Mun Race ended. The vonKerman Republic also drastically reduced their expenditures for space exploration and hadn’t flown anything since Drakken 10’s historic mission as part of the Munflight Drakken Test Project. That was about to change. Kontrol had hoped to fully refuel one of their new reusable Drakken Tanker Tugs using local resources from Minmus before conducting an aerobraking test with it, but with their crews getting stressed out before the tankers refueled, they had to stop their tests and send the crews home. Instead, they undocked Drakken 10’s tug from Unity Station and sent it on its way back to Kerbin after determining that it had enough delta-v remaining in its tanks. Eight days after its Trans-Kerbin Burn, as Freedom waited to burn for its rendezvous target, the tanker folded its solar arrays and antennae, and closed its docking port for the plunge through Kerbin’s upper atmosphere. It also extended its airbrakes to help it stay properly aligned and to slow down. The test did not go well. The tanker’s airbrakes overheated and exploded first, followed by its main fuel tank. The tanker broke up rapidly, and its shielded docking port melted and exploded, leaving only its probe core and heat shield intact. A few more passes through the atmosphere was all it took to turn the sub-orbital remains into debris that dumped into the Western Sea. It was disappointing to say the least. The vonKermans had to find another way to shield their tankers. *** In contrast to the vonKermans, the Kerbal Space Program perfected aerobraking with their Lindor 5 Upper Stage and had four of them circling Kerbin. Each one participated in a Munflight mission. Instead of deorbiting them, KSP chose to leave them in orbit so that they could be repurposed for future missions. After being refueled by newly funded Arrow Transfer Vehicles and conducting orbital flight tests, the L5US from Munflight 3, renamed L5US-3, became SLS-5’s rendezvous target. Freedom pulled up alongside the Munflight-era upper stage and Gerrim got to work. After exiting the airlock, the engineer pulled tools and equipment from the storage locker and jetted over to L5US-3. She bolted handrails, batteries, and work lights to the structure along with a Power Data Grapple Fixture. With her work completed on EVA 1, Gerrim headed back inside to rest. Meanwhile, Jofrey unlocked the Kerboarm and maneuvered it to its capture position. With Dudmon and Samger carefully holding the orbiter still, Jofrey attempted to capture the upper stage with the arm. Nobody was sure it would work; then again, nobody ever tried capturing a satellite with a robot arm before. Ultimately, it took a combination of arm maneuvering by Jofrey and Shuttle piloting by Dudmon and Samger to capture L5US-3. While Jofrey calmed his nerves, Gerrim stepped outside again, this time to fly the Kerbal Maneuvering Unit. After a brief systems check, she decoupled from the payload pallet and backed up to dock with Freedom’s primary payload: MIDAS-A. The Multi-platform Interplanetary Deep-space Array System was intended to greatly extend KSC’s Deep Space Network. MIDAS-A, B, and C were designed to replace the Pulsar network that was launched at the start of Project Munflight. Due to their proximity to munar orbit, the network fell apart as the satellites fell into the Mun’s SOI and either spread them out or caused them to impact the surface. Of the seven satellites deployed, only Pulsar 4 and Pulsar 7 remained. To avoid a similar fate, the MIDAS platforms needed L5US-3 to boost them into High Kerbin orbit in between the Mun and Minmus and time their deployment to spread them evenly throughout their target orbit. Gingerly, Gerrim flew MIDAS-A out of Freedom’s payload bay and docked it to L5US-3. Once she returned to the Shuttle’s airlock, Jofrey moved the Kerboarm aside while Dudmon backed Freedom out of the way. With their primary mission complete, SLS-5’s team admired their handiwork before aligning orbits with Skybase. A day later, they docked with the space station to take on additional life support supplies and fuel to power the ship’s generators. Santrey and Danwig had ten days to conduct science experiments before Freedom had to return home. While Dudmon activated the jets, he elected not to use them and instead glided back to KSC and landed perfectly on the runway. With a total of 14 days on orbit, SLS-5 was the longest Shuttle Launch System to date. *** The post-mission analysis had even fewer issues to discuss. The ET stranded in orbit was definitely an issue and became yet another piece of space junk. But other than that, the mission went well, and OV-201 performed flawlessly. Mission Control even commended Dudmon for not using the jets during landing. If such feats became routine, then KSC engineers would consider removing them.

Not sure, DSEV loaded just fine for me in KSP 1.10.1.

I got the Mk-33 Launch Platform into the game: It's not quite done yet, this is just the initial rigging and test. ...And I finished the test fitting of the Mk-33 Launchpad: No, it doesn't just sit on the runway, you drive it off the runway and park it somewhere, then dock the Mk-33 to the Strongback.

Ok, redone: Had to add more posts to ensure the platform doesn't tip. I also need to add an elevator part separate from the platform. Still more to do, but at least now it is in game...

Sadly I think I need to redesign the platform. It works, but it hangs over the edges. What I might do instead is just move the posts.

Done. Here's the update. KSP 1.10.1 compatibility update

Ah, that explains it! Thanks for letting me know.

Satellite capture! The KerboArm grabs a leftover upper stage used during Munflight. Gerrim just loaded a communications satellite onto it. @benjee10 I also noticed that htRobotics has some "KerboArm 2" parts in the folder including a boom, joint, and latching end effector. The .mu and the .cfg files are there, but the parts don't show up in game. Has anybody seen the KerboArm 2 parts?

Well, I finally upgraded my dev install to 1.10.1, so I'd say Monday or Tuesday.

Chapter 4 Since Kongress left it up to them to make recommendations, the KSP Advisory Board had to formulate a strategy. Gene passed the deciding vote. Their response was clear. Now they just had to convince the right kerbals… Despite losing their funding after Project Munflight ended, the McKerman Kingdom was forging ahead. With the Ministry of Space’s launch of their Arrow Lab, they clearly had their own designs on space exploration, and it involved flying kerbals on their own spacecraft. But such a vehicle would take payload opportunities away from the Shuttle Launch System. KSP could ill afford another space race, and that influenced Gene’s decision. In the coming weeks, he would speak with the McKermans and propose a partnership that he hoped would put more payloads and crews on SLS while delaying their plans for independent crew transportation. He tried to clear his mind for the task at hand though. With the Shuttle Launch System declared operational, KSC allowed more than two astronauts to fly aboard the orbiter on the same mission. But that also meant that the K-20 KerbalSoar could no longer be used to rescue the crew in the event of a mishap. As a result, it was time to retire Sojourner, the last K-20, and Gene and Valentina had the honor of flying the space glider to its retirement home. There were some in the KSC community that wanted to see Sojourner make one last space flight for old time’s sake, but the space center lacked the Funds, an Edna rocket, and a purpose for such a flight, so Munflight 6 remained the K-20’s last mission. The venerable K-21 SeaGoat had been KSC’s go to aircraft for a long time. It began as the transportation and recovery aircraft for the K-20 KerbalSoar, but it doubled as a science plane that conducted numerous scientific studies across Kerbin. It underwent several modifications throughout its career, mainly centered around engine upgrades for greater power and greater range. Though there was talk of retiring the SeaGoat along with Sojourner, KSC was not quite ready to let go of her as well. Gene firewalled the throttles, and SeaGoat responded by bolting down the runway. As the plane took off with Sojourner underslung, he could see Mariner and Freedom parked outside of their Orbiter Processing Facility hangars. Mariner was ready to be towed to VAB 2 for SLS-4 while Freedom was undergoing conversion into a flight-ready orbiter. “Passing the baton,” Valentina commented as they sped by. “MM hm,” Gene responded as he focused on getting the SeaGoat on course. In truth, he was hiding his emotions and trying not to get sentimental about the sendoff. It was a nice touch. He fiddled with the flight controls and eventually felt satisfied. A few minutes later, the K-21 approached The Boneyard, an aircraft retirement home built on a patch of scorched kerbin situated 30km away from KSC. Scientists thought that the ground had been burned by an asteroid that exploded over the surface, but some patches of soil had trace amounts of radioactive materials. Conspiracy theorists suggested that the Kermantians tested radiological devices on the site long ago. They were quickly debunked, but some controversial evidence suggested that based on their decay, the materials had been around for thousands of years. At any rate, the grass never grew at The Boneyard; it was a small blackened desert in the middle of an oasis. Gene landed the transport on the dirt runway and taxied over to the other K-20s on the tarmac. After some careful maneuvering, he lined Sojourner up with her sister ships and then shut the engines down. He and Valentina hopped out and disconnected the K-20 before moving SeaGoat out of the way. They took a moment to pay their respects. “It’s the end of an era,” Valentina lamented. “I’m going to miss flying these.” Gene nodded. “It’s the beginning of a new one,” he countered. “There’s so much more that we can do with SLS... By the way, I never did thank you for suggesting that I fly Skybase 3. I hated it and loved it at the same time.” “You just did,” Valentina smiled and said, “but you never had to. I saw the joy in your face…” “Yeah, I have to admit that I loved it,” Gene admitted, “just not the zero gee parts…. Someday, the Shuttles will be out here too. But until then, let’s fly some great missions.” The pair hopped back into the SeaGoat, fired up her engines, and flew back to the space center, ready to get to work. *** Though the lack of thermal paint helped restore some of the Shuttle’s payload capacity that was taken up by the jet engines and deorbit kit, engineers had more work to do. They had a few ideas, but for now, KSP had to settle for lighter payloads. Fortunately, SLS-4’s payload was still within its limits. For her first operational mission, Mariner carried a new SCANSat into orbit that was destined to replace SCANSat 3. MunSCAN 2 carried an advanced multispectral scanner that could survey terrain, biomes, and resources. KSC needed the satellite to find a better location for Billstown, a munar outpost established during the Munflight 5 mission. To reach munar orbit, MunSCAN 2 was attached to the new Payload Assist Module. The PAM-A was built to fit the Shuttle’s payload bay and could carry small satellites to high orbit or munar trajectories. It was powered by a derivative of the Shuttle’s Viking Orbital Maneuvering System engine, which had excellent fuel economy that rivaled the Terrier. KSC engineers had a larger version, dubbed the PAM-B, that nearly spanned the Shuttle’s cargo bay width, but it had to wait until SLS had improved payload capacity. A prototype PAM-B launched the Duna Surveyor on its interplanetary mission. Mariner launched Shersey (CDR), Jeslong (PLT), Bill (ENG), Bob (SCI), and Malus (SCI) into a 194.8 km by 207.6 km orbit. It was the first 5-kerbal crew mission in history. Bill, Bob, and Malus were all veterans of the Munflight program. Of the three, Bob walked on Minmus during Munflight 2 while Malus walked on Minmus during Munflight 4. Bill flew on KS-12, Munflight 2 and Munflight 5, and had a hand in designing numerous spacecraft including Billstown, the first munar outpost. By contrast, Shersey and Jesong were both rookie astronauts making their first spaceflight. After configuring the orbiter for on-orbit operations, Bill deployed the Kerboarm and checked out its systems. As Mariner looped back around to the day side, he ran the satellite grab routine. The arm effortlessly re-positioned itself to grab MunSCAN 2. With some careful maneuvering, Bill removed MunSCAN 2 from Mariner’s payload bay, just as the orbiter reached the night side of Kerbin. He waited until they again looped around to the day side before extending the satellite’s antennas and solar arrays. After pointing the satellite towards Kerbol and verifying that it had full electric charge, Bill released MunSCAN 2. Shersey immediately backed the orbiter away from the satellite to give it maneuvering room while Bill stowed and locked the Kerboarm. Thirty minutes later, MunSCAN 2 sped off towards its destination. With the space probe safely on its way, Mariner began the second phase of its mission. Shersey aligned Mariner’s orbital plane with Skybase, and a day later, he and Jeslong maneuvered the orbiter next to the space station and docked with it at orbital sunrise. The crew secured the orbiter for its stay and transferred over to Skybase. Bob and Malus were delighted to run experiments in the orbital lab. Four days later, KSC radioed Shersey and his crew and let them know that MunSCAN 2 successfully entered munar orbit and began its surveys. “That’s great news,” Shersey responded. “It’s good to know that the Shuttle can deliver on time.” After three more days at Skybase, Mariner replenished her propellant reserves for the trip home and undocked from the space station. An hour later, Mariner plunged into the atmosphere, and a few minutes after that, the orbiter passed through 20,000 kilometers and 420 m/sec and was just 55 kilometers away from KSC. They were a bit short, so Shersey dumped the excess oxidizer to lighten the load, and at 8,000 meters, he air-started the Panther jets. Mariner was still 30 kilometers away from the space center- easily within range. After couple of minutes of flying, Mariner touched down and rolled to a stop. *** The post-mission debriefing revealed few problems. Mariner was short on propellant but could have deorbited and returned to KSC. The ET’s lack of paint did improve payload capacity, but additional improvements to the Shuttle Launch System were still warranted. There were some issues with the Kerboarm during ascent, so KSC engineers needed to double-check and make sure that the arm was fully locked after running tests in the VAB.

The launchpad isn't static. It's a part. You can either deploy it on a special static with Kerbal Konstructs, or "launch" the launchpad from the runway and drive it somewhere to set up launches. Once I get done with the last parts I'll create an infographic since it seems to be pretty confusing.

Thanks! I could rant but... Anyway, The access arm is the same, but that image was taking from a different angle. My plan is to use the crew tower parts on both the launch platform and the launchpad. The same for the strongback. Based on my current rate, I estimate that I'll be done with the platform next week, and maybe a couple of weeks for the crew tower parts. So possibly 1.0 release by first couple weeks of September.

Small progress today, grocery shopping takes all day...

Leveraging the work that I did on the launchpad for the launch platform: This is similar to the Mobile Launcher Platform that the Space Shuttle used, and sits on top of the stock launchpad. Hopefully this will get done pretty quick.

And done! I can mark the launchpad off the list. Still need to make the crew access tower parts and the launch platform...

Technically you can run them side by side but I don't recommend it.

Making progress on the launchpad...

A new story for 1.10? Oh my!