Wiseman

Glad it's not just me. Well, no, I wish it was nobody, but at least I didn't bork my install. Anyways, the Martian Moonhopper 2 arrives at Mars, and so it's time to deploy our science lander!

One of my favorite things about doing this series is getting feedback from people who know more than I do, and sharing it with everybody! Always glad to pass on good info. We're headed towards Lunette Station! I decided to make my life harder than it would otherwise be, with an attempt to knock out the first 30-day-in-space milestone... around the Moon! This time, the parameters should make this an easier mission... If I packed enough snacks?

While the lander did sort of explode, our Mars Exploration System mission is not yet complete! Let's wrap up what we can for now, and then move on to another exciting Apollo mission!

Why mess it up instead of do the (now obvious) smart thing? Because to paraphrase Elon Musk, I was too dumb to think of it. Speaking of which, here's the arrival of the Mars Exploration System!

I actually tried that for my custom Apollo Block III service module. I'd need ISS-sized panels to keep up with the monster avionics on that thing! At this point, you're better off looking to the RP-0 install guide on the wiki. There's a link in the description. I'm not really doing much different than what's on that page, but there's a list I keep up-to-date on the YouTube playlist description. Also, I forgot to post the last ep, so here's a double feature!

The RD-180, huh? I'll keep an eye out! I'm FINALLY on my way to unlocking a bunch more engine parts, which I'm excited to try out! And yes, the Moonhopper 2 is absolutely targeting the wrong orbit. This oversight has been corrected! And now, back to your regularly scheduled Apollo mission!

Yeah, I love using the Apollo stuff. Apparently it's going to get cheaper pretty soon with the Block III unlock! Martian Moonhopper 2 is launching in the video below. Absolutely yes on NTRs, but I'm waiting for the tech to mature a bit before playing with them. I also want to unlock radiators before really digging into sending LH2 on very long journeys.

Awesome, glad you've enjoyed it! I am too. It begins... now!

Forgive the short episode, but I wanted to get this out of the way before our big Mars-stravaganza! We launch two more Hermes spacecraft to the outer solar system in my attempt to turn celestial bodies into Pokemon. Gotta orbit 'em all!

No, that's a good point - I should have a few hundred extra m/s of dV on the return trip, if I've calculated everything else properly. But maybe it's not enough, who knows! That's a problem for future me. The way this craft is set up, I've actually got a sample device on the rocket skirt of the lander stage, so I'll be grabbing a single sample and returning with it. My priority is the contract, not the science, for now. Hope you all had a lovely holiday! I'm back with the launch of the Hermes 1 spacecraft, heading to Mercury by way of Venus. Also, our first crewed Apollo mission!

We've got a Mars transfer window coming up, and with our renewed focus on exploring the red planet, we need to make the most of it. We could throw a bunch of individual probes... Or we could practice for the future by assembling a huge multi-probe in orbit!

We've finally accomplished a crewed lunar landing! Now, it's time to turn our eyes towards the future. We've got a lot of cool stuff to look forward to - Apollo mission architecture the first among them! We'll be using this to get to the Moon for longer durations, and perhaps to Mars soon enough!

I gotta admit I saw the picture of your Tellah-like rocket and had the thought "huh, I don't remember coloring any probes like that in my series". I'm glad I provided some small bit of inspiration! Loving these mission reports, too!

The thrilling conclusion to the Advanced Gemini Lunar Landing! Will our intrepid astronauts make it home?!

We've put a lander into orbit around the Moon, and now it's time to send the crew! Two intrepid astronauts - Thomas Reed and Lisa Kim, veterans of the Gemini program so far - are preparing to launch in Gemini 8-L, and then descend to the lunar surface!

It's finally time! After a crash course in Gemini Advanced concepts, we've decided to make an early push for a crewed lunar landing. This is a lot earlier than we could manage an Apollo-style landing, but let's not worry about the fact that I'm still six years behind schedule!

It's finally time to bring our Orblab 1 astronauts home! I've been excited to get moving on space station contracts, so we talk through that, and start looking into the future of space stations in LEO. Then, we take a design/research interlude, where I walk through the next steps in our tech tree. Finally, a daring rescue of a wildly spinning Moonhopper!

In this busy episode, we adjust the trajectory of the Pioneer Jupiter spacecraft to see what outer planet exploration we can do. As it turns out, it's quite a bit! Then, we replace our janky lunar communications network so I can finally delete my shame.

The transfer window to Jupiter is finally upon us, so let's send our best probe out into the outer solar system! Then, it's time for two crew to board our very first space station!

With just a day remaining, let's test our new rover! The pace of technology is accelerating rapidly, and we're really making good progress towards our crewed lunar landing, and then onward to other planets!

In this episode, let's solve our lunar communications problems once and for all! Definitely no issues whatsoever that resulted from lack of preparation here, no siree.

The Martian Moonhopper finally gets a chance to live up to its name! We descend from the high orbit of Deimos down to visit the slightly larger potato known as Phobos. Then, we check out two biomes in rapid succession, providing just an avalanche of science!

A busy episode this time! We bring down Gemini 6 to complete the buggy contract, adjust the orbit of a Martian probe to nail a contract I forgot about, and finally return to Johnny Flores' lunar orbital flight. Phew! As if that wasn't enough, I decide we're ready to say that before this decade is out, we will put kerbals on the surface of the Moon! (The decade being 1970, but close enough, really.)

First, I provide an update on the state of the space program. It's 1974 and we're still chugging away with mid-60's tech, but we're getting closer and closer to Apollo! We also haven't quite decided on our final moon-mission architecture, but I've got some ideas. Then, it's time to finally fly the mission to orbit the moon with a crewed vessel!

The Martian Moonhopper arrives and inserts into a highly elliptical orbit. Rather than spend a bunch of deltaV going for a fast orbit, we take our time with this spacecraft - the combination of solar panels and an RTG help take the edge off the power consumption. Meanwhile, we launch our new Gemini service module, with one teeny tiny checklist item missing. The Moonhopper has arrived at Deimos! It's a very silly place. The orbital velocity near the surface is 4 m/s! Four! I didn't quite comprehend just how small Deimos is, but it's still a super interesting moon. There's a big funky spire at the north pole that's probably a texture/model artifact, so let's go check it out!