HMS Sophia

Chapter I - A New Age, A New Role 24th November 1956 A cold wind swept across the dry test field, blowing up dust in places. The woman, rank flashes identifying her as a Major, US Army, held a pair of binoculars to her eyes and leaned against the ledge of the observation bunker. In the distance, the short, fat RB-1 rocket sat on its pad just waiting for the spark which would light its motor and send it speeding into the sky. The influence of the rockets used in the last war was obvious. It was larger, could go further, could carry a larger payload but to all intents and purposes it was the same basic design. She jumped just enough to be visible when another officer tapped her on the shoulder. "Major Ross, good morning." she said as she turned. "Major Wolcott. Beautiful day for it." "Well, the wind's picking up. But it's clear, that's something." The man leaned on the embrasure, looking out at the free-standing rocket. "I hear this is your last time here." He said quietly without looking at her. "Your last launch?" "Last launch here. I've got a new posting, over on the east coast. Some backwoods town with an Air Force base attached, Canaveral." "Air Force? You abandoning us Wolcott? Putting on sky blues?" The man laughed. He went quiet when he saw her face. "I'm going to be heading up a civilian agency. Seconded from the army." "Seconded? Someone's made a mistake. Way I heard it, you're the best there is with these things." He gestures at the rocket on its pad. "It's civilian rocket flights. SREP, it's called. Stupid name. Space Exploration something something." She checks her watch, then goes back to her binoculars. "Quiet now. Launch in one minute." A minute later, the rocket lifts into the sky on a pillar of smoke, disappearing into the distance. 11th January 1957 "Corporal, take my bags into my office will you, wherever it is? Get us set up in there." The young Corporal , her aide, diver and secretary rolled into one efficient package, threw a sketchy salute before switching off the jeep and reaching for their bags. Wolcott looked around the base, hands on her hips and sighed. It was the same as every other rocket test site she'd ever seen. Dusty, flat and hot. A few scattered buildings and, if she had them pegged right by the way they were dressed, some engineers scurrying between buildings. She turned around and walked into the office building. She frowned inside at the sound of raised voices. Following them brought her to what could only be her office the anteroom occupied only by a desk, her Corporal and an older, moustachio'd man. "What do you mean 'it ain't any more'? See here, I've been using this office for nearly six months, do you really think you can-" "Is there a problem, gentlemen?" the Major said, leaning against the door frame. Both spin round to face her, the Corporal almost- almost, but not quite- clicking their heels and coming to attention. "Yes! This grunt is kicking me out of my office!" "And you are?" "Arthur Roth, assistant director of SREP. And until the Director arrives, this is my office. This fool is trying to kick me out." The Major extends a hand, which the man shakes almost automatically. "Major Jane Wolcott, US Army, appointed director. I'll take my office now please." She smiles to soften the blow but he still reels somewhat. He stutters for a moment before speaking. "I, uh... apologies, Major. We didn't expect you for another few weeks. Of course, the office is yours." "Thank you Mr Roth. If we can have a meeting in... say, two hours?" "Of course." He slips out, closing the door behind him. The Major turns to the Corporal, smiling and they both break into laughter. "So what resources have we been given? If we're supposed to 'research and explore' space, we're going to need one hell of a budget." the Major and Roth are standing over her new desk, going over several binders full of documents. "We have the next three RB-1's coming out of the armies stocks. I was told you had some experience with them?" "I've been launching them out west for a year, I certainly should. Scientific payload?" "We have a lab down the road building up three atmospheric sampling sets." She nods, and pulls aside another folder. "What about after that? Three launches might take us a year if we stretch it, are we buying more after that?" "Well... The engineering department has some ideas for boosters. We can contract out for our own designs. Leaves us less reliant on the military." He pauses, looking at her. "No offence to the military, but ballistic missiles aren't perfect for our needs." "No, it's fine." she says, reading quickly. "We have a lab and an engineering department? We seem to have a lot of staff." Roth blushes. "It's, uh, three engineers, two lab technicians and two STEM doctors." "We're doing well then... I'll talk to the engineers and the lab tomorrow. For now, I'm going to find my quarters and get some rack time. Hold the fort for me?" "Yes Ma'am." Roth says smiling. "Good to have you on board at last." "Good to be here Mr Roth."

Program History: Planned Missions: Cartographer Program - Ajax - Cartographer block 1, bimonthly, 4 launches - November 1958-May 1959 - Cartographer block 2, bimonthly, 3 launches - July-November 1959 - Cartographer block 3, bimonthly, 6 launches - February-December 1960 Relay Program - Ajax - Constellation 2, July 1959 - Constellation 3, January 1960 Orbiter Program - Ajax - Orbiter-8, Scientific payload to orbit - June 1959 Mercury Program - Ajax - Atmospheric flight - April 1959 - Pad abort test - May 1959 - Flight abort test - July 1959 - Atmospheric flight - August 1959 - Sub-orbital flight - October 1959 - Orbital flight - November 1959 Missions in Flight: Previous Missions: Cartographer-1-3, orbit with return - March 1959 Orbiter-7, Scientific payload to orbit - February 1959 Cartographer-1-2, orbit with return - January 1959 - Failure Constellation 1, Relay group deployment - December 1958 - Partial Failure Cartographer-1-1, orbit with return - November 1958 Orbiter-6, Scientific payload to orbit - October 18th 1958 - Partial Failure Cartographer-1, orbit with return - September 26th 1958 Orbiter-5, Scientific payload to orbit - August 25th 1958 Relay-2, payload to orbit - August 17th 1958 Relay-1, payload to orbit - May 20th 1958 Orbiter-4, scientific payload to orbit - January 12th 1958 Orbiter-3, Payload to orbit - 2nd November 1957 Orbiter-2, Payload to orbit - 12th August 1957 - Failure Orbiter-1, Payload to orbit - 15th June 1957 - Start of Orbiter Program - Failure HARP-3, Vertical launch atmospheric test - 5th May 1957 HARP-2, Vertical launch atmospheric test - 1st April 1957 HARP-1, Angled launch atmospheric test - 4th March 1957 - Start of HARP Program

Program Personnel: Mission Control: Range Officer 1st Lieutenant Charlie Johnson, USAF. Mission Command 2nd Lieutenant Sam Howarths, USAF. Flight Research Specialist Charlotte Baker Flight Plan Specialist, Madeleine Smith Flight Payload Specialist Technical Sergeant Peter Mitchum, USAF. Medical Staff Doctor Andrew Carter Base Staff: Major Jane Wolcott, Director of SREP. US Army Officer, rocket specialist. Arthur Roth, Assistant Director of SREP. Aerospace Engineer, pre-war immigrant. Dr. Michael Pickering, Head of Research. British. Katharina Hölzl, Head of Military Research. Captain Christopher Hazlett, USAF John Marshall, Chief Engineer. Michael Finckley, RAH Manager Fraser Harman, MCB Manager Julia Kehoe, Head of Hardware Development Lieutenant Harriet MacMillan, US Navy, Head of Flight Planning Mathew Jepson, Head of PR Doctor Andrew Carter, Head of Astronaut Healthcare Mission Crew: Captain Mark Harrison, US Air Force Captain Angela Stewart, US Air Force First Lieutenant Gerry Condon, US Air Force Lieutenant Maxwell Burgess, US Navy Captain Charles Dean Pleasant Jr., US Army First Lieutenant Carmine Matlock, US Marines

The Program: Facilities: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station; -Buildings --Administration centre --Engineering & Research centre --Rocket Assembly Hanger ----Mercury Construction Building --Mission Control Bunker -Launch Facilities --Launch Complex 1 & 2 - RB-1 - Inactive --Launch Complex 3, 4 & 5 - RL-3 - Inactive --Launch Complex 6 - Ajax - Active Patrick Air Force Base; -Buildings -- Aircraft hangers -- Flight Control Tower -- Two Jet-rated runways Current Equipment Ajax - A two stage booster with a payload capacity of around 1,500 kilograms to LEO. Finckley - A small upper stage SRB which has been used with both RL-3 and Ajax rockets to lift payloads beyond their normal capacity. It uses hypergolic fuel due to the uncertainty over igniting rockets at high altitude. Obsolete Equipment RL-3 - Military strategic rocket used to lift several early payloads. RB-1 - Miltary tactical rocket used as a sounding rocket in SREP's earliest days. Pitcher - A small upper stage SRB Achievements: Orbital Satellite (2nd): 2nd November 1957, Orbiter-3, RL-3/Finckley Heliocentric Satellite (1st): 18th October 1958, Orbiter-6, Ajax

In 1957, the President of the United States signed into existence SREP, the Space Research and Exploration Program. An amalgamation of military and civilian research projects, the intention was to lead the nation, if not the world, in its first tentative steps into the great unknown. In the coming decades, the program would expand the field of human knowledge tenfold and more. But it began in a quiet part of the western US, with but a few observers. SREP A living history of a space program 1957- Chapter Index: Chapter I - A New Age, A New Role Chapter II - Fixin' to Fly Chapter III - Taking to the Sky Chapter IV - Bigger is better Chapter V - To the Edge Chapter VI - Fire on the Pad Chapter VII - End of the Beginning Chapter VIII - Disaster Strikes Chapter IX - Rapid Redesign Chapter X - Fading Hopes Chapter XI - The Game is Changing Chapter XII - Hollow Victory Chapter XIII - Bulwark of the Space Program Chapter XIV - First Discoveries Chapter XV - Ajax Ascendant Chapter XVI - Speaking from Space Chapter XVII - Another Step Chapter XVIII- Orbital Return Chapter XIX - Upgraded Relays Chapter XX - Big Plans, Bigger Sky Chapter XXI - Higher, Faster Chapter XXII - Astronaut Selection Chapter XXIII - A Spy in Space Chapter XXIV - A Mass Media Point of View Chapter XXV - Solar Orbiter Chapter XXVI - Mercury Rising Chapter XXVII - The Glowing Belts Chapter XXVIII - The Moon's New Acquaintance Chapter XXIX - As Saturn, So Earth Chapter XXX - A Constellation Emplaced Chapter XXXI - A Shooting Southern Star Chapter XXXII - Program Shake-up SREP is to be a realistic as possible alternate history of human space exploration. We will be using a variety of mods to achieve this, game-play, visual and other types. We will be using sandbox mode because it gives the best options for telling our story, rather than being artificially limited to the tech tree and so on. Especially since the tech tree is so unrealistic. We hope you enjoy our game. Toolbar AIES Aerospace AJE (Advanced Jet Engines) ART (Asteroid Recycling Tech) AtmosphericSoundEnhancement B9 (only Info drive and Separatrons so far) BDArmory blackheart fairing textures Camera Tools Deadly Re-entry DefaultThrottle DMagic Orbital Science Editor Extensions Engineer EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements (Astronomers pack) for clouds FASA FAR Firespitter (dll) FSHangar Extender Hotrockets HullCameraVDS ImprovedChaseCamera Infernal Robotics KAS KerbalFlightIndicators KerbalJointReinforcement KerbQuake kOS KronalVesselViewer KWRocketry LoadOnDemand MechJeb2 Mechjeb and Engineer for all NavHud NovaPunch2 NavInstruments PartAngleDIsplay ProbeControlRoom ProceduralDynamics ProceduralFairings Proceduralparts RasterPropMonitor RealChute RealFuels RealismOverhaul RealSolarSystem Remotetech SCANsat SelectRoot StationScience TAC Life Support TextureReplacer (Skybox, Kerbals) TouhouTorpedo Seat Fixer TweakScale UmbraSpaceIndustries VesselView WarpUnlocker

Edited OP to coincide with formatting.

Have you tried verifying your file integrity with steam? Or re-installing? Those are usually my first two ports of call with issues. How much installed RAM do you have? Not VRAM, the actual hardware.

KSP Version: v0.25 Windows 32-bit What Happens: Graphics issues withing the VAB. See pictures. This is not causing crashes for me, it's simply a visual error which does not go away, whether I exit and re-enter the VAB or not. Mods / Add-Ons: All Stock, with a fresh install this morning. Steps to Replicate: Takes place whenever entering the VAB Result: See image Fixes/Workarounds: None known. Other Notes/Pictures:

I'd love for this to be implemented. It would make ladders much more important early on when you can't EVA around. A couple different suit designs would be nice to go on top, but that's certainly not necessary.

Ah thanks... So take out the realchutes config? Shame, but hey, as long as the stock chute still works

Hi, I'm having an issue with the mod. When I attach the pod propulsion module in the VAB, the chute is extended and the RCS ports have the firing animation playing continuosly. Bug continues on the launch pad even with various options clicked. Any ideas?

Today? Today I cleaned my desktop, and found a copy of KSP version 0.13.3.. This is... seriously old school... I have access to around 8 parts, the three crew, Old style Kerbal and the mun. There is no minmus, no other planets, and no fancy parts like... more than two engines or anything. At KSC there is only the VAB and the pad, which has a tower btw. I'm gonna have to keep this for posterity...

There's a respawn option in one of the configs which I think is True/False but I forget exactly what and where it is... It's probably in the savegame .sfs file. Questions: 1) What was your mun flyby mission time? How did you find it with Tac? 2) Is the trajectory mod pretty accurate? 3) What does KSPI add apart from a shedload of parts. I have RAM issues with parts, am I missing much? Thanks

It's the last stage of the pre-release stage, it's no surprise it ends up similar... But, spotting that trend is important in terms of 0.25 release. Thanks ^^

Enjoying this. Waiting for more

Lesse then... I'm preparing for a career mode writing project once everything updates to 0.25. So, after installing a minor shedload of mods, I had to get used to some new things.. In the course of that, I: Tested an internally stored munar lander with a two kerbal pod. This was a fun design. That's everything that was sat on the launch pad (minus one fairing part.) I actually ended up using the booster stage for lunar transfer, orbital injection and even the first part of the landers descent burn. A surprising amount of over-engineering... Unfortunately, the capsule ran out of electricity on the way home and everybody died. A shame really. Then: I established a 4 satellite comms network in a single launch. That was interesting. And that led too: I launched a Single stage to Mun probe rocket. Got itself into orbit then shot off on a rather nice free return trajectory. As you can see it passed within 40 kilometres of the mun's surface, then did a fun wiggle and had a final periapsis at Kerbin of 12 kilometres. Strangely, the avionics package survived kerbin lithobraking and still rests somewhere in the highlands waiting for a visit. So yeah, had a very entertaining day.

Absolutely loving this. I'm doing some long term planning for my own story, but I don't think the images will be anywhere near the quality of yours. Great pictures and great story.