DMSP

Oh good grief, what was that?! Thanks, I actually am hoping to get them off sooner or later.

Hi all, I'm posting this because I "accidentally" stranded Val and Kerlee Kerman on Laythe (not in my main save). This is a quick step away from DMSP, playing with an underdeveloped space program can be tedious sometimes... So, this is Kerlee's log. #18 Well, Moho. I mean, what the Moho. What the actual MOHO! Well, as I said last time, the ship is doing fine. Except we aren't in it. It's in a deteriorating Low Laythe Orbit. And I'm sitting on a slope near a massive crater lake. This is exactly what happened: So it was pretty normal, having just arrived in LLO. We were waiting for Jeb and Bob to arrive in their ship, known as Transport 3. It carried this little plane that I had helped design back on Kerbin. Nice plane and all, meant to send down stuff to the base we were going to be setting up. Once we landed it, we could land the drop pods near it (which itself would be near the Laythe Ascent Vehicle) and set up shop. But there was a problem. It was little at first, just a coolant leak. Val told me to get into the Drop pod, and I obeyed. Sure, I'm the engineer, but I can't help the problem. The engines turning on frightened me. The light turned red. I noticed that we were starting to rotate. I thought, 'Ok. Ok. Everything's ok. Val will get this under control. Val is good a...' Only to see Val swing in to the drop pod with me. Her left hand was white with a burn, and I didn't even know what to say. Before I knew it, both makeshift escape pods were rocketing out, ours and the empty one. The empty one lost one of its thrusters and careened into the heatsheild of the command ship. I was speechless. Blacking out seemed like the best thing to do. When I woke up, Val was outside, on Laythein soil. She caught me up and told me that she couldn't override the "Return" function of the pods and now they were a couple hundred kilometers from their only ride home, the blasted Laythe Ascent Vehicle. It took me a moment to take that in. I asked Val if I could head outside, and I felt it was nice to stand on a moon after all these years in deep space. Well. That's me signing off. Bob will be here in a few days so we'll wait for our plane. But Moho, Moho, MOHO. [Log Shutdown]

This is really good! I'll be following this.

Heh. "Untitled Space Craft" Nice work, great replication and construction!

Yes, I can't handle Career, and I wish this was in Science Mode. When 1.1 comes around, I will reset in Sandbox (From where I left off of course). Actually I should do that now...

I really like this shot, Getting a polar satellite into orbit. I didn't even need much of Stage #3, the Kelta-1 is a good lifter! There's just something about this shot.

I have made a fine light lifter out of something very old on Kerbal X. I seem to like light lifters today. I present: Kelta-1 Capable of getting 2.5 tons to orbit, you can explore beyond the Kerbin System with this. Have fun flying it, and it's much easier than the Atacama-Sahara (though not as cool).

Awesome! I thought Ions didn't work in Duna's Atmosphere. Maybe I'm wrong... *Zips to check it out*

Added Atacama-Sahara Launch Vehicle!

Maybe, but as far as I know, there's none. Anyone got anything new?

Thanks! #Wut?

I would say lie. There's not much left to do so lie about things and make stuff up. This idea would probably end in a large "Kaboom!"

Alright, thanks, and I can't wait to see what you come up with! Have fun!

Hi Starwhip, I know it's been months, but here are the three craft for the Atacama-Sahara booster render. Atacama Winged Booster. Sahara Upper Stage. Atacama-Sahara Light-Medium Lifter. My idea was that it could be split into three, all in one image. The first slide would be the Atacama-Sahara joint booster busting above the clouds. The second would be the Sahara in the blackness of space, firing its engiens. And the third would be the Atacama booster flying back home. Maybe it could be like: 1|2 3 Oh, if you could do the Atacama being chased by a stock "Osprey" that would be awesome! Thanks!

Chapter 11-To touch the Mun. The Kerbal Space Program was quiet that day. A few people buzzed around, some fueling pipes were tested, and Jeb took a ride in the repair rover. But it was also the day of Muna-5's launch, a great cause of excitement! No one was excited though... Following in Muna-4's footprints, or rather, smoke trails, Muna-5 shot up to the Mun. Some of the flight controllers had trouble controlling the rocket (again) but they got it into orbit and onward to the Mun just fine. As Muna-5 headed out, the launchpad was speed prepared for the launch of some new CommSats. Comms-2 and 3 would lift off and would be able to provide constant communications around the near Kerbin System. The first part of the liftoff was completely normal, the rocket rising to 100 meters in a few seconds. Only when it passed 111 meters did a technical malfunction occur. Some wiring embedded in Comms-2 accidentally took the altitude, 111, as a reset code, causing Comms-2 to assume command over rocket control. The flight controllers noticed all of their controls go horizontal. They tried to regain control, but C-2-3 tipped west. Gene yelled "Wait for Clear-1 Mark, and then try to save the Satellites!" Soon, guidance shouted the Clear-1 Mark, and the rocket staged. The second stage struggled against gravity to slow itself down and not hit the SPH. The out of control first stage hit the ground, causing foul smelling gases to spread across KSC. The second stage was able to slow down enough to enable payload safety, but it couldn't dodge the SPH. The photographers were all either cowering in fright or running away in terror to take any pictures, but it went somewhat like this: 1) Second Stage clips edge of Space Plane Hanger 2) Second Stage shuts down and looses engine. 3) Second Stage hits the ground and explodes into a fireball, damaging the SPH doors. 4) The fairing breaks apart, creating a loud snapping sound heard for kilometers. 5) After the smoke rises, people see Comms-2 and 3 casually sitting there. Meanwhile, above the Mun... Flight Controllers soon had to ignore all going on outside and prepare for the Muna-5 landing. The Muna-5 team instructed it to fire its engines high above the surface, to shave off some nasty velocity. When the four rockets cut off, the spacecraft slowly started to gain velocity. It wasn't until 6,000 meters that the rockets ignited again. Soon the Third Stage ran out of fuel, and it was discarded to become a new miniature crater on the surface. The final stage maneuvered to hit the landing target, eventually hitting zero horizontal velocity 200 meters from the landing point. Not bad. Slowly it inched down, heading towards the powder getting kicked up by the light jets. Then something strange happened. The antennas retracted, and Engine B cut off. Soon, all that was left of Muna-5 was its control core, laying sadly on the Mun. If it could be sad... Not the best first Mun landing, but definitely something to improve on in the future. After the near disaster of Flatspin-1, mission control was very careful before another Kerbal went back up there. Once the New Lifter was ready to go, Flatspin-2 was pushed out to the pad. Bill, who sat in the little can up at the top, was needed for this mission. Val and Jeb were arguing over who would launch next but no, it had to be Bill. The booster didn't do as much of the work as the engineers wanted, but Flatspin-2 still had enough Delta V to orbit. Soon, Flatspin-2, carrying Bill and an Unnamed Satellite arrived in LKO. Bill went on an EVA and began construction of the satellite (He came to the conclusion it would be called "BillSat-1"). Bill, being very good at his job, constructed BillSat-1 in only 23 minutes. Bill was not very pleased with the Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator that he was tasked to attach to the end. Sure, the suit blocked all of the radiation, but it was a slightly glowing box of Plutonium 238. But Bill did his job well, and it was online within the hour. With nothing else to do in orbit, he waited for BillSat-1 to drift, and fired his retrorockets. Bill splashed down a few hours after he left, leaving a nice little satellite in orbit. With popularity rising, DMSP now had a set goal. Before the end of the year, A Kerbal needed to set foot on the Mun.

Ahhh, I had a hunch they were going there.

By any chance, what happened to Zonkers and its crew?

It's been so long! Awesome for this to be back, and welcome back, Brototo.

It's been so great reading all of this. I remember the first chapter a few months ago, and it has been an honor to stick till the end. Wonderful conclusion, and can't wait to see that 'Graphic Novel' if it comes around.

I was thinking of pushing once the lifter failed to preform, but I realized there wasn't enough time! I'm putting whatever I can find of that lifter at the bottom of the dumpster.

That's a good idea. Bases are cool. Anyway, on to: Chapter 10-100 Days of Space. The weather on Kerbin was strange. It wasn't there. So Threeos-1 was launched to find out more about it. Sitting on an Omega E, it blasted off into the heat of another midday at KSC. The turn East was normal, and the launch proceeded as planned, without a hitch. Threeos-1 ended up in a good stable orbit mapping the Weather patters over equatorial Kerbin. But at launch 33, this was getting boring. Luckily, another step had been made. Ever since Linus's division had been dissolved, the Muna program had been cancelled. But Wernher couldn't think of a good name, and it was only until an intern said "Continue Muna!" that another probe was heading to the Mun. The launcher was massive. It was more than 30 meters tall! The flight controllers had problems controlling the sluggish beast, but they eventually got it high enough for "The Turn". The second stage did its job, and after just 25 minutes, Muna-4 was going to the Mun! Soon, it crossed into the Mun's gravity well, descending down to the surface, with hopes of a soft landing ahead. The target was set. Speed 500. Altitude 5,000. Speed 450. Altitude 3,300. Speed 300. Altitude 1,000. Eventually it was realized that Muna-4 would not survive the landing. And the Mun had a new crater. Soon the 100th day of space came. 100 days of this space center and program. Satellites were turned off. New ones were needed. But first, it was time to reach orbit! Flatspin-1 was prepared. Bob Kerman, a scientist under Wernher, was chosen to make the flight. He really didn't want to be on this flight. But Jeb and Val couldn't go, and there was no one else. He was pressed down by the Gs of acceleration. Ground crews cheered as he rocketed up into the sky. Bob just got more frightened. Looking at his altitude and speed, he realized he could not make orbit. "Flight, Bingo Fuel." Bob announced. "I repeat, Bingo Fuel." It wasn't much. Mort sighed at the loss of more funds on a useless mission. But Bob wasn't done. "Flight, I'm using the retrograde system to boost me to orbit!" Kerbals across Kerbin gasped as Bob staged the capsule. And Bob became the first Kerbal in orbit. 6 orbits later... A rescue mission couldn't be sent. Bob was running out of snacks. He got permission to do an EVA, and looked down at his home. Was this how he would die? Cold, and alone, in space? Suddenly he had an idea. "Tell the recovery crews to get ready!" Soon enough, a fiery capsule was seen over the skies. Bob touched down about 430 Kilometers from the KSC. Jeb went to pick the new Hero up.

Good luck! Lugging a capsule will be hard. Maybe KIS?

Yeah, bases are the best, and I love setting them up, but I can't seem to maintain them past 300 parts. I guess I have to wait for 1.1... I'm going to try out some of your planes!

Well, Invisible recovery crews are for later! Just basic spaceflight technology for now.

Launching the BM-PL now, and with my Potato Computer this is taking a while! 250 parts! How!? WHY!? Anyway I will be able to put these to great use in 1.1, right now setting up a test base.