pTrevTrevs

Tantares Solar Wind Particle Return Mission: SWPRM Begins its mission on an Ariane 5. It was too big to fit inside a Proton fairing, so I had to use a 3.75 lifter. N1 was bviously too powerful, so I went with Ariane. This later proved to be my undoing... Ariane booster separation. I didn't put any separation motors on them, and I just used the R7 radial decoupler, so I didn't get a clean separation, and they crashed into each other and exploded a few seconds after this screenshot was taken. Fairing jettison. SWPRM is go for orbit. Spacecraft in orbit with its small kick stage, used for putting the satellite on a transfer orbit to its final altitude. I think I nailed the "Soviet look" with this one. Kick stage performing the burn for altitude. In hindsight, i probably should have used Block D. With the spacecraft's weight (10 tons), the Salyut engine could only give me less than 500 m/s of Delta V. SWPRM circularizing its orbit. I was able to get a 600 kilometer orbit, after spending all of the kick motor's fuel and most of the spacecraft's fuel. Nowhere near as impressive as the original mission, which was placed out beyond Minmus. Spacecraft antennae and collector panels deployed. The panels have been slightly increased in size with Tweakscale. Disclaimer: Real solar wind collectors do not look like this, I was just having some fun. One week later, I got bored and decided to bring it down. Unfortunately, every time I loaded the craft from the Tracking Station, the Kraken paid a visit, and the spacecraft would go into a brief period of violent convulsions, which caused the panels and the fairings on the return capsule to be ripped off. In some cases, the entire panel parts were ripped off, and in others, the panels just broke off, like they do when extended in atmospheric flight. Return Capsule jettisoned. It looks ugly without the fairings. Damn you Kraken! Return Capsule reentry. I actually lost some ablator this time, although it was a reentry from 600 kilometers up. Parachute deployed. The original mission used SXT airbags as well, but I don't think SXT is updated for 1.0 yet. Return capsule landed. Recovery crews will head out in the morning to search for the capsule and bring it back to KSC. A few things happened during the mission that I wasn't happy with, so maybe I will do a Mk III version someday.

Not to mention the fact that if the plane so much as gets struck by lightning, it's toast. They have to build special enclosures to protect it from the weather. How ironic, the Lightning is in danger from lightning.

Nice plane. I've always thought the F-35 is cool, but it's shame that they decided to use it for Close Air Support. I was told that the planes are very fragile, unlike the magnificent A-10, and they never will be able to carry the big tank busting cannon that A-10s feature. Oh well, that won't stop me from trying this craft out.

Not sure how many people remember the last time I tried to do this, but I'm trying it again. Here you go... It's bigger! It's better! It's the Solar Wind Particle Return Mission!!! Full mission coming soon.

Got some time to sneak away and model today, here's the S-IV fuel tank: I may try to UV map this one myself. It seems even easier than Little Joe II was. Can't wait for the S-IV engine assembly, it's gonna be tough. EDIT: S-IV Fuel Tank is UV mapped, ready to be textured. It's the first time I've successfully UV mapped a model. Now to see if I have a copy of photoshop somewhere. If I don't have photoshop though, is it easy to texture parts in GIMP?

Also, maybe not make it orange? I know it looks cool being orange, and it was orange in photos of it, but no flight rated spacecraft would be painted orange. They are typically white or reflective silver to block harmful rays from the sun. Of course, thermal blanketed spacecraft can be different, but they all seem to be white, black, or green.

Of course, I quicksaved before deorbit burn, but the game crashed when the shuttle touched down. I still claim a successful landing. Eh, I at least I managed to hit KSC from a 65 degree orbit. Also, other than the fact that the result of the landing is unknown, I believe I have fulfilled the requirements for a Commander badge. Let me double check that though... EDIT: No, not Commander, but Pilot. I'll get to work on making a successful landing.

Completion of Enterprise's mission to Mir 2. Enterprise undocks from Mir after a short stay to transfer consumables and take on excess waste for return to kerbin. Our scientists like to study the stuff, it's very strange... two hours after undocking, the deorbit burn is performed. Closing up the payload bay. Atmospheric interface. Approaching southern tip of KSC landmass. Hitting KSC was a challenge beacuse of the station's 65 degree inclined orbit, and the fact that Mechjeb wouldn't factor in lift from the wings when I checked it to ensure I was on target. Don't worry, I didn't use any autopilot features, just the statistics readouts. Reentry and a feeble attempt at S turns. I can't believe how not a single part came anywhere near to overheating. Approaching KSC. I was aiming for the large plain south of the space center, beacuse I didn't want to deal with the possibility of the collision bug, nor did I want to try and turn to hit either the KSC or Island Runways. I'm sorry, I just don't have that much faith in this machine. Not yet. Gear down, airbrakes deployed. Stay on target, stay on target... Final approach, drag chute deployed... AND THEN EVERYTHING WENT TO HELL!!! My game crashed, and when I restarted, It was gone. No debris, nothing. So I can't really shouldn't call this a successful mission, but I'm going to anyway. They landed safe, alright? nothing to see here, go home.

You sir, are insane. You used... Ion thrusters... To put that thing in Synchronous Orbit? That's ridiculous. Tell me, how long did the burn take? You show me cool mission, I give you rep. We have deal.

Those spherical tanks are looking nice! Will the new Vostok parachute be a different size than the old one? Because that parachute finds its way into almost every one of my space station designs. They work great to cap off unused attacent points on the node part, and I even use the chute to cover the hatches on other parts. Placing it on the end of the Venera science thing makes a great expirement airlock, or an EVA airlock on Voskhod craft. The Vostok parachute is precious to me.

Maybe I should rephrase what I am trying to say. Voskhod did have some advantages, such as multiple crew and the ability to perform spacewalks without de pressurizing the spacecraft. Gemini, however, had many more capabilities, such as being able to maneuver in orbit, dock, perform duration missions, etc. it's equipment module could be customized for different missions, and equipped with tools for astronauts to perform activities during spacewalks, instead of just floating around. Hell, the Reentry module was even better, because it allowed for controlled reentries, and throughout the program, NASA was able to perfect accurate landings with both manual and computer control. So all in all, Gemini was a better ship to prepare humans for translunar missions and for living and working in space. Heh, sorry, next time I'll try to make my rant more concise.

Well, while the Soviets rushed to rig up a Vostok with thee/two seats and an airlock, NASA developed a special Dpacecraft that could outperform Voskhod. Voskhod flights and Genini flights both began around the same time, so while America was learning orbital rendezvous and docking, Russia was learning how to cram three people into a capsule by putting them on diets. If they had left Voskhod and began work on a real second generation ship like Soyuz/Zond earlier, they may have had a bigger chance at the moon. Unfortunately, they didn't, and their first manned rendezvous and docking happened a mere five months before Apollo 11., while America was able to do theirs in 1966 thanks to the extra time and money they sunk into Gemini. Oh dear, I derailed the thread again, didn't I?

I always use Zond as a Voskhod replacement. Voskhod was a dead end project to begin with, and had no practical advantages to Vostok other than the ability to fit up to three crewmen or to allow spacewalks. One could very easily list the Voskhod missions as a reason for the failure of the Soviet moon program. But yeah, you can use the Soyuz CM. With the new OM IVA, you can use that instead.

How about having animated radiator panels on that engine?

Green is the way to go!

Rigel, Sirius, Betelgeuse, Aquarius, Arcturus, Deneb, Regulus, Draco, Virgo, or Wolf 359, if you're a Star Trek fan. Heh, I've got too much time on my hands. Nothing to do while driving across Arkansas but think of star names and count the miles to the end of my trip.

Regarding the Vostok upper stage, I personally think that it needs a new model, not because it looks ugly, but because it isn't sized correctly compared to Vostok. Orthographics for proof: http://andegraf.com/rockets/soyuz.htm Check the Luna and Vostok rockets, they share the same Block E (?) upper stage. Vostok's appears longer because of the fairing over the engine. Currently, the Tantares upper stage is sized as if that fairing were part of the fuel tank. With that extra length, plus a decoupler and a fairing base, you have an unrealistically long upper stage for Vostok, and it just looks silly.

Not at all! I'd love to see it in the album!

well, the Mk I Lander Can works pretty well as a one person airlock, and the Mk 2 Crew Cabin works well for multiple Kerbal EVAs, and they're both stock. I would take one of those and attack them to another part with crew capacity, and dock that to the station. The other part would be the equipment storage area, and the Lander Can or Crew Cabin would be where the Kerbals exit the station for spacewalks. mostly, airlocks are just for pretend/rolepay. I don't know whether it would be feasible to make an airlock mod.

Add an airlock. I imagine there's nothing more annoying than having to depressurize an entire space station just to go outside. Even more annoying for the Kerbals that have to stay inside and oversee the EVA.

Delivering the second major module to Mir 2: The shuttle is STS-6E by inigma. The module being delivered is the first Universal Docking Module, which features five passive docking ports on the bottom node, one active port at the other end. This particular UDM also features two 1.25 meter APAS ports for mounting truss segments. at the other end of the station is Soyuz TM-1, which carried the first crew to the station a few days prior. it is docked to a small docking compartment carried to the station the same way as Pirs/Poisk were delivered to the ISS. When the station is complete, it should be able to accommodate at least three Soyuz/Progress spacecraft. There will be a fourth place, but I haven't decided whether I should convert that to accept shuttles or keep it as a fourth place for Soyuz to dock.

I've managed to install the Universal Docking Module on Mir 2 with Enterprise, here's a few screenshots. SRBs clear, Enterprise is negative return! Enterprise's payload bay open in orbit, with the UDM and a slightly modified Service Module. Mir 2 is barely visible to the left of the orbiter's cockpit. A photograph taken from the flight deck of the orbiter of Mir 2. Docked to it is Soyuz TM-1, which carried the first crew to the station a few days prior. Close to the station now. The Mission Specialist uses the manipulator arm to grapple the UDM to prepare it for docking. Moving the UDM out of the Payload Bay. It was very difficult to keep the orbiter close enough to the station while trying to run the arm at the same time. Once the payload is in position, the station takes over control and uses its own RCS to maneuver in for the docking. UDM-1 docked to Mir 2 while Space Shuttle Enterprise holds on with its arm. UDM-1 will have to be reoriented before the truss segments can be installed, but that can be done without Enterprise's help. The shuttle moves away from Mir 2 briefly to stow its arm and come in for docking. To be honest, there was no suitable place for Enterprise to dock, since the only APAS ports on the station are the 1.25 meter truss mounting points. The Service Module carries a 0.9375 meter APAS port, so the docking shouldn't have worked, but somehow it did. Please don't hurt me, I didn't realize that the ports were different sizes until after I had docked. The only challenge that remains now is to land the orbiter safely. I doubt I will be able to hit KSC since the mission launched into an inclined orbit. I'm considering aiming for the desert. Lots of flat land, clear weather, and an enormous runway from KerbinSide. Best of all, no KSC collision bug.

Funnily enough, I updated all the aforementioned mods/configs and now it works just fine. I have no idea what the problem was, nor do I know what the solution was, but I don'y have to worry about it anymore.

well, I tried what you recommended, and it worked. The shuttle didn't explode on the pad, so I attempted to launch it. The payload was the first of two Universal Docking Modules for my Mir 2 space station replica. I know I should be using a Buran, but I have yet to see one that I like, so I chose STS-6E instead. Unfortunately, the Solid Rocket Boosters didn't like the idea of me putting a Russian payload on an American shuttle... Enterprise lifts off from KSC carrying a Russian station module due to a special cooperative deal. Flying the mission is a standard four kerbal crew. Roll program complete, begin pitch program. Mir 2 orbits in a 65 degree orbit, so the shuttle is relying on Mechjeb to nail the roll and pitch for efficient and accurate orbital insertion. Say, it looks like we've got a pretty shallow trajectory, KSC. I can see Kerbin out the window! Okay, Booster burnout, now we can correct that bad pitch angle... SRB separa- Holy crap, what the hell was that bang?!? *crew recieves static in their headsets as comms with KSC are knocked out* Damn, those SRBs don't mess around. Alright, we're going to have to pull a SAMPA assisted Abort! Well, 6+ reaction wheels in the cockpit help quite a bit when trying to hold a decent descent attitude. The crew doesn't care about the fact that the mission is a bust and the whole stack is destroyed. As long as they see blue and not green outside of the windows, it's all good. SAMPA module deployed, brace for impact! All that is left of Enterprise is back in the water with all four crew, thanks to the skill and heroism of its commander, whose name I cannot remember. Now they get to wait in the flooded cockpit for a few hours until recovery ships arrive. I'm still not sure whether the boosters collided with the ET or wings due to the shallow pitch, or if the separatrons melted the ET and blew apart the stack. Either way, I'll try it again tomorrow and sort this out. By now, the engineers have rebuilt Enterprise so many times that they can have it ready by 10 am tomorrow. I cannot thank you enough, inigma, for deciding to add that emergency parachute. Four Kerbals owe their lives to it.

Got a bug for you. The large Mir panels behave erratically with symmetry. The master panel is fine, but any copies made with symmetry are smaller. The master panel is on the right, and a copy placed with mirror symmetry is on the left. As you can see, the left panel is smaller. I can't rescale the left panel, because the Tweakscale config still refuses to work for me. I was able to get the module ready for launch by placing each panel separately, but it will that will be harder to do when using more than two panels.