Hotaru

Whatever it's called, I do think this is a good idea. When contracts ask for a satellite in stationary orbit, they generally want it to orbit over some specific point on the surface--it would be very helpful to have a (preferably targetable) marker on the contract orbit showing the point on the orbit directly above that spot.

My general rule for this save is to stick to one major kermanned mission at a time (having several going at once got confusing fast in my last career), but life in the Kerbin system goes on while the crew of Bravado 2 are waiting for the return window, and probe launches continue as well. Janbe in the cockpit of the H-202 spaceplane in Kerbin orbit. Probe launches and arrivals. H-202: the Space Program's first SSTO, and some anomaly hunting. Uffish, Brillig, and Sanity: new launch vehicles and ore prospecting. Exploration of the Mun and Minmus.

I picture my version of Kerbin divided into something like nation-states, but really only for logistical purposes and they pretty much all have amicable relations. There might be disagreements on occasion but actual warfare is something that just sort of isn't done. But only one of the nations had the resources and/or motivation to launch a space program, which is (my mentally retconned reason) why the space program in my Mission Report thread is called Hotaru Space Program rather than Kerbal Space Program. Personally I've just never liked the idea of Kerbals killing each other. I've messed around with military stuff in KSP before, but when I've done so I've always used a mod like Human Colored Faces and given them human names.

What I meant about mods was what mods would classify an entry as "modded" and what ones can be used and have the entry still count as "stock." Honestly I'm not sure whether I'd use a stock or modded install for this challenge anyway--some of the, ah, specific restrictions for certain missions pretty much rule out doing the challenge in my main career save, so if I did it I'd probably start a new sandbox save specifically for it--I'm mostly just curious. If I were in charge the rule would be "if the mission can be duplicated with the same craft in a completely mod-free install, it counts as stock," but in practice the definition of "modded" seems to vary from challenge to challenge.

Couple questions: This thing has to fit the definition of a Space Shuttle but it doesn't actually have to look anything like the real one, right? Can it have air-breathing engines for landing? (At least one of the ones in the OP appears to have them.) For the asteroid return mission--does the asteroid have to land with the shuttle? I ask because, although cool, that makes less than no sense from an engineering point of view--why not just use the shuttle to deploy a dedicated deorbiter module, attach it to the asteroid, and then land on its own. What mods count as modded?

I love the idea of a thread to keep track of classic-but-abandoned challenges (like Eve Rocks, which I'd love to see revived), but to be honest I have mixed feelings about a thread claiming to keep track of the "best" current challenges. Seems like what could happen is any challenge that doesn't get listed here will be doomed to be ignored. I could be wrong, just something to think about.

Um, just for the record I was joking about it having warp drive. I was just trying to point out that whether or not the Star Trek Enterprise could land has no real bearing on whether your one could.

If Kuzzter is following Star Trek canon, then it's safe to assume the Enterprise is capable of Warp 9 and armed with photon torpedoes.

This is the point where things should start to get more interesting. I've been playing KSP since 0.90 (end of 2014), and since then I've explored the Kerbin system pretty thoroughly, but beyond Kerbin's sphere of influence I have a lot less experience. I've visited Duna, Ike, Gilly, and Moho with Kerbals only a couple times each, most everywhere else only once, and I've never landed on Tylo or Eeloo at all. From here on out the H. S. P. is going further and further into unknown territory. Bravado 2 arriving in the Duna system. Bravado 2: first Kermen on Duna.

I think the mod you're after is Speed Unit Changer. Doesn't touch mass, force, or temperature, unfortunately, but can change altitudes and speeds to a variety of different units. Good for people like me who think about space speeds in meters per second, car speeds in miles per hour, and plane speeds in knots.

It's definitely got enough fuel to orbit and return with the lander. If it turns out the orbiter by itself doesn't have enough to get back, the crew can either cancel the landing and use the lander's fuel to get home, or land anyway and wait in Duna orbit for an Aqualung to be sent out from Kerbin at the next window.

Bravado 2 underway. Bravado 2: first kermanned mission to Duna. Space station ops and Munar exploration. Sagacity 4 and 5: probes to Vall and Moho.

It might be that Kerbal achievements are "backwards" for Kerbin since you start there, so a flyby would be a "higher" achievement than orbit in the same way orbit is, presumably, worth more than a landing on Kerbin. That's just a guess though.

Finally starting to get close to the late game, which is the part I'm really looking forward to. I always think of the line between mid and late game as the first kermanned landing on Duna, and that should happen within a couple more updates (the window is coming up). This also means I'm getting to the point where I'm able to start having some more fun with the designs; whereas the early spacecraft were mostly just bare-bones functional, the next generation of spacecraft are aiming to be at least a little bit stylish as well. Boring stuff: TL;DR: Tech tree done. Space station Persistence in Munar orbit with Defiance 3 and Bravado LC-1 docked. Persistence: a new kind of space station. Defiance 3, first mission to station Persistence. Bravado LC-1: prototype Duna lander.

Same here, landing within a few kilometers of a target is pretty easy, and landing within a few dozen meters is perfectly doable. In general even my first Mun landing tries to aim for someplace that looks flat, and every landing after that I'm aiming to hit a new biome or an anomaly. Fortunately (and possibly intentionally) the Mun and Minmus do have some biomes that are plainly visible from orbit--the large craters and flats--but I still agree it would be nice to get biome scanning abilities earlier in career mode, especially for pinpointing landing sites in smaller biomes like Canyons or Midland Craters, and for telling Highlands, Midlands, and Lowlands apart.

I believe it's a busted flagpole, as seen in this video.

Thanks! I was astounded how smoothly everything worked on the first try, especially the first drop test. I've done the mini-shuttle thing before but honestly it looks like Defiance is going to be my first really useful engine mini-shuttle. I'm especially happy with how stable it is through reentry--as opposed to Valor, where reentry was a constant battle to keep it from flipping over. SVE.

Boring stuff: Uninstalled SVT again. Also bought the "Leadership Initiative" strategy at 100% commitment. I'm only marginally paying attention to contract goals anyway, so between that and converting 100% of science to funds once I've finished the tech tree it'll be nice to have regular operations be my primary source of income. The fourth kerbonaut class with the prototype Defiance six-kerman shuttle. Left to right, top row: Eiliel, Janbe, and Virlina (pilots). Bottom row: Kathelyn, Addan, Valcee (scientists), Rotine, Traissa, and Paty (engineers). Circumspection 5 at Eve, Sagacity 3 at Eeloo. Intrepidity 20 and 20B: all in all, this was probably inevitable. Project Defiance test series: six-kerman shuttlepod. Space station ops.

Thanks! Yeah, I remembered seeing that configuration in somebody's signature banner, but it isn't working anymore which is why I hadn't seen it in a while and couldn't place whose it originally was. This post has a link to the design I ripped off was inspired by for that lander. Apparently the landing gear retracting inside the fairing wasn't my idea either, although that might just be convergent evolution. Other than resizing them, no. Just visual mods and GEM FX (cf. @Andem's response on the previous page to when I asked basically the same question). Although they'll get slightly less beautiful in the next update cause I've decided to punt on SVT again. It looks spectacular but cuts my framerate in half.

@StupidAndy I take clipping on a case-by-case basis, but in general I'm fine using it with structural parts (like adapters) that are mostly empty space anyway. Boring stuff: TL;DR: SVT is back! Space station Endurance 1 in orbit of Minmus. Bravado 1 return to Kerbin. Probes. Space station ops.

As much as I'd love to take credit for this configuration (including the side-mounted Terriers), I'm pretty sure I saw it someplace on the forums before. Damn if I can remember whose idea it was originally though. PS. It's also worth pointing out it's actually a six-seater. There's a Hitchhiker inside the Kerbodyne adapter. (That part was my idea.)

Rotate tool with snap on. Each one is rotated one "click" more than the one before it. Then turn snap off and carefully adjust them with the translate tool so they line up. Takes a little finesse but not too hard once you figure it out. (At least that's the way I do it. If somebody else knows a better way I'd be curious to hear it.)

Not enough to be a problem. It only moves the center-of-mass up maybe a couple inches.

@NotAgain Thanks! I will say one thing I was glad I had done was set my science instruments to action groups. Trying to right-click all of them while zipping past the target at 5km/sec would not have been fun. Also, I'm not sure but I believe launching later in the window (or more precisely aiming for an later arrival at Eve) is better: Bravado 1 launched in the middle of the window and had to swing way out near the orbit of Duna to let Kerbin catch up to it. @RobFalcon Honestly I just warp a bit between missions, and try not to get obsessive about having to launch something at every window. Setting KAC alarms to keep track of space station expeditions also seems to help with pacing. @StupidAndy The version of KCT on SpaceDock isn't updated for 1.2 but there is a beta version. This post in the dev thread links to a full download. I haven't tried it myself so I can't say if it works or is glitchy or whatever. @EvilEmotaku Yeah, I was just going to stick a dish on the side of it but then I said to myself, "You know, it'd look better if it were on sideways, like the deployable ones" and then I did that and said, "You know what would look even cooler? If it had two little side dishes so it looked like the AE-35 from 2001" and then I did that and only later realized how annoying it would be to actually get the thing into space. But it looks nifty so totally worth it. Melxie with the prototype Bravado Duna lander. (Actual update probably later today, not enough has happened yet since the last one cause I got sidetracked screwing around in the VAB working on advanced concept development.)

Trust me, I'm an engineer!