nsgallup

Up and away Dropping the boosters Circularization Transferring to Eve Goodbye Kerbin Adjusting inclination Payload fairing detaches Preparing for atmospheric entry Goodbye transfer stage Things are getting hot Very hot Falling through the clouds A massive heat kraken appeared! For some reason if I put too many parachutes on a part it will sometime heat glitch, so I had to turn off heat damage for this part of the mission The parachutes are ejected It's a 7km automated drive across the valley to the Habitat module Now that the parachutes are gone, the heat kraken has disappeared Bob spots the rover through the window port, it has a top speed of just over 20m/s The rover parks next to the module, Bob will use it in the near future to collect more surface samples

Dropping external fuel tanks Capture burn After lining everything up, Bob detaches the transfer stage and detaches the lander from the transfer stage, multiple heatshields had to be used since a larger single shield has not been researched yet Bob hopes the trajectory is right, he has no way to maneuver at this point Atmospheric entry begins Bob is a little disconcerted with the view of the transfer stage exploding Entering the thick clouds The navigation computer shows a good trajectory The parachutes deploy and the heat shield is jettisoned Landing gear down Bob is ready to science the science out of this planet! It is over 3km to the Habitation unit, the EVA suit barely keeps the heat in check, Bob grabs a sample from this huge boulder Made it! Bob puts a flag down here for good measure, declaring it Base Camp Entering the module Bob begins scientific study in the lab, while awaiting the next component of the Venera program which was launched in tandem with the lander and is only hours away..

We need bigger rockets This ship is a lagfest Detaching the first stage Second stage detachment Circularization This is a big rocket.. we are sending Bob by the way Eve transfer burn

The EAV (Eve Ascent Vehicle)

Booster separation Ascension Fairing separation Circularizing Burning for Eve Closing on Eve Entering the atmosphere Drogue deployment All chutes have been deployed, the module automatically starts gathering data from the atmosphere After some timewarping for better lighting, the Venera Habitat & Research Module has landed in a valley with an altitude of about 3.5km above sea level, it awaits a crew

Time for a high res scan of Eve The probe begins radar mapping Meanwhile back at KSC the first human spacecraft element of the Venera program is launched, though without an occupant Booster separation Fairing separation, the vessel begins its transfer to Eve Meanwhile the mapping has been completed and an ideal landing site selected thanks to the new high res scan, the probe burns for Gilly Map of Eve More scanning commences A slightly less boring map of Gilly, the probe still has plenty of fuel so it leaves Gilly influence and prepares to transfer back to Kerbin Meanwhile the KRV (Kerbin return vehicle) has been captured into Eve orbit, the orbit is still pretty eccentric, but there is no point circularizing because it will probably have to make inclination changes later anyways The mapping probe intercepts Mun and prepares for mapping Capture burn Cool! (Yes I went to the moon again but didn't bother reporting cause it was just a mundane science grind mission) To Minmus! Minmus capture burn Minmus map completed Transmitting collected data Launch of the next Venera program mission

Things are going great at the R&D department

Not yet XD This is the beginning of the big project I told you about, after that is complete KSC has decided to make an Urlum Mission their top priority!

A new mapping probe is on its way to its destination

What hues are you talking about? There are a number of visual mods I have installed and I think I listed them all in the OP. - - - Updated - - - Indeed I did see that location, and it is a potential landing site for future missions Also my favourite planet IRL is Mars followed by Saturn, and my favourite moon is Titan followed by Europa... least favourite planet is probably Mercury

NASA has a lot of things planned in the next 20 years... it will be interesting to see which ones actually get funded - - - Updated - - - You must have missed my Dres mission, I do enjoy Dres. I had a pretty big science station there in my previous save... I may yet return in this save. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/137222-A-Stockalike-Career-Playthrough-with-tons-of-pictures-%28Sarnus-Cassini-Orbiter-Carl-Sagan%29?p=2263934&viewfull=1#post2263934

After that long and exhaustive mission, and before the next even longer and more exhaustive mission, all the big name astronauts were sent on a quick Mun flyby to test out some new equipment, foremost of which was the Taurus HCV command pod. Launch! Booster separation Up we go Lots of ocean The upper lifting stage kicks in Fairing separation Hey Bill! Stop taking pictures of Kerbin and take a picture of me! The Orion orbital stage powers up for a transfer to Mun Mun Adjusting orbit to make for an easy return to Kerbin The crew says goodbye to Mun Doesn't Kerbin looks so tiny! - Val.. "hey that reminds me!" exclaims Bob Bob puts a tape into the speaker system.. "Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out---" "This is boring! Where are the snacks!" -Jeb Bob fumes in the corner for the rest of the flight Re-entry The Retro-rocket test over did it a little And the pod sunk all the way to the bottom of the ocean.. While they wait for KSC to figure out how to get them, Bill writes a note to remind the engineering team to add flotation devices (the pod is the black speck in the center of the photo) Mission completed! Here is the whole Sagan speech from his amazing book Pale Blue Dot, one of my favorite quotes from anyone ever

I haven't planned one yet.. is it your favorite planet or something? I've got something real big planned for the next few missions, but after that maybe a Urlum probe? Also, Uranus is a awesome planet, I wish NASA would do more exploration of it and it's moons. - - - Updated - - - System reboot initiated... . . . . . . System Check . . . . Critical systems functional . . . Engine failure detected Structural failure detected Radar dish failure detected . . . . System reboot complete Cassini landed on its side, but a little coaxing with the reaction wheels got it facing antenna up Cassini records surface data and transmits to Kerbin, then powers down into hibernation mode.. probably will never be woken Mission complete!

Haha, I stand corrected

Kerbol and Sarnus fade out of view partway through the upper atmosphere The atmosphere is extremely thick, drag turned the craft around, luckily the upper atmosphere slowed the craft enough to avoid any mach effects. Visibility is low Speed is down to 40m/s thanks to the low gravity and dense atmosphere The surface comes into view Speed is down to 25m/s, the nuclear engine is out of fuel and would be useless anyways in the high pressure environment Impact velocity was 20m/s .........Suspenseful Static!

Damnit You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to lajoswinkler again.

The radar map of hale was extremely bland, time to transfer to Ovok Ovok "Smooth surface" says the description This one took a very long time to map due to low rotation speed, and a slow orbital speed This map was also kinda boring, maybe a high res scan? Cassini did pick up an anomaly Stage separation Transit to Eeloo Eeloo Capture burn Great view Fascinating Burning for Slate Slate.. what a piece of work this moon is Slate is massive, which means higher orbital speeds and more delta V requirement to maneuver Those are some big mountain ranges The optimal scanning range is quite high - - - Updated - - - Another interesting radar scan and another anomaly, these will be high priority targets for future landers Burning for Tekto, Cassini is very low on fuel so this transfer will be tight. Tekto has a inclined orbit, making for great views of Sarnus The crown jewel of the Sarnus system, Cassini was originally planned to bring a Huygens lander module, but the mission was slated to go ahead before the lander was developed sufficiently. Kerbals cannot help but identify with the extremely green moon Capture burn This just may be my favourite moon in the game Radar scanning commences, KSC wonders what topography lies under the blanket of clouds Amazing! The scan reveals lakes and active geology Cassini still has 50m/s of Delta V, KSC decides to try the Huygens maneuver with the whole probe.. nothing to lose at this point as the mission goals have been accomplished

Sarnus slowly comes into view The rings and the larger moons come into view Cassini passes by Tekto as it dives towards Sarnus Eeloo and Slate Sarnus is glorious Capture burn Making adjustments to intercept Hale, the innermost moon. Nearly the entire inner solar system is in view Passing by Ovok More adjustments, Hale has an extremely small SOI Hale, one big asteroid more like

Behold, the Titan III Heavy Lifter Liftoff Booster separation, these require retro-rockets to push them away from the main body A very long rocket Upper stage kicks in Fairing separation, circularization complete Transfer burn to Sarnus

A golden space tater

As part of the long term planning for the agency, a radar mapping satellite was commissioned to begin landing zone reconnaissance on Eve under the Venera Eve Exploration program Liftoff Booster separation It's a small payload so the rocket doesn't have to be very big Going for a polar orbit in order to get a scan of Kerbin during the same mission Stage detach The probe deploys it's solar panel and begins scanning Lots of time warp Scan complete.. looks like some advanced aliens graffitied the ocean floor in some long past age Burning for Eve What secrets lay under the heavy cloud cover? Aurora Scanning commences The radar scan was pretty washed out, the biome map seems to be the clearest idea of what the topography looks like, KSC considers sending another probe for a high res radar scan Plenty of fuel left so why not transfer to Gilly Setting up a polar orbit Scanning, and transmitting data This data doesn't seem very useful.. In conclusion, a higher resolution scan of Eve is necessary to locate an ideal landing site for a manned mission that is in the works, pending experimental engine development.

Oh man.. There are so many I'll see if I can list them all just by looking at my gamedata folder - - - Updated - - - Active texture management The RTG, and LANTR engines from atomic age Astronomers Visual Pack Crowd sourced science Distant object enhancement Kerbal engineer Hyperedit (for fixing glitches, and running "simulation" tests) Community Tech Tree KerboKatz automatically adjusting landing legs KSPX MkIV SpacePlane Parts Mechjeb Modular Rocket Systems Multiports All of the near future packs Outer Planets Mod with EVE configs Realplume RLA stockalike Taurus HCV ScanSat Space Y and Space Y expanded Station Parts Expansion Trans-Keptunian Tweak Scale (I try not to use this one too much) Kerbal Alarm Clock I think that covers it - - - Updated - - - A teaser from an upcoming mission

I have just detected two anomolies in the sarnus system with my cassini orbiter, more investigation is in order! Will there be easter eggs in the Neidon system?

That long?? Brutal For me it wouldn't matter too much since i don't care about time, but I think your kerbals wouldn't appreciate another few years added to their journey

Moho landing and return.. no mechjeb