GarrisonChisholm

Mornings with Coffee & Bees are going to be such a treat. LOL

Examining the minutes from your prior report, doing some period research I am not too sure Comrade Glushko would be happy with Comrade Bee's choice of smokes- "Luckies Pay More"??? What is this frivolous spending! Comrade Glushko grew up smoking wheat chaff while living in a shoe-box in the middle of the road!

Agreed. I put that movie on when JEJ died, thinking to myself; "Its late, I'll just watch until it slows down or there isn't a cool part coming up", and I went to bed at 2am 'cause I never stopped it. <3

This made me LAUGH! I am just picturing the singing scene from Hunt for Red October Great stuff, entertaining and fun. ^.^

While the next Duna window approaches the Hangar Team spends time integrating an experimental jet engine into a custom airframe. The USC (Ultra Secret Craft of course) HIgh Bi-bYpass AFTerburning turbojet with low-profile drop-tanks managed Mach 3 supercruise at 35,000 feet and a high economy supercruise of Mach 2.3 at 26,000 feet, demonstrating promise for the engine configuration. It is estimated the economy cruise might allow for the 6,400km circumnavigation range, though that will be left for future tests to determine. (I have long loathed aircraft trailing afterburner flames across the sky, however a Whiplash at 20.5% thrust does not demonstrate afterburner so I've been playing with this combo) At the same time a polar science expedition was attempted, & though the new aircraft shows phenomenal range with a 9 hour endurance, the pilot's endurance on this day could not match it so the mission will be re-flown after Albatros departs. Which brings us to the main efforts of the KSC, loading Albatros with consumables. Two missions were sent up with liquid hydrogen, supplies, fertilizer, and monopropellant- - followed by the Duna Tank Assembly. The link-up was successful, with the only lack being 800 units of fertilizer which would be added to the DUAL launch with the crew. In addition however, also added to the DUAL craft would be a small radially mounted radiator which hopefully would be attached to the DUNA Complex. Extended monitoring indicated that the DUNA base was accumulating damage from dunaquakes, so the mission plan would need to account for a return to orbit after a brief stay if repairs could not be executed. (I have learned that scene loading does not like Ground Tethers, as each landing gear now has over 100% damage and the main storage battery is leaking >.< )

After the Muna-23 debacle Mina-1 became the 24th mission intended to visit "local body" sites. The crew now had over 100 days of supplies, ensuring that for Kerbin-moon missions they'd no longer need to worry about duration. Mina-23 landed at Minmus' northern pole and returned safely, after plans to visit 2 other biomes on this one flight were cancelled when unexplained instrumentation readings confounded the first attempt. After a few months with mostly work by the Hangar team it was finally time to attempt to land the Duna Base. First the Transit Assembly braked into an 80 by 1000km orbit. Then an Apoapsis RCS burn of just 27m/s was planned that would bring the Base Complex down near Albatros III's landing objective, deep in the crux of the Eastern Canyon. As the Base tore through the atmosphere it began to experience alignment anomalies that had not happened during simulations in the KRASH system, and so as the complex started to tumble the parachutes were fired early, which swiftly righted the descent. The Rover was successfully jettisoned and also deployed its chutes, descending near the complex. Systems were checked and it was discovered there were two points of damage after landing, firstly to the aft Power Storage battery. This had happened in simulations and was found to be repairable, however a few minutes of monitoring did not indicate active power loss. When the crew arrived this could hopefully be repaired. The second point was indicated to be to a Service Bay, though actual damage could not be identified. The rover was cautiously steered over to the complex and ground control would watch over both assets through the coming months as service flights to prepare Albatros for its return would commence in earnest.

Thank you! There's some shots that are just too good to pass up. This game is beautiful, especially if you allow yourself to appreciate magnitude of Kerbalkind's experience.

Your formatting is different on its own which makes it interesting, & the allusions to 1950s advertisements are a fun touch. Its much more interesting than my format, which is basically a travelogue. 5 Stars!

While KASA awaited Phoenix-Duna's return, a few new aircraft were taken through development by the aerospace team, and another MUNA mission was launched- though this one to Minmus. Muna-23 made it to orbit and waited four orbits for a transfer window. Unfortunately Mission Control was perplexed that despite many previous visits it could not find any Minmus transfer that was less than 12 days, which even when added to SKANK time (Some Kerbals Absolutely Need snacKs) left little margin for an unforeseen glitch. So, embarrassingly, Muna-23 was brought home and the VAB rolled up its sleeves to produce a MINA craft so that supplies would never be a problem again for Minmus excursions. A move which was likely a couple decades overdue. However after almost 300 days, Kerbin was in sight for the Phoenix crew. They entered a not-quite circular orbit and after a few orbits returned to welcome seas. A fortnight later the Duna Base was sent on its way- Which according to simulations was perfectly capable of reaching the surface successfully. With luck it would, and then the next stage of Duna exploration could continue.

I didn't expect it, but "Pupa" on the side of a rocket like that doesn't look goofy at all.

Maybe I'm the last one to know about this, but there might be some out there who also didn't; if you want some epic background for that first Mun mission, here you go- https://apolloinrealtime.org/11/ just click on either of the two buttons, and then revel in all the options you have as to which channels to listen too for TEN STRAIGHT DAYS of lunar-landing audio. I apologize to everyone's partners and family.

Roughly 500 days later Valentina and Ronble departed for home. Their stay had brought in over a million funds thanks to two Orbital Station contracts, and the Sentinel in place inside Kerbin's orbit had nearly immediately paid dividends as well. With a flood of new money available new projects were able to be initiated. For starters scientists were screaming for more exploration of Laythe's shockingly thriving biomes, so the Laythe Life Orbiter and two landers (to follow in a future transfer window) were ordered and the orbiter launched on its way. Additionally it was pointed out that though Eve enjoyed 10 active landers on its surface none of them were in its southern hemisphere, so an additional probe was ordered for Eve. Then the remaining units needed for the next Albatros launch were ordered and stored, and lastly two Muna craft were requisitioned for a landing on Minmus and at a field science location near Mun's south pole. Muna 21 followed the LLO in the launch sequence, carrying Merny (a test pilot), Ducas (a Kerbin Sciences engineer) and Debbal (a hydrosphere researcher) to Mun. A landing at the south pole of Mun had never been attempted and provided a unique panorama on the way down, though Merny was preoccupied by the rather alarming terrain they were approaching. As Muna 21 came lower and lower the landing plot began to indicate they were coming down on a harsh slope, and as it looked more and more like it was greater than 45 degrees the Flight Director began pulverizing the clicker on his pen, and finally at nearly the last moment he called an abort. Merny disengaged the landing guidance and initiated a full-power burn that reversed their descent at just 200 meters. The crew managed to return safely to Kerbin as a probe was ordered into priority construction and swiftly dispatched. It aimed for the same site and indeed landed on a slope, but managed to maintain its purchase, so with clear maps of the environment the next Muna was appropriated and the crew sent back to the same locale. The lander descended lower and lower and Merny was only alarmed by everything he saw outside the cabin, but he'd been told "the Probe managed it so you can too!" Almost absurdly slowly he balanced the controls until they all felt the compression of one leg of the lander, followed by the desperate hiss of the RCS as the ship fought gravity, though it was quickly cut off by Debbal's shriek. Debbal leapt from her chair and rattled down the access tunnel, stepping out through the airlock as fast as it would seal. "Wow, amazing! We're only 20 meters from the probe!" she gleefully blasted through everyone's ears back at Mission Control. She barely noticed the precarious footing as she bounded up to it, planted the flag, and began to extract the data from the probe. It had all the same instrumentation as they carried on the Muna other than their own observations, so after stowing the data recordings and taking a couple close-up pictures of the probe she turned back to their lander with a hugely satisfied grin; and then... Debbal eyed the vast chasm that lay just 20 meters down the slope in the other direction. She noted the sputtering RCS at the top of the lander, and the pebbles and gravel persistently pattering down to bounce over the edge. Her perspective suddenly shifted, she began to edge back to the lander as carefully as Santa Klaus creeping through a room of sleeping toddlers and dobermans. She stepped inside, and the door may have been latched for a full half second before she was crushed to the bottom of the airlock by desperate acceleration. But they cleared the nearby mountains by at least 200 meters and proceeded to orbit to return to their home. As they were beginning their re-entry at dusk over the Great Crater Debbal started telling everyone they would need to go back because her field notes didn't match the papers she'd written about water ice on Mun, but Merny, Ducas, and everyone at Mission Control didn't care, that contract would be torn up as soon as a new pot of coffee could be brewed. Too many chances- never again! (the contract called for Farside Basin at the waypoint, but all there was was Poles and Polar Lowlands Scientists!)

Nearly 300 days later, and with no course-corrections required, Phoenix arrived at Duna. A two-step orbit burn was planned which would again bring a Kerbal crew past Ike for additional science. A valuable contract for an orbital station was completed as Valentina and Ronble settled in for the familiar year-and-a-half of observations. While they conducted their work, the next stage of Duna explorations was in process as the Duna Base was sent into orbit of Kerbin. The base would provide support for the next landing crew and as well a rover, plus other amenities which would make a prolonged science stay possible. The Base would use the same transfer window to depart for Duna as the Phoenix crew would use to return.

What a fun take on a career game- looking forward to this.

Just because I was away for a long while, does this exist yet? Heliopause science would be so very cool.

Now that the crew was returned safely the Phoenix that was rush-built for emergency standby was no longer needed, so with some light modification it was readied for its own mission to Duna. There were 3 contracts that could be fulfilled and the work done to ready Phoenix would be preserved, so at the next Duna window it would be sent with Valentina and Ronble. In the meantime two more Muna missions were dispatched, numbers 19 & 20, as there was still science to gather as well as improvements to be made to the now aging design. The TLI engines were removed (still using early down-rated LTV-45s) and a single motor identical to the Phoenix return stage used instead for the MUNA 20 craft. Of other note, a very large asteroid was detected on a Kerbin impact trajectory, inconveniently almost exactly opposite the KSC, so a team was dispatched to observe its impact. It detonated about 23 km up indicating it was an icy conglomerate, so a second team was sent to monitor the devastation site- and again. ...and again. 4 aircraft were sent with scientists and none of them were able to reach the site. Unfortunately nearly all of the high-altitude research and ex-military aircraft possessed by the Program were essentially thoroughbreds, designed to be nursed to high altitude for their near-hypersonic eastward circumnavigations, and none of them could manage a simple "just go this way" flight without running out of fuel. Clearly a new aircraft would need to be added to the inventory in the future. The impact however did finally prompt the construction and launch of a Sentinel system, which was placed on an older LB Booster and sent on a trajectory for a near-Eve orbit. Finally the Duna window arrived- -and as Valentina and Ronble sailed on their interplanetary course, looking out the window they could glimpse the other planet they had visited. They would be the first Kerbals to circle 2 worlds beyond their home.

6 years and 400 days after they departed the crew of Albatros III returned home, to the embarrassment of some originally panicked personnel in Mission Control with not only over 1/3 of its consumable life support capacity remaining, but enough fuel to circularize their orbit at its intended 120km. Icarus was immediately launched to retrieve them to a lower orbit... ...and Kondor followed to bring home Jebcas and Tansted. Both Icarus and Kondor returned successfully, though unfortunately at night, and all were returned to KSC with great accolades. Now it was time to finally exhale, and after a short while begin to plan Albatros III.

Albatros was less than five minutes away from its correction burn when the Flight Director called a no-go abort. They had two figures for available Dv, but they were fairly certain the larger was correct. The burn would have brought them home within a year, however it would have left them only approximately 100 m/s for finding a stable orbit. This of course implied that aero-braking would be needed which opened a host of questions; how much damage would be taken, would orbit be guaranteed, would the orbit be guaranteed to not intersect Mun? It was this last that caused the scrub. It just couldn't be assured safely. Re-examining the fertilizer stores it seemed highly probable that 3 years of active life support remained onboard, and so a more cautious burn was planned that would bring them home in less than 1300 days, and with fuel to spare for a proper orbital burn. This would also save the rescue Phoenix mission from needing to be launched, though it would be completed and rolled to the pad for the duration of the emergency. A few deep breaths and sober thought had hopefully determined the most prudent return for the crew.

Just a note on how this is progressing- Something changed in a recent mod update and now my game looks pretty ugly in atmospheres. I don't add new mods once I start a game, but I do update everything if new versions become available on CKAN. I notice that after the last update Kerbin in the splash-screen is replaced by a random planet, but also when I load the Space Center the sky and water looks bad, and it also shows in tracking station views. I went through my mod-list and there's nothing there that shouldn't be there, so at the moment I am just waiting for an update to fix this as I surely can't be the only one who has had this happen.

I was away for a good 6 years and I felt the same having just re-connected a couple months ago. We need a KSP Forum Protocol "break-glass-in-case-of-emergency" Alternate of some kind!

Are we back?!?

A dark pall hung over Mission Control. Everyone had felt their blood sink and their fingers go cold when the shock understanding had washed over them. Albatros had plotted its course home with the DUAL lander still attached. ...and the computer memory had not been dumped. The crew's burn home had been entirely in error, and their mid-course Kerbin encounter burn had left them on a path mysteriously no-where near a Kerbin encounter. The crew had figured this out for themselves a few minutes before Mission Control, though there was nothing to do but wait for instructions. The ship's supplies were still ample, and their hydroponics would continue producing food and recycling, but no-one believed it would last another year and a half to find a reasonable encounter. An all night meeting was called. The Icarus on Pad B could collect them from orbit, or orbit Mun and return, but it did not have the capacity to match an interplanetary fly-by speed and then return to Kerbin. In fact it wasn't clear if a vessel could at all assembled from scratch. Wernher was ordered to dust off the plans for Phoenix and get another into production; at least then if a rendezvous was made they would have vastly amplified resources should another solar orbit be required. Considering fitting out and rolling out might take a hundred days on its own a fortune in overtime bills were suddenly demanded to get the vehicle constructed in under 90 days. Suddenly nothing else mattered at KSP.

Yes, everything is fine; why do you ask?

Thank you! I always hate having issues boarding so always try to give myself an airlock down low, and its just not necessary to LOR for a landing.

Muna 18 fell into the gravity well of Mun. There would be only stray science to collect from orbit, but due to the need for a high apoapsis burn to reach the far northern latitude of the lander a polar EVA was able to produce some new findings. The landing was a near panic as, without a pilot on board, warnings started flashing that the landing zone was obstructed. However Engineer Commander Ducas Kerman looked at the readings and said "what do you mean, there's a half-meter either side to spare," and simply hit the Override button. With setting down precisely inside the test zone the readings were run- ...and the project scientists back at the KSC immediately asked for an additional reading at a 3rd site. This *could* conceivably be accomplished with their ample fuel reserves, however the new test zone was just falling into shadow and they could not be sure of finding level terrain without sending a probe. It was resolved that yet a 3rd mission would need to be sent for this project, now expiring in less than a year and a half. So the two rockets were ordered as Muna 18 safely launched and set on its return course. Now re-entry was a bit more exciting than normal. The lander was also designed for recovery, but thanks to a decision to ensure re-entry occurred under daylight the return would not include its usual 500 m/s retardation burn, and the crew was rather alarmed at the fireworks and blazing plasma that triggered just meters away as the lander fuel tank exploded- But at last with their escorting squadron of blazing fragments the craft slowed and recovered, near the southern end of Crater Bay. Mission accomplished, for now.