Josh IN SPACE

Just a warning shot from the people of Vega. We would best take care not to go anywhere near the system, or else start a conflict with these people.

Cutest countdown I've ever seen. I also learned about quazi-zenith orbits today. Far out.

For the first time on the Mun. WE. HAVE. LANDING. It took every ounce of fuel and RCS I had, and it even lost the engine on landing, causing me to make some quick corrections to the spinning craft to bring it down firm on it's legs, but they made it! Don't they look so happy with their new permanent life on the Mun? A little backstory. I decided I would detach the command module from the Munar lander right after rescuing a stranded kerbal in Mun orbit (the first attempt at this resulted in me going the opposite direction as the orbit the kerbal was going, resulting in me doing this long-winded journey back to Kerbin so I could try again because I was dumb. On the next attempt I was able to save the kerbal and continue onward for the landing with her at my side. I figured she went out there to land on the Mun, so I'd help her complete her goals and mine. A little irony for any of you X-Men fans, if you'll notice above: The kerbal I rescued is named Jean. Quasi-spoiler: I just finished docking a fueling vessel with the command module now, and plan to send a rescue Mun lander for the two kerbals to get into to meet up with the command module and then head on home. Now if I can just recruit a kerbal for the rescue mission named Scott... I'm a bit late to this post by about a month, but yeah, getting better at using RCS has definitely helped me since then. As for rendezvous, I'm pretty good at it since all of the Kerbin rescue missions I've been doing to build my roster (except for my colossal goof in the Mun rescue detailed above). Except they always turn out to be pilots when I want scientists...

I docked for the first time. Meeting up took me about 15 minutes. Docking probably took over an hour. It was quite an ordeal. Note the escape system on the main station. I wasn't taking any chances on the flight but then didn't really need it.

More like the last week or so...but... When last we heard from JASA (Josh's AeroSpace Administration), his intrepid rover perform almost flawlessly on it's maiden Kerbin voyage. Almost perfect was good enough, so it was time for the BIG time! Mun rover, here we go! And a what a great crater to start off in. Mundog-1 was faced with some decisions upon landing. He could use RCS to gently float down from the crater rim...or he could punch it and drive off the rim for maximum speed and cool factor...YEEEEHAWWWWW He got some BIG airtime and promptly lost the RCS tank after a few "landings." It was making him top-heavy anyway. Later, Mundog-2 would explore Farside Crater for temperature fluctuations. Little did I know these kinds of missions involve multiple locations that don't reveal themselves until after you complete one. I was initially exploring using my lander, but ran out of fuel for the hops two fluctuations in. Thus, Mundog-2 was sent in to run circles around the lander and complete the mission. Next up was a two-for-one mission. The first involved putting a satellite into a far equatorial orbit of Kerbin, out past Mun. The other involved new temperature fluctuations on the Mun, far from the previous two rovers. Team Archie was game! The flight was business as usual, and the two teammates parted ways for their own respective missions. But alas, all was not as well as it seemed. I'm made a rookie miscalculation. I believed I could use a free return trajectory to slingshot myself from the far side of the Mun into the distant equatorial orbit of Kerbin. What I didn't realize was that the free return trajectory would like to STAY a free return trajectory. I had to reverse the orbit completely and was then able to get the satellite to mission completion on the last of my fuel. A mistake I won't make again. As for the Archie rover, the bad orbit and Mun's rotation are making the landing difficult. With only a small chunk of fuel left, and sadly no RCS thrusters, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to pull this landing off. I can get it down to about 50 m/s before it hits at 3000km. This mission has been both a success, failure, and learning experience.

This weekend I carried out a contract to test the Septratron-1 in orbit of the Mun. I figured I might as well land too and get some science! My first lander came in hot and bounced it's way in pieces back into space. The second lander bounced and landed bottoms-up. But the third lander landed just right. Then I did some site surveying with a new little rover I made. Though I landed him as close as I could halfway around Kerbin near the locations, he still had to do a bit of driving, and after a couple bounces, he completed his contract missing a solar panel and a couple wheels. This is the before shot.

What an exciting period of spaceflight we get to witness. Another achievement for private spaceflight and spaceflight as a whole!

Wooo! Fantastic launch and landing. Was exciting to see the live feed of the first stage separating and turning to head back down for a landing.

The votes are in! And hey, some of the locations were close enough to some of the winners that they'll get some observations as well! TURBULENCE 4.464°, 282.708° WHITE SPOT Z (Hooray! ) 14.328°, 265.356° DARK SPOT IN TURBULANCE 14.328°, 255.492° OVAL BA -32.67°, 321.192° BAND TRANSITION 13.392°, 278.028° JOVIAN ANTARTICA -81.072°, 280.368° THE WONDERFUL SOUTH POLE -72.144°, 299.16° OUTBREAK! -11.808°, 281.412° STRUCTURE01 -13.752°, 296.496° THE BIG RED STRIPE V2 22.698°, 274.248° HOTSPOT 4.752°, 270.756° More info on the winners at: https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/voting?id=2 Also, absolutely STUNNING image posted on their site 2/2/17. Image has been supersampled, enhanced and sharpened. PJ01, #6163 Have a good weekend!

I like it! Not a fan of the bold primary blue but it's just a color. I like the form fitting aspect and better hand control. I'm a little paranoid about the soft helmets, but the hard ones were definitely bulkier.

Hey everybody! I tried looking through the forums for discussion on this but I didn't have any luck locating any threads. If I've missed something, my apologies, perhaps the thread can be merged. The link below goes into greater depth, but the gist is that we can vote on areas of Jupiter we'd like to see more observations of as Juno goes round and round the gassy planet... More info: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/2017/01/19/public-to-choose-jupiter-picture-sites-for-nasa-juno Current list of options for the first round of voting: https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/junocam/voting?current Anybody already have some ideas of places you'd like to take a closer look at? Personally I'm intrigued by "White Spot Z."

I landed on the Mun for the first time! It took a couple dozen tries, 30 parts, and a little learning along the way, but it's finally happened. Next time will be a piece of cake, right? This isn't actually the craft that got me there, but it's one of several variants I messed with, before deciding on having two SRB's on the side instead. I'm glad I got a satellite in orbit first around the Mun. Without being able to connect with it, I wouldn't have had any signal from Kerbin during landing! Slowing my row as the SMIL-2 (Second Mun Investigation Lander[First Mun Lander exploded on the Mun]) comes in for touchdown. I wasn't planning to leave anyway, so losing the engine was of little concern. I actually didn't expect the legs to bounce like that did, so a little bouncing did occur. I righted it later so the panel could get some sun and I could start transmitting science data!

Being a man of stature surely helped him age lightly. The desert winds did not treat Kenobi as kindly.

I love having Stratosfear by Tangerine Dream playing when I launch.

I found myself excited to see Jimmy Smits return as Bail Organa. I liked his small parts in the prequels.

On episode 5. I wish my biologists in Planetbase were as dedicated as Paul Richardson...alright, maybe not THAT dedicated. I hope the doctor Amelie lives through all this...just because, no reason I like the portion talking about the Antarctic base and research expedition, as well as the Hawaii and Russian biosphere missions.

I made it to the Mun! But I don't understand much about networks, so I lost connection with my orbiter on the dark side of the Mun and it went splat.

It's OKAY. I feel like they are having trouble trying to fit everything into a 1 hour format. Maybe after the whole thing is out, watching it in a sitting or two will be more bearable. Right now it's like they want some science and some interviews and some character development, but never give enough time to either one, so nothing really gets expanded upon. I don't mind some character drama, as I think it's a good way of exploring the human element in a mission like this, and the effects these situations would have on the people there and back home. I like the look of the ship/Mars/spacesuits. I was honestly a little sad when the I don't like how barren mission control feels. One of the biggest undertakings in human history, and that place is like a business on the weekend with a skeleton crew. Correct me if I'm wrong, but should the commander really have been holding that Martian rock with his bare hands? Would radiation not be a problem? I think it will improve a little each episode though, and I like Mars so I'll keep watching. I feel like if it wants to be a mini-series with drama, interviews, and scientific education, it should be at least an hour and a half long, and focus more on the science.

Wings of Honneamise (Royal Space Force) is a fantastic hard sci-fi movie from the 80's. It's made by the team that brought you Evangelion and Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi. There is a controversial scene involving some nudity, and not in a hot kind of way, so it may not be suitable for some younger viewers (I'm not really sure what the full age range on here is so forgive me for sounding like a caution message at the beginning of a TV show). But the animation is amazing as well as the art direction, and the attention to detail and scientific accuracy is about as close to perfect as you could get in an animated movie. The team crafted a living "like our Earth but not Earth" setting that has it's own culture and looks to it. In the midst of war, a space agency sets out to put the first human in space. One man will stop at nothing to realize that goal, even if it means death! http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1121039129?ref_=ttvi_vi_imdb_2

Another fine launch! Couldn't stay up another hour after they prolonged it. Too late (or early?) for me.

There's also this YouTube page that's counting down to the launch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hShvE1YxSlg Less than an hour to go!

I hope CCTV will stream it like they did with the Shenzou-11.

Schiaparelli!!! Ah man, that's gotta be rough for those that spent so much time and effort on it. Is the team that oversees the lander the same as the one that oversees the orbiter? Or are they managed separately in this mission?

Don't duck out on me little lander, your full shift is about to start and ESA needs you on the floor!

Was watching this at work but couldn't post so I just lurked in here for people's reactions at the time. What a great launch! I got a little hyped for some reason when they saluted in the final seconds of countdown. Hoping for an easy rendezvous with the space lab and a productive month aboard.