RealKerbal3x

Today I miserably failed at putting a shuttle into orbit. The mission: STS-2. The premise was to put my first space station, POLAB (which stands for Polar Orbiting LABoratory.... a proper NASA-style acronym) into orbit. The station is small: it is put into orbit in one launch. The initial ascent went a bit sloppily, with me kind of straying off the north vector. During the first orbit insertion burn, I ended up passing up the apoapsis a couple of times. The shuttle’s external tank ran dry with an apoapsis of 107 km and a periapsis of 40 km. Damn. Then I timewarped too far (I hit the . instead of the /, dangit) and passed my apoapsis. Kerbal Engineer reported that I had 9 m/s of delta-V. Only nine. I think KER is glitching out. Annoyed, I tried to reload a quicksave I made after SRB sep. Shift-F1. What was weird was that A: the game would not let me quickload and B: pressing Shift throttled me up and brought my delta-V down to 7 m/s, but it did not put a dent in my fuel. Weird. I reverted to launch because I knew that I could not get to orbit now. One of the things that I have learned while playing KSP is if something is annoying you, go and do something else. So I worked on my expendable crew vehicle, the Aries. I finished building it and did an abort test, which went well. I don’t know what I’ll do tomorrow. Most probably I’ll do the first Aries CTV mission to LKO. But I don’t know.

One of the jazzy tunes from the VAB. Probably because I'm listening to it right now, 100% volume in my headphones........

Question: I bought KSP on GOG.com. Will the DLC will be available there, and if so, how do I download it?

*Fails to land space shuttle at KSC* Me: How am I gonna land on target? *Finds this mod* Me: Yay! Open CKAN! *Installs version 1.7.3* Me: Cool! Let's go and watch youtube or something! *Finds version 2.0 on forums* At least I worked out how to update mods on CKAN.

My shuttle (just like the real NASA one) has a separate OMS system and main engines. The OMS engines use separate fuel, so I don't know if that's the issue. But thanks for trying The Trajectories mod looks really helpful actually. Since I don't actually have a hardcore gaming computer (the MET clock is yellow most of the time for me) I don't want to have too many mods, but I can probably make an exception.

I have three questions. Not raging at this mod (it's awesome) but question 1: On a shuttle mission I brought 19 tonnes of payload to LKO and still had 345 m/s of delta-V remaining. On the next flight, I brought about 3 and a half tonnes of payload to LKO and only had about 50 m/s of delta-V remaining. Any idea why this is? Question 2: I have flown 3 shuttle missions using this mod so far. The first mission, I de-orbited and had to ditch the shuttle in the ocean about 100 km off KSC. The next mission, I de-orbited wrong again and landed hard in the ocean not far off the east peninsula, destroying my wings and two of the main engines. On the third flight, I followed the landing guide @Pak made, and it was quite helpful, getting me a landing spot in the grasslands west of KSC, about 25 km out. But I want to land on target at the KSC, so where's the best place to deorbit and what's the best way to fly my re-entry and landing? (If it helps, I'm using a slightly modified version of the CA Mk3 Orbiter from KerbalX) Question 3: During the final descent, the shuttle kept wanting to pitch down, despite my attempts to get my vertical speed under 10 metres per second. My vertical speed on landing always ended up being over 15 m/s, enough to break off the wings. I even tried using the RCS and OMS to pull up, but to no joy. Pulling the drogue chute did not help either. How do I make a good, safe landing?? Sorry to be nagging, but I want to make sure that my shuttle works properly and that I can fly it properly.

I keep posting things I did yesterday instead of things I did today. @Xeldrak maybe we should rename this thread to 'What did you do in KSP yesterday?' (joking of course) I was planning to land STS-1 back at KSC, but damn IRL stuff (I swear the rest of my life is only there to stop me playing KSP ) stopped me from playing for that long. Roleplay alert: pretend that bad weather at KSC prevented them from landing. I just designed a new training aircraft, the Lancer. It flies pretty well, and can get up to almost mach 3. But it is too heavy for making a good landing. Also, no pictures. Sorry. Bit of a disappointing KSP-time actually. Wait, I'll find a random screenshot from my folder... There we go..... a pic from my landing on Minmus to keep you happy. Er..... thanks for reading I guess.

Damn.... No screenshots. I guess I pressed Shift-F1 slightly wrong (damn Windows hotkeys, whenever I press F1 it googles 'how to get help in windows 10.) Well, whatever, I'm sure I can describe it just about good enough for you to see it in your head. Today (actually yesterday) I launched STS-1, the first shuttle to carry crew. We managed to get to orbit just fine, and warped round into daylight to deploy the KerboSat 1 payload. Here's when I noticed something weird. On UTP-2, we carried a 19-ton payload into orbit and still had about 350m/s of delta-V remaining, probably enough to perform a rendezvous. But on STS-1, we carried a three and a half ton payload into orbit and only had about 50 m/s remaining. Might be a glitch with Kerbal Engineer. Luckily, once we released the satellite, our delta-V grew to 506m/s. The satellite's booster stage, supposed to get it into a higher orbit, had 4 kilometres per second of delta-V. I could probably send it to Duna or something. Once the satellite had got to its 700km orbit, I positioned it towards the planet to start its 'scanning'. Rather than release the booster stage, I elected to leave it attached, as it could be used for orbital manoevring. Wouldn't want to waste that sweet, sweet delta-V, would we? After that, I switched back to the shuttle to see how they were doing. They seemed happy, and Kelzor even went out on EVA. Then I checked up on the external tank. It re-entered the atmosphere after only one pass, and the re-entry heat was so intense that it blew up the forward tank. Eventually the tank splashed into the ocean and was completely destroyed. Leaving our brave kerbonauts in orbit, I went back to KSC to have a bit of fun flying one of my planes around. Behold... the Planey Plane Mk3! This pic isn't from today, but I just wanted to show you this thing. It's incredibly stable, does all the stunts you want, and can break the sound barrier easily. But I have found a way to trip it up! Simply pull up into a steep climb, then press Q or E to roll. It starts to tumble and spin! If you're high enough, you can pull up and start flying normally again. Have a pic of my Concorde replica as well, because why not. Bye for now!

Service bay: I’m free!!!!! You are on an escape trajectory out of this plane of existence. Also, how is the MET clock only at about one hour? Freaky time.

He, he, what pics to choose? Space shuttle 'Dislantis' (see what I did there) in orbit. Below: my first Mun landing and my first Minmus landing.

I was first exposed to KSP a year or two ago, when I watched kurtjmac's videos on YouTube. The annoying thing was that I didn't actually own a computer at that time, so I (infuriatingly) could not play the game. Fast forward to Christmas 2017, and I actually have a computer that I can play Kerbal on. It's only been a couple of months and I've already landed on the Mun and Minmus and even built a space shuttle.

Since I've just recently built my space shuttle Dislantis, I'd like to see what you guys have for reusable orbital transport. Here's the Dislantis (in orbit): Mods used: Cormorant Aeronology (awesome for creating a realistic shuttle that still blends in with stock!) The premise for a shuttle is that it must be a vertically launched spacecraft that has a winged orbiter that will glide back to a landing after its mission. Although it doesn't have to be fully reusable, it must drop stages to get into orbit (no SSTOs!) Show me yours!

Try landing it on Jool.

Any landing where your wings don’t shear off is a good landing..... when I last landed my shuttle that’s exactly what happened but don’t tell anybody..........

Despite help from @Geonovast (thanks) I managed to overshoot the KSC by nearly a whole ocean today. I’d aimed my trajectory just west of the eastern peninsula’s shores, and I ended up screaming 25km over KSC going at nearly 2km/s. After the re-entry flames receded, the shuttle naturally positioned itself to a steep descent path, just like the real shuttle. (The re-entry was quite exciting actually. At one point I noticed that the shuttle was not quite wings-level, so I corrected for it. Of course I overcorrected, and for a bit the shuttle rolled around, presenting its payload bay doors to the brunt of the heat. Thank Kraken for high heat tolerances.) Cormorant Aeronology has really done a good job with making the shuttle fly like the real thing. We had to make a water ditch. The orbiter’s landing speed was about 55m/s this time, over 20m/s faster than the UTP-1 water landing. This time, we came in too fast and the wings and two of the three main engines were destroyed. So much for reusability. STS-1, the first crewed flight, will happen tomorrow. The first Kerbin observation satellite has been developed (KerboSat 1) and is scheduled for launch on this mission. I am also planning to do some MMU EVA testing (read: playing around). This time I’ll put my re-entry trajectory closer to KSC. Also today, the Eillorf Kerman Memorial Space Station (named after an engineer who died in another save) finished its final design phase. The first launch will not be on a Shuttle, but on one of my Kraken V launch vehicles as the core module is too large and heavy to be launched on a Shuttle. That’s all folks!

We’re lucky. NASA never had quicksave, quickload or revert.....

I did watch Scott Manley’s video where he landed a plane on a mountain, but I don’t think my shuttle could handle an emergency landing like that.....

Cool, thanks My shuttle’s completely unpowered during re-entry, but at least if I undershoot I’ll land on the relatively flat area between KSC and the mountains. Should be good

Today we tested my shuttle’s payload capability! The description for the craft file that the shuttle was based on said that its payload capability was 18 tons, so I built a 19-ton ore tank payload and put it into the orbiter’s cargo bay. Launch went well, and we reached orbit without too many problems, but after I watched the ET re-enter, the F3 menu came up and I accidentally pressed the ‘revert to VAB’ button and all my good work was wasted. So, I launched again and we orbited easily. I’m leaving it there today. For tomorrow, what are your strategies for landing back at the KSC runway? On UTP-1 I overshot the space centre by over 100km, so what’s the best way to do it? Bye for now

I love your ship names!! Anyway, I'd better tell you what happened yesterday. After multiple failures of my 100% reusable, 100% stock shuttle, I decided to just make a replica of the real shuttle. But then I thought: The Kickback SRBs are too small in diameter to make a good looking shuttle. After a bit of thought, I decided to just strap five of them together to make some boosters. Then, when I tried to clip them together, the offset tool was being uncooperative. Me: OK, I need to offset these SRBs kind of inside each other. Offset tool: No! I'm going to offset your boosters in a completely different direction! Suck it! So, I gave up for the night. The next day, surfing the web (read:surfing the KSP mod development subforum) I found a mod that would be perfect for building a shuttle: Cormorant Aeronology! (shout out to the creator, @Pak). It's basically an addon to the stock Mk3 parts, making them a bit more Shuttle-y. There are even 2.5m SRBs! My life was now complete, so I got to work. I however had trouble attaching the ET to the Orbiter, so I downloaded a .craft file of an example shuttle. Just about to load up KSP to see if it works as intended!!

@Bottle Rocketeer 500 Thanks

Quick question..... are the STS and Buran cockpits separate parts or are they just textures? Because I want to know if the 6 seat mk3 cockpit mod I have installed will work with it. Thanks

Kerbals rejoice!!! Sing hymns for the Kraken! The Kerbollo programme is complete! After a nice, slow, sedate docking, my ecstatic Kerbals transferred over to the command module and prepared to escape Minmus and go home. When I sorted out my Minmus escape burn, I realised that I wouldn't be able to escape Minmus and get back into the atmosphere of Kerbin in one burn. But that didn't matter, as I just added in a retrograde burn closer to Kerbin that would allow me to enter Kerbin's atmosphere with a periapsis of about 3 km. Both burns went well, and I got to experience re-entry at 3 km/s. Many explosions (of the service module.). Much flames. All of the ablation. After a bit of a tense fall at mach 2 through the atmosphere, the parachutes deployed with a reassuring wumph. As it appeared that we would land on land, I tweaked the 'chutes so that they would deploy higher up. I tell you, Kerbal Engineer's 'altitude above terrain' readout is a gift from the Kraken. Unfortunately, when tweaking the parachutes, I accidentally made them fully deploy at slightly different altitudes, so there was a bit of excitement as the capsule tipped over to one side as the chutes deployed. Didn't matter, as we landed safely. I got Rosgar Kerman out to plant a flag, commemorating the end of the Kerbollo moon exploration programme. Rosgar hadn't left that capsule for nearly 27 days!!! I did a bit of work on my shuttle whose UTP (Unmanned Test Programme) will start tomorrow. I like doing drawn (on paper) designs for upcoming ships, so I am currently doing a technical drawing of my space station, which is named after a kerbal who was killed in action in my other 'testing' save. I hope to build it entirely using reusable launch vehicles. Thanks for reading!!!!

OK I assume that just simultaneously makes the game more realistic and frustrating

Today we ...nearly..... did an orbital rendezvous around Minmus. I’m 900m away, and my relative velocity is 0 m/s. I would have done my final approach and docking tonight, but I decided that I had had enough KSP-time today, so I’ll perform the actual process of attaching the two spacecraft together tomorrow. I’m only doing my second orbital rendezvous, and I already have a process worked out! What’s more, this Minmus orbit rendezvous is first-try! I do have a quicksave made before I launched into orbit, but unlike the Mun mission rendezvous, I haven’t reloaded the quicksave. (On Kerbollo 5, I had to load the save at least 5 times before I actually made my rendezvous). I’ve also started thinking about a Duna lander probe that I want to make after I complete this mission, as well as my Shuttle and space station that I’ll get on with as soon as the Kerbollo programme is complete. That’s my concise mission report for today. Are you using a mod? I’m pretty sure that engines in the stock game are 100% reliable (unless they explode). Just wondering