ShuttleHugger

That's because this is my initial orbit, right after launch. All I care about at that point is that my apoapsis is far enough above the atmosphere that I have enough time in vacuum to burn the engines and get the periapsis out of the atmosphere too. The second day of the mission is always taken up by maneuvering to get to a circular(ish) orbit at the desired altitude. (I am admittedly not always super careful about my tolerances on the orbit; it really depends on what I'm trying to do, but within a few percent of circular is usually good enough for me.)

I just mean that at that point the shuttle is on a suborbital trajectory. Like the IRL Space Shuttle, I shut down the main engines when the vehicle is slightly suborbital, ditch the external tank so that it burns up in the atmosphere, and ignite the shuttle's smaller engines at apoapsis to make it the rest of the way to orbit.

STS-62B Discovery Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Timothy Vela (CDR), Sally Castell (PLT), Wesley Vann (MS1), Bob Kerman (MS2), Hezikiah Poole (PS1), Cordelia Anson (PS2) Payload: KSA-040 (CLASSIFIED) Payload Mass: 8,975 kg Launch: October 6, 1986 0:30:00 from Space Launch Complex 6 at Dessert Air Force Base Mission Duration: 6d0h11m47s Landing: October 12, 1986 0:41:47 at Dessert Air Force Base Statistics & Milestones: 44th Space Shuttle mission; 10th flight of Discovery; 2nd launch from and 2nd landing at Dessert Air Force Base. The first polar-orbit EVA in history, as well as the 22nd EVA of the Space Shuttle Program, occurred on this flight. Narrative Summary: Most of the crew of this mission had flown together before; Vela, Vann, and Kerman made up 3/4 of the crew of STS-6, while Castell and Poole had flown together on STS-51M. Vann and Kerman were not only the first kerbals to conduct a spacewalk from the Space Shuttle on STS-6, but on this mission also became the first kerbals to conduct an EVA in polar orbit. Discovery lifted off on October 6, 1986, on the first launch attempt, climbing into a clear blue sky above the California desert. Five minutes after launch all media coverage was blacked out for this classified mission. Six days later Discovery dropped out of another sunny sky to touch down again at Dessert AFB. Classified Summary: In Other News: More than a month after the Hubble Space Telescope was released into orbit on STS-61M, grave news was announced at a KSP press conference: the telescope was severely out of focus, to the extent that its images were no better than those from ground-based telescopes. It appears that the telescope's primary mirror was ground slightly out of shape, resulting in a poor focus. KSP engineers believe that they can design new instrumentation for the telescope to correct for the problem; KSP will fly a repair mission to Hubble in the next 2-3 years to correct this problem. Next Up: Columbia is scheduled to lift off on October 24 on STS-61H, carrying three commsats and the first Indonesian and British astronauts.

Thanks @HansonKerman & @Venturer2Space! More coming soon, I've been a little busy this week and the current mission is rather more complicated that the last two single-satellite-deployment flights so it's taking a little longer. Pity, it would have been cool if they'd got that working.

STS-61G Columbia Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Jasper Smith (CDR), Leto Lundquist (PLT), Jared Matousek (MS1), Gabriel Marti (MS2), Julia Lister (MS3) Payload: GOES-G; 4x GAS Cannisters Payload Mass: 6,106 kg Launch: August 23, 1986 3:50:00 from Pad 39A at Kerbal Space Center Mission Duration: 4d1h17m01s Landing: August 27,1986 5:07:01 at Kerbal Space Center Statistics & Milestones: 43rd Space Shuttle mission; 15th flight of Columbia; 8th night launch of the Space Shuttle program; 22nd landing at KSC. Narrative Summary: Columbia lifted off into the predawn darkness on August 23, 1986 and climbed into the sunrise as it ascended to orbit with the third new-generation geostationary weather satellite to complete the global coverage of the GOES network. The orbiter was placed into an initial 50x207km orbit. The crew conducted an OMS burn at MET 18m to place Columbia into a 72x207km orbit, inclination 0.7 degrees, period 35m27s. At MET 4h27m the crew completed an OMS burn to raise the orbit to 201x215km, and a second at MET 4h36m to circularize the orbit to 200x201km, period 39m54s. At MET 1d5h38m27s the crew released the ties holding GOES-G into the payload bay, and then raised the payload into the deployment position. The payload was deployed at MET 2d0h23m19s. The IUS lower stage burn one orbit later placed the spacecraft into a 200x2,803km transfer orbit. While the payload was approaching apoapsis one of the onboard batteries short-circuited. After attaining its final orbit it was renamed GOES-6. At MET 2d5h27m the crew completed an OMS burn to lower the orbit to 102x204km, and a second at MET 2d5h46m to circularize the orbit to 94x104km. The crew completed the deorbit burn at MET 4d0h56m. Entry interface occurred at MET 4d1h02m31s, and Smith and Lundquist brought Columbia in for landing at KSC with wheel stop at MET 4d1h17m01s. Next Up: Discovery is scheduled to launch on October 3 on STS-62B, the second polar orbit mission from Dessert Air Force Base.

Oh nice, I should read that book. I'd love to learn some more about the IRL plans to launch the shuttle from Vandenburg.

STS-61J Challenger Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Carver Paulis (CDR), Carmina Barta (PLT), Timothy Swenhaugen (MS1), Oswald Andreas (MS2), Anantha Bronson (PS1), Argus Phelps (PS2) Payload: KSA-039 (CLASSIFIED) Payload Mass: 5,971 kg Launch: August 9, 1986 5:34:00 from Pad 39B at Kerbal Space Center Mission Duration: 4d0h01m52s Landing: August 13, 1986 5:35:52 at Edwards Air Force Range Statistics & Milestones: 42nd Space Shuttle mission; 14th flight of Challenger; 5th launch from Pad 39B; 20th landing at Edwards Air Force Range. The 21st spacewalk of the Space Shuttle Program occurred on this flight. Payload Specialist Anantha Bronson became the first KSA DOD Kerballed Spaceflight Engineer to fly twice. Mission Summary: After emerging from its Double Downtime maintenance period refreshed, Challenger lifted off on the first launch opportunity on August 9, 1986. Press coverage blacked out five minutes after liftoff. Four days later Challenger dropped out of the early morning sky for a smooth touchdown at Edwards Air Force Range, due to rain at KSC. Classified Summary: In Other News: After the recent flights of Atlantis and Challenger, KSP leadership has elected to delay the next planned flights of these orbiters (STS-61K and STS-61N, respectively), until after the highly time-critical launches of Galileo and Ulysses towards Jool on STS-71A and STS-71B. Schedule delays left far insufficient time to complete both missions before the Jool launch window closed. Next Up: Columbia is scheduled to lift off on STS-61G on August 23, carrying the third in the new generation of GOES geostationary weather satellites.

Here is my entry for the STS-3 Pilot rank: https://imgur.com/a/mcEgpd9 (I forgot to take screenshots during a few of the in-orbit burns, I hope that isn't a problem--otherwise everything should be there, let me know if you need anything else). A narrative mission report can be found here. Mods: TAC Life Support, Dang It! Continued, Decal Stickers R2.0, Click-Through Blocker, Toolbar Control. The only mod parts on the shuttle are decals and life support cannisters. I also have Tantares installed on this save but there are no Tantares parts on either the Shuttle or Hubble. I previously completed STS-1 and STS-2 in v5 of the Shuttle Challenge.

STS-61M Atlantis Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Jebediah Kerman (CDR), Arienne Abrams (PLT), Arlie Holgersen (MS1), Olivia Vukoja (MS2), Jeremy Enns (MS3), Alberta Breiner (PS1) Backup Crew: Roselle Devine (PS1) Payload: Hubble Space Telescope, Kerballed Maneuvering Units x2, Canadarm Payload Mass: 9,339 kg Launch: July 36, 1986 5:30:00 from Pad 39A at Kerbal Space Center Mission Duration: 4d5h39m13s Landing: August 5, 1986 5:09:13 at Kerbal Space Center Statistics & Milestones: 41st Space Shuttle mission; 5th flight of Atlantis; 21st landing at KSC. The 20th spacewalk of the Space Shuttle Program was conducted on this mission. Commander Jebediah Kerman became the first kerbal to fly in space eight times. Narrative Summary: Atlantis lifted off on the second opportunity on July 36, 1986, following a one-day delay due to rain. This much-anticipated mission carried the Hubble Space Telescope, the first flagship mission of KSP's Great Observatories program and the heaviest civilian payload carried on the shuttle to date. The orbiter was placed into an initial 35x251km orbit. The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 18m to insert Atlantis into a 72x251km orbit, inclination 1.8 degrees, period 37m01s. At MET 4h37m the crew completed an OMS burn to raise the orbit to 224x252km, and a second at MET 4h56m to circularize the orbit to 221x224km, period 41m33s. While Holgersen and Vukoja prepared for their EVA the next day, Abrams and Enns began activating Canadarm at MET 1d4h24m; the robot arm had been launched stowed in an unusual crooked position due to space limitations. They grappled the main structure of Hubble at MET 1d4h43m, and then decoupled the ties holding Hubble in place for launch. At MET 1d5h07m they undocked Hubble from the payload bay, and began slowly and carefully lifting it out of the bay. During this process, at MET 1d5h15m43s, the internal battery in the #1 fuel cell short-circuited. At MET 1d5h56m40s the #11 liquid fuel tank in the shuttle aft compartment began leaking. At MET 2d0h01m, after raising Hubble into a vertical orientation over the payload bay, Abrams and Enns locked Canadarm in place for the next two days. After breakfast and final preparations, Arlie Holgersen exited the airlock at MET 2d4h36m30s, followed by Olivia Vukoja at MET 2d4h37m15s. They then boarded the two KMUs. Holgersen undocked the #1 KMU, and then redocked to the #1 Hubble Solar Array Assembly. He then relocated it to the port solar array attachment on Hubble, and finally redocked to the KMU stowage position on the floor of the payload bay. Vukoja then performed the same sequence of steps for the #2 HSAA and the starboard attachment. Vukoja experienced some difficulty stowing her KMU due to tight clearances with the #1 KMU, but ultimately was successfully. The two spacewalkers then retreated inside. Total EVA time was 24m23s for Holgersen and 23m06s for Vukoja. At MET 3d4h52m the crew began the deployment sequence for Hubble. They first deployed the telescope's two high-gain antennas, then rotated the solar array assemblies into a position parallel to the long axis of the shuttle, and finally deployed Hubble's solar panels. All of this proceeded successfully. After waiting one more orbit to confirm that Hubble was power positive and all systems go, the crew released the Canadarm end effector at MET 3d5h36m00s and, with a quick RCS burst, Hubble began drifting slowly away. In order to avoid the possibility of contamination to the telescope's optical surfaces, Hubble was allowed to simply drift away to a distance of 500 m, and then Atlantis conducted further RCS burns to begin moving away more quickly. 43 minutes after release, when Atlantis had retreated to a distance of more than 4.5 km, Hubble opened the cover protecting its aperture (contingency procedures called for a re-rendezvous and repair spacewalk if the cover had failed to open). At MET 4d0h23m Abrams and Enns began stowing Canadarm, a process they completed 8 minutes later. Although Flight Day 6 was planned to be the penultimate day in orbit, flight controllers elected to bring the shuttle home one day early due to a 96% chance of rain at KSC the following day. At MET 4d4h07m the crew completed an RCS-assisted OMS burn to lower the orbit to 98x223km, followed by a second at MET 4d4h26m to circularize the orbit to 94x104km, period 32m33s. A long RCS-assisted deorbit burn concluding at MET 4d5h18m was only able to lower the apoapsis to 9 km. Entry interface occurred at MET 4d5h23m05s. Atlantis made a smooth touchdown at KSC with wheel stop at MET 4d5h39m13s. In Other News: The Mishchenie 26 freighter launched from Woomerang Cosmodrome at 5:10:24 on August 1. It docked to Svoboda's forward port at 0:51:53 the next day. Next Up: Challenger is scheduled on launch on August 9 on mission STS-61J, carrying a classified payload.

Soyuz TM-3 Kanopus Launch Report Quick Summary: Crew: Aleksandr Vasilyev (CDR), Ilya Voronin (FE), Nikolai Nazaretyan (RC) Backup Crew: Filipp Sokolovsky (CDR), Anastasilya Chayka (FE), Anna Ignatova (RC) Launch: July 22, 1986 5:14:03 from Site 33 at Woomerang Cosmodrome Docking: July 23, 1986 3:00:06 to Svoboda's aft port Narrative Summary: The Mishchenie 25 freighter undocked from Svoboda on July 20, 1986 at 3:06:30 and backed away in order to free a docking port for Soyuz TM-3. Its total docked time was 121d5h53m51s. At 5:30 the spacecraft began a long burn to drop it into the southern Pacific Ocean for disposal. Nine minutes later the surviving debris landed in the ocean east of New Zealand. Two days later the three-kerbal crew climbed aboard the Soyuz TM-3 capsule and lifted off from Woomerang Cosmodrome. The Soyuz booster placed the capsule into a 83x129km orbit, inclination 45.4 degrees (or 0.6 degrees with respect to that of Svoboda), period 33m01s. At 5:32 the crew completed a burn to align their orbit with that of Svoboda, and a second burn at 5:42 to raise the orbit to 83x155km to intersect with that of Svoboda. At 1:40 on July 23 the crew completed a maneuver to lower the orbit to 72x155km and set up a pass 79 km from Svoboda. At 2:14 they completed another maneuver to set up a pass at 500 m from Svoboda at a relative velocity of 22 m/s one orbit later. Soyuz TM-3 commenced terminal approach at 2:51. Soyuz TM-3 docked to Svoboda's aft port at 3:00:06. One orbit later the crew opened the hatches and Vasilyev, Voronin, and Nazaretyan joined Eduard Zelenko and Grigori Sobol aboard Svoboda. Soyuz TM-2 Orel Landing Report Quick Summary: Crew: Eduard Zelenko (CDR), Grigori Sobol (FE) Undocking: July 29, 1986 1:29:00 from Svoboda's forward port Landing: July 29, 1986 4:22:41 in the Indian Ocean Mission Duration: 123d3h29m58s Narrative Summary: At 0:59 on July 29, Zelenko and Sobol climbed into Soyuz TM-2 and closed the hatches to Svoboda, bidding goodbye to their replacements of Vasilyev, Voronin, and Nazaretyan after a week of joint operations. At 1:29:00 they undocked and began backing away, after 120d5h26m11s docked to the station. They completed the deorbit burn at 4:07. Module separation occurred at 4:15:20, and entry interface at 4:16:46. Soyuz TM-2 splashed down at 4:22:41 in the Indian Ocean south of the SSSR mainland. Although the capsule splashed down at night, it was quickly located by helicopters' searchlights and the cosmonauts and capsule were recovered and brought aboard the recovery ship Akademik N. I. Lobachevsky. The splashdown location was 22d33m41s N, 121d01m37s E.

STS-62A Discovery Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Zachary Albrecht (CDR), Evan Abana (PLT), Chelsea Glen (MS1), Marcus Moschella (MS2), Matthew Kellog (PS1), Herman Machado (PS2) Payload: KSA-036, KSA-037, KSA-038 (CLASSIFIED) Payload Mass: 1,785 kg Launch: July 9, 1986 0:30:00 from Space Launch Complex 6 at Dessert Air Force Base Mission Duration: 5d5h52m12s Landing: July 15, 1986 0:22:12 Statistics & Milestones: 40th Space Shuttle mission; 9th flight of Discovery; 1st launch from and 1st landing at Dessert Air Force Base; 6th dedicated shuttle mission for the KSA DOD. Mission Summary: Before launching on STS-62A, Discovery completed a Flight Readiness Test Firing on June 33, 1986 to verify that all systems at the new launch pad at Dessert Air Force Base were ready to support launch. Discovery's engines were lit for 23 seconds at 0:29:57. Everything proceeded smoothly, clearing the way for launch. Overall launch preparations went much faster than expected. The crew of Discovery included General Herman Machado, Secretary of the Air Force, making an observation flight similar to those of Senator Everly on STS-41F and Representative Lapointe on STS-51I. The weather in the California desert was picture-perfect leading up to launch, and Discovery lifted off on the first launch opportunity on July 9, 1986. The shuttle climbed into the blue sky and then turned southward, flying over the coast and out over the ocean. At MET 4m01s the alternator on Discovery's center engine failed, the only blemish on an otherwise smooth ascent. Unlike previous classified missions television coverage continued until just after orbit insertion, as Discovery's crew became the first kerbals to fly in a polar orbit. Six days later Discovery returned from orbit, making a north-to-south pass across Canada and the Kerbal States towards Dessert Air Force Base. The orbiter made a hard landing with wheel stop at MET 5d5h52m12s. Classified Summary: In Other News: The SSSR has named the two cosmonauts who will become the first Russians to fly aboard the shuttle. Modest Nikolaev will launch aboard Atlantis and be ferried to Svoboda, while Tamara Popov will return on the shuttle after having launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft in May 1987. Nikolaev and Popov will be splitting their time in training between KSC and Star City near the SSSR capital city Zakaznikov. Next Up: Atlantis is scheduled to launch on STS-61M carrying the Hubble Space Telescope on July 34. The launch of the next crew to Svoboda is also expected soon but no launch date has yet been announced.

Amazing! I particularly love the Dangerously Near the Launchpad Hotel

STS-61E Columbia Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Gavin Molloy (CDR), Simona Thorsen (PLT), Raphael Stacks (MS1), Aileen Biagi (MS2), Balthazar Mata (MS3), Cornelia Page, Australia (PS1), Anastasia Kron (PS2) Backup Crew: Preston Paulie, Australia (PS1), Florian Gustafsson (PS2) Payload: Kerbstar 9 commsat, Southern Star 1, Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorers (AMPTE) Payload Mass: 7,144 kg Launch: June 7, 1986 2:31:30 from Pad 39B at Kerbal Space Center Mission Duration: 6d2h06m01s Landing: June 13, 1986 4:37:31 at Kerbal Space Center Statistics & Milestones: 39th Space Shuttle mission; 14th flight of Columbia; 4th launch from Pad 39B; 7th night launch of the Space Shuttle program; 20th landing at KSC. The 19th EVA of the Space Shuttle program took place on this mission. Payload Specialist Cornelia Page became the first Australian to fly into space. Narrative Summary: In addition to two commsats, the payload of STS-61E included the Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorers (AMPTE), the first KSP Explorer-class scientific mission to fly aboard the Shuttle. This mission will fly on a highly elliptical orbit through Kerbin's magnetic field, and consists of three sub-satellites: the Ion Release Module (IRM), which will release xenon ions into the solar wind, and the Charged Composition Explorer (CCE) and United Kingdom Subsatellite (UKS; provided by the British space agency), which will fly at a distance and study the dynamics of Kerbin's magnetosheath as traced by the released xenon. Payload Specialist Anastasia Kron is a member of the AMPTE Science Team. After two days of launch delays due to rain at KSC, Columbia lifted off into the night on the third launch attempt on June 7, 1986. It was inserted into an initial 34x122km orbit. An OMS burn at MET 14m placed the orbiter into a 72x122km orbit, inclination 0.7 degrees, period 32m27s. The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 4h33m to raise the orbit to 102x123km, and a second at MET 4h49m to circularize the orbit to 102x104km. At MET 1d2h00m57s, one of the antennas aboard Southern Star 1 failed. Mission managers elected to add an emergency spacewalk on Flight Day 4 to repair the antenna, and push the Southern Star 1 and AMPTE deployments back by one day each. Kerbstar 9 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 1d5h19m35s. The PAM lower stage burn one orbit later placed the payload onto a 102x2,890km transfer orbit. It reached its operational orbit the next day. Raphael Stacks exited the airlock at MET 2d4h37m00s, followed by Balthazar Mata at MET 2d4h38m40s. Stacks repaired the center antenna on Southern Star 1, and then the astronauts retreated inside the airlock. EVA time was 2m55s for Mata and 6m07s for Stacks. Southern Star 1 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 4d0h51m40s. The first PAM burn placed it into a 103x2,893km transfer orbit. Two more maneuvers placed the satellite in its operational geostationary orbit by the next day. At MET 4d5h50m27s the #2 liquid fuel tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, but its contents were transferred to other tanks before a significant amount was lost. AMPTE was deployed from the payload bay at MET 5d0h25m06s. The single-stage PAM burn one orbit later placed the spacecraft into a highly elliptical 102x7,226km orbit. AMPTE made a maneuver at its first apogee on this day to put it into its final 254x7,226km orbit, period 1d2h23m50s. The crew prepared for a landing attempt at KSC, but with a 90% chance of poor weather no one expected a go call. The crew closed the payload bay doors at MET 6d1h27m, and by the time that the final go-no go call was given eight minutes later the rain showers had moved safely offshore and Columbia was given the go to land. The crew completed the deorbit burn at MET 6d1h43m. Entry interface occurred at MET 6d1h50m05s. Columbia made a morning landing at KSC with wheel stop at MET 6d2h06m01. Later that day, the first of the three AMPTE sub-satellites, AMPTE UKS, separated. It will be put into an orbit slightly ahead of the middle satellite, IRM, while the last satellite CCE, will be in the trailing position. Columbia flying into the same constellations depicted on the mission patch. Next Up: Discovery is slated to launch on the first polar-orbit shuttle mission, STS-62A, on July 20.

Excellent question (and thanks for the kind words @Petrovich). I think it would depend on when and what exactly happened if I experience a loss of crew and vehicle. Most likely I would just build a replacement orbiter Endeavour, but I might also start the in-world development of a shuttle replacement (TBH I may do this eventually even without a catastrophic accident). My inclination would be to pursue something like the Evolved Shuttle architecture in the article you linked, but I'll see. On an unrelated note, I was hoping to fly several missions over the long Memorial Day weekend here in the US, but on Thursday night my hard drive failed and I've only just now managed to get all of the data off and get a new drive installed. Lost a bunch of time but at least I have all of my data and a functioning computer again.

STS-61I Atlantis Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Ronnie Queen (CDR), Ted Valencia (PLT), Felix Derrick (MS1), Cameron Nemeth (MS2), Wendy Laninga (MS3), Melodie Francois, ESA/France (PS1), Christoph Wang, Canada (PS2), Shelly Bukowski (PS3) Backup Crew: Christophe Bertrand, ESA/France (PS1), David Baird, Canada (PS2), Lucia McLean (PS3) Payload: Spacelab 4 Life Sciences: Spacelab Pressurized Module 1 Payload Mass: 5,909 kg Launch: May 3, 1986 5:30:00 from Pad 39A at Kerbal Space Center Mission Duration: 11d1h28m28s Landing: May 15, 1986 0:58:28 at Kerbal Space Center Statistics & Milestones: 38th Space Shuttle mission; 4th flight of Atlantis; 19th landing at KSC. Narrative Summary: Atlantis lifted off on the first launch attempt on May 3, 1986. It was placed into an initial 29x168km orbit, and an OMS burn at MET 15m inserted Atlantis into a 72x167km orbit, inclination 0.5 degrees, period 34m01s. At MET 30m Green Team (Valencia, Nemeth, Francois, Wang) went to bed while Gold Team (Queen, Derrick, Laninga, Bukowski) continued activating orbiter systems. They switched spots at MET 3h00m, and at MET 3h22m Green Team conducted an OMS burn to lower the orbit to 72x131km. They completed a second burn at MET 3h38m to circularize the orbit to 129x134km, period 34m51s. At MET 3h39m55s the #7 liquid fuel tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, but the crew transferred most of the contents to different tanks. The crew then began activating the Spacelab module. At MET 1d0h01m Gold Team moved into Spacelab and began conducting the planned roster of experiments. After ten full days devoted to around-the-clock science in the Spacelab module, at MET 11d0h02m Green Team went off-duty and soon to bed, while Queen and Laninga prepared to maneuver the orbiter and Derrick and Bukowski began shutting down Spacelab. They completed an OMS maneuver at MET 11d0h15m to lower the orbit to 99x134km, and a second at MET 11d0h32m to circularize the orbit to 98x102km, period 32m38s. Green Team was reawoken in preparation for landing at MET 11d0h50m. The crew completed the deorbit burn at MET 11d01h10m. Entry interface occurred at MET 11d01h16m50s. The final portion of the descent was much hotter than on any previous flight, and the orbiter's wings experienced worrying levels of flexure during the terminal stages of the descent. Queen and Valencia brought Atlantis in for a hard landing at KSC with wheel stop at MET 11d01m28m28s. At MET 11d01h28m43s the #4 water tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking. Next Up: Columbia is scheduled to lift off on June 7 carrying two commsats and KSP's next Explorer-class mission, AMPTE. In Other News: KSP managers have made the unprecedented decision to swap the next two missions in Atlantis' launch manifest less than two months before the first of those was scheduled to launch. STS-61K has been pushed back, and STS-61M, carrying the Hubble Space Telescope, has been moved forward. This decision was driven by the need to have sufficient schedule contingency as to not effect the time-critical launch of the Ulysses spacecraft to Jool later in 1986; STS-61K may need to be pushed to after that flight if refurbishing Atlantis after STS-61M takes too long. The higher-priority Hubble mission takes precedence in the possibility that one mission will need to be delayed. Additionally, after years of negotiations KSP and the SSSR space agency Markosmos have concluded an agreement to fly a space shuttle mission to dock with the Svoboda space station in late 1987. The mission will swap out one crewmember on Svoboda, simulating the rescue of an ill cosmonaut, and will include the first SSSR cosmonaut to launch on an American rocket. This will also be the first joint KSA-SSSR mission since the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.

STS-51P Discovery Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Kacey Gibson (CDR), Myles Baumgartner (PLT), Jacqueline McFarland (MS1), James Hasenkamp (MS2), Elliott Martins (MS3), Racquel Van Laar (PS1), Rainer MacIver (PS2) Payload: GOES-F Payload Mass: 5,906 kg Launch: April 23, 1986 5:50:00 from Pad 39B at Kerbal Space Center Mission Duration: 3d5h16m10s Landing: April 27, 1986 5:06:10 at Kerbal Space Center Statistics & Milestones: 37th Space Shuttle mission; 8th flight of Discovery; 3rd launch from Pad 39B; 18th landing at KSC. Narrative Summary: Two payload specialists flew on this mission: Racquel Van Laar, an Aperture Laboratories scientist making her second spaceflight, and Rainer MacIver, a physician at the Holland Clinic conducting microgravity medical experiments. Discovery lifted off on the first launch opportunity on April 23, 1986. The orbiter was placed into an initial 29x212km orbit. An OMS burn at MET 17m placed Discovery into a 72x213km orbit, inclination 1.5 degrees, period 35m38s. At MET 4h16m55s, the internal battery in the #1 fuel cell short-circuited. At MET 4h44m the crew completed an OMS burn to lower the orbit to 72x199km, and a second at MET 5h02m to circularize the orbit to 195x211km, period 40m05s. The holds securing GOES-F into the payload bay were released at MET 1d4h42m30s, and the payload was subsequently raised to the deployment attitude. GOES-F was deployed from the payload bay at MET 1d5h22m25s; for the first time on this mission, an inverted deployment attitude was used, with the payload bay facing towards Kerbin rather than open space. The fist IUS burn one orbit later placed the payload stack into a 210x2,751km transfer orbit. The spacecraft reached its operational orbit the next day and was renamed GOES-5. The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 2d4h30m to lower the orbit to 99x194km, and a second at MET 2d4h49m to circularize the orbit to 92x102km. Discovery completed its deorbit burn at MET 3d4h56m. Entry interface occurred at MET 3d5h01m50s. Gibson and Baumgartner brought Discovery in for landing at KSC with wheel stop at MET 3d5h16m10s. This concluded the final planned mission of Discovery from Kerbal Space Center for at least the next two years; after processing the KSC OPF to safe Discovery after STS-51P, it will be ferried cross-country to Dessert Air Force Base and prepared for the first polar orbit shuttle flight. STS-62A, currently scheduled for launch on July 20, 1986, will kick off a busy western launch campaign consisting primarily of military and GPS satellites. Next Up: Atlantis is scheduled for launch on May 3 on STS-61I, the Spacelab 4 Life Sciences mission.

STS-61F Challenger Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Coleen Stirling (CDR), Fabian Thorsen (PLT), Tatiana Ter Avest (MS1), Joshua Holmes (MS2), Larissa Pensak (PS1), Carrol John Patrick (PS2) Payload: KSA-034, KSA-035 (CLASSIFIED) Payload Mass: 5,002 kg Launch: April 14, 1986 0:09:28 from Pad 39A at Kerbal Space Center Mission Duration: 4d0h11m26s Landing: April 18, 1986 0:20:54 at Kerbal Space Center Statistics & Milestones: 36th Space Shuttle Mission; 13th flight of Challenger; 17th landing at KSC; 5th dedicated shuttle mission for the KSA DOD. Narrative Summary: After launch was pushed back one day due to a rain forecast at KSC, Challenger lifted off on April 14 with a classified payload. Television coverage of the mission ended five minutes after launch. Challenger returned to land at Kerbal Space Center four days later. After landing it was wheeled into Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 1 for its Double Downtime maintenance period, an extended maintenance period to restore all orbiter systems to full operating potential 1/8 of the way through the planned orbiter lifetime of 100 flights. During this time Challenger will also be outfitted with hardware to support the launch of Centaur-G liquid-fueled upper stages aboard the orbiter. Classified Summary: Next Up: The day after Challenger landed, Discovery was rolled out to Pad 39B for STS-51P, carrying a weather satellite.

Soyuz TM-2 Orel Launch Report Quick Summary: Crew: Eduard Zelenko (CDR), Grigori Sobol (FE) Backup Crew: Aleksandr Vasilyev (CDR), Ilya Voronin (FE) Launch: April 12, 1986 0:52:43 from Site 33 at Woomerang Cosmodrome Docking: April 13, 1986 2:02:49 to Svoboda's forward port Narrative Summary: Soyuz TM-2 (callsign Orel), with the first long-duration crew for the Svoboda space station (Svoboda EO-1), lifted off from Woomerang Cosmodrome before dawn on the 25th anniversary of Yuri Kerman's pioneering first spaceflight. Several minutes thereafter the spacecraft was inserted into an 84x107km orbit, period 32m18s, inclined 0.7 degrees with respect to that of Svoboda. The crew performed a maneuver at 1:11 to precisely align their orbit with that of Svoboda, and a second at 1:24 to raise the orbit to 84x155km in preparation for rendezvous. At 0:46 on April 13 the crew maneuvered to set up a 116-km pass with Svoboda, but getting closer on that pass would require dipping into the atmosphere; they thus only lowered the orbit to 72x155km. At 1:19 they made a second maneuver to raise the orbit to 128x157km to set up an 800 m pass by Svoboda at a velocity difference of 27.8 m/s one orbit later. At 1:55 Zelenko and Sobol began the terminal rendezvous sequence, and docked to the forward port of Svoboda at 2:02:49. The combined orbital complex had a mass of 15,740 kg. At 2:29 the crew opened the hatches and moved into Svoboda for the first time. Zelenko and Sobol spent the next few weeks activating Svoboda and setting up equipment within the space station. They are scheduled to stay on-orbit through the end of July, when they will be relieved by the Soyuz TM-3/Svoboda EO-2 crew. In Meta: The Soyuz flight posts will be a little different from the Shuttle posts, due to their long duration and overlapping nature. Each future post will cover the launch of on Soyuz flight and the landing of the one it is replacing on-orbit.

Soyuz TM-1 Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: None Spacecraft Mass: 3,537 kg Launch: March 19, 1986 1:17:10 from Site 33 at Woomerang Cosmodrome Launcher: Soyuz Mission Duration: 7d0h48m30s Landing: March 26, 1986 2:05:40 Narrative Summary: The uncrewed test flight of the new Soyuz TM module lifted off from Woomerang Cosmodrome on March 19, 1986 at 1:17 and was inserted into a 89x137km orbit, period 33m33s, inclination 45.9 degrees, inclined 0.6 degrees with respect to that of Svoboda. The spacecraft performed a maneuver at 2:01 to align its orbit to within 0.1 degrees of that of Svoboda, and a second at 2:17 to raise the orbit to 89x156km with the periapsis intersecting Svoboda's orbit, setting up the rendezvous sequence. It slowly caught up with Svoboda over the next day, and at 1:42 on March 20 it completed an additional burn to raise its orbit to 106x156km and set up a rendezvous with Svoboda one orbit later, where it would pass 800 m from the station at a velocity difference of 33 m/s. Soyuz TM-1 commenced the terminal rendezvous sequence at about 2:15, canceling out its velocity with respect to Svoboda and beginning the approach. After some initial difficulty with engaging the docking system, Soyuz TM-1 successfully docked to the forward port of Svoboda at 2:31:26 on March 20. The total mass of the Svoboda complex after docking was 13,220 kg. On March 22 the station conducted two small orbital adjustment maneuvers, the first at 0:23 to lower the orbit to 151x155km, and the second at 0:41 to circularize the orbit to 155x155km, period 36m33s. After five days of docked test operations, Soyuz TM-1 undocked from Svoboda at 1:30:00 on March 25, and backed away for additional solo tests in free flight. Soyuz TM-1 completed its deorbit burn at 1:52 on March 26. At 2:00 the orbital and service modules were jettisoned. Entry interface occurred at 2:01:17, and the capsule touched down at 2:05:40. Due to a targeting error the capsule landed short, touching down high in the Caucasus Mountains and rolling down a slope before coming to rest in an alpine cirque at an altitude of more than 4777m, and it was several days before the capsule could be retrieved. Mishchenie 25 Launch Report Quick Summary: Spacecraft Mass: 3,366 kg Launch: April 4, 1986 0:59:29 from Site 33 at Woomerang Cosmodrome Launcher: Soyuz Narrative Summary: The Mischchenie 25 freighter lifted off from Woomerang Cosmodrome on April 4 and was inserted into a 111x153km orbit, inclined 0.3 degrees with respect to that of Svoboda, period 34m54s. At 1:38 it completed a maneuver to zero out its inclination with respect to Svoboda, and another small maneuver at 2:09 to match its apogee with Svoboda's orbit. At 2:27 it completed an approach targeting maneuver to set up an approach to 800 m from Svoboda at a relative velocity of 53.4 m/s. It docked to the aft port of Svoboda at 3:12:39 on April 4, less than half a day after launch. Svoboda now stands ready to receive its first crew; an announcement regarding that flight will be made at a later date. In Meta: Uncrewed cargo resupply missions are pretty boring so in the future these will just be reported quickly in the "In Other News" sections of other posts.

STS-61A Columbia Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Timothy Vela (CDR), Eddie Schuchardt (PLT), Laurence Cizek (MS1), Huey Schnoor (MS2), Allan Otto (MS3), Erich Brune, ESA/West Germany (PS1), Esther Reynders, ESA/Belgium (PS2), Lene Kunkel, West Germany (PS3) Backup Crew: Hanne Linden, ESA/West Germany (PS1), Birgitte Jenson, ESA/Denmark (PS2), Nicola Fromm, West Germany (PS3) Payload: Spacelab D-1: Spacelab Pressurized Module 2, Spacelab Vacuum Pallet, 4x GAS Cannisters Payload Mass: 7,544 kg Launch: February 16, 1986 5:30:00 from Pad 39B at Kerbal Space Center Mission Duration: 11d2h00m09s Landing: February 28, 1986 1:30:09 at Edwards Air Force Range Statistics & Milestones: 35th Space Shuttle mission; 13th flight of Columbia; 2nd launch from Pad 39B; 19th landing at Edwards Air Force Range. First Space Shuttle mission with a crew of 8, the largest crew ever launched aboard a single spacecraft. Payload Specialist Esther Reynders became the first Belgian in space, and Payload Specialist Erich Brune became the first non-American, non-SSSR kerbal to fly in space twice. This was the longest space shuttle mission to date and the first to exceed a duration of 11 days. Narrative Summary: The STS-61A/Spacelab D-1 was the first shuttle mission funded and partially controlled by a foreign nation; the West German space agency provided funding for the flight, and payload operations were controlled from Oberpfaffenhofen, West Germany. After a one-day delay due to poor weather at the Edwards Air Force Range emergency landing site, Columbia lifted off on February 16, 1986. The orbiter was placed into an initial 42x139km orbit. An OMS burn at MET 15m placed into a 72x139km orbit, inclination 0.6 degrees, period 33m01s. At MET 17m44s the deployment motor on the #2 GAS Cannister failed. Red Team (Vela, Schnoor, Otto, and Kunkel) activated all orbiter systems while Blue Team (Schuchardt, Cizek, Brune, and Reynders) slept. They traded places at MET 3h00m. At MET 3h38m08s the orbiter high-gain antenna failed, preventing the transmission of live television during the mission, including planned connections with schoolchildren in West Germany and the Kerbal States. Mission managers elected to continue with the mission, however. The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 3h50m to lower the orbit to 72x129km, and a second at MET 4h06m to circularize at 126x131km, period 34m37s. At MET 4h09m54s the #4 liquid fuel tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, but the crew were able to transfer most of the contents into other tanks. At MET 1d0h02m the crew moved into the Spacelab pressurized module and began activating it and conducting experiments. At MET 2d0h02m23s the #3 oxidizer tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, but the crew saved most of the contents by transfer to another tank. At MET 3d0h33m32s the #5 oxidizer tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, but its contents were mostly transferred to another tank. At MET 5d0h06m49s the motor to actuate the shuttle airlock failed. On Flight Day 10, looking ahead at the KSC weather forecast, flight controllers opted to switch the prime landing site from KSC to Edwards due to forecast poor weather at KSC on the planned landing day; they chose to do so rather than bring the mission home a day early in order to allow all of the planned experiments to be finished. At MET 11d0h03m Schnoor and Kunkel began shutting down Spacelab while Vela and Otto prepared to adjust Columbia's orbit. At MET 11d0h18m they conducted an OMS burn to lower Columbia's orbit to 101x131km, and a second at MET 11d0h35m to circularize the orbit at 99x101km, period 32m37s. After an abbreviated sleep period, Blue Team was awoken at MET 11d1h23m to prepare for landing at Edwards, as the forecast of rain for KSC on February 28 had panned out. The crew completed the deorbit burn at MET 11d1h41m. Entry interface occurred at MET 11d1h47m44s, and Vela and Schuchardt brought Columbia in for a hard landing at EAFR with wheel stop at MET 11d2h00m09s, closing out the longest shuttle mission to date. Next Up: March 1986 will be the first month since February 1985 with no shuttle flights. After this brief lull, the program will resume with the launch of Challenger on STS-61F on April 12, carrying a classified payload for the Kerbal States Department of Defense.

Svoboda Launch Report Товарищи мира! На 20-ого Февраля 1986 года, СССР стартовали космическую станцию «Свобода» из Космодроме Вумэранг. Наука и Индустрия! Comrades of the world! On the 20th of February 1986, the SSSR launched the space station "Svoboda" from Woomerang Cosmodrome. Science and Industry! Quick Summary: Crew: None Payload: Svoboda Functional Cargo Block Payload Mass: 10,071 kg Launch: February 20, 1986 1:45:00 from Woomerang Cosmodrome Launcher: Neitron In Meta: I decided to also add some aspects of the SSSR space program to this game as I wanted to be able to have my own version of the Shuttle-Mir Program, and I've also wanted to do a Mir play-through for a while, so I decided to integrate that into my shuttle program game. I'm only going to be doing SSSR flights associated with Svoboda, crew rotations and resupply and eventually additional modules, not any unrelated satellites. The bulk of the activity with this game will remain with the shuttles. As is probably obvious from the screenshots, I am using the excellent Tantares mod for the SSSR payloads, and stock parts for the launch vehicles. And this will probably be the only post to use so much of my admittedly rusty knowledge of Russian

STS-61B Atlantis Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Abe Dykstra (CDR), Rick Wakefield (PLT), David Houtkooper (MS1), Elizabeth Britton (MS2), Haley Vang (MS3), Anna Smits (MS4), Maria Koch (MS5) Payload: Space Construction Experiment: 4x SCE Trusses, SCE Base Unit, SCE Turret Mount; Kerballed Maneuvering Unit x2, Canadarm Payload Mass: 6,119 kg Launch: February 3, 1986 5:30:00 from Pad 39A at Kerbal Space Center Mission Duration: 7d5h43m18s Landing: February 11, 1986 5:13:18 at Kerbal Space Center Statistics & Milestones: 34th Space Shuttle Mission; 3rd flight of Atlantis; 16th landing at KSC; the 16th, 17th, and 18th EVAs of the Space Shuttle Program occurred on this flight; first flight with a full complement of 7 KSP astronauts (all previous 7-kerbal flights had included two non-KSP payload specialists). Commander Abe Dykstra became the first kerbal to fly on the Shuttle four times, while Wakefield, Smits, and Koch became the first members of KSP Astronaut Group 10 (selected 1984) to fly. Elizabeth Britton set a shuttle spacewalk duration record of 52m15s on this mission. Narrative Summary: Atlantis lifted off from KSC on February 3, 1986, for STS-61B, on a mission to test space construction techniques in preparation for the construction of the Space Station Liberty. This was the first preparatory space shuttle mission funded under the space station program, and so was designated mission 1P in the space station construction sequence. The orbiter was placed into an initial 47x226km orbit. An OMS burn at MET 19m placed it into a 73x226km orbit, inclination 1.1 degrees, period 36m10s. The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 4h32m to raise the orbit to 121x226km, and a second at MET 4h51m to circularize to 115x124km, period 33m59s. During the burn the crew reported a dull “boom” noise from the OMS engines but there was nothing in telemetry to indicate any problem. At MET 1d0h01m the crew began unlocking and activating Canadarm. At MET 1d5h01m Houtkooper and Wakefield began operations with Canadarm to build the first two elements of the truss, while Britton and Smits prepared for their EVA the next day, assisted by Vang and Koch. 11 minutes later Houtkooper and Wakefield captured the #1 SCE Truss, and then undocked it from the SCE Turret Mount. At MET 1d5h51m they grappled the truss to the SCE Base Unit. They then grappled the #2 Truss at MET 2d0h04m, and subsequently ungrappled it from the STM, and docked it to the top of the #1 Truss 10 minutes later. The crew concluded the day's construction activities by rotating the STM 180 degrees to allow access to the #3 and #4 Trusses during the next day's spacewalk. Elizabeth Britton exited the airlock at MET 3d5h18m30s, followed by Anna Smits 1m10s later. Britton then boarded the #1 KMU, and undocked from Atlantis at MET 3d5h22m30s. Just over two minutes later she successfully redocked to the #3 Truss. The Truss was then decoupled from the STM, and Britton maneuvered the Truss into position and docked it to the #2 Truss at MET 3d5h29m33s. She docked to the #4 Truss, and then maneuvered it into position atop the #3 Truss, finishing just after orbital sunset. At MET 3d5h38m42s she redocked the KMU in its stowage position in the payload bay, deactivated it, and prepared to end the EVA. EVA time was 22m30s for Smits and 24m31s for Britton. Britton reported that the KMU handled surprisingly well; the many tests of the previous designs on STS-41D, STS-51C, and STS-51O had finally paid off. The overall crew assessment was that construction with the KMU was easier than with Canadarm. At MET 2d5h57m11s the #8 liquid fuel tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, followed by the #2 tank at MET 2d5h59m12s, but the crew were able to transfer their contents to another tank. Vang and Koch spent Flight Day 5 preparing for their spacewalk the next day. Haley Vang exited the airlock at MET 4d5h09m45s, followed by Maria Koch at MET 4d5h11m00s. They proceeded to various workstations along the length of the Truss to connect test cabling*, and then disconnect them again in preparation for stowage of the Truss. EVA time was 22m52s for Koch and 25m08s for Vang. Due to the good performance of the KMUs and forecast bad weather at KSC on the planned Feb. 12 landing date and the date after, flight controllers elected to have EVA3 completely disassemble the truss and have the mission land the day thereafter, one day early. The original flight plan had been to partially disassemble the Truss during the EVA and complete this using Canadarm. Elizabeth Britton exited the airlock at MET 6d4h28m30s, followed by Anna Smits at MET 6d4h29m29s. Smits boarded the #1 KMU and began activating it, while Britton translated to the Truss and began undoing some remaining cabling. Smits docked to the end of the #4 Truss, which was then undocked from the truss structure. After some unanticipated difficulties due to the positioning of the truss structure, Smits managed to redock the #4 Truss to the STM, but due to the positioning difficulties she was unable to attach the truss in the correct orientation, which would block the #3 Truss from being attached. Flight controllers made the call to rotate the STM to accommodate the #3 Truss, which Smits then attached. An alternate plan was devised to attempt to retrieve all four truss segments, considering that it was the #1 Truss attached to the SCE Base Unit that was blocking proper placement. Smits grappled the #2 Truss with her KMU, and then Britton boarded and activated the #2 KMU. Smits undocked the #2 Truss and stood by next to the payload bay while Britton grappled the #1 Truss and undocked with it. Britton successfully stowed the #1 Truss, and then undocked and moved the #2 KMU into its docking position. Smits needed to undock and then redock to the other end of the #2 Truss, and then successfully docked it to the STM, completing the stowage of the truss. Smits redocked her KMU in the stowage position, and then the astronauts retreated inside the airlock. The total EVA time was 52m15s for Britton and 50m42s for Smits, by far the longest spacewalk of the Shuttle Program. Houtkooper and Koch then proceeded to stow and power down Canadarm. At MET 6d5h51m Dykstra and Wakefield performed an OMS burn to lower the orbit to 93x124km, and a second at MET 7d0h08m to circularize to 93x101km, period 32m26s; the "boom" heard on one of the burn on Flight Day 2 reoccurred on the first of these burns. The crew prepared for landing a day earlier than originally planned, as the forecast of rain at KSC on February 12 continued to be borne out. The crew completed the deorbit burn at MET 7d5h25m. Entry interface occurred at MET 7d5h30m28s. Atlantis touched down at KSC with wheel stop at MET 7d5h43m18s; the approach was hotter and rollout longer than typical. *In reality I just had them sit on the ladders on the truss for some time. Next Up: Columbia is scheduled for launch on February 15 on STS-61A, a Spacelab mission sponsored by West Germany.

STS-61D Challenger Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Orson Sauvageon (CDR), Martha Cummins (PLT), Lyell Power (MS1), Adam Donne (MS2), Liam Xun (MS3), Peter Yamaguchi (PS1), Hendrick Van 'T Hout, ESA/The Netherlands (PS2) Backup Crew: Octavian Moreau (PS1), Ampelio Zini, ESA/Italy (PS2) Payload: Astro 1: Shuttle Telescope Assembly (Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer [1.8m aperture; UVSE], Infrared Fourier Transform Spectrograph [1.0m aperture; IFTS], 2x Grazing Incidence X-ray Telescopes [0.625m apertures; GIXT]), 2x Gamma Ray Pathfinder Experiment (GRAPE), STA Crygenic Support Facility (SCSF) Payload Mass: 3,838 kg Launch: January 12, 1986 5:50:00 from Pad 39B at Kerbal Space Center Mission Duration: 10d3h35m49s Landing: January 23, 1986 3:25:49 at Kerbal Space Center Statistics & Milestones: 33rd Space Shuttle mission; 12th flight of Challenger; 1st launch from KSC Pad 39B; 15th landing at KSC; 3rd night landing of the space shuttle program. Payload Specialist Hendrick Van 'T Hout was the first kerbal from the Netherlands to fly in space, as well as the first member of ESA Astronaut Group 2 to fly. Narrative Summary: After the launch was pushed back one day due to weather, Challenger lifted off from the newly-renovated Pad 39B* at Kerbal Space Center on January 12, 1986. Enclosed in the payload bay was a suite of telescopes covering wavelengths all the way from gamma rays to infrared radiation. During ascent, the external tank winglets did not separate when commanded at the nominal altitude of 20km, but did separate successfully when commanded a second time at MET 3m43 at an altitude of approximately 50 km. Challenger was placed into an initial 39x135km orbit. An OMS burn at MET 15m placed the orbiter into a 74x135km orbit, inclination 9.6 degrees, period 32m57s; the inclination was significantly higher than intended due to guidance errors during ascent. At MET 30m the Blue Team (Cummins, Power, Yamaguchi) went to bed while the Red Team (Sauvageon, Donne, Xun, and Van 'T Hout) began activating and checking out the orbiter systems, and additionally began chilling the IFTS and its associated 1m telescope with the cryogenic cooling system. Blue Team completed an OMS maneuver at MET 3h49m to raise the orbit to 74x152km, and a second at MET 4h06m to circularize it at 149x159km, period 36m28s. At MET 1d0h32m Red Team began the process to deploy the Shuttle Telescope Assembly, first retracting the locks holding it in the payload bay, and then raising it out of the payload bay to its operational attitude. The crew began observations with the STA at MET 1d0h45m. Most of the remainder of the mission proceeded smoothly. The crew concluded observations at MET 10d0h2m, after nearly 9 days of astronomical observations. Red Team began powering down and stowing the Shuttle Telescope Assembly; they completed the stowage procedures 23 minutes later. At MET 10d0h26m25s the #3 oxygen tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking; a planned OMS maneuver to lower the orbit which was then imminent was postponed until the tank was allowed to leak dry to avoid any possibility of ignition in the aft compartment. At MET 10d0h55m57s the payload bay door motors failed, the first time during the Space Shuttle Program that this had happened while the payload bay was open. This forced the addition of an emergency spacewalk to the flight to fix the problem. At MET 10d1h06m the crew performed an OMS burn to lower the orbit to 99x158km, and a second at MET 10d1h23m to circularize to 95x101km, period 30m28s. Blue Team was awoken early at MET 10d2h00m to prepare for the emergency spacewalk and landing. Lyell Power exited the airlock at MET 10d2h30m50s, followed by Adam Donne at MET 10d2h32m05s. They quickly repaired the motors. EVA time was 2m24s for Donne and 4m29s for Power. The crew successfully closed the payload bay doors at MET 10d3h00m. Challenger completed the deorbit burn at MET 10d3h17m. Entry interface occurred at MET 10d3h22m30s. Sauvageon and Cummins brought Challenger in for a night landing at KSC with wheel stop at MET 10d3h35m49s, bringing to a close the longest space shuttle flight to date. Next Up: Pending the successful completion of investigations into the causes of the winglet and payload bay door motor anomalies on STS-61D, Atlantis is scheduled to launch on STS-61B on January 31 for a mission to test space construction techniques in preparation for Space Station Liberty. *Pad 39B is a meta-game convenience to allow me to have two shuttles on the pad at once. I am not actually running one of the mods that adds launch pads to KSC.

STS-51L Discovery Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Valentina Kerman (CDR), Arlene O'Brian (PLT), Wesley Vann (MS1), Ridley Warren (MS2), Jeffrey Van Rompuy (MS3), Edith Godfrey (PS1), Timothy Leggieri (PS2) Backup Crew: Juliana Luther (PS1) Payload: Galaxy VI-B commsat, BusinessLink 1 commsat Payload Mass: 6,596 kg Launch: December 21, 1985 5:40:00 from Pad 39A at Kerbal Space Center Mission Duration: 5d1h12m08s Landing: December 27, 1985 0:52:08 at Kerbal Space Center Statistics & Milestones: 32nd Space Shuttle mission; 7th flight of Discovery; 14th landing at Kerbal Space Center. Payload Specialist Edith Godfrey, a teacher, was the first astronaut to fly through the Civilians in Space program. Narrative Summary: The crew included two payload specialists, teacher Edith Godfrey, who would deliver televised lessons from orbit for America's schoolchildren, and Timothy Leggieri of Probodobodyne Inc., who flew to conduct a middeck materials science experiment. The payload included BusinessLink 1, the largest commercial commsat flown to date on the shuttle, which was built to enable the efficient transfer of business data between the Kerbal States and Europe. The shuttle deployed its payloads from a 200km altitude as no commercially-available upper stage was capable of taking BusinessLink 1 to geosynchronous orbit from the usual 100km deployment altitude. After launch was pushed back one day due to bad weather at KSC, ground controllers debated pushing back liftoff again to allow cold temperatures at Edwards Air Force Range to rise, but ultimately decided to proceed with the planned T-0. Discovery lifted off on the first try on December 21, 1985. At MET 3m17s the alternator on the left SSME failed. Discovery was placed into an initial 36x210km orbit. An OMS burn at MET 18m placed it into a 72x211km orbit, inclination 0.9 degrees, period 35m34s. At MET 19m34s the #16 liquid fuel tank began leaking, but the crew transferred most of the contents into other tanks. At MET 4h02m42s the #10 liquid fuel tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking. The crew performed an OMS burn at MET 4h44m to lower the orbit to 72x199km, and a second at MET 5h02m to circularize to 196x209km, period 40m01s. Payload Specialist Godfrey delivered several televised lessons from orbit for America's schoolchildren on this and the next day. Galaxy VI-B was deployed from the payload bay at MET 2d0h04m39s. The first PAM burn one orbit later placed the payload into a 209x2,851km transfer orbit, and further burns placed it into its operational orbit. At MET 2d4h03m the #4 water tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking; the crew were able to transfer most of the contents into other tanks. At MET 2d5h03m12s one of the three monopropellant tanks aboard BusinessLink 1 began leaking. BusinessLink1 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 2d5h58m46s. One orbit later the first PAM burn raised the payload into a 207x2,643km transfer orbit; the PAM, the largest on the market, was known to be slightly underpowered for a satellite this massive. At MET 3d0h48m29s the internal battery in Discovery's #2 fuel cell short-circuited. At MET 3d2h07m54s the #13 liquid fuel tank began leaking. BusinessLink 1 later attained its operational orbit. At MET 3d5h02m32s the middeck monopropellant tank began leaking, losing most of the contents to space. During the day the crew sent Christmas messages down to Kerbin. At MET 3d5h09m the crew completed an OMS burn to lower the orbit to 102x197km. At MET 3d5h12m18s the middeck battery short-circuited. A second burn at MET 3d5h28m circularized the orbit to 97x104km, period 32m41s. At MET 5d0h53m the crew completed an RCS-assisted deorbit burn to put Discovery on track for landing at KSC. Entry interface occurred at MET 5d0h59m24s. At an altitude of about 25 km Discovery experienced some instability and came close to spinning out of control; the crew were able to recover but were unable to maintain the nominal 10 degree nose-up attitude, and as a result the remainder of the descent was hotter than usual and Discovery touched down at a velocity of ~140 m/s, significantly higher than usual. Kerman and O'Brian brought Discovery in for a slightly bumpy landing at KSC with wheel stop at MET 5d1h12m08s. Less than a minute after landing the #4 battery in the orbit aft compartment short-circuited. Discovery required extensive repairs after the many malfunctions on this flight and required over three months in the OPF. Next Up: Challenger is scheduled to launch on STS-61D, carrying the Astro 1 Spacelab payload, on January 11, 1986. In other news: KSP took the unprecedented step of canceling a future shuttle mission. STS-61L had been scheduled to launch on September 14, 1986, to carry the Long Duration Exposure Facility on its second flight. After the LDEF was returned from space on STS-51O, however, engineers discovered structural defects* that would prevent it from flying safely in space again. The crew assigned to STS-61L consisted of Valentina Kerman (CDR), Rosaleen Pulnik (PLT), Ethan Santoro (MS1), Harriett Hartmann (MS2), Fred Langbrook (MS3), and Nicholas Aalders of Canada (PS1). Kerman, Pulnik, and Hartmann were reassigned to STS-71A, and Santoro and Langbrook to STS-61Q. Year-End Summary: During 1985 the Space Shuttle Program launched 15 flights. Challenger flew five times, Columbia and Discovery four times each, and Atlantis twice. The orbiters logged 80d0h03m60s of flight time, and carried 84 kerbals from four nations (5 kerbals flew twice) and 102,591 kg of payload into orbit. *That is, the severe glitches experienced both on deployment and recapture that prevented me from using Canadarm for either...

STS-61C Atlantis Mission Report Quick Summary: Crew: Jane Steffensen (CDR), Peter Marchesi (PLT), Stephanie Van Can (MS1), Kolby Baart (MS2), Alanna Zelenko (MS3), Tanya Abbott (PS1), Zuleika Bellamy (PS2) Payload: ExMarSat IV commsat, WorldCom 2 commsat, Bellstar 8-IV commsat, 4 Getaway Special Cannisters Payload Mass: 6,448 kg Launch: November 34, 1985 4:29:00 Mission Duration: 5d0h51m10s Landing: December 4, 1985 5:20:10 Statistics & Milestones: 31st Space Shuttle mission; 2nd flight of Atlantis; 13th landing at Kerbal Space Center. Narrative Summary: This mission included two Payload Specialists: the third flight of Tanya Abbott of Rockomax Corporation, in order to conduct zero-g fluid flow experiments; and Zuleika Bellamy of Habtech Industries to conduct materials experiments in preparation for HabTech’s role building SpaceHab and Space Station Liberty. This was slightly awkward because Rockomax had lost the space station contract to HabTech, but Abbott and Bellamy became fast friends while training for the mission. The launch of ExMarSat IV was provided by KSP to External Maritime Satellite Corporation at no cost as compensation for the loss of ExMarSat II on STS-41B in March 1984 due to mistakes by KSP personnel, while the satellite itself was funded with the insurance payout from ExMarSat II. Launch was originally scheduled for November 33, but was pushed back one day due to a forecast 97% chance of poor weather on the 33rd. Atlantis lifted off on the first opportunity on November 34, 1985. It was placed into an initial 16x150km orbit. An OMS burn at MET 14m placed the orbiter into a 72x150km orbit, inclination 2.2 degrees, period 33m24s. At MET 25m18s, one of the antennas aboard ExMarSat IV failed, and at MET 27m05s, one of the batteries on WorldCom 2 failed. At MET 33m06s one of the sets of reaction wheels aboard WorldCom 2 failed. None of these failures were on-orbit repairable. At MET 35m49s, one of WorldCom 2's antennas failed. WorldCom executives began debating whether they wanted the satellite deployed, or returned to Kerbin for servicing; they ultimately decided to deploy the satellite as planned. An OMS burn at MET 4h40m raised the orbit to 102x150km, and a second at MET 4h57m circularized the orbit at 99x103km, period 32m41s. ExMarSat IV was deployed from the payload bay at MET 2d0h45m15s. The first PAM burn was initiated one orbit later; the PAM exhibited instability while burning, requiring the spacecraft SAS to activate to keep the burn on track, and the PAM first stage also overperformed, placing the spacecraft in a 102x3,251km geosynchronous transfer orbit. On the second PAM burn the spacecraft spun out of control, leaving the satellite in a 829x3,251km orbit. The spacecraft was able to use most of its onboard fuel to raise the orbit to 2,863x3,251km. Ground controllers were ultimately able to place the satellite into its operational orbit, albeit using almost all of its maneuvering fuel and with a higher than nominal inclination of 3.4 degrees. WorldCom 2 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 3d0h15m14s. The first PAM burn one orbit later placed the payload into a 101x2,868km GTO. The second PAM burn and an RCS correction burn placed WorldCom 2 into its operational orbit. Bellstar 8-IV was deployed from the payload bay at MET 3d4h38m20s. The first PAM burn one orbit later placed the satellite onto a 100x3,099km transfer orbit, and with a further burn and two RCS correction maneuvers it was placed into its operational orbit. The crew closed the payload bay at MET 5d0h12m. After receiving a good final weather report, they completed the deorbit burn at MET 5d0h28m. At MET 5d0h29m26s the deployment motor on one of the GAS Cannisters failed, but it has already been used so this was not a problem. Entry interface occurred at MET 5d0h34m18s. At MET 5d0h42m28s the motor to actuate the airlock failed. Steffensen and Marchesi brought Atlantis in for a smooth landing at Kerbal Space Center at MET 5d0h51m10s. Next Up: Discovery is scheduled to launch on December 19 on mission STS-51L, the final mission of 1985, to carry two commsats into orbit. In Other News: During November and December 1985 the prototype space shuttle Enterprise is undergoing facility and fit checks at Dessert Air Force Base in preparation for the commencement of polar-orbit shuttle flights from that launch site. The initial launch, STS-62A on Discovery, is currently scheduled for July 1986.