Kuiper_Belt

STS-125 - The Final Hubble Servicing Mission - May 11th 2009 After the Columbia Disaster, The Space Shuttle Program was grounded entirely. Prior to the disaster, The next mission to Hubble after Servicing Mission 3B would be Servicing Mission 4 by Columbia on April 15th of 2004 with several others planned. All planned missions were immediately canceled with the grounding of the Shuttle Fleet. With new guidelines of all missions being able to reach the ISS and a retirement date set for the Shuttles, A final Hubble servicing mission was under serious question of not happening. Space Shuttles couldn't reach the ISS and Hubble during one mission due to their orbital inclinations being very different (Hubble at 28.5 and The ISS at 51.6) and lack of fuel to perform such a plane change. Should a Shuttle lose its ability to reenter while servicing the HST, there would have no way to save the crew. Luckily engineers and scientists at NASA figured out a solution. The Hubble Space Telescopes scientific value was astronomical and it's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope wasn't slated for a launch until 2011 and would be continued to be delayed until late 2021. With this considered NASA needed to figure out a way to reach Hubble safely. Should a shuttle be damaged and could not reenter a second Shuttle would be on standby stacked and ready for flight to rescue the crew. Launch Pad 39-B which had been deactivated since 2006 for modifications and use by the Constellation Program was reactivated to host a Shuttle for an STS-125 contingency mission. This resulted in the situation where two Shuttles stood side by side. STS-125 flown by Atlantis would have STS-400 flown by Endeavour to rescue her. Due to delays with this mission Endeavour was swapped with Discovery for the contingency mission, STS-401 to differentiate the orbiter being used. After further delays STS-401 was reverted back to STS-400 when Endeavour after flying STS-126 was restacked allowing Discovery to fly STS-119. Atlantis stood at Pad 39-A with five major elements in her cargo bay. From fore to aft, The External Orbiter Docking System & Airlock with the Docking Apparatus removed, The Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier, The Orbital Replacement Unit Carried, The Flight Support System, and The Multi-Use Logistic Equipment Carrier. Atlantis' crew of seven stood by waiting for their liftoff at 1:39 PM EDT. After reaching orbit, Atlantis deployed the payload bay doors and prepared to grapple and begin the OBSS survey. After the OBSS survey was completed and the OBSS stowed, Atlantis continued to coast to rendezvous and capture Hubble. Carried to orbit by Atlantis were The Wide Field Camera 3, The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, replacement gyroscopes, replacement batteries, the Soft Capture Mechanism, New Outer Blankets, The fine Guidance Sensor, replacement science and data handling busses. and additional components to repair the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). These components would be the center of attention for the five planned EVAs by the STS-125 crew. RMS Capture was confirmed on May 13th at 17:14 UTC on Flight Day 3. The next task was to attach Hubble to Atlantis via the Flight Support System. Hubble was berthed to the FSS at 18:12 UTC 58 minutes after RMS Capture. Now the crew of STS-125 would prepare for the following EVAs of this mission. EVAs 1,3, and 5 were conducted by EVA Crew 1 consisting of John Grunsfeld and Andrew Feustel. EVA's 2 and 4 were conducted by EVA Crew 2 consisting of Michael Massimino and Michael Good. STS-125 would retrieve a relic and hero to the any fan of Astronomy and Cosmology, The Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement or COSTAR, which corrected the Hubble primary mirror's spherical aberration. COSTAR could be removed as the new experiments had been built with the Mirrors dimensions fully realized making COSTAR obsolete. (I didn't do separate EVAs and I wont be separating them here due to the resulting length of this post. I would highly recommend you read up on them as they’re quite interesting!) At the end of Flight Day 9, All five EVAs had been conducted leaving Hubble ready for the future, ready to last until its successors come to replace it. The crew of STS-125 regrappled Hubble and prepared to release it from the Flight Support System at 11:24 UTC on May 19th. At 12:57 UTC on May 19th 2009, the crew of STS-125 released Hubble from Canadarm marking the last time humanity had Hubble within their grasp. Atlantis would back away and observe Hubble fully redeploy. Taking final pictures before they back away for good. After a final inspection, Atlantis was cleared for landing and Endeavour was relinquished from its position as STS-400 on May 21st. The crew of STS-125 initially planned to land on Flight Day 12 May 22, but due to repeated Weather problems at Kennedy and Edwards needing to be activated Atlantis stayed in orbit until May 24th 2009 when she deorbited and prepared for reentry. After spending 12 days and 21 Hours in space Atlantis touched down at Runway 22 of Edwards Airforce base in California at 8:39 AM Pacific, May 24th 2009. Afterwards Atlantis would be loaded onto the SCA and flown back to the KSC in Florida, leaving Edwards on June 1st and arriving at Kennedy Space Center June 2nd. STS-125 marked several milestones for the Shuttle Program. First being the Final Hubble Servicing Mission. Second, it was the final landing at Edwards Airforce Base. Third, this was Atlantis' first non space station related flight in 14 years. Lastly, this was the final free flight of a Space Shuttle mission, All subsequent missions would rendezvous with the ISS. At this point The Shuttle Program was winding down, eight more missions remained for The Shuttle Program, with an additional being added at the end. Meanwhile Hubble was as alive as ever working well through the 2010s and still going in the 2020s. STS-125 was one of the most important missions for humanity's understanding of space. Hubble's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope would be delayed significantly longer and should a fault have occurred with the unserviced Hubble, the scientific community would have lost one of its most important tools. Luckily, we live with Hubble still functioning to this day with so much more science to discover. Coincidentally this post coincides with a rather important milestone for astronomy! As I write this the James Webb Space Telescope is standing by for a launch in French Guiana on an Ariane 5 launch vehicle awaiting launch in 7 hours and 54 minutes for launch on Christmas Day. If all goes well, we'll live at the remarkable point where we'll have two massive space telescopes peering into the void to see the beautiful universe we live in and if you ask me that would be the best Christmas present of all. Merry Christmas everyone and Godspeed James Webb!

I'd say the biggest problem with multiple Aerobrake passing's would be radiating the heat of the TPS. I am definitely not educated enough in material science nor thermodynamics to know if this is a valid concern . LH2 Boiloff would be large concern there for the realism aspect. Overall with the residual hydrogen on SSME startup I believe the best course of action would be to use the RCS or the OMS. You'll have to ullage the fuel anyway and you'll be moving the shuttle ahead of the residual cloud. Then when you ignite the SSMEs the hydrogen is already rather far away. I hope that made sense!

Interesting! Can’t wait to see it!

Bring a spray bottle and a squeegee! I've fleshed out Hubble and the payload bay (more difficult than I initially thought!) of STS-125 to a point at which I'm satisfied with! I've been busy with life as of late but I've been chipping away at this project when the opportunity arises. If I'm lucky I'll have time to squeak it out before the weekend is out but hopefully I'll have it out before next Thursday! STS-125 Coming Soon!

You're right on the money with KSRSS! The balancing has been perfectly fine for me as of now so a wait for custom science balancing shouldn't be a concern. Can't wait to play with the next Beta! I can't overstate how much this mod has revitalized my love for career mod playthroughs!

I finally finished out my recreation of STS-112 for our project to recreate the ISS These are a few of my favorite shots but if you want to see more screenshots learn more about this mission and or the construction of the ISS then feel free to check out our series!

STS-112 and The S1 Truss - October 7th 2002 Space Shuttle Atlantis set the stage for the Integrated Truss Structure with STS-110 and the delivery of the S0 Truss. Now, Atlantis stands again at Pad 39-B six months later with the next component of the ITS and the International Space Station as a whole. The Starboard 1 Truss is a semi hexagonal Truss that will attach to the S0 Truss and provide a triple radiator panel that can pivot to expose as little of the radiator to the sun as possible. This triple radiator set is one of two (The second is mounted on the P1 Truss) large radiators that will assist the stations ability to regulate temperature. STS-112's crew of six consisting of Commander Jeffry Ashby, Pilot Pamela Melroy (Currently the NASA Deputy Administrator), Mission Specialists Piers Sellers, Sandra Magnus, Davis Wolf, and Russian Cosmonaut, Fyodor N. Yurchikhin boarded Atlantis and prepared for liftoff. Mounted on the External Tank for the first time was "Rocketcam". A Camera pointed at The Space Shuttle Orbiter for the public to enjoy ascent from a different perspective. STS-112 prepared for liftoff on October 7th 2002 at 2:45 PM Eastern Standard Time. If you want some more images from the mission, check out the Imgur Album! A Rocketcam-esque shot. A couple more of the ascent soon. After Booster Separation, Rocketcam was covered with residue from the separation motor rendering its view useless. After Atlantis reached orbit, the crew perfected the orbit for a docking on Flight Day 2. Meanwhile on the ground, engineers were investigating an anomaly on ascent. During liftoff a 4 by 5 by 12 inch chunk of foam from the external tank had broken off and recollided with the left SRB ET attachment ring resulting in a 4 inch diameter dent that was 3 inches deep. (Note: this is made of rather thick steel) Despite the problem, NASA continued with the existing launch schedule without adding risk of "foam strikes". The decision to continue would culminate with the second shuttle launch after STS-112 when Columbia on STS-107 was struck by a foam on the leading edge of its left wing and disintegrated on reentry. On Flight Day 3, Atlantis coasted towards the ISS making small adjustments to close in with PMA-2 Atlantis docked to the International Space Station on October 9th at 15:17 UTC. After the pressurization checkouts Peggy Whitson of Expedition 5 asked Commander Ashby if he had brought her snacks (She specifically wanted Salsa). Upon hearing that Ashby did have the Salsa she responded "Ok we'll let you in". After gifting snacks the crew began to prepare for the work of Flight Day 4. Flight Day 4 was a busy day consisting of moving the S1 truss from Atlantis' payload bay to the starboard side of S0 using CanadArm 2. Afterwards the first of three spacewalks completed by David Wolf and Piers Sellers would secure S1 to the rest of the station permanently and begin to connect ammonia, electrical, and data cables. At 14:36 UTC four bolts were activated and locked the S1 truss in place. The crew of EVA-1 got prepared for the spacewalk. At 16:21 UTC the crew of EVA-1 exit the airlock and began the work of integrating S1 with the rest of the station. EVA-1 ended at 22:22 PM UTC on October 10 after an issue with CanadArm 2 necessitated a manual journey out to the end of S1 instead of being able to ride the end of CanadArm 2. This resulted in the EVA clocking in at 7 hours and 1 minute. Flight Day 5 saw the joint crews moving experiments and resources from Atlantis to the ISS and vice versa. The crew also prepared their EVA equipment for EVA 2 on Flight Day 6. EVA 2 started at 14:31 UTC consisted of work continuing to integrate S1 with the rest of the station. More launch restraints were removed and a TV camera was installed. EVA 2 ended at 20:35 UTC after 6 hours and 4 minutes of work. Flight Day 7 consisted of more transfers from the Shuttle to the Station. Oxygen and Nitrogen were transferred to Quest's storage tanks. The crew began to prepare for the third and final EVA scheduled for Flight Day 8. EVA 3 started at 14:08 UTC and consisted of final installation of S1 and an assortment of get ahead task such as removing a stuck bolt left by STS-110 and the installation of S0. After 6 hours and 36 minutes on EVA Sellers and Wolf reentered the ISS at 20:44 UTC and with the crew and prepared for Flight Day 9, where the crews would prepare for the departure of Atlantis and perform various get ahead tasks. (I am not sure when the central S1 radiator was deployed but I assume it would be on Flight Day 9). October 16th Atlantis and the crew undocked from PMA-2 and the ISS on October 16th 2002 at 13:13 UTC after spending 6 days and 21 hours aboard the orbital outpost. The crew would back off the ISS and then do a fly around and take pictures to document its progress and use it for engineering data. After the fly around, Atlantis backed off completely from the ISS and coasted alone for 2 days before reentry and landing at Kennedy Space Center. Atlantis touched down at Runway 33 at the Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida at 10:44 Eastern Daylight Time on October 18th after 10 days an 19 hours of flight. Atlantis would be prepared for her next Mission STS-114 to deliver supplies to the ISS with an MPLM but due to the impending Columbia Disaster, Atlantis would not fly again until 2006. This was one of my favorite missions to make. I had a lot of fun with the challenge that was the CanadArm movements and I think I took some of my best screenshots ever with this mission. It was horrible to choose which ones to put in the thread and I must admit I may have added too many but there are more with the Imgur album. I hope you've enjoyed reading and viewing this mission as much as I enjoyed making it . After STS-112 Expedition 5 would spend their next couple weeks doing experiments in the orbital outpost. Among other things, Expedition 5 was awaiting the next Soyuz to replace the approaching 6 month old Soyuz TM-34. However, this next Soyuz would be different from any old Soyuz TM replacement. Up Next, Soyuz TMA-1!

Thor-Able - A Legends Origins Gosh I love Waterfall plumes on these bad boys!

I've played around with the beta in career and so far I've been loving it! The progression feels really nice and it really revitalized my love for science and career mode! Here is one of my early rockets right there. If you are still taking requests for mods I would suggest integration for Modular Launch Pads and then the BDB Apollo Beta. Overall I've been loving it and I cant wait to play more! Keep up the fantastic work!

Cool, eh? STS-112 and The S1 Truss Coming Soon... (Radiator Included! )

One last goodbye... STS-125 in the design phases...

Glad to see you're still going at this ! No shame in taking a break. Godspeed with the work my friend, I've been there . Can't wait for the next mission ! Page 2!

You can get the instructions for Energia on Friznit’s wonderful wiki instructions and then the shuttle is rather easy to construct if you put Kerbolrise in the part search bar in the SPH/VAB.

That would be Kerbolrise: Hope that helps

Banned for succumbing to peer pressure!

I'm finally giving Buran, Burya and the rest of the Buran Class Orbiters the love and attention they deserve! (In this case Buran ) A fitting first payload: A Water bottle containing a fluid near and dear to the Soviets hearts... Finally, I'd like to thank you and the rest of the team for the work done to create and maintain these wonderful mods! I wasn't really well versed nor interested in Soviet/Russian rocketry before playing around with them. Tantares took a large part in forging a deep respect and appreciation for the Soviet/Russian space industry that I now hold today. Thank you all for your time on this mod and thank you Beale for your work on Tantares and your suite of other mods. Your work is greatly appreciated! PS: I haven't forgotten about this: Hopefully coming soon !

Shuttle Adventures R&D - An Update So I’ve been working on the foundations for the next couple missions but I’m not sure when I’ll have one of these out. I’m not sure if any of these will be The Next Mission but they’re definitely in the works. Well, best we begin and what better to start with than something won’t be a stand alone mission but more mission Shuttle infrastructure… The SCA & Shuttle Tail Cone While I was happy with the original SCA and tail cone, I feel like I’ve improved in my odd shape making so I thought I’d give it another shot and this is my initial result. While I’m nearly done with the SCA (I need to make some decals ) the tail cone is still WIP. I’m excited to use these in the future but for the next price I’ve been working on will be part of a standalone post… Space Shuttle Advanced Boosters Space Shuttle upgrades were quite numerous prior to The Challenger Disaster. Among many was the liquid booster concept which I’ve been working on. I plan on cover a lot of the concepts in a paper which covers shuttle upgrades( including the awesome looking composite booster casing SRBs). I made a concept comprised of 4 liquid boosters that isn’t real as far as I can tell but maybe I might be accidentally making a concept that was studied. The 4 booster concept looks cool and looks similar to the final thing I would like to show, The Soviet Buran Legend has it The Soviets had their own space shuttle… Its True! @Jackticalcovered it early in the thread but I’ve got something’s I would like to cover, specifically it’s planned role in the Mir space station and some visits from Buran’s American cousin… The eagle eyed among you may notice that the orbiter is not a SOCK orbiter… It’s from the mod Kerbolrise, a shuttle hybrid of STS and the Buran supporting both configurations. I feel it fits the bill pretty well until we get the Buran for Benjee10. I’m excited to use the Tantares Energia, it looks magnificent! Some Final Ramblings I’ve got some other things in the works like Shuttle-Salyut, Another Shuttle-Mir Mission, STS-51A, Hubble Servicing Missions and Hubble Recovery! Lots of things in store and hope to share all of these missions with you over the coming months! I’ll leave you guys with some more of the Liquid Boosters as the Waterfall Configs are to die for also in love with the Sofi… yeah that’s right that SOFI, Spray On Foam Insulation… I love the aesthetic so much! More missions coming soon!

Soyuz TM-33 Port Relocation - April 20th 2002 The Soyuz Spacecraft’s on orbit lifetime is about 6 months before needing to be returned home. Having been launched in October of 2001, Soyuz TM-33 was reaching is expiration date. In addition to this the Russian Segment has only 3 Soyuz and Progress compatible docking ports, being Zvezda’s Aft, Pirs, and Zarya’s Nadir. Zvezda's Aft docking port is generally reserved for Progress resupply ships. Its advantageous for boosting the station with Progress’s engine. Pirs is generally not occupied for long stretched to allow for use of its airlock functionality. While Pirs can be used as an airlock while having a spacecraft docked to it, in the event the Space Station needs to be evacuated while a spacewalk is being conducted the Soyuz would be obstructed by the closed hatches on the interior of the station. This leaves Zarya's Nadir port as the optimal long duration port. Soyuz TM-33 docked to Zarya’s Nadir port back in October 2001 and now needs to move for Soyuz TM-34. Yuri Onufrienko, Daniel Bursch and Carl Walz of Expedition 4 board the Soyuz on April 20th 2002 at 09:16 UTC and undock after 178 days docked to the station. Docking Confirmed! The crew disembark from Soyuz and resume work on the station awaiting the arrival of their new ride and guests. Soyuz TM-34: The End of TM - April 25 2002 Soyuz TM was first used in 1986 and first flown with crew in 1987, both flights flew to Mir. With a storied 16 year history of lifting crews to Mir and The ISS, Soyuz TM-34 would cap of the legacy of Soyuz TM. Replacing it would be Soyuz TMA with a suite of upgrades from the older TM variant much like Soyuz TM did to Soyuz T. Flying aboard Soyuz TM-34 would be Cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenk, Astronaut Roberto Vittori of ESA and South African Entrepreneur and Space Tourist to be, Mark Shuttleworth. Standing by for launch at 11:26 AM local time, the crew and the Soyuz U carrier rocket waited as the launch clock counted closer to zero. Orbit achieved! After separation, Soyuz TM-34 coasted and tweaked its orbit for approach and rendezvous on the 27th of April. Now lined up with Zvezda's Nadir port, TM-34 closes in for final approach and capture. Contact. Soyuz TM-34 docked to the ISS at 07:55 UTC on April 27th 2002. The crew opens hatches and exchange greetings with the Expedition 4 crew. They spend about 8 days aboard with the Expedition 4 crew and completed various experiments. After the 8 days elapsed, the crew of TM-34 boarded Soyuz TM-33 and prepared to undock at 00:31 UTC on May 5th 2002. After backing away form The ISS for 3 hours Soyuz T-33 burned to deorbit and land in Kazakhstan. Gidzenko, Vittori, and Shuttleworth landed at 8:51 local time in Kazakhstan capping off the 14th crewed mission to the ISS. The crew of Expedition 4 had a month left in their mission aboard the orbital outpost before they'd be cycled out for the next expedition crew. They carried on with experiments and prepared for the arrival of the next crew. Up Next, STS-111 and Expedition 5!

Tonight, Soyuz TM-33 changes Docking Ports, Soyuz TM-34 launches and docks, and Soyuz TM-33 Returns home... (Top Gear is awesome ) Coming Soon, Soyuz TM-34! (Maybe tonight but probably not )

Thanks! Perhaps I'll do more wacky things with Shuttle Saturn, maybe I'll whip up a moon landing architecture or fit one to Saturn Shuttle. We'll see I prefer do describe it as the Von Braun and the DODs illegitimated lovechild timeline . You bet! Realplume is used for SRBs and Waterfall for any liquid fuel engine. Thanks! Perhaps I could post the craft file at some point in the near future but I would like to warn you that it is a god awful thing to manage. For example you can't actually recover the boosters with FMRS if you launch from the modular launch pad base on a Katniss Cape pad. To recover I took photos of the launch until S-IC and then restarted the mission launch from the stock launch clamps so you can set the root part to the Space Shuttle (Setting the root part to the launch pad is paramount to getting the modular launch pads to work on Katniss Cape Canaveral Launch Pads). It's a convoluted process but I'll be hopefully posting it soon. It's got a lot of modded parts so be aware of that when I do... That would be these. Hopefully this helps!

STS-110 and The S0 Truss - April 8th 2002 The International Space Station is composed of two major elements, the US and Russian Orbital Segments. Composing the US Segment is two more major elements, the pressurized modules, and the Integrated Truss Structure. As of 2002, two of the segments have already been delivered and integrated to the ISS, Z1 and the P6 solar array wing. The orbital laboratory's power generation and heat dissipation is only enough to support the existing modules with some spare margin but it faces the problem of not being able to facilitate the addition of pressurized modules that are intended for the station. The solution is found in the Integrated Truss Structure. The Integrated Truss Structure (Also referred to as the stations backbone ITS or just Truss) is composed of several large elements amounting to a large unpressurized rail, perpendicular to Unity, Destiny, etc. When completed, the ITS will host 4 solar array wings, several radiators, batteries, experiments tools, spare components, and other important items to power, cool, and maintain the station. The initial foundation has already been laid out with Z1 and P6 but for the station to reach full capacity, the assembly of the lateral truss must begin. The first piece to be installed being S0. The Starboard 0 Truss or S0 is the primary connection of the greater truss backbone to the station, mounting to The Destiny Laboratory via several support pylons. S0 provides connections to the stations pressurized modules to support, power and heat transfer. S0 is also fitted with rails and the Mobile Transporter. When combined with the CanadArm 2 and the Mobile Base System, this will permit the CanadaArm to travel along the truss on the rails to facilitate assembly of the rest of the ITS. Standing by at Kennedy Space Centers Launch Pad 39-B, Space Shuttle Atlantis stands fueled for flight waiting for liftoff on April 8th 2002 at 4:44 PM Eastern Daylight Time. Atlantis is flying for the first time fitted with 3 Block 2 SSMEs or RS-25Ds providing more efficiency and greater thrust to facilitate the heavy payloads to the International Space Station. Atlantis is go for launch. If you would like to see the entire album please check out the Imgur Gallery! Once Atlantis is in orbit, She coasts and alters her orbit for an approach with the International Space Station in 2 days time for an eventual docking with PMA-2 attached to Destiny. Soft Capture Confirmed, Atlantis docks with the International Space Station on April 10th 2002 at 4:05 PM UTC. The crew open hatches and prepare to extract S0 from Atlantis' payload bay using CanadArm 2. Once nearly attached, Steven Smith and Rex Walheim of EVA crew 1 prepare for the first of four EVAs .where they will attach the S0 Truss to Destiny, remove launch restraints, make connections to the pressurized modules and prepare for the installation of the Mobile Base System, and additional truss segments. The subsequent EVA will be crewed by Jerry Ross and Lee Morin of EVA crew 2. (Crew 1 performed EVAs 1 & 3 while Crew 2 performed EVAs 2 & 4,) After installation, the first test of the Mobile Transporter is conducted, sliding it across the rails of S0. Success! The Mobile Transporter will permit the ability to move modules delivered by the Space Shuttle to far out on the ITS where the CanadArms couldn't reach normally. After 7 days docked to the ISS, Atlantis and the crew undocked on April 17th 2002 at 6:31 PM UTC. Atlantis would coast for 2 Days until on April 19th it would reenter for landing at Kennedy Space Center. Landing at Runway 33 of the Shuttle Landing Facility, Atlantis ended the ten day mission at 12:26 Eastern Daylight Time. The crew of Expedition 4 now prepared for the next visit to the station. Up Next, Soyuz TM-34!

Can someone scratch the backbone? Thanks! A picture of me testing out the movements for Canadarm 2 to put S0 in its permanent position. STS-110 & The S0 Truss Coming Soon!

Saturn Shuttle & Skylab - A Hell of A Trio! These are a few screenshots from a mission to document the Saturn Shuttle concept and a Fictional Shuttle Skylab mission. If you want to check out the complete mission in detail you can find it here. I did this mission to play around and show off the beautiful work being done on the Saturn Revamp with my beloved Space Shuttle. Seriously, you guys knocked the revamp out of the park and I cant thank you guys enough for it!

Saturn Shuttle - A Proposed Space Shuttle Booster Design While the Apollo Program was in full swing, NASA was looking forward. Enter The Space Shuttle, a reusable space ship to bring up materials and people to space cheaply and quickly, and it needed a ride to orbit. Meanwhile while NASA was designing its new ship, The Saturn V lifted off from Pads 39 A & B lifting men to touch The Moon. The engineers considered the idea of boosting The Shuttle and External Tank with a familiar part of existing hardware. The S-1C the first stage powered by five of the legendary F-1 Engines seemed up to the task. They envisioned launching it on mildly modified launch facilities. NASA ordered their stages of rockets from manufactures to be assimilated in the Vehicle Assembly Building. The first batch of Saturn Vs had been ordered and were launching the Apollo missions and eventually Skylab. Under the Saturn Shuttle design, The Space Shuttle would support space stations launched by Saturn Vs. This necessitated a second batch of Saturn rockets. Though the S-1Cs would see small modifications such as the new F-1A engine, made more efficient and provide more thrust. Though the S-1Cs of the Saturn Shuttles would be rather different from the Saturn V first stage. Shuttle S-1Cs would sport among other things, a large lifting surfaces restartable engines and landing gear. Recovering the henceforth referred to (for brevity) as SSS-1C (Space Shuttle S-1C) would land at the Shuttle Landing Facility, be recovered, where its F-1s would be replaced and then reflown. The SSS-1C would effectively replace the Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters. Standing by at Launch Pad 39-A, Space Shuttle Enterprise Stands by with a second generation Saturn V in the background for launch to Skylab. This'll be a lot of picture but if you want more, check out the album! The F-1As and RS-25s spool up for flight. The crew get ready for liftoff! Liftoff! After SSS-1C Separation and Adapter Jettison, Enterprise carries on to orbit for an eventual MECO a little after 8 minutes in to flight. The SSS-1C reorients for a boostback burn. Sporting a restartable center F-1A the SSS-1C boosts back to the Kennedy Space Center for a landing at the Shuttle Landing Facility. Afterwards, the Stage Adapter would drift down for splashdown under parachute in the Atlantic. Meanwhile in orbit, Enterprise coasts and corrects its orbit for rendezvous with Skylab. Docking confirmed! Enterprise docked with an already launched adapting module made of a test article for modified Apollo missions. Lifted by Enterprise is a new nodal module Opportunity, and an adapter to allow a connection from to the old Probe and Drogue docking system. Opportunity allows for future expansion and additional docking positions. Potential uses could be to dock to the nadir port of Opportunity and attach a replacement port solar array as well as additional modules such a Cupola. Now that Opportunity is attached, Enterprises crew needs to go on EVA and attach cables already set by previous Shuttle Crews to power up Opportunity. Enterprise did not carry an integrated Airlock, as in addition to Opportunity & the Docking Adapter, attached was Spacelab, filled with experiments and supply's for the revitalized station. As a result the EVAs would take place from Skylabs airlock. After a successful and enjoyable EVA, the crew of Enterprise powered up Opportunity and opened the hatches. The crew began to remove launch restraints and integrate experiments into Skylab for the duration of their stay. After their mission is done, Enterprise closed hatches with Skylab and undocked. Enterprise, prepares for reentry and landing at the Kennedy Space Center. Landing at Runway 33 of the SLF the Enterprise and the rest of the Shuttle Fleet would continue to fly on their heritage ride to space along side the legendary Saturn V. This mission was a giant excuse to play with Bluedog Design Bureau's Saturn Revamp and boy is it beautiful! Some of the best work the modding scene has ever seen! I decided for the mission I'd fly Enterprise for no particular reason other than it would be awesome. Also in regards to design decisions, The Saturn Shuttle concepts included designs with no flyback S-1C, but I thought this was a little more exciting! In addition to the mission beyond launch, it's based off of my limited knowledge of the Shuttle Skylab missions, but none of it is really following anything (I named the module Opportunity while writing this actually) so its kind of based on something, but still a nebulous idea. I'm real happy with how it turned out and I hope you guys do to! More missions coming soon!

The quality of work you guys have done in this revamp is simply stunning! Thank you for all the love and passion you put into this wonderful mod!