Kuiper_Belt

STS-106 September 8, 2000 With Progress M1-3 and Zvezda now attached to the orbital outpost, the crew of STS-106 could now make their voyage to the ISS. Due to the delays with Zvezda STS-106 is actually half of the original mission, with STS-101 being the other half. The primary objective of STS-106 was to fully connect and activate Zvezda. Though attached, Zvezda required electrical and other connection to the rest of the station. In addition to this Zvezda was launched partial empty due to payload weight limitations of the Proton launch vehicle, and the equipment already in Zvezda was in launched stowage conditions and needed to be unpacked. STS-106 also carried the SPACEHAB double module filled supplies for the station and were transferred over the days the Shuttle was attached. STS-106 flown by Atlantis had crew of seven, and stood by for launch on Launch Pad 39-B on September 8th 2000, at 8:45 in the morning. Astronauts Ed Lu and Yuri Malenchenko conducted a 6 hour space walk with the primary task of making external connections between Zvezda and the rest of the ISS. After EVA procedures the crew continued work to ready Zvezda and the rest of the ISS for future missions before they departed. Atlantis landed on Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center in the early hours of September 20th. With Zvezda active the ISS is one step closer to being ready to host a permanent crew. This means a lot ! It's a lot of work and research to get stuff looking right but its definitely worth the time! Thanks again for the kind words and I'm glad you're enjoying it! With Zvezda, ISS construction could ramp up, and the last piece of the puzzle needed for the start of permanent inhabitation of space would be the Z-1 truss and PMA-3. Up Next, STS-92!

This is so exciting! I love the look of the H-II & HTV and I cant wait to give them the o'le screenshot treatments! Fuji is such a wonderfuly odd design! Its a shame it never materialized IRL. I'm excited to watch this develop over time!

Zvezda or DOS-8 in orbit Just a reminder that Zvezda launched on a proton with advertising from Pizza Hut. IMO, Zvezda is the Star of the Russian Orbital Segment.

Zvezda 12 July, 2000 Zvezda meaning "Star" in English was the third module of the ISS. Containing Life Support systems, work areas, and living quarters, Zvezda became the main module of the early station. Of the design of the Durable Orbital Station or DOS, Zvezda has a storied past in its design, making various appearances as the Salyut's 1, 4, 6, 7 stations and the Mir Core Module. Zvezda has 3 main compartments, The Work, Assembly, and Transfer Compartments. The work compartment was the main area where the crew would live and work and comprised most of the module. The Assembly compartment is surrounding the Aft docking port with various pieces of exposed equipment such as antennae. Finally, the transfer compartment contains 3 docking port in a smaller spherical section. This area can also serve as an airlock and was used once on Expedition 2. Zvezda had many delays before launch and NASA had significant concerns for the station. Due to economic instability in Russia Zvezda had no backup and if Roscosmos could not deliver Zvezda to the ISS in time or if it were destroyed on launch the station would be in serious trouble. NASA had designed the Interim Control Module if such scenarios occurred. After serval delays Zvezda stood on the pad on top of the Proton rocket. This particular rocket is special because it had advertising for Pizza Hut displayed on the side of the rockets fuselage. Zvezda lifted off from Site 81 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. After reaching orbit, Zvezda tweaked its orbit and Rendezvoused with the ISS two weeks later. Zvezda became the third ISS module on July 26, 2000. After many delays the Station could finally proceed forward with its construction. But first Russia had one more thing they needed to launch to the growing station. Up Next, Progress M1-3!

Been working fine for me! I’ve also got the dev branch at the moment so I’d say proceed with caution as always with modding with dev branches but I’ll reiterate I’ve had no problems so far!

STS-96 May 27, 1999 Since Endeavour left, looming in orbit alone for 167 days, the ISS sat waiting for its next arrival. That arrival would come in the form of Discovery. Carrying the US crane, Orbital Transfer Device, the Russian STRELA crane and cargo for the ISS in the SPACEHAB Double Module, STS-96 would continue to work on the ISS, preparing it for its first permeant crewed missions. Space Shuttle Discovery sat at Pad 39-B waiting to lift off at dawn carrying the various Shuttle related experiments and a Satellite to deploy after ISS operations had completed. After docking the crew spent time moving cargo to and from the ISS and preparing for the only space walk planned for STS-96. Consisting of Tamara Jernigan and Daniel Barry, they were responsible for mounting, among other hardware, STRELA and the OTU to the side of the ISS. Eventually after the 5 days and 18 hours docked, Discovery departed the ISS. After deploying a satellite Discovery began preparing for reentry and landing. Discovery landed at Runway 15 at the Shuttle Landing Facility. The ISS would remain alone for nearly a year before the next mission. Up Next, STS-101.

STS-96 May 27, 1999 STS-96 was the second crewed mission to the ISS. Following STS-88 Discovery, would fly with her crew of 7 to the orbital outpost and continue work to build it out. Carried on this mission were various components that were meant to be added to the exterior of the station to aid in its construction. Several tons of cargo was carried as well by The SPACEHAB Double Module. In addition the Shuttle Vibration Forces Experiment was carried for the second time and was active for the first 100 seconds of flight. The Orbiter Integrated Vehicle Health Monitoring HEDS Technology Demonstration or IVHM-HTD was carried to help make decisions on potential upgrades to the Orbiter. Last but not least, Discovery carried STARSHINE. A satellite that was designed to be tracked on the ground by students across the Earth via its highly reflective surface. Discovery would wait until dawn and lift off from Pad 39-B and begin her mission. The only EVA of STS-96 consisted of crew members Tamara Jernigan and Daniel Barry. They were tasked with installing, among other things, the Russian STRELA cargo crane and the US cargo crane, the Orbital Transfer Device. At the time, this EVA was the second longest ever recorded. Discovery touched down at SLF Runway 15 at 2 AM EDT after her 9 day mission. Discovery spent nearly 6 days docked to the ISS. Afterwards, Discovery would be refurbished and reflown as STS-103 and service The Hubble Space Telescope. The early mission to the ISS are fun to make! Also the part count is less so that makes it better. More missions coming soon!

The Dawn of an Era. See what I did there ?

Zarya November 20, 1998. Zarya meaning Dawn in English, also known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB is the first module of the ISS. Based on the TKS spacecraft design has 2 solar panels, Radiators, RCS thrusters, 2 orbital adjustment engines, and other systems making it the life line for the early station. Zarya has 3 docking ports 2 of the probe and drogue variant of docking port one earth facing, one aft facing and one forward facing APAS-95 docking port. The APAS-95 port would dock with PMA-1 attached to the Unity module. Zarya was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 81 on a Proton rocket. Two weeks after launch STS-88 would launch the Unity module, the first American element of the ISS. In the meantime Zarya would adjust and perfect its orbit in preparation for Unity's arrival. Up Next: STS-88 & Unity

STS-135 July 8, 2011 10 years ago at the day this is released, Atlantis would fly STS-135, the Final Shuttle Mission. STS-134 was the final scheduled mission for the program but Atlantis was stacked to fly as STS-335, a contingency mission what would be flown if STS-134 had a problem which resulted in it being unable to reenter. NASA decided that the fully stacked Atlantis could be flown as STS-135. The smaller crew of 4 was chosen as a result of it being the Final mission with no backup. Due to the small crew size, they could be brought back over time by a series of Soyuz flights. Thus they launched with Sukol space suits and Soyuz seat liners. STS-135 carried the Raffaello MPLM which carried supplies to stock up the ISS one last time using The Shuttle. The Crew of STS-135 consisted of Chris Ferguson, Doug Hurley, Sandra Magnus, and Rex Walheim launched from Pad 39-A at 11:29 AM EDT. Once in orbit, the crew used the Orbital Boom Sensor System to examine the leading edge of the wing to make sure Atlantis was fit for reentry. In addition to using the OBSS, the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver was performed prior to docking to photograph the Thermal Protection System so personnel on the ground could examine the tile and make sure Atlantis was fit for landing. After docking, Canadarm 2 extracted the MPLM to attatch it to the ISS allowing the combined crews to unload the cargo to the ISS. On flight day 5, during a Space Station EVA, Ron Garan became the last person to do an EVA inside of a Shuttle payload bay For the final mission, The ISS rotated 90 degrees so they could get an alternate for photographs view during fly around. Atlantis also released the final satellite of the Shuttle Program, PicoSat. Atlantis and the Shuttle Program was retired at wheels stop on Runway 15 of the Shuttle Landing Facility at 5:57 EDT, right before sunrise. No person would enter the ISS from the Russian segment until SpaceX's Demo 2 mission where STS-135 crew member Doug Hurly would be the first to enter along side his crewmate, Bob Behnken. STS-135 capped off in my opinion the most exciting NASA program to date. No spacecraft has matched the beauty and grace of the Space Shuttle and it will be a bit until it is eclipsed if ever. On this anniversary of STS-135 I would like to announce ISS Adventures, a sister series to Shuttle Adventures where myself and @lemon cup are recreating every mission and the construction of the ISS. These are two massive projects to run next to each other and I'd appreciate it if you check it out! I'd also like to thank you guys for nominating the thread for TOTM! It means a lot! More missions coming soon!

The Idea: The International Space Station is one of humanities greatest achievements. Like many others I love the ISS, mods and Kerbal Space Program, naturally you would mix all 3. A little over a year ago I began an endeavor to accurately construct the ISS in order and document it on reddit. Since then time has passed and I have vastly improved in my ship creation and screenshot taking skills. I knew when I stopped the first time I'd revisit the idea and now is the time! The goal of this whole thing is to use Kerbal Space Program and a vast library of mods to document every flight to the ISS and its construction in order. Myself@lemon cup and @D0m1nu2 work hard on this project and we're very excited to work on documenting the sheer greatness that surrounds the ISS and it's missions! My Inspiration: The idea isn't original and born of several things including another series I created focusing on Shuttle Missions called Shuttle Adventures! These missions are created by not only myself but other like minded Kerbal players. But the Idea isn't mine by any means and I feel inclined to credit those who inspired me, If you like anything I've done you'll certainly enjoy what they've done. @Jay The Amazing Toaster with Kānāwai: Ares to Mars Kevin Gustafson and his amazing among other things ISS & Mir documentaries on Youtube @winged and his amazing among other things Constellation Mars video @Zorg @alberro+and @Pioneer_Stevefor dazzling me with their magnificent screenshots @AmateurAstronaut1969 and their fantastic series on the ETS Space Station Freedom @Jacktical and their awesome series on the IRL concept of Space Station Freedom that goes by the name of Space Station Liberty @D0m1nu2 and their excellent International Manned Laboratory series, a recreation of International Skylab conducted in RSS! @Aviation365 and their wonderful series Go At Throttle Up, an RSS/RO depiction of Shuttle Flights both real and fictional, while obeying Shuttle parameters. The progenitor to this series, Shuttle Adventures, An Album of Kerbalized Space Shuttle Missions, containing real, proposed, canceled and other Shuttle related missions. You can find that here: Mods: Since the inception of Shuttle Adventures the mod list has grown slowly over time and I've tried to keep up with updating the mod list. that will be include in the spoiler below the list of highlighted mods. @benjee10 With Redirect, Habtech 2, and SOCK @DylanSemrau With Photon Corp @Beale With Tantares @tony48 With KSRSS & KSRSSVE And the ReStock team with of course Restock Thanks to those who interact and follow this series! We've been working hard and having a great time making it!

A Legendary Partnership

An End of an Era... STS-135 and a special announcement coming soon!

It embodies the spirit Kerbal. It lacks the symmetry (-ish) of the ISS but it’s beauty stems from its functionality based design! A different form of beauty but a form of beauty none the less! Edit: I got really lost! I thought this was now in the thread… turns out it’s 7 years old….

Go for it! I’d love to see it. I think NASA or Lockheed themselves should revisit the idea at some point in the future.

KSRSS

This mod never gets old... Truly a legendary mod that does justice for such a legendary vehicle!

Look whos back! If only we could have a Shuttle Buran Mir combo... Hmmmmm... That gives me an idea...

STS-79 September 16, 1996 STS-79 was the fourth Space Shuttle Mission to dock with Mir. Flown by Atlantis, the mission objectives included delivery of supplies and science experiments to Mir, return of various science experiments, and crew rotation. Shannon W. Lucid had been delivered to the Mir by Atlantis on STS-76 and had been onboard for 188 days. She would be replaced on Mir by John Blaha. STS-79 was the first Shuttle Mission to visit Mir in its now completed state since the Priroda module had joined Mir on April 26 1996. In addition STS-79 was the first mission to carry the SPACEHAB Double Module. Standing by at Pad 39-A, Atlantis would lift off before dawn. Atlantis docked with Mir on Flight Day 3 and begin unloading the 1.8 metric tons of cargo over the 5 days docked to Mir. Atlantis would also receive 900 Kilograms of science experiments from Mir to deliver to the ground. Afterwards Atlantis undocked and landed 10 days later at Runway 15 at the Kennedy Space Center. Immediately work would begin on refurbishing her for her next flight, STS-81 the fifth Shuttle Mission to Mir. Awesome Mission and love the Idea! Can't wait to watch this develop further! Fantastic work as always! That plume is stunning! Waterfall changes this game completely The reworked Tantares parts are magnificent! Mir has never looked better! More missions coming soon!

Go right ahead!

Loving the part revamp! Fantastic Job!

Glad to hear you like it! I shudder at the thought of the sheer amount of part clipping and the resulting aerodynamic toll it had on the tail cone... Designing it was a mess! I kept getting weird scales between the orbiter and the plane (Especially with the fairing version I first started with!) and I eventually went to find the scale of Benjees orbiter to the real thing and working my way for the plane. I think in the end the 747 is a little bigger than it should be but It looked enough like the real thing for me to call it a day on that one. It was too big of a project to use once so I intend to included it in the end of any mission where the SCA was need to return an orbiter to the KSC!

ALT-12 August 12, 1977 The Approach and Landing tests were the first Aerodynamic tests of the Space Shuttle and the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. All the ATL missions would not go to space and were conducted at Edwards Airforce Base in California. OV-101 or Space Shuttle Enterprise flew all on all of the ATL flights and was the first production orbiter. Space Shuttle Enterprise was not fitted with several systems that would make it spaceflight worthy such as a thermal protection system or proper Orbital Maneuvering System pod mounts. As a result for all the ATL test it was placed with ballasts to make it fly properly. In addition Enterprise was fitted with a nose probe to get high fidelity airspeed readings . After the ATL tests Space Shuttle Enterprise was meant to be returned and fitted with the missing systems to make it spaceflight worthy, but even once the ballasts were removed Enterprise would become the heaviest orbiter in the fleet resulting in severely limited payload capability. In combination to design differences with the other orbiters ( would solidify its fate for use for atmospheric tests only. OV-99 or the Structural Test Article for the Space Shuttles would be converted into Challenger due to it being both cheaper and having a more useable payload weight tolerances. After both Challenger and Columbia disasters, NASA considered refurbishing Enterprise but both times concluded it would be too expensive. In the case of Challenger, It was determined that a new orbiter could be constructed from structural spares which culminated to Space Shuttle Endeavour. After being rolled out of Palmdale in September of 1976 it was taken by road to Edwards to meet her carrier aircraft, the SCA. The Shuttle Carrier Aircraft or SCA is a modified Boeing 747-100. Designated N905NA the first Shuttle Carrier Aircraft was acquired from American Airlines and in the Approach and landing test the AA Cheatlines can be spotted on the fuselage. The second Shuttle Carrier Aircraft designated N911NA was acquired from Japan Airlines and was a 747-100SR after the Challenger Disaster. N911NA enter service in 1990 and her first mission was to deliver Endeavour from Palmdale to the Kennedy Space Center. The first 3 ALT (ALT 1-3 )tests would be taxi tests and would never leave the ground. The next 5 (ALT 4-8) would be captive-inert flights where the SCA would fly with Enterprise but all of Enterprises systems were inactive as well as no crew was in Enterprise. The next 3 (ALT 9-11) would be-captive active flights with Enterprise being active with crew on board. The crew alternated with sets of two. Crew 1 consisted of Commander Fred Haise and Pilot Charles Fullerton. Crew 2 consisted Commander Joe Engle and Pilot Richard Truly. SCA-12 was the first Free Flight and flown by Haise and Fullerton. N905NA and Enterprise lifted off from Runway 22 at Edwards and would begin to climb to 30,000 feet at which point they would begin the pushover maneuver and separate at 3:47 PM. Space Shuttle Enterprise would land on lakebed runway 17 with touchdown occurring at at 3:53 pm with a total free flight time of 5 minutes 22 second and a total mission time of 54 minutes. The 2 next missions would mimic the same flight profile (ATL 13 - 14) where the ATL 15 would fly Enterprise without the tailcone and mockup engines. ATL 16 would have an actual runway landing without the tailcone. After the Approach and Landing Tests, Enterprise was flown to the KSC where she was used for testing of procedures such as mating with the External Tank and boosters, roll out testing and launchpad procedures. This was the hardest mission for me to recreate by far. The SCA was rather difficult to make due to various factors but I found a way using a couple mods I discovered. You can find them here & and here. The SCA took heavy inspiration from CaptainShamu & Yukon0009's SCA replicas. I had a lot of fun doing the mission and I that the mountains surrounding Edwards really made it look nice. Hope you enjoy more missions coming soon!

The Dawn of an Era After a complete overhaul with the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft I've finally got it to an acceptable state in my opinion, though if you guys have any suggestions please feel free to give me some advice! I'm now working on the tail cone and once that's done I can actually begin the process of doing the mission and with that being said... Approach and Landing Test coming soon...

I appreciate the heads up. All good with me! Can’t wait to see it!