Talverd

Yay, the forums are back. Let us continue.

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I don't care if you don't like it.

It's Kerbalized.

[...] Klein: "...I'm unsure. Yes, Mr. President.... Yes, Mr. President. I have the final report on my desk. No, I-[...]" "No. No, I haven't, not yet. I was just about to when you called. [...] Okay. Goodnight." With the click of the receiver, Dr. Alan F. Klein is alone again. Mumbling under his breath, he shifts the stack of papers on his desk. Page after page, the details of the disastrous STS-2 mission become more clear. After an hour, there is a knock at the door. Klein: "Come in." Fuellerton: "You got a minute?" Klein: "Sure. Sit down." Fuellerton: "I'll cut to the point - how are we looking?" Klein: "For?" Fuellerton: "Re-flight." Klein: "Hmph." Fuellerton: "Look, surely we've figured out enough. There's been doubts since the beginning the shuttle was even at fault here." Klein: "Even then, we're at the whims of congress. It's out of my hands at this point." Fuellerton: "At this rate we won't launch until next year!" Klein: "Probably not. I'm sifting through the final report on Skylab itself at the moment, the report on the how the orbiter performed is still being drafted. I'll let you know if anything changes." Fuellerton: "Any inclination to how it sounds so far?" Klein: "From what I've heard, we'll be fine. As far as I understand it, this failure wasn't the orbiter's or even the tug's fault." Fuellerton: "Okay. Hopefully we can get this wrapped up as soon as possible." Klein: "Mhm. Is there anything else?" Fuellerton: "No, no that was all. I'll get out of your hair. See you Monday." Klein: "I'll see you then, Patrick." The door shuts and Klein returns to sifting through the document. It becomes clear that the aging space station just couldn't handle the force the TRS exerted on it and its forward docking port buckled. The buckling caused damage to the TRS which resulted in a communications blackout. This snowball effect lead to the total loss of Skylab. Dr. Klein is relieved to read this, as it confirms the rumors he's heard about the shuttle report - the orbiter shares no blame. He sighs and sets down the papers, reclining in his chair. While mulling over the future of NASDA in his head, he catches himself continually thinking about the now defunct Skylab Expansion Program. That was the first thing congress came for after the loss of the station. What point was there to having an expansion project for a station that was now nothing but a scrap-heap? However, most of the components for the project had already been built or were in the final stages. The Valropans had already turned over two of their SpaceLab modules, the power tower was under-going final assembly and the airlock was completed. He sat up, thinking to himself "We can work with this." Klein: "I'm gonna need to take a trip over to Marshall.." [...]

STS-2, March 7th - 9th, 1979 Cruel Cruel World Resurrecting a giant was no easy task - but it's the task that falls on the shuttle and her crew today. Skylab was Akermia's first venture in station-building, a temporary workshop meant to facilitate orbital long-stays for a larger program that never came. Now, she is due a new lease of life. The last mission to visit the station was Skylab IV in 1973 and since then she has been adrift above the Earth alone. President Carden and congress have authorized the Skylab Expansion Project as it promises to be a relatively low cost and simple way of expanding Akermia's low-orbit operations. It will also allow the Space Shuttle to demonstrate one of its most promising abilities - station building. Skylab's expansion will happen gradually over the next few years. A docking adapter outfitted with APAS to replace the outdated Athena probe and drogue will be the first module delivered followed by a 25kw Power Tower, two Valropan science modules and a new airlock. Skylab is expected to operate until at least the early 1990's with these upgrades and will serve as an excellent challenge for the Shuttle to rise to meet. NASDA crew-quarters post-it board prior to STS-2. "...Crew visors have been locked in the downwards position. T-minus five minutes. T-minus five minutes until the liftoff of Space Shuttle Freedom." \ "Weather is go. No launch constraints and ground teams aren't working any problems." Freedom basks in the Florida sun, ready to begun spread her wings. Inside the cockpit, the crew sits waiting for that moment. [...] Evans: "I mean, surely it can't be that bad." Thompson: "Comparatively.. yes. I take it you've never been there. You'd know." Evans: "Oh no, god no. I wouldn't touch it with a 10ft pole. Too ratty." Thompson: " *slight chuckle* That's what I'm saying. The Outpo-" CAPCOM: "Freedom, Houston, we're finalizing things on our end. You're looking good." Thompson: "Copy that, Houston. We're ready." CAPCOM: "Standby for last minute polling." [...] CAPCOM: "Rescue and Recovery? [Go!] Go. CDR?" Thompson: "CDR is go." CAPCOM: "Roger that. Freedom is go for launch. Good luck up there." [...] "Coming up on fifteen seconds. Fifteen seconds." "Ten, nine, eight.." "..seven, six.. main engine start..." "Liftoff of Shuttle Freedom on its quest to save the ailing Skylab space station." Freedom soars again - becoming the first re-usable spacecraft Kerbalkind has ever purpose built. Booster separation. After external tank separation, Freedom performs OMS-1 and 2. [...] Thompson: "What a ride. Freedom is on-orbit." CAPCON: "Meet us on page 19." Thompson: "Would you be so kind?" Evans: "Why certainly." CAPCOM: "We're in a good position for the Skylab burn. We're getting you the programming procedures for the burn. In the meantime, keep an eye on the TRS leeching system. Down here, we're showing she's getting less power from the orbiter than we'd like. " Thompson: "Is the TRS still within power margins?" CAPCOM: "That's affirm." Thompson: "Alright, we'll make sure she stays that way." Evans: "I'm excited to finally fly that thing for real." Thompson: "I'm excited to see it." [...] The Telescopic Retrieval System sits in Freedom's bay patiently waiting for its job to begin. Once the tug is released it will be remotely controlled from Freedom's aft-deck console. The Skylab rendezvous burn is completed nominally. Freedom will now spend the next day catching up with the station. [...] Evans: "...Copy that, Houston." CAPCOM: "Maintain your distance for now. We're gonna need to go around the horn before we do anything." Thompson: "Yup." Evans: "Get back to us soon." Thompson: "What a beautiful sight. I was backup for III, but all that meant was I got to see the training mock-up on the ground. Always wanted to see her for real." Evans: "Gorgeous, gorgeous." Thompson: "You been watching the TRS systems?" Evans: "Yep, yep. She's a-okay. A-okay." Thompson: "Oh man, that solar foil has seen better days. Looks like it's got some holes in it." Evans: "If we're gonna wrap it it won't matter." Thompson: "I wonder how her interior is." [...] [...] CAPCOM: "..as we understand it. We're gonna go ahead and give you the go-ahead to release the tug." Thompson: "Alright, let's run through the checklist." Evans: "Let's do it." Thompson: "Fuel tank pressure?" Evans: "Good." Thompson: "Batteries?" Evans: "Yup." Thompson: "Communications? Run the ping." Evans: "I'm already working on it." [...] Thompson: "Okay, that's that. I'm gonna turn it over to you Gordo." Evans: "Alright. Houston, I'm going to go ahead and begin the final self-test." CAPCOM: "Roger." Evans: "We've got green across the board. Shall we?" Thompson: "Cut 'er loose." TRS drifts away from Freedom. [...] Thompson: "There it goes." Evans: "Good view from the cameras. Houston, you getting a good picture?" CAPCOM: "We're getting a good one." Evans: "Going three pulses forward..." [...] [...] Evans: "Approaching carefully. Gonna slow it down a tad. Moving to the left a bit too fast." [...] [...] Evans: "Alright. Going for final." Thompson: "Copy. Ease it in there." Evans: "Pulsing forward." [...] [...] Evans: "We're docked. Woowee. That was a good one. Thompson: "How 'bout that." Evans: "Houston, the TRS has been docked to Skylab. Engine and tank pressure look good. Reaction control looks good as well. We're good up here to start the burn." CAPCOM: "We're showing the same. You are good to send the command." Evans: "Alright. Move your arm." Thompson: "Oops." Evans: "Okay, we're gonna start the burn in five.. four.. three.. two.." Evans: "one.." [...] Evans: "She's burning!" Thompson: "She's going!" CAPCOM: "Good show." [...] The crew watches as the TRS moves the hefty station, placing it in a higher orbit. [...] Evans: "She's really lugging that thing." Thompson: "Mhm." Evans: "Five minutes and twenty seconds left in the burn. Fuel pressure loo-" Evans is interrupted by an alarm. There is a problem. Evans: "..Uh, wha- Houston, we're getting some alarms up here. We've got off-center thru-" The telemetry stream for the TRS goes blank for both the ground and the orbiter. Evans: "Okay, we've had a problem here. I've got a master caution and no telemetry. Wayne, get me a good visual." Thompson: "Station is intact. Tug still burning. Houston, what do we do?" CAPCOM: "Standby. We're getting the same." Evans: "Copy. Still attempting to troubleshoot up here. We-" Thompson: "Oh hang on, hang on. I'm seeing a spin. The station is beginning to spin!" Evans: "What? Move, I can't see. Oh my god, Houston, the station is spinning. We've had some sort of major problem up here." [...] The crew cannot see what has actually occurred except for the obvious - there's been a malfunction. Skylab's aging forward docking port has simply given out. The suddenly buckling has shaken and moved the TRS forward violently, leaving its communication systems damaged. The off-center thrust has induced a spin, a spin the station was not designed to survive. [...] Evans: "Oh my god. The panels are gonna come off." Thompson: "Still nothing?" Evans: "No! I can't reach it!" CAPCOM: "Freedom, we need you back at the front of the orbiter. We need you to perform an emergency burn away from the station incase of any debris." Thompson: "I'm on it. Get strapped in." Evans: "Just- God damn it. Alright." [...] Freedom quickly moves away from the station to avoid any debris. Behind them, Skylab meets its end. The air around mission control and in the orbiter grows thick. No one can believe it. The shuttle program has encountered its first failure on only its second flight. There isn't any use in keeping Freedom and her crew in orbit anymore and she is brought home. Freedom touches down, safely delivering her crew from the catastrophe that was this mission. Congress is furious, the news outlets are clamoring for answers and NASDA is stunned. The Shuttle and TRS programs are immediately halted until a reason for the loss of Skylab can be found.

STS-1 Part II CSM-119, nicknamed "Prometheus" by her crew, burns for Freedom. Prometheus drifting above the blue marble. CDR Youngkin: "Houston, Prometheus, we've just finished that burn. We did read that she ran a bit long, my stop-watch is telling me about 2.3 seconds long. Any word on how that's going to effect approach velocities and maneuvering?" PLT Stevens: "Ah, that'll be - *short cough* - fine. The over-burn wasn't that bad, we'll make up for it with the RCS." CDR Youngkin: "Oh for sure, I just would like to know how much our velo-" Mission Control: "..Prometheus, Houston, we do indeed have you arriving further away from Freedom than originally planned however you are still within margin. " CDR Youngkin: "Rog." A day after launch, Athena has caught up to the Space Shuttle. Athena performs her braking burn placing her within 200m of the Space Shuttle and slowly drifting towards her. PLT Stevens: "Wow. Would you look at that view? That's incredible." CDR Youngkin: "Almost as pretty as the Moon. Houston, we have visual on Freedom. My my, what a sight it is." PLT Stevens: "Move over, I need to snap some photos of it." Mission Control: "Prometheus, we copy your visual. Tell Stevens to adjust the camera in the left window. We're getting a bad picture." PLT Stevens: "How's that?" CDR Youngkin: "Turn down the exposure a tad." PLT Stevens: "I think that did it." Mission Control: "That did it. We'll get you docking procedures up within the next two hours. Continue to station keep with the orbiter. Oh, the tile team wants you to keep watch for any missing tiles. Look for white among the black on the underbelly." PLT Stevens: "I'm seeing a few chipped tiles on the OMS pod. Looks like there's one missing entirely on the tail. We should probably get to a better position to see underneath her." Mission Control: "We concur. We'll get you around there in just a moment." Two and a half hours pass and the tile inspection comes back green. While there are several chipped and damaged tiles on the orbiters belly, she isn't missing any whole ones there. Ground teams believe she is okay for re-entry and the docking plans are sent up to the crew. PLT Stevens: "...controller. It's a bit sticky. Second quad has some lag. I can work with it." CDR Youngkin: "Alright. Let's close the distance." PLT Stevens: "Three pulses forward." A loud twang is heard as the docking collar meets Freedoms petals and the two spacecraft jitter from the impact. PLT Stevens: "Soft-capture! Wooowee!" CDR Youngkin: *chuckling* "Houston, we have soft-capture with Freedom. " Mission Control: "Standby for hard capture poll. [...] We are go for hard-docking." CDR Youngkin: "Retracting the ring." PLT Stevens: "We have docked." The two spacecraft now make up the largest complex ever "built" on-orbit. If things go to plan, this will change very soon. Several hours after docking the crew ingresses into Freedom and her main systems are powered on. The crew will spend the next 2 days in the orbiter checking various systems and sub-systems. Since everything appears nominal on the orbiter, the Athena CSM is no longer needed. The crew will be returning on Freedom. As such, the CSM will be jettisoned a few hours before re-entry. It will be returned to Earth by a later shuttle flight. The days breeze by for the crew and just as soon as they arrived it is time for them to leave. CSM jettison. Freedom's wheels come to a stop at Edwards Airforce Base on the dry lakebed. A new era of Akermian spaceflight has begun. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors note: Sorry that took so long! A combination of laziness, the forums not working for me and a few other things delayed this release by quite a bit. This shouldn't happen again. I plan to get STS-2 out later today or early tomorrow if possible. Thanks for waiting.

CD returns tomorrow. Was waiting for the forums to be fixed as I was having immense trouble uploading images. Thank you for your patience

Barbarian tanks + parts with a mix of NFLV parts. Nose is a Delta separator. Decals are done with Conformal Decals. Oh, hello page 2!

STS-1, January 8th - 11th, 1979 Part I Passing The Torch After years of delays, trouble and work - the time has finally come. Space Shuttle "Freedom" has been rolled to the pad and is being prepared for launch. Thousands of pounds of liquid hydrogen and oxygen flow into her external tank and boosters. Spectators watch as the countdown clock continues to tick down with each second feeling like ages, news reporters clamor on and NASDA managers tap their fingers with increasing ferocity. Two rockets glisten in the Florida sun, basked in rays of sunshine that reflect the brightness of Kerbalkind's hopes and dreams. "T-minus 1 hour and counting. Hatch is closed. Pad evacuation underway. Weather is holding." "Shuttle lift-off guidance computers are reporting no flaws. Vehicle is looking healthy. Booster recovery teams have arrived at the recovery site and are preparing to receive." STS-1 is a truly unique mission as it involves not one, but two spacecrafts. Freedom is the first and she will launch un-crewed to a relatively low orbit where she will wait until the second spacecraft arrives. Athena-19 is the second, a relic from the old Athena lunar program. Today, she will serve a new purpose. Athena will be launched atop the last remaining Juno IB rocket to rendezvous and dock with the awaiting orbiter. Once the crew have entered the orbiter and verified everything is working as intended, the crew will remain aboard and separate from Athena. After a few more days of drifting above the Earth the crew will land Freedom at Edwards Air Force base. "Fuel loading on the IB has been completed, J-IVB is currently being topped off. Astronauts are currently undergoing final preparations for launch. I'm told they have already been suited up." NASDA Crew Quarter post-it board, prior to STS-1. A photo of the STS-1 crew can be seen. Robert F. Youngkin, a veteran of the Minerva and Athena programs, has been placed in command of the shuttles first flight. He is joined by rookie astronaut James Stevens, a close friend. Together, both of them will participate in the greatest test flight ever conducted. If they are successful, the Space Shuttle will enter the history books as the first reusable spacecraft - and hopefully a reliable one at that. "T-Minus thirty minutes until the launch of Space Shuttle Freedom. Freedom's fuel cells have been turned on for thermal conditioning and the cabin vents have been closed. Computers have been put into launch mode." James couldn't believe it. He never thought he'd be here. Looking around at the dozens of technicians scrambling around him, he couldn't help but think that this was all just organized chaos. Every few seconds, he'd feel a poke somewhere on his body or someone would ask him a question about how his suit fit - someone even took his gum. He glanced out of the corner of his eye Robert undergoing the same treatment and he could tell he was annoyed. A worker approached him, holding the fish-dome like helmet the A7LBs had become known for. It was slipped on him with a clank and for a moment - he was able to appreciate the silence. He shared a thumbs up with the technician and turned to look out the window at his ride. Only a moment later, he was ushered out the door. The shutter of cameras was disorientating and the crowd that had gathered was loud, but he was ready. Stepping into the back of that van - he couldn't help but feel proud. Proud of the history he was about to make. "Astronauts are now boarding the transfer van and will be delivered to Pad 39B shortly. Crew ingress into the Athena spacecraft is expected within the hour. Launch timeline still looking good.” "Freedom launch countdown entering t-minus ten minutes. We are seeing the crew arm retract now. Go-no-go poll by the flight director is underway. As we currently understand, there are no holds and no issues being worked.” "James Stevens and Robert Youngkin have been strapped into the Athena spacecraft. Crew reporting it feels good. T-minus seven minutes and thirty seconds until launch. Auxiliary power units have been turned on.” [...] "We are down to fifty seconds until launch. Guidance is internal. Gimbal test is underway. […] Thirty seconds. We are go for auto-sequence start.” [...] "…thirteen, twelve, eleven.. hydrogen burn off systems are on… eight, seven, six – ignition sequence start…” “…four, three, two, one…” “Liftoff! Liftoff of Akermia’s first space shuttle!” “..and the shuttle has cleared the tower!” Space Shuttle Freedom rolls onto the proper azimuth after tower clear callout, pressing on to orbit. “Mission control reporting she looks good. Everything appears nominal. We're coming up on booster separation as our next launch milestone. Those boosters will splashdown in the Atlantic where they will be recovered by awaiting crews. Standby for booster sep.” “We are hearing we have good sep. Freedom still on her way to orbit.” “We've just heard the callout for main engine shutdown. Freedom should be separating from the external tank here shortly.” Freedom performing OMS-1 burn, raising her perigee above the atmosphere and placing her in orbit. The Space Shuttles first launch has been a massive success! Mission control sends the command to open the payload bay doors shortly after OMS-1 completion. Freedom's primary payload - the Athena docking adapter. The RCS deflection panels allow the Athena spacecraft to dock without causing impingement damage. “We are just a few minutes away from the launch of Athena-19. Go-no-go poll returned no issues. We are go for launch. Crew reporting everything is a-okay.” “Tower clear!” The last Juno series rocket to ever fly carries her crew a-loft. Athena-19 stage separation Athena-19 on-orbit, ready to retrieve the docking module. The docking module is necessary due to both spacecraft having different internal atmospheres - Athena having a pure oxygen environment while the Space Shuttle has a mix of oxygen and nitrogen. -------------------------------------------------------- End Of Part I See you soon!

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PROLOGUE ALT-12, June 10th, 1977 High above the Mojave desert - history is about to be made. [...] FRED: "....Okay. Pioneer is set. Altitude looking good. Good day to do some flying. Stand by for push-up plus two." PIONEER: "Roger FRED - standing by for push-up." FRED: "Up." PIONEER CDR: "Rog. Standing by for separation." FRED: "We're all good, Willy. Separation in 5, 4, 3, 2... " A loud *thunk* is heard as the bolts are released and Pioneer spreads her wings. PIONEER CDR: "Separation!" CHASE 1: "Separation." CHASE 2: "Clear. " FRED: "Leveling off. Godspeed Pioneer." PIONEER CDR: "Banking. Controls are responsive - we're feeling good." PIONEER PLT: "Attitude is good. She's handling well - watch your altitude. " MC: "Pioneer, Houston, we're showing perhaps a slightly low L-over-D." PIONEER CDR: "Read you. Holding fine. " MC: "Roger Pioneer, you're clear to start your turn." PIONEER PLT: "Alright, lets ease her into it..." PIONEER CDR: "We're in the turn. Tighter than expected - handling better than those STAs did in the tunnels." PIONEER PLT: "Slowing a bit faster than expected. Still looking fine." PIONEER CDR: "What a magnificent flying machine." PIONEER PLT: "We're aligned - drifting a bit left, though." PIONEER CDR: "Correcting. Computers handling it a-okay." MC: "What a beauty." PIONEER CDR: "I think we're good." PIONEER PLT: "Sure looks like it." PIONEER CDR: "Wow." [...] PIONEER CDR: "...Okay...." PIONEER PLT: "50....40...30..20...10... Touch, okay. Nose gear.." PIONEER CDR: "Touch." PIONEER CDR: "Left of the line." PIONEER PLT: "It's okay. Pioneer, Houston, we have touchdown. " MC: "We copy your touchdown. Gosh, what a beautiful flight Pioneer. Let's do it again." PIONEER CDR: "No doubt, no doubt. We've got ourselves an incredible machine here. Let's put her to work. " Welcome back to Chasing Dreams.

Chasing Dreams Redux has been released. Find the new thread here. Thank you for your patience.

[UNDER RECONSTRUCTION]

I'm excited to go Glumo whenever the interstellar destinations are released.

UPDATE: We are back in business. I'll see you soon on a new thread!

Hi folks, I've decided to put CD on indefinite hiatus pending re-writes. If you look at the early missions of this series - they're frankly terrible and I know I can do a lot better to set up the story I want to tell. While this does mean starting back at square 1, CD should be much more its own thing. My build quality has also massively improved in a short span of time and I really want to use my new skills to make Chasing Dreams much better than it was before. Hope you can understand, and here's a rough sneak peak at whats in store! Don't mind the real life decals, Akermia is sticking around.

Just checking in - I'm still alive. I promise I'll have some more missions out soon, my first semester in college is finally about over. Here's a map of what Valropa looks like!

Lovely!

Looking good!

STS - 71-A, February 15th - February 21st Expanding Horizons Faulty Sensors: Starting off one of the busiest years in the Shuttle program's schedule, STS-71A will see orbiter Freedom rescue the failing Earth Radiological Observer satellite. This satellite was deployed by Intrepid over 2 years ago and operated fairly normally until recently, where it began displaying impossible radiation measurements and appeared to begin a very slow tumble. With this information, the ERO team decided it was best the mission be truncated and the satellite be recovered early. NASDA managers gave the plan a green light and 71-A's Spacelab payload was shifted to STS-71-E. In addition to recovering a satellite Freedom will be deploying INDSAT-1, Insulinda's first GEO communications satellite. In other news, Wilson Kerman was officially inaugurated as president of the United States of Akermia. It remains to fully be seen how this will effect NASDA but the changes will surely be drastic. His support for Akermia's space program is vital, yet his calls for the militarization of space have generated much controversy. It's all but guaranteed at this point that Stonewall North Akermian will be getting another order for an orbiter but it won't be for NASDA. Crew: Commander: Bart Kerman Pilot: Wayne Kerman Mission Specialist: George Kerman Mission Specialist: Wubbo Kerman Mission Specialist: David Kerman Mission Specialist: Jay Kerman No crew photo this mission due to a suit bug, sorry! ' "...We're just under.. 10 minutes from launch here at Cape Canaveral. We should see the, uh, crew tunnel retracting here shortly. Listening into the ground control and orbiter loop, commander says it feels good." "Crew tunnel should be retracting here in just a moment." "There it goes, rolling back now. APU startup to follow shortly. Crew still reporting everything feels good. This evening, we are joined by astronaut Valsen Kerman, Commander of STS-51-D. We hope to have her on shortly." "..and as we said before, the APU is now running. You should be able to hear it over the broadcast. Next up in the time-table is the retract of the, the "GOX" arm. The "Gaseous Oxygen Vent Arm." "Seems to be retracting just fine. Unfortunately it appears Valsen will not be appearing on the broadcast today as we're having some technical difficulties... we apologize for any interruptions. Ground control is still reporting a go for todays launch. " "Orbiter is now running on internal power. 50 seconds until launch." "Ground launch sequencer is go for auto sequence start, t-minus 30 seconds till launch." "T-minus 10, 9, 8, 7.. Go for main engine start!" "We have ignition! 4, 3, 2, 1.." "Go! Liftoff! We have a liftoff! Freedom now climbing off the pad!" "Liftoff of the 28th Space Shuttle mission! Go Freedom!" "That is something you never get tired of... She is a beauty! *Cough* Now, onto our next segment during this launch. NASDA was kind enough to supply our network with a rough outline of what each shuttle would be doing in 1985. Up first, we have Freedom. Freedom will be deliver the "Unity" escape vehicle to the Skylab space station. It will also be recovering an ailing satellite, which we assume is this mission here." "Pathfinder will also resume normal operations this year. It will be deploying the Hale Space Telescope and carrying out what appears to be an entirely classified military mission. We, of course, have no idea what payload it will be carrying and what the mission objectives are. Hopefully we can gain more information at a later date." "Intrepid will be performing preliminary observations of Halley's comet in preparation for its closet approach in 1986. It will also deliver the Valropan sponsored laboratory to Skylab and launch the first journalist into space!" "Voyager will be the first shuttle to fly from the Vandenberg Space Launch Complex, entering a polar orbit and delivering a payload for the Air Force. It will also see the deployment of a lunar probe on the first scheduled "Shuttle - Centaur" flight. Everything in Freedom's launch appears to be going nominally...." Freedom soars! Clean SRB separation. MECO. ET is cut loose. OMS-1 OMS-2 Freedom is now in a stable orbit. Crew will wait one orbit for systems checks before beginning mission duties. Freedom ready to get to work. The first major milestone in the flight comes about a day after launch, the deployment of INSAT-1. One orbit left before the deployment of INSAT. INSAT prior to sunshield opening. INSAT-1 Crew begin deployment procedures and the satellite is spun-up. Nominal deployment. INSAT fired its kick-motor about 30 minutes later and was successfully able to raise its apophasis to GEO. It's apogee kick-motor was also successfully fired, fully placing the satellite in a geostationary orbit. Next up, Freedom fires it's OMS engines to align it's orbit with ERO's. It spends the next day and a half playing catch-up with the satellite. Earth Radiological Observer Finally, the two meet. Commander Bart carefully maneuvers the orbiter closer to ERO. Jay and Wubbo don their suits and prepare for capture. Jay steps out and climbs into the MMU with the capture assembly. Wubbo follows shortly after. After triple checking his systems, Jay moves out of the payload bay. He's determined to go fetch a satellite. "Gotta pretty good visual here on ERO. Houston, I think we may just be able to grab it. It's not spinning to fast." "I got it!" Jay starts to bring ERO back. Wubbo waits in the extra MMU incase anything goes wrong. "Better hurry Jay, its gonna get dark soon!" "I'm going, I'm going." Wubbo exits the extra MMU and begins assisting Jay in folding the solar panels of ERO. Jay moves the satellite down into the cradle. "Capture!" The MMU is stowed and the pair begin making sure ERO is fully secured. Soon enough, their job is done. It's time to return inside and prepare to go home. Freedom has completed every major mission objective. The crew are ready to return to Earth. ERO 2 days later, Freedom is prepared for it's return journey. The payload bay doors are sealed. De-orbit burn, heading for Edwards Air Force Base. Another one for the books!

I'm making this to set in stone what the orbiters look like! I keep making mistakes myself when I'm doing missions so hopefully this should prevent that in the future. I plan on making these for the whole fleet.

Please stop.