Kimera Industries

Korolev 2 and 3 After such wonderfully succesful missions to Minmus, MISE decided to practice something more routine. Determining the docking capabilities of the Korolev system would be required for a Minmus mission, as the lander will rendezvous and dock with the main craft after landing, "Apollo-style." It will also test new equipment and crew transfer. K 2 Launch: K 3 Launch. Skip if you want, it's nearly the same as K 2: Docking and returning home: Coming next: an orbital surveyor, Pravda!

I did another mission for WoRM, and I want to alternate between kerbaled and unkerbaled missions for now. I docked two craft (Korolev 2 and Korolev 3) and transferred the crew of K3 (1) to K2 (2) making the K2 capsule at full crew capacity (3) and the only ship that would survive reentry. First time using Docking Port Alignment Indicator, super awesome and easy to use! Also tried using Trajectories to land close to the Dessert launch site (Which I call Baikurbanur Kosmodrome for fun) and actually landed just past it very close to the desert temple, my first time seeing it in person. Yes, I know Baikurbanur is already a place, but whatever. And it's not the Baikurbanur Kosmodrome, is it? Thus preventing 100% of possible confusion. Also, RasterPropMonitor is so cool- something about seeing a ship diagram mid-flight is really satisfying. Love it. CKAN is great.

I finally got my rover mission for Wrong Red Moon done. Found some interesting chocolate chip rock formations on the surface. Minmus is a nice place, with pretty colors, I'm excited for future missions. Check it out if you like, or not. It's your choice. Or is it?

Myatnee II Receiving more funding (and yet somehow not enough to make ends meet) MISE has put together a small rover out of surplus rocket parts and Joe's car. Don't tell him. Loading it onto a brand new R-7, the bright white of the fuel tanks gleams in the sunlight. Forgetting to paint the rocket saves time and money, so there might be white rockets on future missions. The goal of this mission would be to more accurately scan several rock formations spotted by Myatnee I in orbit. So, without further ado, Myatnee II: Launch: Getting to Minmus: The rover has safely arrived at Minmus! Landing + Rover Mischief: We placed a rover on Minmus for the first time! NASA is pale with jealousy. Special thanks to Joe's car for contributing.

I installed Airplane Plus and it didn't work, so I installed CKAN and my life is a lot better now. Made a fighter jet, a seaplane, and a business jet with afterburner and missiles. Airplane Plus adds a ton of parts that I had specifically wanted before I even knew it existed, so I love it. I set up a mission for my Wrong Red Moon series (link below) the other day cause I had the craft ready, only to find that I can't control it beyond The Mun because I forgot an antenna. Reverted the entire flight, added an antenna, and left the game cause it was late and I was pretty frustrated at having to redo the entire mission. Fortunately, I realized I only had to re-document everything after the fairing deploys and you get a look at the rover, so that's nice. Experimenting with a new color scheme for the R-7 replica I'm using for these missions. Perhaps it could even have a bit of color coding to it as well. For now, I'll keep the story running smoothly in Wrong Red Moon (which I call WoRM) and when I get a Minmus station or something I'll consider an accident happening as part of the story. Plenty of those happening unintentionally already, so we'll have to just wait and see. That's all for now, see ya next time! (If you can catch up to my business jet that's actually a fighter)

Sorry guys, I'm trying to find a regular schedule to upload. I was hoping for today, but last night I arrived at Minmus only to realize I need an antenna or I can't even control the rover, so I'll reshoot. Maybe this afternoon or tommorrow.

Actually... that's way better. You make some great points. As far as a mod though, I'd love my idea for KSP 1, at least. This is also great news. One of the reasons I am scared to do something like a Duna mission in KSP1 on career mode is because if I timewarp to a transfer window, warp to Duna encounter, or warp back to Kerbin, etc. my other contracts will expire. This is my least favorite thing about career mode, and I like the idea of exploration mode much better.

Good idea! One of the ships I have *already* built and is sitting around in my save folder is a spaceplane inspired by an old concept from von Braun's early days, called the "Ferry Rocket." The basic visual I captured is of a rocket that is basically the shape of a giant nose cone with wings on. With limited parts in KSP it looks ok. Capable of Minmus and back with no refueling, (I think, I haven't flown my updated version yet) it has 3 variants for passengers, cargo, and payload. The intent was to create a ship where I could easily pick what I needed and have a spacecraft tailored for the mission in no time. It actually worked very well! Another advantage of my particular design is that while it is a plane, it lands on its tail, allowing for easier takeoffs and landings on airless bodies. I have a book about the history of the Space Shuttle (Ok, it's the library's, but still) and it has some great concept art because it goes through the entire history of spaceplanes until STS. It's given me loads of great ideas- maybe something better than my already-built spaceplane will come up!

True, but to guarantee they would do it there might be a limited time frame to do the mission in. If it's successfully completed in the timeframe given, (interplanetary stuff could have a few years or decades, and when KSP 2 gets interstellar it might be close to a century, we'll have to see how the big engines perform) then you get to keep that higher funding.

Thanks! That's exactly what I wanted to hear, and also the goal behind this series. Good to know I got it right. I think as the story progresses (I have the 70s and 80s somewhat planned out) it will get harder to update the technology whilst keeping it vaguely "Soviet." Spaceplanes and Minmus bases- I think I could turn to some old concept art, even if it's not explicitly Russian some of them convey that impression.

I did a mission to validate a new craft, the Korolev. It's a Soyuz derivative, and I give a mission report about it in my Wrong Red Moon series: More coming soon. Meanwhile, I made a plane, and that's about it...

You're right... a NASA-style space agency could work quite well by itself. (Or is that what you meant? I think that's what you meant, it might not be) At the very least, if contracts/missions do end up using the same system as before, make them optional. Something I often wish for in KSP 1 is to not give me any new contracts until I finish all of my current ones because I want to get through them all for once... Or, make it so you can play the game comfortably while doing every contract you're offered because some of us are perfectionists. I got myself into a bad situation in KSP 1 career mode when I wanted to do every contract, and ended up with ones I could not do. Now that I got my first taste of mods, I'm considering getting one that revamps career mode.

Korolev 1 The recent accomplishments of MISE have garnered national recognition. The first landing on Minmus is a significant accomplishment, and while well short of the grandeur of Apollo, a huge step forward for the exploration of Minmus. The Americans, hearing about a kerbaled launch planned by the Soviets, rush development on a Saturn V and lander tailored for a Minmus descent. The launch isn't as bad as feared by American spies, however. While it won't take Kerbals to the surface of Minmus, it will validate crucial components required for a mission of such scale. The most notable of these is the new Korolev spacecraft. Named after the former head engineer of the Soviet space program, who died in 1968 due to a failed heart surgery, survived long enough to work out crucial errors and problems in the N-1 program even after a troublesome operation in 1967. His legacy lives on in the Korolev, a new rendition of the Soyuz spacecraft. Simplifying many systems, adding much more elbow room, (which caused a week-long party in the kosmonaut breakrooms), and removing the orbital module allow for more money and fuel saved. Vladimir Kerman was selected for the mission, with Dmitri Kerman as backup. Only one crew member would be needed, but the Korolev system could carry up to 3 kerbals. On September 19, 1969, Vladimir climbs into Korolev 1. Launch: Getting into orbit is not all that is planned for K 1. To test the extended range and duration features, a Hohmann transfer is planned to boost it into a circular orbit at 1,000 kilometers. Orbital Shenanigans: A successful transfer and an EVA world record is impressive, too. With all mission objectives met, it's time for K 1 to come back to Kerbin. Returning Home: Mission success! The Korolev spacecraft is certified for kerbaled spaceflight and ready for flight in future missions. Coming next- unkerbaled rover on Minmus, Myatnee II!

Regarding missions... I loathe the contract system of KSP 1, and many players do as well. It's directionless, boring, (grindy), etc. I think a bit more leeway is needed when designing your own space program. A higher level of customization, I feel, is what KSP 2 is trying to do, as evidenced by new procedural parts and color customization. One of the things I'd love to see, though, is more personalization about your own space program. You can already pick your own colors, but those still apply to craft. For example, maybe when you make a new save, you could pick if your space program is government or private. If you pick the NASA-style one, you don't get contracts (are they called missions, for KSP 2?), and instead get funding. Doing an awesome achievement, (getting into orbit, etc.) gets you higher funding, and something bad (crashed ship, dead kerbals) would mean you lose funding. You might have goals you can choose to accept from your government (Maybe you could pick that, too-dif. governments have dif. advantages, but that sounds complex), like landing on The Mun, but still generally unspecific. If you pick the SpaceX-style one, you do get missions (contracts, whatever) and can offer services, such as "I can place x in x orbit for you, or x satellites in LKO" Having a different style space program could also affect building styles.

Need ideas for a spacecraft name, see the post above. Worked on one of my ships for Wrong Red Moon (linked in the above post) basically the N1. On my first attempt, it was well short of the dv for a Minmus landing, but it got a flyby. Adding another, vacuum efficient stage (ironically using the Apollo CSM style engine) was more than enough. It won't be posted right away, though- I have several other missions planned, including a rover and an unkerbaled test of my N1-like rocket. (It's called the Nuetron-1)

So I need ideas for a spacecraft name. Short summary, it's an alternate reality Soviet Minmus landing. Be it Russian, English, or gibberish, I need something that sounds cool. If you need more context, it's landing 3 kerbals on Minmus, Apollo style, from a sort of N1 rocket. Here's the post I'll be putting this on: And here's the flag I designed, if it helps.

In case anyone looked it up... "Myatnee" is a rough English spelling of the Russian word for "mint," or "minty." When I posted this, I decided to look it up on Google Translate to be sure, and Google said it was "myatnyy." It's pronounced the same, so it doesn't matter too much. Something like this is tricky, (if you even can have a "correct" English spelling,) since many languages use entirely unfamiliar alphabets. All the other ships on the save I am using for this story have conventional English names so far, or Russian names that have an official English translation (Like Sergei Korolev, who influenced the name of more than one ship of mine) Any cool ideas for names are welcome and would be much appreciated- it might even be better than what I have currently. Oh, and I almost forgot- it's pronounced mee-yaut-knee. I will stick with the Myatnee spelling for consistency.

True, true. Like how I didn't even need a payload bay since it was in a fairing on ascent... But... I can worry about aesthetics since this is a sandbox save, anyway, and it only has to be able to land. Or how a craft this close to Kerbol doesn't *need* those big solar panels, and yet everyone puts the biggest ones on all their space stations, regardless of power consumption.

Thanks! Didn't put too much thought into it, though. Half the science can't be transmitted before it runs out of juice, and deploying the payload bay destroyed one of the solar panels on my first try... Looks neat, though. I wanted to use the Stayputnik probe core even just for decoration because real Soviet Moon probes had a pressurized compartment, (Sputnik too, and their moon rovers, and their Venus probes, although that last one makes a bit more sense) because making a compartment for electronics is easier than redesigning them to work in a vacuum, I guess.

I see.

Terrain features as in Breaking Ground stuff and easter eggs?

Specifically 6.4? Shouldn't it be 9.5-9.6, if you're trying to make it earth size? At least, I assume that's what you're trying to do.

I'd like mine to be Kimera Industries. When I was setting up my account, I forgot capitalization, and several months afterward, while designing a logo for Kimera Industries, I settled upon a K instead of Ch, as it seemed more Kerbal. The "chimera" was a mythological monster composed of a mishmash of various parts, just like the spacecraft I make.

I saw a mod once that made the solar system 1/10 as small as it already was, and I believe it was already about 1/10 the size of our solar system in the first place... It was called Toy Solar System, or something along those lines.

Good grief, they're tiny. And we complain about landing on The Mun, can you believe it?