Deadweasel

You know, I hadn't even considered the military angle, which really should've been an obvious one given the political atmosphere of the time. Thanks for the clarification!

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Sorry, you're right. That particular reply was directed toward somebody asking for a craft in one of my previous pics though.

Granted, they will share similar aerodynamic shapes due to physical demands, but look at the wing ratio. Look at the size of the tail. These were specific to the NASA Shuttle design, and here comes Buran with almost exactly the same specs. I call it a copy because that's the only way Russia was going to be able to compete in the first place at that time. They had neither the time nor the money to develop something completely unique from scratch (the money aspect being proven by the fact that the program was scrapped entirely due to lack of funds very late in the process). Here are a couple of links to read through that help expand on why I see Buran the way I do: http://www.russianspaceweb.com/buran.html "In 1976, despite apparent skepticism in the space industry, the Soviet government decided to respond to the "Shuttle threat" with a similar spacecraft." How was Buran more advanced again? http://www.buran.su/buranvssts-comparison.php "As a whole the 2 shuttles have the same dimensions, mainly because Buran was made to be a counterpart of the STS Shuttle. But Buran is a little bit lighter than the STS orbiter (62 tons instead of 68 tons). The major difference is the rear of the shuttles, STS have 3 powerful engines (SSMEs) for the lift-off whereas Buran has [not]. This due to an important difference in the design process. Buran was only a payload of the Energia LV so its engines was only for the orbit trajectories. The STS Shuttle has powerful engines because they are used for the putting into orbit"

I would love to, but the current lifter is very much under-powered to bring Excursion into a stable orbit, so it currently relies on the FuelTastic mod to get there. Unfortunately the mod is in limbo right now, and there's no licensing indicated anywhere in its files so I can't distribute it, and all references to the original download have vanished until the author completes his indicated re-write and releases it. In the meantime, I am doing some re-work of the lifter so it doesn't have to rely on the fuel converters. I'll definitely plop up the craft file once that's done. In the meantime, watch the "Rovers Megathread" for my post of the rover included with Excursion.

Ironically, the only realistic means of having any shuttle design working would require the use of... *gasp* Mechjeb. The Shuttle was famously known as "The Flying Brick" and, like the SR-71, was almost completely incapable of flight without the use of computers to make the many many adjustments per second required to make it stable.

It's a testament to the kind of bravery that NASA represented back in those days. The US got to the moon first because they accepted the risk of flying ships built right at the edge of the technology of the day (which was just barely up to the task), and came back home safely to tell the tale. Buran is not so vastly different. I mean look at the thing! Same general design, same intended purpose, same launch profile, same transport system. It had RCS pods in all the same places, and even relied on the same thermal tile re-entry protection system, but where it differed is that Russia didn't have access to the main engines the US Shuttle used, which were the most efficient engines on the planet at the time. Buran was a knock-off of an already-working design as surely as the Chinese i-Pone. It came along well after NASA had taken all the big risks and proven the design. I think what Russia didn't know at the time was how hugely expensive the Space Shuttle program was, because at its core, the Space Shuttle was initially designed to be a showpiece. It was never intended to be placed at the center of the space program as its main workhorse; it just turned out to be much more effective than anybody had anticipated. Also, look up Space Shuttle Enterprise. It wasn't exactly a complete unknown by the time they did the glide tests. That shuttle went through a LOT of ground and "piggy-back" tests to determine its general characteristics before anybody got behind the stick and tried flying it independently. Still, it was a huge risk, and the pilots deserve all the credit for taking it on and seeing it through, as surely as Chuck Yeager swallowed the lump in his throat and broke the sound barrier in a prototype rocket plane.

Absolutely. Lots of distributors are probably thinking "I freaking wish!" right now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Road_Truckers

Hey, everybody's got to start somewhere, right? Trust me: almost every player has gone through the same learning process when they started. Figure out through trial and error what parts do what Discover the magic of struts Lose dozens of ships and Kerbals, and go back to the drawing board many many MANY times just trying to get to orbit Get comfy with orbiting, then start losing many more ships to attempts to reach the Mün or Minmus Get there, start the whole thing over again trying to land safely Every major milestone in the game takes what the player has learned so far and turns it on its head before it can be achieved. It's what makes the thing so fun! Learning how to do things in this game feels a lot to me like all those hundreds of videos of attempts to build a human-powered plane. So complex, so tragic, so damned FUNNY! Welcome to Hell Gamercow. Jeb's got plans for you.

Well, it flew one automated (un-manned) mission, but while that's a pretty incredible achievement that included a flawless return, I still think even Enterprise takes the cake. Not because it went to space (it didn't), but because its first solo flight was a test of its ability to glide in and land, with real pilots behind the stick. That was pretty risky, given none of the Shuttles had any kind of emergency evacuation system, and was definitely an operation that continued the NASA tradition of The Right Stuff. Take that Communists! With your fancy autopilot shenanigans and what-not...

I know it's a game and all (duh), and one that seems to lean toward the improbable, but I have to wonder why the Soviet program is getting so much attention on this particular angle. I mean, Buran was never flown, and was an obvious (inferior) copy of the US Space Shuttle program anyway. I can definitely appreciate the care and attention that went into replicating it for the game, and that's awesome, but I can't help but notice the lack of comparable Shuttles, and ones that are (in my opinion) more deserving of a tribute anyway, such as Challenger or Columbia. Then again, thinking more on it, maybe paying tribute to those two in this game in particular might end up being a little too accurate a re-creation.

The crew of IPEV Excursion spent some time getting familiar with specific portions of the upcoming mission profile, focusing heavily on docking procedures in Excursion's Mosquito bay, shown here vacant while Jenlas familiarizes himself with the Mosquito's sensitive controls a short distance away After two days of practice maneuvers, Excursion was cleared to depart for the Mün at the next window of opportunity. The final orbital injection ran a bit too long, however, and Bill and Jebediah were treated to a hair-raising low altitude pass of the Mün along the way. Jeb took pictures. Bill excused himself momentarily to look for a spare (clean) suit. Jenlas and Hanry observed eagerly from their duty quarters in the flank pods. An observation satellite, sent previously, captured this image of Excursion's fly-by of the mission's intended landing zone. Settled into a stable orbit, Jeb and Bill began preparations for the deployment phase of the mission. Excursion was oriented north, vehicle bays opened to relieve heat accumulation, and the flank pod solar panels retracted to aid the deployment crew's egress from the ship. Jenlas transferred to the Mosquito's cockpit, signaled ready, and was released from the Mosquito bay to stand off and await release of the rover. Even after the exhaustive checklist for the event had been completed, Jeb wondered aloud if they had somehow missed something, when the rover was released from the bay and shot upward and out like a greased pig. "At least it didn't hit us in the process," Bill murmured in relief. "Yeah, shame," Jeb replied, reaching for the rover's remote console, "might've been exciting." With the rover stabilized, Jenlas maneuvered the Mosquito in to latch onto it with practiced skill, returned to Excursion's vicinity, and signaled the all-clear for Hanry to transfer over. "I still think I should've gotten on before you launched," he griped, "I hate this part!" "What genius dreamed this screwy design up anyway?" he continued as he drew near. Jeb cleared his throat self-consciously, letting that transfer on the comms. Hanry fell silent, possibly in abject terror. "Trade me now!" Hanry demanded after he'd buckled in, "This doesn't feel right at all!" "Well it looks hilarious as hell from here!" Jenlas laughed. Deployment crew finally settled in and prepped, Jenlas began the tricky task of de-orbiting and stabilizing their descent to the surface of the Mün. As the landing lights picked out the terrain, Jenlas called up: "Glad you scarfed on the snacks on the way out here, your fat butt is the perfect counter-balance for the rover!" "I swear, I will hook this suit up to the air supply and fart in it if you don't shut up," came Hanry's venomous retort. The landing was picture-perfect and gentle as a feather. "Was that so bad?" Jenlas asked. "Yeah, that was actually pretty good!" Hanry grinned. Jenlas fired the engines one more time, cutting the rover loose just as the ship began to rise and drifting a short distance away to finally park the Mosquito on its own landing gear. A short time later, the pair were aboard their Mün-dusted hotrod, making tracks for the nearby anomaly. Few words were exchanged upon their arrival, such was the depth of awe that gripped the two Survey completed, the next stage of the mission called for the rover to be left at the site as a landing beacon for future missions. Jenlas began the long, careful flight back. As he crested the last ridge before arriving at the landing site, Jenlas was startled as something flew by within inches of his helmet. His suit tracking system highlighted the object as a component from the Mosquito, their only means of return to Excursion. "Oh, kresnat!" Jenlas swore as the landing site came into view, revealing a terrifying sight. "What," Hanry keyed-up, "what is it?" "The dropship. It's- Well, it's broke." "WHAT?!" "I can't come get you. The Mosquito's apparently blown apart. Don't ask me how, just set the beacon and start flying back." "What're we going to do?" "The cockpit and air supply are still intact; we'll just have to take turns recharging our suits until Excursion can send back word and rescue comes." "Ummm... About that. You remember what I said I'd do before on our way in?" "...you didn't..." "I may or may not have accidentally sort of contaminated the air supply..." "You're gonna be the first to find out, if you survive long enough, that is!" I have no idea why it blew up, either. No matter how I focus on it after re-loading, it just blows apart like it was hit by something. I can switch vessels in either order (forward or backward), or fly to it manually and it just detonates when I get within 200m of it. Looks like I've got a stranded crew. :'(

Ah, I see. I was kind of tickled when I tried un-commenting that module and discovered that my rovers could now tuck their wheels away for storage/flight/station-keeping, but the weird off-axis rotation made them too wonky to use, even if it didn't seem to affect the handling. Anyway, thanks for clearing that up!

Steam auto-updated you? What version were you running before? Maybe I can help.

Reminds me of a kestrel.

So supposedly the truck wheels can retract, but they don't seem to do so for me. In previous version, I discovered a landing gear module that was commented-out. Re-enabling that allowed the wheels to retract, but after that they rotated in really weird ways when rolling. So now I'm using the new version, the context menu option for extend/retract gear is still there, and it's still available for action group assignments, but it plain and simple doesn't work. Any ideas?

HSTAC Silverhawk II began orbital trials today The new version has slightly better range and docking capability. Johnry pays tribute to fallen courageous comrades with an unscheduled wing walk. Apparently one of two top secret experiments Silverhawk II was carrying began to malfunction, prompting an evacuation. Luckily, it was a false alarm. Bill has been verbally coached about leaving snack wrappers in power reactor cores during pre-flight servicing. Among the passive defense programs nearing completion are the "boo" lights, thought to be an effective deterrent against kraken attacks Meanwhile, back on the ground, the X-108 began its own flight tests under project code-name "Trident". The X-108 is a variant of the Silverhawk frame, and represents the first active offensive design launched from the KSP. Relying on automated or remote control instead of live pilots, the Trident program craft are designed to be exceptionally maneuverable, and capable of delivering large support or munitions payloads to operating theaters around the globe.

HSTAC Silverhawk II

"I used to fly in space like you, but then I took a separatron to the knee..."

While Venus is interesting from a geological and meteorological standpoint, it wouldn't be much fun to go there, and would probably introduce some substantial challenges for the devs as well. Notice no fog on any of the planets/moons? Here's a depiction of what it might look like on the surface of Venus, as presented by the series "Space Odyssey: A Voyage to the Planets", aired on BBC Nov. 2004 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/spaceodyssey/programme1.shtml): The atmosphere at ground level is hot and dense enough to crush just about anything we could land there.

"Structurally rigid" indeed! >_>

*post retracted as inaccurate*

Apparently I regressed to illiterate mode (with some helpful assistance from good ole' beer!), so thanks for the pointer to your sig. Unfortunately I've gotten into the habit of not noticing the sigs because they are repeated so often, so I frequently miss the new ones. Hopefully I didn't come off as an ass, as that wasn't my intention. Apologies if it seemed that way, and again, I'm still digging the designs in any case!

Is something wrong with your screenshot function? There seem to be more and more people posting actual photos of their monitors instead of posting the screens captured from in-game (f1). Am I missing something here? Is this a "thing" now, or is it just this one (imaginative and prolific) player having an issue with it? If the latter is the case, something I might be able to do to help?