CatastrophicFailure

Some humans are larger than others... But going back to your earlier comment, it would be an interesting collaboration between, say, RocketLabs, SpaceX, and Tesla... RL shares their experience with flight-ready composite tanks, maybe does some deep cryo research for SpaceX, and in turn Tesla shares battery technology. Fat chance, I know, but one can hope.

Addendum to report dated 8/78... Well, Triti, Lodvin, Haylotte and Jencine are back at the space center again, safe and... mostly sound, in body if not in mind. The flight surgeon has pronounced them more-or-less physically healthy, despite the massive radiation dose. He says Lodvin's, er... growths... should go away on their own eventually, possibly without leaving any unsightly scars. Unfortunately for Jencine, there was no sign of any radiation-induced hair loss. Hey! After being poked and prodded and having enough fluid drawn for labs I'm amazed there wasn't an empty-straw-sucky-sound, the crew was thoroughly debriefed then rushed off to some nice comfortable, sensory-depriving padded quarantine cells for further observation some much needed rest. Initial results from the debriefings were... troubling, at best. I shall have to compile the transcripts into a separate report, once I can bring myself to read them again. Moving on, there's some housekeeping in order. We do have a space program to run, after all. The crewed program has been put on... hiatus, for the time being. Radiation turned out to be a much more daunting problem than we first thought, but we knew it would be a challenge going into it. Dealing with the stress of long-term isolation away from home, though... this may be the real problem. The science team has a possible solution to both they've pitched, but we all found the very idea quite chilling. For now, we're going to concentrate on robotic exploration while the scientists refine their... concept. I'm also sad to report that we've lost Thalia EXPRESS due to a failure of the main antenna, only weeks before a scheduled maneuver that would have brought another flyby of the eponymous world. We still need to deal with the ailing UpLab before we completely lose contact with it, too. Fortunately, the solution there has been crammed into the back of the VAB for weeks now. Me, I'm enjoying a little peace and quiet. The encounter with Gratian is coming up in just a few days, and after what we've all been through, everyone is looking forward to it. Ah, a nice, boring space probe. It won't talk back. It won't grow... things. It won't poke other things with a stick. It doesn't get happy, it doesn't get sad, it just runs programs and it will never ever go crazy! . . . . . GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! *CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP*CLUMP* *SLAM!*

$30,000 for a hammer, $40,000 for a toilet seat... $1 billion for a “misplaced” satellite... I hope the aliens at Area 51 at least Get decent cable after this.

Likely won’t make it by the 30th, but launch has probably slipped anyway...

Well, that approach has been working pretty good for me. Like: Mind clogged? Neural synapses caked with things you can’t unsee? Loosen stubborn buildup and leave mnemonic pathways squeaky clean with new Brain-O™️ brand brain cleaner! From Layland Wutani, the makers of TastyMush.™️ *Use only as directed. Do not use at all. May cause vomiting, seizures, uncontrolled flarping, visions of Krakens, and suspicious chickens. Layland Wutani and it’s subsidiaries will not be held responsible for any use or misuse of this product. Batteries not included.

So, assuming the word from NASA is correct, I wonder how many successful flights are needed for the COPV’s to be “safe enough?” How much does SpaceX need to demonstrate their understanding of the deep cryo fueling process? There’s still the hubbub about fueling with the crew on board, after all. Would a successful Falcon Heavy flight count as one or three? Meanwhile, NASA is perfectly fine putting people on an untested configuration of the SLS then sending them to the moon in a craft flown only once before, and not complete even then...

Funny you should mention that, I was going to try renaming old things to debris to see if I could keep them around as relays without killing the game. I don’t get lag, per se, the game just refuses to load if I have more than a couple dozen active flights. I’ve got so many mods at this point I’m continually amazed it works at all (y’all may notice a pattern with this phrase in this thread... ), so probably no way to chase it down. I’ll have to take a look at debris, tho, I thought I’d pretty much turned it off. I laughed way too hard at this. People stared, it was awkward...

That sounds most concerning. So, they’re risk-averse to SpaceX’s tanks, but perfectly OK with the SRB’s on Atlas (not to mention SLS)...

Kerbalism is a cruel mistress. Basically doubled the mass of the lightest 3-kerb pod I had. Which led to other issues, like... but there go my plans for using the design as a fully reusable Rald Shuttle. That engine was bugging me, anyway. No gimbal (hence the verniers), and MechJeb makes it wobble all over the place. But I have something else in mind... eventually. ... oh, for flarp’s sake... tho I may have to steal that..l

You’re getting him a Planet mobile right? Every aspiring young Spacelad needs a planet mobile. And other spacey things. Especially noisy ones that will drive his parents bonkers. And, as always, looking forward to the next chapters too!

Krakenado.

Well, so far we’ve not seen any hint of a storm of Krakens, just the odd few. Unless of course...

The plot thickens. You’re far braver than I to trust the forum with something that size. So, Emiko’s been going for over two years now (congrats ), are you still on the original save? How have you managed to keep the game upgraded without unleashing a veritable storm of Krakens?

Well, it’s lined with 20mm of lead shielding, so...

Year 8, Day 78... The time has finally come. After a few hours floating in the water and mumbling to themselves, Triti, Lodvin, Haylotte and Jencine claim to feel much better. Stinky has been hiding since this whole mess began and still has no idea what the flarp just happened. A few final preparations remain. While the others towel off and toss out the last of their, er, pirate gear, Jencine sets about trimming down the Raldbase. It's time to put away silly things. ...that we sent there in the first place. This will cut some weight, and restore some much-needed frames. Like Atlas, a quick shove sends the last of this nonsense off... Is this really our legacy for this place? Litter and debris scattered over the face of a once-pristine planet, even the bottom of the sea? Could we have brought these four Kerbals to the very edge of insanity, all in our insatiable quest for science? Are we out of touch? No, it's the children crew who are wrong. Any last science we can grab? With the reconfiguring complete, the Raldbase turns around, and heads for the return ship. ...which is a surprisingly short distance away. I think we came mighty close to that whole "shivering of timbers" thing... And finally, we are here. Or they are. The crew is oddly muted with the prospect of going home finally within reach. Once more, Jencine has work to do. It seems in their haste to start shivering, the crew neglected to extend the solar panels after landing the return ship on remote, and now the batteries are dead. The RCS system it didn't even have fuel for apparently needs a fix, too. The RaldBase has managed to refine a few drops of fuel and oxidizer. It's not much, but every little bit helps, and the experience in doing so will no doubt prove valuable down the road. ...and Jencine pauses for a quick nap in the squishy green mush covering the surface. Lodvin's gone back to mumbling about sand again. It seems he snuck board the return ship before anything could be documented. Haylotte takes a moment to do a last reset on the base's science equipment. The saga of the RaldBase is likely far from over, and it may yet be needed. Then it's Haylotte's turn up the ladder... ...and down into the heavily-shielded crew pod. Jencine has one final task. The RaldBase will be losing even more superfluous, trying to restore more of its former speed. And framerate. But those water engines did prove useful... These empty fuel tanks, too. Could use a bit more protection, though... Jencine takes one last, long gaze at her reluctant magnum opus... ...then heads up the ladder... And finally, it's Triti's turn. Who actually volunteered to come here, clinging to the side of a spaceship. We'll have to update her BadS credential. ...and hope she's forgotten about the year and a half of threat's she made. That cake is long gone, now. It was starting to grow hair anyway, but that's never shied Vlad away from food... Looking much more svelte, the RaldBase proceeds off on autopilot to a safe distance. The final checks are made. There's no profound parting words or catchy one-liners. 3... 2... 1... ignition! Up at 30... drop tanks clear... With a final burst, the return ship makes a stable orbit. The crew spare bittersweet gazes toward their home for the last few months... or, well, Triti does, since she's the only one with a window. The remaining fuel is burned for the transfer. It will be another dicey passage through both world's radiation belts with an already highly irradiated crew, but the heavy shielding should stem the damage. After a long, long time, they've done it. They've persevered. They're home. Almost. There's still... The ROMBUS plug aerospike heats up fast. It was hastily constructed for the much slower entry speed at Rald, there's no telling if-- Um... that's supposed to happen... ...that, too... ...perfectly normal, nothing to see here... yeesh. We... um... we knew that was going to happen... aye, yai yai... See? They're perfectly fine... The engineering team absolutely designed the return ship to disintegrate around the recovery pod, completely expected... Um... look at the pretty light show! Oooh, ahh! Oooh, ahh!. Medium-rare but unharmed after burning through their own ablator supply as well, the crew plummets home. Aaaand... we're on the mains, checks are good! Splashdown! And now, no doubt tired and possibly battered and weary after their long ordeal, the crew awaits retrieval. Which may take a while, since they ended up coming down on the far side of Gael. We've sent Vlad in a rowboat, but he's still trying to drag it down to the beach. Maybe we should help him. We stowed a pack of cards or something in the capsule, right? Old magazines? Air freshener with a long label? Oh... darn...

Speaking of which... How do you write such nice, long chapters? Do you have the text down ahead of time and then cut & paste with the pictures?

And then I had to promptly delete her to keep from exceeding my active vessel limit. 6.4x is about 7.5km/s to low Kerbin Gael orbit, I think RSS is like 9.5. Typical transfer to Rald is 1800m/s, 500-700 to capture & circularize. I'm still shocked it worked as perfectly well as it did. Perhaps it begets a new idiom: Spaceman, know thy launcher.

*tongue biting intensifies*

Was just gonna ask this. Once BC is running, will SpaceX essentially be running their own range there, or will they still be reliant on the USAF somehow?

How to say this non politically... Um, whenever they (the gummint) agree that it does.

Because at 5:36am on a Sunday he’s in bed. Hey @tater, beat you to a SpaceX tweet.

Apparently the delay this time is due to the gummint shutdown.

That T-Rex looks like it came from Saturn... Best not say it’s name too many times. ETA: oh snap! Just shutting the light off as fridge logic kicked in. I hope Sanny - the Not-so-recently-deceased - didn’t go off to hire herself a bio-exorcist... ...that would be... strange and unusual...

What... what about a ship carrying ships...?

Sí. @Ultimate Steve?