KSK

You could always splice in some electric eel genes. Alternatively, real dragons chew firestone.

I think the 'irrationality' is a mix of supporting the underdog and a recapturing of the 'Space or Bust' spirit of the 60s and 70s. Rationally, it's not new, emotively it's SPACE! And this time with shinier spaceships, rockets landing on their tails and loads of cool stuff on YouTube! I'm a SpaceX fan for two main reasons (aside from the Tony Stark vibe although that helps too ). First, a tangible sense of progress. SpaceX are on their fourth generation of main engine (I'm not counting the vacuum modified versions), have developed another smaller engine (Kestrel), orbital maneuvering thrusters (Draco) and lander engine (SuperDraco). They're on their second generation of medium lift launch vehicle, are developing their second generation capsule+service module and have taken big strides towards recovery and re-use of their booster cores. That's all verifiable stuff - I'm being cautious here and leaving Falcon Heavy, Raptor, Mars Colonial Transport etc. etc. on the 'I'll believe it when I see it' pile. Of course some of this is reinventing the wheel to a certain extent (or more charitably, building a better mousetrap) but it's still an impressive program of hardware updates that shows no sign of slowing down. Second, as others have mentioned, is the aspirational side of SpaceX. They're in it for space and nothing else. I have no idea what their financials look like but they have this air of 'the profit is a means to an end - and that end is getting to Mars' about them. If Musk makes enough money from SpaceX, I honestly believe he's going to Mars whether or not anyone specifically pays him to go. I just hope your (well reasoned) pessimism about SpaceX's long term viability turns out to be wrong.

A very unusual start - interesting to take a look behind the scenes at the other costs of the space program. 10/10 for the title too - extremely evocative. Here's hoping that 'some day' isn't too far away.

It's not quite molecular gastronomy so apologies for the mild thread-jack. However, Lajoswinkler's comments put me in mind of a pretty good Ars Technica article about cooking and why some folks just don't get along with it. Worth a read IMO.

Looks interesting and a thumbs up for Gene's nickname! Squid things are OK, just remember not to install them in any autonomous vehicles. Especially armed ones...

This is a bit of a work in progress, so details may change but here goes. My version of kerbal society revolves around two historical castes, the kermol and the kerman. 'Caste' isn't quite right word since there aren't any social barriers that would block a kerbal from moving between the two groups and in fact many of them will swap several times during their lives. Broadly speaking, kermol are rural dwelling farmer/priests and kerman are the more technologically inclined urbanites. There's no particular friction between the two groups - kermol are quite happy to use whatever technological conveniences the kerman can come up with and likewise, kerman have long since concluded that Agriculture is Hard and are similarly happy for others to grow their food for them. First Flight, my fanfic story goes into this in much more detail if anyone is curious. Kerbin has a world government. At the top is the Council of Twelve Pillars which consists of six Presidents and six Chief Ambassadors, one of each from each of the six principal regionalities of Kerbin. Presidents are elected representatives of the kerman, whilst Chief Ambassadors are appointed representatives of the kermol. Each regionality has its Ruling Council (kerman) or Conclave (kermol), which deal with regionality governance and also appoint/elect a Chief Ambassador or President. In turn, each regionality is divided into a number of sub-territories and each sub-territory elects a representative to the Ruling Council. (Havn't decided on a name for the council members yet) and appoints an Ambassador to the Conclave. Elections would be familiar to anyone from Earth but Appointment is fairly complex - any kermol is free to stand as Ambassador but does need the unanimous acclamation of the Conclave. Age, experience, judgement, good works, community involvement all tend to be positive factors - in general kermol are a pragmatic lot and tend to be more concerned with appointing a competent Ambassador than faffing around with politicking. The larger sub-territories have added another similar sub-layers of governance to ensure adequate representation at the town or village level. Finally, any kerbal whatsoever can demand his or her Right of Conclave, or personal audience with the Council of Twelve. This is not taken lightly, that kerbal will get his/her audience with an absolute minimum of delay... but there is a general unwritten understanding that he/she better have a very good reason for requesting it. If nothing else, requesting the Right to deal with a matter that could be adequately addressed by Ruling Council or other lower tier of governance will be severely frowned upon. Kerbals that cry gronnek don't tend to win any friends or influence.

Now there's a terrifying thought - kerbals in charge of a pair of 7 TeV proton beams. "Jeb, Bill - don't cross the streams!!"

Ah, so it did. It's been a while since I've read the book / seen the film. Thinking about it, wasn't that the point where Bowman and Poole started getting suspicious? I still think HAL saw it as an easier way out - a way to remove part of his conflict by breaking the link with Earth to cover up any breaks with his orders. Unfortunately, a computer programmed for honesty makes a useless liar.

On a slightly more meta note, I always figured the part with HAL (apart from a chance to actually put a little dialogue and recognisable plot into the film) was to make the point that even tools that Man creates, he does not fully understand. Given that, how can he hope to understand himself, let alone the Monoliths.

I always assumed that the antenna breakdown was deliberate sabotage. An easier way out for HAL than killing the crew. Murder was the option of last resort. Also, I disagree about putting the apes at the end. I see the point about using them as a reveal for the purpose behind the Monoliths but I'm not sure a reveal is needed. Even if we know from the beginning that the Monolith was responsible for kickstarting human evolution (possibly even the reason why the apemen didn't die out), we don't know why they did it or why they chose to do it by turning the apemen into hunters. The book goes into a bit more detail but not the film.

A very minor exploit in my opinion and since all the capsules come with monopropellant (even though you're nowhere near unlocking RCS), you could even hand-wave that exploit away as 'Jeb was using capsule supplies to refuel his EVA pack.' Besides I completely agree that if you have the skill and patience to do multiple EVA pack rendezvous that you've earned those science points anyway!

Nice! I liked the little touches like the slightly dinged up visor on Luke's helmet. I'm looking forward to the finished article too.

Don't worry about it - I know that feeling well and I'm pretty sure we're not the only ones. After the drama of the first launch, I'm looking forward to the first crewed flight!

Nice idea but wrong place I think. This looks like it would work better in the General forum, or even the Mission Reports section of this forum.

To Creature - thanks very much! Comments like that... yeah I don't think any writer could ask for more than that.

Umm, what makes you think that? I'm not saying you're wrong (it's quite possible that I've missed an article or two somewhere) but 'extraordinarily basic training' and 'astronauts' aren't concepts that go together in my head! On a related note, re. the touchscreen debate. I'm fairly sure that if Dragon is going to be man-rated as per NASA requirements, that the cockpit controls are going to be up to the task. Also, I'd have thought that touchscreen controls would be quite useful for spacecraft controls simply because you can give them an almost arbitrary size. Anything important that the crew will need to hit even whilst being shaken around and wearing clunky gloves - just make the button bigger.

Adapted from Sir Nahme's classic signature. Sung to the tune of "I will survive", just in case anyone hadn't guessed. At first I was afraid. I was petrified... Thought we would never make it back, if we let Jebediah drive. And so I spent oh so many nights, thinking what could all go wrong. But I got onboard - and I brought parachutes along... And now we're back! From the edge of space. I rode shotgun on the launch with my friend Bill in the far left place. We saw the Mun. We saw the stars. And we even made it home without too many scars! Oh yeah we're back. From the edge of space! We soared across the sky - and you should have seen Jeb's face. We saw the Mun. We saw the stars. Even if the capsule seat, got imprinted on my...

Oh is that all. For a moment I thought this game was going to be easy. More seriously, the game still has a pretty steep learning (as opposed to wrestling with the interface) curve and I don't think a better interface and bigger parts have changed that. If anything they encourage players to try for more difficult goals, now that getting the requisite tonnage to LKO is a bit more straightforward.

Thanks folks! This is giving me some ideas for a paragraph or two further down the line...

Well wherever the KSP is going, they're gonna need a bigger ship. Luckily Jeb and his team are happy to oblige! Next chapter is up. Project Eve “Three, two, one and... shutdown!" The thunder from the test stand stopped. Jeb waited for a minute or two before cautiously removing his fingers from his ears. “How they looking, Wernher?" The rare smile on the chief engineer's face told him all he needed to know. “Balanced propellant flow to all three engines, Jeb. Minimal off-axis loads across the main thrust assembly - and the flight control system caught those and responded perfectly! Jeb studied the strip charts on Wernher's console. “Interface and cabling to the test stand held up well too," he said, “Remind me to tell Hando when we get back. So we're going with the three engine configuration then?" Wernher nodded. “Now that we've fixed the flow rate problem, I don't see why not. Three T-thirties in the core stage, T-twenties on the lateral boosters and a fourth on the upper stage. It should be enough, Jeb." Jeb scratched his head. “Just about - if it'll hold to the ascent profile. Are you sure we've got enough thrust vector control with triangular symmetry?" “According to Lucan and Neling we can do it with just the standard gimbals," said Wernher, “Which is good. I never liked Seelan's steerable fins idea - too many extra moving parts for my liking and too many complications if one of them fails mid-flight." Jeb retrieved his mug of coffee from a nearby console and took a swig. “I didn't hear any squawking this time either," he said, “Did the propellant balancing fix that too?" “Screeching," said Wernher patiently. “No, that was Malmy's new injector design. Not much to it in the end but enough to detune the combustion chamber away from that new resonance mode." He shrugged. "Higher chamber pressure, hotter operating temperature - something was bound to crop up." Jeb laughed. "It wasn't so long ago that you'd have been tearing your hair out over a problem like this," he said, "We've come an awful long way since the LV-1 old friend." He glanced at the monitor admiringly, "And it has to be said - that is a brute of a thrust assembly. Can't wait to see what it looks like with the rest of the booster on top!" The bunker door banged open and Ornie hurried in, cheeks glowing. He bent over double, gasping for breath and then straightened up with an enormous grin on his face. “Ornie!" exclaimed Jeb, “How did it sound from the stands?" Ornie cupped one hand to his ear. “Sorry, Jeb?" he said. “I said, HOW WAS THE...Oh very funny Ornie." Ornie laughed. “Awesome! The bits I could see through the smoke at least. And that sound - whoooo boy! Not loud enough to hurt but plenty loud enough to shake the soles of your feet." His eyes glowed with enthusiasm. “Aint nobody gonna be listening to the band when that rocket goes up!" Wernher grinned at him. “And that was just the T-thirties," he said, “Throw in the T-twenties too and it won't just shake the soles of your feet!" “Actually we'd best be careful about that," said Jeb, “Maybe have somebody at the gate handing out ear plugs or something." He saw the look on his friends' faces. “I'm serious guys - we can't have people going deaf - really deaf that is - every time we launch an Eve booster!" “Probably not," conceded Ornie. “Hey - that's a pretty good pitch though. 'The rocket so powerful you need earplugs to watch it.' We could print the KIS logo on the plugs and sell them as keepsakes." “Or print parts on them," said Wernher. "“LV-T30s, fuel tanks, Eve capsules maybe. Collect the set and build your own mini foam rocket." Jeb blinked, “I think you've both been spending too much time with Genie," he said dryly. “I'm not saying its a bad idea mind...but we should also have a bunch of plain ones to give away for free." “No, you're right, Jeb," said Ornie reluctantly, “Selling protective equipment would look a bit tasteless." He frowned. “I like Wernher's idea of collectable parts though. I think I'll have a word with Bob; he likes quirky games, maybe he can think of something." Jeb put down his mug. "Speaking of which," he said, "he and Genie should be back from Rockomax in an hour or so. Lets go unload the stand." ---------------- Wernher watched nervously whilst Ornie backed up his truck up, guided by Jeb's hand signals. Watch it...watch it... steady Ornie. And hold it... HOLD IT!. Ornie's tow-bar stopped mere centimetres from the test stand support leg. Jeb was already swinging the crane into place above the cluster of rocket engines. Wernher wiped the sweat off his forehead and ran forward to hook the chains onto the thrust assembly struts. He checked the propellant valves before carefully unclipping the fuel and oxidiser lines and coiling them neatly around the storage drums. Finally he unplugged a thick bundle of cables from the side of each engine and tossed them to one side. "Ready, Jeb!" The winch whined into life, accompanied by the rapid clanking of chains through pulleys. Wernher clambered onto the back of the truck and began calling out instructions; "Left a bit, Jeb... more...more...Looking good. Forward, forward and... there! OK, lower away." The engine bells dropped slowly towards the waiting cradle. Wernher caught the edge of the nearest one. "Hold it, Jeb - need to line this up. OK, that's got it - down another half metre... and stop!" The three rocket motors settled gently into place. Wernher unhooked them from the crane and set to work lashing them onto the truck bed, oblivious to the chains dangling just above his head. Jeb hopped down from his seat and began unplugging the cables from the test stand. "Are we taking the engines over to the Tent, Wernher?" "Back to the VAB today, Jeb. According to Ordun, his team will have have the first stage superstructure ready for mating to the thrust assembly by tomorrow. "Works for me," said Jeb, " I'm never that happy leaving unfinished parts in the Tent anyway. That's good work from Ordun's gang too." He paused. "VAB?" "Ordun's nickname for the warehouse," said Wernher, "He seems to think 'Vehicle Assembly Building' sounds better." Jeb sighed. "Why call a spade a spade when you could call it a Manual Earthmoving and Manipulation Tool", he said. "Still, 'Vehicle Assembly Building' is one of his better names." "Vertical Assembly Building would be even better," said Wernher wistfully. "The Tent more or less worked for Project Moho but a proper hangar to build the Eve boosters in would really help." Jeb dropped the cables onto the back of the truck. "One day," he said, "Maybe if Rockomax take up Genie's proposal." Wernher thumbed the tail lift button. "You really think they'll go for a Munar program?" he said. "No idea," said Jeb frankly, "CORDS is going well but whether that'll be enough for Ademone's board?" He held up his hands. “I have no idea." "CORDS was worth doing whatever happens next," said Wernher, scrambling up into the cab after Jeb. “Especially after Bob managed to persuade them to give us a spare docking adapter to test our prototypes against." “That was Bob?" said Ornie, “I figured it was Gene sweet talking Ademone." He pressed the starter button and the truck hummed into life. Gingerly, he pushed on the accelerator, one ear alert to any unexpected noises from the back. Jeb laughed. “Gene's a fair diplomat too but he's got nothing on Bob. I swear you could drop that kerbal into a meeting of the Twelve Pillars and he'd come out an hour later telling you all about how President Chadwick hasn't seen his youngest for two weeks because he's been working late on a new bill, that President Enemone's been at a diplomatic conference in Wakira and she couldn't tell him much about it but it sounded stressful..." “and that it's Ambassador Aldwell's old mum's birthday next week and maybe we could wish her happy birthday from orbit if we happened to be flying at the time..." added Wernher. Ornie steered around a large hummock of grass and started at a sudden rattle from the trailer. The truck rolled to a stop and he hopped out. Jeb and Wernher heard the grumbling wheeze of tailgate hydraulics followed by the tapping of boots on steel and a disgusted snort. The tailgate thumped shut and Ornie clambered back into the cab clutching a handful of cables. “Yours I believe," he said acidly, passing the cables over to Jeb and starting up the truck again. For a moment, there was silence apart from the whine of electric motors and the rumble of wheels over turf. Then Ornie chuckled. “Ambassador Aldwell's old mum," he said. “Maybe the Eve 1 crew should give her a wave as they fly overhead." “If Bob gets to go, he could serenade her from orbit on Beauty," said Wernher. “Beauty?" said Ornie. “His lucky guitar," said Jeb, “And don't knock her, Wernher - it was Beauty more than Bob that got us that docking adapter." Wernher raised his eyebrows. “Yep - turns out that one of the Rockomax engineers - Hanbal I think his name was - is into the same kaya-scaring racket that Bob likes. Next thing I know, he's invited along to a lunchtime jam session and it's all we can do to get them back to work in the afternoon. Even then the conversation is one part rocket engineering to one part obscure music." He shook his head. “I'm positive Bob makes half of those bands up." Wernher smiled. “That sounds like Bob," he agreed. “That's not the end of it," said Jeb, “They gave him a tour of their factory floor - which was pretty impressive by the way - and Bob spots a tank valve on a workbench. I didn't catch what he said to Hanbal but it didn't seem to go down too well. So Bob just sets to work stripping down the valve. He picks out a couple of pieces and asks if he can rework them a little. I think Hanbal is getting curious now, so he tells Bob to go ahead. By the time Bob's switched off the mill, he's starting to attract a crowd, by the time he's rebuilt the valve, every engineer in the place is standing round his bench watching." Ornie pulled up at an intersection and waited for the road ahead to clear. “I don't get it," he said, “You're not tellin' me that a factory-full of engineers hadn't seen another engineer tweak a valve before?" “Of course not," said Jeb, “but you're forgetting that Bob went up on the Kerbal 1, which makes him a kerbonaut too - or close enough. I didn't ask but I got the impression that the Rockomax flight crews tend to keep to themselves. Having Bob turn up and start bending metal turned out to be quite the ice breaker." “I've known pilots like that," said Ornie. “Most of 'em are just regular kerbals but there's always a handful that think they're a touch above the poor greasebuckets that actually build the planes. You run this place the right way, Jeb." Jeb shrugged. “I can see some sense in having a separate kerbonaut corps," he said. “I bet it makes organising the training a lot easier for one." “I agree with Ornie," said Wernher quietly. Jeb looked uncomfortable. “It does seem like the fairest way to do things," he said. “And speaking of which, that looked like Bob's car out the front. Time to go inside and select our next kerbonauts." ------------ Jeb stood by his office door, waste paper basket in one hand and surveyed the warehouse floor with pride. Maybe Ordun has a point. A spaceship parts company should have a Vehicle Assembly Building, rather than a plain old warehouse. Ordrie and Adelan were busy installing RCS thrusters around the base of the Eve 1 capsule. Through the open hatch Jeb could see Edsen perched on the edge of the centre couch sorting through a tangle of multicoloured cables. Lowise stood patiently by the opening holding a tray of tools, tags, cable ties and other assorted components and Jeb recognised a half assembled evaporator resting on a nearby bench. Looks like the forward thrusters are finished already. And all the space inside compared to the old Kerbal 1! or a Moho. Yeah, we're finally building an honest to Kerm spaceship here. Showers of sparks filled the air at the other end of the warehouse as another team of kerbals put the finishing touches on a great skeletal cylinder. Fuel tanks, photovoltaic panels and an an entire LV909 engine were stacked neatly on the equipment racks behind it. Seelan and Wilford stood behind a long workbench, each assembling an RCS thruster block under Malmy's watchful eye. The elegant, gleaming Rockomax docking adaptor on its test stand took pride of place in the middle of the warehouse floor. A pair of steel rails led away from the stand and parked on the other end of the rails was, what looked to Jeb, very much like an old camera dolly with the distinctly less elegant bulk of the Eve 1 docking port securely fixed to it's upper platform. Don't remember seeing that before. Wonder where we scrounged it up from. Actually, on second thoughts, I don't want to know. Bill peered into an eyepiece set into the side of the docking port and delicately adjusted a crank handle. He nodded to himself, took a firm grip on the large lever poking out of the trolley next to him and gave the two kerbals standing behind it up a thumbs up. Straining against the weight, they rolled Bill and the docking port slowly down the track towards the waiting adaptor. Jeb held his breath. Bill applied the brakes with a brief squeal of metal on metal. The dolly crept down the rails towards its target and then, with a whisper of highly polished surfaces sliding past each other, the tapered probe protruding from the port slid smoothly into the adaptor. The rapid fire ripple-bang of docking latches slamming shut echoed around the warehouse, completely masking the gentle thump of wheels hitting chocks. Bill jumped off and joined the other two members of his team next to the adaptor. Try as they might, the three kerbals couldn't roll the dolly back up the tracks. A cheer went up as Bill retrieved a portable gas cylinder and plugged it into the back of the port. He turned the valve and Jeb jumped at the sudden angry hissing roar that rattled the office window behind him. What the...! The wall of metal rolling past his office window brought him back to Kerbin. Oh right; just the damn sand blaster. That's a point though; better call the tank team in too. He strolled over to the outside door and poked his head out. The two kerbals cleaning the enormous sections of fuel tank were too intent on their work to notice him. One of the kerbals helping to wheel out the next section of tank from the main engineering shed spotted him and waved. Jeb waited for the howling din of sand against aluminium to stop and went out to join them, still clutching his wastepaper basket. “You folks ready to take a break?" “Just getting started, Jeb," grumbled Seelan, “We were figuring on getting both these sections finished before the weather closed in." Jeb squinted up at the sky. “Looks like it's going to stay clear for a while yet,"he said. He rattled the basket and grinned. “You sure you don't want to take a quick break?" Seelan glanced down at the jumbled heap of folded paper scraps and her eyes lit up. “Well why didn't you say so in the first place?" she said. “Wouldn't want to deprive any of the boys here of a chance to actually fly this machine they're cleaning up!" “Wouldn't want to deprive you either, boss," replied Jeb. “Why don't you stow your gear and I'll see you inside in ten minutes." -------------- Jeb glanced at the pressure gauge hanging from the Eve 1 docking port and was pleased to see that both dials appeared to be holding steady. He jumped up onto a convenient workbench and waited, one eye fixed on his office door. One by one, the members of the Kerbin Interplanetary Society broke off from their work and drifted towards him. The older ones recognised the wastepaper basket and a buzz of anticipation swiftly spread around the vehicle assembly building. At last, the office door closed behind Seelan's team. Jeb surveyed the crowd and was relieved to see Bob and Geneney standing in a huddle with Wernher and Lucan. He cleared his throat and the room fell silent. “My friends, the last time I stood here, we stood on the edge of new age for kerbalkind. We had just taken the first steps into space with the Kerbal sub-orbital flights and the two Kerbin satellites. Looking back they were small steps indeed but they gave us the confidence to embark on bigger and better things. We built new and powerful rockets and with them we launched the first ever kerbals into space - and brought them all home. We built the first ever kerbal-made object to orbit the Mün - and kerbals across the world watched it live on television!" “So where do we go now? My friends - that I cannot tell. But I do know that we won't get there in a Moho capsule. Fortunately we're building something a lot bigger." The basket in Jeb's hand shook slightly. “And once again we will need brave volunteers to fly our new ships. To be pilots for Project Eve." Geneney stared at the half assembled capsule whilst Jeb rattled through the details. Not that they're anything new but Kerm do they sound impressive when they're all rolled together. A three kerbal capsule with separate service module for long duration power and life support. Built in flight computer for guidance, navigation and burn control. Separate reaction control systems for on-orbit maneuvers and re-entry stabilisation. And a proper engine in the back for 'advanced orbital maneuvers.' A faint smile tugged at his lips. Even if the old showman carefully avoided any mention of where we plan to be orbiting. With specs like this though, I'm sure most of them have worked that out already. Dammit but I hope Ademone can convince her Board! Plan B is fine as it goes but even with paying passengers to help the cashflow it's going to take a long time to build our own Kerbin departure stage, let alone a lander. The sudden hush broke Geneney's reverie. Jeb gave the basket one last shake, dipped his hand inside and pulled out a folded scrap of paper. “The first pilot for the Eve 1 flight is.... Roncott!" The logistics team went wild amidst some good natured ribbing and comments about bin-stuffing from the other engineers around them. It's true, thought Geneney, First Camrie, now Roncott. Although he's not looking terribly happy about it. “The second pilot for Eve 1 is.... Ribory!" Geneney breathed a sigh of relief. That's a bit of luck. Jeb's just picked the flight commander if I have any say in things. “And the final pilot for Eve 1 is...Calzer!" The rest of the Booth Crew grabbed hold of Calzer and hoisted the dazed looking kerbal into the air. That's a good team. Not sure about Roncott but he's flying with a solid commander and a good systems guy. Jeb grinned at the celebrating kerbals. “OK, folks! Like I said - we're not sure exactly how many Eve flights we're going to launch, so I'm only picking one more crew today!" He slowly unfolded the slip of paper. “The first pilot for the Eve 2 flight is...Ornie!" Geneney stuffed his fingers into his ears as every kerbal in the building rushed forward to congratulate the new kerbonaut. Richlin pounded his friend on the back in delight. “The second pilot for Eve 2 is...Ordrie!" The crowd cheered. Ornie pushed his way through the throng and shook Ordrie by the hand. “And the final pilot for Eve 2 is... Wernher!" The propulsion team gathered round the chief engineer to celebrate but their initial exuberance was slowly replaced by uncomfortable silence. Oh.. dammit no! I don't want to spoil Wernher's day but we can't risk him and Ornie on the same flight. If we lose the Eve 2 it would gut the entire program. Wernher caught Jeb's eye and raised his eyebrows a fraction of a millimetre. Jeb nodded solemnly and gestured for him to step forward. “Thank you, Jeb," said Wernher, “but I'm sure Ornie will do a fine job of representing the propulsion team." He took the scrap of paper from Jeb's hand and dropped it back into the basket. “Are you sure about this?" Jeb murmured under his breath. “Quite sure," said Wernher quietly. “I don't know about you, Jeb," Geneney called out, “but I reckon we've just selected the first Eve 3 pilot." A rumble of approval spread through the crowd and a relieved smile spread across Jeb's face. “Fine idea, Genie - fine idea!" he said. He fished Wernher's paper back out of the basket and held it aloft. “The first pilot for the Eve 3 flight will be Wernher! And now, the final pilot for the Eve 2 is... Edsen!" “Excellent news," shouted Ornie to general laughter “Just who we need to keep us pointed in the right direction!" “That's easy for you to say, Ornie," Lucan called out. “You're not going to be the one sitting in Mission Control without our best trajectory guy to lend a hand!" Wilford watched the meeting break up amidst laughter and good-humoured comments. All except our first Eve pilot, he thought. He strolled over and tapped Roncott on the shoulder. “It's a lot to take in isn't it?" he said quietly. “Don't worry, Roncott; you'll do just fine." Roncott nodded dumbly. “Honestly," said Wilford. “When you get a minute, go ask Jeb about the night before the Moho 3 flight. I was seconds away from bailing out myself but thank the Kerm I didn't!" He looked at the younger kerbal solemnly. “Like I said - you'll be fine. But if you have any problems at all; training, late nights... anything, just give me a call. C'mon, lets go grab a coffee." << Chapter 32: Chapter 34>>

Well played, although I'm fairly sure that was the old abridged edition. The new abridged edition simply reads: Kerbin Harmful.

This. If it's any consolation, your thread views to comments ratio is about 73:1. For comparison, Czokletmuss has a 146:1 ratio for his Grand Tour story, which is probably about the most commented work on the Fan Works forum.

Sorry to hear that but yeah - life just gets in the way sometimes. Hope you do come back to finish it - the first chapter looked really good.

Another shameless plug alert but that's pretty much what my fan works story covers - see my signature for details. I don't think First Flight as written so far would make a great screenplay though - too much dialogue and backstory ironically and not enough action. I'm working on that... Now Deadweasel's story on the other hand probably would make a good film!