KSK

A well deserved sticky - congratulations!

Yeah, wonder if they could do a tabbed menu, similar to what they have for the Map screen. Problem is I'm not sure how well automagic sorting would work. You could filter out the stock designs and do a crude kerballed vs non kerballed separation but beyond that I think you'd need to be able to drag and drop ships yourself between the different tabs. If I launch a monster booster with a crew cabin, a hitchhiker module and a rover on it, (not unrealistic) then how do you pigeonhole that?

A reasonable point but I don't think its anything to worry about. People already play the game in many different ways anyway, so I don't see that 'Sandbox vs Career' will cause any greater community friction than for example 'stock vs mod' or 'MechJeb Yes/No.' Provided that the building and flying game mechanics are consistent between career and sandbox (which is easier and possibly the only sensible path for the devs anyway), then nobody should feel hard done by, particularly if sandbox mode *does* include the option of turning off un-fun parts as you suggest. I think it's more likely that some players will like career mode a lot and play mainly career but with a sandbox game on the side to test new designs or just unwind with krazy kerbal killing kontraptions if they wish! Others will decide its not for them and just play sandbox. Even then I think some players will play essentially the same game in sandbox that they would in career but just do things on a larger scale unfettered by budgets and such.

Looking forward to seeing the next steps towards Career Mode personally. I think I read that the game already logs various details in a progress file, so I'd love it if that was accessible in game (assuming it isnt already and I'm just being dumb ). Little crew biographies for the Astronaut complex would be awesome, particularly if they had a space for player annotations. Something like: "Jebediah Kerman. Current holder of the endurance record for longest spaceflight. First Kerbal in history to successfully orbit the Mun.", to which the player can add comments like. "Munar orbit mission salvaged due to adept use of duct tape to repair the life support systems."

That also works but then you need to take another 50 goes to get the crash precisely on target, with the optimum number of aesthetically littered parts over the Munscape. And then of course, just when everything else is perfect, you crash into the flag and knock it over!

Heh - although to be fair, it turned out to be a lot harder to actually plant the flag than anyone expected. Pushing it more than an inch or two into the regolith turned out not to be possible.

Just a quick post to say that I'm really enjoying the ability to add notes to my ship designs. It's a small thing but adds a lot to the immersion. For example I've just completed a very simple four flight program using the 1-kerbal capsule and iterating the design between flights. The notes let me add some history to that - reasons for iterations based on past mission, which Kerbal flew the previous mission etc. Its just nice to be able to select a ship from the launch pad and then get all the history and mission notes along with it - feels much more like a coherent space program. It's possible that building a rover (plus a pod on legs to get crew out to the pad to drive the rover) for the sole purpose of driving over to the old capsule monument and planting a commemorative flag at the end of the program was a little over the top

Oh man that's good!

Hey Agent30632. Glad you like it and yeah - the LV-T30 isn't too far away. They'll get there eventually but that's just iteration now that they've made the big conceptual leap going from LV to LV-T. BostLabs - On the first point, reading that part again I'm not sure to be honest - it could have gone either way. I think I meant it as another lap of the field in an ongoing race but yeah leap as in 'the next leap forward for Rockomax' or 'Rockomax leaps past the KIS' (which is true so far as the media know ) works better! Thanks. On the second point, that most definitely does not work either way. I apologise and stand humbly corrected. Scotius - glad it works Certainly the 'dudes in a shed' setting sums up KSP for me, having read the tooltips for those spacecraft parts!

Oh it hasn't Besides a digression onto astronauts and Apollo era memorabilia with an ex (I'm guessing) Marine, a guy from Poland and other people from around the world, remind me of why the internet is in fact amazing! Anyhow, next chapter is now up... Project Moho Jeb paused again and adopted a deliberately casual tone. “So if anyone wants to put their name down, just drop by my office. I've left a stack of cards on my desk - if I'm not there just write your name on a card and leave it there. You'll have plenty of time to think it over, crew selection won't be till the end of the week." There was an amused snort from the back of the group. “Or we could just have a show of hands right now," said Ornie, “Whether they're going or not, I don't figure anyone is going to need a week to make up their minds. So - who's for volunteering?" Twenty three hands rose into the air. Jeb looked startled but started to count the hands. “Or alternatively - who doesn't want to volunteer?" Not a single hand went up. Jeb blinked. “I wasn't joking about bigger engines you know. I'm not even sure how we're going to build them yet. And you're all asking to be put in a seat on top of the biggest, most dangerous rocket we've ever built, and fired into space?" Twenty three pairs of large round eyes stared unblinkingly back at him. Ornie coughed. “The thing is, Jeb - this is what we're all here for. We've all seen Bill's pictures but speaking for myself, that just whet my appetite to go out and see the real thing. Besides, it may be the biggest rocket we've built yet, it may even be just a mite experimental but if I was sitting in that capsule, I'd be knowing that everything underneath me was built by people that I trust." Ornie grinned. “Although I might be a bit more worried about the bits that I'd built." Jeb surveyed his team. There was a general nodding of heads and murmurs of agreement with Ornie. He came to a decision. In that case good kerbals, I think crew selection just got moved forward a few days. I'll be right back." Jeb disappeared into his office, hurriedly returning with a wastepaper basket, a handful of pens and a stack of small white cards. He set them all down on the table beside the Kerbin 2. “Right folks. Take a card, scribble your name on it , fold it in half and drop it in the basket here." There was a squeak from Roncott. “Uhh - are you telling us that pilots are going to be picked at random?" “Yes," said Jeb simply. “I've been thinking about this a lot, folks and the problem is that everyone here could give me a good reason to be picked. Ornie and Richlin have some piloting experience already - but I don't think flying a spacecraft is going to be a whole lot like flying a plane. Bill, Bob, Geneney, Lucan and Wernher have already gone up, so they have some idea what to expect. Everyone else is an expert on at least part of the capsule or the launcher, which might give them that crucial bit of knowledge in an emergency. Besides, my thinking is that everyone here will have their part to play in building the Moho spacecraft, so everyone here should get their chance to fly them too. So eventually, I realised that the only fair way to do this was to get a pool of volunteers and let chance decide who gets to fly." Roncott nodded solemnly and dropped his card into the basket. Jeb picked the basket up and gave it a thorough shake. Everyone could see the flurry of cards through the gaps in the weave. He offered it towards them, taking care to look away from the contents. “Anyone else want to give this a shake?" Nobody moved. Jeb closed his eyes tightly, dipped his hand into the basket and rapidly pulled out a card. “And the pilot for Moho 1 is..." A startled look crossed Jeb's face as he unfolded the card and read out the name printed on the inside. “Jeb." The tension in the room broke as everyone burst out laughing, amidst good-natured calls of “Fixed! Fixed!" Jeb grinned sheepishly and made to drop his card back into the basket, only to be greeted by a chorus of denial." He raised his hands in mock surrender and laid the card down on the table, before reaching for a second card. “The pilot for Moho 2 is... Camrie!" The logistics and design team went wild. Jeb could see Roncott bouncing up and down, thumping Camrie on the back in delight. He drew out another card. “The pilot for Moho 3 is... Wilford!" Wilford sat down with a thump and gaped incredulously at his friends, an enormous smile slowly spreading across his face. “The pilot for Moho 4 is... Adelan!" Adelan's mouth dropped open. She grabbed Camrie around the waist and swung her friend around joyfully. “That's even better! We both get to go!" “And finally, the pilots for Moho 5 and Moho 6 are... Richlin and Joemy!" Ornie solemnly shook hands with his friend before chuckling and pulling him into a great bear hug. “Well at least there's someone going up in one of these contraptions who knows a bit about flying!" Joemy was the latest member of the capsule assembly team. Like Wilford, he just stared at Jeb in utter disbelief before being mobbed by enthusiastic kerbals. Jeb grinned cheerfully at the milling crowd of excited kerbals. “OK everyone - we've got our pilots - now we've got some serious work to do!" -------------- The LV905 shut down in a brief spray of unburnt fuel, bouncing slightly as the sudden loss of thrust caused the test stand to pop and flex. The propulsion team removed their ear protectors and waited for the dust to settle before gathering round. Hando flipped up the restraining bar on the console and reeled back the strip chart for inspection. “Looks good. I'd say we're getting about 5% more thrust over the 902. Quicker ramp up as well." Malmie grunted in satisfaction. “Told you that the 903 chamber design was sound." He inspected the chart critically. “Combustion is nice and stable this time. Looks like Wernher's tweaks to the propellant lines were what we needed." Wernher looked up. “Five percent is good - better than I expected actually. We could maybe get some more if we went back to the 902 turbopumps but I'm much happier working with the pressure fed design for these smaller engines." He looked apologetically at Hando. “I know you've been working hard on the load cells, Hando but are you sure they're calibrated?" Hando shrugged and reeled the chart further back. "I ran both series of standard masses this morning. Data is right here if you want to look." A quick glance told Wernher all he needed to know. “Excellent. That's going to help a lot, especially for the strap on boosters."He sighed. “The hard part starts now though I'm afraid. Even an extra five percent on the 905s isn't going to make up for the lack of thrust on the LV-15. I think it might be time to revisit the LV-10." Ornie caught the reluctance in Wernher's voice. “I take it there's a story here?" Wernher nodded. “The LV-10 was something I came up with back when we were building the Kerbal 1. It was obvious that a single LV-15 wasn't going to be enough and we never could get a cluster of them to work properly. So I figured we'd go for a single bigger engine and run it hotter. To stop the whole thing melting I tried running the fuel lines around the combustion chamber walls to cool them down." He stared into the distance. “Great idea in theory but not so great in practice. We never did work out what happened with the last test but it went very very blam indeed." At that point, Wernher looked hopefully at Ornie. “Looking back at it, I think a big part of the trouble was the fact that I just never could get the fuel lines to wrap properly around the chamber. You're a better kerbal than I am with a pipe bender though..." Ornie looked thoughtful. “I take it we're trying to use the hot fuel somehow and not just dumping it overboard?" Wernher retrieved a pencil from behind his ear and sketched out a quick diagram on the chart paper. “Can't afford to waste the propellant. No - we use the vaporised fuel to drive the turbopumps. Engine start is a bit fiddly but once it's up and running it should work nicely." Ornie nodded slowly. “I think I see how that works. OK - I'll give it a go." He scratched his head. “You're right though - that's going to be one heck of a job of pipe bending. Anyhow - reckon I'm going to take a break. Maybe head over to Shed 2 and see how the sim team are doing with the Whirligig." Ornie let himself out of the side gate and headed across the road from the main warehouse. Now that they were building spacecraft on a larger scale, Jeb had decided that the Spaceship Parts Company needed more ship space and had leased another couple of smaller warehouses. The Spaceship Museum had been moved into it's own building, leaving the main warehouse free for vehicle development, testing and assembly. The other building - Shed 2, was for crew training. Ornie stuck his head around the door to be greeted by a scene of organised chaos. The Kerbal 2 capsule sat in the middle of the dimly lit warehouse floor surrounded by a cats cradle of steel frameworks, gas cylinders and tubes and cables of all descriptions. A large screen curved over the capsule from either side of the framework, each with a display projector mounted on a tripod behind it. Across the floor was a makeshift booth, sheltering what appeared to be a large and bewilderingly complicated control board which was connected to the rest of the equipment by a thick skein of cables. Three kerbals were seated behind the controls, peering intently at the mass of switches, dials and other other displays. All the electronics gear had a shop worn appearance and Ornie was fairly sure he'd seen various bits of it gathering dust in a corner of the launch control bunker. Ornie watched in fascination as the whole unlikely contrivance wheezed into life, lifitng the capsule off the floor and tilting it into a nose down attitude. One of the kerbals behind the control board tapped the microphone in front of him. “OK, Jeb, lets try the calibration again. Give me a plus oh one pitch." There was a sharp hissing noise and the the capsule slowly tilted up towards horizontal and then, continued to tumble over and over. From the lack of flame, Ornie assumed that the noise wasn't caused by any kind of actual rocket system, which all in all was probably a good idea. “Looking good, Jeb. Negative oh one whenever you're ready." With another hiss of high pressure gas, the capsule came to a halt, nose pointing jauntily upwards. The simulator whirred briefly and the capsule slowly swung round to its starting position. “Perfect. Lets go for the rest of the calibration sequence." The staccato sound of compressed gas jets filled the air as the capsule proceeded to twist and spin in a set of increasingly elaborate maneuvers, guided all the while by a series of increasingly cryptic commands from the control booth. Finally it came to a standstill and the hatch popped open. Jeb climbed out, grinning from ear to ear. “What a ride ! I can't wait to take this thing out for a proper spin! Hey, Tomcas - everything felt sharp from inside the capsule - how did it look from your board?" Tomcas consulted one of the panels in front of him. “Looked good from here too, Jeb. I think we're finally done with the calibration. He grinned at the two kerbals sitting next to him. “Time to move on to the real training." ---------------- “LV-T15 article 3 - beginning test." Wernher crossed his fingers behind his back as Hando started up the test stand. The LV-T15 roared into life behind the blast shields and for one triumphant moment, Wernher thought the propulsion team had cracked it. Then there was a ominous bloom of orange light, followed a fraction of a second later by a loud explosion and a rapidly expanding fireball billowing into the sky. Hando hastily shut off the fuel supply to the test stand and waited patiently for the tinkling sound of pieces of metal ricocheting off the metal sheets to subside. Ornie, Wernher and Malmy gloomily surveyed the twisted and blackened wreckage. The chunk of ruptured pipe hanging off what was left of the prototype engine told a painfully clear story. Ornie threw up his hands in resignation. “Sorry guys but I don't think the coiled pipe idea is going to work. I honestly reckon that was my best piece of work yet - but it looks like my best just aint going to be good enough." Wernher gripped his shoulder briefly. “Don't worry about it, Ornie. I doubt anyone could have any better. We're just going to need another plan." The unspoken question hung in the air, with neither kerbal willing or able to answer it. Eventually Wernher just shrugged. “We'll think of something eventually. In the meantime, as we're not doing much here, I think I'll see if the capsule folks need a hand with anything." The rest of the propulsion team nodded slowly and followed him into the vehicle assembly area. Inside, everyone was hard at work on the Moho 1. Bill was seated at a bench, soldering iron prodding at what looked like a control panel. A thick bundle of cables was gradually being hauled in through the open capsule hatch, accompanied by the clattering of a power wrench and odd mumbled expletive from inside. Roncott was working at another bench by the nose assembly carefully packing a parachute canopy. Two other kerbals were working with caulking guns, filling in sections of the broad saucer shaped heat shield already in place on the base of the capsule and peering critically at the already filled areas. Occasionally one of them would pick up a drill, gouge out an entire section and patiently set to work re-filling it. In other areas of the warehouse floor, the remaining sections of the spacecraft were gradually taking shape. From the clusters of reaction control nozzles and general confusion of plumbing, Wernher recognised one of them as the retrorocket and RCS module. The benches nearby were full of neatly ordered components, presumably in strict assembly sequence order. Well away from the RCS module and indeed the rest of the Moho 1, two jigs were standing next to each other, each with a slim metal ring clamped carefully to it. Even from this distance, Wernher could see the yellow and black stripes painted around the outside of each ring. Geneney was kneeling on the floor next to them, slotting decoupler bolts into place. Wernher sat down at a nearby bench feeling rather dispirited. Clearly there wasn't much he could do here and worse still, this beautiful piece of engineering wasn't going anywhere without a, so far non-existent, main engine to power it. Absently he prodded at what appeared to be a piece of corrugated copper, watching glumly as it rocked back and forth on the bench. Kerm only knew what it had been before but the level of polish suggested that it was due to be installed somewhere in the capsule and wasn't just a piece of scrap. A voice rose over the general hubbbub. “Has anyone seen the primary heat exchanger baffle?" “Should be on bench 4, Joemy, with the rest of the cooling system parts." Joemy hurried over. “Ahh there it is. Could I just take that, Wernher? Thanks." He stopped as he saw the look on Wernher's face. “Heat exchanger?" Joemy was puzzled but happy to explain. “Sure - we braze a dual inlet manifold to each end of this. Primary coolant from the capsule systems runs through these channels here. We run secondary coolant in countercurrent through these channels here before sending it out to the evaporator plates." “Heat exchanger..." “Uh-huh. We put the whole thing in a casing of course," Joemy said nervously, “to close the channels over and keep them separate." “Heat exchanger!" Wernher jumped to his feet, all despondency forgotten. “Joemy - you may just have saved this program! Do we have any more of this copper in stock?" Now Joemy was completely baffled but pleased to have made such an impression on the chief engineer. “I'm not sure, Wernher. Geneney will know though, or if he's busy, Camrie could probably tell you." “Ornie, ORNIE! Get over here and take a look at this!" Ornie rushed over in alarm. “I'm here chief - what's the problem?" “Take a look at this - you think you could stick this around the LV-T15 chamber?" Ornie picked up the heat exchanger baffle and flexed it experimentally between his hands. “Seems to have enough give. Yeah, should be able to. He peered along the corrugations. “Nice and straight too."Then realisation dawned. “A double walled chamber - is that what you're thinking?" Wernher nodded vigorously. “Yes - rather than one large tube, we use a whole array of them. Assuming we can do it, it should make for an even more efficient design!" ----------- “De-orbit burn complete. Nice work, Jeb but watch that roll rate." Jeb deftly countered the roll with a quick burst from his RCS thrusters. The capsule bumped and jerked around him as the air outside started to thicken. “100km and dropping. Keep it steady." There was a sudden lurch to one side. Jeb swore to himself as he fought to keep the little craft on course. Lodan's voice crackled over his headset in sudden alarm. “80 km and dropping. Nose up - nose up!" Jeb gritted his teeth and bit back a pointed reply. The turbulence was smoothing out a little now as the capsule decelerated and his attitude rate indicators returned to something approaching normal. “60km and dropping. Cabin temperature nominal, coming down 200km off target. 30 km and dropping... 15km and dropping - drogue chute deployed." Bob watched as the Whirligig capsule gradually pitched upright. “And you're on the mains. Welcome home, boss." The capsule lowered itself to the floor and Jeb climbed out, shaking slightly , flight suit soaked in sweat. “Well that was intense." Bob gave Jeb a moment to catch his breath. “200 km off target - I guess the booth crew decided to break the automatics huh?" “Yes they did," Jeb growled, “Right in the middle of the de-orbit burn." He ran his hands through his hair and looked wearily at Bob. “Still - that's why we built this thing. Better to have this all down cold before the big day." He raised his voice as he turned his head towards the booth. “OK you guys. Gimme five minutes to cool off and then we'll run through that again. And why don't you give me a real test this time!" Bob looked him solemnly. Probably not the best time to mention this but when would be a good time. “Just saw the news, Jeb. Looks like Rockomax have a satellite in orbit too. Pretty hefty one at that. The reporter at KBS was calling it the latest leap in the Space Race." Jeb sighed. “Anything to make a story I guess. In actual fact I was kinda hoping to go visit Ademone at some point. I know Wernher is still puzzled by their launcher, keeps insisting that their last flight looked all wrong for a solid booster." Bob was a little skeptical. “C'mon, Jeb. After all this effort, you're not trying to tell me that you'd be happy sitting on the launch pad in a few weeks time knowing that you were just about to play second kerbal to some Rockomax pilot." “Well probably not." Jeb conceded. “After all the work we've put in, it would hurt not being the first - particularly as it was our own damn satellite that got Rockomax into the race in the first place." He shook his head. “Kerm's sake. It's not a race. We go when we're ready and that's that! Besides, we both know that there's a big difference between lobbing a satellite around Kerbin and putting together a piloted mission. No sense in hurrying things. Don't get me wrong - I'm all for being the first kerbal in space but I'd prefer not to stay there permanently." He looked at his friend. “We'd best get used to not being the first at everything though, Bob. We've got a healthy start but Rockomax are good - and ambitious with it. Anyway - I'd best climb back into that machine over there and see what the booth crew have planned for me next." ------------- “LV-T20 article 5. Beginning test." Wernher gestured to Joemy to come and join him by the test console. “This one's all yours, Joemy. Start it up." The engine rumbled into life behind the screens, the rumble rapidly building up into a howling fury. Light from the rocket fire blazed out around the test stand, which was shaking under the load. The screens began to rattle and then blew over with a resounding crash as they were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of incandescent exhaust pouring out of the engine bell. For one shining moment before Wernher shut down the test, the Kerbin Interplanetary Society were treated to the sound and sight of an LV-T20 engine at full thrust. Jeb clenched his fists in triumph. He didn't need to inspect the test data. Finally they had what they needed. A successor to the LV15 and the next generation engine that could propel him and his fellow pilots out of Kerbin's atmosphere and into space. Far away at Stratus headquarters, Thomplin put down the phone and turned to face Halnie. “How do you feel about another trip out to Barkton?" No need to answer that question, Thomplin thought to himself. “That was Jeb on the phone, as you probably guessed. It seems they're planning something, and I quote, 'rather special in three weeks time, assuming the all-up tests go to plan.' He also had the neck to let me know that he'd set aside six complimentary launch tickets for Stratus." Halnie smiled. “Looks like you, me and a couple from management then. I should also see if anyone has any contacts at KBS - I have a feeling that they're going to want to see this too." << Chapter 9 :: Chapter 11>>

Marsupial is what I figured. I don't think kerbals have the patience for sitting on a nest hatching out eggs With regard to the evolutionary advantage of a large head and eyeballs - you're assuming that a kerbal's head just contains its brain. No reason why that nice protective bone casing couldn't be holding a bunch of other important organs. Big eyes - omnidirectional vision. Spot your enemies from above, below and side to side as well as forward. Sounds like a big advantage to me Alternative thought - kerbals have a very large visual cortex to cope with omnidirectional vision. Hence bigger brain, hence bigger head required. With regard to infinity - yeah it's just a concept rather than a very big number. You can also get different sized infinities that are all infinite if that makes any sense. Example - start counting from 1. You can go as far as you like and in fact there is an infinity of countable numbers. Therefore there must also be an infinity of fractions between each countable number (1/2, 1/3, 1/4 ...) Giving you an infinity that contains an infinite amount of other infinities. It's at that point that my brain usually explodes too

Good job! Animation was nice and smooth and I kinda liked the hand drawn style.

@Bostlabs. Wish I could say the same! Sadly, I wasn't even a twinkle in my daddy's eye when Apollo 17 splashed down and I doubt I took much notice of AAP either Story is rolling along. This next chapter is going to be reasonably substantial I think - it's already sitting at just a shade over 2200 words.

Just my 2c worth after a quick test last night. This was a clean install, Mac OSX version from the Squad website. Keyboard and mouse controls. No pictures I'm afraid but my test vehicle was: one person capsule (SAS and reaction wheels included), service module for RCS and battery, short narrow tank plus LV-T30 for the upper stage, largest grey Rockomax tank plus four LV-T30s plus four winglets for the lower stage. Reasoning: Capsule provides SAS control and a bit of torque. Winglets for control authority in atmosphere, torque + RCS if required for control authority out of atmosphere. Granted this is hardly the largest or most challenging test vehicle for the new SAS but it all seemed to work fine. No problems getting to orbit and it was nice to be able to toggle the RCS on during ascent without it spewing monoprop all over the place. RCS system was triggered occasionally but only in short bursts. On orbit, the capsule would hold its attitude without any problem, even during a rather lengthy circularisation burn to correct for the less than stellar orbital insertion. What the SAS wouldn't do is follow the direction of flight (prograde vector), so manual correction was required for a longer burn, such as when de-orbiting with RCS only. This is nothing new though as far as I know - or at least it isn't with my designs. I rarely used ASAS on orbit though due to the monoprop wastage, so perhaps I've always been missing something. It makes sense to me though - if the capsule attitude is being held fixed, then it just can't follow a constantly changing direction of flight. What I did notice was that the new SAS was much more precise for small corrections, so powered landings are going to be a lot nicer now. Not to mention that I can finally steer a capsule in atmosphere. Overall - a cautious thumbs up. I like it so far but as I said, this wasn't a particularly exacting test. Time to launch something bigger!

Um, at the risk of being ornery, physically, that sounds like the way it ought to be. Or at least it should be in space. The velocity vector is your heading - it's the direction and speed your ship is going in. The attitude of your ship, i.e. the direction its pointing in at any given time, may or may not the same thing at all. Of course accurate physics may not make for a fun game. I'm also commenting without having played 0.21 yet so I don't actually know how the new system plays.

Carpenter for me too - meh I messed up my re-entry but I was doing SCIENCE up here. Kinda like Leonov on the Soviet side. First man in history to do an EVA, has a real hairy moment getting back into the capsule and the first thing he does - start drawing the view from space with a sketch pad and coloured pencils he took with him! But then - and no disrespect to the Americans, I always get the impression that the Soviet astronauts were much more 'y'know - SPACE!' about the whole adventure. Seriously - no disrespect. The time I went to DC, I spent most of my time in the Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian. Talk about a kid in a candy store That's some history you can be proud of - it certainly made me wish that we had an equivalent back here in the UK. Ah well - if we ever pony up to get Skylon working... Astronauts in general - Pete Conrad without a shadow of a doubt. Inspirational leader, stone cold pilot but with a sense of humour too. Kind of guy you'd go for a beer with or go for a trip around the moon with. My favourite part of Apollo 12 was probably when he passed the controls of the LM ascent module over to Bean, just because he figured Bean deserved a chance to do some of the flying too. Not on the mission plan but as he said at the time - what are they going to do - they can't even hear us right now!

Yeah, one warp core (which is where the matter-antimatter reaction happens) then two warp nacelles which do the spacetime bending. </trekkie> Anyhow yes - if the warp core goes poof, it's probably safe to say that both nacelles do as well Along with most everything else in the vicinity.

*bows before Jeremy and Scotius* Mr.Pseudonym - Yup, Project Moho was fairly blatant Project Mercury tribute but then again 'Kerbal in Space Soonest' was a nod in that direction too! There's a couple of other references to actual manned programs in the story too. It's actually been really interesting reading up on Project Mercury as 'research' for this part. To Qwertyx2y and JakeGrey - thank you and glad you like it! Next chapter is underway, although I confess to slacking off a little this weekend to (gasp) play KSP rather than writing about it Crew selection is done though - Project Moho has it's pilots. Time to build those ships and then go light some candles...

Bob and Jeb test the Rover Mk1 whilst Bill stands proudly beside the flag. I'm happy - are you happy? Yeah I'm happy - I think.

You can navigate to the Moon using patched conics though - worked fine for the Apollo program

Landed my first rover on the Mun (yeah I know ). Was quite pleased with the lander - crew of three with the rover slung underneath. Looks like I should have enough fuel to get home too, so that makes this my first Apollo style there-and-back-with-one-launch mission.

Kerbal in Space Soonest The planet Kerbin spun sedately against the starry backdrop of space. Sunlight gleamed from the polar ice caps and from the bands of cloud that streaked the otherwise clear azure skies. A major low pressure system swirled across the southern ocean, promising wet weather ahead for the larger of the two main landmasses. A pinprick of light flared in the skies over the northernmost reach of that same ocean. The pinprick grew larger, resolving itself into a tiny flame climbing boldly out of the atmosphere. The flame winked out and a small metal tube tumbled back towards the surface, leaving a tiny, fragile looking metal shell to coast onwards around the curve of the planet. Brief puffs of incandescent gas jetted out from the sides of the shell, setting it into a slow, graceful spin. The last rays of sunlight from Kerbol glinted off its surface as it crossed the terminator and disappeared from sight. ---------- Ademone stood on the viewing balcony at the back of the Rockomax mission control room watching the preparations for the R1 flight unfold. The room was surprisingly quiet with nothing more than a muted babble of conversation in the background as each controller checked over his console and reported various readouts back to the flight director. A large screen on the far wall displayed a map of Kerbin, with the projected flight path of the R1 highlighted against it. Next to it, smaller screens displayed the view over the launch pad, a view from inside the capsule and the view along the rocket itself. Other smaller monitors around the central display were blank, although Ademone knew that they would display the critical flight parameters during the mission. Ademone studied the view along the rocket intently. Most of the screen wasn't showing anything more interesting than the guidance fins for the BA-C against a uniform expanse of grey concrete. On the edges of the image you could just pick out two of the launch cradle arms that held the booster securely in place. She shifted her gaze to the other screen to check the cradle positioning and orientation. Everything seemed to be ready. Both kerbonauts were installed in the capsule, calmly checking the spacecraft systems and chatting to the flight director. A sudden movement from the comms console caught her eye. The controller was clearly signalling for a colleague to come and inspect something. Another kerbal walked over to the console and bent over the display screens. Ademone could see what appeared to be a heated debate, before the second kerbal went over to the flight director and whispered in her ear. The director listened intently and then pointed over to her. The controller hurried over. “We've picked up a transmission, ma'am. It appears to be from another spacecraft." Ademone nodded. "Are we receiving voices?" The controller shook his head. “No. Low bandwidth data signal only. We havn't been able to decipher it but we think it's probably telemetry and flight control data." Ademone raised her eyebrows. “Flight control data?" “Yes, ma'am. Or at least we assume so. There appears to be a fairly regular downlink transmission but we only picked up one uplink signal before the spacecraft disappeared over our horizon." Ademone drummed her fingers on the balcony, studying the map. “Interesting. Probably another satellite if we're not hearing any voices but it sounds like a more sophisticated one than last time if they're sending commands to it." She broke off ruefully. “Just another satellite. Isn't it amazing how quickly the extraordinary becomes ordinary. Anyway - please tell Communications to monitor for any new signals - and to keep a log too. We might be able to work out what's happening up there." “Yes, ma'am." Applause rippled around the room. Ademone turned her attention back to the displays in time to watch the rapidly departing R1 on one screen. Her breath caught in her throat as she took in the black and white image on the other screen. It was fuzzy and kept shaking out of focus but the spectacular exhaust plume from the BA-C and the equally spectacular view of Kerbin rapidly falling away behind the booster were both very clear to see. One of the controllers flicked a switch on his console and suddenly the room was full of the muted roar from the booster and excited chatter from the two kerbonauts. Ademone made a mental note to send a recording to Leland. It would make a suitable accompaniment to the video footage from the booster. Inside the KIS launch bunker, things were rather less restrained. Bob was bouncing up and down in his chair as Lucan announced a successful communication link to the Kerbin 2. Moments later, even Bill smiled in satisfaction as the telemetry screen lit up. The Kerbin 2 had separated from its booster right on schedule and the propulsion module appeared to be firing properly. Everyone's eyes were glued to the screen as the projected periapsis crept upwards and then stopped. Seconds later there was a brief flickering of indicator lights from Lucan's console and then the bunker erupted in jubilation as three new numbers appeared on the telemetry board. Pitch - 0 rad/s Yaw - 0 rad/s Roll - 0.02 rad/s. ------------ The kitchen at the Junkyard and Spaceship Parts company had never been busier. Excited engineers sat at the long tables, busily discussing the morning launch, speculating on whether the satellite was working and making the odd surreptitious bet on whether it would land in one piece. Lucan was sitting in a corner with Geneney talking over the flight plan when his eye was caught by the image on the television screen behind him. “Hey, you guys - looks like someone else is launching a rocket today!" The room suddenly went quiet. Jeb got up and turned up the volume. “We are now seeing live images from the onboard camera. Around the edges of your screen you should just be able to make out the four 'petals' holding the BA-C booster in place. In few minutes time we'll be able to watch the flight right from the booster! If you're just tuning in now, this is the maiden flight of the Rockomax R1 capsule and the new BA-C booster. We are told that this will be a sub orbital flight only today - the rocket will not be going all the way to space - but we should still get a good view of Kerbin." The camera switched to a view of the Rockomax launch pad revealing the BA-C booster nestled within four ungainly looking gantry arms, much to the puzzlement of the watching Interplanetary Society engineers. A bright torrent of flame poured out of the bottom of the booster as the on screen countdown clock ticked off the last few seconds. As the clock reached zero, the gantry arms swung smoothly out of the way and the rocket lifted sedately off the pad. Wernher frowned at the television. From the colour of the exhaust flame the thing had to be solid fueled. But even allowing for the size of the rocket, the launch profile just didn't look right. OK, it had to be a lot heavier than a Trashcan but even then the accleration, no - the rate of acceleration just looked wrong. Maybe just an odd camera angle. Everyone in the room stared mesmerised at the screen as the viewpoint switched to the on-board camera. Even the crews of the Kerbals 1 and 2 were lost in awe at the view of Kerbin unfolding in front of them and the normally garrulous commentator seemed to be equally lost for words. The curve of the horizon was just becoming clear when the exhaust plume from the booster flared out. The view from the camera tilted abruptly sideways as it tumbled away from the unseen capsule above it. There were several groans of disappointment as the camera feed cut out and was replaced by a view out to sea, presumably from the launch site. Cheers rang out from two crowded rooms on opposite sides of the continent at the sight of a small red and white striped parachute floating down through the cloudy sky. ---------------- The satellite spun silently through space, its camera flashing in the raw sunlight like a miniature lighthouse as it revolved. An observer from a more martial culture would have noted that it bore a distinct resemblance to a sword hilt, with a large pommel, a somewhat stubby handle and a simple, almost hemispherical guard. Precisely timed bursts of glowing gas took the place of the swordsman's hand as the hilt spun and shifted in a delicate slow-motion choreography. A first burst checked it's spin, bringing it to a standstill. The second burst flipped it neatly over, pommel swapping place with guard. The pommel breathed fire for two long minutes and then, in a final salute, spun precisely back into place behind the guard. The satellite raced onwards but now its stately circular path had been nudged into a slowly decreasing spiral. The onboard camera faithfully recorded the transition from night to day as it sped over the terminator for the last time. Pinpricks of light flared briefly around the base of the propulsion unit as it broke free, gliding away along its own trajectory. Now the satellite was dipping into the first wispy fringes of atmosphere, the speed of its passing stripping electrons from their atoms in an eerie pale glow. The glow intensified, becoming suffused with crimson as the heatshield slammed into ever thickening air. The crimson rapidly shifted to a bright yellow and then became a wake of incandescent white fire, surrounding the Kerbin 2 and blazing out behind it. -------- The Rockomax mission control room was cool and quiet as Ademone let herself in and sat down at the communication console. Out by the launch pad, the party was in full swing and she strongly suspected that by now, the first celebratory toast to the crew of the R1 was rapidly becoming a whole string of toasts to anything and everything connected with the mission. Ademone smiled to herself. There would be more than one sore head tomorrow but everyone definitely deserved a break after the last hectic weeks before the flight. Anyway, down to business. She flipped open the console logbook and switched on the secondary receiver. It was already tuned to the KIS frequency but there was no signal other than the normal background hiss. According to the log, the next transmissions were due any time now. There it was. A steady stream of faint but audible signals and then suddenly a rapid and far stronger burst of encoded data. Two minutes of silence and then another shorter burst of data. Ademone paged through the log. Odd - this didn't seem to match up to any of the earlier signals. She looked up startled at yet another uplink transmission, before the steady stream of fainter transmissions resumed. For the next hour, Ademone busied herself reviewing the flight data, whilst keeping half an ear open for the next overpass of the KIS satellite. For a moment she thought she heard the transmissions start up again but they were quickly obscured by a loud fuzz of static. Try as she might, she couldnt tune it out without losing the signal altogether. Shrugging slightly she waited patiently for it to clear. And then, over the noise she could just make out the transmissions starting up again, growing louder and louder as the static faded away. Her eyes widened in sudden understanding. These sounded like the weaker downlink signals only a lot stronger. Which could only mean that the radio transmitter was much much closer - or much much lower as it passed overhead. ------------ As the first few members of the Kerbin Interplanetary Society arrived at Jeb's warehouse the next morning, they found Jeb standing quietly next to a new table in the middle of the Museum. On the table, resting on a simple, yet elegant stand was the main body of the Kerbin 2, it's scorched heat shield still attached. By the time Bob arrived, there was a sense of expectancy in the air. Jeb still hadn't moved away from the table and there was a strange abstracted look on his face. In fact the last time Bob could remember seeing him like this was shortly before he suggested founding the original KIS. Finally the last stragglers filed in and promptly fell silent as they sensed the atmosphere in the room. Jeb looked around to make sure he had everyone's attention and then began. “My friends - yesterday we made history together." An imperceptible ripple passed through the crowd as every kerbal unconsciously drew themselves up just a little straighter. “When you work on something for so long, its easy for it to become routine. Just something you do - no big deal. But take a step back for a moment and consider just what we did yesterday. "We built a machine capable of flying so high and so fast that it flew clear around the planet and might never have come back down! “But it did come back down - because we designed it that way. Together we reached out across the void. We touched the machine. And we brought it home. “We brought it back down through fire hot enough to vaporise steel. We brought it back down so carefully and so precisely that after a voyage of over one hundred thousand kilometres, we could take a short boat trip, pluck it neatly out of the sea and put it here on this table before you!" Jeb paused and looked each and every kerbal in the room squarely in the eye. “But that was yesterday. “Today is a new day and today we take the next great step! Today we embark upon the dream of countless generations of kerbals before us. Today we finally set out to do that which we founded the Kerbin Interplanetary Society for! “Generations of kerbals to come will look back at us and see that this was when it happened. This was when we realised that we could do it. This was the day we took the decision to put a kerbal into space and bring him - or her - safely back to Kerbin!" Quite a number of he crowd had been half expecting something like this. Even so, the passion and the conviction in Jeb's voice was enough to send a shiver down their spines. Jeb paused again, blinking hard. “Make no mistake my friends - this will not be easy. It will require all the skills and all the technologies we have built so far. We have rocket engines - but now we'll need bigger ones. We have capsules - but now we'll need better ones. “But most of all, we're going to need volunteers. Someone to pilot the ships. Someone to forge a new path and set Kerbalkind on the road to the stars! And I believe that each and every kerbal standing here today should be given the chance to be one of those volunteers if they so choose. “To be a pilot for Project Moho." << Chapter 8 :: Chapter 10>>

RCS block plus relativistic mass increase?

The first video got a big thumbs up from me - looking forward to the next one!

Thanks Mekan1k. That means a lot to me, particularly given your own contributions to the Fan Works forum! Scotius - yeah 'different' probably sums it up Different enough that I figured some sort of 'honestly - this is still part of the story' comment was in order first. As a wise man once said, exposition will only get you so far, at some point you need some kind of conflict to drive the narrative. This chapter lays the groundwork for picking up on that. The only problem is that the conflict I have in mind goes to the heart of what it means to be kerbal (in my imagining of them at any rate) and how kerbal society works. So yeah - more exposition incoming! As far as possible, I'm hoping to do this by action rather than too many large slabs of dialogue but seriously, if anyone has any tips and tricks on how to avoid clunky exposition, I'm all ears. This is my first piece of creative writing of any substantial length, so I'm far from experienced with any sort of story telling techniques. Oh - and pouches. Yeah, I envisage kerbals as being marsupial. I don't think they really have the patience for sitting on a nest and given their physical proportions, I didn't think that making them mammalian would work too well either!