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You're in the same boat? Following the explosions is sound advice though. I don't have a BDArmory save but I can take my Converter* out for a spin. And a roll. And an uncontrolled pitch-over maneuver. Frequently all at once. *Named after the notable Ussari VTOL craft (although there any resemblance likely ends) only considerably less stable or fuel efficient. Four Junos keep it off the deck, two more Junos push it along once it's airborne. It will maneuver but requires a light touch and much attention. Landing is... interesting, which is slightly ironic since I built the thing to be an easy to land, early tech tree craft for exploring Kerbin's biomes.

I think I've just found my go-to thread when I need cheering up. Because baby goats!

Thanks for asking. I'll review the two sections that I have written and punt them over to yourself and Ten Key tonight if possible. The third section is picking up a completely unrelated plotline to the others anyway, so can be dealt with separately. In a little more detail, the first section was relatively straightforward since it picks up directly from the end of the last chapter. The last section took a while to figure out a suitable POV to write it from and the middle section - ugh. Finding a way into that was hard but hopefully it's moving along now. I cannot tell a lie - I've been procrastinating a fair bit with this chapter. Creative procrastination mind you - the part description mod is making steady progress and I even played a bit of KSP for the first time in forever. Work has not been helpful either. The interior monologue on the way home has run something like this for the last several weeks. "So why exactly are you doing this?" "Well the pension is good." "And?" "The pension is good." "Ah. Seriously, no other reason?" "What the flarp else am I going to do? Bail out of this one and it's career change time." "Hmph. Don't wanna think about that right now. Besides - change to what?" "Exactly." "Better suck in that gut lad and sign on for more of those sleepless nights, overflowing in-trays and non-stop streams of crashingly urgent deadlines then." "Thanks." Escaping to Kerbin has actually been rather cathartic - the trick has been finding the way there.

This. I definitely remember one launch where there was a problem with the upper stage engine bell - cracks or some such. The solution was to have an engineer take a pair of tin snips to it and cut away the damaged portion. I imagine they lost some vacuum ISP that flight but it got the job done.

Then my work here is done.

One of your best chapters yet I'd say! Difficult to pinpoint exactly why but the writing was just spot on all the way through. And I did like the subverted briefing bluster - "Okay, listen up, ladies." Looks like there's more to Heywood than met the eye in earlier chapters too. Looking forward to seeing how that pans out!

It's an obvious comparison I guess, given its shape, but that nearly assembled Falcon Heavy reminds me of a Y-Wing. Here's hoping it stays intact longer than most Y-Wings seem to. "I'm gonna launch it along the planned vector and hope it doesn't explode. Cover me, Tom." "Right behind you, Gold Leader."

Then I, for one, will cheer.

Thanks! If it's the Destination Void series you're thinking of (I had to look that up so I'm pretty much guessing), then I'm pretty sure I haven't. I have very vague memories of reading The Lazarus Effect but I don't recall spotting any similarities to the SMAC universe and I'm fairly sure that I would have. Which means my vague memory is likely wrong. Either way, I'm intrigued now - may have to go and add them to my reading list!

Update Template for the part description patch is finished, so every part has a placeholder section with the (hopefully) correct part name included, although most of the actual descriptions are currently blank. Descriptions added for all the parts unlocked by the Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3 tech tree nodes. Descriptions added for additional engines, fuel tanks and science instruments. These were written as and when I had an idea for what to write and so are kind of scattered through the patch. Added a couple of extra POVs to the list for increased variety. Wise words (mostly regarding aero parts) to come from Ornie Kerman, for those that follow First Flight. To Do More descriptions! Comment each placeholder section with the part names as they appear in-game, for ease of further tweaking if anyone feels so inclined.

Yep - that's a puzzler for sure. Try this link instead by the way or just do an internet search for "wombat poop" or similar.

Wombat poop comes out in little cubes.

Congrats to all the December nominees! And a very well deserved shout-out for @CatastrophicFailure!

Guess Elon is serious about driving down the costs of travel to Mars.

Nah - drunk would be him sitting in the Tesla making vroom vroom noises all the way to Mars.

Personal Journal: Valentina Kerman. 1 Day to Launch Jeb took the MSR up today. Biggest rocket we've ever launched, specially with that oversized fairing on the top. Five Mainsails were barely enough to get it off the pad but after a shaky start it seemed to fly truly enough. Jeb didn't sound worried but then Jeb never does. Vehicle could be coming apart around his ears and you'd never tell. Flight Dynamics seemed happy enough though which was reassuring. Pad team are rolling our ship out to the pad as we speak - fuelling starts later tonight, final checkout before dawn. Launch Day Earlier start than I'd have liked but time and orbital mechanics wait for no kerbal. The launch went nice and smoothly - which was expected aboard a Mark III but always a relief when it happens. Rendezvoused on schedule and dear Kerm above that vehicle looked ridiculous. I mean it wasn't a surprise or anything - we'd all been on plenty of test and training drives, but seeing the Munar Science Rover on the ground where it belongs compared to seeing it floating 200 klicks above Kerbin with the departure stage hanging off one end... Yeah. The view out of the forward cupola is nice though, no doubt about that. Day 3. Third day in space and I think we're all set. Teddous arrived in the second orbital transport this morning. Executive order 1 proved its worth during the EVA transfer - not the slickest spacewalk I've ever seen and I was glad to have the Gigantors safely stowed. I guess I should say something about this flying car I'm sitting in. The central core is basically a standard Mobile Science Laboratory with a Hitchiker on each end. Each Hitchhiker is capped with a cupola module and there's a dinky little turret built around a SJ 9000 mounted on the lab roof. The turret also holds the probe core and data processing facilities. The whole thing rolls along on a set of four RoveMate 3s and I'll leave the various batteries, spotlights, ladders, antennas and such to your imagination. Oh - and the decoupler mounted VTOL engines. Let's not forget those. Day 5 Another early start checking out the wheel heaters, probe core, VTOLs and suchlike. I have to give RoveMate full credit - an extended cold soak in vacuum doesn't seem to have fazed those Mark 3s at all. We're just battening down the lab gear and then it's time to get the PDI and TKI updates from Mission Control. Landing Well she may look like a brick but she handled as well as any Mun lander I've ever flown. Although I'm not sure what that says about our landers. Descent orbit initiation went off without a hitch, PDI came and went, and everything was feeling weirdly routine. Until I saw that wheeled shadow on the Munar surface and suddenly the whole thing came crashing home! A giant VTOL flying car and we were about to land it on the Mun. Touchdown was beautiful! I punched off the landing engines, polled the crew for a final status check and - I don't mind admitting - took a deep breath. Then I fed power to those big wheels and we were off! And dear Kerm - those motors! Most electric motors are pretty quiet but these ones purr. Deep and rumbly and happy, like the world's biggest cat getting a belly rub. I'm going to enjoy this....

Awesome! That's a pretty big endorsement right there. From the linked article: “We reviewed their requirements, and we basically looked at it and (asked) do we get the equivalent reliability from the reused booster that we would expect from a new booster, and the answer to that was yes,” Gerstenmaier said. “That’s why we accepted it."

About half and half by now I think. CRS has been a big deal for SpaceX. Hang on. Yeah, according to Wikipedia, I'm counting about 25 commercial launches out of 44 combined for the various Falcon 9 versions, although I've possibly got a few of those in the wrong pigeonhole. I have no idea whether this bears any resemblance to reality but my gut feeling is that SpaceX could have been a thing without NASA but they would have found it an awful lot harder to get going, or required some very forward-looking investors to help them get Falcon 9 off the ground.

I guess the Kerbulans haven't seen Broken Arrow. "Evil Bob - would you mind not shooting at the thermonuclear reactor!"

As I understand it, that 21 billion is largely what one lot of over-excited people think they could make if they were they able to sell SpaceX to a bunch of even more over-excited people. More charitably, it's what said over-excited people fondly hope that SpaceX could be worth at some point in the future. How much relevance that has to current SpaceX finances and future SpaceX prospects is extremely debatable to my mind. From the article you cited: "SpaceX is among an exclusive group of private U.S.-based companies that have multi-billion dollar valuations. Currently, only about a half a dozen companies in the world have hit the $20 billion mark, according to a list compiled by CBInsights, a startup analytics firm. They include the world's highest-valued private firm, Uber, which is estimated to be worth nearly $70 billion." I don't know which firms have hit that $20 billion valuation, but half a dozen is not very many at all when you consider the number of large, profitable (much more so than SpaceX) global companies out there. Then when you see that Uber - a company that appears to specialize in bad PR and losing money hand-over-fist - is apparently worth nearly $70 billion?? That really should tell you all you need to know about these valuations.

They don't even have to be common - just interesting. Either of you could be into something that the other finds really cool but either doesn't know much about or hasn't found anyone to talk about it with. Being able to enthuse about random topics, geeky or otherwise, is a big part of what attracted me to my now wife - and vice-versa. Like the time we went to a talk on bats and neither of us could believe the talk wasn't a lot better attended. Because who wouldn't want to learn about bats and see them close up! (On a different note, I was also able to enthuse about landing Jeb on the Mun that first time. ) Dating though - urgh. I never was much good at that.

No need for self-flagellation - 'Those' Wednesdays happen to us all at some point.

That's what the fire extinguisher is for. When the plot gets so hot that the fourth wall starts to melt... Oh - and thanks for this morning's earworm, @Kuzzter *sings very quietly* "Kuzz gave rock and load to ya. Gave rock and load to ya..."

Warranty void if ignited. Caution - the trajectory of your investment can go down as well as up. Always ask your bill-payer before placing an order and don't forget to point the correct end towards space.

Looks like Boeing get dinky little auto-generated fairings too. I get those all the time when I stick a Rockomax brand decoupler behind an LV-909.