Speeding Mullet

I must have missed this. At 15:51 you show the resource panel of the fuel pod and appear to have used a substantial amount of fuel from the pod lifting it up there in the first place, which would mean your Flight Director 1b run was invalid. I hate to have to do this and of course correct me if I've missed something, but that also means your 2b flight doesn't count for the purposes of the mission. Sorry Yeeeeup, sorry haha! Do something ultra crazy like thunderpunching a shuttle into the sky with two fists of fire and you might make the halls of Skunkworks SM

The demonstration is genuinely impressive! Now do it on Tylo haha SM

I'd definitely think about it - It seems to me at least that the challenge is how to get around not being able to stage by pressing space bar so action groups would just give you an alternative way of pressing space. I'd also do something to prevent people just melting the required bits off the bottom at launch then running a standard SSTO mission profile. Have another look at your limitations, and also destinations. I reckon people might surprise you with how far they can get without staging SM

Not quite getting you on this. Everything looks in order to me? SM

Plus all the other quotes on this topic: I think I might remove them from being B missions and just put them into their own category as Heavy Lift Missions, so the 40t pod would be first then upwards from there. TBC though, and to be honest, I don't really like the ore pod missions much, they feel like clutter in their present form. Nice little base you have there I like that mod, there should be expandable things in stock imho. Good to see you venturing into the next missions! I know it's not Duna, but it's close enough for the purposes of a modded entry What a first post and welcome to the challenge!! Nice shuttle you have there, and yes landing at the island airstrip is perfectly fine! Have a badge and look forward to seeing you progress through the missions! @AeroGav - Would you mind editing your post to remove all of the pictures that you quoted from @regkoestoers post please? Just trying to keep things looking nice Which you passed with flying colours! I was wondering and wondering what you were talking about with the engineer hitching a ride back. Then you opened the cargo bay at the end. That must have been one wild ride hanging upside down there! Haha unfortunately not! Well done on the mission, good seeing two of these huge shuttle near each other in space isn't it! OMG !! HAVE YOU EVER WANTED A SKUNKWORKS BADGE SO BADLY YOU JUST BUILD 2 GIANT FISTS OUT OF FIRE AND THUNDER PUNCH YOUR SHUTTLE TO AN ASTEROID?! Because you did and you earned the badge! Also you earned the other badge, because you completed the mission. Well done and enjoy your break! I will update the OP soon! SM That's how you do a first post! Welcome to the challenge! Good work on designing your first shuttle it looks pretty capable! Here's a few badges to get you started, and I will update the OP soon! Sorry for not getting involved in some of the discussions over the last few pages. It's too much to keep up with on top of spending all this time reviewing entries. Good to see it happening though SM

Boom nice work! Here's a badge! Interesting solution to re-entry with the giant white umbrella! Ahhh I get it. I used to use Hullcam VDS for nice views of the launch etc. Need to pick it up again I'm thinking of making my first cinematic. Right to your mission. Another great report and good touch using the port adapter module ono the shuttle. Well done! Sure you can! In fact you might already have done it. Right let me prepare my eyes for the rapid fire video . 3 minutes and my eyes are destroyed. Well done haha. Seriously though, Once I'd picked it apart I can see that you have passed on both I don't apologise for not sitting through 4 hours of video, but I did cut through rapidly in about 2 minutes to see that you had fulfilled the requirements for the commander badge. Also you landed a crazy huge shuttle on top of another crazy huge shuttle so big points to you I hope you enjoyed the cream soda! Hey that's neat it's like a giant dreamchaser or something! Welcome to the challenge and congratulations on your first two missions (in one). Look forward to seeing more from this. I will update the OP shortly. As always a super smooth mission report there! I'll have to move you over to the modded category for this mission report as your payload was modded. Your shuttle is really well designed clearly as it maintains a really nice AoA on re-entry. Well done on your Mun mission! 53 images, I can totally cope with that . Coll station, and I enjoyed the report and seeing it all being assembled by MMU's. Here have a badge! Right, tea break then on to the next page of mission reports!! SM

Right, Lots of tea on the go and am just about to start reading through the entries and judging! Also got a second monitor going now so I'll be partly listening to music and watching fail videos Check in soon for much adjudication SM

Hi everyone just dropping in quickly to say WOOOT WE MADE THREAD OF THE MONTH! Thanks to you all for helping make this happen. Without you all designing and flying wacky contraptions this wouldn't have been possible so again thanks to you all, and its definitely a we, not me! I'm just having a busy couple of days with some bosses in town but wanted to let you all know that I am still here, and will review every single post ina big catch up this Saturday. Looking forwards to a badge spree . SM

Awesome well done to everyone! I'm really pleased the Shuttle Challenge has made TOTM thanks @sal_vager SM

Things are going well with the design phase of the mission. The payloads complete are now the ground operations module, the rover for the Elcano section of the challenge, and the relay comsats. Update here: The total payload as it stands is now 28.276t and 234 parts, with much more to come! SM

This is fast becoming the mission of sub-assemblies, with yet another one cranked out this evening - The communications array. A decision was made at the behest of Dinkelstein Kerman that the communications array be incorporated into the main mission, because it will add another 97 parts and 4.458t to the planned single launch mission, which was irresistible for the great showman. The comsats themselves rely on ion engines for maneuvering at Moho, with plenty of fuel, and small solar cells for re-charging the 4 batteries on each sat. 4 will be delivered with the main mission, and will spread out at various orbits to support the ground operations, and Elcano run. Each sat features a direct, and relay antenna capable of handling high levels of two way traffic. The comsats are mated to the Kerman Superduty truck for the now normal drive to the VAB for integration into the main payload section of the space craft. This has not been designed yet, but it's going to have to be very strangely shaped indeed to accommodate all the planned modules. To save on transport costs, the next stage - the Moho Orbital Outpost, will be designed in the SPH and moved the short distance by truck to the VAB, instead of brought in from outside suppliers. Total payload is now 28.276t and 234 parts! SM

That was a close call, and a great mission report, well done! Haha good to see you back and willing to partake in the sillyness! Yep you can totally go from STS-3! Right, so you have done it! Let me just review your mission report quickly! Definitely pilot worthy and would be great to see you back as Commander Space Potato in the future! Onward and upwards for you! That is indeed an interesting fact! I've read quite a lot about Buran but never read that! The station is indeed built, and a thing of beauty it is. Badge worthy: Yep Good luck, its a really fun mission, and very funny when you see your shuttle re-entering from interplanetary space with a rock on top. Try it with a Kerbal riding the asteroid at 3.2 km/s: Didn't you say this a few pages back? Let's see it compete in the challenges, but if not, then feel free to share in the craft section of the forum Beautiful shuttle and lovely ET design, a very welcome return from you to the challenge @Fraus. Totally stock by the looks of it so have a badge to get you started! Definitely a good thing to do at this point in the challenge, even if your shuttle is completely capable (as mine was) it really struggled with the interplanetary stuff, hence me not being passed out on some of the missions on here despite running the challenge! Look forward to seeing what this thing can do! That's another really nice scope. Did you use a telescope mod, or just get clever with the screenshots? Either way nice job and good luck with the next mission Ahha a video! Time to break out the tea again. Ok ready......You are talking about a few meters off circular with your telescope but you lost a wing on arrival haha! Oh well, these things happen, you just used the building to stop You conducted the mission great over all so I'm pleased to be able to welcome you back to the challenge with a badge! Geez you guys are prolific. I'm trying to run a moho mission here which is going to be incredibly complex, but it's amazing to see so many people doing this challenge, so thanks to you all, even if it does take me an hour to review it every night haha! Shameless plug if you want to follow the Moho mission by the way: SM

Nice work! Can you talk us through re-shader? Those screenshots look absolutely fantastic. Is it post processing? Cool excellent - you can sit in the stock category with the relevant badges! I will update the OP shortly! Hey nice work - 500km with a 40t payload is no mean feat! I will update the OP shortly, but here is your badge Every time I see the ET on this is seems a little larger. It's growing to horrific scale, but then your shuttle is colossal! Nice work on these two missions! Awesome,. another video to watch. Let me just grab my cup of tea.....right....Yep still by far and away the weirdist shuttle I've seen. Have a badge good sir! Have another one Well claimed, and a nice looking station! Well done on getting to this stage, and good luck landing the rock. You might have already done that on the next page, I haven't looked yet!

Thanks! Initially slowly as I'm just iterating designs for the payloads for the different aspects of the mission, but I suspect it will pick up pace as we move along! That's just 1 tiny component. This thing is really going to be Moho done in the largest way possible! The second module has now been designed and ground tested. The Elcano Voyager is a far cry from the enormous land train I ran on my circumnavigation of Minmus, but Moho requires something different entirely as weight unlike Minmus is actually a consideration. the rover is a mixture of everything I have learnt about small rovers. 94 parts and weighing in at 12t the rover is designed for two in cramped conditions, so the crew selected for the circumnavigation will have to be the hardiest travelers available. It's powered by 4 TR-2L electric rover wheels with power being fed to them via a large battery rank kept topped up by solar panels, and on the dark side of the planet 2 small RTG's, which are shielded from the crew to avoid radiation issues. The rover has a monoprop system for handling sudden drop offs, although only limited use is planned for so the crew will have to be very careful. this is not a speed run Elcano for sure. Let's have a look at the rover: So the two above views give you an idea of how lightweight this thing is, despite being heavy for Moho at 12.31t, bringing the total payload so far to 23.818t. The skycrane delivery system is capable of a one shot landing from 150km which should give plenty of margin for error. The rover is mated to the Kenman Superduty and delivered to the VAB for integration: The next part to go into design and construction phase will be a communications array. Communications at Moho are subject to the brutal energies flung out from Kerbol, and so will need to be well shielded. The probe will actually form part of an advanced mission to Moho, ahead of the main rocket which will ensure no surprises for the crew on arrival. Like flying past the place without any possible method of control for example. Following the communications array the Moho orbital outpost will be reach its final configuration and enter production. Stay tuned everyone, lots happening. Will I manage to get all this stuff to Moho. Can I design a launch vehicle big enough. To be honest I don't actually know. The last mission to Moho really stretched me thin in terms of capability! SM

Just checking in to say that I'm now in the design phase for this mission. I'll be doing this and my second Elcano in the same mission. Report can be followed here, although it's going to take a while. A long while in fact. I'm not going small! First module being delivered: SM

Will be great to get this one fixed and thanks very much for taking the time to explain a little about what the process is. Now you've got me thinking though - Any chance you can hide one of these somewhere in the mountains on Kerbin? SM

There comes a time in everyone's KSP career when a destination must be considered.....again! That's right, the first mission to Moho wasn't big enough, so let me introduce OHNO IT'S MY SECOND MISSION TO MOHO! Let's just remind ourselves with a picture of how compact I went the first time round: the first mission to Moho was no small feat, but there was definitely room to go bigger! If you didn't get it from the picture let me fill you in that this was clearly no small probe. I genuinely started out with the best intentions the first time round, but as the wish list for "doing Moho" grew I decided that I required the following to say that I had effectively "done" Moho: 1) Lander: Clearly why bother unless we are actually going for boots on the ground (and returning them safely) Room for 2 Kerbals 2) Orbital outpost: If we are going we are going big and I'm pretty confident I don't want to be sending any more than 1 rocket if I don't have to. Room for 24 in emergencies, but otherwise built to handle 6-12 in spacious living conditions 3) Return vehicle and habitat: Yes, it's a pretty long mission, so the crew needs somewhere to play cards and also to return safely if at all possible. Supports a crew of three with extended living space If you still don't get a picture of the scale of this absurdity then let's cover off some basic facts on the mission with my mission factoids section: Tall - 50.2 meters to be precise. Not the tallest out there but nearly the height of the VAB and certainly long enough to experience massive noodling Wide - Almost exactly 25 meters each way. It's both long and very chubby Heavy - Four thousand five hundred tonnes, and seven hundred kilos (snacks). the trans Moho injection vehicle and payload alone are over 800 tonnes Computer crushing - 608 parts on the launch pad. Could be worse but it's not friendly. Luckily Gerty 3000 is up to the job Expensive - 1,659,692 things. So what's going to change this time? Why bother going any bigger than I already did? Well a couple of reasons. Firstly I don't think I did the ground well enough. This will be a much bigger ground mission, taking into account two separate challenges: The Moho Challenge by @Xeldrak: The Elcano Challenge by @rkarmark: So I'm going to go to Moho, deploy both ground and orbital modules and gain as near to maximum points as possible in the Moho challenge, complete the Elcano challenge for Moho, and then somehow get home. Not only am I going to do this, but it's going to be stock (apart from visual mods for pretty pictures) and there's going to be some sort of narrative, and lots of interesting things to see along the way with you joining me right at the start of the design phase. So let's take stock of where we are at at this point. The first module that is already complete is the Moho ground operations platform: Room for 8 in an emergency, but designed for mission length ground operations for 4. With 43 parts, and weighing 11.508t it means I'm already on my way to a computer melting ship. The Moho ground operation platform descends on two Mk-55 Thud engines, and will decouple 1 drop tank during it's descent to the surface. Margins are tight, but it should be able to cope with a landing from around 150km orbit. Once on the ground it will mark the start and end point for the Elcano mission, as well as providing valuable points for leaving behind a science platform (an orbital platform is also planned) Delivery of the Moho ground operations platform was courtesy of the new Kenman Superduty truck specifically designed for transporting heavy payloads to KSC: The Kenman Superduty will be the main vehicle for transporting completed modules to the VAB for assembly into the main payload. Two or more may be required to shift the massive weight of the as yet unknown launch vehicle. Here's another view of low loader plus payload: So that's it for the moment folks. I'm expecting this mission to take literally weeks or very possibly months, but I will provide updates and interesting tidbits as I run through the design and engineering phase, and then on to the mission proper. Stay tuned! SM

I've decided I'll give this one a miss for the moment, unless I get a barrage of posts saying it's definitely Heritage worthy. But again definitely don't let that stop anyone from re-booting it! It may make it in the future! Total pleasure! Indeed it did! Result! Now I just have to keep it maintained forever Nice I'll amend the OP now! Welcome to Heritage! SM

Nicely done there @Shadow dream. There's something awesome about seeing two shuttles up there in the same place. It was one of the most enjoyable maneuvers I have done in LKO I reckon. Looking forward to seeing the station and how that comes together! Woot! Welcome back and welcome to the challenge! Flying shuttles is really hard so well done on your first attempt! I can see you are running a couple of mods there, but can you confirm your entry was pure stock from a parts (and fuel) perspective? In the meantime I'll award this badge, but will happily award the stock if that's the case! 2A and 2B yes, but the others are designed to run as single missions really. Also that would have you missing out STS-3 I think. Oh yes and docking is just fine! Awesome! Good to have you back and involved! Nice you backed up your post with an entry! now I can truly say welcome to the challenge! For this first mission I'm comfortable that you have reached orbit etc, but for future missions more detail is requested to make it easier, and not have to come back to clarify things etc. Take some screen shots without F2ing first etc as you go and include them in. I'm all for pretty pictures, but I need to see whats going on too Good luck with the next mission! Really glad you enjoyed it, I think I enjoyed that mission a lot when I completed it. Amazing seeing two shuttles in orbit at the same time! It didn't ever happen though did it? Anyway, another worthy mission, and here's your badge! Nice work, keep us posted of your progress! Definitely want to see you de-orbit the stricken Shuttle. I think @Alchemist just up and landed his on the back of one of his monster HRO's?! Speak of the Alchemist himself! Right, time to get into the detail..... A supreme effort Alchemist, well done on passing out the first Mun mission. I suspected when I was designing this that the HRO would just be able to do it. I really liked the point about shifting the fuel and watching the response from the SAS input. That is a clever clever trick to get everything balanced nicely in the stock game! Here's a nifty little badge for you, and again, welcome back! Haha so it was! Yep there's been a few changes with the missions, but mostly not stuff that would affect the vast majority so I decided it was worth it! Here's your badge I was toying with moving the asteroid mission to a separate branch a few days ago. It's kinda a "fun" category rather than a serious mission so I can definitely see it as a separate category. I'll have a think about how that can look. I guess with the Mun Missions I wasn't sure what do do either but wanted to get something down. I'm actually happy with it being one mission for the moment, but am going to possibly introduce a Kerbin 2 mission which would be to land on the Mun and Minmus in one mission then return. Again something to think about, but there are other things to think about first. Duna specifically and Laythe I think could use some follow on love. Re: STS-4/4R that's a good call. I might comb through and see which missions definitely done't require a cargo bay. I mean technically landing a potato doesn't, as it doesn't really fit in to any cargo bay available anyway! Thanks for the suggestions HAHA This shuttle I loved, and remember it well now. I always thought the front mounted ET was totally bonkers, and the more I look at it I realise it is totally bonkers, but also a brilliant engineering solution! Good to have you back and seriously, congratulations on this superbly put together mission. Even though you didn't make it to KSC I thought the way you dealt with the asteroid and the modules you designed were excellent, so bear with me and I will update the OP! Nicely nicely! Just update me when you are done with the mission and I will review the rest of the report for you! Hey hey welcome to the challenge @Scabank! Let me just review your video......UM? WOW that is one crazy crazy shuttle. Haha seriously I've never seen anything like it, even in 4 iterations of this challenge. Never the less, we are not the kinda folk to shy away from the non traditional in here, and so yep, um, that's a shuttle lol. It's more of a Space Galleon, but yup, shuttle With your challenge entry, and mods specifically, I really need to know what mods you are running to be able to categorize. For example you are using SSRSS which is Stock system, Kerbal sized, so I'm confident I can award you stock on those grounds, but basically are you running any part/fuel etc mods at all used on this shuttle? I'll award you stock for the moment anyhow: and will update the OP once you confirm your mod list. Ooops! Definitely not a nailed landing hehe. Oh well, these things happen in the dangerous world of flying shuttles, so best luck with iterating your shuttle, and can't wait to see the finished mission that I can judge on! Wow that was a lot of updating, hopefully I got to everyone! SM

Looking good there, welcome to the challenge!! Can't wait to see how this one progresses! Ah yes then someone comes along and blows the scoring out of the water hehe. Was it a mistake to remove the 168t fuel pod?! Anyway nicely done, I will update the OP soontm and here's a nice little stock badge for you! Cool, dust off the cobwebs and shoot some missions in the challenge thread with us

This is pretty much the Ultimate Challenge with a couple of added extras: SM

I've never got to this point in a career mode, but I'm still thinking of doing at as I've played enough to have done most major missions like yourself. It looks like you could enter the Ultimate Challenge at the same time Good luck! SM

SUPREME. Just simply a wonderful mission. The telescope is incredible and we are definitely not worthy! The level of detail you put into everything, including your flight profiles is astounding, and I'm super happy to prresent your badge. Cannot rep your post enough unfortunately! Gotta love those cute MMU's! nice mission and again this telescope is really really nice. There's two now that have already proved opening up the telescope design was the right thing to do! Cool can't wait to see how this turn out! nice looking vehicle EJ! Wow another absolutely beautiful scope! Congratulations on a tidy mission. That's really a fantastic telescope, loving the diversity here! HAHA YES!!!! I really have to design a couple more asteroid missions! Good top see you back here once again! That's a particularly neat nose assembly there. Can we get a closer view? SM

Nope, just living In Sydney Clearly a major brain fart on my part! Really good to see you on here Alchemist. Is the HRO to make another appearance? So does the definition for a Shuttle make enough sense as it stands? You'll have to expand on what you mean I think. If you mean you get up there, get the payload and return it to Kerbin within 1 orbit while simulating an AOA that's fine. You can go backwards straight up and straight down for all I care as long as the payload gets home Everyone else I'll get to you tonight after work! SM

I did this exact thing in March last year, the first and only time I went to Moho, and I went large - 608 parts, 4600t, lander built for two, space station and science outpost built for 24, and return vehicle with deep space habitat: This looks like something worth doing again. You could have (as additional goals) deploying a space station, minimalist/maximalist records, points for a single launch etc, but to be honest this looks like a really good starting point. Perhaps time to venture back with an even bigger mission, but I've got a few other challenges to complete so I will see you again soon Moho! SM