bobcook

Aw shucks, that little ring-o-fuel has been great for the ascent stage of my Mun lander. You'll be missed, little buddy.

Starting clean, like I've done for every update. Its fun for me to go through career mode again from scratch, and I'm really looking forward to the inevitable redesign of my favourite rockets due to the new aero and new tech tree.

I manually manage the install/remove process from GameData, and I usually have two KSP installs going: one for nearly stock, one with a dozen or so mods. I've heard of CKAN before, never tried it, not sure I have the problem it is trying to solve (changing mods is pretty rare).

This. Same for screenshots in the form. Every. Single. Time.

I play 0.90 on a MacBook Pro Retina Early 2013, 16gb RAM, 10.10.2. Really minimal mods. Zero crashes. Really, I've got many, many hours with zero crashes. Your experience is very different than mine. What h/w are you using?

I have published 1,365 images on imgur and I estimate I've taken at least 25% more than that that I've deleted. Could be as much as 50% more. For quite a few missions I take a lot of screen shots.

By the time Day 24 arrived the KSC engineers were greatly inspired by two things: remote control spacecraft, and the holiday season. Their secretive plan was to send a deep space mission to the furthest known planet: Eeloo. They hastily built another space craft, but didn't tell anyone what the payload was. Their design kept the "gift" under wraps, under a protective shroud. The launch was pretty exciting, Kerbals on every part of Kerbin (and above Kerbin!) watched the launch as the mission set off for the distant reaches of their planetary system. No Kerbal had ever seen the tiny planet of Eeloo, so there was great speculation about what the probe would find. Only a few trusted folks at KSC knew what was hidden behind the shroud, but after a very, very long journey all was revealed. The entire planet of Kerbin rejoiced in the holiday festivities as the Kristmas Tree probe "landed"* on Eeloo. * This is the first time I've ever visited Eeloo and (likely predictably, for a first attempt) my design lacked enough delta-v to achieve orbit and a soft landing. Here is hoping that the definition of "landed at Eeloo" includes "crash landing"... Thanks to TJPrime for this fantastic challenge in the run-up to Christmas, its been lots of fun. Not sure I'll have enough time for the post-holiday missions, but I'll definitely follow along on this thread.

Day 23. The scientists at KSC found the LKO station extremely valuable for their research, so much so that they insisted the engineers increase the capacity for science laboratory modules. Since Jeb, Bill, and Bob were already in orbit the next crew in line were Kurt, Endrin, and Henry. These three brave souls climbed into their space craft and launched the latest module to the growing station. The crew was successful in rendezvous and the station's autonomous tug took over the task to attach the new module. Afterwards the new crew docked with the station and joined the existing crew in celebration.

Level 4+. My Jool-5 challenge is still the most ambitious project I've completed. I've done a couple of "ironman" careers with flights to Duna (Hard mode career + DRE + FAR + TACLS). Still don't watch ScottM videos though, and haven't made any videos of my own. And not really very active on the forums, but would be if I had more time.

By the time Day 22 arrived on the calendar the KSC controllers decided it was time to have someone inhabit their new orbital station. The engineers quickly designed a new launch vehicle and prepared for launch, but Jeb insisted that any sort of contraption in LKO required the ability for every Kerbal aboard to have an escape system to return to safely to Kerbin. So an additional station module was designed, containing six tiny capsules giving a total escape system capacity for 18 Kerbals. With the escape system built and incorporated into the space craft, our three heroes set out once again in another exciting launch to rendezvous with the LKO station. After arrival they separated their capsule from the new escape system module and proceeded to dock with the station. The automated tug then detached from the station, fetched the new module, and attached it to the growing station immediately behind the laboratory. Bob and Bill suggested this location since the laboratory as the most likely location where urgent and emergency escape would become necessary. At the conclusion of this day's activities the station has plenty of living space, a cupola for singing, a full science laboratory, and a reliable escape system to provide safe return for a large crew. Jeb, Bob, and Bill have taken up residence for the first shake-down mission. Soon there will be additional crew members joining them for an extended mission, once the station proves fully operational.

Day 21 required the KSC controllers to expand the fledgling space station in LKO. The general plan was to add enough space for sixteen crew members plus a scientific laboratory. In order to facilitate assembly a small tug was added to the launch vehicle. The launch vehicle was entirely automated. The KSC engineers had to resort to automated systems after the Kerbal crew decided they weren't interested in the space station contraption. Plus, re-runs of Dr. Kseuss Kristmas in Kwhoville were showing on television that day. After launch the space craft rendezvoused with the station and began operations to attach the three different station expansion modules. The tug successfully maneuvered each section into place, including one section attachment operation conducted on the dark side of Kerbin. After construction the tug attached itself to remain at the station for future operations. The delivery space craft then departed for a safe landing back on Kerbin, and the KSC controllers celebrated with champagne. The engineers are now seriously contemplating this concept of using autonomous space craft might be a better way to explore other planets.

On Day 19 there were fireworks. It took a bit of time for the KSC engineers to devise something that would blow up intentionally. Normally things blow up without any sort of advanced warning, hence their confusion about requirements. In the end they succeeded, likely accidentally, but not one of them would admit it. The engineers were much more pleased to be working on the challenge for Day 20. A space station in LKO had long been the dream of one or two of them, so after the hangovers had worn off and through various means they managed to convince the rest of the department of the merits of said project. Our three heroes were convinced to board yet another untested rocket in order to deliver the station core to LKO. All three refused to remain in orbit, so the engineers decided to include a remote control unit so they could keep the station under control. They still hope to convince someone to take up residence in their contraption someday, but only time will tell if anyone will.

Day 17 brought the brave crew into the Duna SOI where an additional maneuver brought the space craft into a secure orbit. After detaching the transfer stage the crew performed a full check out of the lander. After a little more than 1 year after leaving Kerbin the crew was prepared for the final stage. Bob brought the lander into position for final descent to the surface, fired the engines to decelerate enough to dip into the thin atmosphere, and began preparations for landing. The jolt from the opening parachutes reminded Bob that he was only minutes from touching down on the surface. A quick crew report confirmed what everyone had hoped to hear: the lander survived intact and Bob was ready for some science at the surface of Duna. The challenge for day 18 required Bob to depart the serene surface of Duna for orbital rendezvous with his crew mates in the habitat module. Launch was smooth and the two space craft lined up for a successful docking. After additional science activities in orbit the crew prepared for return to Kerbin. Step one involved ditching the lander in orbit, then a maneuver engine burn to leave Duna SOI for eventual maneuvers for returning to Kerbin. Several maneuvers along the journey brought the crew safely back to Kerbin SOI and after 2 years 254 days it was time for additional maneuvers to bring the space craft into orbit around Kerbin. Final preparations for landing went quickly and before much time had passed it was time to return to the surface. MET 2y 255d 3:54:49 and a fully successful mission, all accomplished on hard mode of course.

Well, the challenge did say "set yourself up for Duna transfer" - guess I took it too literally!

Day 16 arrived and our three heroes boarded the KSC engineer's latest design for a long journey to Duna. Their space craft has a large habitat for plenty of living space during the trip. The launch was uneventful although the SSTO design was probably a bit inefficient. It worked though, the transfer stage separated from the launch stage once a stable 150km orbit was achieved. The next phase of the mission involved a 7+ minute engine burn to change orbits for a Duna intercept. This allowed a close orbital match although the final intercept will require a mid-course correction 56 days into the mission. If that burn is successful the crew should find itself entering Duna SOI with a periapsis below 150km.

For Day 15 the engineering team polished their designs for sending the crew to Duna. After all three primary crew members refused to board the ship unless they were assured of a safe return, the engineers added an additional stage to return the habitat (minus lander and transfer stage) back to Kerbin. Tomorrow the crew will launch this craft into space.

Day 14 of this delightful challenge brought Jeb, Bill, and Bob into rendezvous with one of the strange "asteroid" objects spotted recently through the new high-power telescopes in the science division of KSC. The target object was considered "class C" with mass of 132 tons, so the crew was quite confident of success. The launch was pretty boring, with Jeb actually snoring through the whole thing. The orbital adjustments required for successful rendezvous took quite a few days to line up, but the crew managed to acquire their target and set up an intercept after eight days MET. Another two days of further adjustments brought the crew into visual range of their target. The crew quickly realized this ship wasn't well designed for capturing an asteroid, as it lacked fine maneuvering jets that would have made the grabber maneuver a bit less of a bone jarring jolt. Also probably would have been more successful on the first attempt rather than requiring several attempts. But eventually they did attach to the asteroid using the grabber unit and began the slow process of bringing the asteroid into an elliptical orbit around Kerbin. The original plan was to put the asteroid in a circular orbit in LKO to facilitate easier access for the scientists to further investigate. Unfortunately the ship lacked the necessary delta-v to accomplish a circular orbit, so an elliptical orbit was considered good enough, with the periapsis of 100km. Again the poor design of this ship made the orbital adjustments much more tedious due to the lack of stability between the mass of the asteroid vs. the mass of the ship itself. The slow burn to correct the orbit required nearly two additional days, but eventually they were successful. With these lessons learned the next time the KSC controllers plan an asteroid capture mission the crew will be better prepared.

Day twelve involved a mission by Jeb and Bill to the remote parts of Kerbin to investigate the story of a second space center. After the mission briefing the two brave crew climbed into their plane and set off in the general easterly direction towards the theoretical location. After nearly 30 minutes of flying they came upon a strange sight where it appeared to indeed be a second space center, either under construction or perhaps abandoned. After a low flyby and a steep climb to avoid the mountains they circled around and initiated the landing procedures to investigate more closely. Their story got stranger when they found a strange black monolith at the space center. New myths about these black monoliths have started now, including one tale saying there is another of these ancient monuments back at KSC. "Simply hogwash!" said Jeb, "I've crashed rockets all over the place at KSC and never seen anything like that." Bill wasn't so sure Jeb knew what he is talking about, but chose to remain silent on the topic. And for day thirteen the engineers and crew started designing another massive space vehicle, this time for exploring one of the strange "asteroid" things that has recently been spotted by the KSC astronomers. These "Space Rocks of Death That Will Destroy Kerbin" (the actual headline from the publication Weekly Kerbol News when the discovery was announced) seem worthy of further study and perhaps even capture one into LKO.

For the 10th day of this great challenge Bill and Bob went swimming in the pool near the recently constructed Administration building. Jeb decided to take the new Minmus Visitor space craft on its maiden voyage to Minmus, obviously. Pretty cool trip, Jeb had never been to Minmus before (at least in this save!) and he was initially very excited about the shiny surface being edible. "Don't eat it" said the mission controllers back at KSC, "you'll need to be decontaminated before you can leave your capsule!". After some basic scientific analysis (and a small taste) Jeb concluded Minmus is not actually a dessert but instead actually frozen karbon and frozen kethane. He might have chipped a tooth when sampling it. After departure, re-entry to Kerbin was uneventful although it was sort of dark (being the night side). On the 11th day, even Jeb took the day off and let the engineers play with a small model rocket for fun. Their first attempt sort of fizzled out, but the second attempt was very successful. However, after this second launch, they got bored of this game and went back to designing a new rocket that will take our three heroes outside the Kerbin system, into deep space. Eventually they hope to successfully land on the distant planet of Duna. Some of the engineers even believe they can bring the crew back to Kerbin, while others seem to think that is an unnecessary complication.

Day 9 brought the need to drive a rover on the Mun. Sadly the original lander design had no space adequate to bringing a two-man rover, so the engineers did what engineers do, and simply made some space by moving the fuel tanks outwards. "Nicely done" said Bill. So our three heroes set off on yet another mission to land on the Mun but this time two of them would drive around and try to not get hurt or dead. "Rovers are tricky business" said Bob. Jeb was left in the command capsule in Mun orbit as to ensure he would be available for the following day's trip to Minmus. The rover worked ok. Was a bit difficult to get out from under the lander, and ended up tipped on one end. Fortunately it was successfully tipped back on its wheels and the crew proceeded to drive 5km away then back again and managed to avoid any accidents until the very end where the rover was left on its side after Bob attempted a "tokyo drift" maneuver around the lander. Didn't work at all and Bill was petrified his suit might tear open. No harm done though, and the crew survived to blast off for another rendezvous with Jeb in Mun orbit and eventually return to Kerbin for a night time landing. Another successful Kadvent Kalendar mission accomplished.

Day 8 brought our three heroes to the Mun again, this time they were "go" for landing. All of this is done on hard mode, of course. After the previous successful mission, more fuel was added to the transfer stage, and some Sepratrons were added to the second stage in order to deorbit it cleanly. The landing was straightforward, Jeb and Bob planted a flag, collected a couple of rocks, then launched back into Mun orbit to catch up with Bill and the command capsule. After docking they adjusted orbit to intentionally crash the lander and transfer stage into the Mun (leaving no debris in Mun orbit) prior to departing for Kerbin again. Overall it was a very uneventful trip.

And on Day 7 of this great challenge there was another launch, this time departing Kerbin orbit with a Mun flyby with free return trajectory, using only a single burn out of LKO. The command capsule has new lights as well as some mono prop control jets installed to make the Mun Lander docking simpler. This mission was again flown by our three heroes and they managed a flyby at ~27km from the surface. Unfortunately the return to Kerbin's atmosphere was quite high, ~50km so it took another eleven days of multiple aerobrake maneuvers before they managed to get enough drag to slow down for a proper reentry and landing. The crew kept themselves occupied by singing Kristmas karols to each other. Things I'd do differently: firstly, its clear that the Mun transfer stage doesn't have enough delta-v for achieving Mun orbit and return to Kerbin. It was lucky this was discovered on a free return trajectory. Second the crew shouldn't have ditched the extra gear on return to Kerbin (lander, transfer stage, return stage, etc) as the extra mass would have made the aerobrake more effective. Oh well, it worked out well enough as the crew survived and the challenge was completed.

On the 5th day of this challenge Jeb and Bill test out the manufacturing prototype for the Mun Lander project. And the following day the three heroes took the lander and command capsule into Kerbin orbit for additional testing. The lander worked flawlessly as Bob flew it around the capsule while Jeb and Bill watched intently. The crew learned that it would have been useful to have some monopropellant control jets on the command capsule. The next ship will address that shortcoming. Looking forward to Day 7 where we get to really kick the tires!

Looked at the Day 4 challenge. Remote Tech, huh? Never had very much fun with that mod. Unfortunately that means I'll be sitting this one out. Hoping Remote Tech doesn't figure prominently in future challenges.

Day 3, an air breathing plane piloted by none other than Jeb himself. Pic snapped at the moment of flameout. Planes aren't really my thing, but it was fun to make something that would actually stay in the air as well as go fast enough to be credible.