Commander Zoom

I'd say the better question is, where in time is Jebediah Kerman?

Yo.

"Mommy, where do little saucers come from?"

Very much so, yes. My recently-concluded program (see signature link) followed a Hindu naming convention, after Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama ("The Ramans do everything in threes"). Notable workhorses and oft-used designs: the Rama CSM itself, used for the first Mun landings and then refined down (much like in Eyes Turned Skyward) to an orbital taxi between Kerbin and the stations in orbit around it and its moons; the Ganesh tanker, an orange Jumbo 64 with a large monoprop tank under it and a probe brain and battery ring on top, with docking ports at both ends; the Bug series vacc-only shuttle/tug/landers, which went through several iterations and tweaks between the first Mun Bug and the Jool Bug. Each of these got an additional, personal name like the STS - e.g., Arjuna, Hanuman, Discovery, etc. I also used Temstar's old Zenith rocket family for all of my kerbaled launches, and a booster of my own design (Comet) for satellites and probes.

I drove around Duna near the start of 2015. Here's the album documenting the trip.

Sent out my Jool mission, consisting of three ships and three tankers carrying the return fuel for the one that was coming back... and then two more little rockets with stuff I'd forgotten / thought of only after putting the first three together.

We pray for one last landing On the globe that gave us birth Let us rest our eyes on the fleecy skies And the cool, green hills of Earth. -- Robert A. Heinlein

I've had that happen where reloading the very same save works just fine the next time. You might not have to go far back at all. (Good idea to make a copy before you try loading, though. Just in case.)

Well. It's finally over. After nearly three Earth years (with some long gaps when I was busy and/or distracted with other things), ten Kerbin years, and four updates (and at least two format conversions) before I finally called a version freeze so I could finish without anything else breaking... I'm finished. The expedition to Jool has returned safely, as has the second expedition to Duna; I still have some kerbonauts out there, in bases and stations on or orbiting two planets and several moons, but it's time to finally wrap this game up, tie a bow around it, and start fresh. Before this, I'd never left Kerbin's SOI; even though I'd been playing for years, since before Kerbin had moons, I'd never been beyond them. Call it a combination of other interests (see "distractions", above) and waiting for certain features, like docking, to become stock. I saw people with colorful ribbons in their signatures and envied their accomplishments, their interplanetary adventures and their space stations and satellite networks, their Grand Tours and traveling circuses and so on. And so I decided, back in January of 2013, that I was finally going to get serious about my space program. You can read about the start of my effort in the first few posts on this thread. But this time, instead of being satisfied with orbital flights and a handful of jaunts to the moon(s) and back, I kept going. I started putting things in orbit to stay - first around Kerbin, then its moons. And then, for the first time ever, sending probes to distant worlds. More probes would follow, and eventually, kerbals. Most of the stuff around and near Kerbin was done during the first half of 2013, including the space station and the beginnings of the Mun base. By July, I was working on the design for the first of my interplanetary motherships and figured I had enough material "in the can" to start posting here. Then version .21 hit, and despite misgivings, my save converted over just fine. I started building my Mun base in earnest, as well as a transfer station in munar orbit to catch components and ferry them down to the surface. The pilot and "strut monkey" assigned to the Mun shuttle soon logged more actual flight hours than anyone in the program, including the more famous "orange suits." Mid-2013 also brought some sad news from outside KSP. The full story can be found in the sub-thread "Long Distance Call"; suffice to say, I was now determined to put a kerbal on Duna by the end of the year. Version .22 came along in October, and with it the first version of career mode (later renamed to "Science Sandbox", as only R&D was implemented, not budgets or building the KSC). With some careful editing of the persistence file, I was able to convert my existing sandbox save to this new mode, because I wanted at least some of the experience of doing Science (with no "that won't work" messages) while continuing my program. By November, I was finally ready to start sending out my interplanetary probes - the "Janet" series, after Schoolhouse Rock's "Interplanet Janet" - singly, in pairs (for Eve/Gilly and Duna/Ike), and for Jool and its moons, all five on one rocket. All were orbiters, using the then-popular ISA mapping mod. Later, I would edit them in place to swap in the low-res SCANsat antenna. At the end of November, with one month left to go on my self-imposed deadline, I'd finalized the design of the first Veda stack - Brahma command/habitat module, Vishnu service module, Shiva engine module - and sent it to Duna and back in the "simulators". Version .23 came out on December 17, and with it the Mobile Lab; this was quickly built into one of the other two ships that would be sent along to the red planet (everything in threes, remember?) and broken up for parts on arrival. Everything was launched and assembled on the 22nd and 23rd, and on Christmas Eve, I sent the First Duna Expedition on its way. Thanks to the magic of time acceleration, they would arrive late on Christmas Day (after I'd spent the first part wrangling Janets into orbits around the Joolian moons). Actually landing would have to wait until the 26th, after I'd fired off the mini-rovers attached to Vishnu's sides like limpets... but land they did, just before midnight my time. And Tre Kerman was, for me, the first kerbal on Duna. With that promise kept, the rest of 2013 was spent bringing down the Duna rover next to the hab and lander, adjusting the Janets' orbits for better mapping, etc. The start of the new year saw a kerbal landing on Ike, some additions to the Mun base, and the space station finally getting a proper science (lab) module. Then KSP would be put away again, until the spring, when the Duna crew took their rover on some very long drives - halfway around the planet (and back) and to both poles. June saw the launch of an even bigger mission to Jool - three ships and three tankers, plus a couple of small "afterthought" rockets trailing in their wake, with some useful items I'd thought of too late - as well as improvements in imaging technology (SCANsat) and thus a new set of probes, sent in pairs to (almost) every planet and moon in the system... and then, in July, version .24 brought money into the equation. Once again I was able to convert my save (to the aforementioned "Science" mode) and update my mods, but it was becoming clear that it was only a matter of time before an update broke my game for good. Still I pressed on, hitting all the biomes and anomalies on the Mun and Minmus for maximum Science (putting another small station in Minmus orbit in the process), then trying my hand at asteroid intercepts. I managed to capture a fine pair of class Ds and wrestle them both into an 500km equatorial orbit of Kerbin, bringing them together and (this is the crazy part) trying to connect them. It worked, sort of, but the connection was never as rigid as I wanted, even with a whole forest of KAS struts; KSP physics just don't work that way. Still, I had to try. Version .25 came out in October 2014, and as I feared, changed too many important things, including parts used in in-flight craft. Rather than try to fix it, I called a version freeze at .24.2 and carried on in another (non-Steam) directory. I'd finish out the Jool mission, then wrap things up and start again with whatever version was then current. Asteroid wrangling lost its appeal toward the end of the year (in part because I realized that because of the constant spawns, I could never be "done"), and I went back to focusing on my kerbaled missions - making mid-course corrections for the ships bound for Jool, and then preparing a mission to Eve. The latter was thoroughly documented, in order to qualify for the "Eve Rocks" challenge, and featured a permanent orbital outpost (staffed by two kerbals, with provisions for more) as well as a one-kerbal lander. A similar station would be sent to Duna along with the imminent Second Expedition. The First Expedition made the most of their remaining time on Duna, driving all the way around just to make it official, before returning to the orbiting Veda 1 and burning for home in mid-February. Veda 2 was on its way to Jool, and Veda 3 - last of the trio - was taking shape in the VAB. Due to tweaks and revisions along the way, seeing what worked and what didn't, none of the three interplanetary vessels were alike; Veda 2 and 3 had centrifuges built by different contractors (PorkJet and RoverDude), while Veda 1 had no centrifuge at all and a much different engine module which clustered its four LV-Ns together rather than putting them on outriggers. (The latter configuration proved much easier to launch, stack... pretty much everything, really.) The first and the last would cross paths, somewhere in the endless night, in March. But first, there was the small matter of getting two kerbals to Eve, assembling a station in her orbit, and landing one in that seductive purple hell - and then (this is the important part) getting him safely back into orbit. This task, plus a side trip to Gilly, occupied the rest of February. March 2015 marked two significant achievements for the program, but one - the triumphant return of the First Duna Expedition - eclipsed the other, the long-awaited arrival of a Janet at lonely Eeloo, in the eyes of the public. Still, it made the scientists happy, and me too. I could officially say, "I've been everywhere." Second Duna arrived in mid-April and landed without much fuss, requiring only a short hop (using the same lander, refueled and with chutes repacked) to deliver an additional hab module to the base site. This, plus inflatable greenhouses and living/work spaces by USI, would make their stay on the red planet more comfortable. I didn't do as much with them as I did with the previous expedition, but they did get to drive to the top of (and name) some mountains, and visit that unmissable tourist attraction, the Face. Meanwhile, the ladies of Duna Station (okay, no female kerbonauts in .24, but if Brotoro could do it, I could pretend) made a return visit to Ike and tried out the PackRat rover; it worked okay, but flipped constantly. At least it was almost as easy to set upright again. All of that carried me through May and June, and then it was July... or Jool-y, maybe. Ships started arriving, making the harrowing passage through the upper atmosphere and swinging out to rendezvous above Laythe. First was the core of what would become Laythe Station, then Veda 2 itself, and then the 'misc' ship carrying the Laythe lander and other pieces. In the midst of all of this, and popping off probes, I got a reminder that it was time to dispatch the tiny uppermost stage of the Eve lander - now repurposed as a sample return capsule - for Kerbin. Then it was back to the jolly green giant and its ocean moon. Exciting times! Assembly of Laythe Station (in the first of many configurations over its life) was finally finished on the morning of the 4th, and I took a well-deserved rest. A month later, in August, I came back to Laythe. First were the rovers for its few spots of solid ground (and one more probe aimed to splash down in the seas); I even managed to land two on the ice caps. When one found a likely-looking beach, I sent down the lander - another first for Jeb. They spent a day and a night on the surface before lifting off and docking with the station again. About this time, I was starting to have concerns about my fuel margin; looking at what was left after sending all of this hardware out here, I wasn't sure I had enough to visit all the other moons and get the boys home safe. (And this was .24, so I couldn't make more.) At one point, I thought I'd have to use the return fuel to complete the mission, and launch another set of tankers at the next transfer window from Kerbin. But that turned out to not be necessary after all, for a couple of reasons... Figuring I'd use the fuel I had now and worry about it later, I sent two of the other kerbonauts out to Vall and Tylo, and then perhaps (with in-flight refueling) to Bop and Pol. The Vall landing (in September-October) went fine; then several things happened which I hadn't planned for. First, while I'd tested the Laythe lander (again, in the "simulator"), I'd just assumed that the Bug-series lander/shuttle could make a safe landing on Tylo and return, perhaps with the use of a spare "orange Jumbo" tank as a crasher stage and fuel source for the descent. But my attempts to soft-land a rover showed me what I was dealing with, and a quick round of "sims" with every combination of lander and tank I had on hand convinced me there was just no way: nothing I'd brought had enough fuel and/or TWR. Tylo had beaten me. I'd need to return with a purpose-built craft (not that I was going to). Giving up on Tylo, they moved on to Bop... and found you-know-what. (Just a few days before Halloween!) And there the story took a sharp turn in my head, because I figured that it was enough to drive both of them slightly insane - things kerbals were not meant to know, and all that. So much for my optimistic tale of conquering space! They took off and rushed back to Laythe (in part because I'd realized it was actually a lot easier to go back there, refuel, and then make an entirely separate burn for Pol rather than get there direct from Bop; inclined orbits are a pain). My unflappable pilot had to ditch an empty (and technically superfluous, but still expensive!) Vishnu in order to complete the aerocapture safely, and the scientist was a good candidate for a rubber room. None of this was according to plan, but once the idea got in there, I couldn't shake it. I blame all the other stories where things go horribly wrong on these long missions, usually near Jool. Skipping forward to December 2015. The return fuel is (finally) almost here, I've run the numbers again and I do have enough (barely) to send Jeb and a plus-one out to Pol to tick off that box before going home. (Not landing on Tylo saved a lot.) So they do that, and come back. And then I decide that the poor crazy scientist should go out the airlock. Without a suit. (Major bummer all around, but that's where the story wanted to go.) So I send him out on EVA, terminate the flight, and... I see he's back at KSC, on the roster, ready to fly. What the hell? I am now thoroughly weirded out. Quick rewrite: he was wearing a suit. And then, he just vanished. They'll find out when they get home... which will be sooner rather than later, because Jeb has had enough and as soon as Veda 2 is filled up, he's taking the (not perfectly optimal, but close enough) return window and getting out of there with his (remaining) people. Which brings us to the present. I've spent the last few days bringing both Second Duna and First Jool home, shuttling their crews down to the surface and leaving all three Vedas in orbit. If this save was continuing, they'd be used again; as it stands, they make nice museum pieces (and lessons for next time). Same for the satellites, the stations, the bases... and of course, the flags. The save will be archived, backed up, along with the game itself and all the mods I've used. If I ever need or want to, I can reopen and revisit it. But for now, I have albums full of screenshots, my memories... and this thread. I don't know what I'll do in 1.05, 1.1 and beyond; by most accounts, it's an almost entirely new game. I'll have to (re)learn a lot, including all of career mode. I don't know if I'll ever find the time and interest to undertake anything so ambitious again. But whatever may happen, I'm glad and I'm proud that I did - and I thank everyone who inspired and encouraged me along the way. And thank you, for reading this. Imgur Albums: Krishna and Rama - First Flights Rama - To the Mun(s) Kerbin Station 1 - An Outpost on the Edge of Space Janet - Never Been a Planet That They Haven't Seen Duna 1 - Heading Out Duna 2 - Arrival Duna 3 - Descent Duna 4 - Ike / Enigma Duna 5 - Pole to Pole Duna 6 - Odyssey Duna 7 - The Voyage Home Eve Rocks 1 - Some Assembly Required Eve Rocks 2 - Give Us a Kiss, Luv Eve Rocks 3 - There and Back Again Eve Rocks 4 - Bouncy Castle Eve Rocks 5 - Message in a Bottle Jool - Watch This Space

The existence of these parts in mods should not be taken as evidence that they would be "very easy" or quick to add to stock, unless you assume that: * Those mods, which you can now download in finished form, took little time or effort to make and reach their current state of development; * Putting them into the stock distribution is merely a matter of copying the existing mod as-is, perhaps filing the numbers off or changing some textures. "Literally a 5 minute job" - every non-programmer, artist, etc etc ever.

I imagine him with the voice of Charlton Heston.

double carbon bond, very strong! (very good post, too. )

I strongly suggest you not try to aim for a moon from interplanetary space, but from within the SOI of its parent planet. Much more manageable.

Whenever a ship touches down on Minmus (or Vall, etc), I imagine them being briefly surrounded by huge plumes of ice-melted-to-steam, which quickly settle and refreeze once the engines shut off.

Anyone else thinking of classic Jonny Quest, "The Robot Spy"? Complete with eerie music?

Took me a long time to leave Kerbin's SOI too. Congratulations on taking that giant leap outward.

Or if you want your kerbals to perform an EVA anywhere where they can see the engines, and vice-versa... (Those things get 'hot' in more ways than one.)

"Tractor" configuration definitely helps. I tried sending a few long-ish vessels on their way with thrust from the rear, or even the middle, and they tended to sway and flop around much like you'd expect of any large, unsecured, semi-rigid structure - such as, infamously, some suspension bridges. (They didn't come apart, though, and the oscillations tended to balance out over the course of the burn, and ended not long after it did.) tl;dr - don't try to push a noodle.

Works for me.

Then use another power source. (More) solar panels, or RTGs. Or acknowledge, as 5th Horseman and others have said, that "stock" hinders you in some ways but benefits you in others; and if you choose to accept the hindrances but refuse to accept the benefits, on the grounds that they're unrealistic or whatever, and choose not to use a mod to fix it... at that point, it's all on you. Stock gives you solutions to the problem, as do mods. You have chosen to use neither.

Then arrange for crew rotation; or, if you must have full automation, accept the hit to your refinement rates.

That's our brave captain Bob... ... stoned off his little green ass.

I strongly advise that you not press the "Remove Helmet" button.

Glad I found this thread, it's great reading so far. Please continue.