Pappystein

You know, a Bigger version of this could be the Vandenburg Shuttle Boost engine that strapped onto the bottom of the ET. It was a Titan LR87 that utilized 2 Oxidizer and 2 Fuel tanks from the Titan IV second stage (individual tanks not the full 2nd stage structure)

I didn't think about it until now. But this solar assembly could be used as a representative but incorrect representation of the Russian Science Power Platform for the ISS. No tricky is the best way to describe it. The Inflatable tube would have to dock at both the CM and the Mercury Lab. Docking at two places is not a stock KSP thing on it's own. Then you would have to be able to egress through the dock like it is a door when not using the Inflatable tube on the CM. Just one big mess that would break the game 99.9% of the time for a visual improvement for the 0.1%. You know, Alt History neat maybe Idea. Skylab + Power Tower + Skylab B? With Shuttle Docking below the power tower perpendicular to the plane of the two skylabs? *BTW chose to post this idea on this post because these images are pretty awesome!*

A Schnoz attached to an ugly head?

That is my favorite way to launch Gemini into orbit

Sorry for the double quote. But something popped into my head about the "Triple Layer Mylar" the D.1A also has that I believe. Remember D.1A and D.1T were supposed to be identical except for the jettisonable insulation in the case of D.1A as it was not under a PLF. D.1 (the first generation Centaur) Did NOT have this insulation.

While the model could be the same, I would make a case that a duplicate or unique part would be the better choice for Centaur C/E. The fact that the Saturn Centaur is NOT a balloon tank is a big change. While B9PS does amazing work, the granularity provided by KSP is too coarse to allow multiple Tank types with the same fuel. I have a Hypergolic Custom fuel patch for BDB. In the case of Agena it is a Monocoque tank this changes the mass vs fuel load slightly. But the patch that loads it can load standard Hypergolic one time and Monocoque a different time. I have gone to the point of disabling the B9PS fuel tank switcher on the Agena Tanks because of this. Now if S-V Centaur used say lqd Fluorine instead of Lqd Oxygen then it would be easy to re-use the part with B9PartSwitch Also the fact that the Centaur C keeps it's jettisonable blanket until engine ignition is significantly different than Centaur D et al. I want to be clear here. B9PartSwitch is not the limiting factor here. Rather it is KSP itself with it's pretty simplistic small display.

The NTRS document from 1963 I had to get out of "it should be classified" purgatory. That was fun. A long story that points to the professionalism of the professionals in the NASA administration. I was blessed to have a phone conversation with several of them in addition to E-mail communications for my FOIA requests. I think they were shocked that over half of the documents I was looking for were at one point ALREADY on the NTRS PUBLIC server and were sequestered from public use. While I didn't get access to most of the documents I requested. That was mostly because they were from commercial entities and they have/deserve additional protections. Sorry for the bad formatting. I spent almost 4 hours trying to post that article this AM. Kept getting errors (up to and Including website Grammerly undoing all the changes that I had done in Word-processor Grammerly.)

So I had promised I would hold this article until after the release of the phase 1 Saturn BDB update. To be clear this was a decision I made, but CobaltWolf was aware of this for a while. Saturn C-2 and C-3, the Unflown and Unloved Rockets in the Saturn Family This document is not meant to generate anything more than knowledge of what the Saturn C-2 and C-3 programs were about. The C-2 rocket can comfortably be built in BDB at this juncture with a couple minor and one major part tweaks currently not in the game. The C-3 Rocket with it's 320" Diameter is a bit of an odd duck. 8.128 meters in real world diameter equates to 5.25m in KSP scale almost exactly. (5.202m at exactly 0.64 scale.) This would entail a whole bunch of major re balancing to get down to 5m or would require a new size. Something I doubt the BDB devs are keen to add so late in KSP1's life cycle.

IIRC that was another player making comment about how "old" and "outdated" it looked. Of course the Titan Revamp is where BDB really starts it's modern shine so those statements are mostly Hogwash. Although there are plenty of things that have not been touched in the Realm of Titan: Alternate Kick upper stages (2 produced and 3 hypothetical) 6 segment UA-1206 (vs 5.5 segment) 156" (2.5m) SRMs (may or may not be coming in Saturn Phase 2) fittings for 2.5m KSP scale Hydrolox 2nd stage (stand offs for UA-120x decoupler as well as the bigger 2nd stage tank) 2.5m KSP scale Hydrolox first stage (Not a part of the LDC family!) 3x LR87-LH2 bells on that And yes some prospective versions were 2.5m First stage 1.875m Hypergolic 2nd stage and others were 2.5m Hydrolox 2nd Stage on a 1.875m Hypergolic First stage. There are plenty more things that could have been made for Titan (and no that is not a wish list for the BDB team) I am just stating that there are things that could still be done if someone wanted to.

you can use the Search File function. I use it all the time to merge mods on another game. Point it at the directory with your craft files. Search for *.Craft. No slight intended here but if you need more help after that then you probably shouldn't be doing anything because you are risking breaking the entire game.

It is UP!

GoldForrest, When I built mine with rockets I put a small RCS only tug on the station side of the truss. I got it lined up so all the main tug had to do was PUSH to dock, then unlocked the RCS tug and moved it a safe distance away. After completing that I pushed the boom in, docked and then joined the RCS tug on the powered tug for a one craft de-orbit. Will see if I can find photos and post This image is from my most recent build utilizing Saturn Rockets. It is the entire center section (everything except the solar wings) as a single unit... RCS tug on the left, Main tug (LASS S-IVB) on the right. Normally when I have built the station using Titan launches I do it in 3 sections, Center, then the Heatsinks and the outer octagon as 3 separate sections. I Utilize the same RCS tank (stock 1.875m Mono tank) with the same RCS as on the Tug (that is the most important part need the same number of RCS units of the same power and orientation(if possible) on both ends)

Word of warning: Stages to Saturn, is a great overview document that skims over many of the Saturn things due to the "classifying" of many of the NASA documents for fear of Nuclear propagation (cause if you can build a Saturn rocket you can throw a nuke around the world I guess.) Also, I guess, to keep the book size down. Much of the history / why? things were done leading up to the final Saturn IB and Saturn V rockets was left out of it.

In my builds since I too use rockets, I use a conic adapter between the Docking port and whatever tug I am using (normally Transtage)

In 1961, the D Series of Saturns were to be the nuclear powered ones. They all used longer 4.25m tanks (KSP scale obviously) One "Test" Rocket had essentially a S-IVB tank with a conic front so you could get away with it for that one. I do not know if the IU would be used in that (it was a simple line drawing, no details at all)

Most used them but not all. EG the 6x F-1 engined monsters all used stock F-1s and not F-1As.

So, it was Bob again? Or was it Bill this time?

Gah! They all conspire against me! I don't get no respect! I tell yah! Awesome! Welcome to orbiting the craziest Rocket NASA ever flew!.... Until the Ares X test

You should be fired from April first Joke making for this one right here! Gosh I hope I didn't trigger that with my request for slightly more authentic Agenas (the B being longer than D etc) Over all, I give you 10/10 for a Good April Fools joke InvaderChaos! Well played! I think they are referring to the Orange on the SRB's lowest two segments (well at KSC it would be one segment but at the factory that is TWO segments)

it has been a couple months for me, but you can get Saturn IB (early engines) into JNSQ orbit with Classic pretty easily. I set two things, the Launch curve is almost 90%, and the Zero AOA altitude reference is 30km ABOVE my max orbit sought to do so. And as Zorg has stated, Jettison the LET at S-IVB separation (so before the J-2 ignites but after the S-IB-260 stage separates. Now I am using my Hypergolic fuel patch that JSO helped me develop several years ago so the CM is AZ50/NTO instead of Liquid Fuel/Oxidizer. But aside for that, I am bone stock with the BDB parts. I do have to fire the CM's AJ-10 for the last 50 or so m/s. I get about a ~160x130km orbit. So in the Mechjeb Classic launch window editor (where the curve is.) I set it to typically 75-85% which makes for a tall launch (what is needed for High Weight High Impulse low thrust rockets like Saturn IB and ETS Saturn Multibody) I set the 0 AOA altitude to 30km ABOVE my desired orbit. This makes the nose of your rocket point up until it is in orbit. This makes the upper stage more efficient for the mass it is carrying. Yes and No, Classic allows for extra options but by default they are all off.... The biggest one is the 0 AOA altitude (I can't remember it's actual name right now and don't have 15 minutes to load KSP) If you set it above the max altitude you are seeking the rocket doesn't follow the rails in so much as it seeks the altitude you set. If you set the 0 AOA button to default (60KM, your rocket is highly efficent for a light load but with something that is heavy like a CSM stack on Apollo... it is a great way to burn up in Atmosphere. OK found a photo Automatic Altitude Turn: needs to be turned off <--- this is the most important step to allowing Lofted flights with Classic Ascent (and given PVG NEVER works for me no matter who's tutorial I follow.....) Turn End altitude, set above your ideal max altitude of your orbit (I start with 30km+ desired orbit in km so for a 160km orbit I set it to 190km) **I have never set this more than 100km above my desired orbit and the larger the orbit you seek the less important this is** Turn Shape: Set to somewhere between 75% and 95% (do not set it to 100%) I would try launching at 75% with the above steps... and if it is CLOSE then up the percentage in 5% bouts.

I won't speak for Zorg. But my opinion: Titan IV Atlas V's core stage is mostly still more than just good. However the Centaur/Payload area needs work. Mostly because of some lack of modern features (that is the biggest problem with the Titan IV CCB as well... Nodes for SRMs would be good on that.) The Centaur stage needs some Love too. But most of the love for Centaur involves improving part to part interface (even if a new part is needed) and allowing for our exapanded knowledge of Centaur to be properly integrated. EG Centaur C/E for Saturn, Gamma, Centaur D.2, D.3 and D.4 and Centaur D.1T A Centaur D.1R would be nice for the SOCKs but I won't hold my breath for that Conversely REAL Atlas that is NOT a Titan IV that is poorly renamed, is in need of major work. First off, we can do shiny now. Secondly there are a lot of little niggling things that just don't hold up. Much was learned by Cobalt Wolf and Company during the construction of the Titan family and beyond. About the only part of Real Atlas that can remain mostly static: Configurations for the engines.

err, the S-II-260 Quad engine mount is already in the game for the Saturn C-2, It is used on a 260" (4.25m KSP scale) tank so you already have your request. It is an early kitbash version (IDK if Cobalt is planning a cleaned up version or not) but I know I have seen other people use it.

Have you ever posted about BDB, ever? if so then: YES YES YOU HAVE!

neat build. Too bad Big Apollo is a McDonald / MD "this is why Big G" is better proposal eh? Note the McDonald style (Gemini station) Fork style docking port. That was only ever drawn on McDonald stations

no, if anything they were too powerful on Gemini. It is all that is needed for the role they support (keeping the heatshield pointed correctly at atmospheric interface.) Those thrusters were not used for anything but Re-entry