Pappystein

I mean, Neither Rocket is easy to build. The C-8 would need to be made near the cape... Same with the AJ-260s. The only difference is the AJ-260s DID have a factory and test site on the cape already. the C-8 never did. AJ-260 is **SLIGHTLY** more realistic. C-8 is simpler to build. Flip a coin. Now if you had put 4 156" SRMs on that Saturn V core, probably end up with about the same performance (I recommend the Photon 146" SRM/RSRM with the extra segment)

I see you too have embraced the Vega = Agena with engine swap and Hypergol fuels Did you do any tests with it or was it literally just used as a placeholder to see how it worked/looked?

Ok, So I think I know what is going on with Imgur.... It doesn't like the new screenshot format I am utilizing... files are all too big and it takes FOREVER for them to actually finish converting the files. https://i.imgur.com/6AayiF7.jpg (it was uploaded as a PNG) In a few hours the link will work correctly because the file has finished conversion.... *hyper-think* I have tried to upload 27 images to go along with that first one which is Obviously an Atlas Vega right? Well Almost all of the images are greater than 20mb... so I have to downgrade my picture taking resolution (going to switch to 1.5 and see if it works) But lets try the last image I uploaded.. https://i.imgur.com/sJRcUbO.jpg Yep YOU TOO can have AGENA C or SHUTTLE AGENA or FAT AGENA with JUST BDB PARTS! Has a great booster engine... it is Methalox but that is OK because that makes the LDC first stage signficantly lighter. I tend to use the LR87-LH2-Vaccuum engine in pairs for the Hercules Second stage (LDC Titan) You can see pictures of my actual booster in the first couple pages of RMM linked above! I was flying entire Russian segment parts to the ISS with it (Zarya etc)

Ok, I see you have finally embraced the Better than Saturn C-8 rocket builds LOOKS GREAT! Har Har Har Ok, joking aside, what have we here? An MS-IC with F-1As, Quad AJ-260s (zero or part of the first stage?) SOFI MS-II-396 MS-IVD (is that what we are calling the big diameter Saturn IV stage?) And big boi @benjee10 Habtech station parts? *edit ah crap, didn't mean for that to be a ping. Oh well the parts look amazing Benjee10!* The Nosecone, did you decide to go that route over that of some sort of PLF because of how most of the PLF bases don't look like they would work for a Station? Why not encase the entire payload in a PLF? Also, in the 6. whatever to 4.25m inter-stage, do you have a tug hidden?

Sadly, the parts are in the game already. However, I would point out that the Mk2 Expansion mod did a similar thing and it has never been hugely reliable at staying together even with mods like KJR or Strut Everything. Parts like that do not work well with KSP stock aeronautics, and from my now very old experience same with FAR. Also a fun followup... You are correct about the Interaction between the "Tunnels" and improved high AOE and High speed aerodynamics. This accident is what lead to the wing glove shape of the F-14 and F-15 as well as the initial Concept of the LERX on the F-5E, the F-16 and F-17/AF-18

I will follow up here, The Atlas is launching in an "under-thrust" for the bulk of the flight that is high efficiency. Thus you have to AIM HIGH. You do not want to seek that 100km AP, you want to go for 250-300km. You will end up in something akin to a 120-90km orbit. At least that was my experience. How did I set myself up to win? Well, for some reason, my Mechjeb install is NOT WORKING anywhere but the VAB as intended (it is on my list of things to fix after my next interview tomorrow.) So this is what I did. In the VAB... Build the all-up rocket with the booster skirt and everything except ground service equipment that you will attach to hold the rocket upright before launch. Now Remove the Skirt (but don't destroy it!) Now using either MechEngineer or MechJeb's Delta V displays (they both show TWR better than VAB's own stuff) DE-FUEL the rocket until you get about a 0.8-0.9 TWR showing with just the LR105 and twin LR101s on the rocket. Now Re-attach skirt, Notate the TWR with the booster skirt added and the nearly empty fuel tanks that got you that 0.8 TWR! Set the G Activation force to, as closely as possible, match the TWR showing in your MechEngineer or MechJeb TWR display... Don't forget to REFILL All the tanks! Now attach your ground service equipment. And you are GO FOR LAUNCH. If you are flying manual like I am... I seek to be at a 45 degree inclination after launch when passing through 20Km. Remember to be gentle with your inputs below 15-17km! At 60km, I set the rocket parallel to the ground. My skirt generally ejects between 60 and 80km. I do not adjust the rocket further... meaning at apoapsis, I am probably nose high by 30-35 degrees. Once I achieve orbit, I quickly bring the nose back down. If you are like me and try to keep your space clean, hopefully your rocket has several separation type motors to reverse the thrust of the Atlas rocket hull itself and send it back to a sub-orbital trajectory Hope that helps. I achieved 2 good orbits after practicing (Failure to orbit) twice with the engines on the NA-3 upgrades. Not easy but not insurmountable with the above steps Just checking things... Looks like the Imgur interface has changed on my web-browswer... I posted these the other day if any pop up embeded I will be happy! Interesting, The DirectLink button didn't save DirectLinks last night but rather used the "Link" code.... Or I am an idiot ... (could be both even!) Follow-up @Zorg I have to say I was really impressed with the 5 node Atlas XSM-65 skirt. Once I figured out why my GEMs were striking it it flew very well and lead to that Gemini stack with a transtage being in a useful orbit to perform some rescue missions! I didn't have all the Titan parts I needed unlocked when I did that launch.

Time for some more "Cursed" Screen Tax: https://i.imgur.com/nSttaGn.png And now I can not embed images again

That is about windows priority. When you press the Window Key your computer thinks you want to switch to a different program... I have found having too many programs running causes this (it is not a Memory issue, it is a a Windows gets confused and is dumb, issue.) I ended up re-scheduling PRT-SCRN button to do this (it is in Windows settings) And now, when I have a bunch of programs running the Print screen button activates it. It still isn't foolproof but it is better than the 3 key combo

That would mean 2 for me would be: 7680x3200 Like I said UX-Wide is a big ole drug (I own 3x 21x9 monitors!)

My issue is I thought I DID have a Backup... One I apparently deleted months ago I have rebuilt my Mechjeb patch, But I have not gotten the Aerojet patch up to snuff yet. I am pretty certain I sent a PR for that to the Dev Github, but I haven't found it yet (it was over a year ago and there are a LOT of updates between then and now.) where do these images save and where are the settings? I ask because I always had really low quality photos with F1, Which is why I was using F12 (Steam) And everyone kept complaining of that so Windows Snipping tool. (Also I run UX-Wide and it freaks some people out)

More Cursed Images for you all... Yes that is the new Atlas III tanks... with an LR-105... Sue me I don't have RD180 yet! This Atlas III-Vega-Agena is going to the moon baby!

Cursed Minuteman-Flea-Mercury

So, decided to try to use CKAN again (as well as KJR) Did a complete wipe of my gamedata folder... And promptly forgot to backup my personal mods (Geebus!) So bye Bye LR87-AJ-11A engine! (amongst many other tweaks I have done) Ok over that (that is a lie I am not!). Installed everything needed for ISS + BDB and ORANGES/Photon Corp. Here is my 4th launch... Proper use of early X-15 parts: Contract to test Star 31 Antares III scout 3rd stage engine using a Juno Guidance computer, some science bobs, some aerodynamic bobs and of course Real Chute 1.25m conic chute And I need to install atmosphere/texture mods still... But oh well system runs good!

Ok More details now that I am back from my interview (2nd and final interview with the company. I think I did ok. Only time will tell.) While I did cover this a bit in my Agena article. The Ascent Agena (the last 16 production Agenas ever built) really can't be called a stand-alone stage/satellite anymore. It is a set of fuel tanks, RCS and an Engine. No Guidance computer, No Electronics, no nothing else were on it. In this guise they were dumb boosters. The last generation KH-8 Gambit would be the computer to run these. These Agenas do not receive any sort of letter designation but are sometimes credited by 2nd tier historians as "Agena E." We have documented proof that Agena E is either Shuttle Agena or KH-9 Propulsive section (in its final form,) so Ascent Agena is letter-less in it's official nomenclature. The Documentation on this was released in the last 5-10 years. Agena E as a name for Ascent Agena has been branded around a lot longer than that time frame. I covered the reasons behind the Agena C cancellation a few months ago. Short version was Lockheed and Bell were "messing up" by the numbers with the Agena A and Agena B. Reliability was really low. Most of this was due to analog clocks being the guts of the Guidance system. And I am serious Electrically powered "Wind up" style clocks were used to TIME everything on these launches! The precision (ability to be set to the same time every-time across all clocks) was low, the people manually configuring these clocks were not super accurate. All this is because of the "Rush" of the Space race. Needless to say the contractual promises were kinda ahead of the technology at the time. In this Environment, Lockheed submitted an unsolicited proposal for Agena C with a 10ft diameter...... USAF was NOT HAPPY! What became Shuttle Agena, is the last "True Agena" stage. While sources on the USAF programs are scant at this point, I THINK this is Agena F, not Agena E. Whatever one it is... the other Agena(x) became the KH-9 Propulsive section... And it too is no longer related to Agena (other than being an evolution of it.) Shuttle Agena was a series of Proposals in the early-late 1970s for a NASA only version of Agena that would fit in the Shuttle bay. We have one version of it already in BDB with the inclusion of the SOT tanks and Deflection cone/"tutu" for the Agena D tankage. Some of the guidance and communication bits were also included in the fairly recent Agena Update. The alternative single tank Shuttle Agena, was again 10ft diameter (1.875m in KSP) Powered by a single Bell engine and per the few drawings we have of it, NOT compatible with the SPS pods utilized on GATV Agena, although that might be an omission from the paper because of how the SPS engines were enlarged for the KH-9 Hexagon. Shuttle Agena took two forms. The in BDB SOT tank option, and the 10ft monohull option. Both granted the Agena about a 4x fuel load on the same (improved) LR81-BA engine. Why I think Shuttle Agena is the Agena F is simple. The Ascent Agena contract and the Agena E contract were laid out at the same time for Lockheed and Bell. Agena E contract, at the start, was to be the Propulsive section for the slightly larger than the KH-8 Gambit replacement... the KH-9 GAMBIT! Yes, I said that correctly. At the time of contract start, the KH-9 was to be an evolved KH-8 Gambit with extra battery, and Solar power and a 3rd Return bucket. Mission creep would see the now renamed KH-9 Hexagon get a 4th film bucket for the mapping camera, and the Agena E would utilize an ENLARGED version of the SPS pods that were really first used on the GATV for NASA. The Enlargement of the SPS pods is why I think none of the Shuttle Agena drawings really show them. But that is 100% supposition on my part. Eventually as the UA120x family would evolve, the Titan III family getting it's longer first stage tanks and better LR87 and LR91 engines, it was realized that the big Bell engine would not be needed and a single smaller engine, with quite a bit of fuel, would be more efficient. This is when Agena "E" ceases to be and what is left is the Hexagon Propulsion system. If you ever look at the front of the HPS, you can see clearly the 5ft central dome that is a hold over from the Agena's fuel tank! This tank is surrounded by several smaller tanks inside the HPS structure. The single engine powering this into orbit? Yes, the enlarged single SPS engine. *To be clear, it is my supposition as to the structure being the last vestages of Agena... we do not know, no sources have been released to tell us much about it yet.* Finally we have EELV Storable Upper Stage, which has a "heritage" Agena Engine parts... The press, and the engine designer had dubbed this Agena 2000. However it appears that General Dynamics Convair was not actually naming it that. Atlantic Research (A division of Marathon (oil) company latter British Petroleum, now defunct in the US) proposed re-using a bunch of out of production rocket motor parts, including several from the Bell LR81, to power the General Dynamics (Lockheed) Atlas Storable Upper Stage. The Idea was it would be cheaper to build because the parts were already "certified" as space worthy. However the all up rocket motor would still need to be certified and many at USAF and NASA did not trust this concept. Almost all the 3rd party parts used to make this engine were already out of production and the manufactures have long since moved on to other projects. There is a AIAA paper exists and is purchasable from the AIAA archives (I have a copy of it) covering the performance... significantly smaller than the LR81 Agena engine, mostly in length due to the much smaller combustion chamber... the "Agena 2000" engine (Atlantic Researches name for it) looks like what would happen if you took a Rocketdyne RS25 SSME and shrunk it down with a smooth surfaced bell akin to the latter AJ10s If anyone has sources on the Storable Upper Stage for either the Atlas V or the Delta IV, I would appreciate the share. We do know that the Delta IV Storable upper stage would be Delta II heritage AJ10-118K powered and a small diameter.. maybe even the same 8ft as the Delta II upper stage.

Ok, I have 15 minutes to bash this out before I have to leave for my interview.... Fat Agenas: Agena C: scant details 10ft diameter, 2-4x the fuel of AgenaB/D. One or 2 engines (also debatable!) <===--- Force canceled by the USAF for breach of contract (Agena A/B contracts) Agena F (E?) / Shuttle Agena (appear to be the same unit) 10ft diameter SINGLE Engine GCU looks similar to same timeframe Centaur (it isn't the same however!) Agena E 10ft diameter, 1 Agena 2 Enlarged SPS engines. Canceled in favor of less complicated Satelite Propuplsive section on KH-9 Hexagon. Agena 2000. Probably 10ft diameter But nothing is certain on this except. The proposed engine by Atlantic reaserch which is dubious in the ability to make given parts were out of production.... It is an Agena in name only (Kinda like how Atlas V and Delta IV are Those rockets in NAME ONLY too)

Or just Use VEGA parts with an Agena engine and the old hypergolic fuel patch for the tanks (you want about 4x the fuel as Agena B/D tank to match what it would be IRL (Based on Shuttle Agena documents) I think the LONG centaur Interstage is tall enough to fit all of that together!

The "uni-body" Shuttle Agena or Big Agena would have been 1.875m KSP scale... +/- Most of the drawings I have of it show it at 10ft. BUT most of the drawings of it are.... um light on the details. Most of the documents that lead to the SOT tanks for Agena as well as the rear deflection "skirt" are the ones with the Uni-body shuttle Agena. Agena 2000... it is debatable. Some people talk about it as a 0.9375m dia tank inside an extended fairing. However, I do agree with you Agena 2K would likely have been 1.875m and IMHO would have used Centaur GCU for simplicity. But then again we will never know. Honestly though, that is so far into the future... oh Snap. I just thought of this as I was typing. Lo-MSC may have proposed Agena C for it. Agena C, which never got more than 3 steps down the "can we do this" decision tree, was to be 1.875m ksp scale (10ft IRL) Powered by 2 engines...

I have seen that Atlas Tri-coupler model in two un-related places. Both of them had outlandish things to say... In one instance, it was a way to launch a Convair developed Space Station for NASA. In the other, it was meant for the Superheavy Thermonuclear warheads... Just like the OG Atlas F (the Atlas III length one with 2x H-1 engines from Saturn as Booster engines!) In Neither case is the source material anything but some rando person's thoughts. No paperwork to back up either. Zorg's link to NASASpaceflight has the only "actual" documentation I have seen. Now what is a 1.875m KSP scale storable stage.... I have a Drawing of a Centaur derived (it looks nothing like centaur) Storable stage in my archive. It is tiny compared to the model so I doubt it is it.

I think Liberty is likely NOT a name that would have been chosen. Esp given Freedom was supposed to have the HL-20. Mostly because I do not see Ronny RAY-GUN naming things Liberty

Honestly even the "Patched together Big Gemini" would have gotten a new name. NASA names the capsules after the funding program that they were funded/designed under. NASA never actually funded the detailed design of what we all know as Big Gemini. So until NASA did fund a design program, a placeholder name is all we got!

Actually "Big Apollo" is ALL NEW Big-G. It has the same overall size of the Big-G we know... it just does not have the narrow nose of Gemini/Big-G. The only parts really in common with our Big-G in mod is the cockpit interface area and the Inconel skin. Hence pointing out the Gemini windows in the "Lockheed" BALLO art NICE NICE! 5 Engine atlas can't hurt you... it isn't real Yet you are making it Real NICE! Parts look GREAT Zorg!

You you you rat "stand-up guy"... Summon me and then peace out on a Fishin trip! How DARE YOU! Ok! Joking aside, questions answered, and oh, enjoy your holiday and vacation fishin!

Congressional hearing on the cancellation CobaltWolf is precisely correct... what everyone calls "Big Apollo" Is McDonald Douglas's ultimate Gemini (still called Big Gemini.) Lockheed usurped the concept for a brief period and called it BALLOS... In the artwork, you can Division, which was primarily responsible for the KH family of spy sites,see the Gemini-style windows still!!! Lockheed Space and Missile Division, which was primarily responsible for the KH family of spy sats contributed the Service Module to the Ultimate Gemini in the BALLOS proposal. The Capsule artwork is 100% the same as the McD artwork! The addition of the SM is the only difference. The SM looks like what I envision Agena E looking like, right before it lost it's Bell engine, shrank a little, and became the KH-8 Propulsive section. Followup for clarity's sake: Did North American Aviation embark on a "Bigger" Apollo program? The Answer is BOTH. North American, was asked during the congressional hearings on Big Gemini if they could make an enlarged Apollo capsule. Their answer was YES of course. HOWEVER, no funding, and no contract was ever let for such an entity, and North American focused on how they could convert EXISTING Apollo capsule to carry more people. That is the extent to which Big Apollo is REAL. The Blk3/Blk4 Apollo is all you get for Big Apollo. NOW, fast forward to the mid 1990s and the start of the Inter-webs. You get people who see the "advanced" phase Big Gemini artwork, which is a standard single-angle conic capsule, lacking all of the regular Gemini nose-docking-port/parachute shroud and cylindrical RCS features. They only have the picture, and with no Context to it they start calling it "Big Apollo." In short, any document talking about Big Apollo, outside of the Congressional hearing on the Cancellation of funding for Big Gemini, is an internet falsehood and not real. IT CAN'T HURT YOU! Having read the actual transcript it is easy to see why Advanced Big Gemini is often called Big Apollo. The picture is cited RIGHT at the start of the congressional questioning of the North American representative. Want to read my full document on the Big Gemini? https://github.com/Pappystein/Space_History/wiki/Capsule-Command Love all the GE Apollo D3 love!

Sadly, no I have enough trouble with the Alphabet Soup folks! Actually, that isn't true, but it fits the narrative

Kinda Sad that an X-15 pilot is who crashed into XB-70A-02 RIP Joe Walker, RIP Lt Carl Cross! Coincidentally Joe Walker was supposed to have his first flight in XB-70A-02 the very next day