Landwalker

As the OP has killed my pronunciation fun and clarified that the thread is for KSP-related pronunciations, I may as well throw mine into the mix to be ignored. From the center out: Kerbol: KER-bole (long O) Moho: MO-ho (both long O) Eve: Eve (monosyllabic, long E) Gilly: GI-lee (hard G, short I, long E) Kerbin: KIR-bin (both short I) Mun: Muhn (short U, rhymes with Fun  the actual body in-game does not have an umlaut, nor does the tracking center description) Minmus: MIN-muhs (short I, short U, soft S, rhymes with Bus) Duna: DU-nuh (long U, reduced A) Ike: Ike (rhymes with Like) Dres: Drayce (the E takes a long A sound, soft S, rhymes with Face) Jool: Jewl (I think this is my southern heritage coming out, but I undeniably sneak that W in there. I'd tell you it rhymes with Fuel, but then we'd get have to talk about how my "Fuel" is monosyllabic) Laythe: Lathe (monosyllabic, long A, soft TH, rhymes with Bathe) Vall: Vall (short, hard A, rhymes with Pal) Tylo: TY-loe (Long I sound, long O, first syllable rhymes with Pie) Bop: Bop Pol: Pohl (rhymes with Goal) Eeloo: EE-loo (Long E, long U, rhymes with Goo)

As a native southerner, "pin" and "pen" are pronounced the same (both like "pin"). "Ben," "been," and "bin" are all pronounced the same way. "Mayonnaise" has only two syllables (sounds like "Man-ase") There are other notable differences between the way I pronounce things and the way everyone around me (no longer living in the South) does, I don't consider them "strange pronunciations," I just consider these people to be flat-out wrong.

Sounds like "Jules" (the "s" is invisible). Prone to misquoting Leviticus.

To be fair, the word really looks like it wants that umlaut. It wants it so bad.

I see folks on the forum write "Mün" pretty often, but I haven't ever seen it that way in the game. It's always "Mun" there. If it were "Mün", then yes, it would definitely sound like "Moon."

Looks like I'm an outlier here, because I pronounce it "Drayce". Rhymes with "Face". Giving away the fact that I spent about six years studying Latin with that pronunciation... (Edit: And while we're at it, "Mun" rhymes with "Fun", "Laythe" rhymes with "bathe", and I think everything else is pronounced exactly the way it's spelled.)

As an accountant, this made me a little sad finding out that there are people who think we're in the same category of professional dishonesty as politicians (well-deserved) and lawyers (not really well-deserved).

Escape systems are for people who have discovered convenient ways to mount escape systems. Yeah, I originally tried to design the Lancer IV with the Spud design by wrapping fairings around it, but it didn't play nice with my part count. Fortunately, once my long-overdue VAB upgrades are complete, I'll have far more parts to play with and can just coat the whole rocket in fairings. Also, a self-correction which I'm sure everyone already recognized but was too polite to point out: I believe the "Spud" module is actually designed based on the Vostok capsule used by Yuri Gagarin, not the Soyuz spacecraft. The Soyuz-inspired stuff is coming later, but the "Spud" and "Onion" look similar enough to the ignorant eye (i.e. mine) that I balled that up.

Indeed. Unfortunately, I didn't even have time for a screenshot before the crash, which is a shame because it was a spectacular yard-sale of a crash. I didn't mind losing the craft (the plane was not well-made and I didn't benefit that much from recovering it anyway), but since all of my subsequent attempts killed Valâ€â€and since that seemed unfair considering that she'd survived the first oneâ€â€I eventually gave up and just parachuted in. I reckon that's what happens when you have 90-something mods vying for attention.

The only reaction I can have is "At least we have the modding community." As long as they don't do too much to shoot that up... If it ends up being something that overrides or nullifies things like RemoteTech or AntennaRange, though, I might lose my marbles. My attitude with stock changes at this point is basically "Do whatever you want, just don't completely break the fundamental elements of the game, and don't make it impossible for the modding community to change." With maybe a side of "improve the job system," but that seems farfetched.

J-3 Epee  Stepping on the Toes of Giants UT Y1-D123-H4-M15 √189,217 – §105.8– Ʀ41% After the outstanding success of Jeb's flight on Lancer IV, the KSSLTA program director requested that R&D Archwizard Wernher von Kerman begin investigating the arcane secrets of improving both the survivability and the controlability of the program's flights going forward. And after a short Kersday drive around the KSSLTA campus by Engineering Intern Bill Kerman, Valentina was finally allowed onto the runway for the inaugural flight of the J-3 Epee Light Surveyor and, even more momentously, the first modern investigation into the ancient pyramids in the Kerbara desert far to the west. Mission Results Science Recovered: §9.00 Salvage Recovered: √8,203 (98.01%) [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Perform experiments around KSC √13,279  §0  Ʀ2 [*]Science Collected Seismic Scan from VAB  §0.72 Seismic Scan from Administration  §0.72 Materials Study from KSC  §4.32 Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation from KSC  §3.24 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Bill Kerman Research I  For researching 10 RSOUs. The Great Pyramids were determined to lie just over 700km from KSCâ€â€after a quick pre-flight check, J-3 test pilot Valentina Kerman gunned the engines and begin... lumbering down the runway. Despite its name, the J-3 Epee Light Surveyor Plane had a very "heavy" takeoff on account of its low TWR and seemingly poor lift, as the plane required considerable distance before picking up enough speed to actually get airborne. Despite these unexpected issues, however, takeoff was safely achieved, and Val was on her way to the exotic west. After orienting towards the pyramids, Val began her climb to gain altitude for the flight. Here another design problem was recognized, as Val reported that the plane was not operating as it had during testing. The plane was behaving too "front-heavy" and had difficulty maintaining an ascent angle (and nose-direction in general). Furthermore, the plane was traveling only around 130m/s, compared to the over 200m/s that had been observed in earlier tests. The suspected culprit was the addition of several scientific instruments just behind the cockpit that moved the plane's center of mass forward relative to the center of lift, combined with relatively weak pitch authority in the plane's tail. The result was a J-3 that could barely climb and required all of its pitch authority simply to stay level. Nevertheless, Mission Control requested that Val continue the mission as well she could, and to close the valves on all but the forward-most fuel tank in order to drain the "front fuel" first and attempt to rebalance the plane over the course of the flight. At MET 00:23:00, as Val headed out over the western Kerdian Ocean with well over an hour of flight time ahead, the engineers back at Mission Control began speculating that maybe they should have put a fourth engine on the plane, as well.1 A long, dull flight later, at MET 01:08:00, Val was finally just 150km out from the predicted anomaly site. She reported that the region was very hilly and did not appear conducive to a powered landing, but would reevaluate when she was closer to the target. At 50km out, the J-3 Epee began a slow descent. By the time the target was 30km away, confirmation was made that the landing zone appeared not just very uneven, but prone to steep inclines, making a powered landing unlikely. Val performed an initial flyover to judge the landing site, and requested permission to attempt a powered landing in the "sort of flat-looking" zone just to the north of the pyramids. Initially, it appeared that she would be successfulâ€â€the J-3 touched down and began brakingâ€â€but the unevenness of the terrain quickly caught up to the plane. A slight roll caused the right main wing to clip the ground, sending the craft into a self-destructive somersault across the dunes. Explosions and debris flew everywhere. When the dust and sand finally settled, only the Mk1 Inline Cockpit itself remained intact, surrounded by the remains of several science experiments. But Val was alive! The Great Pyramids were at hand! The Ancient Sand Kraken reared its horrible head, and tore a hole through the very fabric of time and space!2 Wait, what? Mission Control promptly denied Val's request, much to her consternation, and instructed her to make a parachute-assisted vertical landing as close to the pyramids as possible. To the surprise of everyone, they discovered after landing that the terrain around the pyramids was not much of a desert at all, despite being covered in sand, unbearably hot, and a drab tan color, but was instead mountainous. Mission Controller Gene Kerman quickly pointed out, however, that the KSSLTA had minimal research conducted on mountainous terrain, and so this was a good an opportunity as any to do so. After taking all the necessary readings from all the necessary instruments, Val was finally able to begin the long trek up to the Plateau of Kerkerkhamunâ€â€as a show of defiance towards Mission Control at disallowing her landing request, Val had obstinately parachuted down nearly 1.2km from the objective site. Unfortunately, the joke was on Val, since she was the one who had to run the whole way uphill. The sight that awaited her was almost as staggering as the first view she had had in space. The ancient Mun-worshippers may not have had the rocketeering chops of the modern Kerpublic, but they were no slouches when it came to working with the stony resources they had at hand, erecting monuments that rivaled even the program director's ego in size and ostentation. Here was evidence that kerbals had already been gazing starwards for milleniniaâ€â€the mission of the KSSLTA was only the latest step in that fascination with reaching, and then monetizing, the endless space above Kerbin. After completing her survey, Val hoofed it back to the plane, swearing the whole way but grateful that there weren't any stairs for her to trip down this time. 27 minutes after landing, Val was back in the cockpit. Due to the J-3's difficulty with quick ascents, and the steep, mountainous cliffs surrounding the basin that the pyramids and landing zone were nestled in, Mission Control determined that a takeoff would be too dangerous. Val instead taxied up to the pyramid plateau ("Why the &^!@ didn't I drive up here in the first place?!") and waited until the following morning for KSSLTA's Magical Automated Recovery Crew to arrive. Mission Timeline Launch Time: UT Y1-D125-H2-M25 Mission Duration: 05:35:17 [*]Mission Objectives Contract  Land and EVA at the site of the Pyramids. Record and recover scientific data during flyover of desert. Record and recover scientific data from surface of desert. Return to KSC alive and intact. [*]Mission Results Science Recovered: §20.10 Salvage Recovered: √15,872 (64.30%) Success  Land and EVA at the site of the Pyramids. Success  Record and recovery scientific data during flyover of desert. Substituted  Record and recovery scientific data from surface of desert mountains. [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Investigate the Pyramids. √21,000 §0  Ʀ5 [*]Science Collected Crew Report while flying over Kerbin's Deserts  §2.52 Atmospheric Pressure Scan while flying over Kerbin's Deserts  §1.26 Temperature Scan while flying over Kerbin's Deserts  §1.26 Crew Report from Kerbin's Mountains  §1.08 Magnetometer Scan from Kerbin's Mountains  §0.90 Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation from Kerbin's Mountains  §3.24 Seismic Scan from Kerbin's Mountains  §0.72 Materials Study from Kerbin's Mountains  §4.32 EVA Report from Kerbin's Mountains  §1.44 EVA Report while flying over Kerbin's Mountains  §3.36 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Valentina Kerman Multiple Missions  For completing five missions Research III Ribbon  For researching 100 RSOUs. EVA Endurance  For continuously spending 20 minutes in EVA. Mission Results Science Recovered: §11.70 Salvage Recovered: √10,555 (98.01%) [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Perform experiments around KSC √11,565  §0  Ʀ2 [*]Science Collected Magnetometer Scan from R&D  §0.90 Materials Study from VAB  §4.32 Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation from SPH  §3.24 Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation from VAB  §3.24 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Bill Kerman None. MRS Radial Controller Panel MRS Reaction Wheel, 0.625m Advanced Inline Stabilizer Probodobodyne OKTO2 Place-Anywhere 7 Linear RCS Port Inline RCS Block Launch Escape System HGR Deluxe Escape Tower Fuel Cell Array Life Support MiniPak (Supplies) Life Support Tank (1.25m) Life Support Tank (2.5m) Life Support Tank (3.75m) Universal Storage Supply Bag Universal Storage Radial Supply Tank Universal Storage Radial Water Tank Universal Storage Radial Oxygen Tank Universal Storage Hydrogen Tank Universal Storage Oxygen Tank Universal Storage Water Tank Universal Storage Alkaline Fuel Cell Mission Results Science Recovered: §0.00 Salvage Recovered: √877 (93%) [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Test TR-2C Stack Separator in flight over Kerbin √14,175  §2  Ʀ6 [*]Science Collected None Crew Decorations Awarded None Between the checks clearing from the completion of Val's mission and several other minor contracts on the one hand, and from advance payments for a number of significant contracts that the program director had begun snatching up on the other, Finance Director Mortimer Kerman finally (if reluctantly) approved renovations to the VAB facility and staff room. The finest massage training was scheduled, the softest couches would adorn the break areas, the tastiest snacks would hang from the vending machines, the vending machines would finally be programmed not to jam at the last moment and dangle the snacks tauntingly out of reach. At long last, the VAB Engineers agreed to work with more than their previous limit of thirty components. Now. Now the KSSLTA could begin dazzling the Kerpublic, and the world, with increasingly impressive shows of scientific achievements and four-color brochures of upcoming vacation opportunities. I hadn't initially intended for this to be entirely about the trip to the pyramids... but it took so long, and the completion of the research and VAB upgrades made a natural cuttoff point, so I decided to chop it off here. That's the last of my current Anomaly Surveyor contracts for the moment, though. Some jobs coming up: Unmanned Powered Kerbin Landing Test Manned Powered Kerbin Landing Test Extended (72-hour) Manned Orbit Design and launch of first-generation ComSat network. I quickly discovered that using 4× physics warp was out of the question, as it caused the plane to behave very erratically and "jump around" in flight. Using 3× physics warp was mostly fine, though. I overshot the landing zone substantially, because the only sort-of-viable area required the J-3 to make a steep descent, followed by a quick pull-up at the bottom in order to land, both of which it was singularly ill-suited for. Despite landing well east of my intended touch-down spot, the plane was doing fine until it rolled slightly on the terrain and the low-hanging wing caught the sands. One spectacular NASCAR-level cartwheeling disaster later, though, it looked like everything would be okayâ€â€the plane had slowed down enough that the cockpit survived, there were a couple of science experiments lying nearby that Val could manually activate, and Val was alive and could walk the rest of the way. And then, before I could save it, the game crashed just as hard as the J-3 had. I made several attempts after that point to recreate my landing (or land in a manner that kept Valentina alive at all), all of which failed because of the plane's abominable pitch handling. I eventually threw my hands up and decided that I wouldn't be able to re-achieve what I had pre-crash, so I just resigned myself to a parachute landing instead.

To be fair, just about anyone does anywhere on this website makes me feel inadequate. When you haven't been further than Minmus since 0.22 and haven't been further than Duna ever, it's not hard to do. Hopefully one day I'll understand how folks are so darn good at this stuff. --- Edit --- That said, I don't mind feeling challenged at allâ€â€and I certainly feel challenged as far as picking up my new program by the bootstraps. But I wouldn't want (and hopefully won't face) the same penny-pinching atmosphere for a well-established program, so I'm actually happy that later contracts are high-paying. My attitude is that once you get through the lean early days of the program, the challenge should be more determined by what the player wants to do (with some guidance from the contracts) and less by "I need to do a handful of asinine parts-testing missions or whatever that I've already done in various forms a dozen times, all so I can fund a mission that's actually interesting."

Pretty safe to say I now feel inadequate (definitely have "No Entry Purchase Required" active...). Hopefully I'll be able to "catch up" by the time I'm further along in the career, though. One day...

Thanks to the recommendation of Kuzzter, I have fixed the darkness of four of the screenshots from the Lancer IV mission and re-uploaded them, so they should now at least be somewhat visible. As far as tech options go: If you count "Start" as Tier Zero, I'm currently in Tier Three, and have 5/8 nodes in that tier researched at §45 a pop. The remaining four are Enhanced Survivability (mostly LES and life support parts), Flight Control (reaction wheels and some primitive RCS), and Aviation (a few wings parts, the Mk1 Cargo Bay, and another tiny jet engine). So if I want, I can pick up two of those right now. My other option is going for a single §90 node from Tier Four. As far as actual candidates go, we've got small propulsion options, heavier propulsion options, Space Exploration (a couple of science experiments, but only one that I can use immediately, and better rover wheels), the earliest docking port, and Electrics (a better omni antenna and some larger solar panel options). My thoughts are grabbing Enhanced Survivability and Flight Control, mostly because those two are required for the next tier of command pods (including the Mk1 Lander Can, and some two-capacity pods). The new omni antenna isn't that much better than what I already have, just more compact. That said, Electrics does have some larger solar panel options, which might come in handy both for starting to set up a near-Kerbin communications array and also for launching a SCANsat altimetry scanner (both of which are current contract options and the first of which needs to happen at some point anyway). On the other hand, Space Exploration's extra experiment might help me get more techs sooner (or might not). So, there's where things stand, tech-wise. I'm leaning towards grabbing the two Tier Three techs to start withâ€â€and hopefully scraping together enough cash to finally upgrade the stinking VAB so I can start launching first-generation ComSats.

If you're rolling in that much money, I want to be doing whatever you're doing... Admittedly, I just completed "Manned Orbit and Recovery," so I have a ways to go, but even so, I have Level 2 upgrades for the launchpad, Astronaut Complex, Tracking Station, and Mission Control... and that's it. Scraping together enough money to upgrade the VAB to Level 2 and still be able to launch rockets is proving challenging. (FYI, I'm also playing on 60% Funds Rewards, but 100% Reputation Rewards, and 100% Penalties across the board). Might just be an issue with how I play the game, but up until reading that post I felt like I was doing pretty well.

I do have Claw's Stock Bug Fix... I don't think it's a "sticky grating" issue, it's a "RoveMax S2 wheels are too small and have no suspension, so they can't actually navigate the grating normally" issue. The wheels aren't stuck to the gratingâ€â€you can move around, just very herky-jerky because of the small height differences. I literally had Bob "carry" the rover off the launchpad (i.e. by running at it until he popped under it, then pushing relentlessly). Historically I do have Kerbin-based rovers use the runway instead of the launchpad... but I'd already designed the Science Kart in the VAB and didn't want to have to redesign it in the SPH. The VAB also has twice the production speed, so it helps push out the mission faster. Which worked fine on the Level 1 launchpad, but caused all kinds of problems on the Level 2 launchpad. Fortunately, I've finally found a way to position the rover in the VAB itself so that it spawns in a corner of the launchpad that's flat and easy to navigate off of. Yeah, I've noticed this every time I load the P-1A on the runway. Fortunately, the plane isn't substantial enough to be destroyed by the bouncing, it just ends up kind of off-center and makes for some occasionally "interesting" takeoff angles.The J-3 Epee doesn't use any fixed landing gear, though, so hopefully it'll be a little more resilient to things like that. I believe that's Ven's Stock Part Revamp, a recommended mod when using SETI-ctt. It also adds some new parts to fill a bunch of "gaps", like the LV-T15 "Dachshund" liquid fuel engine, which both Lancer III and Clervoy I used, as a precursor to the LV-T30 Reliant. I mostly like it (the mod, that is), but there's occasionally weird behavior when combined with other mods (for example, when I installed SpaceY, suddenly the VSPR RT-20 "Sickle" Solid Fuel Booster no longer makes any noise). I'm also not sure how I feel about the darkened Mk1 Command Pod when I'm using it with more "stock-colored" gray fuel tanks. The original design for Lancer IV called for using the HGR 5PUD-N1k "Spud" Command Pod instead, but I ran into part-count problems trying to work around aesthetic issues arising from that design. The "Spud" is inspired by the orbital module for the Soyuz spacecraft, which means it's spherical rather than "gumdrop-shaped" like the descent module is, similar to the (obvious inspiration material) Stayputnik probe core. While you can put a cone parachute on the top of the "Spud" module, it looks ridiculous, so I went with the Mk1 Command Pod instead. Hopefully once I scrape together enough cash to upgrade the VAB and don't have to put up with this absurd 30-part limitation I'll be able to design some crafts using the 5PUD-N1k module that can use radial or in-line chutes to land without looking completely silly. Ah, good thinking. I'm not much of a graphics guy (see above re: flag creation), so that hadn't crossed my mind. When I get home tonight I'll try running them through something (other than MS Paint) to up the brightness and see if it helps, then re-upload them.

Lancer IV  Round and Round We Go UT Y1-D101-H0-M22 √110,909 – §81.4– Ʀ29% Shortly after Valentina's return from KSSLTA's second suborbital manned flight (and first spacewalk), the windfall of RSOUs were delivered to the R&D labs for refining. KSSLTA Chief Wizard Wernher von Kerman announced that the next goal would be something called General Construction (which everyone assumed was related to General Rocketry and, therefore, equally terrifying). The last thing the Kerpublic needed was the invasion of more generals. Wernher assured them that this was a semantic misunderstanding, a reassurance which had absolutely no effect whatsoever. Still, one "tech node" eluded the R&D staff and held back the agency from its true goal: Making enormous piles of money by taking wealthy tourists on orbital spaceflights. In order to pull together enough RSOUs to begin pursuing this objective, more of the field research team's extremely popular bake sales were demanded. Mission Results1 Science Recovered: §9.00 Salvage Recovered: √8,399 (98.01%) [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Perform experiments around KSC √13,535  §0  Ʀ2 [*]Science Collected Telemetry Report from SPH  §0.18 Telemetry Report from R&D  §0.18 Materials Study from Tracking Station  §4.32 Materials Study from Astronaut Complex  §4.32 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Bob Kerman Multiple Missions  For participating in five missions. This finally provided the R&D cabal with enough RSOUs to begin researching Early Command Pods, the last major step before manned orbital flight. Soon kerbals would not only be able to go to space, they would be able to stay there as long as they wanted (provided they brought enough snacks and didn't mind the odor that naturally occurred during periods of prolonged close-quarters confinement). FASA Atlas Launch Clamp FASA Launch Tower AE-FF1 Airstream Protective Shell (1.875m) 1.25m-1.875m Adapter KIS Ground Pylon MRS Decoupler, 2.5m Stack, Low Profile SM-2 Stack Dual Adapter SM-3 Stack Triple Adapter SM-4 Stack Quadruple Adapter SE-4B Stack Quinta-Adapter SE-6B Stack Hexa-Adapter SE-8B Stack Octo-Adapter SE-3 Stack Trilinear Adapter Rockomax Skeletal Structural Adapter Rockomax Skeletal XL Structural Adapter S-MINI Radial Stack Adapter S-MED Radial Stack Adapter Thrust Plate Multi-Adapter Protective Rocket Nose Cone Mk7 TVR-200 Stack Bi-Coupler TVR-1180C Mk1 Stack Tri-Coupler TVR-2160C Mk2 Stack Quad-Coupler TVR-200L Stack Bi-Adapter TVR-300L Stack Tri-Adapter TVR-400L Stack Quad-Adapter FL-A5 Adapter Rockomax Brand Adapter Rockomax Brand Adapter 02 Universal Storage Hexacore Universal Storage KIS Container With the arcane breakthrough of General Construction and the slightly lessened unease felt by all the staff when its arrival did not, in fact, entail another armed invasion, the agency had much more versatile construction options available to it. It had long been a concern of the KSSLTA that the P-1A Papillon scout plane suffered from both low speed and short flight range, with an airtime of just over 40 minutes. The proposed solution was to develop a new model powered by jet turbines. However, the only jet engines available to the agency were too weak to be individually useful, much like the interns. Also like the interns, they could be useful in larger groups provided they were all tied together properly (not a figure of speechâ€â€you should see the interns at work), and the new adapters would allow designs to make use of "engine clusters" as compensation for their individual weakness. Another incentive to developing a longer-ranged atmospheric flight option was KSSLTA's old business partner, Anomaly Surveyor Group. After the success with reconnoitering the island airfield, ASG had been attempting to get the agency to investigate reports of ancient kerbal-made pyramids in the great Kerbara Desert, far to the west. The P-1A Papillon would never have been able to make such a long flight, so the agency had been unable to accommodate ASGâ€â€but it was hoped that a newly designed jet would not only be able to satisfy the contract, but also fill in some of the rather large scientific data gaps KSSLTA had with regards to the desert regions. Construction Mk1 Inline Cockpit Circular Intake Telus Mobility Enhancer Universal Storage Quadcore Universal Storage Magnetometer Bay Universal Storage SC-9001 Science Jr. Bay Universal Storage Mystery Gooâ„¢ Containment Bay Universal Storage Science Bay 2HOT Thermometer PresMat Barometer Double-C Seismic Accelerometer (3x) Mk1 Liquid Fuel Fuselage (2x) Swept Wings, 140% Scale (2x) Elevon 2 Small Delta Wing Elevon 1 (2x) AV-R8 Winglet SM-3 Stack Triple Adapter (3x) LFI Basic Jet Engine, Small (3x) LY-10 Small Landing Gear RealChute Radial Chute (Kevlar, Triple, Main)2 [*]Engineer's Report Total on the Runway Length: 9.4m Width: 12.4m Weight: 10,878kg (6,000kg Liquid Fuel) Delta-V (Surface): 75,500m/s Flight Time at 100% Throttle: 2 hours, 23 minutes. [*]Construction Time: 13d, 3h, 26m (131,918.42 BP at 0.45 BP/s) [*]Construction Cost: √24,685 Mission Results1 Science Recovered: §2.88 Salvage Recovered: √7,811 (98.00%) [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Perform experiments around KSC √13,018  §0  Ʀ2 [*]Science Collected Magnetometer Scan from VAB  §0.90 Magnetometer Scan from SPH  §0.90 Temperature Scan from Mission Control  §0.54 Temperature Scan from R&D  §0.54 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Bob Kerman None. HGR 5PUD-N1k "Spud" Command Pod Kerlington Mk1 Command Pod Heat Shield (1.25m) At last, the Kerpublican Space, Science, and Luxury Travel Agency had the components it needed to truly begin branching out into the space travel and tourism field, with crew capsules capable (at least theoretically) of extended space flight, not these nancy suborbital softballs. A proposal was made to begin work on a new, consistent design to begin serving as the lifter for a variety of future orbital missionsâ€â€the first test of which would seek to make Jebediah Kerman the first kerbal to orbit our planet. That proposal was scrapped in favor of just hurrying up and getting into orbit already, and dealing with things like "consistency" later. Besides, the agency had these newer, bigger engines and tanks to try out! Construction Timeline Construction Started: UT Y1-D111-H1-M25 Construction Completed: UT Y1-D122-H4-M34 Launch Time: UT Y1-D123-H2-M40 [*]Mission Objectives Launch a kerbal into an orbit around Kerbin, and return him safely. Contract - Conduct an orbital survey of Kerbin. Return or transmit Mystery Gooâ„¢ data from high orbit above Kerbin. Return or transmit Orbital Telescope Observations data from high orbit above Kerbin. Return or transmit Magnetometer Scan data from high orbit above Kerbin. [*]Return crew and EVA report from high orbit above Kerbin. [*]Return Materials Bay observations from high orbit above Kerbin. [*]Recover the craft and crew intact. [*]Construction Command Stage Mk1 Command Pod RealChute Cone Chute Universal Storage QuadCore Universal Storage Magnetometer Boom Bay Universal Storage Orbital Telescope Bay Universal Storage Mystery Gooâ„¢ Bay Universal Storage SC-9001 Science Jr. Bay Heat Shield (1.25m) [*]Second Stage TR-18A Stack Decoupler FL-T400 Fuel Tank LV-909 "Terrier" Liquid Fuel Engine3 [*]First Stage TR-18A Stack Decoupler 1.25-1.875m Fuel Tank H-3200 "Long Walk" Fuel Tank HGR FG-90 Liquid Fuel Engine4 (2x) TT-38K Radial Decoupler (2x) SpaceY 05S SRB (2x) RealChute Cone Chute (2x) RealChute Radial Chute [*]Launch Support (2x) TT18-A Launch Stability Enhancer FASA Launch Tower [*]Engineer's Report Total on the Launchpad Part Count: 30 Height: 20.4m Mass: 30,357kg (3,000kg solid fuel; 10,587kg oxidier; 8,662kg liquid fuel) Delta-V (Surface): 3,497/s [*]Command Stage Part Count: 8 Mass: 1,444kg [*]Second Stage Part Count: 3 Mass: 2,850kg (1,100kg oxidizer, 900kg liquid fuel) TWR (Vacuum): 1.42 Delta-V (Vacuum): 2,121m/s [*]First Stage Part Count: 17 Mass: 26,063kg (3,000kg solid fuel; 9,487kg oxidier; 7,762kg liquid fuel) TWR (Surface): 1.52 Delta-V (Surface): 2,974m/s [*]Construction Time: 11d, 3h, 10m (224,123 BP at 0.90 BP/s) [*]Construction Cost: √36,450 [*]Crew Test Pilot Jebediah Kerman Although the J-3 Epee Light Surveyor Plane completed construction at UT Y1-D122-H3-M10, this was less than an hour and a half before the anticipated completion of the Lancer IV, and all focus was being devoted to that mission for the time being. Valentina, already miffed at being left out of the first crewed orbital flight, nearly resigned in a huff at her long-distance surveillance mission being put on the back burner and was ready to walk out of the program altogether. Thankfully, Mission Controller Gene Kerman talked her down with prolific use of snacks and an assurance that she would take off as soon as Jeb was back on the ground. Launch occurred at UT Y1-123-H2-M40 in the evening. Jebediah executed the usual vertical lift to 100m/s before beginning his turn to the east. For unknown reasons, significant bearing correction was required in order to avoid traveling at a 75º heading instead of 90º (speculation in Mission Control was that Jeb had unstrapped himself and gotten his suit stuck on the controls). Nevertheless, the crafted ended up at between 87-89º, which was deemed acceptable Booster separation at MET 00:00:40 was uneventful. Unlike the Lancer III, this new design had no trouble with a natural gravity turn and minimal SAS was necessary until around 30km, at which point Jeb took over to steer the ship down from 20º ascent towards the horizon. Lifter burnout occurred at MET 00:02:22, but separation was not made until leaving the atmosphere at MET 00:03:43, by which point Lancer IV was on course for an apokee of just over 169km. After separation, the ship continued along its path and Mission Control relayed a maneuver plan for achieving orbit. Mission Controller Gene Kerman took this opportunity to explicitly prohibit Jeb from going on EVA until after the orbital burn was completed in order to ensure all went according to plan. Test Pilot Jebediah Kerman took this opportunity to disregard Mission Control, going on EVA approximately four and a half minutes before the orbital maneuver node in order to collect data from the craft's orbital telescope and/or to par-tay. Whatever Jeb's reasons, he was back in the command capsule with three and a half minutes to go before the maneuver, and Gene Kerman was eventually revived with some smelling salts and a cold cloth. The orbital burn began at MET 00:11:35, with Jeb firing the LV-909 "Terrier" at 50% throttle for about 22 seconds, a maneuver of just under 170m/s, resulting in a beautiful orbit of 169.3km by 170.7km. Jeb's task was not complete, however, as the next maneuver was planned to push the craft into "high orbit". Jeb was instructed to complete one (and only one!) full orbit, then burn at the periapsis to raise his apoapsis up to 300km, requiring only 81m/s. As there was a delay of half an hour before the maneuver was scheduled, Jeb continued drafting crew reports and collecting orbital telescope survey data as the Lancer IV rushed around Kerbin. The orbital raise burn was executed at MET 00:45:25, and Jeb entered "high space" at MET 00:57:01, promptly fulfilling the requirements of the agency's orbital survey contract and performing other important data collection. Once all the work was done, Jeb made a final EVA to collect the remaining data, stowed all vulnerable instruments, and awaited Mission Control's instructions for atmospheric reentryâ€â€a burn of about 96m/s that would result in an estimated landing in the ocean northeast of the KSSLTA resort campus. Atmospheric reentry occurred at MET 01:21:53, at which point the command stage separated from the orbital stage to descend on its ownâ€â€however, the force of this separation caused a disparity in the landing projection, as Lancer IV was now expected to land in the hills on the western side of the Kerfrican continent. The new heat shield, while suffering virtually no heating effects, did an excellent job of keeping the module properly oriented throughout descent without the need for manual control. The capsule eventually landed in the highlands west of the Kerpyrenees, but due to landing on the side of a hill, rolled most of the way to the bottom before finally coming to a rest. Recovery was made at MET 01:33:00. Cleaning the interior of Jeb's snacks, which returned with a vengeance during the roll, is ongoing. Mission Timeline Launch Time: UT Y1-D123-H2-M40 Mission Duration: 01:33:00 [*]Mission Results Science Recovered: §75.70 Salvage Recovered: √20,396 (55.96%) Success  Launch a kerbal into an orbit around Kerbin, and return him safely. Success  Conduct an orbital survey of Kerbin. Success  Return crew and EVA report from high orbit above Kerbin. Success  Return Materials Bay observations from high orbit above Kerbin. Success  Recover the craft and crew intact. [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Manned Orbit and safe return! √54,000  §14  Ʀ100 [*]Complete  Conduct an orbital survey of Kerbin. √30,316  §2  Ʀ6Partial  Field Research: Materials study experiments on Kerbin. Materials Study from Kerbin while high in space √5,828  §0  Ʀ0 [*]Science Collected Orbital Telescope Observations from space just above Kerbin's Highlands  §3.60 Orbital Telescope Observations from space just above Kerbin's Grasslands  §3.60 Orbital Telescope Observations from space just above Kerbin's Mountains  §3.60 Orbital Telescope Observations from space just above Kerbin's Deserts  §3.60 Orbital Telescope Observations while in space high over Kerbin  §5.40 Crew Report while in space high over Kerbin §5.40 Crew Report from space just above Kerbin's Highlands  §3.60 Crew Report from space just above Kerbin's Mountains  §3.60 Crew Report from space just above Kerbin's Deserts  §3.60 Materials Study while in space high over Kerbin  §21.60 Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation while in space high over Kerbin  §16.20 Magnetometer Scan while in space high over Kerbin  §4.50 Recovery of a vessel returned from Kerbin orbit  §1.00 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Jebediah Kerman Research III  For researching 100 science points. Mach III  For flying horizontally at mach 3 below 30km in Kerbin atmosphere. Kerbin EVA  For going on EVA in zero atmosphere around Kerbin. First Kerbin Orbit  For being the first kerbal orbiting around Kerbin. First Kerbin Orbital EVA  For being first kerbal on EVA in a stable orbit around Kerbin. Dangerous EVA  For executing EVA while not in a stable orbit. A few additional points I want to make that don't fit in the footnotes below. If you're looking at the first album picture above and thinking "Hey, that's not the Jeb I remember from Lancer I" or "Walker, did you give Jeb totally sweet mutton chops?", then you are right on both counts. All of the Big Four have had changes made in the facial department, and all four have been changed so that their "flight suits" are orange. Since Val is due up shortly for a[n attempted] flight to the Pyramids and back, you should get to see her soon. I plan to give the Big Four orange EVA suits as well, as soon as I actually remember to do so. The in-flight screenshots were a lot brighter when I took themâ€â€not sure why they show up so dark now. My apologies, as they looked a lot better last night when I was F1-mashing. I love science. Science is the best. The KSSLTA now has about §101 in the tank as a result of Jeb's outstanding orbital mission. I was going to use this line to lay out some of my options in terms of where next to invest that science, but like an idiot I closed the game before I got details from the tech tree. Since it takes about 10 minutes for me to load the game, and I need to leave right now for work, I'll have to make another post this evening about it. Ever since upgrading the launchpad, can I just say, holy geezum crow. What a pain in the butt it is to use the launchpad for Kerbin rover launches like the KSC Science Kart. The "grill" in the center of the launchpad is impossible for the RoveMax S2 wheels to navigate, so you're stuck in it indefinitely (and will inevitably break a couple of wheels trying to get out). Then I tried starting the cart "off-center" (like I accidentally did with the original test lander) and inadvertently dropped it into the central chasm between the launchpad and the crawlerway. Third time's a charm, though, and I finally got it off-set so it isn't in the grill *or* the inescapable canyon. Then I drove into the canyon anyway. but the fourth time! Fourth time we got it right! Then I broke a wheel on a shallow incline. But the fifth time! Good lord. This is why flight reverting is allowed in this career. I'm not the most skilled pilot even under optimal conditions, and I've never been to the Pyramids before and don't know what the landing situation there is. Between that, and the possibility that the J-3 Epee Light Surveyor Plane might not have enough fuel to get back to KSC after reaching the Pyramids, a strong parachute was added as a safety precaution. Better to recover a whole plane a long way from KSC than to recover none of a plane and a potentially dead pilot. Unfortunately, no recovery chutes on this stage. I was right up on the 30-part limit, and while I could have ditched the TT18-A Launch Stabilizers, I didn't want for for aesthetic reasons. This is the first-available 1.875m engine. I like it, but it has its pros and cons. It's fairly cheap at √1,425, fairly light at 2.0 tons, fairly efficient at both sea level and in a vacuum, and has 2.5º of gimbal along with a fairly short profile. However, it's also not a legitimate first-stage lifting engineâ€â€its 320kN of sea-level thrust is just barely more than twice that of the LV-T30 Reliant... but for tanks of the same height, the 1.875m engine is going to be trying to lift about 3.4 times more weight. The result is an engine that needs booster support just to get going... but once it's rolling along, it can carry you for a while. Fortunately, the Lancer IV is a pretty light payload (Command Stage is just under 1,500kg) and isn't going very far (high space), so I can get away with light boosters on this launch. For future, heavier-duty launches, it'll be time to break out the fun stuff.

Glad to hear it! I agree, the Mk1 Inline Cockpit definitely gives them a different and characteristic lookâ€â€in my mind, it's representative of the transition from atmospheric flight to short-term spaceflight. That said, I refused to orbit Kerbin until I have access to "real" space capsules. Even though the Mk1 Inline Cockpit is perfectly capable of serving as the command module for any space flight, from a "roleplaying" perspective I'm trying to avoid having it fill the role because it just seems a bit "wrong" to me. That I've been using it in the Lancer flight series is mostly out of necessity, as the KSSLTA hasn't unlocked any "real" space capsules yet. But they're coming! The R&D sorcerers have one more technology that's higher on their priority list (General Construction, which has a ton of adapters and "stack splitters" that I really want for a lot of different reasons that you should get to see in the next update, as well as handy the Universal Storage Hexacore), but after that they'll finally hit Early Command Modules and we can start sending Jeb into orbit. One of these days we might start with the tourists, as well. Finance Director Mortimer Kerman is almost literally dying for the money.

Lancer III  One Step Back, One Spacewalk Forward UT Y1-D72-H1-M19 √94,313 – §38.6– Ʀ25% At this point, it was becoming apparent (judging by the constant weeping of the KSSLTA's finance director during managerial meetings) that the primary constraint on the program's advancement was its bank account, as this was preventing the organization from making additional renovations to the facilities. While the tracking station, launchpad, and mission control had been improved to accomodate the "next generation of space exploration," the VAB was so outdated and bereft of basic amenities like massage parlours that the engineers refused to handle more than thirty parts at a time. As had been demonstrated during the suborbital Lancer II flight, the Astronaut Complex training grounds and equipment storage were also in need of upgrades if kerbonauts on future flights were to be able to safely perform EVAs. Although the marketing director pushed for bigger, bolder, and shinier missions to awe the press and woo resort guests, the financial demands carried the day, and the agency spent a considerable amount of time fulfilling minor, relatively simple contracts in order to pad the bank account and scrape together enough RSOUs to entice the wizards and witches back into the R&D Labs instead of allowing them to continue terrorizing beachgoers with their speedos. Complete  Test SpaceY 09S SRB (0.625m × 9m) at the Launch Site √3,245  §1  Ʀ1 [*]Complete  Test TT-38K Radial Decoupler landed at Kerbin √2,835  §1  Ʀ1Complete  Test RT-2 "Grasshopper" Solid Rocket Booster at the Launch Site √2,700  §1  Ʀ1 [*]Complete  Test TR-8A Stack Decoupler at the Launch Site √2,646  §1  Ʀ1 Mission Results Science Recovered: §12.18 Salvage Recovered: √7,615 (98.01%) [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Perform experiments around KSC √13,153  §0  Ʀ2 [*]Science Collected EVA Report while "flying" over Kerbin's Shores  §3.36 EVA Report from Vehicle Assembly Building  §1.44 EVA Report from Administration  §1.44 Magnetometer Scan from Administration  §0.90 Seismic Scan from Tracking Station  §0.72 Temperature Scan from Tracking Station  §0.54 Temperature Scan from KSC  §0.54 Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation from Administration  §3.24 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Bob Kerman None The RSOUs collected by Bob's outing in the Science Kart were able to lure the R&D staff back to their desks, and they began working the spells that would greatly expand the agency's fuel tank options. Continued howling from the marketing director prompted the agency to begin considering the next "big steps." In order to probe the murky depths of space around Kerbin, it would ultimately be necessary to establish a basic communications network so that future craft would not have to suffer continuous comms blackouts (and also because the Kerpublican Department of Media Relations was willing to pay a substantial sum upon completion of the contract). However, such launches would not be cheap. Perhaps overly ambitious, the science director suggested that the agency drum up some hype and conduct some useful tests of its own at the same time by designing a test craft for a powered landing on Kerbin itself, as a purported prelude to doing the same on the Mun (which was widely speculated to lack the soft, gentle atmosphere of Kerbin that made parachutes work). Everyone agreed that this should not only be simple to accomplish, but would also be a useful "trial run" and could use the opportunity to collect some low-atmospheric flight data for the R&D team. As such, work was begun on the test landing craft at UT Y1-D75-H5-M25, and simultaneously a summer intern working under the program director snuck into the finance office and stole the paperwork necessary to authorize renovations on the Astronaut Complex. Finance Director Mortimer Kerman was in the hospital for a week as a result of his ensuing heart attack. H-400 1.875m Fuel Tank H-800 1.875m Fuel Tank H-1600 1.875m Fuel Tank H-3200 "Long Walk" Fuel Tank 1.25m - 1.875m Adapter Fuel Tank 1.875m Nose Cone Fuel Tank 1.875m Sloped Nose Cone Fuel Tank Radial Booster Tank FL-R10 RCS Fuel Tank Stratus-I Roundified Monopropellant Tank Stratus-V Roundified Monopropellant Tank Stratus-VI Roundified Liquid Fuel Tank Stratus-VI Roundified LFO Tank Stratus-VI Cylindrified Liquid Fuel Tank Stratus-VI Cylindrified LFO Tank Universal Storage LF10 Fuel Tank Universal Storage M30 Monopropellant Tank Unfortunately, VAB engineers in protest at the preference being shown to the astronaut complex upgrades, threw the craft for the powered landing test off the launchpad. The seasonal interns responsible for the launchpad were forced to remove it and spend a day and a half buffing all the scratches off before it could be retested. Even more unfortunately, it was discovered upon the second launch attempt that the engineer responsible for the design had failed to carry several zeros and then gone on a month-long vacation, and that the original design had a TWR of only 0.61. This lander was not going to get off the launchpad today. Not one to refuse making lemon pie out of lemons (or whatever the ridiculous Murikan saying was), the program director ordered the craft to scrape some RSOUs off the launchpad with its onboard science experiments so that the mission would have at least one element that wasn't an utter embarrassment.1 Mission Timeline Launch Time: UT Y1-D90-H5-M49 Mission Duration: 00:10 [*]Mission Objectives Perform a powered landing (no aerodynamic or parachute parts) after reaching an altitude of 500m Record and recover materials bay and mystery goo data during flight. [*]Mission Results Science Recovered: §7.56 Salvage Recovered: √18,415 (100%) Failure  Perform a powered landing after reaching an altitude of 500m. Failure  Record and recover materials bay and Mystery Gooâ„¢ data during flight. [*]Science Collected Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation from Launchpad  §3.24 Materials Study from Launchpad  §4.32 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded None Following the utter failure and carelessness surrounding the attempted powered landing test, the program director decided to refocus on Kerbin's space for the next missionâ€â€a redesign of the test lander was not feasible, as the only engine the program had access to with a short enough profile to be useful for a lander was the LV-909 Terrier that had been used in the failed test and proven woefully underpowered for Kerbin's gravity. With the upgrades to the Astronaut Complex having allowed the program to provide kerbonauts with the training and equipment necessary for safe EVA excursions during missions, and needing to make a bold step forward to recover from the test lander debacle, a much more ambitious project would have to be undertaken. Instead, the program director decided on a second manned suborbital space flight ("Why leave our comfort zone?")â€â€the program lacked any appropriate command capsules for extended crewed flights, but would use the Mk1 Inline Cockpit to send a second kerbal to space, field test the new EVA equipment as well as recently available scientific experiments, and complete a pair of lingering parts contracts requiring actually leaving the launchpad. Mission Results Science Recovered: §6.30 Salvage Recovered: √7,615 (98.01%) [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Perform experiments around KSC √12,175  §0  Ʀ2 [*]Science Collected Probe Report from the VAB  §0.18 Temperature Scan from the VAB  §0.54 EVA Report from Tracking Station  §1.44 Magnetometer Scan from Tracking Station  §0.90 Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation from Tracking Station  §3.24 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Bob Kerman None Construction Timeline Construction Started: UT Y1-D91-H3-M46 Construction Completed: UT Y1-D100-H2-M21 Launch Time: UT Y1-D100-H6-M0 [*]Mission Objectives Conduct Materials Study from upper atmosphere above Kerbin. Conduct Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation from upper atmosphere above Kerbin. Test new DMagic Orbital Telescope above at least one biome. Test EVA capabilities and file report. Contract - Test FASA Launch Tower at Launchpad. Contract - Test SnubOtron separators in flight above Kerbin. Recover all jettisoned parts. Recover the craft and crew intact. [*]Construction Command Stage Mk1 Inline Cockpit RealChute Cone Chute (Nylon, Single, Main) Universal Storage QuadCore (2x) Universal Storage SC-9001 Science Jr. Material Bay Universal Storage Mystery Gooâ„¢ Bay Universal Storage Orbital Telescope Bay (2x) SnubOtron Separators (Test) [*]First Stage (2x) TL-T800 Liquid Fuel Tank LV-T15 "Dashchund" Liquid Fuel Engine (2x) SpaceY 06R Radial SRB (0.625m × 6m) (30% thrust limiter) (2x) MRS Decoupler, Radial Mini TR-18A Stack Decoupler (4x) RealChute Radial Chute (Silk, Single, Main) (4x) AV-T1 Winglet [*]Launch Supports FASA Launch Tower (Test) [*]Engineer's Report Total on the Launchpad Part Count: 26 Height: 18.4m Mass: 16,121kg (3,360kg solid fuel; 4,400kg oxidier; 3,600kg liquid fuel) Delta-V (Surface): 3,098/s [*]Command Stage Part Count: 9 Mass: 1,503kg [*]First Stage Part Count: 16 Mass: 14,618kg (3,360kg solid fuel; 4,400kg oxidier; 3,600kg liquid fuel) TWR: 1.64 Delta-V: 3,098m/s [*]Construction Time: 8d, 4h, 54m [*]Construction Cost: √32,336 [*]Crew Test Pilot Valentina Kerman Although Val started out following the usual ascent profile, she was quickly forced to rely on manual steering rather than natural gravity due to the craft's tendency to "nose up" for unknown reasons. Despite this minor inconvenience (which Val complained about for the entire ascent), the launch did not encounter any legitimate problems. At MET 03:50, Val executed the SnubOtron contracted parts test while flying towards the upper atmosphere. Booster separation occurred at MET 04:40, and primary engine burnout at MET 04:32. Lancer III entered space shortly thereafter, and at MET 05:10, Valentina Kerman stepped out of her cockpit and into history as the first kerbal to walk in space! Or rather, float aimlessly in space. Fortunately, the new EVA-capable suits had been equipped with very small monopropellant thrusters, and Val was able to return to the cockpit without any trouble, which finally shut her up about the steering issue. Having been somewhat overpowered for its mission, Lancer III reached an apokee of 233.7km at MET 10:52. Val separated from the lifter at MET 11:25 and prepared for descent, reentering the atmosphere at MET 16:52. Descent through the atmosphere presented no problems, and landing was normal. Mission Timeline Launch Time: UT Y1-D100-H6-M0 Mission Duration: 00:21:43 [*]Mission Results Science Recovered: §49.16 Salvage Recovered: √15,495 (47.92%) Success  Conduct Materials Study from upper atmosphere above Kerbin. Success  Conduct Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation from upper atmosphere above Kerbin. Success  Test new DMagic Orbital Telescope above at least one biome. Success  Test EVA capabilities and file report Success  Recover all jettisoned parts. Success  Recover the craft and crew intact. [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Test SnubOtron in flight over Kerbin. √16,875  §2  Ʀ8 [*]Complete  Test FASA Launch Tower at the Launch Site. √2,835  §1  Ʀ1Complete  Kerbin Powered Landing!2 √11,250  §2  Ʀ10 [*]Science Collected Orbital Telescope Observations from space just above Kerbin's Water  §3.60 Orbital Telescope Observations from space just above Kerbin's Shores  §3.60 Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation from Kerbin's upper atmosphere  §9.72 EVA Report while in space near Kerbin  §4.80 Crew Report from space just above Kerbin's Shores  §3.60 Crew Report from space just above Kerbin's Grasslands  §3.60 Materials Study while flying at Kerbin  §10.08 Materials Study from Kerbin's upper atmosphere  §12.96 Recovery of a vessel after a sub-orbital flight  §0.80 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Valentina Kerman Research II  For researching 50 science points. Splashdown  For a splashdown of a vessel in water. G-Force VI  For withstanding an acceleration of at least 6g for three seconds. Mach III  For flying horizontally at mach 3 below 30km in Kerbin atmosphere. First Kerbin EVA  For being the first kerbal on EVA in zero atmosphere around Kerbin. First EVA in Space  For being the first kerbal on EVA in space. Dangerous EVA  For executing EVA while not in a stable orbit. Multiple Contracts  For completion of five or more contracts. Although Lancer III was a resounding success, the "overbuilt" nature of the rocket had led to excessive and unnecessary expenses to recover the craft and crew upon landing, significantly reducing the financial benefit of recovery. At the behest of the resort's finance manager, the program director issued a standing "suggestion" that future missions please try to aim for landing closer to KSC, as distant landings were making the recovery team depressed and causing them to demand excessive amounts of overtime pay and subsequent paid leave. I tried to fit the Powered Landing Test in with the "minor mission" format, but this resulted in me not paying much attention to the engineering report. Didn't notice that the craft had a TWR<1 until the second launch attempt. Whoops. Okay, so. SETI-Contracts replaces the early stock contracts with different early contracts that are more interesting than "Go X fast!" One of them amounts to "In preparation for a munar landing, do a test powered landing on Kerbin." The intention of the contract is "Get up to 500m, then land without parachutes or aero parts." As I inadvertantly discovered while parachuting down to the ocean, however, the way the contract is written, it only bans stock parachutes. Since I'm using RealChutes, I still met all the criteria and accidentally completed the contract. Whoops. The good news is that that's already on Yemo's radar and is on track to get fixed soon. The other good news (as far as this mission report is concerned) is that I'm still going to perform the Powered Landing contract in spirit as soon as I have the means to, since 1) I think it's a great "shows the growth of a space program" short contract and 2) Getting the rewards without doing the work feels cheap, so I'm going to do the work anyway.

Awesome, I'll keep an eye out for the final release of Nertea's MarkIV stuff. Thank you! Just accidentally confirmed the RealChutes/Powered Landing bug while landing my second manned suborbital flight, so I'm glad that's on the fix list. I'll still perform the powered landing test for my Mission Report regardless, since I already tried it once (and failed because I didn't pay attention to TWR) and skipping it entirely, especially this way, feels cheap. Plus I have to show the growth of a space program, not the shortcuts of a space program.

I have two suspicions here: Are you using RealChute? And where did you originally land? I noticed last night when I was about to attempt the Powered Landing contract that the stipulations of the contract only prohibit the stock parachutes specifically, rather than prohibiting all parachutes. If you landed from your manned spaceflight using a RealChute, it might have "counted" the contract. Alternatively, if you landed on a high-altitude terrain, I wonder if the contract checks altitude above sea level rather than altitude above ground. If so, then an kerbal jumping in the Highlands would satisfy all of the contract requirements by himself.

I'm curious, you must have a few that I don't have anything in. What parts/mods do you have under these? High Efficiency Nuclear Propulsion Aerospace Tech Experimental Aircraft Engines Aerospace Composites Advanced Motors Automation Advanced Heat Management Specialized Radiators

Glad you enjoy them! Not all of my screenshots end up being decent (I don't use a video recording system so it's basically just trying to hit F1 at opportune times while also flying the damn craft), but every once in a while I hit a couple of good ones. I particularly liked that picture of the Lancer II ascent myself. Clervoy I didn't really have any good ones (although it was salvaged a bit by that flight to the mountains that Val ran early in the report), but hopefully for the next report I'll get another couple of nice ones. I'll be curious to hear how that goes, particularly in SETI. If I may be so needy, once you get started, would you mind doing the occasional mission report for it? I looked at New Horizons when I was assembling my monstrous mod list, but ended up settling on Outer Planets insteadâ€â€I'm too much of a stick in the mud for something as radical as "Kerbin as a mun around a gas giant." But I'd love to hear how your game goes and if you're able to set up the SETI contracts to accommodate it. Fortunately, since Outer Planets is a bit more conservative in its planetary arrangement, I have a while before I need to worry about modifying the SETI Contracts structure to integrate Sarnus, Urlum, Neidon, Plock, and their moons, so I can stick with SETI-as-is until then.

Great find. Adding this now. (Only ten more and my /GameData/ folder with have 100 subfolders!) Very good point, that does help a lot with eliminating some of the more annoying elements of the Mystery Goo and Materials Bay experiments. I suspect that the changes to their "collectability" will ultimately be fine. As you say, it's just a matter of getting use to the differences from what I was doing in stock. For those interested, the Kerpublican Space, Science, and Luxury Travel Agency has finally reached orbit for the first time! Hopefully we can soon set up a communications array and really start taking SETI to interesting places.

Clervoy I  Trying to Hit the Ground and Missing UT Y1-D47-H0-M18 √83,953 – §55.9– Ʀ12% Jebediah was able to return the largest bounty of RSOU in KSSLTA's history from his short jaunt into space, and this windfall was quickly invested with the R&D team in an effort to find ways to extract even more RSOUs from future missions. Court Wizard Wernher von Kerman assured the program director that a mystical tech node called "Basic Science" would serve this role perfectly, and would also offer a great number of additional benefits to the program going forward. This investment also persuaded the KCT Union to provide an additional upgrade point, which went to the engineering team in the spaceplane hangar in recognition of their work behind the scenes on the mission to the island airfield.1 Mission Controller Gene Kerman had received a number of contract offers, and while the VAB team was working to prepare a "non-live" parts test for several major manufacturers, Kerbal Motion LLC had provided the agency with its own version of the 2HOT Thermometer and requested that it be tested at a particular site for calibration purposes. Since the site in question was fewer than 40km from the KSSLTA complex, this was a perfect opportunity to test the engineering tweaks made to the P-1A "Papillon", and work began on preparing the plane for its second missionâ€â€not only was the thermometer to be tested added to the top of the fuselage, but the roll authority elevons were moved closer to the center of the plane in order to improve its stability, and two under-wing Mystery Gooâ„¢ Containment Units were attached in order to take advantage of the flight and collect more RSOUs for the R&D team. The plane would need about six and a half days to prepare for the flight, largely due to these new Mystery Gooâ„¢ units. While awaiting the P-1A's readiness, the program director used most of the agency's funds to begin construction on a more robust launchpad capable of accommodating heavier crafts. Although the KSSLTA had not encountered any issues yet, it was clear that as they sought to press further into space, the current arrangement of "launching from a small hill of dirt" would be inadequate to accommodate the larger rockets such missions would require. Although this job drained the coffers, these were quickly replenished (in small part) by the completion of several small parts tests, which combined to earn the agency just over √14,000. Complete  Test TT18-A Launch Stability Enhancer at the Launch Site √2,835  §1  Ʀ1 [*]Complete  Test TT-38K Radial Decoupler landed at Kerbin √2,835  §1  Ʀ1Complete  Test RT-2 "Grasshopper" Solid Rocket Booster at the Launch Site √2,700  §1  Ʀ1 [*]Complete  Test MRS Liquid Fuel Engine, 0.625m "Sparkler" landed at Kerbin √2,949  §1  Ʀ1Complete  Test Launch Escape System landed at Kerbin √2,700  §1  Ʀ1 Following these successful tests, another Field Research Team baked goods and wine sale was held to finance additional studies around the resort grounds, and so work began to prepare the KSA Science Kart Mk.1 for another outing. Due to an unofficially "scheduled" work stoppage, this would require just over three days. While the VAB team was busy not working on the KSA Science Kart, the SPH team completed refurbishing the P-1A "Papillon", and Valentina took off at UT Y1-D53-H4-M55. The target site was about 38km SSW of the KSSLTA grounds, requiring about seven minutes of flight each way. Val arrived at the site without issue, performed the contracted temperature recording, and returned to KSC, opting for a return flight over land and an approach to the runway from the west. While the relocated roll elevons performed as expected, it was noted prior to takeoff that the rear landing gear had been configured to steer in the opposite direction as desired. While this was resolved on the runway, a note was made for the engineers to permanently fix the issue for future missions. Mission Results Science Recovered: §14.40 Salvage Recovered: √12,226 (96.77%) Success  Recover two Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observations. Success  Perform temperature scan in low-altitude flight at site Area JD-WJ. [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Measure the temperature in flight below 16,900 meters near Areae JD-WJ. √12,450  §0  Ʀ2 [*]Science Collected Temperature Scan from the Runway  §0.54 Temperature Scan from the Spaceplane Hangar  §0.54 Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation from the Runway  §3.24 Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation while flying at Kerbin  §7.56 Crew Report while flying over Kerbin's Grasslands  §2.52 Shortly after return, the Space Exploration & Technology Institute presented a contract making a similar request, but requiring an atmospheric pressure scan rather than a temperature reading, so no sooner had Valentina returned to the resort than work began preparing the P-1A "Papillon" for another outing, although it would not be ready for several days. The following evening, the Science Kart was ready for its work, and Engineering Minion Bill Kerman was given the wheel. Bill was immediately grateful for the original inclusion of headlights in the design, since it was well after dusk when he climbed into the seat. Mission Results Science Recovered: §5.76 Salvage Recovered: √7,468 (98.01%) [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Perform experiments around KSC √14,586  §0  Ʀ2 [*]Science Collected Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation from Mission Control  §3.24 Probe Report from the Tracking Station  §0.18 Probe Report from R&D  §0.18 Seismic Scan from R&D  §0.72 EVA Report from R&D  §1.44 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Bill Kerman Engineer Service Ribbon  For completion of a single mission as an engineer Kerbin Rover Drive Ribbon  For moving a vehicle on the surface of Kerbin Footnote!2 While awaiting the completion of the Basic Science research, Field Science Intern Bob Kerman conducted another short drive around the resort grounds at the behest of the Field Research Team, and Test Pilot Valentina Kerman made her third flight in the P-1A "Papillon" to perform an atmospheric pressure scan for the Space Exploration & Technology Institute. Since Val had plenty of fuel to spare, Mission Control requested that she also perform a flyover of the nearby mountains in order to obtain scientific data readings there. Mission Timeline Launch Time: UT Y1-D56-H2-M53 Mission Duration: 05:58 Mission Results Science Recovered: §5.58 Salvage Recovered: √7,468 (98.01%) [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Perform experiments around KSC √13,122 §0  Ʀ2 [*]Science Collected Mystery Gooâ„¢ Observation from Astronaut Complex  §3.24 Seismic Scan from Mission Control  §0.72 Seismic Scan from Spaceplane Hangar  §0.72 Magnetometer Scan from Runway  §0.90 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Bob Kerman None Mission Timeline Launch Time: UT Y1-D56-H5-M18 Mission Duration: 23:17 [*]Mission Objectives Take pressure readings in flight below 18,700 meters near Wernher's Flux Record and recover scientific data during flyover of mountains. [*]Mission Results Science Recovered: §5.04 Salvage Recovered: √12,506 (96.69%) Success  Perform Record and recover scientific data during flyover of mountains. [*]Contracts Completed Complete  Take pressure readings in flight below 18,700m near Wernher's Flux. √12,450 §0  Ʀ2 [*]Science Collected Crew Report while flying over Kerbin's Mountains  §2.52 Atmospheric Pressure Scan while flying over Kerbin's Mountains  §1.26 Temperature Scan while flying over Kerbin's Mountains  §1.26 [*]Crew Decorations Awarded Valentina Kerman None During flight at the mountains, the plane ultimately reached an altitude of over 3.5km, its highest yet. Val reported minor engine trouble during the later stages of the ascent, and Engineering began considering alternative modes of controlled atmospheric flight to potentially alleviate this issue. The RSOUs collected from Val's flyover of the western Kerpyrenees mountains allowed the R&D team to begin the rituals necessary for Advanced Rocketry, although it would ultimately prove to be nearly two weeks before bearing any fruit.3 The R&D gurus reported successfully summoning the Basic Science tech node, and the last piece in the puzzle for the planned mission to launch an orbital satellite would follow a day later as the upgrades to the launch pad were finally completed. Hoping to even further modernize the resort's space division facilities, the program director accepted a contract from Communication Satellite Group to put a four-satellite communications network up around Kerbinâ€â€an outrageously lofty goal for a program that had not put a single anything into orbit yet. However, the "down payment" on the job provided the KSSLTA with enough Keuros to begin a build-out of the tracking station in the hopes that it would help them better plot and plan upcoming missions. Complete  Test TR-18D Stack Separator at the Launch Site √4,536  §1  Ʀ1 [*]Complete  Test FASA Atlas Launch Clamp at the Launch Site √2,835  §1  Ʀ1Complete  Test RT-5 "Flea" Solid Fuel Booster at the Launch Site √2,700  §1  Ʀ1 [*]Complete  Test LY-10 Small Landing Gear landed at Kerbin √1,920  §1  Ʀ1 Basic Science (§45) DMagic Orbital Telescope Universal Storage Orbital Telescope Bay SC-9001 Science Jr. (both inline and radial versions) Universal Storage SC-9001 Science Jr. Bay Reflectron KR-7 Dish Antenna SCAN RADAR Altimetry Sensor OX-2L 1×3 Photovoltaic Panels OX-4W 3×1 Photovoltaic Panels OX-STAT Photovoltaic Panels Illuminator Mk1 Radiator Panel (Large) Although an initial design was quickly proposed, a simulation (√50) showed that the rocket would be almost impossible to steer during the first stage due to the anemic reaction wheels built in to the HECS probe core. This resulted in far too steep an ascent angle, and a westward heading that the probe core was unable to correct. Despite these issues, the simulation suggested that the craft would just barely be able to circularize a stable orbit. The simulation also suggested that the original design was "part-inefficient" for its task, and that this (combined with the VAB Engineers Guild refusing to work with more than 30 separate parts at once) prevented the design from making use of more useful parts, such as additional reaction wheels or stage recovery parachutes. Modifications would be necessary before actually undertaking an orbital mission. The decision was made not to attempt to perform any parts-testing contracts during this flight, partly in order to placate the VAB Engineers (the program director muttered something about forcing them to eat cake until they agreed to work with greater quantities of parts, but this idea was quickly abandoned as ridiculous) and partly to leave space for more essential components. While a future flight would have to be dedicated to the necessary in-flight parts testing, the redesign allowed the addition of recovery chutes and inline reaction wheels with enough torque to nudge the rocket in the right directions. Mission Timeline Construction Started: UT Y1-D60-H0-M47 Construction Completed: UT Y1-D71-H3-M10 Launch Time: UT Y1-D71-H5-M53 [*]Mission Objectives Put the first kerbal-made object into stable orbit around Kerbin. Conduct and return Materials Bay data from space near Kerbin. Conduct testing of flight computer for maneuvers outside Mission Control's communications range. Recover all jettisoned parts. Recover the craft intact. [*]Construction Command Stage Probodobodyne HECS Probe Core RealChute Cone Chute (Nylon, Single, Main) Service Bay (1.25m) SC-9001 Science Jr. Materials Bay Z-200 Rechargeable Battery Bank Small Inline Reaction Wheel TR-18A Stack Decoupler4 [*]Second Stage FL-T400 Fuel Tank LV-T45 "Swivel" Liquid Fuel Engine RealChute Radial Chute (Silk, Single, Main) AE-FF1 Aistream Protective Shell [*]First Stage (2x) TL-T800 Liquid Fuel Tank LV-T15 "Dashchund" Liquid Fuel Engine (2x) SpaceY 06R Radial SRB (0.625m × 6m) (40% thrust limiter) (2x) MRS Decoupler, Radial Mini TR-18A Stack Decoupler (4x) RealChute Radial Chute (Silk, Single, Main) (4x) AV-T1 Winglet [*]Launch Supports (2x) TT-18A Launch Stability Enhancer [*]Engineer's Report Total on the Launchpad Part Count: 29 Height: 18.2m Mass: 19,110kg (3,300kg solid fuel; 5,500kg oxidier; 4,500kg liquid fuel) Delta-V (Surface): 3,779m/s [*]Command Stage Part Count: 7 Mass: 402kg [*]Second Stage Part Count: 4 Mass: 4,121kg (1,100kg oxidier; 900kg liquid fuel) TWR: 3.80 Delta-V: 1,546m/s [*]First Stage Part Count: 16 Mass: 14,587kg (3,300kg solid fuel; 4,400kg oxidizer; 3,600kg liquid fuel) TWR: 1.54 Delta-V: 2,233m/s [*]Construction Time: 11d, 2h, 23m [*]Construction Cost: √13,905 [*]Crew None As construction on the Clervoy I was ongoing, R&D announced completion of its latest breakthroughs and that they would all be going on an extended vacation until the program was able to return enough RSOUs to make it worth their while. Advanced Rocketry (§45  Completed UT Y1-D68-H1-M11) LV-T30 "Reliant" Liquid Fuel Engine LV-909 "Terrier" Liquid Fuel Engine HGR FG-90 Liquid Fuel Engine MRS 0.625m "Sparkler" Liquid Fuel Engine SpaceY 10R Radial SRB Sepratron I SnubOtron 1.875m Stack Decoupler TT-70 Radial Decoupler Clervoy I launch occurred at UT Y1-D71-H5-M53. The rocket executed the usual vertical ascent to 100m/s, then a turn to an angle of 80º and a bearing of more-or-less 90º. Unfortunately, this proved too steep an ascent angle for the Clervoy I, which had apparently inherited its builders' attitudes towards work and showed no inclination whatsoever of executing any sort of gravity turn of its own accord. As was also necessary with its builders, direct encouragement (and eventually, force) was necessary in order to get the Clervoy I to lazily turn towards the horizon. By the time it reached 30km, its ascent angle was only down to 65º. The LV-T15 "Dashchund" driving the first stage exhausted its fuel at MET 01:49, having reached an altitude of 52.3km, but with a projected apokee well past 100km. As the ship passed into space, the on-board materials study was conducted, and then plans were quickly made for establishing orbit. Due to the lack of a communications array around Kerbin and the oversight of the design team that resulted in the probe relying only on its built-in, minimal-range transmitter, it was necessary to perform the orbital burn long before reaching apokee while the probe was still in contact with mission control. The burn began at 78km on a somewhat radial-in direction in an ultimately futile effort at circularization. At MET 03:06, orbital trajectory was established, although a somewhat eliptical one (ranging from 75km to almost 120km). Only eight seconds later, the probe lost communications with Mission Control as it passed beyond its feeble transmission range. Contact was reestablished at MET 38:52 as the probe was passing over the Kerpyrenees, and the staff in the control room celebrated the completion of the first orbit around Kerbin. As the assignment demanded forty minutes of stable orbit, however, the probe would have to make another pass before descending. This gave the team the opportunity to test the programmable flight computer, setting up a series of planned maneuvers so that the probe would, without manual control from KSC, orient itself retrograde, perform its descent burn, arm all parachutes, and separate from the orbital stage in preparation for landing. Contact was lost again at MET 40:51, and by the time it was reestablished, Clervoy I had just completed all programmed maneuvers and was on course for splashdown about 100km east of KSC. Atmospheric reentry occurred at roughly MET 01:19:00. Although the probe dropped below the horizon and lost communications again a couple of minutes later, its parachute had been correctly armed. No issues with deployment occurred, and after a safe splashdown, the recovery team retrieved the probe and quickly returned it to the resort's for-profit space history museum. Mission Duration: 01:24:24 Science Recovered: §20.88 Salvage Recovered: √10,151 (73.00%) Success  Put the first kerbal-made object into stable orbit around Kerbin for 40 minutes. Success  Conduct and return Materials Bay data from space near Kerbin. Success  Conduct testing of flight computer for maneuvers outside Mission Control's communications range. Success  Recover all jettisoned parts. Success  Recover the craft intact. Contracts Completed] Complete  Orbit around Kerbin! √37,500  §9  Ʀ75 [*]Complete  Orbit and Recovery! √21,000  §3  Ʀ15 [*]Science Collected Materials Study while in space near Kerbin  §14.40 Probe Report while splashed down at Kerbin's Water  §0.24 Telemetry Report while splashed down at Kerbin's Water  §0.24 Recovery of a vessel returned from Kerbin orbit §6.00 Current SPH Rate 1: 0.4 BP/s From this point on, I'm going to try to substantially shrink my non-spacey write-ups, particularly those that involve reusing the same fundamental designs. I felt like writing them up was getting too tedious, and if I'm boring myself with them, I can't expect to keep readers occupied with them. The usual level of attention will still be given to actual "progressing the mission" activity, but the grindy contract prostitution stuffâ€â€particularly the grindy contract prostitution stuff that takes place below 70km altitudeâ€â€is going to get shortened up. I already had all of the above stuff written up when I made the decision, though, so here it is! Despite my historical fondness for the LV-T45 "Swivel" engine made available by General Rocketry (unveiled in the Maginot III), I'm just such a huge fan of the LV-909 "Terrier" for orbital-insertion stages early in the game, which Advanced Rocketry unlocks. It also opens up the first 0.625m engine (the MRS "Sparkler") and the first 1.875m engine (the HGR FG-90), and although I don't have fuel tanks for either of those yet, Basic Fuel Systems is next on my list and should help with that issue. That said, given the location of other 0.625m engines in the tech tree like the LV-T95 and Rockomax 48-7S Spark, I suspect that SETI-CTT would rather the Sparkler be another tier up the ladder in Propulsion Systems. The KSSLTA has not yet unlocked 1.25m heat shields, and so the TR-18A Stack Decoupler is "upside down." This will keep it attached to the command stage after separation so that it can "shield" the service bay and Science Jr. during descent, if necessary. At this point, I jumped into CapCom for "remote access" to my contracts without having to return to Mission Control. Now that the "Orbit around Kerbin!" contract was completed, I could go back to Mission Control and pick up the "Orbit and Recovery" contract and kill two birds with one stone by recovering the Clervoy I probe (which I was going to do anyway). It would get me an extra √34,500 without having to launch another craft.