BagelRabbit

...it's launched. Everything's looking good at this time.

If you check into NASA TV now, a TDRS military satellite is launching from Cape Canaveral. http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/# Go and watch!

I'm beginning work on a grand space station, that will eventually be able to visit any celestial body in the Kerbal Space Program. Here's a quick summary of the project so far: Modules One and Two were docked almost entirely without the use of RCS thrusters, because the stupid manufacturer left off some of the RCS ports. Nonetheless, without much ado and with minimal swearing, the craft were successfully docked. Module One was a stock Space Station Core, Module Two was basically two Hitchhiker storage containers duct-taped together. The Science Module went on even easier, due to advanced construction techniques and actually putting on the god-danged RCS thrusters, for a change. This module contained a mk2 Lander-Can and a two mobile processing labs. A Basic Shuttle was docked to add two crew members, then returned safely home despite a hard landing. The Undocking/Landing video: Ship Mass: 65.8 t MonoProp: 472/1040 LiquidFuel: 1889/1980 ElectricCharge: 6630/6630 Kerbals: 6/20 So that's it so far. I'll add on more modules later, prior to taking the craft anywhere.

Here's the core of a station I'll be trying to send to Duna or beyond. Currently, the craft consists of three modules (with a resupply vessel docked to it). It holds 18 Kerbals and a full suite of scientific instruments. Solar arrays and fuel tanks are coming soon, I'll post pictures of them when they're on. It's name? Corvus Station Mk. 2 (mk1 was made in 0.17.)

I got a $5,197 ticket, as a Christmas present. A bit on the pricey side, but they offer a totally unique experience. So, after careful analysis, I've found that I took absolutely terrible video. I was far more concerned with a) keeping track of the Kerbal, trying unsuccessfully to stay more-or-less upright and not float into an upside-down position, and c) having the time of my life. These three important factors made me point my camera in every single direction conceivable, and the camera wasn't facing the Kerbal most of the time. Thus, I think I'll scrap my video-editing idea. I will, however, post these three screenshots. The release of Jeb. Free flying. "Jeb, it's time to come back. Jeb? Jeb?!" Oh, and one more thing. You might notice the globby thing on Jeb's right leg, by his hip. Immediately before flight, Murphy's Law dashed the poor Kerbal's leg off. Despite the lack of conventional glue, Jeb's leg was soon firmly reattached with some super-sticky ginger candy. The candy, originally brought to quell any feelings of space-sickness, turned out to serve an even better purpose. (I felt great throughout the flight, though three people ended up tossing their cookies. Fortunately, all three had been given barf bags at the beginning of the flight, so there wasn't any loose... well, you get the picture.)

'k. So, recently, I had the honor of going weightless aboard the G-Force One plane, offered by the Zero G corporation. This plane flies parabolas to give an accurate depiction of weightlessness aboard a real spacecraft (although only for ~20 seconds at a time.) The result, after flying around twelve parabolas, is a combined total of nearly five minutes of true weightlessness. Cool beans. I took aboard a little plasticine model of Jeb that I had made. (I could have brought a Shapeways model but I didn't have one, and even then, I'm not sure if it would have survived the flight.) Jeb happily bounced about the cabin for two parabolas. I shot some video of him but it will take a while to edit... so, here's a quick screenshot of Jeb flying weightless. Stay tuned, and let me know what you think!

Two Kerbal Space Agency: Congratulations on the successful launch of your Vall One satellite into low Kerbin orbit. May Kerbol shine on all of your future attempts to launch artificial satellites. “Where is it?†“I don’t think that it’s come up yet. Let’s wait a few minutes.†“Where will it be, then?†“The Daily Kerbin said that we should look due west.†Many prominent scientists agree that a telescope launched into low Kerbin orbit could resolve images extremely well, due to the lack of the atmosphere’s distorting effects. We therefore recommend that you consider flying a telescope into space during a future rocket launch. “I still don’t see it.†“Any minute now…?†While there are numerous difficulties in attempting to achieve this feat, it is certainly plausible with current technology. In fact, astronomers could attach a eight-inch telescope to a craft identical to the Vall One, and the craft would still achieve a nearly perfect circular orbit. “Wait. What’s that on the horizon?†“Where?†“There. It’s pretty faint.†“I think that’s it!†When placed into space, even a small telescope has the potential to clarify images tenfold or a hundredfold. This could allow for unprecedented mapping of celestial objects, including planets and moons, and pave the way for future missions to these exotic destinations. “Yeah, that’s it. No doubt about it.†“Wow.†“Look at how fast it’s moving! Almost ten degrees of sky a second!†“Faster than any plane, that’s for sure.†“Is it just me or is it getting fainter?†“I think that we’re seeing the craft pass into Kerbin’s shadow.†“Sorta like a sunset?†“Yeah. Look, it’s getting red!†“Must be a beautiful sunset out there.†“And… it’s gone.†Please consider this request, and inform us of whatever decision you make. Sincerely yours, The Kerbin Amateur Astronomical Society (KAAS). Shelcott peered into the inky sky for a few more seconds, squinting for any last glimpse of the Vall One. I must, he thought, write a letter to the Kerbal Space Agency. They may be able to place a telescope on a future satellite. We could be able to see the craters of Moho... the Great Canyon of Duna... the violet seas of Eve... the unknown terrain of Tylo.... Shelcott's cheeks were sore long before he realized he was smiling.

If your intention was to have a craft that can fly on a Mainsail's worth of power or less, I created a craft that reached Duna without much trouble and with over 300 gallons of fuel left in the tank. I woulda returned, but the craft tipped over... (sigh) Here's some pictures of the ill-fated attempt.

Edited the OP to include my five-minute addition to the Bug, a couple of control surfaces allowing it to fly without diminishing performance. Let me know whether this update changed the .craft file. Keep them rovers coming! Nice job, Darnok, at creating some tough-looking Segway rovers that can carry crew!

Here's the .craft for the Bug. Sorry for not posting it earlier... https://www.dropbox.com/s/ek64j8of7961oij/Bug.craft Enjoy!

Hi everyone! This thread is all about your coolest and strangest rovers. I've created some good (and strange) rovers... but I'm sure you can do better. To start off the thread, here's a little video of my latest design, a Segway-style rover which actually works pretty well. It's affectionately named 'The Bug.' [Edit: Recently, I got the bug to fly. Cool beans.] If you want to post your .craft file, that would be great. If you don't, that's also fine. It would be nice, though, to post a picture/video or two. I look forwards to seeing what you have come up with! -UpsilonAerospace

The first time I landed on the moon in 0.22, my craft ended up about 100m from a Munolith. I didn't even realize that the little twinkly thing was a Munolith until maybe 300m from the surface, so I landed there purely by accident. It was a lovely surprise. Then it sent this really powerful radio beam in the general direction of Jool, and a few Kerbals were sent to Vall with a Probodobodyne H.A.L. to keep them company. But that's another story.

My longest walk was only about 2km on Minmus, to get back to my lander after RCS ran out on the way back from a grand excursion to the Hills biome. Once I got to the lander, though, I spent about twenty minutes jumping for the crew hatch. I didn't add ladders because I thought I could hover right up to the hatch using RCS. [sigh]

I've seen a Billy-Bobnard Kerman, but never a Billy-Bobing. I wish I could tell you that Billy-Bobnard had the intellect of Bill and the lovely terrified look of Bob, but he flew a spaceplane into a mountain before I learned much about him. Nice find

I never noticed that! Good find! Here's some other things to look for. Try looking at the tops and bottoms of the Remote Guidance Units. They say things like 'Oscillotatotron' and 'Thingamajig.' In addition, the side of the big Remote Guidance Unit warns that standing in front of the communication antennas results in possible mutation. But my favorite is the Sepratrons, which warn: "Big Rocket Thing: Do Not Drop."

Noted. Thanks for the suggestions. In reality, I could have put a lot more work into this video. I shot and edited everything in ~30 minutes. In the future, my main suggestion to myself would be to spend more time and effort on the thing. (Although I'll definitely try to speed up text. I didn't know that I was leaving it up on the screen for too long.) Does anyone else have any suggestions? They would be much appreciated

Here's perhaps my favorite stock plane that I built, the 'Holey Cow.' It has a hole in it! It has capabilities vaguely resembling a VTOL! It flies pretty well, actually! It has Emergency Panic Parachute Recovery! What more could you want?

Okay, so recently, I found a neat bug in KSP. My only thought after discovering this bug was, "What would Danny2462 do?" Let me know what you think! Constructive criticism is welcome. Happy watching!

Fifth'd. My KSP story is in full swing but still always gets buried under mountains of posts. Sadly, I'm not a fast writer. Story is here.

If KSK likes it, it must continue! Part One The reaction was immediate. The Kerbol screamed, “ARTIFICIAL MOON LAUNCHED!†The Daily Newsletter shouted, “NEW SATELLITE CIRCLES KERBIN!†Even the Daily Kerbin found its way into the action with a hearty, “Kerbin’s New Satellite: New Details on Celestial Object.†Shelcott, however, was first informed of the news when his phone startled him out of sleep. He rolled to the side of the bed – oh, how early it was! – and grasped for the handset. The best he managed, upon picking the phone up, was a sleepy “H’lo?†“Turn on your TV!†It was, of all Kerbals, Landred. “Whaa–?†Shelcott groggily reached for the remote, on the other side of his bed. This is really much too early for any of this. He managed, after some time, to find the on button and was immediately blinded by the brightness of the screen in the dark room. “Okay, it’s on.†“What do you see?†Landred sounded positively ecstatic. His eyes had adjusted, but he was still not sure that he was seeing properly. On the screen, two Kerbals were talking. The screen switched to a picture of a small rocket of some sort. Behind it was a backdrop of stars, and to the side of the screen, an artist’s rendition of Kerbin. This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t. It couldn’t. The screen changed again. The picture that it now displayed raised every hair on the back of Shelcott’s neck. The image was a loose mass of pixels. At the very top was a thin black line, where the image hadn’t loaded yet. Over to the right side was an overexposed Kerbol. A few bright pixels suggested distant stars. On the left side of the picture was the curve of Kerbin. Shelcott was overwhelmed. He gaped blankly at the picture. He propped himself up in bed. A faint, ephemeral smile played at the corners of his mouth. He dropped the phone.

...and we're back. Not too gently either. Hope you enjoyed the series, and be prepared for more!

I once made a plane that could drop a mini rover on the helipad... Or maybe an eight-Kerbal load [though this attempt was unsuccessful]. Though some of these attempts, I must admit, are much cooler.

"Hmm. Is this the right button?"

Hello, everyone! I'm trying my hand at writing... let's see how this turns out. If you like this series, please comment. If you have constructive criticism, please tell me what I can do better! Anyway. Prologue The sky was eye-wateringly clear when Shelcott Kerman first thought of flying a telescope into orbit. The Kerbal Amateur Astronomical Society had begun to set out their telescopes: painstakingly planting tripod legs in the ground, gently fitting precision instruments to the back of their ‘scopes, or calibrating their computer-guided telescope mounts to the first stars of the night. Landred, a gifted telescope-maker and Shelcott’s good friend, had unpacked another one of his telescopes from the back of his truck. The grass was whispering in the light breeze and a few crickets had begun their steady rhythm under the rapidly darkening sky. As Shelcott had swung his tiny telescope towards Eve, Landred had asked him, “How much can you see of, say, Jool with that thing?†Shelcott, momentarily startled, had jerked the telescope upwards. “Kerbol Almighty! Don’t sneak up on me like that!†After taking a deep breath, he had replied, “You know, I can pick out a green hazy circle with a few little dots around it. On good nights, I can see the lighter and darker bits. Why?†Landred had rubbed his chin. “I can’t see much more than that, either, and I make my telescopes with the finest optics around. Do you know what the problem is?†“It’s the atmosphere, of course.†Shelcott had locked in on Eve, and was now carefully focusing his telescope. “The air causes the image to wobble and distort, especially on the warm nights. You know that!†Satisfied with the focus, Shelcott had paused, and had looked up from the telescope straight into Landred’s eyes. “What are you trying to get at?†Landred had taken a deep breath and said in a rush, “So what would happen if we got a telescope above the atmosphere of Kerbin? We could get perfectly clear pictures, right?†“Another one of your crazy ideas, I see.†Shelcott had repositioned the telescope so that Eve was smack-dab in the center of the eyepiece. A sprinkling of stars dusted the perimeter of his view. “You know, that would be a noble idea… if it were at all plausible. Getting a telescope into orbit -- that’s the only place it could do any good, after all – well, it could work. If the government decides to direct funds to spaceflight, I would very much like to see the images that they could get. But what are the chances of that happening?†He had chuckled and raised his head from the eyepiece again. “Second to none, I would say.†“You never know,†Landred had said slowly, walking back to his massive telescope and slowly pointing it up towards the sky. “You never know.†More stars were appearing by the second. It would be a beautiful night. From the eyepiece of the telescope, the thin purple crescent of Eve smiled.

...and, I manage to get to Duna, and do science! Now, back to Kerbin! [spoiler Alert: Get ready for a harrowing next episode!]