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Your drag model has no power over me! Archimedes is a single-seater VTOL SSTO, capable of reaching orbit on Kerbin and Laythe with some dV to spare for docking. It's actually my remake of my friend's stock replica of my 2017 modded craft that itself was lifted off Star Citizen promotional material (talk about a crisis in creative industries...). The defining ring with contra-rotating propellers incurs unpleasant drag and breaking sound barrier is a slog, but the flight thereafter is a rapid and very enjoyable ascent. Same goes for liftoff and landing -- it's got a very low stall speed and you can easily land on a dime in VTOL mode. Powered by 2 RTGs (perfectly balanced). It's a rather useless runabout, except of course if you need to land on aircraft carriers. It's not that large and can hover indefinitely, which makes for nice landings on rough seas of Laythe. I wish I could add folding wings, but it doesn't seem that easy to figure out geometry in stock.

The Epstein drive is a literary device, it's not even a theoretical engine. I'm fairly certain it's not going to be in KSP2 and if there are plans for it I'll consider the game an absolute failure. Real talk though, if you want to get to another solar system in a reasonable amount of time you're going to need something which has an isp which is a significant fraction of C. If you use that in-system it will likely trivialize travel but it's worth noting, again, that engines can usually only prioritize thrust or isp so you'll still need landers and utility craft, and you're probably not going to be using something like a nuclear salt water rocket for a lander either because that would constitute landing on a continuously detonating nuclear explosion. The challenge is not going to go completely away.

Since I do not really know about you, there's a risk I'm going to talk some nonsense, but on the other hand, there's also a chance of telling something useful. So I a flipped a coin and… Let's go: Chances are that you will miss it in the future. Try to focus on the good things, and try to accept the difficulties as the price you need to pay to getting such memories. This will not make things easier, but it will allow you to build memories that will be precious later in your life. Christmas is a bittersweet time of the year to me - to the point that 4 years ago I didn't mind having to work December 24 and 25 (my son was visiting his mom, so no parental negligence here ). But yet, I have one big regret about this event: I had a friend, one of that friends that you make when you are a teen and carry on for the rest of your life. And by some reason, we ended up getting into the same troubles in life [EDIT: and doing the same things to fix them]. When I fired my family and moved away from them, I took some really harsh years - I made a bold move, I liquidate all my economies buying a home on the Subprime Mortgage Crisis (that also affected Brazil, only a bit later) and I took me almost 10 years to rebuild my finances - the sad fact of life is that somehow my poor economic state leaked out my network and by then all the job offers I got were paying less (because the <piiii> knew I had little to no choice due pressure on paying the mortgage). EDIT: This friend of mine did more or less the same, except by the jobs offer - he did way better than me on this one. No regrets here, I would not had afforded this home otherwise. But it took a toll on my friendship, because I was working all the time, including holidays, for some years to pay all the bills and rebuild my savings (not to mention trying to keep contact with my son, still a kid and living very away from me at that time) - what it means I neglected that friendship, because he was living a bunch of hours away from were I live and I rarely could spare that time at the same days he could and vice versa. What I didn't knew is that he had a serious health condition, and he were risking dying suddenly sooner or later - and, so, every year I failed to spend some days with him on the holidays meant smaller chances on managing to do it next year. And, then, he died. About a week before Christmas. On the very year I was finally sabbatical and could attend something with him. I can't say I regret all that years I spent the holidays working my cheeks out to pay the bills - my son and I have a comfortable life nowadays exactly because I did all that sacrifices. But, yet, I still regret not spending more time with this friend of mine even at the cost of some economical security on the short run. That friend of mine would die nevertheless - but I would have more memories of such friendship, and he surely deserved such. Buy a cargo cart. Second hand, third hand, build one yourself - but get yourself a cargo cart. One that you could use on the streets. I can't emphasise enough how my life got way less hurtful once I started to get old on the very day I bought one for myself. I bought it in 12 instalments to avoid financial risks on the short run, and so I ended up paying almost 25% more than if I had bought it upfront - but even this way, it worth it because I didn't hurt my back anymore since then and, so, didn't had my DayJob© jeopardised by pain in the back (the upper one! ). Check your home's power, you may have fluctuations sporadically on your electrical system. Additionally, do you have a neighbour engaging on ham radio? In a way or another, a HAM radio emitting near you would saturate your WiFi antennas to the point the MCU could not handle the noise and just crash.

Yes, but forward to...what? I totally agree a lot of you are tired of seeing or having the same discussion over and over again (I'm hardly posting anymore, just reading the same 6 people fight), but...you know...what is there to talk about? (A lot of people think) the game sucks isn't good (yet?), so what else is there to talk about?

Welcome. I'll be documentation the colonization of the soon to be released KSS2 interstellar mod for KSP1. This system contains a number of unique and interesting features. Get yourself a nice beverage that tastes almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea and follow along. I will be primarily focusing on the needful for FTL trips out to the Aethera system. Unless you are doing this in sandbox mode, there will be considerable buildup of infrastructure and resources (particularly graviolium and fusion pellets) to support the 4-9 day trip. Note: My primary mods Blueshift FTL drive KFS gravatic drive Buffalo2 for rovers Pathfinder for habitat DSEV for various ships Other mods: Custom Barnkit: This provides for a Level 4 Tracking Station. You will need this for communication across interstellar distances GU Parts (legacy): In particular, this provides the antennas with the necessary range to talk back to the KSC. This is desired if you are going to do anything with probes. I'm not sure where this can be obtained now. DM me if you need it. Kerbal Attachment System / Kerbal Inventory System : In particular, KAS in conjunction with DSEV has parts that make the construction of a shuttle craft able to carry all the needful to a planet A note for STL cats: Do not think that you can use stock engines for Aethera. If you are new to Interstellar travel, get yourself acquainted with the numerous mods available to provide blowtorches with the required ISP to get you there - and more importantly - settled into an orbit.

Audacity Memoirs of a Kerbonaut by Martina D Kerman Thread of the month! Thanks, kind nominee (whoever they were- let me know and I'll give you a cameo part ) Contents: Chapter 0 - Maps and stuff Chapter 1 - First Contact (scroll down!) Chapter 2 - Perseverance Chapter 3 - Darude Chapter 4 - Aftermath Chapter 5 - Gategrash Chapter 6 - Overture Chapter 7 - Progress Chapter 8 - Expectations... Chapter 9 - ...and reality Chapter 10 - Ablaze with stars, part 1 Chapter 11 - Ablaze with stars, part 2 Chapter 12 - Ablaze with stars, part 3 Chapter 13 - Love, and loss Chapter 14 - On a knife-edge Chapter 15 - Bah, politics! Chapter 16 - Bring the Mun Chapter 17 - The night is darkest before the dawn Chapter 18 - The beginning of the end Chapter 19 - The road to recovery Chapter 1 – First Contact It was the music that caught her attention first. That stirring, upbeat tune that sounded like a military march, simple yet instantly recognisable among the other jingles and ads.* The voiceover kicked in as the camera seemed to soar over mountains and shoot up through the sky until the sky changed from blue to black and the stars appeared. "We chose to go to the Mun, not because it was easy but because it was hard. Now, we choose to move on from our first steps to take our next giant leap forward into space." The immortal footage of the great Jebediah Kerman stepping down onto the Munar surface accompanied the first half of that sentence; the latter was backdropped by a panoramic image from the Spirit of Discovery rover from Duna’s surface, Ike hanging low in the sky overhead. "Our programmes continue to expand with more recruits arriving every day." A montage of trainees going through their regimen of exercises, underwater EVA practices, centrifuge training and more flashed across the screen. Scientists in white coats and engineers in yellow overalls traded notes in front of a scale model of the Acapello rocket, pilots flew simulated manoeuvres to dock with a space station, a Javelin launch booster dropped onto its landing barge with a tremendous plume of fire from its engine exhausts and (miraculously) stayed upright and in one piece when the engines shut down. "There’s only one thing missing..." A space suited figure appeared in the centre of the screen, flipped up their visor and looked directly at the camera- directly at her. It was the very same Jebediah Kerman, and he pointed right at her. "-You!" A final musical flourish and the screen cut to black with just the familiar red logo and the slogan "Kerbal Space Program - join now!" "That doesn’t look like homework to me," a voice from behind her made Tina jump. Too late she tried to click onto something homework related but instead managed to start the video again. Several frantic button presses later it eventually stopped and she turned to face her father, blushing furiously when she saw the amusement on his face. "Um..." was all she could think of to say. Dad put on a mock stern expression. "Homework. Now. Or I’ll eat your Minmus sorbet." It was an idle threat- Dad was on a strict diet and everyone knew it, and he liked to complain about it every mealtime. "Yes, Daddy." Tina played the Daddy’s Girl card, looking up with big, round eyes and slightly trembling lower lip, and he laughed and walked away but left the door open so she could hear him muttering loudly: "Mmmm, Minmus sorbet. I can barely remember what it tastes like, maybe I could sneak a little spoonful from the freezer..." Tina smiled, but it faded quickly as she turned back to the English essay that was supposed to be written by now, the cursor blinking mockingly at her on the empty page. It was hopeless- that poem made no sense to her at all, how was she supposed to write a thousand words about some stupid people from hundreds of years ago swooning over each other. She stood up from the desk, grabbed her phone and a jacket and was downstairs and out the door in seconds with a "That was quick!" from Dad following her out. She headed for the end of the street, through the little play park and out to the open field at the edge of town, then cut across the north side to her usual spot on the bank of a small river. It was quiet here, just the sound of the river and birds and the wind rustling through the trees and she felt herself relaxing with every deep breath of that fresh country air. A muffled thud reverberated through the air, almost felt more than heard. She sat up, slightly too quickly, looking around to find the source. A second, louder thud came shortly afterwards and she scanned the skies again with no luck. Only a supersonic spaceplane made that distinctive double sonic boom, but there weren’t any flights scheduled anywhere near here according to kerbinspacetracker.com or- A much louder bang came from behind the trees, accompanied by a chorus of car alarms. The trees themselves seemed to be rustling with increasing volume and the river looked like it was rippling. She climbed back up the bank to get a better view and was promptly blasted back down by a tremendous wall of heat and noise and light that made her teeth rattle and her ears ache. When it had finally stopped, she cautiously peeked over the edge of the bank. The ground looked scorched, the trees had lost most of their leaves and the field was covered by smoke and steam, but there was no mistaking the shape sticking up at an angle in the middle. It was a Dynawing. Tina grabbed her phone and took a picture, then reconsidered and began recording a video as she slowly approached the downed shuttle. She saw what looked like an airbrake with its outer tip buried in the ground and a single wheel, torn off its mount by the impact, and then she saw the shuttle itself, sad and broken now, resting on its belly and one valiant landing gear that hadn't been torn off in the crash, missing half a wing and- pointing backwards? The marks on the ground confirmed it: the Dynawing was facing the wrong way. Even more intriguingly, the scorch marks on the ground suggested that the engines had fired to bring it to a halt, so it had either landed fast and spun around, or else it had actually landed backwards. The heatproof panels were still smoking slightly so she kept her distance, still recording, when suddenly a ladder deployed below the cabin hatch in front of her and the hatch itself opened with a clang and a hiss. A space suited figure emerged, clambering down the ladder and hopping the short drop to the ground. When they turned round, Tina’s jaw dropped: it was Valentina Kerman, the most famous female astronaut ever and her greatest hero. Tina had dressed up as Val last Halloween, had a little bobble head Val sitting on her desk back at home, followed every social media account she had, and now here she was right in front of her!! Val noticed her and waved; Tina was too star-struck to respond, which made Val come over and ask "Are you OK?" She tried to speak but couldn’t so resorted to nodding. "Jeb, you nearly landed on someone!" Val shouted up to the open hatch. "‘Nearly’ being the key word in that sentence," replied a voice that was instantly familiar to Tina. She felt giddy- first Val, now Jeb too!? It couldn’t be... A second astronaut emerged from the hatch and climbed down to the ground. Tina was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t Jeb, but only slightly. "Nice idea with that monopropellant thruster, Val, it sure did the trick." "Thanks, Nat. Still, I can’t take all the credit-" she punctuated this remark with a nod of her head towards the hatch and a roll of her eyes at the same time-" and anyway, it was you who figured out that the SAS core was misaligned in the first place to give me enough control for that manoeuvre." "I heard that eye roll, Val!" Val stuck her tongue out in the direction of the hatch. "AND that stuck out tongue! I know all your tricks, Valentina." "Really? I didn’t see you suggesting that monopropellant thruster trick, Jebediah..." Val retorted. Nat laughed. "She’s got you there, Jeb." Jeb suddenly appeared on the roof of the shuttle, tool two steps then jumped off and only just got his parachute open in time yet managed to land perfectly. He spotted Tina and her phone, struck a glamorous pose and said "And that, viewers, is how you land a Dynawing backwards!" Val snorted. "‘Land’ indeed; ‘belly flop with the grace of a brick through a plate glass window’ would be more accurate." Tina giggled; Jeb acted outraged. "You’re taking her side!? Me, the greatest pilot in all of spacedom, who just landed a Dynawing BACKWARDS, and you pick Valentina ‘use the monopropellant thruster’ Kerman over me!?" "Electronics are all shut down, fuel cells disabled and fuel tanks locked off." A fourth astronaut emerged from the shuttle and joined them. He spotted Tina straight away. "And who might you be, young lady?" "I’m Tina," she replied in barely more than a whisper. "Hey, just like me!" Val grinned. HOW COULD SHE NOT HAVE NOTICED THIS BEFORE!?!?!? Sirens were approaching in the distance and a crowd was already gathering at the edge of the field, phones and cameras clicking furiously. "Alright people, selfie time!" Jeb plucked Tina’s phone from her hands and propped it against a rock a few paces away. "In three, two-" "Wait!" Val interrupted. She popped her helmet off and plonked it on Tina’s head, nearly making her fall over under its weight. Jeb rolled his eyes theatrically. "Whenever you’re ready..." "Ready." "Three, two, one-" Click. BOOOOOM!!! "Uh, Doodul? Did you turn off ALL the fuel cells?" "Oops..." THUNK. A lump of smoking debris bounced off Tina’s helmet, leaving a little scorch mark, then landed straight on top of her phone and cracked the screen. "Nice going, Jeb..." muttered Val. "Hey! That wasn’t MY fault!" Jeb retorted. "You stole the poor girl’s phone and then it got broken, how is that not your fault?" Nat chimed in. "Fine, if it makes you happy..." Jeb pulled a notepad and pen out of a pocket, scribbled something on it and handed it to Tina, but when she went to take it he snatched it away and said "Nope, you chose Val’s side, so I don’t like you." The big grin on his face said otherwise, and he handed her the note again. "Just make sure that gets framed and hung on your wall, OK?" The first of the first responders had just arrived. The four astronauts and Tina headed towards them, picking up her damaged phone on the way. Half way there, Val and Tina slowed down for a chat. "So what do you want to be when you grow up?" Val asked. "I want to be an astronaut, like you." Tina replied, still unable to talk above a near whisper. Val smiles. "Excellent choice! Well, if you work hard at school, do all your homework- ALL your homework," she added as she saw Tina grimacing, "then when you’re ready, you send in an application to the Space Program and I’ll talk to some people and get you a place." "Really?" Tina was thrilled. "Sure" Anyone with such an impeccable choice of favourite astronaut deserves to join the Program." "I heard that!" Jeb shouted over his shoulder. Val peeled her name badge off her suit and stuck it on Tina’s jacket. "Just keep hold of that, so I know it’s really you. I will need that helmet back though." Tina was actually glad to lose the helmet, it was really heavy and the rim was digging into her arms as she tried to prop it up. Another explosion shook the downed Dynawing, sending a fireball into the sky and causing the last wheel to collapse, shaking the ground as it settled heavily onto its belly. "Just promise me when you’re an astronaut, you won’t do that," Vall added and Tina nodded so quickly she made herself feel dizzy. As they reached the crowd at the edge of the field, Tina spotted her parents at the front and ran to them. They immediately started fussing over her. "Are you OK? Are you hurt? What happened to your phone?" "I’m fine, really!" "I take it you’re her parents," Val said from behind her. "Unfortunately, yes." Dad replied. "Well, I told her that if she wants to become an astronaut, she has to finish ALL her homework. Can you make sure she does that?" A very mischievous grin appeared on Dad’s face. "Absolutely! Right young lady, you have an English essay to write and I have a Minmus sorbet to eat." "No you certainly do not!" Mum rebuked him. "You're on a diet." Dad sulked. Val was about to walk away, but turned back and quickly signed her own name on the note Jeb had given Tina. "We both know who your favourite astronaut is," she whispered loudly enough that Jeb could hear it; Jeb sulked even more than Dad. The four astronauts were escorted through the crowd by police, stopping for photographs and autographs, then climbed into four separate ambulances and were rushed away with a police escort, while firefighters tried to contain the fires as much as they could and prevent the river being polluted by leaking rocket fuel. On their way back home, Tina read the note Jeb had given her and was confused by it- I. O. U., Jeb. Dad explained: "An IOU is what you give someone when you owe them some money, but can't pay it right there and then. It's basically a promise that you'll pay them later once you have the money." "I think we have a picture frame somewhere, we might be able to get the pictures off your phone and print one out to put on your wall with that note and your name badge," Mum said. "Hey! That's for my before and after diet photos!" Dad protested, then seeing everyone's expressions added, "And there will be an after photo, too." Never in all of history had anyone eaten a Minmus sorbet so slowly, and with so many appreciative "mmm"s and "yum"s and bowl scrapes to extract every last minty morsel, as Tina did that evening. Later that night, after everyone else had gone to sleep, Tina still lay awake. The events of that evening were replaying over and over in her head. She got up and walked over to the window, and as if on cue the clouds parted and revealed the full Mun in all its glory, illuminating everything with its soft white light. She looked up at it, trying to pick out the place where only last year Jeb, Fleegus and Bartger has taken those famous first steps, and trips and falls and faceplants, on its surface. Some day she was going to do the same, or if not the Mun then on Minmus, Duna or Ike or even Gilly. Some day she too would be strapped to many tons of explosive rocket fuel and hurled into the sky on a giant trail of fire and fury, then travel on to other worlds; or even other solar systems, if the rumours she had picked up online about Grannus being real were true. Some day she too would become a Kerbonaut. Of that, she was absolutely certain. Chapter 2 (*Yup, it's KSP Theme. They did it with the Imperial March in Solo, and if it's good enough for Star Wars...)

Black holes don't work, it's why people asked for a bug tracking forum: if I say A is bad and don't hear anything back, then I assume nothing happened. A lot of people will say A is bad, not hear anything back and move on to another game, I'm sure that if the goal really is to see a good KSP2 somewhere down the line, then you'll easily understand how important is to receive a response when you knock (and in some cases kick) a door. Bugs got their subforum now, with upvotes and bug hunters engaging the community. Now we need CM/PR/Devs or whoever it is to engage the community as they should about the complaints that are not bugs. The apology is more about yesterday, nothing else. I can also obviously not talk about literally anyone else but me, as I'm sure there's a lot of people that don't even care about an apology, or even care about what happened yesterday. I can't talk for them. More to help people avoid what a lot of players seem to perceive as a very toxic customer vs team relationship. You wouldn't join an EA for some game that hasn't been able to put out new content in 6 months and doesn't have it on sight until end of year, whilst also still carrying release bugs and what happened yesterday. There's also the very basic fact that if you don't mess with the hornets they won't sting (not sure how this saying translates to English), what part of the community is doing is a response to what they get. Entirely a matter of perspective. I heavily disliked what Dakota said yesterday on Discord, as that's berating and provoking the community, even if you remove the botting accusations, he still went way over the line. I'm also not sure which threads you happened to visit but it is very obvious that if people are posting evidence of users harassing others, coming at them with "we have a very tight code of conduct" in their faces is not gonna be well received.

SpaceWarp 2.0: Help Us Shape the Future of Modding! Dear KSP 2 Modding Community, We're thrilled to have grown alongside you as the SpaceWarp modding API project evolved from its inception in version 0.1 as a simple mod loader, to a community-driven modding API in version 1.0, to where we are now. Your continuous support and feedback have been invaluable in making SpaceWarp better. As we look to the future, we're excited to announce that we are beginning work on SpaceWarp 2.0, a new chapter in our modding journey! Learning and Growing Together Our journey through 1.x has been filled with learning experiences. We've listened to many of your suggestions, and have recently introduced some significant updates, such as: specification versions - allowing for major changes while still keeping older mods compatible, codeless part mods - to empower non-programmers who want to make KSP 2 mods, Lua support - for simple scripting without the need to learn C# and .NET, experimental support for the official mod loader - to help us prepare for the future. Those are just a few of the new features that SpaceWarp has seen added during the 1.x development cycle. Your valuable feedback has helped shape SpaceWarp 1, and we're grateful for that. SpaceWarp 1.5 - A Smooth Transition Before we dive into the details of SpaceWarp 2.0, let's talk about SpaceWarp 1.5, the next transitional step, and the last update in the 1.x series. We are going to mark all APIs that will be removed or changed as deprecated, and introduce their replacements, giving you a sneak peek of the changes coming in 2.0. That way, while your existing 1.x mods will continue working in 1.5, you will have enough time to prepare them for the major update ahead. Preparing for the Future We hear you loud and clear – KSP 2 modding shouldn't have to be tied to an external mod loader when there’s an official one on the way. That's why we're working towards making SpaceWarp fully compatible with both BepInEx and the currently unreleased official mod loader. That way, your mods written for SpaceWarp 1.5 and later should require only minimal changes to support the official mod loader once it arrives. SpaceWarp 2.0 - Modularization and Flexibility One of the key architectural differences in SpaceWarp 2.0 is the shift towards modularization. As the library has grown over the past few months, it has gotten to a point where a single project containing all the very diverse APIs and features is simply not sustainable anymore. We want to make SpaceWarp more flexible, so it has enough room to grow in the future without unnecessary complexity, in both the development phase, and in the integration, testing and release phases. Here are just some examples of the module structure we're considering: SpaceWarp.Core – The core mod contract and everything necessary to make a simple mod load in-game. SpaceWarp.UI – Including app bar buttons, UI skins, and other UI-related functionalities. SpaceWarp.Game – Abstractions of game APIs, enabling seamless interactions with many parts of the game’s code without having to worry about game updates breaking your mods. SpaceWarp.Audio – For handling of audio-related features and functionalities. The Right Approach We are currently considering two different approaches to the modularization of SpaceWarp: Approach 1: The Modular Monolith: We would split the SpaceWarp modules into individual projects and .DLL files, while keeping them all part of a single mod, single version, and single release zip. This approach maintains the current setup for end users and modders, keeping SpaceWarp as a monolithic, but not as tightly coupled library that covers various functionalities. The separation of concerns into multiple projects within the SpaceWarp solution will enable easier code management for contributors. Approach 2: Modular to the Max: SpaceWarp would be divided into separate smaller mods, each with its own swinfo.json file, versioning, and independent releases. Modders and players can then selectively use only the modules they need, improving customization and reducing unnecessary bloat. Community contributions to specific parts of SpaceWarp become more streamlined, as contributors can focus on individual modules without affecting unrelated components, making it easier for multiple people to work on many distinct parts of SpaceWarp at the same time independently. *For the sake of transparency – this is the approach that we are currently leaning towards the most, but we want to hear your opinions! Simplifying Installation for Players We understand that ease of installation is crucial for players. While approach 2 (Modular to the Max) brings with it more complexity when it comes to user experience when installing SpaceWarp, we're exploring solutions to mitigate this, such as always providing an always updated all-in-one download option for those who prefer simplicity, or the possibility of only installing the core SpaceWarp mod as a lightweight entry point, which will then prompt you to either download the modules your mods depend on manually, or even download and install them for you. We Value Your Feedback! Your opinions matter to us! We're building SpaceWarp together, and your insights are integral to shaping its future. We'd love to hear what you think about the two approaches we've shared: Are you more inclined towards Approach 1 (The Modular Monolith) or Approach 2 (Modular to the Max), and why? How do you think we can enhance the installation experience for players? Do you have any other suggestions for what you’d like to see in SpaceWarp 1.5 and 2.0? Please share your feedback here, or in the KSP 2 Modding Society Discord server, where the development of SpaceWarp and most KSP 2 mods takes place, for a more real-time discussion! Join Us on This Exciting Journey! SpaceWarp 2.0 promises a more flexible and future-proof modding experience. Thank you for being a part of this journey with us. Your contributions and feedback help us make SpaceWarp better every day, and we hope that we can all help the KSP 2 modding community one day reach the inspiring heights of its predecessor. Let's shape the future of KSP 2 modding, together!

Alright, by soon I guess I meant a month. Time really slips by, doesn't it? *** CHAPTER 8: SETTING THE FOUNDATION YEAR 2, DAY 120 - DRUZHBA 1 Crew: Bardok, Spokoynyy, Alisa For 60 days the cosmodrome may have seemed completely silent. But inside, it was the perhaps busiest place on Kerbin. Workers for both the CKR Space Program and the Korolev Design Bureau (KDB) have been working hard day in and day out on the CKR's newest manned spacecraft: the Druzhba Spacecraft. The Druzhba Spacecraft is capable of carrying three Kerbals into orbit at once, complex rendezvous maneuvers, and even has the capability to dock to other spacecraft! The CKR hopes to use it in future manned missions to the Mun and Minmus. The rocket, called the K-8 Druzhba, has had a... complicated design history. Originally the rocket was going to be a standard K-8 Grom. But simulations showed that the rocket would be too top heavy, and go crashing into the ocean after the gravity turn began. So, instead, a whole new rocket was designed. The rocket, while sharing some of the core design design choices of the K-8 Grom, is much more it's own thing now. However it's still similar enough to be part of the K-8 lineage. And, guess what it includes now. That's right, a Launch Escape System (LES)! The LES is designed to fire it's motors away from the rocket, carrying it to a safe distance to deploy it's parachutes. Originally, the abort systems on our spacecraft would just be the landing retro-rockets, which could hopefully pull the command module away, and then the Kerbonaut onboard would possibly be able to jump ship manually. And, according to simulations, this would probably work only about 60% of the time. Not good odds. This increase of safety aboard our spacecraft will hopefully carry on to the future, providing more reliable spacecraft for long term missions. Only time will tell. Anyways, where were we? Oh, right. Off with the mission! "Engine ignition, and liftoff on Druzhba 1!" - Gen Kerman "Go for booster sep." - Gen Kerman "Roger, booster sep." - Bardok Kerman The spacecraft fairing separate, revealing our glorious machine! "Druzhba 1, you are go for orbital insertion." - Gen Kerman "Shkiper reignition successful! We are on our way!" - Alisa Kerman Stage 2 is ejected, and Druzhba 1 is now floating freely in orbit! The crew look down on Kerbin in awe, and stretch their legs in the increased space inside the spacecraft. Due to complaints from crew during the Zapad and Zakat missions of the very little leg room during their missions, engineers added a little extra habitable area sort of like another module, and the crew can move into and out of the area at will. Also, this extra habitable area doubles as an airlock! Instead of carrying around that bulky inflatable airlock, Druzhba flies with an airlock built into the spacecraft! Maybe it's still not all that practical, but it's better than that crappy inflatable one. Now, back to the mission. Once in orbit, Druzhba 1 will perform several tests of its systems. The first of these tests will be a test of its monopropellant systems. This will require the spacecraft to fire it's thrusters, forward, back, up, down, and side to side. This is done on Flight Day 2. Que the montage! Once done that, Druzhba 1 will perform an inclination change to align with Minmus's orbital plane on Flight Day 3. This will really just be a test of how well the Druzbha's engines behave on orbit. Que montage again! "Inclination change proceeding smoothly, mission control." - Bardok Kerman Oh, I guess there wasn't much of a montage there. On Flight Day 3, Bardok steps into the habitat/airlock, and upon opening the hatch, his breath is taken away from the completely unobstructed view of Kerbin. "Looking down at our planet, I've had an amazing realization. A realization that make shake our entire world view. I'm in space, and those losers aren't! Haha, I win!" - Bardok Kerman While on EVA, Bardok has to make a visual inspection of the spacecraft. Make sure everything stayed in place and what not. Everything looking good, he takes a chance to look out towards the Mun. Someday, he thinks to himself. Someday I'll be there. Maybe he will. Only time will tell. After about 15 minutes on EVA (the longest yet!), he makes his way back aboard Druzhba 1. He says that it was sad stepping back inside the spacecraft, but hopes that his EVA experience will not be his last. His optimism is paying off though, as the CKR sees him as a valuable pilot in the future. Druzhba 1 spends another three days in orbit, collecting data and photographing Kerbin. However, as missions do, it eventually comes to an end. Druzhba 1 faces its engines retrograde, and begins its journey back down to Kerbin's surface. "Mission control we are beginning our de-orbit burn. Ignition of the engines was successful." - Alisa Kerman Druzhba 1's main command module now makes the trip back alone, as it was the only part of the spacecraft meant to return to Kerbin. "Chutes deployed successfully." - Alisa Kerman "And a perfect inflation! Prepping landing retro motors." - Alisa Kerman And like that, Druzhba 1 safely lands in the deserts of Kerbin! Rescue teams are quickly dispatched to their location, so they should be back at the cosmodrome in a few hours. Druzhab 1's success means that future missions are coming, and continued testing of the spacecraft may finally prove capable of the Mun and Minmus flight it was meant for. All we have to do is see where the program goes. *** YEAR 2, DAY 130 - MUNA 9 While the crewed division was quite busy with Druzhba, they at least had a plan with what the payload looked like. Muna 9 was the exact opposite. The payload was in a constant development hell, and coupled with the current cosmodrome expansions, issues piled up high. Engineers, scientists, and even janitors were throwing around ideas for what the actual lander should look like. The lander had 500 different designs thrown around, some cheaper and more realistic, and others so outrageous and bizarre that nothing short of mining out every resource on Kerbin would make them possible. In the end, a "little" two stage lander was picked. The probe will fly to the Mun, do some science experiments, pick up some surface samples. and then return back to Kerbin after a day on the surface. Pretty straight forward... on paper. "Liftoff on Muna 9, on its journey to and back from the Mun!" - Gen Kerman "Clean booster sep!" - Gen Kerman Muna 9 enters LKO with no error. But the journey's not over yet. Mission control immediately gets to work setting up the spacecraft's TMI maneuver, and before you know it... "We are go for TMI!" - Gen Kerman We are go fo- hey! I was gonna say that! Muna 9's deep space tug stage finishes up the burn, and Muna 9 enters the coast period. The probe will be put on hibernation mode to save energy on the way there. "We are go for our MOI burn." - Gen Kerman "Roger, re-igniting LV-909s." - Kris Kerman Muna 9's de-orbit burn "We are 700 meters from the surface, continuing suicide burn." - Gen Kerman "Contact!" - Gen Kerman Muna 9 is now standing on the Munar surface! However, the job is STILL not done, as now Muna 9 has to collect science. A lot of it. It's brought practically the whole suite of science experiments, and most importantly Mun rocks are picked up. Many Mun rocks. Scientists back on Kerbin simply drool at the thought of having their very own Mun rocks to pick at and study, and if money was still a thing in our society, we're sure these rocks would go for millions. After a day on the Munar surface, the upper stage of the lander is separated and fires it's engines, beginning its long journey back to Kerbin. Interestingly, engineers wanted to launch the spacecraft into a retrograde orbit. This was essentially a stress test of all of the lander's systems "Ignition of the ascent stage engine. We're on our way home!" - Kris Kerman "Kerbin return maneuver in 3,2,1... re-ignition of ascent stage engine, we're on our way back to Kerbin." - Gen Kerman The return capsule has quite a fiery re-entry, entering Kerbin's atmosphere at speeds of over 3,000m/s! "Chute deployed, and we are back home!" - Gen Kerman Yes, after 4 days in space, Muna 9 returns with the very first samples of the Munar surface! Recovery teams quickly circle the spacecraft, pick it up, and carefully extract the load of samples the spacecraft collected. These will be handed to R&D immediately, who will study the rocks and further distribute them to other labs around Kerbin. The data collected from these rocks will give us further information into not just the birth of the Kerbin system, but the birth of the entire Kerbolar system! It's an exciting for the CKR Space Program, and more exciting are certainly to come. *** YEAR 2, DAY 148 - YEVA 1 Kerbalkind once again prepares to extend its influence even further than the Kerbin system. This time, we have our focus set much closer into the Kerbolar system. Her purple majesty, Yeva. Many have speculated what may be waiting for us on Yeva. Some say that, due to it's purple color, it may be very similar to Kerbin. Couple this with the fact that Eve is a similar size to Kerbin, Kerbals who suspect this may not be too far off. Yeva 1 is pretty much a sister probe to Duna 1, but with... oh, no, it is the exact same probe. With the exact same launcher. Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. "Liftoff on Yeva 1, carrying Kerbalkind to the planets!" - Gen Kerman Is this just me, or is it kinda funny to see the hammer and sickle on the side of a building meant to look like NASA's high bay assembly building. Yeva 1 finds itself racing a comet on liftoff. Yeva 1 firing its engines for orbit Once in orbit, ground teams immediately begin preparing for the burn to Eve. This is easier said than done. At the time of launch, the Mun was positioned in such a way that it would always get in the way of every burn we did. And its position was annoying enough that we couldn't use this to our advantage at all. In the end, spamming skip orbit enough got us a good position for a maneuver. And now... We're off to Yeva! "Setting probe to hibernation mode. Good luck, Yeva 1." - Gen Kerman *** YEAR 2, DAY 160 - MYATNYY 8 Myatnyy 8 will follow the exact same mission profile as Muna 9. Nothing else to add. The interesting thing about this mission is more the destination itself. The past few missions to Minmus have shown that Minmus itself is an interesting place. Despite not having an atmosphere, Minmus does in fact have weather! However, the exact way this happens is quite a mystery. Samples of both Minmus's "clouds" and surface ice will be collected, and scientists on Kerbin will use this data to understand more about Kerbin mintiest and most mysterious moon. Launch Sequence Once Myatnyy 8 enters orbit, well, you know the procedure. "Go for TMI!" - Bobak Kerman Myatnyy 8 begins the coasting period of its mission. I will tell you all that I did not get any pictures of the whole orbit process around Minmus, as at this point I was just so sick of the mission. I already had to redo it twice, so I gave up on screenshots and just flew the craft. But I did get pictures of the landing, and that's the cool part. "We are beginning our descent down to Minmus's surface, I need all controllers on standy in case anything goes wrong." - Bobak Kerman "1km up, speeding up suicide burn." - Kris Kerman "Almost there..." - Bobak Kerman "Contact! Myatnyy 8 is standing on Minmus's surface!" - Bobak Kerman After a quick celebration in mission control, work begins on running the experiments on board the spacecraft, as well as the collection of samples on Minmus's surface. After a day on the surface, the ascent stage fires its engines and Myatnyy 8 begins its journey back to Kerbin. Another success under our belt! Myatnyy 8 is quickly recovered, and the mission comes to an end. Myantyy 8 has brought back perhaps some of the most important data in spaceflight to date. However, our engineers and scientists have one more idea for Munar and Minmus exploration, and they expect it to fly sometime late in the year. You all will have to wait to see that. *** YEAR 2, DAY 180 - DRUZHBA 2&3 Crew: Dzhebediya, Bob, Bill; Valentina, Stadun, Derdas We always talk about the capabilities of the Druzhba spacecraft, now it's time to put them to the test. Druzhba 2 and Druzhba 3 will be a test of rendezvous and docking. The spacecraft is, after all, equipped with a docking port. Once docked, both spacecraft will spend a week in space together. Dzhebediya and Valentina will also perform an EVA together, much like Zakat 3 and Zakat 4. Afterwords both Druzhbas head back home one after the other. It's a pretty straightforward mission. Also, due to the expansion of the Kerbal Cosmodrome, pieces of the spacecraft no longer have to be sent to the Dessert Cosmodrome for launch. All of our rockets can be sourced right here. It really streamlines the whole assembly process, as well as save a lot of fuel for the spacecraft during rendezvous. Granted, the changed inclination would be good to do further stress tests on our spacecraft, but really it's better for the engineers this way. The Dessert Cosmodrome is better for satellite launches, anyways. "Liftoff on Druzhba 2!" - Gen Kerman "LRBs depleted of fuel, separate now Druzhba 2." - Gen Kerman "Clean sep, Baikerbanur!" - Bill Kerman "Ignition confirmed on stage 2." - Bill Kerman "Alright mission control, starting our coast to apoapsis." - Dzhebediya Kerman "Rog, Druzhba 2." - Gen Kerman "Druzhba 2 orbital entry established. Good flight!" - Gen Kerman "Alright, thanks Baikerbanur! Tell Druzhba 3 that we can't wait to meet up with them." - Dzhebediya Kerman "Will do." - Gen Kerman With Druzhba 2 in orbit, it's now Druzhba 3's turn to liftoff from the Cosmodrome. "Woooo, I love that feeling mission control! You gotta send me on more missions!" - Valentina Kerman "Clean booster sep, mission control!" - Derdas Kerman "Good to hear! And Druzhba 2 reports that they can in fact see your contrail from liftoff!" - Bobak Kerman "Orbital entry established, Druzhba 3." - Bobak Kerman "Rog, Bobak." - Valentina Kerman With no time to waste, Druzhba 3 immediately gets to work setting up their rendezvous with Druzhba 2. Inclination changes, rendezvous burns, the works. Before you know it, they're already at the spacecraft. Slowing down at rendezvous. "Approaching Druzhba 2." - Valentina Kerman "Docked! Miss me, Dzheb?" - Valentina Kerman "Tease me all you want, I still hold the title for farthest flying Kerbal." - Dzhebediya Kerman "For now." - Valentina Kerman Dzhebediya and Valentina face off outside their spacecraft. For the next five minutes, the words "I'm" and "better" were exchanged in that order continuously. Dezhebediya and Valentina boarded back into their spacecraft after a very mature discussion, and Druzhba 2&3 stayed in orbit for the next week. During that time, much of Kerbin's surface was photographed, and the crew played a game of Linkor, perhaps one of the best board games the CKR had created. It's not a very eventuful mission otherwise. After the week is over, both Druzhba 2 and 3 separate and go their separate ways. Druzhba 2 on re-entry, with the airlock module burning up behind it. Druzhba 2&3 with their parachutes deployed We've proven long duration spaceflight, and we've proven that two spacecraft can dock together in orbit. But what if we did... both at the same time?

Those USAAF guys had no real choice. Their casualty rates were insane, too. I went to an 8th AF luncheon, and sat with a few old guys. A fighter pilot (P-47) gave the talk that day, and he talked about them all being kids and that they felt invulnerable. He said, "If you had told us at the briefing early in the morning that 9 out of 10 of us were not coming home, we all would have all looked around the room and thought, 'You poor bast*ards'."

I've managed to talk to quite a few, and all of them basically say, "I was just doing my job" and/or something like, "The real heroes are all still there, buried."

None* of them want to talk about it, which means remembering it, when they'd just as soon forget it * - (in general, I'll assume there are exceptions).

And I'm hearing that the second installment will be quite good. ...possibly good enough for my spouse to actually enjoy! I got bored last winter and started digging through this box of old paperbacks in my basement; books I've had (and kept because I loved them) going all the way back to the 70s and 80s. That's ownership; most are reprints of classics, with some like the Julian May (Many Colored Land) series being 'new' when I was reading them. There's a lot in there that did not age well. I'm actually okay with that; my daughter is the only one in the family that really enjoys SF... and she enjoyed watching the show. Plus - I can talk math with her!

Trina Ray (lead scientist of Cassini's Titan flybys) gives a first hand talk about a few of the fantastic findings of the Cassini-Huygens mission. She talks a lot about how people reacted to the data as it unfurled and slowly pieced together some rather amazing big pictures. It's lovely, figured I'd share!

@Superfluous J @Hotel26 I don’t think it has anything to do with logic or whether we could build a simulation with our understanding of computers. In my opinion, if there is a simulation it was built by something of such great knowledge and power its actions would be indiscernible to us, just as a fish isn’t really capable of discerning complex human behaviors. But yes, the question of “Are we in a simulation built by ourselves/other humans” can be answered with a pretty certain no. Unless we start getting into questions of whether “we” is literally us, as in I built this simulation for myself but wiped my memory as I went inside. Which isn’t really a question about “are we living in a simulation” but could begin slipping into arguments about solipsism. Pretty much. Insofar as it isn’t a scientific idea but is being peddled as a sort of “higher truth” “within the boundaries of science*” it basically hits all the marks for New New Age theological thinking without the theo. *At least this is the strong vibe I get from such believers who talk about their ideas. EDIT- It should also be noted simulation theory can be an idea held while being religious too. Look up Philip K. Dick’s 1977 speech in Metz, France.

we questioned what you know of phisics because you do not talk like an expert. Except for a few throwaway line that do hint at technical competence, like mentioning the physics of two spaceships orbiting each other (without whom I'd just dismiss your claims of MS as internet bravado), most of your messages come across as just ranting about things that have perfectly reasonable explanations. what you described in your first post was perfectly compatible with orbital drift, so the simplest explanation was that you were experiencing orbital drift and had no physical knowledge. even now, you boast of a MS in aerospace engineering but you never correctly describe orbital drifting. Their guidance code and whatever else they covered for their masters definitely won't pertain to the "space" in aerospace if they're having trouble coming to grips with the fact two orbits will behave differently to one another. I think that their qualifications are likely irrelevant to the discussion.

first you said that the acceleration was slow, now you say rapidly. which description is false? keep in mind that ksp has smaller planets with faster orbits, and so the effects of drifting are bigger than in real life. both hotel26 and 18watt already did mention the possibility in their answers. if the two ships are sharing the same orbit, one in front of the other, they can be very stable. if they are one above the other, they will drift away much faster. perhaps. what you described the first time is perfectly compatible with normal orbital drift, now you say that the change in speed is fast. I have experienced bugs with trajectories too, so there may be a bug at work. we questioned what you know of phisics because you do not talk like an expert. Except for a few throwaway line that do hint at technical competence, like mentioning the physics of two spaceships orbiting each other (without whom I'd just dismiss your claims of MS as internet bravado), most of your messages come across as just ranting about things that have perfectly reasonable explanations. what you described in your first post was perfectly compatible with orbital drift, so the simplest explanation was that you were experiencing orbital drift and had no physical knowledge. even now, you boast of a MS in aerospace engineering but you never correctly describe orbital drifting. We who are posting here have years of practice at this game. we do not have a degree, we do not know how to write guidance control code, nor we know about crafting techniques for advanced aerospace materials, realistic aerodinamic models, actual gravitational equations, or a bunch of similar stuff I suppose is studied in aerospace engineering. but we do have a lot of practical experience running orbits, rendez-vous, dockings, transfers. I showed ksp to a friend with a phd in physics - he specialized in particle physics, but he took courses in orbital dynamics - and I was surprised at how much more knowledgeable I was than him. I would bet good money that when it comes to this practical understanding of the kind of orbital operations required in this game, we are actually more experts than people with actual degrees. in this specific field of space navigation, we are even more experts than several people working at nasa, because there's plenty of people who are not working on orbital mechanics but are instead building rovers, improving thermal shields, ruggedizing delicate science instruments so that they will survive space, how to establish communication protocol. Or perhaps writing code. And so we also don't appreciate being talked down to with snarky comments questioning what we know about physics either.

This should be a good challenge for everyone. We\'ve had threads to talk like Orcs, the physically death prone and even British - but none for the hardest of all! Talk like humans! I\'ll start; Hello!

Chapter 2: The Ascender Year 1, Day 29 The new KSP has been planning their next move, and they decided to go big or go home. This is the Ascender Capsule, manufactured by AtomicTech, a major contender in the post-war aerospace sector. While the capsule had been a scrapped project from the old program two decades ago, AtomicTech was able to secure blueprints as well as manufacturing components from the warehouse. The Ascender Capsule can hold two kerbals as well as some basic flight instruments. Before the KSP can launch the capsule to orbit, they first have to test the abort system. "John, I think it's working!" "Successful abort system fire! The capsule is still intact." "Let's just drive to the capsule and check it out." "I can't see any damage. I think we're good to go!" Later that evening, John and the growing team of 28 employees held a meeting. "Now that we have a crew capsule, we can attempt to visit whatever the old program left in orbit. The most prominent of these is the Hope Orbital Research Platform. Although the radio equipment used to communicate with the station have long been destroyed, we can try to establish comms to this station. However, we would need to send a crewed vessel to install the equipment within the station." Herbrett blurted, "Why do we have to put the equipment inside the station when we can just attach a utility module to the station on the outside?" Herbrett continued, "We can use those grabbers that you brought to work today, Nathanael. That way, we won't need to worry about whether the station's docking ports still work." John interrupted Herbrett, "Enough talk! Let's get to work!"