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There are numerous "errors" in the movie, but some of them, like the large jetpack delta v, can be explained as "better jetpack" or they're too unimportant to complain about. As a guy that is really strict with these things, stuff like exaggerated jetpack delta v didn't bother me at all. You really have to struggle to see all that. It's not obvious at all. I'm home now, after driving across the country so I can now write a short review for people here. I still won't spoil anything and I recmmend others they don't do it at least a week in advance. After that, use "spoilers alert" in bold red to warn others. This is truly a movie that can be heavily spoiled, unlike stupid blockbusters that have obvious scenario. This doesn't have, and it really surprised me with the plot. But let's talk about the special effects. The "Hollywood science" remark does not hold water because this is one of the most scientifically accurate movies ever made in the entire history of movies. The motion of the characters and the objects is almost flawless and only in rare occasions you can see it's artificial if you pay close attention and understand some things about CGI. People responsible for this movie respected the Newton's laws and a significant portion of the movie is based on the characters' struggle to move around. It's not boring at all and it really lets you care for them because it's often brutal. People are getting hurt and by all means, PG-13 is a justified mark. Don't bring kids to the cinema. There are gore elements. 3D is, as I've said, of extreme quality. Nothing is forced as in that hyped Avatar. There is no ghosting, and sometimes you think the debris is going to hit you in the face. That, plus few instances of tools floating around, are the most intense 3D moments and that's the way it should be. 3D is a tool, not a purpose. I could compare the suspense with the graph of global warming. It goes up and down, up and down, but overall, it's going up. The characters are constantly in a struggle for survival with certain pauses, but it only gets worse. Most people would cry in despair if they can't get home. The acting is really amazing and I think Bullock should get an Oscar for this. She managed to take a character from the script and turn it into a real, simple woman who is just loosing it as she gradually goes to a kind of psychosis because of the huge stress involved. Clooney was too Hollywood, but maybe it's because his persona is stuck with such image IRL. I'm not sure if this was his intention, but I'd say he really could've done this with less "cool". The situation the characters are in is grave danger. It's death coming through the door, and he's all super rational and shows no fear even after his "jetpack" is empty. That is not what would happen with real people, but ok, it's not a big deal. Sometimes his behaviour is like a slight comic relief which adds a new hill in the whole rollercoaster. One thing that was really impossible are all the stars in the sky. Even when the Sun is in view (and it's a bit yellow, which is not the actual case because it's white), you can see lots of stars. I think Cuarón wanted to leave the stars in order to give the audience a sense of motion. We can't experience tumbling, so if we see only black sky, it's not a big deal. With stars, it can give you a sense of disorientation, just like dr. Stone experiences. The sounds are almost entirely physically accurate. No bull**** from the trailers. Honestly, you don't hear anything but them talking, and occasional dull thump, which is sound transmitted through the suit when they impact the station. This alone lifts Gravity towards the peak where Odyssey 2001 is at. Oh, and the music. You hear the soundtrack which purpose is to freak you out. So there is lots of silence, but also lots of loud and powerful sound to kick your ears in the nuts. The enormous hate towards Bullock in youtube comments is completely unjustified. The whole movie is not "her screaming and gasping". Her character is not well developed as in usual Hollywood movies only because there are not much opportunities for that to happen, but when they occur, we see that she is a very sad person. Indeed, the movie is a metaphor for her transformation. It's simply a masterpiece. I must say that the script is highly exaggerated in the terms of the actual danger in orbit. Kessler syndrome is blow out of every proportion because it happens in a very short time, and its efficiency is absolutely fantastic. In reality, it would take a considerable amount of time before one orbit is ruined. If by any means you have access to IMAX 3D and enough money, go. This movie will enter history and try to make yourself a part of it. I've spent quite a bit of money to to this, and I don't regret it at all. In fact, I'm going to see it again in a regular 3D cinema because it's just so awesome. After me and my buddy went home, I got to play KSP on his awesome computer. All details on high, and there was no visible loss of framerate. I've never seen Kerbin looking so lovely before. So I had a great time yesterday. I will write a review using this post, probably at imdb.com.

I'm still quite puzzled by this, because he made the request and I agreed both publicly and privately to abide by his request. I still maintain I will respect his request, and have not deviated from this statement. I also statde that with certain licenses, the community (and not just myself) can clearly see what they have a right to do. If you don't like people doing things with your stuff, put on a more restrictive license. The flipside of the coin you presented above is that a game developer can do what EA did when Sims 2/3 modders were throwing lawyer letters at each other. If you want to research their new EULA wording, feel free. These licenses are useless in granting rights if these rights are unable to be exercised. "But I have freedom of speech!" -> "Except if you want to talk." If anyone cares to start a thread on the appropriate forum, I'll respond better there.

false ? (does mechjeb count?) the user below likes all the talk of bronies

False, i see what you did there the user below me is annoyed by all this talk of bronies.

One of the things that I feel SQUAD should be focusing more on is development and refinement of gameplay. I know that Harv came out a few updates ago to talk about "development asymptotes", using them as reason to put gameplay development on the backburner while Career mode is worked on. But while Career mode is supposedly being worked on, KSP's gameplay has become very stale for me. I have come to think that Squad moved from gameplay development before it was really finished. This is illustrated by the modding situation that has developed around KSP for me. Every time the game is updated, I have to spend time updating and reinstalling mods that I use to make the game playable for me. They're not parts packs, they're plugins that fix some aspects of KSP that I believe are broken/could be improved. Some mods, like the Docking HUD and Navball Enhancer, should be stock. There is absolutely no reason why these mods couldn't be integrated into the base game, and they help improve some of the more bare-bones aspects of KSP. Another mod that I believe should be made stock, or at least certain parts of it, is Ferram Aerospace. It addresses some of the basic problems with stock drag, like how leaving the ends of your rocket flat, without nosecones, is more efficient than rounding them off aerodynamically; like how a cylindrical stack of six fuel tanks has the drag of six fuel tanks rather than the drag of just one, i.e. parts at the front of your craft don't block the drag of parts directly behind them; like how spacecraft come screaming in on re-entry at thousands of m/s, only to suddenly stop at 7,000 meters because the atmosphere suddenly turns to maple syrup. There are additional problems with the physics system, like how little stiffness there is between connections. While it may be funny to have your rocket jiggle back and forth like a pe-piece of spaghetti it becomes much more frustrating when your aircraft keeps rolling to the left because of a bizarre bug involving connection strength and the order you laid your parts down! While there are many, many more problems I could whine about, I suspect most people skipped the wall of text above. So my basic gripe is this: SQUAD moved on from Gameplay development to work on Career mode, which I think is a bad move because; 1, There are many more basic bugs to fix involving basic gameplay elements, as well as multiple small gameplay improvements (*cough* DOCKING HUD *cough*), that could drastically improve the quality of the game; and 2, because Career mode elements appear to be wasting massive amounts of Squad's time and money while the gameplay withers in Career Mode's shadow. P.S: What happened to IVA? I was really excited when it came out in .15, but right now it's one of the most under utilized features of the game. Not only do a few cockpits still lack IVA, but it has no other purpose but to provide a cool first-person view. It needs more functionality, e.g. more instruments, more things to click that do cool stuff, cameras that you can place on your craft that can provide a live view of the cool stuff happening, etc, etc. Also, what happened to ClairaLyrae? She was apparently hired a few updates back, but has never appeared in any KSP Weekly's, dev blog updates, random posts, etc. and is always listed as "developer on leave"? I was excited at seeing some of her parts pack make it in but all we've gotten are the cylindrical tanks and a few adapters...

THSS I love but I havn't been using it's parts lately so thought I might leave it out to save RAM, same goes for IR just so rarely use it, LLL doesn't fit the look I'm aiming for. But anyways this turned into a hijack I apologize, lets talk about KASPAR

Ekranoplans aren't boats, they're flying machines. They rely on 2 aerodynamic effects not present I KSP (ground effect and upper surface-blowing) to enable their stub wings to lift their large bodies up into the air. So, I'd think Ferram (maker of FAR) would be the guy to talk to about Ekranoplans . In the meantime, however, you can make something that you can pretend is an Ekranoplan. It's really a boat because it's always on the water, never flying, but it LOOKS somewhat like an Ekranoplan. Make a seaplane using the Firespitter pontoons but give it wings too small to actually fly. Such a thing can scoot across the water and be controllable at up to about 125m/s, but any faster and the pontoons fail. Like this:

Honor the history of the Soviet space, but by the way we talk about the space race, but not to this day: the space race of the USSR - USA 1-0, Lunar race of the USSR - USA 1:1 P.S. People will still be landing on other celestial bodies, but the first voice heard by the universe, Russian.

No, actual politics talk is still not acceptable. I'm honestly not sure why the system got to be this way. Somehow I don't think the founding fathers intended for it to be distorted in the manner it has, and we had plenty of warning not to trust a party system in politics- despite immeadiately forming them after George Washington.

Wait. You have a dual core 1.6Ghz that can talk to people and answer your phone? Wow!

The thing about airhogging in KSP is that in KSP the intake is represented as a part, and you can clip parts on top of themselves to "hog" intake air. But of course, in real life an air intake is a *hole*, and it doesn't make any sense to talk about stacking holes on top of each other.

I have two questions: I have heard talk of using nuclear power? Say what? Where is this in the game? Is it a mod? Have I already asked more than two questions?!?! My second question relates to the science equipment. Whats the deal with it? Is it for later upgrades to the game or is there a functionality that I have yet to figure out? I can turn them on but thats about it...any explanation would be appreciated!

Well, then, don't talk about politics. But the NASA Web site suddenly going down just seems to be a case of somebody being a dick. There's no reason the computer couldn't keep running and serving the site. It runs all the time without constant intervention needed unless the content changes. Do they think the power company is suddenly going to switch off the electricity to their machine? Get real.

Ever wondered what those little balls of condensation are floating up in the sky? Sometimes they look similar to remnants of a kontrail.. It has been heard by few in the corners of the VAB, the talk of kemtrails. That 'they are' trying to make kerbals more courageous and stupid.

So since starting my new job, my KSP time has been zilch. Last night, I hopped back in the seat and noticed a lander on the moon. Huh, where'd that come from? Oh cr**, I forgot Dunlan! After putting his ship back in Munar orbit and transferring back to Kerbin, I noticed that his ship was strangely lacking any parachutes. Oops. After some quick calculations (Hmmm, it *should* reach my space station) and a pep talk to a very scared Dunlan, I managed to rendezvous with the KSS and space-walked the little Kerbal that could over to the safety of the station. I then put his sorry little craft into a decaying orbit. Emboldened by the seat-of-the pants mission, Jeb hopped into my latest 1-kerbal lander and flew off to Minmus to poke a flag in its minty green surface. Here he is watching the sun rise:

Yes, another BSC thread! Love the designs so far. Lot of diversity in size - I'm not sure what the most true-to-Ravenspear Mk1 design will look like. To my mind, the Ravenspears are all about learning how to fly at high altitude. They need to be a little scarier than the Aeris 3a, more like the MIG-25. One turbojet won't cut it, and two are flameout hell, so I went with 3 - and the rest followed (with some inspiration from brobel's finalist design last time. The key is the rudder placement, to give strong control authority and let newbies learn to control and recover from flameouts, safe in the knowledge that they don't have to go to space today. Enough talk! The Ravenspjaar Mk1 Fairly beefy, as training for larger / heavier SSTOs. Three turbojets for blistering speed. Slightly inward-angled jets and double-canard rudders give plenty of flameout forgiveness Combination canard / large control surface give plenty of pitch authority, without too much roll 2:1 intake ratio - no spam! 20 minutes flying time - no round-the-world flights! No cubic struts, modest "legal" partclipping. ~50 parts. 3-2-1 turbojet toggle action groups allow newbies to learn how to feather turbojets at high altitude Easy to fly - handsfree takeoff, front brake disabled, automatic ladder-on-parking-brake activation Lights for that midnight glow >> .craft file here <<

The interview with Mu starts at 25 minutes into episode 3 (if you want to skip ahead to it). [Edit] 31:40 if you want to skip straight to the optimization part of the talk.

Some kids just like to see the world burn XD But no, just me when I play KSP. I even try not to talk about it too much to my girlfriend while playing (we skype) because she gets pissy

Did the devs talk about this analog in the last stream? The idea sounds pretty damn cool

+2. I grasp the concepts of what people talk about on here, but the mathematics behind it are way above my head.

I managed to talk with Majiir, and the inner workings of the Kethane mod, basically require that the resource in question have a density that is greater then zero(>0) go into the GameData\Warpplugin\Parts\Resources\ResourcesNuclear.cfg and change the density entry to Antimatter to this: RESOURCE_DEFINITION { name = Antimatter density = [COLOR="#FF0000"][b]0.000972[/b][/color] flowMode = STACK_PRIORITY_SEARCH transfer = PUMP } Also if you want to, change your Deuterium entry to make them match RESOURCE_DEFINITION { name = Deuterium density = [COLOR="#FF0000"][b]0.000972[/b][/color] flowMode = STACK_PRIORITY_SEARCH transfer = PUMP } Now Kethane can be used to plug into the resource system for this mod. Kethane is like Voltron, the more you hook up to it, the better it gets... -Ãâ€

Oh man I absolutely love these types of threads. Sit back because I'm about to attempt to remember all my missions/programs/crafts/scapped designs since I first began... At least based on screenshots and current craft in my game's files.... So here's how I'm going to lay it out. The mission will have a bold title, with each sub-craft or sub-section being color-coded based on its status. Here are the color codes: Planned Design/Future Mission In Active Service/Mission Currently Underway In Testing Phase Decommissioned/Phased Out Completed Mission Abandoned Project/Scrapped Design Mission Did Not Achieve All Goals -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archernar Grand Tour Project Archernar-I Arcturus Project Arcturus-I Duna Surface Rover Apogee Mun Program (We don't talk about Apogee...) Apogee Ultra-Light Mun Lander Callisto Eve Program Callisto-I Low-Eve-Orbital Probe Tortuga-II/R Surface Rover Project BrightStar BrightStar I Low Kerbin Orbit Station Embarker Mission Embarker-I Mun Surface Rover Embarker-II Mun Surface Rover Embarker-III Minmus Surface Rover Long-Term Exoplanetary Exploration Project HEV-HAB MegaRover MEG-HAB MegaRover MEG-STRUCT Mega Rover Nautilus-I Massive Surface Rover Iasillo Joolian Orbit Mission Iasillo-I Jool-Plunge-Map I KerbLab Mun Station KerbLab One KerbLab Two KerbLab Three Munar Atmosphere and Lack of Environment Exploration (MALEE) Project Knieval-I Ultra-Low Orbit Probe Pioneer Unmanned Mun Mission Exploration Landers (PUMMEL) Project Pioneer I Mainstay Mun Lander Pioneer II Mini Mun Lander Pioneer III Mini Mun Lander Pioneer IV Mini Mun Lander Pioneer V Mini Mun Lander Project Polark Polark I Low Kerbin Orbit Station Unity One Wyvern-I Manned Mun Surface Lander Serenity One Serenity Base Outpost The Oasis Microstation Project Oasis-I Oasis-II Oasis-III Kerbin Air-filled BallOOn Manned Mission (KABOOMM) Balloonigan I Balloonigan II Balloonigan III Balloonigan IV Balloonigan V Balloonigan VI Beryllium Project Bluerock Sub-Orbital Manned Capsule Denebola SSTO Project X-1 Jolly Rancher Project Stability Stability-9 Low Kerbin Orbit Station Tuxaedo Grand Tour Mission NVMSS Tuxaedo Nexus Intelligent Systems, Incorporated: Aerospace Division: Design House Pegasus-15 Kitten-I Multi Purpose Unmanned Rover Kitten-II Multi Purpose Unmanned Rover Kitten-III Multi Purpose Unmanned Rover Kitten-III/C Multi Purpose Unmanned Rover OBS-Base Core System Yoonyte-I SRV Kerbcon-9/Wyvern J-L336-8 AstroDuck JR-MFUN Rover Flame Burner X-5 STOL LAX-1 Doodlebug RMK4-Oxen Orbital Tug Nexus Intelligent Systems, Incorporated: Aerospace Division: Commission of Unified and Streamlined Tactics for Applied Rocket Design (CUSTARD) Regulus I/AP - .625m Transfer Tug Regulus I/XP - .625m Transfer Tug, Extended Range Regulus II/AP - 1.25m Transfer Tug Regulus II/XP - 1.25m Transfer Tug, Extended Range Regulus III/AP - 2.5m Transfer Tug Regulus III/XP - 2.5m Transfer Tug, Extended Range Regulus V EX375 - 3.75m Transfer Tug for 2.5m Payloads Regulus C Block 4 - 2.5m Crew/Support Module Carrying 4 Crew Regulus C Block 8 - 2.5m Crew/Support Module Carrying 8 Crew Regulus C Block 16 - 2.5m Crew/Support Module Carrying 16 Crew Eclipse I - Light Satellite Bus Eclipse II - Medium Satellite Bus Eclipse III - Heavy Satellite Bus Aldebaran I - .625m Load Balanced Orbital Tug Aldebaran II - 1.25m Load Balanced Orbital Tug Aldebaran III - 2.5m Load Balanced Orbital Tug Aldebaran III/S - 2.5m Load Balanced Orbital Tug, With Adapted 1.25m Port Umbra I - Single-Seat Open-Cockpit Vacuum Surface Lander Umbra I/C - Dual-Seat Open-Cockpit Vacuum Surface Lander Umbra II - Single-Seat Closed-Cockpit Vacuum Surface Lander Umbra III - Dual-Seat Closed-Cockpit Vacuum Surface Lander Umbra IV - Quad-Seat Closed-Cockpit Vacuum Surface Lander Umbra V - 16-Seat Closed-Cockpit Vacuum Surface Lander Penumbra I - Single-Seat Closed-Cockpit Staged Surface Lander Penumbra II - Dual-Seat Closed-Cockpit Staged Surface Lander Penumbra III - Tri-Seat Closed-Cockpit Staged Surface Lander W/Ion System Equinox I - Single-Seat Heavy Return Lander Equinox II - Dual-Seat Heavy Return Lander Equinox III - Tri-Seat Heavy Return Lander Gala - Single-Seat OTV Nautilus - Tri-Seat OTV Kraken - Quad-Seat OTV Starshot I - Lightweight Sounding Rocket Starshot II - Heavier Sounding Rocket Archer I - Light Satellite Lifter W/Integrated NTR Stage Archer II - Medium Satellite Lifter W/Integrated NTR Stage Archer III - Heavy Satellite Lifter W/Integrated NTR Stage Compass I - Light Serially-Staged Manned Rocket Compass II - Medium Serially-Staged Manned Rocket Beltar I - Probe Launcher Beltar II - Probe Launcher W/Integrated NTR Stage Beltar III - General Purpose Medium Heavy Lifter Betelgeuse II - General Purpose Heavy Lifter Betelgeuse III - General Purpose Super Heavy Lifter Betelgeuse III Block D - General Purpose Medium Lifter Betelgeuse V - General Purpose Manned Heavy Lifter Betelgeuse X - General Purpose Ultra Heavy Lifter Betelgeuse M - General Purpose Fully Reuseable Heavy Lifter The Betelgeuse Project (Joint Project with CUSTARD) Betelgeuse I - General Purpose Super Heavy Lifter (Experimental Proof-Of-Concept) Betelgeuse I Delta Heavy - General Purpose Super Heavy Lifter (Experimental Prototype) Betelgeuse II - General Purpose Heavy Lifter Betelgeuse III - General Purpose Super Heavy Lifter Betelgeuse III Block D - General Purpose Medium Lifter Betelgeuse V - General Purpose Manned Heavy Lifter Betelgeuse X - General Purpose Ultra Heavy Lifter Betelgeuse M - General Purpose Fully Reuseable Heavy Lifter (Based On Betelgeuse II) So, as you can see, I've done quite a bit of missions and design work, yet I still have a ton of design work ahead of me that I've laid out for myself. CUSTARD is currently my biggest undertaking, attempting to make some really good spacecraft based on the few mods I have installed.

1. You come to her and ask her: "Would you like to go to the cinema with me?" with a calm expression of your face. It might sound stupid, but that's it. The wisdom is there. No need to make things more complicated than that. 2. Don't be a jerk, listen to her. Lots of talk and, if you're of legal age, lots of good, uninhibited sex. If you're in a highschool, it would be better to wait with the sex thing for some time. Don't rush these things just for the sake of bragging. That's stupid.

Yes, I saw that. Which is why I can't figure out what that has to do with what you said about performance, since none of that is computationally expensive. Ah. You're comparing the suggestion that had been stated to a different suggestion that existed in your head but hadn't been stated up to that point so we had no way of seeing that that's what you meant. That makes more sense. I thought you were saying the suggestion was worse than what exists NOW, which is no checking ahead of time either in game or out of game. And THAT is not true. Pre-checking syntax does not take longer - it merely shifts the time burden earlier. If it takes time T to parse a typical line of code, and you have 10 lines in a program, pre-parsing just means that all of that wait time of 10*T happens before line 1 executes, compared to doing parsing like it is now where it happens on the fly, where each statement takes time T per line, for a total that still adds up to 10*T by the end of the program. Now, if you talk about statements in a loop, then not only is pre-parsing not slower, but it is in fact actually FASTER. An on-the-fly parser interprets the syntax of a loop's body each time the loop executes. An up-front parser does the parsing work on the loop body just once no matter how many times the loop executes. Your claim that editing on the launchpad is not practical I agree with. But it has no place in a discussion about whether or not the comments should be counted toward program size, or a discussion about whether the Mod performing pre-parsing would affect performance. And those two things were what the suggestion was about. The advantage to pre-parsing the code is that it finds syntax errors in code whether it gets executed or not, rather than waiting until it is executed to find the errors. When there's if-conditions that trigger only some of the time, that matters. You can write code to respond to an exception case and never realize it has a syntax error until the exception case happens and the on-the-fly parser finally gets around to trying to read it. I suspect that if it ever does switch to using a parser generator tool, it will end up having pre-parsing anyway, as that's how most of them work. They build a grammar tree and then you iterate through the grammar tree executing things as you visit the nodes.

CHAPTER 32 GOING HOME *** SID: :humming: NED: Please stop that. SID: Sorry. JEB: Don't worry, we're all nervous. NED: I still think that the voting shouldn't be secret. We're all like a family after these two years, so why the secret voting? We had to use pages from your notebook Jeb – it's just plain silly. JEB: It's my decision, okay? This way we can avoid unnecessary tension, whatever the result will be. SID: :humming: NED: Whatever. I'm just glad that we're finally going to decide what we – WILL YOU PLEASE STOP?! SID: I'm sorry, I'm sorry! JEB: :sigh: NED: Dammit, this waiting is killing me. DANREY: I think it's kinda funny. You know, that we had to use pieces of paper and waste bag as a ballot box. NED: It's a good metaphor actually. Why do we even play in this whole democracy thing? Jeb is the commander and he should- JEB: Johndon! Do you have the results? JOHNDON: Y-yes. Every m-member of the crew has cast his v-vote. NED: Finally! So, what are the results? JOHNDON: I h-have them here. Here you are, J-Jeb. JEB: Thanks. Hmm. SID: And? JEB: Number of votes is correct… NED: Just tell us! JEB: We're going home. NED: Yes! Yes, yes, yes! DANREY: Well, I have to admit it's good to at last get this over with. JOHNDON: I g-guess… NED: 8 votes for Kerbin! And only 3 for continuing the mission – I wonder who voted for this? I mean, besides you Sid. SID: I don't know. JEB: Well, it's done. Go tell the rest of the crew. We have several days to finish our preparations for the transfer burn. NED: Sure thing. Hey, guys! I have a good news! JEB: Sid, could you wait for a second? SID: What is it? JEB: I want to talk in private, so… DANREY: We're going – come on, Johndon. (…) SID: So what is it? JEB: Three votes for Jool. I'm sure as hell that Mallock and Genanand voted for it after they spent almost half a year on Duna. I suspect that Jonhdon also voted for it, considering what he has been saying during the last weeks and his reaction now. SID: And? JEB: Mallock, Genenand, Johndon and you – this is four people. Why did you vote for Kerbin, Sid? SID: … JEB: Damn, you really did vote for aborting the mission, didn't you? Why? You were the biggest advocate for this, you said numerous times that the scientific value- SID: I changed my mind, okay? JEB: The hell you did. Listen, you're my best pal for what, a quarter of century? I know when something's wrong, Sid. What is it? SID: … JEB: Does it have something to do with Duna? Or Rozer? Or this derelict spacecraft? SID: No. JEB: Are you sure? There's nothing you should tell me about? http://youtu.be/nOyIO8CW0jo SID: No. JEB: Look me in the eyes and say that- SID: There's nothing you should know about. Can I go now? JEB: … SID: Jeb? JEB: Yes. Go. *** Commander's log, entry 75. Honestly I don't know whether I should be happy with the result or not. I voted for returning to home – it was the only choice for me as a commander responsible for his crew. The horror we three experienced while investigating joolian moons cannot be repeated. We can't go there, at least not now. We're all tired after living almost two years in space. I'm not a psychiatrist but I'm worried about the mental condition of the crew in the long run – some of us didn't set a foot on a celestial body for months. I think that after a short stop in Kerbin we'll be in a much better condition to investigate Jool and its dominion. Even thinking about the blue sky above you and being able to go wherever you want… Plus we really need to resupply – I don't even want to think what could happen if the AMU 2.0 fails while we're there. These are fine reasons to come back but somehow I'm not entirely convinced that this is a good solution. Maybe it's the Sid's strange behavior? Whatever the reason, I'm glad the decision has finally been made. Despite of what future will bring, we're going home. *** JEB: Is this the best resolution we can get? BERTY v.2.0.8b: I'm processing the image from the Duna Space Telescope as we speak, commander. JEB: Mhm. Please magnify it as much as you can. BERTY v.2.0.8b: Affirmative. Commander? JEB: Yes? BERTY v.2.0.8b: It's been one year and 357 days since we've left the low Kerbin orbit. For this whole time, unlike the rest of the crew, you weren't interested in multimedia packages containing imagery from Kerbin, yet now you want me to recalibrate the Duna Space Telescope so you could take a close look at it. This is an interesting change and I'm curious what's the cause of it. JEB: Well, it's, uhm, it's hard to explain BERTY. BERTY v.2.0.8b: Is it because you miss your life on Kerbin? Strong feeling of loss has been observed in kerbonauts who experienced prolonged isolation while in space. JEB: Not really. There's nothing for me back there. I've given my whole life to our space program and there probably won't be a greater challenge for a pilot than what this mission poses. It's just that living for so long in space you stop to think about its darkness as something hostile and extraordinary. You forget that and than the darkness inside you grows, if I may be a little poetic. It's this- BERTY v.2.0.8b: Image processing completed. JEB: … BERTY v.2.0.8b: You didn't finish the sentence, Jeb. JEB: Hmm? Yes, yes. Well, if you get accustomed to being here, alone and exposed to the vast Universe, you just… loose yourself, I think. It's good, from time to time, to look back and see the light. Even such a tiny spark suspended in darkness… BERTY v.2.0.8b: Commander, chief Ned asks for you presence during the engine B test. JEB: Tell him I'm going. BERTY v.2.0.8b: Affirmative. JEB: Such a small pale dot… *** NED: Hey Jeb, I need to you to – what are you doing? JEB: Hmm? Oh, nothing, just looking at Duna. NED: Well, you better take a good look at this rock 'cause tomorrow we're finally going out of here. JEB: Yes... You think that is a right thing to do? NED: Hey, the people have spoken – who am I to question their choice? JEB: Come on, Ned. NED: What do you want me to say? I'll repeat myself but what the hell – this is the best decision a responsible leader could take in our situation and I mean it. I'm glad that everyone has agreed with this and that you didn't have to, you know, use your authority. It's a good choice, Jeb – we can't continue like this, without knowing what's waiting for us, not to mention Rozer still on board. It's been two years. We've done great work, if anyone asks me, and we deserve a little break. In my humble opinion if the KSC won't tell us what's really going on they can shove it and do the mission by themselves. Am I right? JEB: Yeah, you probably are. NED: Sure I am. Come on, there's work to do. I swear to Kod, in the last few days you are almost as melancholic as after Bob's dea- JEB: … NED: I'm sorry. JEB: No, you're right – I've to put myself together. Tomorrow is big day, after all. NED: Yup - we're finally going home. *** BILL: …online and the pressure in inflatable modules is nominal. All acceleration couches are operational. Everything's good on my side, Jeb. JEB: Okay, everything's been double-checked by us, so I think we are ready BERTY. BERTY v.2.0.8b: Affirmative. Beginning countdown. BILL: Huh. JEB: What? BILL: Nothing. We're just really going. JEB: Yeah. BILL: But not everyone is going with us. JEB: Well, they will get supplies from Kerbin soon and they're working on Duna, every scientist's paradise. Hell, they'll probably have better food than we on our way to home. BILL: Ha, good point. I don't think I could handle another year of processed urine and rehydratable scrambled eggs. BERTY v.2.0.8b: Transfer burn initiates in 45 seconds. JEB: It could be worse – you remember what they gave us during Apollo? BILL: Oh please, I'll never forget this crappy taste. What was it called again? JEB: Wetpacks! BILL: Yeah, right. Remember what they were saying about it? “Thermally stabilized mean in a flexible can, you're gonna love itâ€Â. Yuck. And the chocolate pudding? Do you remember chocolate pudding? JEB: It tasted like diarrhea. BERTY v.2.0.8b: Transfer burn initiates in 30 seconds. BILL: And it looked like one! JEB: And what about Gemini? Shrimp cocktail, my Kod – and then after eating this you had to withstand several gees during the reentry. What genius came up with this idea? BILL: Eh, it was good all right. Spoon bowl, remember this? JEB: Ugh, this was disgusting! BILL: Yes it was! From the three of us I think only Bob enjoyed it. JEB: Yeah... BERTY v.2.0.8b: Transfer burn initiates in 15 seconds. BILL: … JEB: … BERTY v.2.0.8b: Transfer burn initiates in 10 seconds. BILL: Jeb, we- JEB: Let's just focus on the burn for now, okay? BILL: Sure. BERTY v.2.0.8b: Transfer burn initiates in 5 seconds. Please prepare for the acceleration. JEB: Copy that, BERTY. BERTY v.2.0.8b: Transfer burn initiated. *** BERTY v.2.0.8b: Transfer burn completed. Calculating estimated time of the encounter. BILL: And that's about it. JEB: Mhm. Few minutes of work and again months of inactivity. BILL: Just like I told you before the Mun – the best job in the world. JEB: :smiles: BILL: I'm going to get some sleep - are you coming? JEB: In a moment, I'll just wait for BERTY to finish the calculations. BILL: Okay. See you in the habitat module. (…) BERTY v.2.0.8b: Commander. JEB: Yes? Are the calculations completed? BERTY v.2.0.8b: Affirmative. Estimated time of the encounter is T plus 318 days 21 hours and 51 minutes. JEB: That's grea- what? Three hundred days? But it takes two months to go home from Duna! BERTY v.2.0.8b: This is a correct estimation, commander. JEB: So how come it can take 5 times longer? BERTY v.2.0.8b: I'm afraid we're not going to Kerbin, Jeb. *** MISSION STATUS ***