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Success! You know what was the problem with Soyuz? All the bloody time I was running with an overweight 3rd stage! And why's that? I forgot to account for the cargo decoupler when setting stage mass. It turned out that it had mass of 1.5, which made the whole rocket weight one ton too much. Strangely, I didn't forgot about this when setting Soyuz ST decoupler mass (it massed 0.5). With this removed, you actually need to shut 3rd stage down early, because the equatorial orbit is so much more effecient. If you burn it to depletion, you might end up with something silly like 200x800 orbit. Also, Asmi, disregard the PM I sent you. Everything's fine now, though you're still free to play around with the ascent. So, without much further ado: Soyuz-TMA v.1.0, real scale. The configs are a drop-in replacement for BobCat's configs and require the latest Soviet Pack to work. The Soyuz uses MFT, Ioncross Crew Support, Engine Ignitor, Deadly Reentry, MechJeb2 (looking to switch to kOS in the near future), FAR and KJR. http://www./download/5n8zad99915c6d1/SovietPack.zip Also, here are the modified configs for Ioncross. They include basic food and water support. Drop-in replacement, like before. Mind you, this wasn't really tested on a prolonged mission. http://www./download/98titbm0yihj89c/IoncrossForReal.zip To launch the Soyuz, set Ap to about 250km and turn end to the same altitude. Turn start should be at 0.5km, with the grade being 35%. Disable autostaging. Jettison boosters when empty, jettison SAS (press "1") and fairings after passing the edge of second thickest atmosphere layer. Just before 2nd stage burnout (Ap should be 200-220km, you could tweak it), disable autopilot and drop the nose to the horizon. Engage 3rd ("2") stage just before MECO. After jettisoning the 2nd stage, remember to stage again to activate 3rd stage gimbal and jettison it's engine fairing. After you pass the Ap (stage still burning), pitch up slightly (5 or so degrees) so that Ap stops to rise. Cut off the 3rd stage when Pe is at the altitude you want it on. After that, stage and deploy the Soyuz ("3"). Congratulations, you made orbit. Fun, wasn't it? Future plans (in no particular order): kOS implementation. I kind of hope to write multiple ascent programs for various orbits and maybe rendezvous programs to simulate the Kurs docking system. The real Soyuz works that way. Turbopump simulation. This Soyuz is slightly overpowered, because I didn't simulate the H2O2 load that drives the turbopump on the real thing nor the N2 for tank pressurization. I'll try to implement that in a future release. Spacecraft improvements. Currently, Soyuz spacecraft needs a few tweaks, most notably to it's attitude control and electrical systems. I'll get to that eventually, but I need a few additional models for this. Also, it's main engine isn't really throttleable, but instead has 3 modes with different thrusts and Isps. MFT can simulate that, so I'll try to do it. Soyuz-U2. I'll need to talk to Nathan about that, but since the only difference here is propellant (Synthin vs. RP-1), it should be easy to make the Soyuz configurable as either U or U2. We'll see about that. Fregat. I wanted to release this version without further delay, so Fregat is out for the time being. It'll be back. Pre-flight. It takes about 20 seconds to spool up the engines, but I've got mixed feelings about it. It requires a fueling tower anyway, so unless we can simulate that, it's pointless. Far-future plans: Other Soyuz variants. Possible, although I'll need to master kOS first, since Igla is a very complex docking system that requires the target to be cooperative, because early Soyuzes had very unbalanced RCS. Rest of the Soviet pack+MrTheBull's additions. Proton, N1, MIR, Luna... There's a few things I'd like to do. The N1, an overengineered, half-classified beast that it is, will probably take forever, so don't hold your breath dor that. But Proton's possible, along with Luna-17. For Buran and Kliper, I'll probably need Ferram to do anything at all.

Plasma engine powered designs are too greatly affected by heat. I can see the very obvious reason for this, with the lack of thermal energy venting. However, I don't think the addition of heat mechanics contributes to good gameplay. When the weight of your heatsinks exceeds the weight of your reactor, then something has gone wrong somewhere. Also, heatsinks of any kind are ugly and contribute to part count. There is also talk of fast atmospheric jets but I am just not seeing them. Nor am I seeing working examples of any kind of ship. That is pretty telling in and of itself but let's go back to the jets. You would think a jet powered by an antimatter reactor would be able to reach at least mach 2 speeds in the lower atmosphere but that seems to be a stretch right now. Before - on .5.something the turbojets would put out a few thousand kn of thrust on one of my designs and it would seem to be a good amount of thrust but I really was not impressed even then. Now it seems like the engines have been nerfed further and they are 100% useless now, putting out only a few hundred kn of thrust. If there is a combination with high thrust now, it is certainly way too large to fit on a fighter craft. The trouble with the thermal rockets is they need this massive stacked assembly to work, necessitating the design of your ship in a certain way. It would be nice to see remote antimatter tanks able to feed the reactors to reduce the overall length. Also, all the other configurations below the heaviest antimatter reactor are useless. To summarize: DT Vista - working great Plasma - too much trouble with heat Thermal rocket - too large and heavy Thermal turbojet - too poor thrust and isp My main point is not to make the game easier, but to open up possibilites that are being restricted right now. For example: a plasma powered SSTO (restricted by heat), thermal rocket VTOL (restricted by size), or a thermal turbojet interceptor (restricted by thrust).

I would just like to add these two videos: Visual representation of what's been discovered And some PR talk from Administrator Bolden about it BTW is this a southern accent?

The rocket was assembled and the Munar Test Rover "Daisy Runner I" was set firmly on its nose. Test engineer (on approval) TE (oa) Neilcan Kerman checked the last technical issues. His colleague Friedrich Wilhelm Kerman, rocket scientist, sat ready for test mission control. "Daisy Runner I" was designed as a 4 wheeled munar vehicle with extensive scientific instrumentation, a broad windowed cockpit and a small habitation module for extended stay in hostile environments. TE (oa) N. Kerman and RS F. W. Kerman did chose a 3-Staged Murania IV rocket for the test flight, with a probe controlled landing stage for the stability test. Primary goal was to figure out flight stability and achieve LKO (low kerbin orbit) with the construction. Lift off was planned for 23:16 local time. I designed a rover for exploration on Mun. To get it off ground I attached a intermediate probe controlled stage and a three staged Saturn V like rocket. To test the design, I intended to do a unmanned flight just to achieve orbit, then discard the vessel. TE(oa): Friedrich, all systems nominal. Mission Control: Copy, Neil, ignition procedure initiated. TE(oa): SAS enabled, vents open, fuel flow nominal. Mission Control: Ignition in, 10..., 9..., 8..., 7..., 6..., 5..., 4..., 3..., 2..., 1..., Ignition The rumble of the 5 mainsails let Neils coffee cup hop around slightly. Mission Control: Lift off, Daisy Runner I on its way. Tipping south by 2, rolling at 0.5 per minute, speed 15..., 29..., 30..., 42..., 71... TE(oa): Vessel stable, heading 92, horizon at 87, height 2275 and increasing. Mission Control: Acceleration nominal, struts nominal, structure nominal, speed 145..., 175..., 190... TE(oa): Remaining stage 1 burn time, 20..., 18..., 16..., 14... Mission Control: Height 12450, heading 91, horizon at 45, speed 245 TE(oa): Stage 1 burnout in 5..., 4..., 3..., 2..., 1... Mainsails off. Mission Control: Separation - check. Ignition Stage 2 -check. Heading 90, height 15561, horizon at 43, speed 282 and increasing. Jebediah: WOOOOOOOHooooooOOOOOOO!!!! On staging to the 2nd, I realized, that I forgot to remove Jeb from the crew list in VAB. Great job, Kia. For a second, I really thought, oh ****, what have I done. The whole design was totally untested, I didn't know, if fuel was enough, dV was OK, staging was correct and so on. It was a TEST in career mode. And now Jeb was on board. TE(oa): Erm. What? Mission Control: Was tht Jeb? Jebediah: YEEEEEHaaaAAAAAA! TE(oa): JEB! YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE IN YOUR QUARTERS SLEEPING! Mission Control: Heigth 22k, horizon at 25, speed 440 over surface and increasing. TE(oa): Abort! Abort! Mission Control: Aborting... Jebediah: Sirs, abort sequence aborted. *giggling* Mission Control: Aborting is red. TE(oa): Wait! Wait! WAIT, WAIT WAIT! Jebediah: Oh! I love the stars. Really. Mission Control: Height 40254, speed 651, heading 90, horizon 2, burnout stage 2 in 34 Jebediah: More throttle! TE(oa): Need a snack... Mission Control: Leaving Atmo in 15..., 10..., 5..., 4..., 3..., 2..., 1... TE(oa): Oh no. Jebediah: Can someone stop rolling? I want to have a look on this island. TE(oa): He is just crazy... Mission control: Stage 2 separated, ignition of stage 3... Jebediah: Whaaaam! TE(oa): Mission Control, do we have orbit? Do we? Please orbit somehow? Mission Control: Orbit 102.320 in 7..., 5..., 3..., 2..., 1... Orbit check. Engine shutdown - check. TE(oa): Jeb? Jebediah: I can see the mun! TE(oa) JEB? What are you doing? At this point I decided to go for it. Jeb was on board, in Orbit, I had fuel left, and the Mun was in a quite good position for transfer. So no risk, no fun. Mission control: Daisy Runner is changing heading. TE(oa): I. Can. See. This. Jeb, what are you doing, copy? Jebediah: To the Mun! Mission control: This is going to be troubles with the director. For sure. Jebediah: Engine activated... throttle... YEAH! Cool machine, you made there Neilcan! TE(oa): Please Jeb, no. Mission control: Daisy Runner is doing a maneuver for a free munar return trajectory. TE(oa): The director is going to beat me through the recruiting centre... Mission control: Trajectory in 27 seconds. Jeb: There is something shaking. Where is the duct tape? TE(oa): In the Hitchiker. Jeb: OK TE(oa): YOU will not EVA while in acceleration! Jeb: *bsssssss...chsssssskkksssss...ssssssss* Mission control: This guy is dangerous. OK. It was evening, it was a long day. So I tested the ladder configuration right in the middle of the acceleration phase to the mun. I just didn't think about throttling down. Jeb: Back in again. I think the engine's running hot. It is glowing. TE(oa): *sound of a head hitting a desk* Mission control: Engine is nominal, Jeb. Jeb: Great. I am just going to fix this strut. Mission control: can you give me back vessel control? Maybe you are not able to shutdown trajectory burn on time, because you EVAed. Jeb: No problem. EVA progress nominal. *sounds of joy* TE(oa): *sounds of crying* Mission control: *sic* I ended Jebs EVA just in time to end the transfer burn. I overshot only slightly and set a course to a 63k PE on the mun's far side. Some hours later. Mission control: This is KSC for Daisy Runner I. Copy? Jeb: Jep. Mission control: Jebediah, the director is not amused. Jeb: I am. Mission control: We decided, that you land at the anomaly at the munar equator. You would ignore other orders anyway. Copy? Jeb: WOOOOHOOOO! Yes, Sir, copy, Sir. Mission control: We are now sending the data for deceleration burn, descent burn and staging information. Copy? Jeb: Okidoki. Start sending. Mission control: Start transmission.... now. Jeb: Data is coming in.... more data.... even more.... and more.... more more... transmission done. Mission control: You will be on the far side in 3 minutes. You are on your own until middle of descent. Good luck. Jeb: See you! Director: Jebediah Kerman, we will talk about that, when you are back! Jeb: Thank you for the trust in my skills, Sir! Mission Control: *sic* I started with the deceleration burn using the last fuel of the transfer stage. After that I staged to the descent stage and did fall towards the mun. On 5.000 I ignited the support thrusters on the rover to get rid of the relatively high speed. 15 Meters above ground I separated the descent stage and got the rover down with the support thrusters. I staged away the landing fuel and support thrusters shortly before touchdown. Jeb: *bsssssss...chsssssskkksssss...ssssssss* Mission control: Daisy Runner I for KSC? Jeb: *ssskchkkssssss...chkksssss...bbssbbssssss* Mission control: Daisy Runner, copy? Jeb: Hi there! Mission control: Would Mr. Jebediah Kerman please extend the antenna, for that we puny mission controllers may read the status? Jeb: Erm. OK. Mission control: Thank you.... TE(oa): Are you fine, Jeb? Jeb: Yes, Neil. Activating motors... Mission control: Jeb, Daisy Runner is nominal. Jeb: Of course it is. I landed it. Mission control: The arch crater is at 103 from your current position. Less than 5000. Jeb: I am on my way. Cool rover, Neil... very... cool... and..... fast.... TE(oa): I out. Director: Well constructed, Neilcan. Mission control: Jeb, 24 meters per second are maybe a little to fast.... Jeb: WHOOOOOOHOOOOoooOOOOO! Finally, I managed to get the daisy runner near the arch. And there Jeb did some science. Now he is waiting for a return ship. Totally unintended, but very successful mission.

But then where do we talk about video games and rule 34 and ponies.... cause IRC doesn't work too well...

You're not as likely to notice Lagrange points as you think you are. Lagrange points in reality are more stable orbits precisely because of the issues that N-Body physics bring to having stable orbits. So what's really being said is "We want N-body physics so we can get Lagrange points to solve the problems of N-body physics." Even with the EML4/EML5 "stable" Lagrange points, you're talking orbits that are stable only for millions of years, instead of orbits that are stable forever that you get in KSP. Of the five L-points in any given pair of bodies, three are inherently unstable in one axis, and the other two (and one of the first three) are in a position barely distinguishable from placing something in the same orbit as the smaller of the bodies farther ahead or behind in a patched conics system, unless the two bodies are closer in size than normal (Duna/Ike, for example), at which point the Lagrange points would be even less stable. Even the two stable points aren't as trivially accessible as you'd expect. We've found all of one asteroid caught in the SEL4/SEL5 points to date. Dust in space isn't any more common in EML4/EML5 than elsewhere, so getting captured there isn't trivial either. Of the two L-points that can't be approximated easily in a patched conics system, the main use for them is for solar observations in the case of SEL1, and stellar observations for SEL2. SEL1 makes for a nice place for solar observations because the earth never occludes the sun there and it's far enough from the earth to minimize interference from earth without being so far away to make communication difficult. SEL2 is used for stellar observations because the earth permanently occludes the sun, reducing the interference of said sun when trying to see dim items very far away. On the other hand, because the points are unstable in a full N-body system, most missions that go there are of a duration of a few years at most due to the instability of those L-points meaning that they need to do frequent station keeping. The Halo orbits people talk about using in the unstable Sun/Earth or Sun/Kerbin L-points aren't really a stable orbit, just the orbit that required the fewest course corrections. One other thing we'd get with N-body physics would be the Interplanetary Transport Network. As nice as it would be to have, I think that this wouldn't be remotely accessible to the majority of KSP players. None of this even considers the fact that N-body physics for more than three bodies doesn't work "on rails" (in fact, it only works for three bodies if the orbit of the middle body is circular) but just as physics warp, which would break large amounts of KSP. TLDR: N-body physics, or even simplified 3/4 body physics, would eliminate anything really being "on rails" for a reward that the majority of KSP players would find difficult to take advantage of. Yes, the geek side of me wants Lagrange points, but the realist says that we don't need them, we really are saying "We want N-body physics so we can get Lagrange points to solve the problems of N-body physics."

If you buff up the LV-N to be have NERVA specs, but change nothing else, then the LV-N is basically the best engine for all stages all the time. Current engines have a reasonable balance, where no engine is always better for everything (the mainsail has too much thrust for small craft, and the Isp is low; the T30 has lower TWR; the 48-7S requires a large part count, etc). You'd have to adjust all the engines. There was talk of making the LV-N be politically difficult in KSP also; that was in the distant future where the mythical career mode was implemented. Things have progressed to where there's a career mode, though you still don't have budgets or politicians to placate.

I have been playing kerbal for a good 8 months now. Love the progress they made in the start of career mode. Even as the game is now, it is incredible. Every patch seems to make it better and better. My thoughts and concerns though are about the rate at which patches come out and the content in them and the overall gameplay ability. I am sure I will get alot of negative feedback from posting this, but I feel I must speek my mind. 1. Yes the Squad team is limited. So I'm not expecting HUUGE patches every month. But look at the last patch, I believe it was around 70 MB in data, which took around 3-4 months. Yes it was an awsome leap and added much more to the game, but other companies add 1-3 GB of data in the same time with the same size team. Look at overkill and payday 2. 2. I dont feel the devs, although they do a great job, deserve a break as many have said in the forums after every big patch. They are living on the money that we have payed as kind of a stock in them making the finished product they promised to deliver. I don't know about you guys but no boss in any job i have ever had has said, "you did that last job great, take the next week off with pay!" 3. I feel too much has gone into honestly what i see as stupid junk. I read for weeks in the weekly about how the astronouat complex was getting redone. All it ended up being was a nice pic in the background that gets blurred out cause of astronaut selection. So why even bother. How about putting purpose to the stats of the pilots rather than a background picture that noone will notice anyways. 4. BIG ONE. OLDER SYSTEMS. I have a system that meets all the requirements for this game, yet like tonight had to reload 20 + times in i would say 3 hours because of crashes while reworking and launching my ship. I would rework, save, try to send to launch pad, game crashes. Reload select launch pad , select ship and crew, and say launch, ship messes up getting into orbit, if i stick around and watch it crash into the ground, or hit revert to anything,, game crashes. ( I am running no mods, have 4 gigs of ram, 2.4 GHZ processor, win 7 32 bit) According to squad that should be no problem. The ship I am trying to get up is my interplanetary shuttle. It has around 580 parts I am guessing, so nothing too insane. many of the parts are struts. Yes my comp is a good at least 7 years old, but if they say a comp with what ever specs as minimum can run it, then it should be able to run without crashing. Lagging is one thing, but to reload ever 5 minutes is another. AS I said at the begining I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE this game, I just feel like things are a bit misprioritized at squad, I see more advertising than development for an alpha game (If i am wrong, look at the kerbal weekly and see how much was done for development than someone going here or there to talk about the game). I see more work on background graphics than gameplay. Gameplay is what us gamers want, the pretty graphics in the end to touch up are a nice detail, but overall we (or well at least I) dont care. My final note is that at the rate i see this game progressing, it will be at least 2+ years before 1.0 comes out, please someone tell me im wrong but be able to justify reason i am wrong behind it.

False because my voice is squeaky, i would if my voice wasnt squeaky? is there text so we can all talk? Edit: what IRC site? The user below me wishes yesterday didnt happen.

May I suggest a sort of "wrapper" node where rules inside it have different parsing rules? I'm not advocating this over any other solution in particular, but I thought I'd throw it into the mix. This is absurd. It's an opt-in beta test. Of course it's not guaranteed to be painless. Also absurd. He talked to people (IRC) and then made a thread so people could talk about it more. There's absolutely nothing wrong with his methodology here. Testing isn't about developers doing exactly what you think should be done, and ModuleManager isn't nearly complex enough to warrant a public review of a design spec before releasing a prototype.

What about space engine then, being made by a single guy? What about space engine then, being made by a single guy? the "This isn't a gaming company" argument is as stupid as it gets. Modders can turn the game upside down and create (and update) a part pack in a whim and squad battles to include 5 kspx parts per update? And I'm using parts as example, you can basically just use every feature in the game to talk about this level of incompetence. "If you can't do better then don't criticize" is, again, an invalid argument when there are clearly visible examples that something can be better. Jesus, this part was just too much, not even bothering. Show me a rocket that wobbles in real life. Yeah, lets complement a stupid argument with sarcasm, that'll sure show him. You are wrong, this game is more for me than anyone else because I want it to be the best. I get my balls together and criticize everything because I want it to be the best it can possibly be. I know they are doing stuff wrong and I'm not the only one that can see that. I don't see myself blinded by brand or game fanatism, and that's why I have the balls to criticize as so do a lot of members (that for some reason are on the "DON'T LISTEN TO" list). Once again the people here show their retardation when they can't take an idea behind an insult. Not everything is a hugbox. Go out and live freaking life, nobody is going to compliment you for your work except for fans, and guess what, fans are the last people you want to listen to because they are going to approve everything you do, even if it's wrong. Why do you think artists listen to critiques that pretty much destroy their work? because they want to be better. To reinforce my argument, everybody knows what everybody thinks about the ones that shall not be named, yet somehow max manages to get ideas, he manages to get good criticism and hell, even majiir, ted, artyom and nexis post there.

Thank you for the great news! I look forward to the next patch. I invested over 7k science into those computer core stations so that after finishing the Eeloo probe mission I had just launched, I would be able to afford the last tech node as well as having a steady source of science for upgrading future computer cores and warp drives. Very happy my "supercomputer" stations will work next patch! Fractal_UK, you've done an AMAZING job with this mod. I tend to talk about KSP a lot around my friends and it was when I started using this mod that a few of them decided they wanted to play as well. Also, zzz, the art in this mod is bloody fantastic!

This is a fun little game I saw on another gaming forum a long time ago, and I felt like playing it again. Rules: You try to come up with a new sentence following the it's not X, it's Y-template and then, the next player says if it's right or wrong and posts a new one. Believe it or not, these sentences have something in common! Of course, you are not allowed to say what the word pattern is if you figure it out. The point is to do it yourself and let the others do the same! Examples: It's not difficult, it's easy. It's not banning, it's suspension. It's not annihilation, it's destruction. It's not weekend, it's Saturday. It's not book, it's literature. It's not letter, it's mail. Example of people playing: Player 1: It's not Duna, it's Mars. Player 2: Wrong. It's not Vall, it's Bop. Player 3: Right. It's not speech, it's talk. And so on... Let the games begin!

And the result will be nothing like you'd expect from Special Relativity. SR deals specifically with a Minkowski metric. Near the event horizon, the metric is going to look very different. The line element in polar coordinates in SR looks like ds² = dt² - dr² - r²(dθ² + sin²θ dƲ). In the exterior of the BH, it's (1-rs/r)dt² - 1/(1-rs/r)dr² - r²(dθ² + sin²θ dƲ). When you are far from the event horizon, r >> rs, the two are very similar and you can talk about effects of Special Relativity on a ship in orbit. But for r only slightly above rs you have to discard all of your SR notions and deal with General Relativity directly. Kepler's laws break down way before you reach event horizon. In fact, there are no stable orbits bellow 3rs. So you can be a full diameter away from event horizon, and Kepler's Laws are already completely useless.

By the way, concerning a possible RemoteTech/kOS compatibility, I think Cilph and Kevin really need to talk, they don't use each other's mod I guess so they don't understand what to do to make both work. Cilph is waiting for a contact, here is the post : http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/56399-0-22-Remote-Tech-2-Build-those-satellite-networks!?p=756045&viewfull=1#post756045. I suggested him a few work-arounds already but he doesn't seem quite interested in a cheap solution. Maybe Kevin would have better ideas ! I know he already has a lot of work on kOS but if he could try to do it that would be great ! I know he likes to add features in each update, and that is a quite demanded one.

4/10 The thing to do is instead of the same group of people posting over and over, slow down and let other people have a turn. That way it isn't always the same people over and over again. I'll be watching, so no side conversations. Instead talk about where you've seen someone before.

Granted, we can't talk anywhere. I wish to have a free conversation thread, just one PLZ PLZ

I tend to do like eliteshadow, mission is named after target, Duna mission 2 is funny as it never was an Duna mission 1 except in WAB, this was during the evolution of the modular science lander and it caused an redesign. Then I rename dropped probes after purpose. Duna north pole rover, it became Duna north pole probe with an probe sign after the wheels broke Tylo is the great killer for me, Eve is pretty gentle even an fail to reach orbit result in an suborbital jump and a kerbal who hibernate for a year while drawing full pay. Any fail on Tylo result in an high speed impact. Now lets talk about accurate landings on Tylo. Even mechjeb tend to miss by 10 km or more, even if dropped from 1000 km orbit with an lander with TWR>2 all the way.

@CAPFlyer : maybe you should spend some time on the #kspmodders irc channel before telling me that I did not get input first, because "that" idea comes from chats I had with other modders. @NathanKell We talked before, I know you want the mods to work and keep it easy. don't worry. Same for Starwaster, you keep helping users on the thread I read so I know you mean well. @regex last version had Final working fine since only one DLL did the work I'll revert the subdirectory thing. I'll name the DLL with version number, that code is too nice to trash it and it Even if it is indeed unlikely there will be a lot more realease. Just let me catch Majiir on IRC to talk with him.

I am not really sure as I don't develop mods, but I think there are two easy things to do which will make everything work, but are maybe not very beautiful. 1-Do what you said : provide information to any other mod requesting for that. These mods will then be able to implement some things by themselves (like controls blocking). For details, I think anything could possibly be useful like : is there a line of sight connection ? What is its length ? Should controls be blocked right now ? etc... 2-Make every feature optional. If a mod needs a feature shut, it will be easy to do so. kOS for example would need command blocking shut so that key events are not duplicated anymore, and it could use your data to block the controls itself ("if RemoteTechFound() && remoteTech.shouldControlsBeBlocked() then block()" in kOS code) ! Obviously I provided pseudo-code here, members shouldn't be named that long. For you it's just a matter of conditions (if we can block controls, then handle controls; else don't touch them !), it would require a bit of configuration for users (knowing they have to shut things down) but it would be documented and at least it will work. If someone finds a more elegant solution it could be better but I think mine is not that bad. What do you think ? The very best would be to talk directly to the kOS major developer, he could tell you what he needs exactly.

Bravo! A very original take on hinges. I can only imagine the work it was to get everything working right . One minor point, but did you know that the last engine placed in the SPH is the first that flames out? So just take the central one out and in again, and you will get that nice flameout warning you talk about at all times. Weird rule not everyone knows about. Rune. Now you do!

KSC - Gene Kerbin "Boost that signal! We need to see and hear what is going on." Gene was frantic, inwardly. Externally he spoke clearly and with conviction so as to not allow any panic or create an atmosphere for stupid mistakes. Outwardly, he was a rock. Inwardly, he was very, very worried for his friends in space. "On it Gene!" Jo-Jo replied and cranked it to 11. The tracking screen went from full on static to a static laced screen but with contacts on it. "I've got something!" Milby at Tracking piped up. "I think it is our boys!" "Jo-Jo, see if you can get them on the Com." Gene "Right, Gene!" Jo-Jo said and raced to KapCom station. Pulling on his headset he quickly keyed his mic. "Beagle Flight, this is KapCom. Come in Beagle Flight." Kerbin Orbit - Beagle Flight - Reentry track Jeb shut Beagle II's crew hatch and settled down into the second control seat next to Bob. "We are on our way, Bob!" As the cabin filled with air, Jeb noticed Bob rubbing his coin. "Yeah I think that is a good idea buddy. No one has performed reentry like this before." "I'd kiss it if I could right now, Jeb." Bob grinned and put his lucky coin back in his suit pocket. "pssstrtsark! Come in Beagle Flight." Jo-Jo's voice filled their helmet, heavily laced wit static. "Jo-Jo!" Bob and Jeb replied at the same time. They both laughed and Jeb motioned to Bob. "This is your ship, Bob. Answer for the Flight." Bob nodded and keyed his mic. "KapCom, This is Beagle Flight. We read you." What came back sounded like total pandemonium with Jo-Jo yelling to be heard over it. "Beagle Flight, what's your status?" Bob checked his scopes quickly. "We are on reentry and about to lose contact. We are on course for landing near the KSC." Jeb flipped a switch. "Releasing Beagle I. Thanks Baby!" "Roger <squark ssst sssst>ght. Talk to you in <ssssssttt>" Then the signal got lost in the static as the flames of reentry washed around Beagle II. Jeb was checking the readouts. "Things are going to be happening quickly now, Bob." "Ssspstt!ight, do you read?" Jo-Jo's voice can back after the flames died down. "Roger KapCom. We're coming home guys" Bod radioed back. "I'm going to have a beer when we get down." Bob said. "Just one?" Jeb said. "I'm have as many as I can drink then pass out for a bit." The capsule touched down with a thud. The parachute was cut and drifted free. Jeb peered out the window and saw several vehicles all ready. Many of the military. "It may be a bit for the beer, Bob." As the boys were climbing out of the capsule the found themselves surrounded by Kerbs in green and those Kerbs had weapons. "Umm..." Jeb said while raising his hands. "We come in peace?" Bob tried real hard to not laugh. Suddenly, Gene pushed through the wall of green and guns and walked over to Jeb and Bob. He gave both of them a hug (a man hug) and thrust a beer into their hands. "Welcome home, boys! I'll hold them off long enough for you to finish your beers." He said with a wink and turned and started yelling for the Kerb in charge of the troops. Jeb and Bob clinked beer cans together. yes, it was good to be home. Beagle Flight continues.

Chapter 4 To the Heavens...Errr...Maybe (Fred and a group of students surround Jeb who is in a bed.) Fred: Jeb…Jeb wake up…Jeb! Jeb: murmph Fred: Here is the result of long termed exposure to Nitrous Oxide. Jeb: Waaaawwawawawawwwaaaa Fred: Jeb you need to wake up.( to the students) You may be dismissed. Jeb: (suddenly) Wait! Where am I? Fred: Jeb you are still at the Infirmary. We need to get you home. Jeb: Give me a minute to get some more sleep. Fred: Jeb we need to go now. Your flight rocket is in the last steps of construction. Jeb: What! We need to go now.(Jumps out of bed) Fred: Good you’re ready. It will take us a while to get out of the building. Jeb: Why? Fred: That press you brought here, they are crowded all the exits. The helicopter is ready, so if you can get out you should. Jeb: Come on, there can’t be that many reporters. Let’s go. (Fred and Jeb leave the room. Outside Jeb is swarmed by reporters.) Fred: (Mockingly) Oh there can’t be that many reporters. (Scene Change: KSI helicopter landing) Bob: Jeb your back finally. How’d the tests go. Jeb: I don’t know how did they go Fred. Fred: Well, I am here to officially announce that Jebba… Jeb: Urrg Fred: (clears throat) I mean Jeb has been cleared off all charges and is cleared to fly. Gene: Good. Good. Okay, Jeb you need to go down to the Kerbonaut Complexand get fitted with your flight suit. Fred you need to go with him. Fred: Roger that. Come on Jeb. Gene: Bill you will act as Capcom for this flight. Bill: Okey-dokey Bob: What will I do? Gene: I need you Bob to help David operate the CCTV cameras. Bob: Cool. Gene: We need to get down to the Mission Control building. (Scene Change Mission Control) Gene (Flight Director): Good morning team. I would like to congratulate all of you on the successful simulation with the Zeus-LS. Today we will be flying the Zeus-1. Remember our primary goal is to keep Jeb safe on his ride into the heavens. Bill Kerman will be CAPCOM on today’s flight. This is still a test but it will be an active test. This is also our first launch with a count down. I all hope you received the countdown pamphlet. Bill(CAPCOM): What is that Jeb? Okay, yep, gotcha. Jeb wants to know if you added his 79 page amendment to it. Gene(Flight Director): 79 Page amendment! What for? Bill(CAPCOM): He says it will make the launch more dramatic. It mostly has to do with David’s CCTV cameras David(CCTV Specialist) Tell him I already have enough to deal with, without him. I also deal with giving the feed to the Media. Bill(CAPCOM): He Jeb David says he has enough to deal with. Jeb(Zeus-1): I thought they wanted the launch to appeal to the public to get more funding. Bill(CAPCOM): Jeb is wondering about the programs funding. Gene(Flight Director): Tell him we can talk about this later. Bill (CAPCOM) : Jeb stop talking, because Gene looks a bit annoyed. Jeb (Zeus-1) : I’ll stop talking…………..FOR NOW!!!! Bill(CAPCOM): Jeb is good. Gene(Flight Director): Copy, we are beginning countdown now. T- 3:00 till liftoff of Zeus-1. David begin transmitting feed from ground camera. David(CCTV specialist): Ground Camera is up and clear. Dale you are clear to begin transmission. Dale(Telemetry/communication officer): Transmitting to twenty different media outlets. Booster (Rocket Scientist Representative): The VAB has cleared the Zeus-1 rocket for lift off. Gene (Flight Director): Copy, T- 2:45 till launch. Clock is still holding steady. Roger (Rotational Control Officer): Can I get a conformation regarding the SAS and rotational vectors test. Gene (Flight Director) : I was hoping you could get those in at T- 2:00. Booster (Rocket Scientist Representative): Zeus- 1 has reached the pad. They will begin refueling on your mark. Gene (Flight Director) : Are the communication lines set up. T-2:20 Booster (Rocket Scientist Representative) : The pad is saying they have the lines up. Gene (Flight Director): We need to make a quick check of communications with the capsule Dale. Dale (Telemetry/communication officer): CAPCOM are you ready for tests. Bill (CAPCOM): What kinds of tests. An endurance test, a strength test, or a speed test. Dale (Telemetry/communication officer): The communication tests with the capsule. Bill (CAPCOM): uhh, Roger, I will begin on your mark. Dale (Telemetry/communication officer): Testing in 3…2…1…test Bill (CAPCOM) : Testing testing 1 2 3. Can you read me Zeus-1 Jeb (Zeus-1): I read you loud and clear. How long do I have till lift off. Bill (CAPCOM): You have about 2 minutes. Roger (Rotational Control Officer): Wait what, I need to run tests. CAPCOM tell Zeus-1 to check his instrument displays. Bill (CAPCOM): Hey Zeus-1, I need you to check your instrument display for rotational checks. Jeb (Zeus-1) : Copy, the sensors are currently reading 0 for all vectors. Roger (Rotational Control Officer): Testing Y in 3…2…1…good X in 3…2…1…good Rotation in 3…2…1…solid. We are go for launch. Gene (Flight Control) : Communication can we get the readings from the capsule. Dale (Telemetry/Communications officer): Yes, it seems all readings are good. Gene (Flight Director): That’s good. T-1:30 Booster (Rocket Scientist Representative): Pad is waiting for orders to refuel. Gene (Flight Director): Franklin are you ready for the refueling. Franklin (Fuel Officer): Pad has my permission to begin refueling now that the equipment has been tested. Jeb (Zeus-1): Wait did he just say their refueling my rocket. Bill (CAPCOM) Yes Jeb, If you want to fly you are going to need fuel. Jeb (Zeus-1): But that means I am sitting on top of a b..b..b.bo.bom..bom…BOMB! Bill (CAPCOM): Booster what is the current success ratio with this Booster Booster (Rocket Scientist Representative): Jefferson put the fail rate at 30%. Bill (CAPCOM) : Jeb the explosives under you are perfectly safe. Jeb (Zeus-1): Whatever you say Bill Gene (Flight Director): T-1:00 and 20 seconds till Weather check. David go to Watertower cam David (CCTV specialist): Copy. Bill (CAPCOM) : How are you doing in there Jeb. Jeb (Zeus-1) : Well there is little room to move. I can kind of move the throttle. If someone rips off the hatch I am going to flow out like champagne. Fred (Biologist) : CAPCOM ask Jeb if he feels hot. Bill (CAPCOM): The Biologist wants to know if you feel hot. Jeb (Zeus-1) : You know, now that you ask that it is getting kind of hot in here. Gene (Flight Director): Fred does that change any of the plans for the launch? Fred (Biologist): No, but I need it for the data. Gene (Flight Control): That is good. We need the Weather check. Dale (Telemetry/communication Officer): No wind and it is sunny and clear. Gene (Flight Director): Stan does that mess up your department. Stan (Range Officer): No, baring the weather the range is clear we are go for launch. Gene (Flight Control) : T-0:30. We need to go through the Go/no go checks. Health Fred (Biologist): Go for launch Gene (Flight Director): Rot Roger (Rot control officer): Go Gene (Flight Director): Pad Booster (Rocket Scientist Representative): Zeus-1 is fueled. Pad is cleared. We are go for launch. Gene (Flight Director): Communications Dale (Telemetry/communication officer): Lines are open we are go for launch. Gene(Flight Director): CAPCOM and Zeus-1 Bill(CAPCOM): Are you ready Jeb. Jeb (Zeus-1): I just want to get of the explosive. Bill (CAPCOM): We are ready for launch. Gene(Flight Dirctor): T-0:15 all systems are go. Bill Kerman will be doing the countdown in 3…2…1… Bill (CAPCOM): Launch in 10…9…8…7…All systems are go…5…4...3…2…1…Ignition. See you later Zeus-1 (Alarm flashes on Dale’s desk) Dale (Telemetry/communication officer): Parachute has deployed! Roger quickly roll west! Roger (ROT control Officer): Copy. Jeb (Zeus-1):Something is happening to the capsule. Bill (CAPCOM) : Your parachute has deployed we are ripping the capsule off right now. Dale (Telemetry/communications officer): SRB has detached. Flying towards the pad. Stan (RO) : I have no communication with the Booster, but it is on a safe path at the pad. Fred (Biologist): Jebs heart rate is up 50%. He is safe though. Bill (CAPCOM): How you feeling Jeb. Jeb (Zeus-1) That was awesome. Dale (Telemetry/communications officer): Capsule has landed safely. Booster has crashed. Gene (Flight Director): CAPCOM you need to tell Jeb to get out of his capsule and collect a surface sample. Bill (CAPCOM): You just barely survived, but we need you to do the experiments. Jeb (Zeus-1): Okay, Crew Report #0001JEB the scientists couldnot stage my capsule right, so I am on the launch pad. Bill (CAPCOM): Now you need to get out Jeb. Jeb (Zeus-1): I am opening the hatch now. It appears there are signs of intelligent life. Oh wait. Bill (CAPCOM): Collect a surface sample, a log, and plant the flag. Then you can back into the capsule. Jeb (EVA-1): Copy. Jeb (EVA1): What is this stuff I am picking up. It is like partially flesh or something. Log #0002JEB I appear to have lost an important part of my ship. Bill (CAPCOM): Now plant the beacon/flag. Jeb (EVA1): Okay. Bill(CAPCOM): Seriously Jeb, uhhh get back to the ship. Jeb(Zeus-1): I am back in the ship awaiting recovery. Gene (Flight Control): I am declaring this mission a partial success. Debreifing in five minutes. Jeb (Zeus-1): Does anyone want to help me out of my suit. Gene (Flight Director): There is your job Bob. Bob: Wait what!?! -Author's Notes- Sorry about the lack of updates, but AP US History got in the way of me writing this chapter. School must always come before KSP, except when I am bored.