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Outer Planets Expansion Pack Suggestion Box Spacedock Pack (OPX and associated mods) About Long ago, one of my first planet mods I ever played with was the famous Outer Planets Mod. For a while, I had great fun exploring the various moons, but soon I realized that something was lacking. The moon systems of all the gas giants felt almost... empty. Thus, I set to work to rectify this problem. Now, years later, I actually know how to planet mod, and I am proud to announce the Outer Planets Expansion project! This project will take the form of nine mods which will each modify a different segment of the expanded Kerbol System. Each mod can function independently, but it is recommended to have them all because let's be real none of the OPM gas giants realistically start with enough moons for a gas giant system. Unlike the others, OPX-NeidonPlus was brought into the project by a collaboration between me and @Interplanet Janet after several updates on its own, with several additions by me and a restructure of the filepaths. Dependencies Like all planet mods, each OPX mod will require Kopernicus to function. @Pkmniako's MitchellNetravaliHeightMap plugin will be bundled with each installment as they release. Don't forget it, or everything will break. OPX-StockSystemModifications – Github, Spacedock OPX-StockSystemModifications (SSM for short) is a collection of quality of life modifications for the inner solar system. It exists because I was annoyed by minor problems with the inner system, fixed those problems, and compiled all of them into a mod for everyone. Now with two different new Kerbol options! Features: Dependencies: Kopernicus (obviously) Compatible and recommended mods: No specific compatibility was made. If you like BetterKerbol's sun, just set SSM's sun setting to "Stock" and it'll won't mess with it beyond adding a displayName and a biome map. The Minor Planets Expansion is a good mod if you want more stuff to explore in the inner solar system, alongside the obvious OPX-InnerWorlds. Changelog: OPX-InnerWorlds – Github, Spacedock OPX-InnerWorlds aims to fill out the oft-neglected asteroid belt of the Kerbolar System. It adds a number of asteroids throughout the inner system and as far out as Jool (a centaur got in on a technicality). This mod also supersedes the oft-mentioned Janet's Minor Planets, with Doppler, Dyva, and Quazen included among its objects. Features (if you want to discover them yourself, dont open this): Dependencies: Kopernicus Niako's Utilities: Mitchell Netravali Height Map (bundled) Compatible and Recommended Mods: Minor Planets Expansion by @Exo's Lab – 3 Vant and 433 Edas help fill out the inner system alongside OPX-InnerWorlds. Screenshots: Changelog: OPX-JoolPlus – Github, Spacedock OPX-JoolPlus is the first installment of the project to be released. It comes with full biome support for each object that it adds. Below is a map of the Jool System with this mod installed. All objects are either stock or added by this mod (except Aditel, from JoolRetexture) Features (if you want to discover them yourself, dont open this): Dependencies: Kopernicus Niako's Utilities: Mitchell Netravali Height Map (bundled) Compatible and Recommended Mods: Distant Object Enhancement – OPX-JoolPlus comes with a config coloring the distant points of all three new objects within DOE. It looks great, try it out! JoolRetexture – @Clonos' little mod that adds a new moon and makes a new texture for Jool. You can now install this mod alongside my own, with a settings file in my mod folder that allows you to switch between my Jool and his. Kcalbeloh System Planet Pack – This mod adds a wormhole in Jool orbit. To ensure compatibility I include a patch to reparent it to the new Jool object. I have more compatibility patches planned, but they'll be significantly more complicated. INcompatible Mods: Techo's Planet Revamp – Because of the frankly bizarre and unnecessary way that it deletes every single object in the system and remakes them, the combination of that and OPX's modifications to the stock moons' positions results in none of the stock moons existing at all when JoolPlus and TPR are both installed. This is obviously untenable, so you'll unfortunately have to pick one. Screenshots: Changelog: OPX-SarnusPlus – Github, Spacedock OPX-SarnusPlus, the third insallment of the Outer Planets Expansion, adds six new moons to Sarnus and gives it a new texture and physical characteristics. Each new object comes with full biome support, and orbit modifications are made for most of the existing moons. Features (if you want to discover them yourself, dont open this): Dependencies: Kopernicus Outer Planets Mod (the original) Niako's Utilities: Mitchell Netravali Height Map (bundled) Compatible and Recommended Mods: Kopernicus Expansion – adds footprints when you EVA. Play with it. Or don't, I'm not a cop. ResearchBodies – self-explanatory. I dont personally play with it but if you want to the compatibility is there. TarsierSpaceTech – the mod comes with sciencedefs for when you look at the new bodies through a telescope, if you play with that sort of thing No specific compatibility exists at present. Planned compatibility includes: ReSarnus Distant Object Enhancement Planetshine EVE and Scatterer Parallax (in the distant future) Screenshots: Changelog: OPX-UrlumPlus – Github, Spacedock OPX-UrlumPlus adds two new moons to Urlum, rebalances the orbits of the existing OPM moon system, redoes the appearance of Urlum and its rings from scratch (rings by @TheOrios), and makes sure that the system actually rotates clockwise like the description says it does. This mod is much farther from completion than JoolPlus or NeidonPlus, and future updates will add things like new asteroid moons, a trojan companion for Urlum, biomes for Dathil, and more. Features (if you want to discover them yourself, dont open this): Dependencies: Outer Planets Mod Kopernicus (obviously) Niako's Utilities (bundled) Compatible and Recommended Mods: Kopernicus Expansion – adds footprints when you EVA. Play with it. Or don't, I'm not a cop. ResearchBodies – self-explanatory. I dont personally play with it but if you want to the compatibility is there. TarsierSpaceTech – the mod comes with sciencedefs for when you look at the new bodies through a telescope, if you play with that sort of thing No specific compatibility exists at present. Planned compatibility includes: Distant Object Enhancement Planetshine EVE and Scatterer Parallax (in the distant future) Screenshots: Changelog: OPX-NeidonPlus – Github, Spacedock OPX-NeidonPlus is the second installment to be released. Originally created by @Interplanet Janet as a separate mod, I created two and a half new objects and full biome maps for all the existing ones for its integration into the OPX project. Features (if you want to discover them yourself, dont open this): Dependencies: Kopernicus Niako's Utilities: Mitchell Netravali Height Map (bundled) Recommended mods for compatibility: Distant Object Enhancement – OPX-NeidonPlus comes with a config coloring the distant points of all new objects within DOE. It looks great, try it out! Minor Planets Expansion – Adds several objects to the vicinity of Neidon, making it less lonely. They fit with the artstyle of OPX as a whole, furnishing any Neidon explorer with further destinations beyond. OPX-FinalFrontiers (when I finish it) – Another installment of the OPX project, this mod adds further destinations in the same vein as MPE. This mod doesn't actually exist yet, I just pretyped this blurb to save some time later Screenshots: Changelog: Upcoming Installments: In the coming weeks and months, I will continue work on the four gas giant expansions, adding more features to each. After that, I will begin work on the tentatively named "OPXtras", four installments that add other objects to the edges of the solar system (be they the literal edge or the edge of the size graph): FinalFrontiers (dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt), UndiscoveredCountries (Planet 9 and 10), InnerWorlds (inner system minor bodies), and CometsPlus; which each fill in a number of gaps left by the Minor Planets Expansion and add unique gameplay challenges that are not offered in any other mods to my knowledge. Please let me know if you enjoy this mod, and if you didn't, what I can fix or add. Thank you for downloading! Credits: Frequently Asked Questions: Licence: MIT
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NASA Outlines Latest Moon to Mars Plans in 2024 Architecture Update https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-outlines-latest-moon-to-mars-plans-in-2024-architecture-update
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The Hyperion Program: Kerbalkind's Return to Space
Autochrome posted a topic in KSP1 Mission Reports
The Hyperion Program: Kerbalkind's Return to Space Inspired by the Constellation Program Hello, and welcome to a new project that I am doing called the Hyperion Program, where after a long hiatus, kerbalkind returns to the Mun, and more. This is a stock part series, therefore it requires less time and effort than my more time-consuming series, 'Go For TLI', which was too much to keep up with schoolwork. Expect more frequent uploads than 'Go For TLI' for the time being, because of the reasons stated in the last sentence. The Hyperion Program will be more story-focused than my last series, although I'm not the best writer to grace this earth, so keep that in mind. Special Thanks: All of these ideas for my upcoming vehicles and plans didn't just come from me, they also came from things I have seen on this forum. @Kuiper_Belt's Shuttle Adventures, which is my original inspiration for this series. @Jay The Amazing Toaster‘s Kanawai: Ares to Mars thread. @AmateurAstronaut1969's ETS Space Station Freedom thread. @TheSaint's The Scrape of Things to Come. @track's One Giant Leap alternate history thread. @Angel-125's To the Mun!, Shuttle Launch System, and Commercial Space Ventures threads, for the cool mission ideas. And finally, me, for slapping myself enough times to stop being lazy in my free time to do this. I will update this original post to keep up with the current missions happening, so make sure to check the Mission and Vehicles List to get a more close-up view of the vessels of the program and a brief summary of the missions. Also, use the Chapters List if you want to quickly go to a chapter if you don't want to scroll through the pages. Chapter List: Mission and Vehicles List: Note: 1. If the text is slanted, it means that a kerbal is speaking from in-universe. 2. If the text is in (parentheses), it is a note from me, describing something from out-of-universe.- 74 replies
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Have you thought that Eeloo was still lonely even with the other Trans-Joolian Objects? Not anymore! Eeloo has two moons now! Body list: Telsa: A small inner moon that orbits Eeloo in an S-type Binary System. Sar: A large binary partner to Eeloo. Image Spoilers: Download here!: https://spacedock.info/mod/3447/Eeloo Moons NOTE: Requires Niako's Kopernicus Utilities. License: MIT
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RSS-Origin Exclusive add-ons with hundreds of asteroids, comets, moons and overhauls for RSS Brief Introduction Like the title, this mod is basically an expansion for "Real Solar System", and currently it includes following parts: RSS-Origin CelestialsPack, the major part of this mod, which adds plenty of asteroids, asteroid moons, comets, moons of gas/ice giants, dwarf planets, dwarf planet moons, and interstellar objects into real solar system, currently 141 in total. (dozens more in the future) (compatible with Principia) RSS-Origin RSSTexture&TopoRevamp, which overhauls some RSS celestials with more accurate, more realistic and higher res textures and topography. (16k maximum) RSS-Origin JSUNrings, which adds accurate and realistic rings to the 4 gas giants in our solar system. RSS-Origin GalaxyTex, which replaces your skybox with a high-quality Milky Way background. (64k maximum) Since RSS-Origin has a complete documentation on its github repo, more details will not be elaborated here. You can refer to the links below. RSS-Origin's Github More details about RSS-Origin Download Links Installation Guides & Points for attention & Dependencies & Compatibilities Gallery Discord channel in Kopernicus Discord channel in FoxTech Credits Change Log License Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International
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Remember how creating fake mods was a thing back then? Now it's time to make even more fake KSP stuff! This time, it's fake celestial bodies, rocket/spaceplane parts, and manufacturers. Btw, you can do either or both, it's up to you. My examples: Fake Celestial Body - Gerris: A planet slightly larger than Kerbin but smaller than Eve, it has green oceans, a green atmosphere, and yellowish brown land. It has aliens living on its surface. Orbits between Kerbin and Duna. Fake Part - The AEM-293 Solid Rocket Booster: A SRB that was created because we always need more boosters. Manufactured by Boosterz Co. Fake Manufacturer - Boosterz Co: A solid rocket booster manufacturer. Nuff said. Have fun making whatever your heart desires!
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On December 5th 2014, a Delta IV heavy rocket thundered into the skies above Cape Canaveral, carrying a prototype of NASA's new Orion spacecraft. The mission was a success, but behind the awe of the launch, NASA was in shambles: It was building a capsule with no intended use, and a rocket to launch it to nowhere! During this period, it was doubted if the Space Launch System would ever even fly, lest do anything of note. However, this was anything but a sign of things to come - In late 2017, the leftover elements of past programs such as Constellation and the Asteroid Redirect missions, were collated and reformed under a unified program, one which gave a goal and a future to Orion and SLS, one which would achieve NASA's 50 year objective of returning Humans to the Moon. It's name? The Project In this Project, me and @Jacktical are aiming to recreate all the past present and future Artemis missions, Including: - NASA launches - Commercial partner launches - International partner launches - And more We are hoping to keep this semi-realistic, with the initial Artemis missions playing out as is currently planned by NASA, with later missions coming (hopefully) our own interpretations and hopes for the future of Human Spaceflight Posts should be regular enough, but we aren't gonna make a strict schedule for it It's time to return to the Moon! NEXT LAUNCH: CAPSTONE
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At night time on Kerbin, the Mun (when lit by the Kerbol sun) should emit a cold light on the shadow sides of Kerbin. So that at night time - and whenever the Mun is not in a new moon phase - the sky, clouds and the terrain of Kerbin is lit by a soft and cold light of the mun. It would look absolutely fantastic.
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Quite annoying that NASA won’t be including any instruments on the VIPER lander to detect heavy metals at the lunar South pole, only for detecting water and light elements. Nor will the Astrobotic Peregrine commercial lander. The LCROSS mission provided tantalizing hints of valuable metals from its orbital observations: Moon Blast Reveals Lunar Surface Rich With Compounds. Science Oct 21, 2010 2:05 PM EDT. There is water on the moon … along with a long list of other compounds, including, mercury, gold and silver. That’s according to a more detailed analysis of the chilled lunar soil near the moon’s South Pole, released as six papers by a large team of scientists in the journal, Science Thursday. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/its-confirmed-there-is-water And a Japanese lunar orbiter gave indications of uranium: Uranium could be mined on the Moon. Uranium could one day be mined on the Moon after a Japanese spacecraft discovered the element on its surface. By Julian Ryall in Tokyo 4:58PM BST 01 Jul 2009. The space probe Kaguya detected the radioactive element in samples of the Moon's surface with a gamma-ray spectrometer, along with thorium, potassium, magnesium, silicon, calcium, titanium and iron. The discovery opens up the possibility of mining operations on a commercial basis or even nuclear power plants being constructed on the Moon. https://web.archive.org/web/20110423155534/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/5711129/Uranium-could-be-mined-on-the-Moon.html The later Surveyor landers on the Moon since the 60’s all contained x-ray spectrometers(XRF) for detecting heavy elements. And all of the Mars landers since the Viking landers in the 70’s either had XRF spectrometers or more accurate alpha-proton x-ray spectrometers(APXS) for detecting heavy elements. Moreover, both the Indian lunar south polar lander and the Chinese lander to the Moon’s South Pole will contain instruments for measuring heavy elements. It’s bizarre that the U.S.’s landers VIPER and Astrobotic Peregrine to the lunar South Pole will be the only ones to ANY space body, probably numbering into the couple of dozen now, that won’t have instruments for detecting heavy elements. There’s no guarantee that India or China will share with the U.S. the discovery by their landers of valuable metals or other minerals on the Moon. They would probably figure if the U.S. didn’t see the importance of including such instruments on their own missions to the lunar South Pole, then that’s their problem. Robert Clark
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This is my second planet mod, this one adds a moon between minmus and the mun. It is a one stop shop for gravity assists and science farming, it has all levels of the stock shader integrated Its Icy blue texture and giant SOI make it a kerbal's choice for a challenge It has 0.2 gees of gravity, and a relatively high orbital velocity It has a size of 250 km THIS MOD REQUIRES KOPERNICUS Screenshots : More screenshots : (thanks to kramken) SPACEDOCK License :
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Dark. Empty. Red. Decades ago, all known stars and habitable planets vanished along with their inhabitants in an event known as The Quiet Rapture. Only those onboard spacecraft were spared. With society on the verge of collapse, the survivors are searching for any trace of natural resources in a universe of desolate moons and black holes. One such moon holds an unusual anomaly: an ocean of blood. You are a C.O.I. commander tasked with investigating this anomaly. Scotoma is a planet pack based on the events of Iron Lung, a horror game made by David Szymanski. Prepare to explore Moon AT-5 and its neighboring celestial bodies in unprecedented detail as you struggle to find answers amidst the dying starlight. Our future depends on your success. Licensing All self-made content for Scotoma will be licensed under All Rights Reserved; you may not copy or create derivatives of my work in KSP 1 and KSP 2 without my permission. Credit will be given to David Szymanski for all content copied or derived from Iron Lung (such as the mod description), and the same goes for any supplementary mods Scotoma makes use of. Timeline I hope to release this mod sometime before the summer ends; however, I am working two jobs and preparing for college. Updates may be infrequent. In-dev screenshots (7-7-2023)
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There is a kerbal wiki about this: Faz - Kerbal Space Program Wiki. It should be considered for ksp2 if the dev's want it.
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United Kerbal Space Agency Presents: The Khonsu Program Kerbalkind's First Journeys To The Mun Inspired By: The Apollo Program Introduction: Why? Basically because I want to add more lore to my crafts, and I think this is the best way to do it. I will mainly be posting crewed Mun missions, crewed LKO missions, and space station stuff. Mission uploads will be sporadic (I'll try my best, I have lots of other stuff to do) Craft Files: Right Here (Might take a while for the craft files to be uploaded, I don't like making infographics ) Thanks: Thanks to @keanukeno21 for this piece of artwork, used in my UKSA flag. Thanks to @Autochrome for their Hyperion Program, and @AmateurAstronaut1969 for their Space Station Freedom and Artemis Program for inspiring me to make this. Thanks to N9 Gaming for inspiring lots of my crafts And finally thanks to squad for this awesome game. Mod List: As of June 4 2022 Missions: Note 1: Feedback is welcome as long as it is helpful Edit 1: Green completed missions now linked under missions
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The SLS was planned to have a large upper stage called the Exploration Upper Stage(EUS). This would take the SLS Block 1 to the SLS Block 2, needed for a single flight lunar architecture. However, the multi-billion dollar cost for development of a large upper stage from scratch means it’s unlikely to be funded. NASA is proposing a solution using the Starship making separate flights. But this plan takes 6 flights total or likely more of the Superheavy/Starship for the Starship to fly to the Moon to act as a lander. One look at this plan makes it apparent it’s unworkable: Actually, it’s likely to be more complex than portrayed in the figure, needing 8 to 16 refueling flights. This is what SpaceX submitted to NASA in proposing the plan, requiring 6 months to complete the Starship refueling: SpaceX CEO Elon Musk details orbital refueling plans for Starship Moon lander. By Eric Ralph Posted on August 12, 2021 First, SpaceX will launch a custom variant of Starship that was redacted in the GAO decision document but confirmed by NASA to be a propellant storage (or depot) ship last year. Second, after the depot Starship is in a stable orbit, SpaceX’s NASA HLS proposal reportedly states that the company would begin a series of 14 tanker launches spread over almost six months – each of which would dock with the depot and gradually fill its tanks. … In response to GAO revealing that SpaceX proposed as many as 16 launches – including 14 refuelings – spaced ~12 days apart for every Starship Moon lander mission, Musk says that a need for “16 flights is extremely unlikely.” Instead, assuming each Starship tanker is able to deliver a full 150 tons of payload (propellant) into orbit after a few years of design maturation, Musk believes that it’s unlikely to take more than eight tanker launches to refuel the depot ship – or a total of ten launches including the depot and lander. https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-elon-musk-starship-orbital-refueling-details/ Everyone, remember the Apollo missions where we could get to the Moon in a single flight? In fact, this would be doable with the SLS given a large upper stage. Then the suggestion is for the ESA to provide a Ariane 5 or 6 as the upper stage for the SLS. It would save on costs to NASA by ESA paying for the modifications needed for the Ariane core. As it is now ESA is involved in a small role in the Artemis lunar program by providing the service module to the Orion capsule. But it would now be playing a major role by providing the key upper stage for the SLS. The argument might be made that the height of the Ariane 5/6 is beyond the limitations set forth by NASA for the EUS. However, if you look at the ca. 30 m height of Ariane 5 core compared to the 14 m height of the interim cryogenic upper stage now on the SLS, this would put the total vehicle height only a couple of meters beyond the height that had already been planned for the SLS Block 2 anyway: See discussion here: Budget Moon Flights: Ariane 5 as SLS upper stage, page 2. https://exoscientist.blogspot.com/2013/09/budget-moon-flights-ariane-5-as-sls.html Coming up: ESA also could provide a low cost lander for the Artemis program. Robert Clark
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Hi there! I've visited the Moon and Mars in RSS/RO. Tell me how was the video:) Also please subscribe to my channel for more videos
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Pheibos is a mod I've wanted to work on for a while, it adds a submoon to the mun, and minmus.
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Ever wanted to look up from the Muns surface and see two Kerbins? Well now you can! This mod adds a binary friend to the Mun called "Leriter" one noticeable feature is, water, plant life, and a atmosphere! One day the Kerbal's, finished exploring Kerbin's moons, so they all prayed to have a new one, then Eeloo, goddess of change, blessed them with this new moon, but Dres Demigod of mischief, tampered with the moon! So be carful, this moon is not its chalked up to be! There will be scatters, that will show the dark history of this moon! https://imgur.com/a/JidyP0l - A poster for the mod! Coming: Soon-ish
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The Aquarius Program - Space Shuttle to the Moon This is a project I am doing in KSP that I'm currently posting in Space Shuttle Adventures, but I thought it might deserve its own thread, so I'll put the posts here. This Alternate History of the Space Shuttle is where I try to send a Shuttle to the Moon in 2.5x KSRSS. The main goal of this timeline is to set up some sort of crewed station in Low Lunar Orbit, and potentially find water on the poles of the Moon. The rest will be explained in later posts in this thread. I hope you enjoy this Alt-Space Shuttle History, and make sure to nitpick this timeline if you want to, so I can improve it in the future. I already made the first post of this timeline in the Space Shuttle Adventures thread, so I'll just repost it here. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ STS-200 - A New Beginning - January 14, 1985 The Aquarius Program: Part 1 In the late 1970's, NASA officials realize the Space Shuttle's potential to return humans to the Moon after the Apollo Program, and devise a program to do so, the Aquarius Program. The main goals of this program are to return people to the Moon permanently, and second and most important, to discover ice at the Lunar Poles, to possibly use for drinking water at a Lunar Base, or to make rocket fuel for refueling depots in orbit. The way that NASA has planned to send a shuttle to the Moon is to launch a External Tank Refueler on one of the last remaining Saturn V's, and to slowly fill up the empty tank with modified Centaur-G's launched by Shuttles or Titan III launch vehicles, then dock with a Space Shuttle's ET that the shuttle carries with it to orbit. The shuttle will then ignite its modified Block III RS-25's and burn for the Moon. Workers immediately begin on modifying an unused External Tank for use a refueler, and paired it up to the two stages of the SA-514 Saturn V, slated for launch in the beginning of 1985. The External Tank Refueler will be reusable, so hopefully the last remaining Saturn V will not have to be sacrificed for the sake of human exploration. With the beginning of the explanation of the Aquarius Program out of the way, let's fast forward to the launch of the modified External Tank on the Saturn V. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ January 14, 1985, Launch Day of STS-200 The Saturn V with the ET Refueler sits out on Pad 39A, waiting to launch to a 28.5 degree inclination orbit. We have F-1 Main Engine Start. Liftoff! We have a Liftoff! We have cleared the tower! Beginning to pitch downrange of the launch site. We have confirmed shutdown of the 5 F-1 engines; S-II Stage Separation. J-2 Engine Ignition. We have confirmation that the S-II Skirt has been jettisoned. The S-II Stage continues to orbit with the empty External Tank Refueler. Beautiful views of Florida and the Atlantic Ocean. Pitching down to insert into Low Earth Orbit in only one continuous burn. Nominal Insertion into orbit; shutdown of the J-2 engines. The Refueler has been deployed into orbit! The mission is looking good so far. The Solar Panels under the ET are beginning to hinge outwards for deployment. The hinge outward maneuver has been completed. The Solar Panels have successfully deployed! The ET Refueler will now wait in LEO for Centaur-G's to refill it so it can refuel the Shuttle's External Tank for the Moon.
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The year is 1965. After a successful streak of dominance throughout the Space Race, the Soviet Union kept upping the ante. And when, in 1963, the US challenged them with a race to the Moon, they happily obliged. At the time, the only crew vehicle they had, Vostok, was barely capable of keeping one man in orbit for a few days. However, a trip to the Moon and back would require a larger, more capable vehicle, able to carry two men safely to Earth’s closest neighbour and back and sustain them throughout the trip. Hence, Sergei Korolev and his design bureau, OKB-1, set out to design one of the most advanced crew vehicles there ever was. What they got was Soyuz. Capable of carrying 3 men to Earth orbit and 2 men to lunar orbit, it was created from the beginning to be a workhorse craft, capable of fulfilling every need. However, the spacecraft was a radical redesign from the small, tight-fitting capsules that had came before. It sported 3 sections, an orbital module that gave extra room and facilities for the crew, the descent module to bring them safely down to the surface again, and an instrument module to supply power and resources to the rest of Soyuz. To test fly the Soyuz on it’s first flight, the bravest and brightest cosmonauts were selected. However, only one would get to perform the mission, and that cosmonaut was Vladimir Komarov. Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov was a Soviet test pilot, aerospace engineer, and cosmonaut. At the age of fifteen in 1942, Komarov entered the "1st Moscow Special Air Force School" to pursue his dream of becoming an aviator. After many years of hard work, he was selected to be a cosmonaut, and in October 1964, he commanded Voskhod 1, the first spaceflight to carry more than one crew member. Now, only a mere few months later, he was ready to pilot his second mission to orbit. As the bus drew closer and closer to the pad, he could smell the distinct smell of kerosene. This kerosene was being pumped right into the rocket that would carry him heavenward, the R-7 Soyuz. Derived from the old R-7 ballistic missiles, this had set many world’s firsts, with Sputnik, Yuri Gagarin, and himself flying on this rocket before. Ground crews helped Komarov clamber down through the spacecraft, into the descent module, and as he strapped in, time ticked closer to launch. Finally, after years of designing and planning, the USSR were ready to fly a man into space in a new vehicle for the third time. As the gantry arms lowered down to prepare for launch, Komarov constantly monitored the various instruments in front of him, making sure nothing was malfunctioning. And luckily, nothing was. With all the arms retracted, the rocket slowly brought itself to life. The RD-107 and 108s rumbled to life, making the rocket creak and groan under the force. And finally, the Soyuz freed itself from its shackles, and started towards the stars. Just before the boosters separated, the escape tower jettisoned, flying off away from the rocket, no longer needed. Then, just seconds later, the boosters flew off, in a formation known to many as the “Korolev Cross” The fairing peeled away, fully exposing the Soyuz 7K-OK to the vacuum of space. Seconds before the core stage cut off, the upper stage fired up it’s engines, ready to carry on the rest of the trip to orbit. And finally, after minutes of burning, the rocket went silent, finally reaching its destination. A loud thud came from behind Komarov, as he and his spacecraft floated away from the rocket that had carried them into orbit. The mission was a success, but now came the hard part. After waiting in orbit for a while, Komarov flicked a myriad of switches, and fired the instrument module motor to raise his orbit. Then, after finally completing his orbit raising maneuvers, Komarov lay in wait for the next part he had to play. Meanwhile, in Baikonur… (forgot to mention in the post, but big thanks to @raptor-m for getting me into this. he’s running his own american version of this on the alt history forum, so go check that out!)
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"Rewriting History" Intro to series: Rewriting History is a series that I've been working on for the past few months, posting mostly on my instagram account and posting highlights on twitter, however a few twitter users inspired me to take my series here, the main focus of this thread is to cover all the major events and/or launches from the begining in 1966 to the current point in 1984. The premise of the series is that the first manned Lunar landing happens in 1966 with Apollo 8 instead of Apollo 11, the public interest for spaceflight grows even after the first few mission to the moon. After, what was supposed to be the vietnam war, doesn't happen, in 1969 NASA budget sees a huge increase and continues to rise through the years, as the world begins to focus more on spaceflight over military conflicts money get poured into space agencies all around the world. This series still is in full swing and should continue for quite a while, as I haven't reached Mars yet... I will be redoing most of the mission from 1966 to 1979 and the rest of them will come from my Instagram account untill I catch up to 1984 on here.... I've taken inspiration from quite a few different sources for this series. These include: @Talverd with his chasing dreams alternative history TruthfulGnome l with the skylab alt history Eyes turned skyward and Boldly Going Mission list as of 1984 Mod list:
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Land on every Planet/Moon including jool at -249m with a satalite in orbit around Jool,Duna,Moho and return to kerbin safely
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Previously, I would have discussed this on Reddit in r/SpaceXLounge, but with the new moderation there they won’t let you discuss anything controversial or speculative. Starship and modeler pics seem to be the name of the game now. For several years I’ve been thinking of mission architectures that could get us back to the Moon by the 50th anniversary of the Apollo manned lunar missions. We missed the Apollo 11 50th anniversary, but we MIGHT have been able to make the Apollo 17 50th anniversary of Dec. 2022. This is where it gets controversial. The SpaceX architecture of making 8 to 16 refueling flights for Moon or Mars flights is a bad architecture. There is a reason why the Apollo missions used a launcher with 3 stages and then 2 more stages for the lander for their round-trip missions. For missions with that high a delta-v requirement multiple stages are critical. SpaceX by using multiple refueling flights is acknowledging that, just in a very inefficient manner. The point of the matter is SpaceX could have done a manned Moon or Mars flights with a single launch IF they had given their launcher a 3rd stage. The 3rd stage could have been comparable size to the Starhopper. Yes, I know the actual Starhopper was not space-worthy but the point of the matter is by continuing it’s development along side the Starship they would have had a space-worthy vehicle capable of lunar landing and return by now. SuperHeavy+Starship+Starhopper single launch missions to the Moon or Mars. It would have been so beautiful … See here: http://exoscientist.blogspot.com/2019/07/starhopperstarship-as-heavy-lift.html Anyone up to the challenge of a sim? Robert Clark
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What is your favorite planet/moon?
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Hi guys!! Here's some work i'v beem on this weekends! It's some "compact" version of a moon base fully functional, with few parts and functional as hell!! Only have 3 models until now, an Science Lab, a Mining Facility and GreenHouse (because its pretty, that's all... ). This is the ESA concept for a moon base that i really enjoy and like how it looks! Modules: "Interactive Interiors": Science Lab: GreenHouse: Mining Facility: Ground Solar Panels: Altair Lander - "Big Boy"! (Up to 8 Kerbals) Almost there... solving the last bug (that I found...)
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