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Introduction: In 2010 the Constellation program was cancelled with the only things to show for it was a prototype of the Ares I launch vehicle and a semi developed crew capsule, the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. The program had a quite a bit of lofty goals, having to develop new large launch vehicles using the knowlege gained from the Shuttle and Apollo programs as well as creating new crew exploration vehicles that could be used for LEO, the Moon and eventually Mars. It became an extremely costly effort leading to it's eventual demise. Thanks to KSP and a variety of totally rad mods from around the community, here is a somewhat Kerbalized set of events if the Constellation program continued into the next decade and beyond. Mods and stuff:

More formally known as the Prestigious Association of Kerbin Explorers Being as, and whereas, a number of us have gathered together and discussed the present matter, that a deplorable number of Kerbals, eager to explore the confines of Space, are yet insufficiently familiar with our own dear habitat. Kerbin. And in order to raise consciousness, and preservation, of our own natural environment, we have decided today, to form the Prestigious Association of Kerbin Explorers. Membership is Strictly Limited and by Invitation Only. I.e. open to all who qualify according to these, the rules, of our association. Rules of Kayak Club: Do not talk about Kayak Club. Post herein this topic a screenshot of some pretty location on Kerbin. Should be panoramic enough for others to identify the location from some angle upon arrival. Explorer (poster) must not reveal coordinates until acknowledgement of visitation of 5 Adventurers. [Recommend simply Like the post if thought to be correct; else abstain.] Give some clues about how to get there, couched in terms of (e.g.) an initial heading from KSC, followed by flowery description of landmarks along the way. Adventurers will respond with a screenshot of the target location including their own Kerbal or vehicle in such a way as to distinguish that Adventurer from other exploiteers. Adventurers do not give away coordinates (disqualification). First five arrivals will be awarded 5,4,3,2,1 points, as adjudicated by the Supreme Judges (@Castille7 and @purpleivan). Poster of the initial Landmark Screenshot will be awarded 10 points for the post, as soon as the first Adventurer proves visitation. A Leader-board of point scores shall be kept. Do not talk about Kayak Club. NEW: Some Suggestions for Explorers and Adventurers is recommended reading. Who says Kerbin is boring!? Bah. Let's get out there and show us what we've got! Standard disclaimer: yeah, praise be to the rules of the forum in ascendancy... nobody break 'em. Kayak Club Leaderboard Explorer Score Hotel26 229 swjr-swis 124 Pds314 120 purpleivan 88 Klapaucius 56 Castille7 53 TheFlyingKerman 45 Smokey the Bear 34 Sir fulgur 25 Koolkei 20 Paaaad 16 AlienWall 15 SuicidalInsanity 14 oAsAo 14 Akagi 10 Chequers 4 Chryssalid 8492 3 Retro Starship 2 Kayak Club Landmark Discoverer Visitors Kayak River Castille7 purpleivan Hotel26 Chryssalid 8492 AlienWall TheFlyingKerman Great Wall purpleivan Klapaucius Hotel26 Lost Valley Klapaucius Hotel26 SuicidalInsanity Valhalla Hotel26 swjr-swis Paaaad Lake Dumbell SuicidalInsanity purpleivan Hostel26 Estuary purpleivan Hotel26 TheFlyingKerman Fake Victoria Falls Hotel26 fulgur Klapaucius Lake Klapaucius fulgur Klapaucius Castille7 Lake Excalibur fulgur Hotel26 Castille7 Klapaucius TheFlyingKerman Grand Rapids TheFlyingKerman Klapaucius Heavenly Valley Hotel26 Fire Escape Island Klapaucius AlienWall Swiss Cheese Seafronts AlienWall Kamp David Hotel26 swjr-swis Chequers purpleivan Kwitzerland TheFlyingKerman Footstep Island swjr-swis Lake Omaroo Hotel26 swjr-swis Chequers Mt Keverest[2] Castille7 swjr-swis Mt True Keverest purpleivan swjr-swis Smokey the Bear Jeb Atoll Klapaucius swjr-swis oAsAo Hotel26 Ben Creag ***** Hotel26 purpleivan swjr-swis Point Break Hotel26 swjr-swis purpleivan Target Island Castille7 swjr-swis Klapaucius Hotel26 Venice Beach Hotel26 swjr-swis Cape Stinger swjr-swis Hotel26 Lake Zamboni Hotel26 oAsAo Mhole Koolkei Pds314 purpleivan Summer Lake Pds314 oAsAo Hotel26 Mt Brutality Pds314 Hotel26 The Spine of Dres Pds314 Smokey the Bear Mt Pinocchio Hotel26 Pds314 Mt Imposition Hotel26 Pds314 Lac Eve Pds314 Hotel26 Iceland Hotel26 Castille7 St Andrews Hotel26 Pds314 Gravity Lake Hotel26 Standrews Pds314 Hotel26 purpleivan Lake Zero Koolkei Pds314 Madness Meadow Pds314 purpleivan Ice Ridge Koolkei Long Drop Mountain Hotel26 K2 Hotel26 Pds314 Tylos Coliseum Pds314 Smokey the Bear Hotel26 The Amphitheatre Hotel26 Pds314 Peak 6038 Pds314 Hill 303 Smokey the Bear Hotel26 Ross Bay Smokey the Bear Hotel26 Davey Jones (Left) Locker Smokey the Bear Null Bay Paaaad purpleivan Great Barrier Reef Hotel26 The Three Sages chequers Airstrip Sandbar Pds314 Hotel26 Loch Inverness Hotel26 Safe Harbor Hotel26 Explodium Sea Akagi swjr-swis Von Kerman Outlook TheFlyingKerman swjr-swis Ginormous Twins swjr-swis TheFlyingKerman Bank of Einstein-Rosen swjr-swis The Philadelphia Experi-Truss swjr-swis Note 2: controversy over name ***** Mt Majestic Trophy holder Please note: the first 15 rows of Landmarks are being painstakingly reconstructed from the journal. Your patience is appreciated. Scores are certified correct. This notice will be removed when work is complete. [Updated to this point on April 22, 2022.]

An Introduction to Bendy Tech Bendy Tech is a new way to make pure stock mechanisms in KSP, combining reliability and simplicity in a simple-to-build way ... The elevator of @Kronus_Aerospace's upcoming 747SP replica utilizing Bendy Tech It's no secret that some builders such as myself, @Phantomic, and @HB Stratos continue building stock mechanics despite the presence of robotic parts from the DLC. Whether it's a desire to make your craft accessible to the largest number of people, desirable properties of stock mechanics, we prefer the challenge of keeping things stock, or just that we're old farts who refuse to believe that our once cutting-edge tech is now outdated, we keep building craft that swing their wings, have oversized control surfaces, or have other functions beyond what is conventionally possible with the pure stock parts. A Stock Innovation born from the DLC The Rigid Attachment and Same Vessel Interaction options in the SPH. The release of the Breaking Ground DLC added the option for easily building gears and other complex mechanisms which were all part of the same craft. With the mechanics of the time, parts could not collide with another part of the same vessel, so the option to toggle Same Vessel Interaction (SVI) was added in the editor. Notably, parts with SVI can only interact with other parts with SVI. If you combine this with "actuators" which have moving colliders (Airbrakes, elevons, tail fins, landing gear, and service bays) to force parts of the same craft to bend - without the use of a servo or hinge from the DLC. To facilitate the bending, chains of weak joints are added between the colliding parts, creating a "spring". This is further facilitated by the use of the Rigid Attachment feature on the actuators, as well as on any "guide" or "hinge" (static parts which either guide or transform the motion). Introduction to Bendy Tech A simple example of BendyTech - a 20 degree swing, useful for an all-moving tailplane This is a very basic example of the principle at work here (fittingly so - it was my first test of the tech's potential). Hidden from view is a stack of six separators connecting the I-beam to the structural panel. The elevators are attached to the structural panels, which sandwich the I-beam. The elevators are set up to respond to yaw controls as pictured (the forwards pair have control authority set to -30, and the backwards ones +30), and have SVI and rigid attach enabled. The I-beam is the only other part with SVI enabled. If you are interested in using this tech yourself, I highly recommend attempting to replicate this setup, as it contains the essential elements of Bendy Tech designs. Two Axis-Control, high-stress applications A more complex mechanism allows for two-axis control, and stronger construction to defeat the inherent bendyness of Bendy Tech The above image shows my first attempt at a practical Bendy Tech mechanism - adding a gimbal to the fixed Reliant engine. While functional, it is less than practical, due to the added size and weight. However, it very clearly shows how the tech can be evolved into more complex applications, while showing some of the limitations. Most notably, the fact that all parts with SVI enabled cannot overlap. The elevons must be arranged in such a way that they can be useful without crossing into each other's control area. A craft download for this craft can be found here: https://kerbalx.com/servo/Engine-with-custom-gimbal-no-DLC For the extremely clever among you, there is a way to minimize the mechanism by rearranging the control inputs and I-beams down to a 1.25m profile. The doing of this is trivial and is left as an exercise to the reader. Or you can see how here: https://kerbalx.com/servo/Gimbal-Assortment Advanced Bendy Tech: Hinges Classic Stock Mechanics make a return in the Bendy Tech hinges. Here, they redirect the lateral displacement of the I-beam into rotation Here is the area where I stop claiming innovations as my own. @HB Stratos was the first to see a way to improve the rotation ability of the tech by adding a simple RCS/Thermometer hinge on either side to stabilize the motion. Importantly, small radial-attach parts do not have the ability to enable SVI by default. However, there are two ways around that: Craft-file Editing (which I will leave to HB to explain in his own post), and action groups. You can set the relevant parts to enable SVI on the stage action group (or whichever AG you use to actuate the parts), and it will function as normal. Another important advanced note here: if you are using hinges, you must use docking ports instead of separators as your spring. Otherwise the hinge will break out of its cage. For an exhausting look at the uses and construction of stock hinges, I recommend a stroll through this thread: Advanced Bendy Tech: Guides Structural panels form the guides for the wings on HB's and my forthcoming F-111 Aardvark replica The use of guides to keep parts in line is old hat to anyone who's built complex mechanisms (DLC or otherwise). Here, the advance is in the size of the guide - with stacked structural panels, you can fit the guide *inside* a single wing panel. This really takes advantage of the fact that Bendy Tech can fit inside of any part, so long as those parts don't have SVI enabled themselves. This eliminates one of the biggest weaknesses of previous stock tech, and I look forwards to seeing how it is abused in the future. Limitations and Advanced Potential of Bendy Tech While Bendy Tech is a new and very interesting development, it's not a perfect solution, so using it effectively is a matter of knowing its strengths and weaknesses. Strengths and Weaknesses of Bendy Tech Strength Weakness Single craft allows control of all elements throughout flight, using standard flight controls bending parts behave poorly under physics warp Using Deploy Adjust action groups, can create fine motion, including motion of less than 1m Limited range of motion, cannot rotate indefinitely Reliable mechanism not relying on docking ports or KLAW adapters Long springs can increase part counts of craft Mechanisms can fit inside of other parts Without support structures such as guides, large parts are floppy under external loads Applications and Inspiration board @Kronus_Aerospace's large elevator. You can see the RCS hinge near the launch clamp. Actuation is provided by a Big-S elevon Flaps and slats - the flexible tech is well-suited to creating complex mechanisms which expand, especially since control is maintained on any elevons along the length of the flap. Our WIP Aardvark, with wing actuation exposed. The wing swings through a 60 degree arc, and the craft also features Bendy Tech all-moving stabilators actuated by tail fins. A Community of Builders Getting Bendy Tech to this stage is not a singular accomplishment, but the combined work of a community of stock replica builders. If you would like to join us, drop me a PM and I'll get you added to our server On behalf of HB_stratos, Kronus_aerospace, and others, I hope you'll join us in pushing the limits of what can be done with the base game

A forum user requested a stopwatch timer, here is what I've done. Big Ben, named after the famous clock in London. This provides timers to both count down and count up. For both, you can either start at 00:00:00 or enter a starting time. The default settings provides for one timer, but there is a toggle on the window and on the Settings page to allow multiple timers. When doing multiple timers, you can enter a name for it. This is the timer with the Multiple option disabled: This is with Multiple enabled, showing three timers. The top one is not running, the second is in a count-down mode and the third is in a count-up mode Settings page: Controls available are: Control Description Name Available only in the multiple setting, allows you to give a name to the timer Up/Down Specifies the direction of the count. Default is to count up. Entry Fields Available when not running, one each or Hours, Minutes and Seconds ^ Available when Multiple is enabled. If enabled, moves the timer up one in the list v Available when Multiple is enabled. If enabled, moves the timer down one in the list + Adds a new timer - Deletes the current timer Reset Resets timer to initial values Start Starts the timer Stop Stops the timer Time Warp and Pauses These timers are keeping track of game time. They work off of the KSP clock, and deal gracefully with both Time Warp and pausing the game Usage The toolbar button is available in the Space Center, Flight and Tracking Station screens, it looks like a stopwatch. You don't have to keep them visible, once you set the timers, you can hide them until you need to know what time they are at. Time will be kept, nothing will be lost. When ready, click the Start button of the timer you want to use When using a countdown timer, the time will be displayed in red when the time gets below zero. Dependencies ToolbarController ClickThroughBlocker Availability Source: https://github.com/linuxgurugamer/BigBen Download: https://spacedock.info/mod/2307/BigBen License: CC-BY-NC-SA Available via CKAN This page is still under construction, but the mod IS available now. ToDo Fix entry fields to allow negative number in the most significant digit Allow entry fields to be blank, right now there will always be a number there

Features Spawn points: Helipad, Rover, Water (directly over the submerged giant triangle). Payload Integration Complex has a business module. Assign kerbals to it and it farms funds and pays for itself in 3 years with 1 kerbal or 1 year with max kerbals. Hangars can store craft and retrieve crew. Mass per craft and number of craft will vary. Do not place other vessels where stored vessel was. Bad things will happen when retrieving vessels. Medium Dish Station near the Helipad is a GroundStation, closed by default due to proximity to KSC. Standalone Utility Buildings will hold 1.33x the amount of a mid-sized Kerbodyne tank and accept any resources held by active vessel. Two fuel depots allow for refueling the active vessel if near enough (and if player has $$ in Career). Compatible with CRP and @Angel-125 WBI Cassic Stock. Requires Kerbal Konstructs Omega's Stockalike Structures: No Textures Required DOWNLOAD :: GitHub :: SpaceDock LICENSE: CC-BY-NC-SA KSC Extended in background is from @damonvv and is not included. Do not install this alongside JNSQ. It was and is already there.

Greetings everyone, and welcome to another Community Space Station challenge by the name of the 'World Space Station'. A special mention to @KerbonautTKM for coming up with this idea. The goal of this challenge is like the previous community space stations, which is to build one large space station on one save file (link below). Feel free to build any module you want and as many as you want! DOWNLOAD THE GAME SAVE HERE So to start of, here are the rules: -No DLC -No Mods -No cheats -You have to use KSP version 1.8.1 -One module per mission -Leave a docking port open for others -Please post pics! With that out of the way all you have to do is download the game file and put it into the saves folder. Then design your module and dock it to the space station! I have already built the first module, and it is in a equatorial orbit with a Apoapsis of 150 km and Periapsis of 150 km. It has several free docking ports. Have Fun! http:// Here is my mission log of the launch of the first module. It took several tries and several kerbals to get this giant of the ground... http:// http:// http://

First 1/2 of vid is running on the starter motor for demonstration. Lots going on here. Lots of time spent and many craft revisions to get here. This 90 degree v8 has a flat-plane crankshaft, like what is used in the new Ford Mustang GT350s, Ferraris, and McLarens. I honestly chose flat-plane because it was easier for me to program the camshaft timing, since it's more like two 4 cylinder engines stuck together (it still took forever, and it's probably still not ideal). The camshaft runs at 1/2 of the crankshaft speed, like in a real car. Two things allow this to happen. First, I created a weird mechanism to gearless-ly and efficiently drop RPMs by half (I'm very proud if you can't tell). It took lots of youtube scouring to find a "gearless gear." KSP gears have been good, but are inefficient. A timing chain for the camshaft was right out - We can do wonderful robotic tank track/chains, but not at more than a few RPM. Second, I transferred that power up to the shared camshaft by 4 remote linkages. The fuel lines are here just to visualize the 1:1 transfer. The camshaft pushes on lifters. These lifters here have free-rolling, um, rollers on the ends for high efficiency, like in some expensive and high-performace cars. Same Parts Interaction is enabled on staging to allow camshaft and roller to collide. There are no rockers. When bumped by the camshaft lobes the lifters themselves make room for the turbines to blow on the pistons at the correct time. The lifters are set to "spring return" at a rate of 5/100 in the hydraulic cylinder context window. This is all one craft. The cylinders are attached to root, but the pistons are attached from their pins to the crankshaft journals by strut-connectors. I didn't want to use connectors though because of their weirdness upon duplication or reverting (ctrl-z) - I never know if they'll attach correctly on other folks computers. Around and around we go. So this also leaves us with two different output speeds to choose from on the transmission end - crankshaft speed (100%) and camshaft speed (50%). I put this in a car, but didn't get over 3.5m/s, so it's a tech demo for now. Good info time. Shift-move on the KSP snap grid is .1m on the XY plane. A crankshaft arm of .1m radius gives us a .2m stroke. This nice small stroke has never worked for me though. It provides very little power but makes for a tight package (can still be used if electrically powered though). A .2m radius (.4m stroke) is nice. A .3m radius is what I chose here. Bigger diameter = more torque. Well, it's supposed to - doesn't matter here since there's no load. The smallest DLC piston total movement is .8m. It can extend/retract further when forced, but is not meant to. With all the stretching and flexing of high speed moving parts you don't want to be hitting the maximum top or bottom, so to me a .6m stroke is ideal to stay smooth and still leave a .1m cushion on either side of the stroke. This is probably TMI, and I could go on and on but I'll stop here. https://kerbalx.com/klond/v8