A Stockalike Career Playthrough with tons of pictures (We can into space!)

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Booster separation

I always overpower my probes.. I think this will be the case here as well

The Pegasus lifter stage is detached and the probe begins it's transfer burn

This mission will never return to Kerbin

Jool

The probe infers there are very high wind speeds on Jool due to fast moving clouds

Laythe comes into view

Capture burn

Transfer stage separation, Pioneer is now on it's orbital stage

A Tylo encounter reduces speed relative to Jool and also allows for some extra data

Periapses was reduced to 150km for an atmospheric entry

And that was the last KSC ever heard from the Pioneer probe, which immediately exploded on contact with the atmosphere, KSC has learned that Jool aerobreaking is not a viable tool for manned (or any) mission to the system

Edited October 25, 2015 by nsgallup

[Sanic]

Legit as in no cheats.

(Legit doesn't mean no mods)

[nsgallup]

You mean like the debug menu? Nope not using it.. it wouldn't be any fun if I was

Sometimes I use hyper edit just to test things, but I always perform the mission from beginning to end once everything is good to go.

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The Titan heavy lifter has begun testing

Edited October 25, 2015 by nsgallup

[nsgallup]

Val and Bill are tasked with an in depth study of Duna, the plan is to land and then bring data back to an orbiting laboratory for long term research

This Titan lifter is carrying a modified Ceres transfer stage, named the Ares

External fuel tanks detach

Fairing ejected

Circularization

Now that most of the ship is in orbit the crew need to be sent up, as well as a couple small parts of the ship, this lifter is very cheap and simple, relying on solid rocket boosters for most of the ascent

Dropping boosters

I had to limit throttle or else this would go way too fast

Secondary solid rocket motor kicks in

Switching to orbital stage, this module is called the KRM (Kerbin Re-entry Module)

Circularization

Rendezvous with Ares completed, now to dock

Hardest one first, i forgot RCS ports on this one so I have to use the linear thrust to line it up

This one is much easier

Almost there

Ares I ready to go, the lifter still has a little fuel left

Edited January 9, 2016 by nsgallup

[Sanic]

I still have doubts about the debug menu thing, and I will always have them. Let's just drop that though.

That's not your lander, right? It's way too small.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Sanic

[nsgallup]

The lander is on the very front of the craft, it uses a mono-propellant engine from the RLA stockalike mod which results in a set up that is a little more size efficient then with the LV-909 Terrier.

You only need about 1.5km/s of Delta-V for a duna to orbit craft, so this lander should have more then enough.

This is the lander module, dubbed the Eagle

An example of a more conventional Duna lander, note that this one has higher (but unneeded) t/w, and requires a larger fuel tank

This is the whole stack, a Duna landing and return takes around 7-8km/s of Delta-V according to most charts I've seen. This example doesn't have the two command pods attached, but their impact on the Delta V is minimal, also keep in mind that the lander module is staying at Duna, so that increases the return Delta V

This one says it can be done with 7.7km/s

I would just post a video recording, but I'm not sure how to do that while running opengl mode

Edited October 26, 2015 by nsgallup

[nsgallup]

Separation of lifter stage during interplanetary burn

Burning for Duna

[Sanic]

It's reassuring to see the DeltaV chart.

Good luck on the Duna landing!

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Passing Mun

Ike transits over Duna

Duna looks so good with clouds

Capture burn

The Earth>Duna transfer stage is expended, the Ares is in a 60x60km orbit

Val moves to the lander module, it has small RCS ports on the heat shield to move to a suborbital trajectory

The ports are visible here

The Eagle begins atmospheric entry

Drogue chutes deploy, turns out the heat shield wasn't necessary, there were no hypersonic entry effects

Main chute deploys and the heat shield is detached

Looks nice and flat

The Eagle has landed!

Everything is very very red, almost orange, and Kerbals are fascinated by a color that contrasts so strongly with their own world. The dust storms are moving pretty fast, but the atmosphere isn't dense enough for there to be any kinetic danger, the solar panels are not deployed because they will be destroyed on liftoff and are needed for setting up a rendezvous with Ares, this was a design oversight, any further Duna landers will be equipped with surface panels rather then fragile deployable ones

Liftoff!

One issue with AVP is the clouds on the horizon look a little odd when you are right at the same level as them

Orbit is achieved

Solar panels deploy

Burning for intercept

Rendezvous successful, the Eagle is not meant to dock, Val performs a short EVA and boards the Ares, bringing surface data with her

Val does have one more mission in mind for Eagle though, so she repacked the parachute and assumed remote control of the craft

Lowering to sub-orbital

Val forgot to repack the drogue chutes so the lander performs a short burn to enable deployment of the main chute, solar panels are destroyed by drag

Chute deployed

The lander came down on a steep slope and did not have sufficient fuel to change the landing zone, so it tipped into a ravine which will be it's final resting place

The antenna was not damaged and permitted sending data from the new landing site up to Ares, pictured is the Dunian Highlands

It's science time! At least that's what Bob says

Fuel is transferred from the orbital stage of the crew transfer rocket before being ejected

Val raises the orbit altitude to permit faster timewarp, which is required to finish the lab work

When research is mostly completed Val begins the Kerbin transfer burn

Approaching Kerbin, Bob transmits the lab data and starts mentally preparing himself for re-entry

First the pod without RCS is released and rotated to a convenient orientation

The Val hops in the RCS pod and detaches

Docking the two compartments

Bill performs an EVA and joins Val in the linked command pods, they play rock paper scissors to decide who goes where

Re-entry.. Bill isn't sure about this, a two docked pods have never been tested in re-entry conditions before.. he hopes the linkage holds

Hot

Safe at last!

Bob decides that he refuses to go on another mission where this is the method of re-entry, management needs to invest in some larger command pods

Edited October 26, 2015 by nsgallup

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It was time to return to Dres, and so the new Ceres MkII was launched atop a up-engined Pegasus lifter

Fairing separation

The Ceres II is equipped with two LV-N motors and a Grasshopper lander module

I do not have an in context image of blasting off the engine covers, so here is an example taken during testing

Transfer burn

Dres.. we have come to take your surface samples.. you cannot stop us this time

Jeb pretends he is burning up the planet

Capture burn

Jeb boards the lander and prepares to descend

Retro burn

Getting the burn times right was a little annoying, the acceleration with just RCS is a little sluggish

Grasshopper has touched down

Picture time! Jeb is excited to bug Val about getting here first (I actually meant for Val to do this mission but Jeb got auto assigned and I was too far into the mission to restart)

Jeb faceplants on his way to a secondary sample site, Jeb wonders if he could delete this event from the flight recorder

Kerbin is very far away

Wee!

Secondary sample site

Landing gear separates from the lander can, it won't be needed any longer

Jeb begins orbital insertion, since there is no atmosphere Jeb points the craft just above the horizon

Circularization

Approaching rendezvous

Matching velocity with Ceres II

Jeb starts lining up his craft

Docking

Ye-Haw -Jeb

Goodbye grasshopper

Goodbye Dres

Jeb kills some speed with leftover fuel

After detaching just in time, the Ceres II explodes meters away from the re-entry pod.. Jeb likes flying through explosions

Looks like it could be another mountain landing, sure had a lot of those

A desert landing

While waiting for KSC to pick him up Jeb decides to check out a cactus.. that is one big cactus

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I just added scansat, and can confirm that it is an awesome mod

[nsgallup]

Werhner Von Kerman decided that if KSC was to be considered a real space program it needed a proper rover for social media to love, and so a completely overbuilt modular rover deployment system was built to house the very first rover design. This mission was also used to test a multitude of new technologies and concepts.

The Jupiter heavy lifter

Destination Mun

Circularization

The engine cover was turned to shrapnel as the vacuum engine ignited prematurely before clearing the spent lifter stage, no damage was incurred to the craft

The small transfer stage includes the newly designed 3.75m "P1 Penguin High Efficiency Vacuum Engine"

The service bay opens and solar panels are deployed

Adjusting Munar trajectory

Circularization of Munar orbit, the plan is actually to land around the mouth of this canyon in the crater pro-grade of the ship enabling the rover to cross through 3 biomes

This view gets me everytime.. I always have to pause the game and take a look at those amazing Apollo photos

Here is one from Apollo 11

The transfer stage is emptied and jettisoned to crash into the surface partway through the landing burn

Horizontal velocity is significantly reduced, landing gear deploy

It was at this point I realized that the RDL (Rover Deployment Lander) has extremely poor attitude control

After many quicksaves I managed to land somewhere that wasn't a huge cliff.. still pretty steep though

Using the remaining fuel (and with many more quicksaves) the lander bunny hopped over to a flatter landing zone for better rover deployment conditions

Much better

Meet Buzz, the new lovable face of KSC! The rear solar panel has to deploy in order to fit under the attachment point when driving out of the bay

Systems checks and solar panel deployment

More adventures with Buzz coming right up!

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The small triangle of light in the center of the picture identifies the landing site, the plan is to cross the valley, climb the softer slopes towards the bottom right, and then drive up the right side of the picture into the mouth of the canyon

Buzz begins climbing the crater wall, leaving the lander behind

The crater walls were steeper then originally thought and the rover struggled to reach the top, KSC turns it around for one last image of the lander

Now to descend from the ridge and cross the valley

This part was extremely sketchy and many quicksaves were required, it was nearly a 40 degree slope and brakes were useless, I resorted to turning back and forth like a downhill skier to keep speed down and using the reaction wheel to stop from flipping

One of many failures.. ahem during "simulation"

KSC notices an even steeper ridge and notes to never go there

Buzz slaloms between boulders, more skiing then driving as the rover is skidding on brake locked wheels [h=3][/h]

That was not rover approved terrain!

At least the bottom of this valley is flat

The opposite side of the valley had a pretty gradual slope and was easily ascended

Buzz skirts around to the other side of the ridge to avoid unnecessary climbing

There is a short section of bumpy and steep terrain to drop down into "Crater Valley," Buzz zooms down after a small jump as there is a large area of run-out to lose speed

KSC skirts Buzz around the crater to avoid the sharp cliffs on both sides

Some low velocity airtime on the crater edge

Halfway across the crater

Buzz has nearly reached the canyon mouth

Here we go

KSC panics! Buzz is going way too fast and can't seem to slow down! (15m/s)

This is bad.. we lost the frontal solar panel, and it is impossible to brake when Buzz is spending so much time above the surface, speed is now over 20m/s

A hard landing from a high bounce completely shattered the suspension and smashed the wheels, Buzz is still sliding very quickly

After sliding up the opposite side Buzz slid back down to the center of the canyon and a gear leg was completely torn off by the impact

Buzz finally screeches to a halt.. the rest of the solar panels are fine and the antenna and scientific instruments seem to be in working order

The rover slid to a stop about halfway through the canyons, just after the bench before the large crater

Buzz isn't going anywhere soon, but the mission is deemed successful, the goal of transmitting data from three biomes has been completed

A final shot of the lander

An expertly created info-graphic from the KSC Public Relations department detailing the rovers journey

This mission took about 3 hours as the total distance traveled by Buzz was around 20km, now that KSC has learned how to rover, the next one is slated for a much simpler mission on Duna

Edited January 9, 2016 by nsgallup

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Testing the Titan II heavy lifter

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Mission control has decided that an upcoming mission will be an orbiter sent to investigate the moons of Sarnus

Edited October 29, 2015 by nsgallup

[Sanic]

OPM=Win

Good luck on the Saranus missionl

But what about Urlum?

[nsgallup]

OPM=Win

Good luck on the Saranus missionl

But what about Urlum?

Oh I'll be visiting them all, my goal is to land at least one kerbal on every body, except for maybe those in the keptunian belt (got trans-keptunian installed too)

There are still a few missions scheduled between now and the Sarnus orbiter (I'm further ahead irl then what my mission reports show)

[nsgallup]

KSC wanted to investigate the icecaps of Duna, and it was decided to use the tried and true Rover Deployment Lander atop a modified Jupiter heavy lifter.

Liftoff

Ascending

Dropping solid booster

Circularization

Finishing circularization, and dropping the lifter stage

After completing the interplanetary transfer burn the RDL transfer stage deploys its solar panels and begins it's journey

Duna

Capturing into a highly inclined orbit

The RDL separates from the transfer stage and prepares for landing, the transfer stage will remain in orbit as a relay

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Burning for suborbital trajectory

The plan is to land on the edge of the southern icecap to study the transition zone

Drogue chutes deploy

Lots of parachutes are required

Final chute deployment

The RDL came very close to tipping over

Antenna and solar panel deployment

Rover deployment

Meet Watney

To the ice fields!

A big boulder

The solar panels are creating less power compared to on Mun, Watney is required to break and recharge a few times

It's farther then it looks

The ground is kinda slushy here

This landing zone unintentionally is a great spot for viewing Ike

We made it on to the ice

The ice seems very reflective here (compared to other landings in past save games)

Shortly after that photo Watney transmitted the collected data and transitioned to hibernation mode, sorry if this one was boring, but the terrain was very gentle and so there were no major land marks or other exciting things to take pictures of. The journey was about 8km long in a mostly straight line.

Edited October 30, 2015 by nsgallup

[nsgallup]

KSC has decided there will be a future Duna rover to a more exciting location, as well as other rovers to different bodies. The budget priorities are elsewhere at the moment though so it may be some time.

Edited October 30, 2015 by nsgallup

[chiefsheep]

Really enjoying this play through.

Would you mind just listing the mods you are using?

[nsgallup]

Oh man..

There are so many

I'll see if I can list them all just by looking at my gamedata folder

- - - Updated - - -

Active texture management

The RTG, and LANTR engines from atomic age

Astronomers Visual Pack

Crowd sourced science

Distant object enhancement

Kerbal engineer

Hyperedit (for fixing glitches, and running "simulation" tests)

Community Tech Tree

KerboKatz automatically adjusting landing legs

KSPX

MkIV SpacePlane Parts

Mechjeb

Modular Rocket Systems

Multiports

All of the near future packs

Outer Planets Mod with EVE configs

Realplume

RLA stockalike

Taurus HCV

ScanSat

Space Y and Space Y expanded

Station Parts Expansion

Trans-Keptunian

Tweak Scale (I try not to use this one too much)

Kerbal Alarm Clock

I think that covers it

- - - Updated - - -

A teaser from an upcoming mission

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As part of the long term planning for the agency, a radar mapping satellite was commissioned to begin landing zone reconnaissance on Eve under the Venera Eve Exploration program

Liftoff

Booster separation

It's a small payload so the rocket doesn't have to be very big

Going for a polar orbit in order to get a scan of Kerbin during the same mission

Stage detach

The probe deploys it's solar panel and begins scanning

Lots of time warp

Scan complete.. looks like some advanced aliens graffitied the ocean floor in some long past age

Burning for Eve

What secrets lay under the heavy cloud cover?

Aurora

Scanning commences

The radar scan was pretty washed out, the biome map seems to be the clearest idea of what the topography looks like, KSC considers sending another probe for a high res radar scan

Plenty of fuel left so why not transfer to Gilly

Setting up a polar orbit

Scanning, and transmitting data

This data doesn't seem very useful..

In conclusion, a higher resolution scan of Eve is necessary to locate an ideal landing site for a manned mission that is in the works, pending experimental engine development.

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Behold, the Titan III Heavy Lifter

Liftoff

Booster separation, these require retro-rockets to push them away from the main body

A very long rocket

Upper stage kicks in

Fairing separation, circularization complete

Transfer burn to Sarnus