DMSP-The beginning of a space program. [Final Chapter] Chapter 33-When the clock hits zero.

[DMSP]

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1-Something New.
Chapter 2-Sticks and Probes may break my Bones...
Chapter 3-New Ambitions.
Chapter 4-To Crowd an Orbit.
Chapter 5-A new world.
Chapter 6-The Shenanigans in Cismunar Space.
Chapter 7-Linus's Disaster.
Chapter 8-Due Respects.
Chapter 9-Topspin!
Chapter 9.5-Val's Topspin!
Chapter 10-100 Days of Space.
Chapter 11-To touch the Mun.
Chapter 12-Cosmic Obliteration.
Chapter 13-No More Benzene?
Chapter 14-Towing and Crashing and a Safe Landing.
Chapter 15-Back to Rockets!
Chapter 16-Overdue Views.
Chapter 17-Kathena Space Industries.
Chapter 18-The Next Big Thing.
Chapter 19-The Brave.
Chapter 20-The Flyby.
Chapter 20.5-The Pickup. 
Chapter 21-Renovating Rene.
Chapter 22-Routine Return
Chapter 23-Muna 10 Comes Home.
Chapter 24-A real spaceplane.
Chapter 25-Minty Minmus.
Chapter 26-New Heights.
Chapter 27-Flyby.
Chapter 28-To the Mun and Back again.
Chapter 29-Under the fear of fire.
Chapter 30-Private-3 and Artemis A.
Chapter 31-The Power of the Atom.
Chapter 32-Nothing Lasts Forever.
Chapter 33-When the clock hits Zero. (Final Chapter.)

 

I was really committed to Laythe's Calling, but Kraken ended the save and everything that was in it. I decided to start new. Here it is: The Story of DMSP.

Chapter 1-Something New

It was a quiet day at the new space center.

Something tiny stood on the pad.

It was Twig-1, the first launch of this new program.

Everyone watched with binoculars.

10.

9.

8.

7.

6.

5.

4.

3.

2.

1.

The crowd gasped.

Everybody waited for the fire and smoke.

But Twig-1 tipped over, reaching a record height of 0 meters off the launch pad.

The crowd went home slightly upset.

 

On another bright sunny day, Twig-2 got its final check done by Bill Kerman.

It was much larger than Twig-1, and mission control thought this one would work.

Bill put on his helmet. He moved away from the danger.

The countdown commenced.

The slightly smaller crowd waited.

3.

2.

1.

Bill closed his eyes.

Ignition!

Suddenly, the crowd gasped again.

Bill opened his eyes. Twig-2 wasn't there!

It was gaining speed, heading upwards.

50 M/S.

100.

It kept accelerating.

Everyone cheered.

Gene Kerman celebrated.

Wernher von Kerman was very happy.

And then the fuel ran out.

It coasted to about 4,500 meters before beginning to fall.

Immediately tracking noticed something.

It was falling straight for the pad.

Where Bill stood.

 

Bill cried out in surprise when he was thrown back.

He'd been looking out to the sea, expecting to see the splash of Twig-2.

He picked himself up, and climbed slowly up the pad.

And there was Twig-2. Its computer kept running as if nothing had ever happened.

The crowd made sure from Kerbal Space Center staff that Bill was ok before leaving.

Valentina Kerman was cleaning the seats and bleachers.

She was incredibly bored at her new job.

It was only until she saw something green in the fourth row of seats, specifically on the fifth chair from the right.

 

Mortimer Kerman was in his office, continually sighing.

He wanted Gene to scrap Twig-3 and just launch something bigger that would give them more profit.

Val charged in. Mort looked up.

"I found 550 funds!" She yelled.

 

Twig-3 was also quite small.

It used new fuel pipes, a new rocket, and the fins that were going to be launched on Twig-1.

It shot up like a propelled arrow.

Like all the others, it plunged into the ground a bit off the KSC runway.

 

With the intentions of the Twig program satisfied, the space program could finally take the next small step forwards.

Edited July 31, 2016 by DMSP

[Mister Dilsby]

Awww, those are cute little rockets! Very Goddard, nice work with the struts  

[Just Jim]

OK, this is definitely off to a fun start....  I love the twig series of rockets!  Can't wait to see more.

[DMSP]

11 hours ago, Kuzzter said:

Awww, those are cute little rockets! Very Goddard, nice work with the struts  

 

10 hours ago, Just Jim said:

OK, this is definitely off to a fun start....  I love the twig series of rockets!  Can't wait to see more.

 

Thank you both!

Well, just for you guys, here's:

Chapter 2-Sticks and Probes may break my bones...

All of the Twigs crashed. Maybe because they were too small.

The Stick program was meant to get new science and set new records.

So Stick-1 was made.

It was angled on the Launchpad so it could get some oceanic science.

Using 'new' "Intake-Spark" engines, it it lugged itself into the air.

The flight was considered 'boring' and only a few of the engineers were at the bleachers.

It didn't go very high, but it set the distance record and broke the myth that "Rockets can't glide".

It fell short of the land recovery crews, so the parachutes deployed early and a team was dispatched from the KSC beach.

They caught the little core just before it sank to deep and burst.

And Stick-1 became the first probe to ever be recovered after launch.

 

Stick-2 came to Linus Kerman in a dream.

He showed it to Wernher. They thought it could reach the Grasslands.

It didn't.

The shock-wave from Stick-2's booster crashing into the ground broke some windows and injured a few staff there.

Stick-2 did, however, teach KSC scientists about the Atmosphere right above the launchpad.

 

Stick-3 was a "Height-breaker". The teams wanted to bust out of the lower atmosphere and discover more about what was up there.

Armed with a new thing called a "Wind-sheild", Stick-3 set off to learn more about something (they didn't know what).

The Wind-sheild, now apparently called a "Fairing" preformed wonderfully, keeping the probe safe from the high speeds.

Everyone was energetic. The probe was hitting past the point where it was originally going.

Then the flight controller threw his hands up in excitement.

And hit the controls.

The computer took this as a command to pitch over, busting everyone's dreams that this thing would make it too space.

The probe tumbled a bit before the fuel ran out.

Stick-3 hit 30,000 meters.

The controller finally got the joystick working and angled the upper stage to protect the core.

And another mission ended successfully.

 

But now it was time for the biggest step.

It was time to go to space.

 

Pointy Stick was going to be the last launch of the Stick program. The only objective left in it was to reach past 70,000 meters, so essentially, hit space.

A massive crowd gathered to watch.

They were hoping to see history in the making.

3.

2.

1.

Pointy Stick went off the pad, gaining speed and climbing higher.

The fuel was draining. Control throttled down to try to see if it would be more efficient.

The Sun broke over the horizon. Pointy Stick was too low.

And the rocket cut off.

The KSC was wonderful from so far up.

Pointy Stick reached 52,000 meters before slapping into the water off Insular Island.

It was a very exciting day, but there would need to be one last Stick launch.

 

Spectators watched on the VAB. They saw the Kerbolar Eclipse and "The Sharpest Stick" sitting on the pad.

10.

9.

8.

The crowd cheered.

7.

6.

5.

The ground staff jumped in joy.

4.

3.

Everyone was ready.

2.

1.

And off it went.

The acceleration put The Sharpest Stick at 10,000 meters and 400 M/s quite fast, so the Flight Controllers throttled back once more.

It just kept going. Now only the FL-T100 was left to fuel the thing.

That ran out eventually.

It seemed as if The Sharpest Stick was too low.

Tracking got a update.

Apoapsis: 71,298 Meters.

Everyone cheered and screamed. The Space Center went into a frenzy.

A photo was transmitted back. The camera never got a photo from space, but it did get a beautiful one indeed.

The Sharpest Stick (Or what was left of it) was recovered in pieces almost 70 Km from where it started.

 

With new funding for DMSP and the Stick program exceeding expectations, it was time for a new idea.

The International Kerbal Ballistic Machine. Or IKBM.

[astrokerb]

Honestly, I was expecting the next program to be the "Branch Program" or the "Tree Program."

What does the IKBM do?

[DMSP]

13 hours ago, astrokerb said:

Honestly, I was expecting the next program to be the "Branch Program" or the "Tree Program."

What does the IKBM do?

Well the IKBM program (named the Bark program) is meant to explore space and test out satellites.

[DMSP]

Chapter 3-New ambitions.

The Space Program was going well.

But only one thing had reached space, so it wasn't much of a space program.

The Bark Program was meant to change that and set new heights for the probes and lifters.

So after almost 26 minutes of development, Bark-1 was made.

It was rolled out a few days later.

The Bark-1A IKBM became the fastest thing Kerbals had ever made.

It streaked over the KSC.

And hit space. Unfortunately, no one got to know how well the second stage "Flea" worked because it started tumbling very fast once the booster was ignited.

The warhead came in Hot, but it was a dud.

So the fishies were ok.

Mission complete success!

 

Bark-2 was a Bark-1A missile with a modified "Fairing Payload Stage".

The payload was the OOT-SFS. Or Over One Thousand-Super Fast Slowdown.

Bark-2 pitched to the North and began accelerating.

Once the solid booster cut off, Bark-2 shot through the atmosphere.

The second stage preformed a lot better than last time.

It hit about 72 kilometers before falling down and separating OOT-SFS.

The test was great, and the SFS made Bark-2 go about 500 M/s slower.

The parachute deployed and OOT-SFS's data was recovered.

Otherwise it was left to sit in a valley near some mountains.

 

Bark-3 was meant to break every altitude and speed record previously set.

Using a Bark-2 Missile was only necessary.

Less than 20 seconds after launching, Bark-3 pulled about 9 Gs and hit 10,000 Meters.

On ascent, it broke the record for the fastest thing in the atmosphere.

It bust to almost 462 Kilometers above Kerbin.

The warhead turned around.

KSC had still wanted another dud launch. So, Bark-3 was unarmed. It hit the atmosphere, once again making it the fastest thing again. (Beating its old record).

The rocket ignited, making the warhead reach about 3,100 M/s before being vaporized on descent.

 

Bark-4 was meant to be an atmospheric probe to learn more about how future things in orbit would work.

Before the launch, Gene Kerman made a statement to all KSC forces.

"We have to stop naming our spacecraft after trees."-Heroic and inspirational words by Gene Kerman.

Bark-4 IKBM-02B-04 was good to launch after a few hours.

It struck into the skies.

The operator had been told to get IKBM-02B-04 to space.

With no clearer instructions, he did what he thought was right. A "Gravioly Turn".

And about 10 minutes later, the probe ignited its second stage and corrected its position.

The operator, named Gra-Vity Kerman Jr, decided to ignite the second stage at Apoapsis.

Suddenly, a red light flashed and a warning sign popped on Gra's screen.

It said: Warning-No impact point detected. Advise all civilians from 5.3° North to 3.1° South to seek shelter.

Gra was confused.

"Gene!" He yelled.

"What?"

"What's this?"

About an hour later, Wernher realized something.

IKBM-02B-04 had made orbit.

The satellite, now named "Upper Thing", was detached from the remains of the lifter.

And KSC now had a permanent presence in the stars.

Edited January 29, 2016 by DMSP

[Mister Dilsby]

Love the look of that "upper thing". Make probes, not war!  

[Cydonian Monk]

Just when the naming scheme was starting to branch out they decided they were barking up the wrong tree? Not sure what the root of the problem was, but I'm curious to see what they switch to.

[DMSP]

1 hour ago, Kuzzter said:

Love the look of that "upper thing". Make probes, not war!  

Thanks! Probes FTW and :hailprobe:

 

1 hour ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Just when the naming scheme was starting to branch out they decided they were barking up the wrong tree? Not sure what the root of the problem was, but I'm curious to see what they switch to.

I tree what you did there...

They are probably going to launch more IKBMS and maybe they will detonate some stuff.

Honestly Gene wants to put more stuff in orbit.

Mort wants to skip to phase 2.

We will all see.

[Raptor9]

I'm liking this.  I was laughing when I saw the picture of Bill peeking over the edge of the launchpad at Twig-3

[DMSP]

On 1/29/2016 at 0:09 AM, Raptor9 said:

I'm liking this.  I was laughing when I saw the picture of Bill peeking over the edge of the launchpad at Twig-3

Wow, thanks!

Bill probably wasn't. He is still upset that they didn't give him more time to get to cover.

Anyway, enjoy:

Chapter 4-To crowd an orbit.

Excited by recent successes, funding for DMSP went up 30%.

Linus's "Upper Thing" had been completely successful.

Wernher decided something cool had to be made. A second satellite was a great idea.

"Smaller is better"-Words to live by-Mort Kerman.

Carguard-1 was put on a IKBM-03, which was designed by Mort to be ACAP. Or As Cheap As Possible.

Carguard-1 was even smaller than Upper Thing.

The ground crews removed the launch clamps. Everything looked good.

But then something unimaginable happened.

The IKBM started to tip.

The center of it snapped, fuel spilling everywhere.

As the second stage hit the ground, the explosion took place.

Cargaurd-1 was mostly OK, its systems fried, unfortunately.

The investigation passed for a long time.

About 3 days later, the cause was "Lack of launch clamps".

And Mort was never given the opportunity to design anything ever again.

 

All of the launches aimed for space had been Solid Fuel based.

Traveller-1 was definitely the biggest payload yet.

So it was probably time for a powerful Liquid Missile. The IKBM-Goliath-A was created.

Wernher's Satellite program was behind Linus's. It was time for him to catch up.

He decided to launch now, no matter how dark it was.

And Linus awoke to a massive roar. He looked out of his window to see an IKBM leaving him in the dust.

Wernher's "1.5 Stages" idea was extremely efficient and worked great.

The Goliath A lifted Traveller-1 high into the atmosphere.

Eventually Stage 1 ran out.

Stage 2 activated.

Stage 2 was essentially a "Kicker Stage" to get the payload out of the atmosphere and past 1,500 M/S.

So that ran out fast. The fairing fired off and Stage 3 ignited.

Traveller-1 hit orbit.

Wernher was celebrating.

By the end of it, the second sat transmitted tons of data. It passed through Kerbin's hypothesized "Pan Sallen" belts. The belts were not much and more flights would visit them in the future.

Crews with sufficient radiation shielding could go through them with no negative affects.

Wernher woke up the next morning. He looked at his doorway. There were tons of letters near the door.

He had 39 noise complainants and 2 were titled "Your rocket was too loud"!

And that was the launch of Traveller-1.

 

Carguard Advanced was put on an IKBM-03-A. The IKBM-03 series was now called the Carguard Series.

It was another basic launch, the only difference from Carguard-1 was the launch clamps on Carguard Advanced.

2 Wernher, 1 Linus.

 

 

The second launch of the Goliath A carried an identical payload to Traveller-1.

Traveller-2 had been crushed in a manufacturing accident, so Traveller-3 was next on the list.

It launched perfectly, and cameras got better photos of this one.

Many said it was beautiful to watch the rocket so early in the morning.

"The sunrise added a sense of wonder to the launch"-Bob Kerman

"10/10 would do again"-Jeb Kerman

This was also the first launch that wasn't just controlled by one kerbal. Another great milestone for the program.

The kicker stage ignited. Traveller-3 reached space.

The "Final Stage" pushed Traveller-3 into a highly elliptic orbit. Exactly what was needed.

More data was gained about the space above Kerbin.

Just one more piece in orbit.

 

ACAP was working well for Wernher. Linus was far behind. His science division had been denied two launches due to "Unoriginality".

The next satellite was a continuation and finale of the Carguard program.

For the time being, the Carguard-1 IKBM was going to be put into storage. Possibly for a very long time.

But the last launch needed to take place.

It didn't take long for the first stage to run out.

The second stage, in reality, did most of the work. It had put Carguard-2 into space and into orbit.

Carguard-2 was incredibly successful, and lasted for a while.

It took thousands of photographs and hundreds of observations of Kerbin, letting Kerbals know more and more about their own planet.

 

Wernher wanted to book another launch slot. Recorder-5 needed to get into Heliocentric orbit before any of Linus's did..

So he went up to Mission Control.

He was surprised when Launch slot #18 was "Taken".

"Ok, 19?" He asked.

"That's taken too" Gene replied.

"20? What about 21?"

Gene turned in his chair and scribbled on a few papers.

"Alright, you're booked for 21."

And Wernher was confused, excited, and worried. He was really wondering why so many slots were taken, and he also really wanted to see why. But this could mean Linus was going to get ahead of him.

And oh boy, Linus did.

Larger Upper Thing was placed on a new and revolutionary booster. It was so big it wasn't even an IKBM anymore.

The launch was spectacular.

Linus commanded mission control to make a Gravity turn. The new concept had been popularized by Gra-Vity Kerman's Upper Thing launch, and it turned out it actually worked.

The rocket clambered for orbit.

Eventually the booster ran out of fuel, but not before Larger Upper Thing was in an elliptical orbit.

LUT's internal fuel boosted it to a quite high orbit.

And Linus prepared launch #19.

And that would leave Wernher's flock of Satellites stuck in LKO.

Edited January 31, 2016 by DMSP

[DMSP]

Chatper 5-A new world.

 

Linus's division hadn't been napping whilst Wernher was blasting stuff into orbit.

Ok, maybe a few of the Kerbals in the Advanced Science division had a few naps...

Eventually, the team finished the rocket.

It didn't look like much.

But it was really something.

It was Muna-1.

The experimental "Vector" rocket motor worked perfectly.

The second stage pushed it into orbit and then immediately onward to the Mun.

The third stage did the same.

Everything was going great until the Third Stage ran dry.

They were short of impacting the Mun, that was for sure.

Luckily for Linus, the probe was definitely coming close.

And a beautiful photo came back.

Eventually they were upon the mun.

Muna-1 zipped towards it, drawn in by the Gravity Well.

The controllers were looking at the descent rate.

Maybe Muna-1 would impact the Mun...

But the final altitude readings came back.

It seemed like the probe was 12 kilometers short.

By the end of the flyby, Muna-1 had gotten a new trajectory.

It had gained a lot of velocity from dipping so low.

It was even being slung out of the Kerbin-Mun-Minmus system.

And that was the first time that the Mun had looked bigger than Kerbin.

 

Launch slot #20 was definitely a historic one.

Using a new version of Muna-1's "Acute" lifter, Muna-2, on an "Obtuse" lifter, shot up.

It gained speed quickly, hitting its Gravity Turn point fast.

The booster detachment was, well...

Explosive.

The core, and eventually the Second Stage, ran out of fuel.

The Third Stage had tons of fuel left, and all it needed to do was nudge Muna-2 in the correct direction.

Muna-2 fell towards the Mun.

With so much fuel left, Linus ordered the Third Stage's "Burn to depletion."

It shot towards the monochromatic surface.

The scanners activated once passing below 100 Km above the surface.

Muna-2 transmitted its final data.

This was the last thing transmitted by the probe:

The radios at KSC and Wernher's Satellites lost contact milliseconds later.

Mission success.

Wernher scrambled to prepare Recorder-5.

Edited January 31, 2016 by DMSP
Correction of Wernher's name

[DMSP]

Chatper 6-The shenanigans in Cismunar space

 

Muna-1 was on its was to break another record. It would enter Heliocentric orbit and tip the balance of the Race of the Science Department (Also known as "The Race") in Linus' favor.

So Recorder-5 was strapped to a new "Speed Breaker" booster and shot North East.

The launch was spectacular.

Ok, maybe there was one complaint about dropping boosters on the KSC

But everything went fine.

By the time the third stage of Recorder-5 shut down, the spacecraft was shooting away towards Heliocentric orbit.

And it was beating Muna-1 by about 2 days.

So the tables were once again even.

 

It wasn't to much longer before a proper Communications Satellite was needed. Up until now, all of the probes were close enough for ground stations to catch them. As Muna-1's signal began to fade away, and the older Satellites in orbit lost power, a "Neutral" probe was needed.

 

They worked together to create a multi-launch vehicle. As they prepared a launch, an order from Gene came through.

This launch would be weird...

The fairing, first of all, was quite fat for a "Vanillin-A" Launcher (That's its new name).

And the payload wasn't normal, either...

Called a "Secondary Payload", the Communications sat, or Comms-1 took to the air.

The fairing was ditched once the Gravity Turn was over, showing a strange thing called a "Heatsheild".

At only 1,600 M/s, well short of Orbit, Probe-NEXT was deployed.

It opened its science package to get "Vacuum Samples" and samples of dust in LEO. It also took some cool pics.

Made by Linus, of course.

Soon after Comms-1 made it into a stable orbit, Probe-NEXT started to drop fast.

It blazed through the atmosphere, a rare sight for everyone.

It lost velocity, and the heat shield had protected Probe-NEXT perfectly.

Drag chutes deployed before the main parachutes billowed out.

It splashed down, and was soon recovered by crews.

Less than an hour after launch, Comms-1 circularized in a stable Equatorial orbit.

It began sending commands and receiving signals.

It soon became the in-orbit command center.

 

"It's a triangle!" Shouted Jeb.

"Those are just fairings..." Ensured Val.

"No, it's a triangle! Eluminaty has taken over the KSC! Everybody run!" Jeb darted for the Astronaut complex.

He knocked over some intern having a break outside the building.

"I'll save the snacks!" Jeb yelled at no one in particular.

The intern looked at Val, who was standing by the flagpole, shaking her head.

Jeb was right, in a way.

Eluminaty hadn't taken over, because...

Well...

They didn't exsist...

"Hey!" Yelled Jeb, collecting the 'Emergency Snacks' strapped under the pool table.

"Jeb, I'm sorry, but it's true!"

Anyways, the weird looking rocket blasted off uneventfully.

It took a bit to get to reach stable altitudes.

The whole rocket really wanted to flip.

The bottom fairing was good to deploy. It was fired off.

Then the problem happened. Sensors went red all over Mission Control.

"We've lost readings for Stage 2!" Shouted one controlled.

"Upper fairing is down!" One cried out.

"Flight, Transer-1 is still operational. Should we try for orbit?"

"Do it." Gene told him, barley audible over the chaos.

With the separation of the problematic parts of the lifter, Alarms quieted and red lights went grey.

The internal fuel of Transer-1, meant to put it in a high orbit, was now needed to put it in a low orbit.

Transer-1 just made it. Completely out of fuel and skimming the atmosphere, it began its job.

Step 1: Shut down all older Satellites.

 

Upper Thing was losing battery fast.

It had been in orbit for almost 25 days now.

So with Linus's permission, Transer-1 sent the final command to take a picture, retract antennas, and shut down.

Upper Thing's signal cut shortly later. Maybe, one day, some future space crew would stop by and bring it home.

Traveller-1, having gotten some incredible data and some good pics, received the same commands.

Carguard Advanced and Traveller-3 also shut down.

DMSP was now set with more ambitions goals.

With the now completely functional range of Satellites, communication anywhere in Cismunar Space was possible.

 

It wasn't until KSC lost Recorder 5's signals that another realization was made. There was nothing right above the space center. Radio Signals from the main radio dish would never reach further than home.

So SinkComm was developed.

A theoretical orbit could exist where the orbital period was just the same as Kerbin's rotation. Since no one knew about it, it was time to test it.

SinkComm was launched on a Benzene-1 booster.

The First Stage preformed flawlessly, as expected.

Interest in these launches had gone down. People were getting bored of seeing the same thing over and over again.

After a few hours, SinkComm hadn't moved from over the space center. New Communications links opened and all the main Communications problems were solved.

 

Just a day later, Recorder 5 broke the SOI boundary.

It was now in Heliocentric orbit.

Wernher's team celebrated, and most of Kerbin did too.

No no matter what happened to them, Kerbals had a final place in the stars.

Well...

Kinda.

Muna-1, now running low on battery, sent its final shot back home.

It was only 3 hours from the edge before it shut down.

It would rest in the cosmos.

 

Edited February 7, 2016 by DMSP
Error

[DMSP]

Well, I'm wondering if I should start crewed flights after the launches #25 and 26, or if I should wait a bit.

What do you guys think?

Sneak Pic:

[VektorWorlds]

Seems like a good time to start manned flight to me!

(Though maybe a TIROS I analogue would be cool. Not to mention that Venera 1 actually came BEFORE Gagarin!)

[RocketSquid]

I think you should perhaps try manned, maybe as a "Hybrid launch" that would send a kerbal into space along with a probe.

[DMSP]

8 hours ago, VektorWorlds said:

Seems like a good time to start manned flight to me!

(Though maybe a TIROS I analogue would be cool. Not to mention that Venera 1 actually came BEFORE Gagarin!)

Well Threeos-1 is coming soon. Dunno about a manned flight though...

5 hours ago, RocketSquid said:

I think you should perhaps try manned, maybe as a "Hybrid launch" that would send a kerbal into space along with a probe.

What is this HighBird? My Kerbals will experiment on KSC birds immediately to make one go to space!

[DMSP]

I'd just like to post that the next few chapters will be the end of "Following" history and the Space Race.

I'm going to be doing my own thing now (I guess).

[RocketSquid]

Also, I'm glad to see you going the path of doing sounding rockets and satellites before manned missions. I have taken that path in career, using taerobee and USI sounding rockets. Now, it wouldn't be too difficult to make a MM config that restructures the tech tree for something similar.

Edited February 7, 2016 by RocketSquid

[DMSP]

Chapter 7-Linus's Disaster.

 

Tellhydrogen was a public communications satellite! Kerbals across Kerbin would be tuning into T.Vs to hear the first broadcast from space.

The lifter was called an Omega-E.

It shot up, like every launch before it.

The boosters hit just East of the launchpad.

The gravity turn went perfectly.

Tellhydrogen made it to orbit.

Static turned into sound across Kerbin.

"Hello. This is Gene Kerman. I'd like to say that DMSP has been operating perfectly. I'd also like to invite you to see the wonderful launch of Muna-3 on an Obtuse lifter! We now hand it over to Jebediah Kerman's Junkyard and Spaceship Parts Co."

"[Insert heavy metal music here] Wazzup Kerbals!? Come down to Jeb's Junkyard and get the best..."

Tellhydrogen was a success. Telldeuterium would come next.

 

But first, Muna-3 would launch.

 

Up to this point, Kerbals had no idea what the "Dark" side of the Mun looked like. It always faced away so they had no idea.

Muna-3 broke the skies. It smashed through the atmosphere.

Control was buzzing. Crowds had lined outside the Mission Control building and a few had bought seats on the VAB.

Out of the blue, red lights flashed. Alarms rang at several stations.

"Flight, we've lost Engine 3!" A frightened Kerbal yelled.

At 10,000 meters up, Muna-3 flipped.

The thrust was uneven until the flight controllers shut everything down.

Unable to control at low power, flight had no choice but to dump the boosters.

Crowds across KSC screamed. Kerbals ran towards the launchpad, streams coming from around the SPH and Mission Control building.

The booster was coming in fast.

Some ducked behind the Mission Control building.

There was a huge explosion. Some Kerbals were thrown in the air. Screams filled the KSC once again.

Incredibly, no one in the crowds were hurt. Not one Kerbal even had a scratch.

Bill and Valentina had been watching from the end of the runway, repairing a light on the left of the "09" sign.

Val had grabbed Bill's arm. Bill was confused.

"What?"

She pointed right above the VAB.

Bill froze.

They waited in agony as the Central Stage's rocket turned on.

Then it exploded in a massive fireball.

Val was already at the repair truck, Bill running to hop on.

They raced in silence to the impact site.

The fairing, with Muna-3 inside, had survived the impact.

It was recovered.

The fault was discovered in a faulty circuit, as soon as Engine 1 angled its nozzle, Engine 3 would shut off.

Linus got some bad marks, but with a new booster, he was sure that Muna-3 would be around the Mun in no time.

 

Less than 1/3 of the people for the Muna-3A launch were there.

At 7,000 meters, all Engines suddenly angled. Once again, the Obtuse rolled and pitched, flipping over.

The crowds knew what to do when the KSC officials pointed them towards the Tracking Station.

They sprinted, a few stumbling.

To give those few more time, the Engines ignited once more.

It gave another 10 seconds.

The explosion rocked the SPH, but once again, none were injured.

This time, the Engines could be inspected closely, as two survived.

 

This was Linus's last chance.

He was sure that this Obtuse would make it.

Poor guy.

 

Linus's division was dissolved into Wernher's, marking the end of "The Race".

Well, here's a sneak for the next one:

[astrokerb]

Three failed launches in a row?!?!!

On February 4, 2016 at 1:09 PM, DMSP said:

Well, I'm wondering if I should start crewed flights after the launches #25 and 26, or if I should wait a bit.

What do you guys think?

Sneak Pic:

You should probably start sending Kerbals to space around launches 30-35.

[DMSP]

24 minutes ago, astrokerb said:

Three failed launches in a row?!?!!

You should probably start sending Kerbals to space around launches 30-35.

Yeah.

Again, poor Linus.

I think that is exactly what I have in mind.

[DMSP]

To anyone who's waiting, don't worry, I'm posting later today.

Life has been getting in the way (a bit)

[DMSP]

Chapter 8-Due Respects.

Wernher's team decided to launch Linus's Muna-3 on one of their advanced IKBMs.

A technical malfunction deployed the fairings far to early.

Muna-3 got into space slightly shaken, but the wind hadn't done much to it.

Only a few hours later, Muna-3 was approaching the Mun.

It swung low over the surface, lower than any probe before it (well, apart from Muna-2...).

At first, it hit 12 Kilometers, like Muna-1 had.

But it kept dropping.

It captured picture after picture, and mapped using the LAMP (Low Altitude Mapping on a Probe).

It finally reached 5 Km, skimming over the surface.

One of the mountains was taller than Muna-3's altitude.

It made another burn, to keep traveling around the Mun.

Then, using the HATMAM (High Altitude Thing MApping Mun) got some great radar pictures of the "Dark Side" of the Mun.

It also got this great photo for the press.

After a few days orbiting Kerbin, it began to fall back towards the Mun.

Using a "Negative" Gravity Assist, the spacecraft lost Kerbin Relative velocity, and only a quick kick of the Engines was required to put Muna-3 on a "Crash" trajectory.

Immediately afterwards Engine shutdown, contact was lost with Muna-3.

It was a good flight, but now it was time for a big step.

It was time for Topspin.