Squared Space Program - Chapter 4: A Good Day [ON HOLD INDEFINITELY]

[TheEpicSquared]

Hello everyone! This is a (poorly) role-played career in sandbox mode (since the stock tech tree is a bit backward), documenting the journey of Kerbalkind as they find out about flight and eventually venture out into the cosmos (or as the kerbals would call it, the kosmos). Comments and constructive criticism are of course welcome.

All the crafts shown in this documentation do work in the game and do not require Alt+F12 or other cheats to function. HyperEdit and Alt+F12 will only be used to get a screenshot and will not be used to advance the savegame in any way. VesselMover, however, will be used to move things to places (as seen in the first few chapters) since building a transport aircraft or rocket is time-consuming and not really necessary, if VesselMover is at hand.

Lastly, Kerbalkind is a peaceful race as far as we know  and do not know the concept of battle. So if you're expecting any type of Kerbin civil war, you've come to the wrong place.  

Edited August 15, 2016 by TheEpicSquared

[Gauga159]

mhm seems cuul liking

EDIT:

When Will The First Chapter Be Uploaded?

Edited August 7, 2016 by Gauga159

[TheEpicSquared]

Chapter 1: I’M FLYING!!!

It was early morning when Anders Kerman, flight entrepreneur, sipped his koffee and asked his wife Nancy, “When was it supposed to be completed again?"

“It’s ready today!” replied Nancy. “We worked late last night and got the build back on track.”
“It’s ready? Already?” yelled Anders, so excited that he knocked over his cup. “Is it here? Can we test it?”

Nancy replied, “It’s right there.” Anders looked over and gasped. 
“A machine of beauty…” he said in awe.

“The temperature looks fine for flight,” Anders said, reverting to his scientific side, “and we have a good wind… I think it’s time for me to FLY!” Nancy clapped at his little speech and soon Anders was seated up in his ‘Glider 1’.

Anders’s audience was Nancy Kerman, his wife; Peggy Anderson, Nancy’s sister; and Chadski and Glenn Kerman, Anders’s brothers. They were all there to see the first ever kerbal flight. The glider itself was little more than some tarp stretched over a mess of wooden poles, some wheels and ropes, and an oversized version of what Anders called the ‘fire-starter’ - a tube filled with a substance that liked to explosively burn at one end. Anders used this, quite predictably, to start fires in the fireplace at home.
The idea for the ‘fire-starter MkII’ on the back of this glider was born when Anders’s child Benjamin was being taught to start the fire. He had gotten startled by the rather loud bang and had let go of the tube. It subsequently rocketed (no pun intended) through the room and out the window. 
“I’m.. I’m sorry..” whispered 10-year-old Benjamin.
“How did I not think of that before… Ben, you’re a genius!” And with that, Anders rushed out of the living room and into the garage, where he immediately started tinkering with a box of fire-starters. Two years later, the thing on the back of the Glider 1 was the result.

"I'm igniting the Firestarter MkII in 3... 2... 1... Ignition!"

Despite the relatively small size of the booster, the plume was rather impressive, as was the thrust. Suddenly, the ground below Anders dropped steeply down… and Anders was airborne.

Unfortunately, the smaller pieces of tarp designed to control the glider were a bit too sensitive, and Anders couldn’t perform the swoops and dives he imagined. Nevertheless, le let out a whoop and clearly expressed his feelings.
“IT’S BRILLIANT! WOOHOOO! I’M FLYING!”

The exhilarating feeling went away as quickly as it came, as the glider was approaching the ground. All too soon, it was time to land. Geently…

And touchdown, and a relieved smile from Anders.

Glenn was the first and only kerbal to reach Anders down at the bottom of the hill. The others stayed up at the top, eagerly and anxiously awaiting news of Anders’s safe landing.

“You did it!” exclaimed Glenn, overjoyed. “First kerbal flight in history!” 
“What about that catapult accident last year?”
“Meh,” said Glenn. "That doesn't count."
 

Edited August 7, 2016 by TheEpicSquared

[TheEpicSquared]

CHAPTER TIMELINE (for those who are wondering)

Chapter 2 should be ready tomorrow, chapter 3 probably on Tuesday, and chapter 4 by Friday.

 

Edited August 9, 2016 by TheEpicSquared

[OrbitalBuzzsaw]

Cool story! will follow!

[TheEpicSquared]

Chapter 2: Flight
3 munths later….
Anders and Glenn were back in the valley where the historic glide had occurred 3 months ago. This time, they had come with a prototype of Anders’s revolutionary new kind of engine: a refurbished boat motor, made lighter and more powerful, and finally with bigger blades attached to it.

The engine was attached to a long tube full of diesel that Anders’s called the ‘fuselage’. Glenn just called it the body. It was also equipped with wheels so the contraption could actually move around, and a steering system to avoid trees, shrubs and stray kerbals (it was for this reason that Glenn stood so far back, ready to jump out of the way of any haywire propeller blades).

Anders, with his modified TV remote, fired up the engine, released the brakes...

And the contraption was moving.

It swooped around and made its way around the two kerbals before coming to a stop next to Anders.

“Brilliant! It works! Now all we have to do is lengthen the fuselage, add some wings….

AND GET READY TO FLY.”

 

6 weeks later, Anders's new contraption was complete.

The ‘Flyer 1’ was quite literally, exactly what Anders had said 6 weeks prior. The fuselage was extended, the wheels were bolted on again to fit, and some wings were screwed on with a heavy-duty screwdriver from the local hardware store. Finally a seat was attached and the whole mess was carefully transported to the same valley. The few holes in the wings caused by sharp objects in the trailer were crudely repaired with some handy duct tape, and soon Anders was ready to fly.

This flight had to succeed. A very important person was here, the Director of Kerbal Transportation, Edward Konakovski. Anders had convinced him to attend this test flight. If it succeeded, transportation would be changed for ever.

The engine sputtered into action. 

And with Edward as the close-up spectator, Anders released the brakes (Glenn, as usual, was a bit further back and consequently did not make it into the image).

Anders was quickly picking up speed…

And soon he was airborne.

“HAHAHAHAAA! I DID IT! I’M FLYING! AGAIN! WOOHOOOO!”

Anders, just for the fun of it, buzzed the summit of one of the surrounding hills.

All too soon, it was time to land.

This landing was significantly bumpier than his glider landing, thanks to rougher terrain and uncooperative controls. Nevertheless, Anders slowed the plane down safely and taxied over to Edward and Glenn.

“Anders that was BRILLIANT! The Board of Transportation will look into your invention within a munth! Imagine a bigger one of these… able to carry 10 people to the Arktic research stations in 5 hours instead of 5 days… this will revolutionize Kerbin. Who needs boats? Furthermore, I am offering you 10,000 kerdollars worth of funds for you to develop further, in exchange for the design plans for this plane so we can implement aviation into Kerbin’s transportation system.”

Anders just smiled and stood proudly next to Glenn. “Accepted.” And the two shook hands.

Funds: √10,000

Edited August 9, 2016 by TheEpicSquared

[TheEpicSquared]

3: The Firestarter
It had been 53 years since Anders Kerman's historic powered flight in his Flyer 1 aircraft. Aviation had come a long way since then:

First aircraft to seat multiple kerbals at once and have retractable landing gear:

First commercial passenger plane:

And finally, the rise of the jet engine:

Yes, aviation had advanced enormously in the last 23 years, and now Benjamin Kerman, Anders’s son, was looking up at the sky. More specifically, at the Mun.
“Imagine if we could travel to the Mun,” he said to his father.
“Oh, now that’s just science fiction,” Anders replied, laughing off the idea. But Ben was more persistent.
“Your dad said that about planes, too,” Ben said. “And look where we are now.”
Anders turned to look at his son, and in that moment, a particular memory surfaced. Ben, only 10 years old, had let go of that tube of fire that was used to light the fireplace, and it had shot out the window and ignited a nearby bush.
“Ben, you’re a genius!” Anders exclaimed, and the Kerman Space Program was born. 

The Kerman family had gained a massive amount of funds from the rise of aviation, and all 100,000 kerdollars of it were to be used in the budding space program.
Funds: √100,000
The Kerman Space Program’s first rocket was named the ‘Firestarter 1’ and costed √6,745. Anders and Ben took the sounding rocket and its stand out to the desert for the family’s space agency’s first flight.

Benjamin, who was in control of the ignition switch, shouted, “Ignition in 3… 2… 1… Ignition, and liftoff!”

The sounding rocket continued to climb higher and higher, with its angled fins making it spin and therefore aiding stability. However, this did not stop the rocket from slowly turning over.

Then the solid fuel ran out and the rocket was coasting.

The Firestarter 1 reached a maximum altitude of 11,436m above sea level. The parachute semi-deployed at 10km as planned.

At 1000m above ground level, the parachute fully deployed and slowed the rocket down to a gentle 3 m/s of vertical velocity.

When it hit the ground, the parachute was automatically cut, but the spinning motion of the rocket caused it to stand up rather bizarrely on its nose for about another 30 seconds, kind of like a top.

Eventually, the sounding rocket tipped over and came to rest on its side, concluding the first flight of the Kerman Space Agency. The flight was logged as a complete success.

Funds: √93,255
Benjamin and Anders wasted no time in designing a better version of the Firestarter, capable of reaching space, 70km above Kerbin. The new design, dubbed the Firestarter 2, was essentially the same as the first model but with controllable fins. This would hopefully allow Ben and Anders to control the rocket and keep it pointing straight up, allowing the thrust of the solid-fuel booster to push the whole thing into space. These changes meant that the cost of the rocket increased to √7,486.

3 weeks later, the Firestarter 2 was complete and the rocket with its stand was back in the desert.

“3… 2… 1… Liftoff!” shouted Ben.

This time, the rocket was flying almost straight up, punching a hole through the atmosphere.

The fuel ran out at 31km altitude.

And finally, the Firestarter 2 broke the 70km mark and became the first kerbal-made object to enter space.

Firestarter 2 reached an apoapsis of 88,471m before falling back down and re-entering the atmosphere. The parachute deployed nominally and soon the rocket was safely back on the ground.

Funds: √85,769
The success gained huge publicity, most notably from the Kerbin Department of Aerospace Engineering, which offered the father-and-son team 50,000 kerdollars to keep on developing.
Funds: √135,769
Additionally, a reputable science-fiction author approached them and offered them 5,000 kerdollars if they could put something into Kerbin orbit, something only achieved by the same science-fiction author in his novels. However, the money would only be given after the first satellite entered orbit.
So this was what Anders and Ben and his wife Anne Kerman decided to do.
 

Edited August 9, 2016 by TheEpicSquared

[TheEpicSquared]

SPOILER ALERT:

THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS IMAGES OF THE KSC2 EASTER EGG. JUST A WARNING.

 

 

 

 

Chapter 4: A Good Day
The success of the Firestarters was huge, but everyone knew that orbit could not be achieved with only solid fuel. This meant the development of a more powerful, and more controllable engine had to be started: the liquid engine.
The Spark liquid fuel engine was developed and tested for a total cost of √10,395. Then, the engine was implemented onto a sounding rocket, the Spark 1, which cost √3,060. Its job was not to get really high into space, but instead to practice the gravity turn, something necessary to get into orbit.

The rocket was being launched from the island in the middle of Kerbin’s crater, so if something went wrong the rocket would smash into water instead of land. Again, Ben and Anders were here to oversee the launch process; but this time they weren’t the only people here. Some journalists were giving Ben a hard time and it took 20 minutes just for him to get off the ferry and travel 300m to the launch site.
However, he got there at last, and finally the count started.
“10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Liftoff!” shouted Ben. He could barely be heard above the sounds of cameras documenting the launch from all possible angles.

The Spark 1 cleanly completed its gravity turn until its fuel ran out [unfortunately no screenshots of ascent survived], and soon the craft experienced reentry. 

The mission was deemed a complete success, and the Kerman Space Program wasted no time in using the data from this flight to design their orbital rocket.
Funds: √122,314
It took 7 munths, was hit by countless problems and delays, but finally the Kerman Space Program rolled out its orbital rocket, the R-7 ‘Square’, to the pad. The rocket was so large that launching it from the desert would be unacceptably dangerous, so a new complex was built, complete with a vehicle assembly building, a radio station and most importantly, a launchpad. The whole facility was covered by the kovernment and did not need a single cent of the Kerman Space Program’s budget. However, the rocket cost a whopping 33,898 kerdollars to build, and that was not covered by the kovernment. 

The crowd at the viewing site was huge. A little over three thousand kerbals had travelled to the launchsite to watch history be made. Ben, Anders and his mission control (a lot of volunteers had been accepted as employees of the space program) were positioned safely in a reinforced bunker, from where they would direct the launch.
Fuelling ended at T-30 mins.
A systems check was performed at T-05 mins, assuring that everything was nominal.
Power went internal at T-01 min.
And finally…
“T-10… 9… 8… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Liftoff, we have liftoff of the R-7 ‘Square’, launching Kerbin’s first artificial satellite!” shouted a mission controller.

The rocket jumped off the pad and soared into the sky, following a very crude gravity turn that had been practiced with the launch of Spark 1.

The engines cut off when the apoapsis reached 100km. When the rocket reached that altitude, the engines started up again to make the final push into orbit, and the fairing separated.

Unfortunately, the fuel mixture on the core stage was slightly imbalanced, which meant that it ran out of fuel before the side boosters did. They were all separated when the side boosters ran out, 7 seconds later. The second stage, made up of 4 Spark engines, continued the burn.

And finally, a stable orbit was reached.

The satellite, Sputnik 1, was released and unfolded its antennas over the desert. Apoapsis: 126,798m; Periapsis: 103,023m.

The second stage then aligned itself with retrograde and deorbited itself.

Somehow, the engines re-ignited as the stage began to align retrograde, and soon it was slowing down under the power of four Spark engines. It was later assumed that the cause was an electronic chip that went haywire because of the heat.

When the plasma trail ceased and contact was re-established, Ben took manual control of the stage to see if he could control its descent, and possibly land it in the sea.

Turns out he could, and the second stage hit the water at a relatively gentle 8.3 m/s.

The stage was recovered for a total fund count of 5,228 kerdollars. Additionally, the prominent but mysterious science fiction author paid up the 5,000 kerdollars he had promised. 
Funds: √98,644
It was a good day. 
 

[TheEpicSquared]

BAD NEWS  :

Due to school starting, I will no longer have time to write chapters for this story. As much as I hate that, there's not much I can do about it. It's a shame that this only got to 4 chapters; I really enjoyed doing this. 

However, this is not dead (hopefully - lets call it "on hold indefinitely"  ), since I will be having a holiday in October for a week, and then from December to January. If there is still interest in this by then I will gladly continue, but it shall have to wait.

In the meantime, as a weekend thing, I'm thinking of starting a sort of "series", where I build random big things and show them off to the community, I guess, in a story-format. This will be much easier and less time-consuming to write than full-fledged chapters, which needs a lot of time to think about what to write, then actually writing it, and then getting screenshots, uploading to Imgur and finally copying it over to the forums. The whole process usually takes about 3-4 days, while the new "series" might be manageable in 2 days.

[I'll post the link to the series in a couple of days when I get around to making a new thread.]