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Through Hardships to the Stars [Chapter 32 - Something Big II]

TheEpicSquared

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TheEpicSquared

TheEpicSquared

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CHAPTER 23: A DISCOVERY

Caldos Kerman was in trouble. The plane he was on had suffered an explosive decompression, a hydraulics failure and a fuel leak from the wing.

Also, Caldos had an alien being speaking to him from inside his mind.

Ignoring this, he slipped off his seatbelt and struggled to the cockpit.

"What's going on?" he yelled over the noise.

The captain, Barger Kerman, replied, "Decompression, fuel leak and hydraulics failure. Kirk, the flight engineer, is hurt pretty bad, could you pass me the first-aid kit?"

Caldos tossed the bag over to Barger, who slipped out of his seat and went to tend to Kirk. In a silent agreement, Caldos, being an experienced pilot, took Barger's place at the controls. The instruments showed that the plane was in bad shape. At the moment, there was still some hydraulic fluid left in the system, but that wouldn't last. Also, fuel was leaking out of the damaged right wing, posing a fire hazard.IgKepGA.png

Soon, control surfaces started failing, and the plane banked wildly.09UeEhS.png

First the ailerons cut out...t4ADy9T.png

And then the vertical stabilizer. Caldos realized that the only way of controlling the plane would be its engines.cWUtCay.png

He watched as the hydraulics fuild meter counted down to zero. However, he was still getting pitch control. Barger, noticing this, said, "The K-200 has an emergency hydraulics tank dedicated to only the front canards, in an event like this. However, it looks like that's leaking as well. It won't last long, so you better be quick with landing!"

Quickly, Caldos descended to an altitude low enough for kerbals to breath.GVbssRl.png

For now, the plane was stable, but soon would come the dangerous process of turning around to land."nxaVrmi.png

Caldos only now radioed ATC. "KSC ATC, this is KWA-556, mayday mayday mayday. We have suffered an explosive decompression and hydraulics failure and we are leaking fuel. We're going to come around for a crash-landing, we're requesting fire and medical services on standby."

"KSC ATC to KWA-556, roger, you are cleared to land at Runway 09. We will have fire and medical services on standby. Krakenspeed, KW-556."

With the transmission over with, Caldos now concentrated on turning the plane. Carefully, he lowered the thrust on engine 1, resulting in the plane banking to the left.iC7kqaq.png

He then lowered the thrust on both engines to reduce speed, as the plane was coming in way too fast to land.8h4JAwu.png

Feeling more confident, Caldos put the plane into an even sharper turn.8acemG7.png

However, the sudden bank caused the plane to become temporarily imbalanced, resulting in an almost 90 degree bank to the left.tjguqPa.png

Barger yelled, "Full thrust on engine 1! Kill engine 2!"

Caldos had already started the action when Barger had said that. But the plane was already dropping fast.PaJJEgN.png

Caldos had no choice. He would have to use his limited pitch control to pull out of the dive. The emergency hydraulic fluid meter dropped to 1/2 as the plane recovered.5mOtjn0.png

Caldos radioed to ATC, "KSC ATC; this is KWA-556, be advised that we may not be able to line up with the runway. Do you have fire and medical services ready?"

"KWA-556, this is KSC ATC, roger, we do have services ready and waiting."

"Thank you ATC, we are beginning landing procedure now," Caldos replied.

He carefully turned the plane to the right to attempt to line up to the runway.05ilvoe.png

The plane completely missed the heading of the runway, but the flat field of grass in the surrounding area would have to do. The K-200 neared the ground as Caldos killed almost all thrust...DPUT8s4.png

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The plane straightened out just meters above the ground. Caldos pulled back on the yoke, using the meager amount of hydraulic fluid to attempt a flare, but the lift of the canards wasn't enough to conduct a full flare. Instead, the plane ended up parallel to the ground.Ho1gSFa.png

The plane hit the ground hard, and bounced back in the air.xPAXKcZ.png

Slowly, it stopped bouncing and gently rolled along the grass. Caldos cut thrust on both engines.dpY4LCN.png

It looked like the landing was a success, but without any hydraulics, the brakes couldn't operate. The plane would roll into the bay before it would stop. But there was a more pressing matter. Directly in front of the plane was a road, elevated off the ground by a concrete wall. The plane would crash into it at full speed unless Caldos did something, fast.

It was Barger who found the solution. "Pull up! There's a road in the way!"

Caldos complied, wrenching the yoke back. The plane slowly lifted off the ground.hsKBoao.png

"Dammit, we're not going to make it!" Caldos shouted, as the plane neared the road at blistering speeds.LyULGdf.png

At that moment, the last of the emergency hydraulic fluid ran out, and the canards went back to their default position. The wheels just barely cleared the road, and the plane would have been fine if it was not for the light pole.

The left wing impacted the light pole, bending it. The plane swung to the left as the outermost aileron disintegrated...HXgP8Ef.png

And continued down the grassy plain, skimming along the surface.v9H3ilX.png

The left wing impacted first, sending the whole plane into a spin. It flipped over, destroying the tail, before finally coming to rest upside-down.vvtcHdl.png

The gears had retracted due to gravity, as there way no way of keeping them locked. It had been pure luck that ad stopped them from collapsing until now.

The crew wasted no time in evacuating the passengers. Soon, everybody was outside the plane, waiting for the rescue services to arrive.pMylGLp.png

A recovery vehicle was quickly sent out to recover the passengers and crew.9ZSnBiC.png

It pulled up next to the plane and extended its ladders, inviting the stranded kerbals inside.t6kjhJI.png

Inside the cabin was a very nice treat: the world-famous Bill & Jeb's Duna Berry and Bill & Jeb's Minmus Mint ice cream! The perfect treat after the ordeal.hdrg7Bi.png

Once everyone was on board, the recovery vehicle sped back to the KSC.eXrJ7Vb.png

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It came to stop at the Astronaut Complex, where the passengers would stay for the time being.CvGLLPg.png

Later that day, in the evening, Caldos Kerman was lying down in his room at the Astronaut Complex, reflecting over the day's events. He had just arrived from the infirmary, where he had learnt that Kirk, the flight engineer, was on his way to a full recovery.

Caldos sighed and reached out for his koffee. But then he heard something. From within his mind.

"Caldos Kerman, you have done well... we are awaiting you. Come to us, Caldos Kerman... come to us..."

Caldos shuddered. His sleep that night was full of nightmares.

***

The next day, the scientists at R&D were analyzing some soil samples from the Gilly Ex-1 mission. 

Scientist Gildrin Kerman had just taken out some crushed Gilly powder from the Rock Sample Pulverizer (RSA). He gently sprinkled a pinch of the powder on a slide, and put it under his microscope lens.

"Oh SQUAD..."

The material was unlike any other ever discovered. "Hey, Advin, come and see this! I've made a, um, discovery of sorts!"

Advin, another scientist, came over and peered into the eyepiece. "Oh my... what's that?"

"I don't know. It appears to be some type of... I don't know... stone?"

"But it has traces of organic molecules on it as well... a stone-organic hybrid element? This.. this is amazing!"

Gildrin replied, "Well if it's organic, I'll run a DNA test on it, I guess."

"Yes... yes, do that." Advin was still peering through the eyepiece.

Gildrin hurried off to another section of the lab, to conduct the DNA tests. A few minutes later, he hurried back to Advin and showed him the piece of paper. 

"Here we have the DNA code for this... organism. As you know, all DNA known to kerbals is made up of four nucleobases, A, T, G and C. Of course, all these bars should line up with each other, because they're all the same four bases."

"But they don't..." Advin said.

"Exactly. There are some bases missing from this DNA graph..."

"But that's not possible! Everything we know is made up of the four bases! There are only four bases on Kerbin!"

"On Kerbin," Gildrin replied, "but not necessarily in space. By definition, this stone-organic hybrid substance we saw under the microscope... is extraterrestrial."

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Kosmonaut

Kosmonaut

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5 hours ago, TheEpicSquared said:

I was thinking about that, we're going to return to our regularly scheduled rocket launches next chapter :) 

Thank you. It's probably too late to have a say  in anything, but to avoid being cliche, perhaps you could have the Hybridium never manifest in physical form, just by talking to and through people/

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TheEpicSquared

TheEpicSquared

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CHAPTER 24: DUNA CALLS

It was time.

After many, many hours of developing, testing, simulating and going back to the hypothetical drawing board, the first part of Operation Duna could begin.

This first part was the Duna Orbital Vehicle (DOV).

The DOV was the latest in spaceflight technology. Outfitted with the best comm systems, the best propulsion systems and the best life support systems, the gargantuan spacecraft really couldn't be beaten.Fi3ffKA.png

Four huge solar panels were the main (and only) source of power, while four radiators got the job of cooling down the four Nerv nuclear engines and the rest of the vessel. GsKp1Lw.png

The business end of the DOV consisted of not only the 4 Nervs, but also a 10m inflatable non-ablative heatshield. Instead of using an ablative substance, the shield's huge drag would slow the DOV to the point that it wouldn't overheat. In theory, of course.

When Hardfield first saw the plans, the only thing he could say was, "SQUAD be damned... It's incredible!"

Danker Kerman, the new head of R&D, replied, "Yes, the engineers have done brilliantly. The DOV can hold an ample amount of kerbals, and is spacious enough for multi-year trips."

"So what exactly is the entire plan for getting to Duna?"

"Well, we're currently developing the lander system, which will undock from the DOV in Low Duna Orbit (LDO), land on Duna at a pre-positioned habitat, take off again when the surface mission is complete, and re-dock with the DOV to take the crew home."

Hardfield, a bit overwhelmed, said, "Hold on for a minute, hold on. How does the DOV get into LDO in the first place?"

"Aerobraking, my friend, aerobraking. That's what the inflatable heatshield is for! We'll set our trajectory to intersect Duna's atmosphere, and we'll let it slow us down enough so we get captured. After that, we do a few more aerobraking passes to lower our apoapsis and then we'll deflate the heatshield and burn into LDO using the Nervs."

Hardfield nodded and looked at the document. Suddenly, his eyes widened and his face contorted to a look of shock. "By SQUAD, a single DOV costs nearly 290 thousand kerbucks! You're going to build a new vehicle for each mission? That'll run our funds drier than the Eastern Desert!"

Danker replied calmly, "Actually, we're planning to build only one, 2 at most. We did notice the cost, and so we decided that we'd reuse the DOV. It would aerobrake into LKO at the end of the mission, and a return craft would be sent up to return the crew back to Kerbin's surface. Then, we'd carry out standard maintenance and any potential repairs, and then it would be ready for the next mission."

"Seems like you have everything planned out. I think I can approve..." Hardfield trailed off.

"What is it?"

"The mass of the DOV is over 190 tons! How are you going to get it into orbit?"

"Ah, that. That's a small problem we're trying to figure out. We were originally going to launch it in the Kerbol 1, but it turns out that it doesn't have enough delta-v for orbit with the DOV."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"We're working on it, but I think we're close to a solution," Danker replied. "Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any more questions, Hardfield. As they say, my door is always open."

Hardfield chuckled. "Your office doesn't even have a door. You knocked it down the other day when you fell off the ladder trying to repaint the ceiling, remember?"

"I still have the back aches to prove it," Danker replied good-naturedly. "Well, see you around, Hardfield!"

Hardfield nodded and sat back into his chair.

***

The next day, Danker was once again talking with Hardfield. He was saying, "We've come up with a rocket that can lift the DOV to LKO!"

"Well, go on then, show me," Hardfield said excitedly.

Danker put a couple of pictures down on the desk.GJg5tjH.png

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Hardfield looked at the pictures for a while and said, "It's very... umm... big."

"It is, HArdfield. And you need big rockets to lift big payloads."

Hardfield just nodded. He was still awed by the pictures.

Danker then launched into a description of the rocket. "The Kerbol 1 Heavy, as you can see, is made up of 3 cores. This will provide plenty of thrust for heavy payloads, and the asparagus staging provides the necessary delta-v."

"Asparagus staging? What's that?"

"Asparagus staging involves pumping propellant from side tanks into the center tank, while the rocket is flying. This means that as the center core burns through its fuel, the tanks are kept full by the fuel from the side tanks."

"So when the side boosters run out, the center core will be full of fuel, right?"

"Exactly, Hardfield. It's like launching the Kerbol 1, but already 17 kilometers in the air and already traveling at 800 meters per second. It certainly helps with heavy payloads!"

"It costs nearly half a million kerbucks..."

"Er, yeah. No way of avoiding that, unfortunately. We won't be using the Kerbol 1 Heavy much. Here's the K1H attached to the DOV."wUmWoNx.png

Z5ppHP5.png

"Are you sure that's going to work, Danker?" Hardfield asked dubiously. "It's the largest assembly we've ever constructed."

"The simulations say we're fine. Sure, it is 76 meters tall, and weighs over a kiloton, but if it works in the simulations, it works in real life."

Hardfield nodded and said, "Well, if you're sure it works, I'll go ahead and approve it. And if it doesn't?"

Danker replied calmly, "Then we've wasted over 800 thousand kerbucks."

Hardfield nodded grimly, picked up a stamp, and pressed it against the document. It was official. The DOV was approved.

***

It took a week to assemble the DOV and the K1H, but eventually it was finished and the construction was slowly transported to the launchpad.FGsbm2m.png

Tens of thousands of kerbals from around Kerbin were watching this launch. It couldn't fail.

Slowly, the countdown clock ticked toward 0.

The commentator's voice said,

"T-10

9

8

7, ignition sequence start,

6,

5,

4, engine ignition,

3,

2,

1,

0, and liftoff! We have liftoff of the Kerbol 1 Heavy on its maiden flight, carrying the prototype Duna Orbital Vehicle!"

The rocket soared off the pad.V4WDMYY.png

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A launch camera got a great shot of the launch.wjHkEJQ.png

It would become the covers of calendars across Kerbin.

The gargantuan rocket began pitching east, as did all rockets.GONvO2O.png

As the rocket climbed higher and higher, mission control was delicately scrutinizing every piece of data that came through, to make sure there were no problems.uharN84.png

Thankfully, everything seemed to be going well as the K1H ascended.qoq6SC0.png

Just over a minute after launch, the side boosters ran out of propellant. Everyone held their breaths as the boosters separated...k9DYa3W.png

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The commentator announced, "We have successful booster separation!"

The crowd cheered as the boosters fell away from the center core.70RTILG.png

Even better, the asparagus staging had worked perfectly. The center core was full of propellant, and was powering the rest of the assembly towards orbit.

Nearly 2 minutes later, the center core burned out.hu3klrx.png

Three seconds later, the spent stage separated and the Rhino vacuum engine ignited.711rVWZ.png

A couple of minutes later, an acceptable apoapsis was established and the engine shut off.5PqNhVl.png

Then, the fairings separated.sO6R23X.png

The circularization burn was one of the best ones yet, needing only 80m/s of additional velocity to reach orbit.GIgtnxE.png

One quick engine firing later, the DOV was safely parked in LKO.7VJXKBP.png

In daylight, it separated from the K1H upper stage.EC5gN3X.png

The upper stage deorbited itself to prevent space debris.8QlDL2m.png

It would impact in the mountains, safely away from any civilizaion.DjobL2l.png

Due to its relatively slow speed, the stage survived reentry.t0s3fKN.png

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But the impact with the mountain made short work of the lightweight alloys that made of the stage.j0lNszl.png

Meanwhile, 100 kilometers above, the DOV had successfully deployed its solar panels and radiators.Zhqfd0I.png

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After the initial celebrations had died down, it was time to get to work. The first test would be to see if the heatshield could inflate and deflate.qnQeH6J.png

As soon as the command was made, air rushed into the hollow cavity of the shield, and it expanded to its full size.d3OwaEw.png

It also deflated brilliantly.ibkteWy.png

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The DOV had passed its first test with flying colours. But now, the real trials would begin.PeuSoUF.png

The DOV would use its four Nervs to burn to a Mun flyby to see if they functioned as expected. Then, it would aerobrake down to LKO, to make sure the heatshield worked.

The Nervs began their multi-minute burn, spewing out red exhaust.VHcAwFs.png

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A quick thermal check roughly halfway through the TMI revealed that the four radiators were doing their job perfectly.NDI8Xa3.png

The Nervs continued burning.uTNE8YX.png

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Finally, the burn was complete, and the DOV was on its way to the Mun.f9oqNQ7.png

A few hours later, it entered the Mun's SoI.VHE5w6t.png

Back in Kerbin's SoI, a quick correction burn was executed to put the spacecraft's periapsis below 70km.jEj2qfP.png

A periapsis of 49 kilometers would do brilliantly. In theory.qmX141d.png

The solar panels and radiators retracted and the heatshield inflated as the DOV punched into the atmosphere at well over three kilometers per second.kg1vubj.png

The early phases of the aerobraking appeared to be going well.yKeN4fg.png

But suddenly, and alarm rang out.

Bobblan Kerman, head of mission control, said, "The DOV's deviating from retrograde!"

"Put it in a spin," replied Danker worriedly, "Maybe it'll go back to retrograde."o5aFJft.png

Bobblan complied, but it didn't help. The spacecraft deviated further and further from retrograde.u8L2PAz.png

"Quick, check the thermal data!" Danker said. 0568pXL.png

The thermal data didn't look good. Everything was overheating.HfJ5LTi.png

By now, the heatshield was pretty much useless. Only the precarious spin kept the DOV in one piece.RPlD5HG.png

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The DOV passed periapsis. Mission Control was slightly more relieved. The heating would be less fierce from here.

At least the aerobraking had worked. The apoapsis was now down to just above Gilly's orbit.vqDnvxS.png

But the fierce heating of reentry had taken its toll. A propellant talk started leaking, and alarms rang out across Mission Control. They eventually managed to identify the wrecked tank.wFJrV9h.png

Bobblan muted the alarm, and suddenly it was deathly quiet at Mission Control. Nobody knew if the DOV would survive the rest of the atmosphere.

It did, thanks to its huge heatshield.tPT0kcO.png

Even better news, the DOV's apoapsis had come down to Gilly's orbit.bDSzf6Q.png

The heatshield was deflated successfully.38PjFFb.png

Now that the vehicle was in space, everyone could get a closer look at the leaking fuel tank.mjcQVKe.png

"Oh SQUAD..." breathed Bobblan, "The atmosphere burned a hole right through it!"

"Do you think it'll survive another aerobraking pass?" Called an engineer.

Danker replied, "Maybe, if we raise the periapsis. But I have no idea if the Nervs will work with leaking fuel."

Bobblan said grimly, "We have to try."

Danker nodded.

So at apoapsis, the Nervs were ignited. Thankfully, they worked, and the periapsis was raised to 57 kilometers.r5RgJ6J.png

Once again, the heatshield was inflated.sKTlU0q.png

The DOV entered the amosphere.16pGlWK.png

This time, the craft had already been put itno a rather ferocious spin, to keep it on retrograde. It appeared to be working.MW54m7a.png

The DOV passed periapsis, still firmly on retrograde. Everyone relaxed just a little bit.e12kfzz.png

The aerobrake had worked. The vehicle's apoapsis was now well below Gilly's orbit.

Danker said, "We should leave it up in orbit, before all our fuel leaks away. Otherwise it'll eventually fall back to Kerbin."

Bobblan agreed, and so at apoapsis, the Nervs ignited a final time to raise the DOV's periapsis to 101 kilometers.zRaBB4l.png

The stricken spacecraft would be stuck in its elliptical orbit until a repair mission could be sent up.MJBAhTU.png

***

From his room in the Astronaut Complex, Caldos Kerman, the hero of flight KWA-556, had been following the proceedings of the DOV test flight.

He was still thinking about the Hybridium, and their message. They were invading his dreams every night. He was going mad. He had to tell someone.

Caldos decided to tell his friend Hardfield Kerman. He sighed and left his room, in search of Hardfield's office.

A few minutes later, he had found it. Caldos knocked.

"Come in!" Hardfield called cheerfully.

Caldos walked in. "Hi, Hardfield. Are you busy?"

"No, come on in. What brings you here today?"

"I need to talk."

Hardfield gestured towards a chair. "Sit down."

Caldos sat down and after a few minutes of small talk, he got down to business. 

"Aliens have been talking to me."

Hardfield, not expecting to hear the word "aliens", blicked and said, "What?"

"Aliens. Extraterrestrials. They've been talking to me." 

Caldos thought he would be laughed at, but to his surprise, Hardfield just nodded thoughtfully as he pulled out a notepad and a pencil.

"Go on, Caldos."

"They're called the Hybridium. I first saw them during the flight here. They said they wanted to cooperate with the kerbal species, but first they would need to test me..."

Hardfield finished scribbling on his notepad and gestured for Caldos to continue.

"It was the Hybridium that caused the hydraulics failure on the plane, Hardfield. I'm sure of it. And when I landed it, they said that I had done well, or something. I can't remember it very well.

The point is, they've been communicating with me every night. All they say is that they want to help. 'We want to cooperate', 'We want to cooperate', that's all they say. It's driving me mad."

Hardfield nodded distractedly. A thought had come to his mind. Didn't two scientists say something about unusual samples from Gilly? Missing DNA... What were their names? That's it, Gildrin and Advin.

Hardfield said, "I think I know what you're talking about. The same day that you crash-landed, two scientists, Gildrin and Advin, were looking through a rock sample from Gilly, when they found a hybrid compound. A stone-organic hybrid substance, they said. They were sure it was extraterrestrial, because it was made up of different DNA than all the life we know."

"You mean, something other than the four DNA bases?"

"Exactly, Caldos, exactly. It appears that your claims of aliens have been substantiated. Thanks for your descriptions, Caldos, I'll pass them down to Gildrin and Advin. But we're going to need a better computer to analyze the samples again. We're going to need a supercomputer to solve this enigma."

***

Everyone agreed that a supercomputer would be necessary to analyze the samples.

So thousands of kerbucks and countless amounts of resources were put into the computer. It would find out, once and for all, if there really was life beyond Kerbin. 

Finally, the Enigma SuperComputer was completed.KFU5Adt.png

The computer was the best one ever built. It was so powerful, it required five kerbals to operate it properly. On one side, screens of different sizes dominated the masterpiece. On the other side, it was sleek and shiny.BqvwjRt.png

At least, it looked sleek and shiny until the processor bay doors were opened, and the circuitry was available for all to see.bJh1Ezj.png

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When it was ready, it was transported by helicopter to the roof of a nearby building, where it would be kept for the foreseeable future. A team of scientists and engineers were controlling the giant device.7zcFfiN.png

The Enigma SuperComputer was ready to compute. A switch was flicked, and the computer started up.jbN37ZM.png

Kelly Kerman was one of the scientists operating the giant machine. As the screens turned on for the first time, she rubbed her hands in glee and said, "Time to find some aliens." 

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TheEpicSquared

TheEpicSquared

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On 1/3/2017 at 9:42 PM, Kosmonaut said:

Do you need Duna Landers or Bases? Because I'm still on break, and willing to make some

Ooh, a small duna base would be nice! Preferably a single-launch base, but with docking ports for expansion opportunities. Thanks for offering! :) 

Oh, and please try not to make them too part-count heavy, or my poor laptop won't be able to take the strain. :P 

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Kosmonaut

Kosmonaut

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21 hours ago, TheEpicSquared said:

Oh, and please try not to make them too part-count heavy, or my poor laptop won't be able to take the strain. :P 

Don't worry. I've got a six year old Toshiba, I can guarantee that yours is better than mine. Any mods you would like or not want?

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