Shuttle Challenge v4 - The STS thread [Stock and Mod Friendly] [THREAD CLOSED 06.08.17]

[Shadow dream]

And here I am again, back with Mission 4!

If you are wondering how I can "print" these successes so fast, I guess it's thanks to me having a working design from the start on that needed little tweaking to work fine in so far every mission Now the Station mission will probably be the last one I can do with the current shuttle I have, so once I have done that one it's time for some "real" upgrades - especialy since the Asteroid mission is suposed to use the shuttle as capture and landing device. Unless .... *dramatic music*

BTT, here is the album: https://imgur.com/a/7k8Pr Nothing fancy since there's not much going on. The only shocker was - yet again - the lack of dV towards the end and me desperately stalling the craft in order to not overshoot too much. Anyway, crew is back home sound and safe! Although the original NASA mission didn't plan to dock the crafts together, the positioning of my ports was so kind as to let me do it anyway, so thanks for that one, past-me!

[SolidJuho]

Hello everyone.

I have been away for sometime, but now i am back!

Here is my entry for STS-A1

Mod list: 

Kerbal Alarm Clock
Mechjeb2

Community Resource Pack
Interstellar Fuel Switch
Module manager

In this flight i only used Mechjeb info panel, and i am proud about it, Because i haven't ever launched space shuttle ever! So this was my first space shuttle. 

Test Flights:

Spoiler

Test Flight 1. Everything worked fine, i made just slight modifications after first Test flight. Set booster thurst limit from 100 to 51 and i added forth landing wheel at the engines, because engines got exploded in landing.

I had just one test flight.

I am proud present you the: Solid Shuttle 02 (Creativity of the name. LoL)

You can see details of the flight for STS-A1 in imgur gallery below:

http://imgur.com/gallery/vXEyE

 

So, i like to claim now the Pilot Badge of STS-A1

[53miner53]

Would it be ok for me to combine STS 2a, 2b, and 4 into one mission? I had went and did 2b after I noticed that 2a was next to it after an aerobraking pass and now due to CoL/CoM issues I need to rescue it. 

2 hours ago, Shadow dream said:

And here I am again, back with Mission 4!

If you are wondering how I can "print" these successes so fast, I guess it's thanks to me having a working design from the start on that needed little tweaking to work fine in so far every mission Now the Station mission will probably be the last one I can do with the current shuttle I have, so once I have done that one it's time for some "real" upgrades - especialy since the Asteroid mission is suposed to use the shuttle as capture and landing device. Unless .... *dramatic music*

BTT, here is the album: https://imgur.com/a/7k8Pr Nothing fancy since there's not much going on. The only shocker was - yet again - the lack of dV towards the end and me desperately stalling the craft in order to not overshoot too much. Anyway, crew is back home sound and safe! Although the original NASA mission didn't plan to dock the crafts together, the positioning of my ports was so kind as to let me do it anyway, so thanks for that one, past-me!

Mine was purposely designed that way from the start and the execution of my mission will depend on how your mission is judged. I hope it is fine for the shuttles to dock.

Edited February 17, 2017 by 53miner53

[Ourworldalpha1]

I am back Speeding mullet

Glad this legendary challenge is back

I will have a new shuttle shortly

Gene Kerman Told be sternly to make sure it lands(in one piece)this time

[BubbleWrap]

Success!

Full STS-1a  mission album here http://imgur.com/a/LlVfy

Using Procedural Parts and USI Life Support

Despite expectations, the first Mk.1a Orbiter broke up during re-entry (fortunately on its unmanned qualification flight), leading to a series of simulations to determine the cause. In the end, it turned out to be poor descent profile (Orbiter 3 must have been a fluke), and after a successful unmanned qualification flight of Orbiter Number 5, Lischell and Gemree were cleared to go to space. I did aim for a KSC landing, but it turns out that during descent the drag brings the landing site a lot further round the planet than I expected, so I vastly undershot.

[Martian Emigrant]

Hi there.

Just completed STS-4, STS-4R

Imgur: http://imgur.com/a/qKrgX

Mission Report: Shuttle Challenge

Spoiler

A shuttle with the SpaceLab on board was sent up.

 

After opening the doors to do science the doors failed in the open position. Nobody can find the fusebox. Time for a rescue.

Gene says that Jeb must have used the Coffee maker in the same outlet and at the same time as the doors....But he can't prove it.

 

Val in a second orbiter, with a bunch of Newbs, waited for the orbit of the orbiter to pass overhead.

 

Val got low on final and Jeb was snickering in the peanut gallery.

 

 

After the wheels touched Val called for the chute as per SOP. As soon as the ship was stable she called for "Dump the chute".

She made the runway on her remaining speed.

 

I don't know what the bet was about but Jeb is pretty grumpy. Val on the other hand seems to be walking on a cloud.

That was fun.

I would like to claim the Badge.

 

Thank you so much,

 

ME

Edited February 18, 2017 by Martian Emigrant

[vladd148]

Just finished STS 5, the first of the Space Station assembly.

 

http://imgur.com/gallery/4x0Fl

 

Teasers:

 

To maintain a continuity, my previous orbiter "Leviathan" has been left stranded in space from the previous rescue mission after sustaining critical damage. Its newly upgraded sister shuttle "Behemoth" will now be used in conjunction with the Mk II launch vehicle. In the last space station assembly mission, as a bonus, "Behemoth" will perform a daring docking with "Leviathan" and attempt to safely de-orbit it into the ocean.

 

To be continued....

[xendelaar]

On 17-2-2017 at 5:59 AM, sdj64 said:

 

  Hide contents

Hint: look in the top right corner...

  Hide contents

An ore tank

 

 

haha, that sucks, but I guess you had a blast performing the mission.

[Alchemist]

On 16.02.2017 at 11:14 PM, Speeding Mullet said:

Is the HRO to make another appearance?

Apart from having to tweak the airframe again (yeah, haven't flown it for quite a while and the aerodynamics seem to have changed in the meantime), it seems to be operational

P.S. Totally need to install more powerful secondary RCS for such landings - need more attitude control for such maneuvers (near-surface 90 degree turn) and just to avoid tipping while bouncing.

 

UPD. I managed to overdo the adjustments. That is I've tested it with the payload and some fuel on board and it still was a bit more nose-heavy than regular landing case, so I thought this would be good... Yeah, first attempt at return to Kerbin with practically dry tanks went fully ballistic. Ballistic reentry that is, LOL (hey, nothing burned up!). Barely got out of spin, almost got to a shore (barely insufficient fuel), and damaged the shuttle on splashdown (come on, it was 30 m/s on flaps! how this seaplane splashdown is supposed to work?!). Conclusion? mine more fuel, get proper balance. Then triple-check airframe balancing for the next flight

Edited February 18, 2017 by Alchemist

[Alchemist]

Alright, completed the run. This time brought back a bit more fuel than necessary, but with this airframe it's not the issue.

Craft/configuration:   HRO-M03       vehicle transport heavy shuttle
Payload:                    Rubidium        mobile research & mining base

Report:

Spoiler

Takeoff!

Booster separation

Forgot to set prograde hold for that and they collided with wings. No damage to the orbiter

External tank separation

Switching to OMS

OMS have better ISP at the cost of lower TWR, but this craft still can use main engines for occasional boosts when necessary. Although in this configuration main engines are not that well balanced after the tank is dropped. The base version of HRO has it better, but here 2 of the main engines were moved due to the ramp

And we are in the orbit

Finally see the Sun after this night launch

Target on the horizon - commence transfer burn

Who said you don't do transfers by pointing towards the target?

Braking into the orbit

Jeb, are you sure this is the correct way to land a plane?

Incidentally, the OMS provides enough TWR for Mun

Carefully show the descent and then turn horizontal
Who needs VTOL when you can do this?

Horizontal Mun landing?

RCS isn't strong enough for this kind of maneuver - it's difficult to prevent flipping when the ship bounces. Conclusion - to add secondary RCS

Prepare for unloading

One of the features of this bunch of landing gear - you can lower the shuttle to unload a long rover

Roll out!

At least it didn't break anything

Driving around...

And start the refueling

Apparently half the day wasn't enough to get the proper fuel amount. So we stayed for the night and then continued mining for the next day...

Kerbin, we have a problem - you're obscuring our power!

Takeoff to the west

Fun part - horizontal takeoff turned out very easy. It took off on the first bump before I even touched the main engines.

Hey, Kerbin! See you after ejection burn!

First pass over the other side of Kerbin

It got pretty hot in the cockpit, let's cool the craft a bit

It really got hot enough to overload the radiators?!

And the second plunge into the atmosphere - now in the right part of the planet

Interesting feature of having fuel tanks all along the shuttle - you can tune the balance during early part of reentry by pumping fuel and watching the SAS control response necessary to maintain the AoA

Hey, don't bounce off, we are not that far!

And since you're at it, fix the inclination issue

Still high and fast - we'll have to turn around and approach KSC from the east

Now roll the other way

And I don't like the cockpit temperature - maybe should install couple more heatsinks in the bay

Finally going into proper flight

We actually got enough altitude to glide home from there - and enough wing to use all that altitude

Line up

And touch down!

Barely even activated the jets - but with aerodynamics of an airliner it's safer to have them on when landing

Here we are!

 

 

Edited February 18, 2017 by Alchemist

[Alchemist]

Ok, so the new Mun mission done. Still have Laythe to go
And you have a new STS-2b? Wait, that actually was the second demo-flight of HRO! And pretty much the kind of payload it was designed for. Well, it's probably a bit easier now with the auto-struts, but 2-port docking was good enough for this payload mass even back then

 

A few thoughts on progression:

• Given the craziness of the asteroid mission, maybe it can also be moved to a separate branch, so that it's not a prerequisite to interplanetary missions?
• Mun missions - land the shuttle and deploy a base straight away? Maybe there could be something slightly simpler before that... What about a mission to carry a lander of a more classic kind to munar orbit in the shuttle (and for commander level - to also bring the lander back to Kerbin in the payload bay)?
  There was something similar posted in the old tread - except it was Apollo-style CSM+LM deployed from the shuttle in Kebin orbit... and then returned back and recovered by the shuttle!
• By the way, speaking of shuttle definitions - maybe STS-4/R4 could also allow ships without payload bay? Of course, the original case was about installing crew modules in the payload bay of a vehicle with big payload capacity. But why not to allow some broader options? From modifications with payload bay replaced by crew module to vehicles originally designed as crew shuttles (even pure mk1 is a possibility for this) as long as they have crew capacity and maneuvering capabilities to fulfill the mission

[sdj64]

Finished STS-9!

My shuttle is a spiritual successor to my old shuttle from the previous challenge, but designed from the ground up.  It keeps the nose-mounted external tank, but its new double wing shape allows the addition of two SRBs made up of 5 Kickbacks each.  There are now only 3 Vectors instead of 6.

Today I learned that asteroids decide on their size when you first see them, because it was 28 tons before, on the first failed mission.  The payload was a nose adapter with drills and a claw, and an ISRU unit, 2 radiators, and an ore tank.  There was another claw pointing up from the cargo bay, so the asteroid could ride above the shuttle on reentry.  Unfortunately, it was unstable and couldn't glide all the way to KSC.

The asteroid was 7.8 tons, but I converted a small amount of its ore to oxidizer and it was 7.1 tons on landing.

http://imgur.com/a/VcmPM

[Shadow dream]

10 hours ago, sdj64 said:

Finished STS-9!

Nice execution! Especialy the Launch stage, that's an interessting design!

 

Just a small update on my side: I'm half way through the Station Builder. If there is one thing this mission has thought me, it's that I need to enhance my descent trajectory. I keep overshooting, desperately stalling the craft and bumping the Runway just enough to use my chute for stopping. If NASA was my boss, I'd be cleaning shoes by now

Here's the Album so far, I'll add the remaining shots once I've got 'em: https://imgur.com/a/O0Jr4

The Habitation Module is nothing fancy, just enough room for 7 Kerbals, enough bandwith for 56kbit internet connection and enough batteries to charge a mobile phone once. Well, thanks to Raster Prop I could add some cams outside to monitor the other modules once they are here.

The Science Module is basicly the Research Pod with high power antena and a Service Bay containing a small probe fitted with basic science. I tried to keep it minimalistic, just enough solar to power the engine (at best), 4 basic experiments to gather some science and a little RCS to re-dock easily (actualy I also used some to dock the module, lucky me I had that probe to control the Module)! I so have to try to build one that fits a Kerbal scientist and additional modules! Maybe upgrade the 2.5m bay to a Mk3 bay?

Edited February 19, 2017 by Shadow dream

[vladd148]

STS-6 - Just launched the habitation module for my modest space station.

 

http://imgur.com/a/QzCSJ

Mandatory teasers + greased landing:

[Scabank]

Hello, i want to participate and i am currently at badge no.1

i dont like making a lot of screenshots so i made a timelapse vid.

also i used K.E.R.

note: in the video you will see a short moment with a KOS - console... thats just installed but not used

 

hope i did everything right, because i misread the challenge at least 2 times ... yeah ^^ im not a patient reader

i checked the definition of the STS multiple times and my craft fit all restrictions so its a shuttle !! by definition looks more like a containership xD haha

 

edit.: i forgot some mods i have installed as well i dont know if thats important but im playing in SSRSS with kopernicus and stuff, no parts or something similiar, but to be honest the planets are inclined a bit differently maybe when going for duna i will use the normal solar system just in case. 

What do you say to kopernicus? i know it makes everything more complicated im just curious how we should handle this in the challenge.

 

 

Edited February 19, 2017 by Scabank

[BubbleWrap]

Well, I started doing STS-2a, and while I waited for the orbiter to re-enter I uploaded most of the album http://imgur.com/a/SdvGk

Alas, things fell apart (quite literally) at the last minute, and Orbiter Number 5 broke up during re-entry. The two remaining Mk.1 Orbiters (Mk.1a Number 4, and Mk.1b Number 6) have been mothballed, and a replacement Mk.2 put through testing ready to attempt STS-2b instead.

 

Orbiter Number 5: Fortunately it oriented tail-first after losing the wings and slowing below its ability to remain aerodynamically stable horizontally, and the crew survived.

 

Orbiter Number 7 on the pad, with the standard Block 1 booster. As this is a test flight of the new Mk,2, the Orbiter number hasn't been painted on the side yet. Improvements over the Mk.1 series include more heat-resistant wings, removal of the small OMS engines in favour of using the main engines, a rebalanced layout to provide greater aerodynamic stability during low-mass descents and the ability to eject the cockpit to land on parachutes in the event of an orbiter break-up. This launch is the first of two qualification flights (this one failed when the orbiter stack lost control at booster separation, and the orbiter performed a suborbital flight and returned safely) that leads to modifications to the roll system to better stabilise the stack during ascent.

 

[Speeding Mullet]

On 2/18/2017 at 1:23 AM, BubbleWrap said:

 

I have actually managed to build a spaceglider that can both launch like a shuttle, and actually land safely again

 

Looking good there, welcome to the challenge!!  Can't wait to see how this one progresses!

 

On 2/18/2017 at 3:07 AM, michal.don said:

Hi there,

To shorten the waiting for the next mission, I re-flew the fuel pod mission, this time with a modified shuttle to fit in the "stock" category. I replaced the SpaceY boosters with clusters of Kickbacks, and unistalled the KJR (the autostrut function was working fine, so I guess KJR is no longer needed), and was able to take the pod to 83,000 km orbit with fuel to spare.

All is documented in an imgur album:

http://imgur.com/a/zJvAb

All went fine, and no special maneuvers like gravity assists were needed, the shuttle is performing great even with stock boosters (I'm still going back to SpaceY, mainly for the looks).

I might try landing the pod sometimes soon, this could prove to be an interesting challenge, I'm not sure how the shuttle will reenter weighing 40 tonnes more than usually, but hopefully much better than with a large space potato attached to it

Ah yes then someone comes along and blows the scoring out of the water hehe.  Was it a mistake to remove the 168t fuel pod?!  Anyway nicely done, I will update the OP soon^tm and here's a nice little stock badge for you! 

 

On 2/18/2017 at 3:55 AM, TheKorbinger said:

I have a ~400 ton shuttle that is somewhat realistic...

Cool, dust off the cobwebs and shoot some missions in the challenge thread with us

 

 

[Speeding Mullet]

On 2/18/2017 at 5:54 AM, Shadow dream said:

And here I am again, back with Mission 4!

 Nicely done there @Shadow dream.  There's something awesome about seeing two shuttles up there in the same place.  It was one of the most enjoyable maneuvers I have done in LKO I reckon.  Looking forward to seeing the station and how that comes together!  

 

On 2/18/2017 at 5:59 AM, SolidJuho said:

Hello everyone.

I have been away for sometime, but now i am back!

Here is my entry for STS-A1

Woot!  Welcome back and welcome to the challenge!  Flying shuttles is really hard so well done on your first attempt!  I can see you are running a couple of mods there, but can you confirm your entry was pure stock from a parts (and fuel) perspective?  In the meantime I'll award this badge, but will happily award the stock if that's the case!  

 

On 2/18/2017 at 8:00 AM, 53miner53 said:

Would it be ok for me to combine STS 2a, 2b, and 4 into one mission?

2A and 2B yes, but the others are designed to run as single missions really.  Also that would have you missing out STS-3 I think.  Oh yes and docking is just fine!

 

On 2/18/2017 at 8:11 AM, Ourworldalpha1 said:

 

I am back Speeding mullet

Glad this legendary challenge is back

I will have a new shuttle shortly

Gene Kerman Told be sternly to make sure it lands(in one piece)this time

 

Awesome!  Good to have you back and involved!

 

On 2/18/2017 at 1:26 PM, BubbleWrap said:

Success!

Nice you backed up your post with an entry!  now I can truly say welcome to the challenge!  For this first mission I'm comfortable that you have reached orbit etc, but for future missions more detail is requested to make it easier, and not have to come back to clarify things etc.  Take some screen shots without F2ing first etc as you go and include them in.  I'm all for pretty pictures, but I need to see whats going on too   Good luck with the next mission!  

 

On 2/18/2017 at 2:03 PM, Martian Emigrant said:

 

Hi there.

Just completed STS-4, STS-4R

Imgur: http://imgur.com/a/qKrgX

Mission Report: Shuttle Challenge

 

Really glad you enjoyed it, I think I enjoyed that mission a lot when I completed it.  Amazing seeing two shuttles in orbit at the same time!  It didn't ever happen though did it?  Anyway, another worthy mission, and here's your badge!  

 

On 2/18/2017 at 2:37 PM, vladd148 said:

Just finished STS 5, the first of the Space Station assembly.

Nice work, keep us posted of your progress!  Definitely want to see you de-orbit the stricken Shuttle.  I think @Alchemist just up and landed his on the back of one of his monster HRO's?!

 

On 2/18/2017 at 9:49 PM, Alchemist said:

Apart from having to tweak the airframe again (yeah, haven't flown it for quite a while and the aerodynamics seem to have changed in the meantime), it seems to be operational

Speak of the Alchemist himself!  Right, time to get into the detail.....

On 2/19/2017 at 6:25 AM, Alchemist said:

Alright, completed the run. This time brought back a bit more fuel than necessary, but with this airframe it's not the issue.

Craft/configuration:   HRO-M03       vehicle transport heavy shuttle
Payload:                    Rubidium        mobile research & mining base

A supreme effort Alchemist, well done on passing out the first Mun mission.  I suspected when I was designing this that the HRO would just be able to do it.  I really liked the point about shifting the fuel and watching the response from the SAS input.  That is a clever clever trick to get everything balanced nicely in the stock game!  Here's a nifty little badge for you, and again, welcome back!  

 

On 2/19/2017 at 8:51 AM, Alchemist said:

Ok, so the new Mun mission done. Still have Laythe to go
And you have a new STS-2b? Wait, that actually was the second demo-flight of HRO! And pretty much the kind of payload it was designed for. Well, it's probably a bit easier now with the auto-struts, but 2-port docking was good enough for this payload mass even back then

Haha so it was!  Yep there's been a few changes with the missions, but mostly not stuff that would affect the vast majority so I decided it was worth it!  Here's your badge   

 

On 2/19/2017 at 8:51 AM, Alchemist said:

A few thoughts on progression:

• Given the craziness of the asteroid mission, maybe it can also be moved to a separate branch, so that it's not a prerequisite to interplanetary missions?
• Mun missions - land the shuttle and deploy a base straight away? Maybe there could be something slightly simpler before that... What about a mission to carry a lander of a more classic kind to munar orbit in the shuttle (and for commander level - to also bring the lander back to Kerbin in the payload bay)?
  There was something similar posted in the old tread - except it was Apollo-style CSM+LM deployed from the shuttle in Kebin orbit... and then returned back and recovered by the shuttle!
• By the way, speaking of shuttle definitions - maybe STS-4/R4 could also allow ships without payload bay? Of course, the original case was about installing crew modules in the payload bay of a vehicle with big payload capacity. But why not to allow some broader options? From modifications with payload bay replaced by crew module to vehicles originally designed as crew shuttles (even pure mk1 is a possibility for this) as long as they have crew capacity and maneuvering capabilities to fulfill the mission

I was toying with moving the asteroid mission to a separate branch a few days ago.  It's kinda a "fun" category rather than a serious mission so I can definitely see it as a separate category.  I'll have a think about how that can look.

I guess with the Mun Missions I wasn't sure what do do either but wanted to get something down.  I'm actually happy with it being one mission for the moment, but am going to possibly introduce a Kerbin 2 mission which would be to land on the Mun and Minmus in one mission then return.  Again something to think about, but there are other things to think about first.  Duna specifically and Laythe I think could use some follow on love.

Re: STS-4/4R that's a good call.  I might comb through and see which missions definitely done't require a cargo bay.  I mean technically landing a potato doesn't, as it doesn't really fit in to any cargo bay available anyway!

Thanks for the suggestions

 

On 2/19/2017 at 0:14 PM, sdj64 said:

Finished STS-9!

HAHA This shuttle I loved, and remember it well now.  I always thought the front mounted ET was totally bonkers, and the more I look at it I realise it is totally bonkers, but also a brilliant engineering solution!  Good to have you back and seriously, congratulations on this superbly put together mission.  Even though you didn't make it to KSC I thought the way you dealt with the asteroid and the modules you designed were excellent, so bear with me and I will update the OP!  

 

19 hours ago, Shadow dream said:

Just a small update on my side: I'm half way through the Station Builder.

Nicely nicely!  Just update me when you are done with the mission and I will review the rest of the report for you!

 

8 hours ago, Scabank said:

 

Hello, i want to participate and i am currently at badge no.1

i dont like making a lot of screenshots so i made a timelapse vid.

 

Hey hey welcome to the challenge @Scabank!  Let me just review your video......UM?  WOW that is one crazy crazy shuttle.  Haha seriously I've never seen anything like it, even in 4 iterations of this challenge.  Never the less, we are not the kinda folk to shy away from the non traditional in here, and so yep, um, that's a shuttle lol.  It's more of a Space Galleon, but yup, shuttle

With your challenge entry, and mods specifically, I really need to know what mods you are running to be able to categorize.  For example you are using SSRSS which is Stock system, Kerbal sized, so I'm confident I can award you stock on those grounds, but basically are you running any part/fuel etc mods at all used on this shuttle?  I'll award you stock for the moment anyhow:    and will update the OP once you confirm your mod list.

 

5 hours ago, BubbleWrap said:

Orbiter Number 5: Fortunately it oriented tail-first after losing the wings and slowing below its ability to remain aerodynamically stable horizontally, and the crew survived.

Ooops!  Definitely not a nailed landing hehe.  Oh well, these things happen in the dangerous world of flying shuttles, so best luck with iterating your shuttle, and can't wait to see the finished mission that I can judge on!

 

Wow that was a lot of updating, hopefully I got to everyone!

SM

[53miner53]

I was going to add 4 in because I needed the rescue mission anyway so I could move the CoM of the shuttle that is in flight by adding and removing docked fuel tanks and refueling the shuttle. I don't care all too much if I get the 4 badge, and I could launch 3 before I land the rescue mission if I need to, but the rescue mission is underway.

[vladd148]

Finished the STS-7 mission, adding the 3rd module to the space station. Was also trying out using the CobbFX for this one, and I must say that it looks great!

http://imgur.com/gallery/SdsG3

 

Preview:

 

[Scabank]

Ok thx for the fast answer.

Mods used by me:

K.E.R. / Kopernicus for SSRSS (stock sized real solar system) also including different sky box and enhanced planet visibility. so just mods about looking except K.E.R.

i am not using parts other than stock parts so the K.E.R. is at usage without any parts build in. also fuel behavior and / or parts are not used. just plain stock.

 

in my opinion it is not completely vanilla because of the PE and AP information i can see at the top of my screen (the only reason i am using K.E.R. so i dont have to switch to map always xD ) what normally is not a thing in the vanilla game. BUT STILL STOCK i would say . will go for challenge 2 now.

[BubbleWrap]

Performing STS-2b will, of course, require a fuel pod to retrieve and thus Orbiter Number 7 is back in space performing STS-1b first. http://imgur.com/a/CpQgm

 

The Mk.2 uses Smart Parts to get around the ongoing instability issue at booster cut-out / separation by shutting down the engines for a few seconds when the booster is empty, though it wasn't needed for this launch.

 

Assuming all goes well, the mission schedule is now drawn up all the way to OTS-32 which would be Mun STS-1, but I'm expecting to run into issues either with STS-2b, or with STS-9

[53miner53]

STS 2a commander and 2b complete!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0eMT8zRijNmUGpvU3hidUE5VVU

Also could be counted as STS 4 as well, as I needed to rescue the first shuttle from CoM issues due to attempting to bring 40 tons of downmass at the rear end of the cargo bay. The first shuttle ended up bringing back no downmass, while the other shuttle brought the orbital tank and an orange tank home. It had brought up 2 orange tanks and a monoprop tug to refuel the other shuttle. The other tank and the tug are waiting for me to need refueling later.

Edit: and I didn't break the runway this time. Or visit R&D.

Edited February 20, 2017 by 53miner53

[Scabank]

Hello again, data for challenge 2 and 3

 

Challenge 2)

Brought back what i placed there first in about 1,000,000 meters without using its fuel up, also bused a drone to handle everything

2 comsats that are functional with AP/PE of geostationary Orbit +/- 32m

 

Challenge 3)

Hubble Orbit at PE ~855km not circular shape 28,71° inclination

2 solar arrays built in orbit with mmu´s

Ii downloaded the hubble craft @ https://kerbalx.com/xoknight/Hubble-Space-Telescope

 

i really hope i didnt misread something ^^ that happens a lot to me

Greetings

 

[vladd148]

I would like to claim the STS Commander badge for STS 5-8! 

Finally finished. Unfortunately this last mission the Kraken appeared and ate my STS-7 science module. Not wanting to anger him any further, I swiftly docked the last module and made a swift getaway!

Album:

STS 5 - http://imgur.com/a/4x0Fl

STS 6 - http://imgur.com/a/QzCSJ

STS 7 - http://imgur.com/a/SdsG3

STS 8 (+ Kraken proof) - http://imgur.com/a/xc2Dd

Mission previews:

 

Also decided that it's far easier to land by overshooting the runway and flying a rectangular pattern. Leaves far more room for re-entry errors and allows me to consistently make the runway!