Reaching for Stars Redux: Modded Career Game With Narrative!

[babale]

A long, long time ago, I had a short-lived career journal called Reaching for Stars, about my end-game Better than Starting Manned career. Unfortunately BTSM was in its infancy as far as colonization goals go, and it eventually stopped updating. But I've never given up on my idea for that campaign, so I am restarting it, not with one mod, but with a whole collection of them! Without further ado... Reaching for Stars!

Prologue: The Story So Far and First Contact

Our story begins with the foundation of the Kerbal Federation at the end of the Period of Anarchy, when the sixteen Nations of Kerbin united peacefully under one banner to avoid a war when nuclear fission was discovered. Kerbin was a peaceful planet, but it had known war before; with the invention of nukes, the leaders of the world all agreed that a war simply must not happen. The Federation, in the interest of advancing all of Kerbalkind, funded the creation of the Federation Space Program. Project Airborne was funded to explore the boundaries of Kerbin, and over the next year or so various probes and kerbals were shot into the sky. Project Airborne culminated with Airborne 6, which carried Valentina Kerman straight up to High Space, past the radiation belt, and back to Kerbin.

With the expertise gained through Project Airborne, Wernher von Kerman designed the Believer series of probes. Believer 1 was the first craft to enter orbit and do a flyby of both Mun and Minmus, but its antenna did not have sufficient range to transmit science back. Believer 2 landed on the Mun and remains there to this day, while Believer 3 landed on the surface of Minmus, then escaped into Kerbol's orbit.

As a proof of concept, Carouser 1 was built to carry a pilot and two to four tourists into orbit. Meanwhile, back on the surface, the Destiny project had begun. Our story begins with Jebediah  Kerman piloting the Destiny 1 -- a light airplane powered by three engines -- towards a magnetic anomaly detected near the launch site.

Jebediah Kerman flipped a switch and with a roar -- or more accurately, a soft growl. A trio of engines -- none of them very big, but with three, capable of producing significant force -- came to life as the stubby little Destiny 1 airplane came to life and started bumping down the patch of dirt prepared for this purpose.

"Ground control, this is Captain Jeb, requesting permission for takeoff, over" crackled Jeb over the intercom.

"You aren't a captain of anything, Jebediah, and you're supposed to roll the plane to the target, not fly it. It's only a few hundred meters away." Gene Kerman, head of Mission Control, replied irritably. After a short pause, he added, "And you don't need to say over. This is a constant communication two-way radio, and --"

"Too late!" he was cut off by Jeb. "I'm already in the air!"

After just a few moments of flying, Jeb landed his plane near the strange black obelisk. It seemed completely and utterly black, darker than anything Jeb had ever seen, as if it absorbed every last bit of light that hit it. Awestruck, he approached. "What do you see, Jeb?" buzzed Gene in his ear. Jeb just stared. "Jeb? Are you alright?" the radio snapped him back to attention. "Er, yeah. I'm fine. There's something carved in here -- a star map, it looks like. Lots of dots connected by lines. I think it's pointing us somewhere."

Interest in the monument led to additional funding for the Kerbal Space Program, and over the next few weeks Jeb and Valentina were sent to a number of other obelisks around the world. The project led to the development of a number of more efficient and faster planes, culminating with the Destiny 2.5:

Meanwhile, Wernher analyzed the star maps, as they indeed were, which were discovered by Jeb on his first mission. They appeared to show the constellations normally seen from Kerbin, but at a strange angle, one which Wernher did not recognize. A few weeks went by until he figured it out: this was a view of the sky from near the North Pole. 

Wernher announced his discovery before a joint Kongress committee that night and asked for the funding necessary to send a Destiny 2.5 mission to the Pole, including upgrading the communication network to reach that far, smoothing the runway to allow the plane to take off with a full load of fuel, and preparing emergency recovery contingencies. After a few hours of heated debate -- this mission, after all, would not be cheap -- Kongress agreed to fund the mission. Jebediah was ecstatic to take the Destiny 2.5 to its limits. He set off just before dawn the next morning.

 '

Jebediah stood on the icecap, staring at the little black dot in the distance. "Is this another one of those monuments?" he asked Mission Control through his helmet radio. "Don't think so -- the profile is all wrong. We're not detecting any unusual readings from here -- why don't you move the plane closer? Should be safe to approach." Before he was even done speaking, Jeb was back in the plane and taxiing towards the target.

As he got closer, Jeb realized that the object -- whatever it was -- seemed irregular in shape, unlike the obelisks, which stood square and symmetric. "I've never seen anything like it" muttered Wernher von Kerman through the radio, staring at the video feed. "Is it some sort of arch?" he asked. "No, I don't think so" replied Jeb, squinting. "It looks like something round that's half-buried in snow." "By Jool, you're right!" replied Gene. "Get closer, Jeb. Let's see what it is.

"That... Thing... Doesn't look like it came from Kerbin" muttered Wernher von Kerman as Jebediah climbed out of the plane. "No metal or compound I know of absorbs light quite like that." Jebediah took a step forward. "Jeb, wait! We haven't scanned that thing yet. It could be dangerous!" called Gene. "I didn't come all this way to turn back, Gene. I'm going in" replied Jeb as he started walking forward across the ice. Snow had drifted higher on the ice here, forming gentle waves that the plane couldn't navigate, so Jeb continued on foot.

Finally, he reached the object that was embedded in the ice. Jeb gasped as he came around the side. "It's... a flying saucer. A real life flying saucer, crashed on Kerbin!"

 

 

Edited March 15, 2017 by babale

[babale]

Chapter 1: Kerbin ECHO Station

"I'll come get you when Jeb lands" said Gene as he stood up. Wernher was going to spend all night studying the readings from the crash site, but Gene had work to do in the morning; he needed to go to bed. He left and shut the door behind him, leaving Wernher alone in the control room. That didn't bother Wernher; he liked the solitude. As Director of the Kerbal Space Program, he found himself doing far too many administrative tasks and far too little real scientific work. He lost himself in his work for a while, so when there was a knock on the door, he wasn't sure how long it had been. "Jeb must be back early" he muttered as he stood and walked to the door. But when he opened it, the kerbal on the other side wasn't Gene; it was a tall kerbal with close-cropped hair in a well-fitted suit. "Can I help you?" demanded Wernher, glaring at the kerbal. "Smedley Kerman, adviser to the Prime Minister" responded the newcomer, putting out a hand. Wernher just stared for a moment before taking Smedley's hand. "And what can I do for you, sir?" he asked. Smedley smiled.

"Director Wernher, the Prime Minister takes the possibility of intelligent extra-terrestrial life -- and the possible threat implicit with their existence -- very seriously. We want to keep any eye on the sky, so to speak, now that we know that other beings could arrive at any time. That's why we have approved your project... Project ECHO."

Wernher's mouth dropped. Project ECHO was a plan that Wernher floated a few years back to build habitable orbital stations around Kerbin. He called them ECHO Stations, ECHO standing for Extraplanetary Contained Habitation Outpost. His proposal nearly cost him his job -- Kongress wanted a kerbal in charge who'd amuse the public with simple experiments that didn't cost to much, but none of them saw the need for long-term habitation off-planet. Suddenly, the Prime Minister approved his project... It seemed too good to be true.

"What's the catch?" demanded Wernher. Smedley nodded. "No catch; we just want you to modify your designs a bit. We need you to add some high-gain antennas to the station, to let it serve as a listening outpost out in space." Wernher needed only a moment to consider. He stuck his hand out again. "You've got a deal!"

 

From the Journal of Wernher von Kerman

With this grant from the Federation, I have finally been able to design the necessary equipment necessary to create an ECHO station in orbit of Kerbin. The Federation government even agreed to finance the construction of the station itself and provide us with yet another grant upon completion of the station.

The design of this station was already complete before I had the opportunity to actually build it, so it did not take long to make the necessary modifications to meet the requirements demanded by the Federation. The lift vehicle for this station was a relatively simple eight-engine configuration, but to cut costs I am considering designing a dedicated lift vehicle. In the meantime, the station was assembled and launched flawlessly. Kerbin Station ECHO is now in orbit.

 

[babale]

Chapter 1.2: Manning Kerbin Station ECHO

A celebration broke out in the KSC command room when the monitors announced that Kerbin Station ECHO had just passed overhead after a full successful orbit. Kerbals cheered, clapped, and hugged each other as Director Wernher von Kerman watched with a satisfied grin. His moment of celebration was cut short after just a few moments by Smedley Kerman, adviser to the Prime Minister. "So when will Kerbin Station ECHO be operational, Director?" he asked. "The Federation poured a lot of money into this pet project of yours -- we want kerbals up there with their eyes on their monitors as soon as possible." Wernher reached into his coat and produced a small notebook, which he began flipping through. "Assuming all the systems test positive, we can launch the first crew in three weeks."

Smedley coughed. "Three weeks? We were hoping to begin observations much sooner than that. By the end of next week, if not --" Wernher cut him off irritably. He had no patience for these bureaucratic types. "These safety tests are essential. You wouldn't want a system failure up there when kerbal lives are at stakes. Besides -- three weeks is how long it will take us to finish the ascent vehicle." Noticing that Smedley seemed quite annoyed with him, Wernher decided to placate Smedley by giving in elsewhere. That was how you dealt with these money men -- distract them from the impossible by showing them new alternatives that they hadn't even imagined. "Let us move on to another matter. I have considered your proposal for the growing of crops in orbit to produce both food and oxygen, and have discussed it with an expert in the field of Hydroponics. I believe that this proposal has merit after all."

Even as the kerbals of Mission Control were celebrating their success, the kerbals off in Engineering were hard at work constructing a pair of new vehicles. The new station would require frequent trips to orbit -- to resupply, maneuver kerbals, or return scientific results from orbit. For this purpose, Wernher debuted the new Freighter series, beginning with the Freighter 1. The Freighter 1 consisted of four command pods, two of which were capable of detaching and returning from orbit with a load of experimental results, as well as enough supplies to keep up to four kerbals happy for nearly a year (when combined with the station's more advanced recycling capabilities). Perhaps more important than the Freighter series was the debut of the new Goliath 1, the first of the Goliath-class light lifters. The Goliath 1 is capable of lifting around 20 tons to orbit using a seven engine configuration. Three engines detach after reaching the upper atmosphere, three more detach upon arrival in space, and the last is used for circularization.

Soon enough, the three weeks that Wernher had spoken off passed, and Freighter 1 was ready for launch. Bill, Bob, Jebediah, and Valentina Kerman were loaded into the none-too-roomy command pods and shipped off to space.

Far above Kerbin, Bill, Bob, Val, and Jeb soared through space. The Goliath 1 lifter didn't have enough power to lift a heavier, roomier habitation pod like the Mk III. Instead, the Freighter 1 was designed with three separate habitation pods, each small but easily insulated. The drawback to this setup was that the four astronauts couldn't actually see each other -- the only way for each of them to see his comrades was a trio of rather grainy monitors. Jebediah and Valentina piloted the craft together while Bill crunched numbers and Bob kept in touch with Mission Control and sent radio commands to the nearby Kerbin Station ECHO.

"Separation dropping... Ten kilometers" muttered Bill over the radio. "Relative velocity -- two hundred meters per second. We're gonna want to slow down now, Jeb."

"You got it, Bill. Burning retrograde. One hundred... Fifty... Ten meters per second. How far away are we, Bill?"

"Five kilometers. Good work, Jeb. Ready for final approach?"

"Sure thing. Val, you ready to take over? You've always been better at the fine-tuned approach than I have" Jeb winked at Val through the monitor. She rolled her eyes.

"That's an understatement. How many times did he crash us into the station in the simulator, Bob?"

"Thirty two times by my count, Val" responded Bob. He didn't take his eyes off the monitor below. "Erm... Guys? We have a problem. It looks like the station's probe core had an extra zero in the code for sun-tracking. The solar panels have been facing away from the sun this whole time... The core is dead. All systems are still running, but the station won't respond to my commands." 

The other three kerbals groaned. "Should we radio Ground Control?" asked Bill. "No way!" grunted Val. "They'd have us turn around. We don't need the station to be powered to dock with it, do we?" "Don't think so," replied Jeb, "But it's gonna make things that much harder if the station can't turn to face us. You sure you can handle it, Val?" They grinned at each other through the monitors -- now that Jeb had challenged her, she wouldn't back down even if she were inclined to in the first place. Bill and Bob rolled their eyes.

Even with the station unable to turn, the approach went well. Soon enough, Freighter 1 was just a few meters from the station, and hardly moving in relation to it. Valentina killed the last of the movement with the RCS thrusters and said, "I think we have a problem after all, guys. The station's engines were designed to stay attached until the last possible moment in case the Freighter couldn't reach the ECHO and the station had to maneuver for an emergency rendezvous, but we can't actually dock with the engines attached. And we can't send the command to decouple while the station is dead in the water."

For a moment, the four sat there in silence. Finally, Jeb said, "Hey Bill, is there a decouple switch inside the station?" Bill spent a few seconds flipping through his engineer's manual of the ECHO station's specifications. "Should be, yes, but how are you planning on --" before he could finish his sentence, Jeb had strapped on his helmet and popped out through his capsule's airlock.

Using his spacesuit's built-in RCS, Jebediah made his way to the ECHO Station's own EVA airlock. Ever since an incident on the testing floor where a corrupt file caused a probe core to lock the engineers out of the ECHO station for over three days, the station had been designed with an emergency access hatch to the airlock, so Jebediah was able to get in with no incident. "I better back us up" muttered Valentina. No sooner had she moved a few meters back when the four fuel tanks and the engines they were attached to flew off and careened away from the station and into space.

Soon enough, Valentina had docked the crafts together and the four kerbals were reunited. "Don't ever do something so stupid again! You could have drifted away and we would have had to way to save you!" chastised Bob, without much heat, before beginning to reprogram the sun-tracking algorithm.

The next few days were hard work for Bill (who had to go over the whole station from EVA, inspecting it for any damage that may have happened when the ship rose through the atmosphere) and Bob (who had to reprogram a few details of the probe core's control system and start the plant growth experiment that Wernher had promised to begin). Val and Jeb, however, had little to do. Technically, they were supposed to monitor the ECHO's readings, but in the small station, they could hear those alerts from anywhere. There simply wasn't much use for a pilot on board a space station that stayed in one place, especially when the station's rotation to follow the sun was controlled by probe.

Edited March 11, 2017 by babale

[babale]

Chapter 1.3: Interplanetary Farmers

Kerbin Station ECHO had been manned for almost two weeks, and while much valuable science was returned from the station, Federation interest was beginning to waver. Not so much as a blip had been heard by Val and Jeb, who were bored to tears "piloting" the stationary station. But there was some good news -- Bob's plant growth experiment was progressing well enough that Wernher decided to send up a Life Support Module.

In addition to a large helping of additional batteries and an eighteen panel solar array, the new module added two important features to the ECHO station. First, it added the greenhouse itself, which would help make the oxygen last longer and lower the demand on the carbon dioxide scrubbers. Second, it would add six new docking ports in a radial circuit, allowing many crafts to dock to the station at once -- an important feature if ECHO station would one day become a central hub of interplanetary travel.

The new module would be carried up by a Goliath class lifter -- it fell well within acceptable weight parameters, but its height would be quite challenging for the lifter to cope with. As such, the flight plan for this mission did not involve a classing gravity turn ascent profile -- instead, it called for near vertical rise into space, followed by near horizontal circularization burns. This would be rather inefficient, but would allow the cheap Goliath 1 to carry the module up to space easily enough.

The mission went off without a hitch, and the module was easily docked to ECHO station by its probe core. Bob drafted the rather bored Val and Jeb to help him plant and fertilize the greenhouse, a chore that neither of them enjoyed very much. While the greenhouse did offer a brilliant panoramic view of space, it was uncomfortably warm due to the amount of sunlight it required. Soon enough, Jeb and Val began to silently argue over who would get to head home when it was time to return the results of Bob's plant growth experiment. Neither one wanted to offend Bob or Bill, who were enjoying themselves in the station, but neither wanted to stay in ECHO station.

Soon enough, one of them would get the opportunity to head home...

One morning, Bob contacted ground control with an urgent message. "I need to speak to the Director" he told the radio operator. Ironically, it seemed easier to get a hold of Wernher from orbit than it was from a few doors down -- the very busy Director rarely had time for one on one meetings, but he could always make time for astronauts who were operating in space. "What is it, Bob?" he asked after a few moments, tersely but quite warmly.

"Well, Sir..." began Bob. "The thing is... And I'm quite embarrassed to say it, but..." He hesitated, but Wernher's impatient expression spurred him to continue. "I think that one of your calculations was wrong."

Wernher blinked. He wasn't questioned often, but he was a scientist; if he was wrong, he wanted to know it. He knew that as director, he could be intimidating, but he didn't want that to get in the way of his underlings correcting any mistakes he may have made! He explained all of this to Bob, who seemed relieved. "Now, what is it that you think I'm wrong about?"

"Well, sir... It's the amount of oxygen you expected us to go through. We're running under your prediction, even with the greenhouse pumping in more. It's not enough to be a problem, but we should handle it before it becomes one."

Wernher nodded. "Totally understandable, Bob. Thank you for bringing this to my attention early enough. This is, of course, why we put a station around Kerbin first -- imagine if you were on your way to Duna or Jool! We'd never resupply you in time. In any case -- I'll put together a mission. I understand that your plant experiment is nearly finished, yes? Why don't you send one of the pilots down next week? We'll send up a replacement, along with resupplies, at that time -- as soon as they arrive, either Valentina or Jebediah can return."

News spread fast aboard the tiny space station, and a short game of struts-probe-boosters later, Valentina had won the right to return with the cargo. Her replacement, a scientist named Ticella Kerman, would have much more to do on board the ECHO than she did.

Ticella would arrive on board the Carouser 2, a small craft designed for bringing a single kerbal (and as much oxygen as the Goliath lifter would carry into orbit) to the ECHO station.

After saying her goodbyes, Valentina boarded one of the two return capsules, along with the results of Bob's experiment, and returned to Kerbin.

Valentina returned a large amount of data from Kerbin Station ECHO, including endless logs of radar readings that contained not a single UFO. The coverage seemed to satisfy the Federation, however, as funding increased as soon as Valentina's logs reached Smedley Kerman. Using this new funding, Wernher was able to finance the building of a new, larger engine that he designed. With this new engine, he hoped to bring the Mun and Minmus into reach.

[babale]

Chapter 2: To the Mun!

With one of his best pilots -- Valentina Kerman -- back on Kerbin, Wernher decided that it was time for an ambitious new program -- the Hopper Program, a series of light landers that would bring kerbals to the surface of the Mun and Minmus for the first time in history. The Hopper 1 was designed as a small capsule with just enough life support to keep a kerbal going for about a month -- enough time to reach either body and return with plenty of leeway.

The Hopper 1 design was shorter on life support and electricity than it was on fuel, so it was decided that it would follow a direct trajectory for Mun impact.

Soon enough, Valentina's craft was slowing down, just over the Munar surface. With a soft thud, it landed in the dust. With a hiss, the airlock doors opened, and Valentina made her way down the ladder. The first Kerbal to walk upon another world! "In your face, Jeb" she muttered under her breath as she planted a flag.

After collecting a few Mun rocks, Valentina returned to her vessel, slightly disappointed. This mission had a simple goal -- prove to the Federation that the Kerbal Space Program was capable of putting a Kerbal on the Mun -- and so did not involve docking, high-speed rover maneuvers, or any other Munar adventures. Valentina took off, promising herself that one day, she'd be back.

Valentina's Munar adventure sparked public interest and enthusiasm for the space program. Wernher found his office flooded with new design proposals as enterprising scientists and engineers turned their eyes skyward. Most of the material was junk, bad science and conspiracy theories, but out of the rough Wernher did pull a few diamonds. Advanced electrics and new construction techniques promised that future missions would be much more capable.

 

 

[babale]

Hey guys, I'm planning on posting another update tonight or tomorrow  (and I'm actually a bit ahead in my actual progress) but as you may have noticed I am experimenting with a couple of writing styles. What do you prefer -- the more narrative kerbal-eye views or the less detailed recaps?

[NotAgain]

I'd prefer narrative. But that's just me.

[babale]

Chapter 2.1: Relief Efforts

A few weeks had passed since Bob, Bill, and Jeb were joined by Ticella about Kerbin Station ECHO when Smedley Kerman returned. Wernher met him out in the hills near the KSC as much construction was happening at the moment -- the Vehicle Assembly Building and Launchpad were in the process of being upgraded. Together, the two kerbals walked down a trail and talked. "The Prime Minister has spoken to me" said Smedley, "and he wants some Federation Intelligence officials up in ECHO station. He has hand-picked four of them to relieve your crew up in the station."

Wernher missed a step and nearly fell flat on his face as he tripped over a rock. "You can't be serious! The science we are gaining from ECHO station is very valuable -- we can't afford to put all that on hold!"

Smedley's face grew harder. "I was afraid you would say hat, but may I remind you that you can't afford not to do this? Without Federation backing, you can kiss your precious station goodbye." Wernher fumed for a moment, then conceded: "Fine. I can be reasonable. But we need three astronauts out there at a minimum. We can bring up one of yours, but no more." Smedley smiled. "Two, not one. But you can give them whatever training you believe they would need, and they won't go up until you personally sign off on them." The two kerbals shook hands, though Wernher felt as if he had gotten the short end of the stick yet again.

Wernher wasted no time getting to work, designing the Freighter 2 -- a larger version of the Freighter 1, capable of maneuvering 4 kerbals in orbit. The Freighter 2's upper stage was also capable of reentry and parachute landing, allowing the crew transfer to occur in just one launch.

It was even light enough -- just barely -- to take a Goliath 1 into orbit. Like the greenhouse module, though, its tall profile meant that it would have to follow a very steep ascent profile.

After tense negotiations, it was agreed that Valentina would take up the pod, along with KSC Scientist Danjorie Kerman. The two intelligence officers chosen by the Federation both underwent the same training as any other astronaut and even Wernher had to agree that they learned quickly and proved quite capable. Jarine and Freddock both graduated from KSC Boot Camp as trained engineers.

The next morning the Freighter 2 launched off the launchpad. "Hold on to your butts!" joked Valentina as the Freighter lifted off. She didn't have much to do again -- the Freighter 2 was drone controlled -- but she still enjoyed showing off as the only one of the four kerbals to have been in space before. To her slight disappointment, none of them threw up -- yet.

Soon enough, the Freighter 2 had docked with ECHO station. Valentina greeted Jeb, Bill, and Bob warmly -- she had missed her old friends. Jebediah threatened to toss her out the airlock for going to the Mun without him, but he didn't really mean it. After a short snack break in the greenhouse, the relieved crew entered the return pod and decoupled from the station.

After the Freighter 2 detached from the station, Jeb, Bill, Bob, and Ticella glanced at each other. They had all noticed that something seemed a bit off, but none of them wanted to be the one to say it first. Finally, Jebediah broke the ice. "So... Those Federation blokes, huh? Kinda weird, aren't they?" The others nodded. "Seemed pretty quiet... I wonder what's up with them." The four friends sat in silence as the craft kept diving down towards the surface of Kerbin.

Less than an hour after the Freighter 2 was retrieved from the ocean, an SOS call came in from ECHO Station Kerbin. Jarine Kerman -- one of the two Federation Intelligence officers -- had been suffering from terrible pains in her side. She had to be evacuated immediately. Luckily, one of the two return pods was still attached to the station. Jarine easily returned to the surface.

In the confusion, one of the hard drives containing copies of the readings from the listening station was lost. Luckily, there were a number of other copies still on the station.

 

[babale]

Chapter 2.2: Inspection Tour

Jarine made a full recovery within a few days -- apparently, she was suffering from nothing more than minor crams (accentuated by her first experience with zero gravity environments) and the doctors cleared her for future flights shortly. It wasn't long before Smedley Kerman returned to the KSC, though, and this time, he wasn't alone. A whole fleet of black SUVs roared into the parking lot in front of the astronaut complex and ground to a stop. Black-suited kerbals wearing dark sunglasses stormed out of the vans to secure the path for the guests of honor: Minister of Science Wency Kerman, Minister of Federal Security Danlle Kerman, and Prime Minister Harmin Kerman. Along with Smedley, the four kerbals and their sizable entourage marched into Mission Control and greeted Gene Kerman and Wernher von Kerman. Wernher was quite annoyed by the interruption -- he was in the middle of discussing a mission to bring additional solar panels to ECHO station, which struggled to refill its batteries each sunrise with the outdated fixed panels currently in use. When Smedley announced that the three Ministers present wanted a tour of Kerbin Station ECHO, Wernher nearly exploded; but Gene pulled him aside and whispered:

"Look, Wernher... This might be a blessing in disguise. If we launched a new power module, we'd be using a Goliath lifter without coming anywhere near its capacity. Let's let the good Ministers pay for this launch out of pocket, and make sure we carry out our own objectives at the same time. We could save tons of money, and we're just buying goodwill with the Federation." Reluctantly, Wernher agreed -- he didn't like giving in to politicians, but he couldn't argue with Gene here.

The Freighter 2 was a four-kerbal pod already being designed for easier transport than the awkwardly shaped multi-pod Freighter 1; Wernher had to hurry production of the prototype model, but within a few days a Freighter 2 was ready, along with a large array of solar panels. The KSC would also use this opportunity to bring up additional supplies for the kerbals of ECHO station. The craft was well within Goliath 1's orbital capability, but would, like the earlier Life Support Module, require a very vertical launch due to its unusual shape.

With the solar panels retracted and the additional life support brought in, the Freighter 2 was ready. The top section -- everything above the probe core -- would detach, being left with the station. The snowflake arrangement of sun-tracking solar panels would easily triple the ECHO station's electric output, and solid consumables like food and water bottles could be moved from the Freighter to the Station by hand.

Jebediah led the Ministers into the Freighter 2's Hitchhiker chamber. "Going to space isn't always particularly comfortable" he mentioned as they ducked through the too-small access hatch, "but the view really makes it worth it!"

While the Freighter 2 was an automated craft, Jebediah would be going along to provide the ministers with running commentary and ensure that they didn't do something stupid, like push a manual override button for the access hatch while in a vacuum. Jebediah in particular was chosen for two reasons: first, the cocky pilot was unlikely to be awestruck or intimidated by the ministers; second, his discovery of the crashed UFO that funded the program in the first place made him a bit of a star.

The four kerbals strapped themselves in, Jebediah almost seeming bored while Wency and Danlle seemed a bit nervous. Prime Minister Harmin, on the other hand, had an icy calm about him. He was a very intimidating man, and even Jeb was a little put off.

His calm demeanor was a little shaken up by blastoff, though.

The Freighter 2 rose rapidly, dropping stages as it went.

By this point, rendezvous and docking had become routine. The craft rapidly made its way towards Kerbin Station ECHO.

The ministers didn't spend very long in the cramped confines of the space station -- they took a few pictures, gave a short speech to the kerbals of Kerbin across the DSN, and spent a few minutes quietly chatting with intelligence officer Freddok, and told Jebediah that they were ready to return to Kerbin.

As they returned into the capsule, Jebediah found a note tucked under his command console, left there by Wernher when he was going through final checks of the ship. "Put down somewhere fine... We could use a break from these politicians" read the note. Jeb grinned as he punched in deorbit parameters.

[StupidAndy]

I cant see any of the pictures. all it says is screenshot___.png

might want to fix it, wait, all of them say that, might want to reupload them.

the story looks good so far!

EDIT: IT WORKS!!!!! it fixed itself! thanks to the magic of SCIENCE!!!

Edited March 18, 2017 by StupidAndy

[babale]

Hi Andy (I don't want to call you stupid!), @StupidAndy, is this still occuring when you look again? The website I use is Postimage.org and I know that they had some issues with certain parts of the world -- but they are supposed to have been fixed already. I know that I can see the images -- are they still missing for you?

Anyone else -- are they missing for you, too?

Edited March 17, 2017 by babale

[babale]

Chapter 3: Beyond the Mun

The successful VIP trip to Kerbin Station ECHO captured the public's imagination. The Prime Minister's Kerbin Address, as his orbital speech came to be known, rapidly became the most played video across dozens of websites and public support for the space program soared -- as did funding. Soon enough, Wernher had a mission for Jebediah that would make up for missing out on the Mun trip -- Jebediah would be the first Kerbal to go to Minmus. He would travel in a modified Hopper, the Hopper 1.5. Aside from slightly more supplies to reach the more distant Minmus, there weren't many differences between the Hopper 1 and its successor. Once again, the mission was extremely simple -- head directly there, then straight back.

The Hopper 1.5 was carried by another Goliath lifter as it fit well within its carrying capacity. In all, this was a fairly routine mission -- the only reason that a manned trip to Minmus hadn't occured before was that Minmus, which was too small to see unless you were specifically looking for it, didn't capture the public's imagination nearly as much as its larger neighbor.

After making the transfer burn, Jebediah settled back into his capsule. It would be a long trip to Minmus -- over a week, in fact -- but Jebediah didn't mind. Thanks to Minmus' lighter gravity, there was enough leeway in the delta-V budget for a few extraneous luxuries, such as a couple of paperbacks. But what really kept Jebediah entertained throughout his journey was the special project Wernher had entrusted him with. Wernher had been working on a few secret designs for a special project that he hoped to use the enthusiasm from the Minmus landing to back, and he had requested that Jebediah give a pilot's perspective on a few of the ideas for this project, titled Operation JOLT. So Jebediah had plenty to do as he sailed through open space further and further from Kerbin.

Because Minmus was so small, the Hopper 1.5 was placed on a direct collision trajectory. Minmus' gravity would barely speed up the craft as it burned away from the planet, allowing it to land easily without entering orbit first.

"Four thousand feet from the surface and I've still got two full stages, Ground Control" reported Jeb. "Go ahead and jettison those tanks" responded Gene; "You won't have much use for them." "Negative" replied Jeb, "I can put her down on her engine."

Twenty nine thousand miles away, Gene Kerman coughed up half a cup of coffee. The other half also made its way out his system, but used the nose as its escape route.

"Are you insane? You'll tip over!" shouted Gene. "The gravity's pretty light here -- I should be fine!" replied Jeb. "But if it makes you feel better, I'll stow the panels before landing. I doubt the ship would be damaged by the gravity here, and it would give me fuel to hop over to another biome."

As the solar panels retracted, Gene continue protesting, but Jeb's ears were deaf to his pleas.

With barely a thud, the craft landed on its engine...

And stood there, balanced on its engine. "All systems nominal... Exiting craft to retrieve EVA samples" reported Jeb. Rapidly, the pod was depressurized so that he could open the hatch safely. Unfortunately, as it happened, the tanks that held the air while the pod was depressurized weren't centered and, as they filled with air, the ship's center of mass tilted to one side. Just as Jebediah left the cabin...

The lander tipped over.

Jebediah didn't panic. He ran through the normal EVA reports and surface sampling procedures and returned the samples to the craft. When that was done, he returned to the craft and retracted the landing legs. In Minmus' extremely light gravity, the bump of the legs against the ground was enough to knock the craft upwards for just a moment -- long enough for Jeb to throw the throttle all the way forwards....

But nothing happened. The engine had been damaged as the craft rotated, dragging along the ground. Its igniter wouldn't light. Jebediah didn't miss a bit, hitting the stage button and shoving the throttle even further.

Behind him, Minmus was rocked by a silent explosion. For a moment, the pod walls behind Jebediah lit orange in reflection of the bursting fuel tank behind him -- but by then the final stage of the Hopper 1.5 was clear, soaring away across the Minmus landscape.

Jebediah kept his trajectory going straight into orbit and then way from Minmus and towards Kerbin. When the adrenaline cleared and he started thinking clearly again, he realized that Gene was yelling at him over the intercom. Jeb flicked the radio silent. He glanced at the papers that had been strewn all across the pod in the chaos -- his suggestions for Wernher's Operation JOLT. He cracked a smile. Somehow, he thought that the old man would find it in his heart to forgive him -- and he'd eventually calm down Gene, too.

Soon enough, Jeb was slowing down just outside of Kerbin's atmosphere. Reentry went much more smoothly than landing had, and soon enough Jeb was back at home. To his surprise, even Gene wasn't that angry -- a big film company had already bought the rights to the Minmus escape story, and rumor had it that a rather handsome kerbal had been cast to play Gene. That certainly helped smooth things over -- as did the extra funding from those movie rights.

Jeb did notice, though, that his pod was left bobbing in the ocean for what was probably a little longer than absolute necessity dictated.

With the additional funding and the research done on Minmus, Wernher was able to design enhanced methods of construction and better, comfier, and longer lasting command modules. Both would prove very useful for Operation JOLT.

[babale]

Chapter 3.1: Operation JOLT

Wernher von Kerman always strode with a purpose, and this was no exception. When you were Director of the Kerbin Space Program, there was always somewhere you needed to be, preferably a few hours ago, so Wernher rarely wasted time sniffing flowers. In this case, his stride carried him through the halls of the Ministry to the office of Prime Minister Harmin. The secretary saw him approach and waved him straight into the office, whose door was already open. Wernher slowed his stride by half a step to nod at her, then continued at his brisk pace. He stepped into the Prime Minister's office and closed the door behind him. Harmin Kerman was seated at his heavy wood desk, and an air of authority hung about him. To his side stood Smedley Kerman, his trusted adviser.

"You have the readings with you?" demanded Harmin with little preamble. He seemed to lean forward, almost out of his seat, eagerly glancing at the manila folder that Wernher was carrying. "I do, sir" confirmed Wernher. "What we have been waiting for has finally happened."

He placed the folder in front of the Prime Minister, who opened it and began flipping through the pages within. Smedley leaned in eagerly. Reading from a piece of paper that he pulled out of his lab coat, Wernher began: "Approximately eighteen hours ago, Kerbin Station ECHO detected an unusual heat signature in a highly inclined orbit near the Mun. It began tracking the object, which immediately reacted, seeming to instantly sense that it was being tracked. It changed its trajectory by approximately twenty two hundred meters per second in a very short period of time -- three point four seconds, in fact -- transitioning into a polar orbit of the Mun. It passed behind the Mun's north pole, at which point we lost contact with it. Less than an hour later, Kerbin-based telescopes pointed at the Mun's south pole detected moderate amounts of ejecta, consistent with rapid lithobraking of an object approximately one hundred tons in weight slamming into the surface of the Mun."

Wernher removed his glasses. "Needless to say, we had no operations in any of the regions involved in these observations. Additionally, no technology currently known on Kerbin is capable of accelerating an object that heavy to that high of a speed that quickly."

The Prime Minister looked up. "We need to extend our vision, Wernher. How soon can you have plans for a Munar station drawn up?" Wernher von Kerman smiled. "If you turn to the next page in your package, you'll see that this is not a question you need to be asking, sir. I present to you Mun Station JOLT."

Mun Station JOLT (or Joint Operative Lander Terminal) was Wernher's plan for a Mun base. As the name implied, it would mostly serve as a staging zone for Munar landers -- modified Hoppers would be capable of landing on the Munar surface and returning to the surface, allowing multiple surveys of the Mun. The Federation was hesitant to spend the money on these landers when all they really wanted was a radar station to track any additional contacts. Wernher was able to convince them of the importance of scouting out the Mun, however, by pointing out that -- with sufficient practice -- the Hopper landers would be capable of reaching the poles, not just areas under the equator. This would allow a manned mission to the possible crash site that was detected, which would obviously be highly desirable.

JOLT's core module was just a cupola, a science lab, and a few antenna, and it was carried to the Mun's orbit remotely. The launch went smoothly and soon enough the station was in an equatorial low orbit of the Mun. The most notable thing about this launch was the use of the new Incredible 1 Launcher System, which is capable of putting upwards of 75 tons into orbit.

There's not much else to say about this fairly routine mission -- the station was lifted into space and taken to the Mun's orbit rather easily. The Incredible 1 was easily able to make a controlled gravity turn, even with its 61 ton payload, and had enough fuel left over in the center stage for a Mun injection burn.

With the station complete, Wernher had his new task: To man the station. (Side note: The probe on the surface is the old Believer probe which is still landed on the surface of the Mun)

[babale]

Chapter 3.2: Operation JOLT, Continued

With Mun Station JOLT in orbit, it was time to send over some kerbals and, more importantly, to give those kerbals something to do. Jebediah's project on his long Minmus trip was to assist Wernher with the plans for the new Hopper 3, a lander model capable of rendezvous and docking with the new Munar station.

To provide a place for these new landers to dock, Wernher designed a Lander Module. This consists of an extended boom (which Wernher outfitted with batteries and solar panels to aid the station in providing the necessary life support) that ends in a docking port on both ends. The far end from the station also has a trio of radial docking ports. Future extensions will dock to the bottom port, while landers can dock to the radial ports.

The entire module -- consisting of two landers and the new dock -- weighed in at just 21 tons. It might even be within the weight limit of the old Goliath lifter, but the module was nearly as tall as one of those lifters and would be terrible to fly into orbit. Since the Federation was paying anyways, Wernher decided to use an Incredible-class lifter.

Jebediah and Ticella would fly with the lander module to the station -- Jeb to make trips to the surface, and Ticella to help analyze whatever Jeb brings back. The Hopper 3 is a single kerbal lander, so Jeb would not be taking Ticella down to the surface any time soon, but this system would do for the time being.

The craft launched without incident and rapidly made its way into orbit.

Soon enough, a trajectory to the Mun was planned, and the transfer stage started the burn.

A short correction burn far above Kerbin -- perfectly executed by Jeb -- would ensure that the module would come into Munar orbit at exactly the right time to drop in when Mun Station JOLT was in the correct position. At its periapsis around the Mun, the lander module would come within 200 meters of the station. However, their relative velocity would be a rather quick clip of 311 meters per second -- and the transfer stage was nearly out of fuel.

"I'm assuming you have a plan?" asked Ticella. She didn't want to go all the way to the Mun just to rush by their target at 311 meters per second. Jebediah nodded. "We can transfer some of the fuel from the lander into the transfer stage. There's plenty of fuel on the station's transfer stage left, and we can just use that to refill the landers once we get to the Mun." Ticella nodded. They made the necessary fuel transfers, using pumps that were standard issue in all of Kerbin's ships.

Even after pumping all of the fuel out of the first lander, the transfer stage wasn't even a quarter full, but it would have to do. Ticella just hoped that Jeb could fly as well as he boasted.

Soon enough, the Mun grew larger in the window than Kerbin did. Jebediah and Ticella both gaped, amazed by the site. Here was the Mun -- the little silver ball that they had seen every night since they were born -- and soon enough it would be their new home.

The lander module roared into the Mun's sphere of influence and rapidly fell towards the station. Ground Control wanted Jeb to start the retro burn early, as they were worried that there was enough margin for error in their calculations that the lander module would smack right into the station, but they didn't know how low on fuel the craft was. Jeb chose not to tell them, and Ticella decided to trust the more experienced astronaut. Trusting Jeb was most likely a mistake (as it usually is), but in this case, it wouldn't come to haunt her.

Jebediah executed the halting burn perfectly and even placed the lander module on a collision course with the station -- all without even turning on his RCS. The two crafts continued to approach each other at less than 10 meters per second. Meanwhile, the station's controlling probe core took its last act, detaching from the station it controlled to allow the Lander Module access to the docking port. Within a few seconds, the computer's internal battery winked out forever.

Just as the two crafts approached hailing distance (if there was anyone to hail aboard the station, and if sound could travel in space) their orbit carried them past the terminator into part of space where the sun was eclipsed by the Mun. Even in the dark, Jeb managed the docking without a hitch.

(Quick side note: Docking in orbit of the Mun was also the last stage of my Explore the Mun contract! So we got quite a bit of cash, between that and a few other World First prizes)

Once they were back on the light side of the Mun and had made sure that the solar panels were all working and the life support systems were all nominal, Ticella and Jeb proceeded to transfer what fuel was left back into the lander, then jettisoned the booster stage. Jeb climbed into the rear lander while Ticella made her way to the science lab. He decoupled the lander from its twin, then used the RCS system to maneuver to another dock.

As he clambered through the docking port, Jebediah announced: "Honey, I'm home!"

He got a slap in the face for his trouble, but Ticella was laughing all the same. Together, the pair began to set up their new home for all the work they would soon have to do.

[babale]

Chapter 3.3: Munar Renovations

Floating noiselessly beside the bulky Mun Station Jolt, Ticella tapped the Geiger counter attached to the wrist of her spacesuit. The reading didn't change: still quite a bit above acceptable levels. "Passing Mun's horizon in three... Two... One... Now!" called Jeb across the radio installed in both of their suits. In space, with no atmosphere to spread light around, the darkness came suddenly and with great intensity. Only faint starlight and what little light was reflected from Kerbin's lit half illuminated Ticella's readings. She pushed a button and the interface lit up. Radiation readings hadn't gone down. "We have to tell them, Jeb" she stated. "If we don't, we'll die out here." Jeb sighed. "You're right, Ticella. I was hoping that the instruments were just off from the high radiation levels during the transfer, but no... The Mun doesn't seem to have a magnetosphere significant enough to protect us in orbit." He sighed again as he turned on the long-range radio. "Kerbin Command, this is Mun Station JOLT... We have a problem."

Down on Kerbin, Wernher von Kerman, director of the Kerbal Space Program, was meeting with a representative of Dinklestein's Construction Emporium, who was offering a significant advance on a contract to study plant growth in the Mun's orbit which would, ideally, lead to the production of large-scale greenhouses in the Mun's orbit to feed Mun Station JOLT.

Their meeting was interrupted by Gene Kerman, head of Mission Control. "Wernher? Sorry to interrupt -- we have a serious problem."

Three hours later, the top scientists and engineers of Kerbin's Space Program were all gathered in the conference hall. Kerbals were shouting over each other, all offering their own solutions. "This comes of our haste in the Mun landing -- we should have entered a stable orbit before returning!" shouted one. "I don't hear you offering any solution!" roared another. Two of the engineers nearly came to blows when Wernher climbed to the podium. "Silence!" he called. "We have a solution -- or so we believe. You are all here to make it happen."

"We have been working on a Habitation Module for the Mun Station -- a large wheeled system to provide a simulation of gravity, and additional sleeping and research space. Well, we can harden the additional space, and the astronauts can spend most of their time within the shielded space. That should greatly reduce their radiation exposure. The main issue is that the Mun Station currently does not generate enough power to keep the gravity ring running -- but so long as we simply don't turn it on, we should be fine."

After some debate and blame flinging, it was decided to send the Habitation Module into orbit, along with the equipment necessary for the plant growth experiment.

Soon enough, the Mun Station had its additional module, and the gravity ring was temporarily inflated to ensure that it was working properly. Radiation levels within the shielded Hab Module were much lower, and the astronauts were able to begin their work.

[Brent Kerman]

What mod is giving you those contracts?

[StupidAndy]

a total assortment of contracts, Station Science, anomaly surveyor, I'm pretty sure there's some station and bases contracts expanded (I got it on CKAN in one save, I forgot the name)

the thing that organizes them is Contract Configurator

and the life support is kerbalism, station Science gives you the extra station parts

[babale]

Even though Andy is not me he mostly has it right. Contract Configurator is the main mod, the others are all listed on its front page.