Shuttle Challenge v5 - The STS thread [Stock and Mod Friendly] - MAJOR CHALLENGE ANNOUNCEMENT! - 30.3.2020

[Artienia]

1 hour ago, Laie said:

....and that's the kind of thing I rather leave to Smart A.S.S., so all my shuttles will be for naught.

i just wanna inform you that all atmo flight helping tools are banned as far as i know. Although the rules might have changed since i last did this

[Thor Wotansen]

It seems I have completed the STS 1a and STS 1b missions in one launch with the good ship HSTSS Momma Kerman.  Piloted by the notorious Jebediah Kerman, with mission specialist Bill Kerman, the Momma Kerman successfully deployed some fuel tank thing or something.  Album.

Below is a selection of images from the mission.  Don't ask how we got them.

Spoiler

And the proofs

[sturmhauke]

4 hours ago, Laie said:

....and that's the kind of thing I rather leave to Smart A.S.S., so all my shuttles will be for naught.

I've found that most of the challenge in a shuttle is in the design of the craft and payloads. Landing a well-designed orbiter is really not that hard once you get the hang of it.

[Kerbolitto]

6 hours ago, Thor Wotansen said:

Working on my first STS mission, had some technical difficulties with docking ports so I'm having to relaunch, but here's a teaser.

Very nice Korolev cross !

[michal.don]

On 12/28/2018 at 5:08 PM, Starslinger999 said:

STS-3 Is complete. I put my replica of the Hubble Space Telescope into a 600km orbit at ~27^o inclination.

Good job! Nice detail of adding the openable shutter to the telescope  And yes, the "separotrons" seem a bit excessive  

Anyway, nicely flown and definitely badge-worthy, so here you go:

On 12/28/2018 at 6:00 PM, alekkat said:

I hope this is enough because it has been a year since I started this mission. I'm happy to be back and will most likely continue these missions.

That's quite the dedictaion, welcome back  And I'm more than happy to award you the badge, good job!

On 12/28/2018 at 10:04 PM, linuxgurugamer said:

I'll be doing the first mission on sunday evening, but here are the images of what I'll be using:

Here is a picture of my first shuttle for this challenge on the pad:

Are you sure the fairing is not actually making the aerodynamic properties worse? It sure doesn't look very aerodynamic....  Anyway, good luck with your mission, I'm curious how it will turn out!

 

On 12/28/2018 at 10:25 PM, Starslinger999 said:

STS 4/4R is done!

Successful rendezvous and crew transfer, precise reentry and a pinpoint landing, the crew is safe, great mission! ANd onother badge for you:

On 12/28/2018 at 10:52 PM, Artienia said:

dont wanna be rude but it looks like a giant buttplug lol

Gyus, please, let's not go this way....  

 

On 12/29/2018 at 11:40 AM, Thor Wotansen said:

Working on my first STS mission, had some technical difficulties with docking ports so I'm having to relaunch, but here's a teaser.

Welcome to the challenge! The teaser is looking great, good luck with your mission(s)!

 

22 hours ago, Laie said:

...and that's the kind of thing I rather leave to Smart A.S.S., so all my shuttles will be for naught.

As I stated a bit earlier in the thread, I'm really careful about allowing atmospheric autopilots, because this challenge is about both payload design and flying the shuttles. But if you are really oposed to holding attitide during reentry by hand, there is a little trick of adding a probe core rotated by 15° relative to the shuttle, setting "control from here" after entry burn, and setting SAS to prograde, which does pretty much the same thing  I understand your reservations about the rules, and I'm sorry this discourages you from joining our ranks, but I do not think allowing atmospheric autopilots would benefit the challenge.

 

20 hours ago, Thor Wotansen said:

It seems I have completed the STS 1a and STS 1b missions in one launch with the good ship HSTSS Momma Kerman.

Oh, did not notice you already flew the mission....  

Great maiden voyage of a new shuttle, looks really powerful and elegant (well apart from the engine pods floating above the cargo bay doors, but hey, if it works...  ) This is proper STS-1a, but unfortunately, to qualify for the STS-1b badge (fuel pod), the orbit must have way lowe Ap and Pe difference - see the OP for the exact numbers.

So, only one badge for you now, but I hope you come back to claim the other one pretty soon  

 

Michal.don

 

Edited December 30, 2018 by michal.don

[sturmhauke]

I finished the STS-1C mission. I still have to sort through all my screenshots, but here's a couple of the final delivery:

Spoiler

 

[Thor Wotansen]

After a mysterious anomaly destroyed the fuel pod from the first launch of the HSTSS Momma Kerman, the suits in the Administration building decided to try again with 50% less recklessness in the form of no Jeb.  Instead Frank Kerman piloted the Momma, with mission specialist Serena Kerman.  The second fuel pod was delivered to a 150km orbit.  Album.

[Laie]

Compared to Thor above, my pictures are nowhere as pretty. But perhaps interesting nonetheless.

I went for the classical approach, but not so classic as to use the Mk3 and Big-S parts. Anything you don't immediatley recognize is SXT, though nearly all of it custom scaled, warped, or otherwise reconfigured. Fusealage had to be inflated to 3.25m to accommodate the dummy payload, for example -- 3m would almost, but not quite, suffice. The engine model is SXT, too, but internally it's a Rhino with 10° gimbal range.

I expected that I'd have to make my own boosters, too, but as it turned out there was just the thing for me. At 3500kN and 120t, a single one of these has just the right amount of power and gives me a welcome excuse to shift the fuel tanks forward. Picture may not be immediately obvious, but that's a clean enough separation for me.

Just like the real thing, it's supposed to barely reach orbit on it's fuel supply; after that there's ~200m/s worth of monoprop for the  OMS. Though on the first attempt it was a little too close for comfort.

Problems: On the technical side, surprisingly few. Returning with the dummy payload will take it to it's limits due to com shift (hence the canards which I'd rather have avoided), but other than that it works fine. Not too happy about the looks, though. With orange tanks too spindly and Kerbodyne too squat, I guess I'll have to invent my own tanks after all. That, and the OMS exhaust looks entirely too powerful.

[sturmhauke]

I use the NF suite, except for the nuclear engines which are waaaay overpowered. There's one that's a little better than the Nerv that might be ok, but the rest of them are too much.

[Angelo Kerman]

I did the original Shuttle challenge, and it's nice to see it still going.

[sturmhauke]

Here's my STS-1C full album: https://imgur.com/a/l3xdSIi I built a new shuttle, called Tetrax, which is a smaller version of Bustard.

Spoiler

 

[JadeOfMaar]

I think the title of this thread should be more like "The Comprehensive STS Shuttle Challenge Series" Wow, thsi thing is loaded. It would make a fabulous chain of milestones to lace and guide a science or sandbox save with.

[Kerbolitto]

4 hours ago, JadeOfMaar said:

I think the title of this thread should be more like "The Comprehensive STS Shuttle Challenge Series" Wow, thsi thing is loaded. It would make a fabulous chain of milestones to lace and guide a science or sandbox save with.

Certainly one of the best thread around here (No I'm not biased! )

[michal.don]

Ok, the traffic here got a little more intense recently, many new faces around here - I love it  

 

First thing I'd like to announce - after some thinking, I decided to adjust the rule considering autopilots during atmospheric flight. From now on, attitude control instruments (like mechjeb's SmartASS) are allowed during the reentry, to keep the shuttle in a desired attitude. The final approach and landing still have to be flown manually though, and that's one thing I'm not willing to change.

 

Second - I'll leave the special Christmas mission online for about a week in January, then it will be officially finished and deleted from the OP. So, if you think about delivering some presents and getting the Christmas badge, you better get at it now  

 

Now that I got that out of the way, let's get to the missions:

 

22 hours ago, sturmhauke said:

I finished the STS-1C mission. I still have to sort through all my screenshots, but here's a couple of the final delivery:

That's quite a precise landing you've got there

 

19 hours ago, Thor Wotansen said:

After a mysterious anomaly destroyed the fuel pod from the first launch of the HSTSS Momma Kerman, the suits in the Administration building decided to try again with 50% less recklessness in the form of no Jeb.

Now that the mission contrlo has read the fine print on the end of the contract, there remain no reservations on my part  Good job, and the second badge for you:

 

11 hours ago, Laie said:

Compared to Thor above, my pictures are nowhere as pretty. But perhaps interesting nonetheless.

I'd say they are pretty enough, and show an interesting design approach! Thanks for the teaser, and I hope that after the slight rule change you'll fly the real missions, too

 

10 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

I did the original Shuttle challenge, and it's nice to see it still going.

Glad to see you here, too  There are several new missions compared to the original, if you're ever in shuttling mood, feel free to come around and fly some  

 

8 hours ago, sturmhauke said:

Here's my STS-1C full album: https://imgur.com/a/l3xdSIi I built a new shuttle, called Tetrax, which is a smaller version of Bustard.

Another of Santa's helpers gets the job done, and again getting all three of the presents! Great mission report and great job, so a christmas badge for you:

6 hours ago, JadeOfMaar said:

I think the title of this thread should be more like "The Comprehensive STS Shuttle Challenge Series" Wow, thsi thing is loaded. It would make a fabulous chain of milestones to lace and guide a science or sandbox save with.

Yup, I admit the thing kind of grew in time and got more excessive than most of the challenges on the forums  But I can't really take credit for all of this, it was already pretty awesome when I got it, so....  

 

Also I'm quite curious - quite a few of the forum all time greats have visited the thread recently - what happened? Was the thread mentioned or featured somewhere, or is it just a (pleasant) coincidence?  

 

Michal.don

 

[sturmhauke]

6 hours ago, JadeOfMaar said:

I think the title of this thread should be more like "The Comprehensive STS Shuttle Challenge Series" Wow, thsi thing is loaded. It would make a fabulous chain of milestones to lace and guide a science or sandbox save with.

I mostly use the same sandbox save for all my challenges, so there's a bunch of stuff around from previous challenges. Occasionally I terminate old probes and things like that, but there's a history to my game that I like. Meanwhile I haven't done much with my old career mode lately; I have most of the stock science tree unlocked, but I haven't been to any bodies outside Kerbin SOI.

[linuxgurugamer]

STS-1a - First mission completed.  I did it last night while streaming.  Here are a few images, I'm editing the video down to only show the mission.  Please note that the following images are from two different attempts.  The video will be is continuous as proof of completion.  This first mission was done using the Mk 2.5 Spaceplane parts as the main components of the shuttle

Mod list (many are just visual and audio mods).  Note that I used the Standard Fly-By-Wire of Atmosphere Autopilot to smooth out my control inputs.  Mechjeb was used for some of the orbital maneuvers.  I did not need to use any autopilot to fly back to the KSP.

Spoiler

ABookCase Orbital Reference System (ABCORS 0.5.0.3)
Action Group Manager Renewed (ActionGroupManager 2.2.3.3)
Advanced Fly-By-Wire (Windows, x64) (AdvancedFlyByWire 1.8.1.1)
All Y'All (AllYAll 0.11.16.2)
AnyRes Continued (AnyResContinued 2.0.2.6)
AtmosphereAutopilot (Fly-By-Wire) (AtmosphereAutopilot v1.5.11)
Audio Muffler Redux (AudioMufflerRedux 2.6.1_quickfix)
B9 Part Switch (B9PartSwitch v2.5.1)
BahamutoD Animation Modules (BDAnimationModules 1:v0.6.5.6)
Better SR Bs (BetterSRBs 1.05)
BetterTimeWarpContinued (BetterTimeWarpCont 2.3.11.1)
Camera Focus Changer (CameraFocusChanger 1:1.0.4.1)
Camera Tools (CameraTools v1.11.0)
Chatterer (Chatterer 0.9.96)
ClickThrough Blocker (ClickThroughBlocker 0.1.6.9)
Community Resource Pack (CommunityResourcePack 1.0.0.0)
Community Trait Icons (CommunityTraitIcons v1.0.1)
Control Surface Toggle (ControlSurfaceToggle 1.2.4)
CorrectCoL (CorrectCoL 1.6.4.2)
Craft Manager (CraftManager 1.1.5)
Dated QuickSaves (DatedQuickSaves 1.2.3.2)
Deployable Engines Plugin (DeployableEngines 0.5.3)
Destruction Effects (DestructionEffects 2:v1.9.0)
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Distant Object Enhancement (DistantObject v1.9.1.1)
Distant Object Enhancement default config (DistantObject-default v1.9.1.1)
Docking Port Alignment Indicator (DockingPortAlignmentIndicator 6.8.2)
Docking Port Sound FX (DockingPortSoundFX v2.1.12)
Draggable Altimeter (DraggableAltimeter v1.0.1)
Draggable Navball (DraggableNavball v1.0.1)
EarlyBird (EarlyBird 0.1.7.0)
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Engine Lighting (EngineLighting 1.5.1)
Environmental Visual Enhancements (EnvironmentalVisualEnhancements 2:EVE-1.4.2-2)
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EVA Struts (EVAStruts 5.0)
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Filter Extensions - Plugin (FilterExtensions 3.2.2.14)
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Fuel Tank Expansion Rebuilt (MunarIndustriesFTX 0.9.6.2)
GravityTurn Continued (GravityTurnContinued 2:1.7.7)
HangerExtender (HangerExtenderExtended 3.5.3.3)
HyperEdit (HyperEdit 1.5.8.0)
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Internal RCS (InternalRCS 1.0)
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Interstellar Fuel Switch Core (InterstellarFuelSwitch-Core 3.6.17.3)
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Keep It Straight (KeepItStraight 1.0.5)
Kerbal Engineer Redux (KerbalEngineerRedux 1.1.5.5)
Kerbal Foundries2 (KerbalFoundriesContinued 2.2.6.16)
Kerbal Hacks: Droptank "Wrapper" (KerbalHacksDroptankWrapper 1.0)
Kerbal NRAP - Procedural Test Weights (KerbalNRAP 1.5.11.3)
KS3P (KS3P V5.0)
KSP Wheel (KSPWheel 0.12.10.28)
KXAPI (KXAPI 1.1.0)
MagiCore (MagiCore 1.3.1.3)
Mapview Mono Sound (MapviewMonoSound 1.0.1)
Mark IV Spaceplane System (MarkIVSpaceplaneSystem 3.0.2)
MechJeb 2 (MechJeb2 2.8.1.0)
MechJeb and Engineer for all! (MechJebForAll 1.3.0.4)
MemGraph (MemGraph 1:1.1.1.4)
Minimum Ambient Lighting (MinAmbience 1.2.3)
MissingHistory (MissingHistory 1.6.1)
Mk2.5 Spaceplane Parts (RaginCaucasian 1.4.4)
ModularFlightIntegrator (ModularFlightIntegrator 1.2.6.0)
Module Manager (ModuleManager 3.1.2)
NASA CountDown Clock Updated (NASA-CountDown 1.3.7.4)
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NavHud (NavHudRenewed 1.3.6)
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PAWS (PAWS 1.1.0.2)
PlanetShine (PlanetShine 0.2.6.1)
PlanetShine - Default configuration (PlanetShine-Config-Default 0.2.6.1)
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QuickRevert (QuickRevert 1:3.1.4.1)
QuickSearch (QuickSearch 1:3.2.2)
QuickStart (QuickStart 1:2.1.6.1)
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Reentry Particle Effect (ReentryParticleEffect 1.3)
S.A.V.E (SAVE 1.5.4-3103)
SafeChute (SafeChute v2.1.15)
scatterer (Scatterer 2:v0.0336)
scatterer - default config (Scatterer-config 2:v0.0336)
scatterer - sunflare (Scatterer-sunflare 2:v0.0336)
Sensible Pumps Continued (SensiblePumpsCont 1.2.6.2)
Ship Effects Continued (ShipEffectsContinued 1.0.8.4)
Slingshotter Reslung (SlingShotterReslung 1.1.6.8)
SpaceY Expanded (SpaceY-Expanded 1.4)
SpaceY Heavy Lifters (SpaceY-Lifters 1.17.2)
Speed Unit Annex (SpeedUnitAnnex 1.2.6)
The Janitor's Closet (JanitorsCloset 0.3.4.3)
Toolbar (Toolbar 1.7.17.14)
Toolbar Controller (ToolbarController 1:0.1.6.19)
TooManyOrbits (TooManyOrbits 1.1.3.2)
Trajectories (Trajectories vKSP1.4.2-v2.2.0)
WasdEditorCameraContinued (WasdEditorCameraContinued 0.6.14.2)
Waypoint Manager (WaypointManager 2.7.4)
Zero MiniAVC (ZeroMiniAVC 1:1.0.5.2)
 

 

Complete video (41 minutes) here:

Spoiler

 

 

On launch pad

Spoiler

 

In orbit:

Spoiler

 

Getting lined up for reentry burn

Spoiler

 

Lined up for reentry

Spoiler

 

Reentry

Spoiler

 

Lined up for landing

Spoiler

 

Wheels stop

Spoiler

 

Edited January 2, 2019 by linuxgurugamer

[Starslinger999]

Quick Rule related question: Would something like 2 solar modules be ok if launched together? Or should I make it a single module 

Also Heres the station so far...

Top module is a Habitat and escape pod hybrid, the middle/bottom one is the core service module, solar modules, on the sides, and the science lab module is on the back, and the science equipment and ISRU module on the front. 

Edited January 2, 2019 by Starslinger999

[hoioh]

8 hours ago, Starslinger999 said:

Quick Rule related question: Would something like 2 solar modules be ok if launched together? Or should I make it a single module 

You can put  as many as you like on that cool looking station, with a minimum of 1

[michal.don]

On 12/31/2018 at 8:01 PM, linuxgurugamer said:

STS-1a - First mission completed.  I did it last night while streaming.  Here are a few images, I'm editing the video down to only show the mission.  Please note that the following images are from two different attempts.  The video will be continuous as proof of completion.  This first mission was done using the Mk 2.5 Spaceplane parts as the main components of the shuttle

I'll wait for the final video edit, but this looks very good  I like the shuttle design, and find the huge fairing the proper kerbal way of launching it  

 

11 hours ago, Starslinger999 said:

Quick Rule related question: Would something like 2 solar modules be ok if launched together? Or should I make it a single module 

Sure, you can launch multiple modules in one shuttle, but there have to be four total shuttle flights.

[linuxgurugamer]

42 minutes ago, michal.don said:

I'll wait for the final video edit, but this looks very good  I like the shuttle design, and find the huge fairing the proper kerbal way of launching it  

Oops, I forgot to say that the posted video is the final edit.

I finished STS-1b and STS-2a last night, I'm working on the post now.  This time I remembered to get images of everything, so while I don't need the video as proof, although I am getting that as well.

STS-1b required a few quick-saves and reverts in the mission, mainly due to fat fingers and Trajectories miscalculating a landing point by nearly 1/4 around the planet.  I'll be editing those out, so the missions will be complete from beginning to end

[michal.don]

1 hour ago, linuxgurugamer said:

Oops, I forgot to say that the posted video is the final edit.

I finished STS-1b and STS-2a last night, I'm working on the post now.  This time I remembered to get images of everything, so while I don't need the video as proof, although I am getting that as well.

STS-1b required a few quick-saves and reverts in the mission, mainly due to fat fingers and Trajectories miscalculating a landing point by nearly 1/4 around the planet.  I'll be editing those out, so the missions will be complete from beginning to end

Ah, alright then  

From the video, everything seems ok, so congratulations on the first (hopefully, of many) successful mission! One thing I'm curious about is the ascent though - it seemed pretty inefficient to me - is this on purpose, to get out of the atmosphere as soon as possible, or did you just not care too much, because of sufficient margins on the first mission?  

In any case, here is your first badge:

and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next!

Michal.don

[linuxgurugamer]

9 hours ago, michal.don said:

From the video, everything seems ok, so congratulations on the first (hopefully, of many) successful mission! One thing I'm curious about is the ascent though - it seemed pretty inefficient to me - is this on purpose, to get out of the atmosphere as soon as possible, or did you just not care too much, because of sufficient margins on the first mission?

Mainly because I'm not usually piloting the ascents, I usually use an autopilot such as Gravity Turn or MechJeb.  So my piloting skills leave a bit to be desired.  Because of that, I tend to overbuild my vessels to compensate

9 hours ago, michal.don said:

In any case, here is your first badge:

and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next!

 

Thank you, and I'm working on the posts for the next two now.

 

Edit:  Stupid forum merged my first mission post below

STS-1B completed last night, here are the images and video.  Note that the fuel pod's total weight is about 43 tons.  This due to having to redesign it to fit into the Mk 2.5 shuttle

Full video (edited from Twitch stream):

Spoiler

 

Mission Images

Spoiler

All tanks are full:

 

 

Edited January 2, 2019 by linuxgurugamer

[linuxgurugamer]

STS-2A completed last night, here are the images and video.  

For this mission, I used the Octosat mod to make the satellites.  While the satellites had enough dV to get to the Keosynchronous orbit themselves, I chose to put the shuttle into an resonant orbit, calculated by the Resonant Orbit Calculator, and at the Ap of each orbit released one satellite and circularized it's orbit.  This placed all three satellites equidistant from each other.

Full video (edited from Twitch stream):

Spoiler

 

 

Mission Images

Spoiler

 

Edited January 2, 2019 by linuxgurugamer

[linuxgurugamer]

2 hours ago, michal.don said:

n any case, here is your first badge:

 

I assume this was for STS Commander Rank 1, but I can't tell the difference between the badges.  Looking at the OP, both STS Pilot Rank 1 and STS Commandr Rank 1 have two badges for each, and either I'm blind or I can't tell the difference between them, other than fir left badge for each has gold trim and tie right badge has white trim (the feathering  to each side of the word Challenge in each)

[hoioh]

14 minutes ago, linuxgurugamer said:

I assume this was for STS Commander Rank 1, but I can't tell the difference between the badges.  Looking at the OP, both STS Pilot Rank 1 and STS Commandr Rank 1 have two badges for each, and either I'm blind or I can't tell the difference between them, other than fir left badge for each has gold trim and tie right badge has white trim (the feathering  to each side of the word Challenge in each)

The difference is in the colour of the stars for the ranks and the colour of the feathers for mods/stock