Alternis Kerbol Travelling Circus -- Episode 34: Over the Hills and Far Away

[Geschosskopf]

Alternis Kerbol Travelling Circus

EPISODE 1: Vjezd gladiátorů (aka Einzug der Gladiatoren / Entry of the Gladiators)

(also, and in this case appropriately, know as "Thunder and Blazes")

Be sure to click on the title above.  It's a link to the very appropriate music for this episode and the Travelling Circus in general, as played on that wonder of Victorian computerized automation, the band organ.  Which in this example bears a striking (and again, appropriate) likeness to the fearsome ancient Mesoamerican storm god Tlaloc, as shown on this mural from Teotihuacan:

 

Episode 1 in spoiler below the Table of Contents.

Episodes 2-10

Spoiler

 

Episode 2: Everything is broken

Episode 3: Tennessee Bird Walk

Episode 4: You Can't Always Get What You Want

Episode 5: Struggle

Episode 6: When the Saints Go Marching In

Episode 7: One Step Beyond

Episode 8: Pocketful of Kryptonite

Episode 9: Twa Corbies

Episode 10: Gone Away

 

Episodes 11-20

Spoiler

 

Episode 11: Crack in the Sky

Episode 12: Another One Bites the Dust

Episode 13: So Much Trouble

Episode 14: Takin' Care of Business

Episode 15: Five O'Clock Whistle

Episode 16: Give up the Funk

Episode 17: Roll the Old Chariot

Episode 18: The Green Hills of Tyrol

Episode 19: Nutbush City Limits

Episode 20: Dazed and Confused

 

Chapters 21 - 30:

Spoiler

 

Episode 21: The Tempest

Episode 22: Pick up the Pieces

Episode 23: I'm Going Home

Interlude: The Turkish Song of the Damned

Episode 24: Road to Nowhere

Episode 25: The Thing

GUIDE to reading the Laythean Language

Episode 26: Won't Get Fooled Again

Episode 27: Second Rock from Jool

Episode 28: Love Shack

Episode 29:  I Eat Cannibals

Episode 30: Volcano

 

 

Episode 31:  I'm Ready

Episode 32:  Grindhouse

Episode 33:  I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink

Episode 34:  Over the Hills and Far Away

 

 

EPISODE 1 TEXT IN SPOILER BELOW:

 

Anyhows, it's been about a year since I touched KSP.  I reached my saturation point soon after 1.2 came out and went off and did other things for a while, but for some reason the ghosts of all the past Circus astronauts started haunting me, so here I am again.  And in this story, we're in another alternate universe where the Circus hasn't been to Sarnus so is still old-school.  Once again, Kerbin is the moon of a gas giant but instead of New Horizons, this time it's Alternis Kerbol.  This system has the same number of bodies as stock and they have the same names, but they've got totally custom geography, size, and locations.  The system looks like this:

Jool is blue and located at stock Kerbin's distance from the sun.  It has 5 moons:  Minmus, Laythe, Mun, Kerbin, and Pol.  None of these look anything like they do in stock.  Minmus is tiny, cratered, and orange.  Laythe has both more land and confirmed alien lifeforms.  Mun has more big craters and seemingly fewer small ones but is otherwise about the same.  Kerbin has a whole new map.  Pol is just weird.  Next out from Jool is Tylo, about where Dres would be in stock.  Tylo is a "superkerbin" with 4x gravity and a shallow but fairly dense atmosphere,.  Dres and Duna are moons of Tylo.

Moho is still a barren rock although with much more interesting topography.  Eve is yellow and has rings.  Eeloo is way out there, not quite as far as Sarnus in OPM but way further than stock.  It has Vall for a moon.  None of these planets have stock geography.

So that's the setting.  Laythe is easily accessible and more interesting than stock but the other things are challenging targets.  Especially Tylo, which here is claimed to be the most difficult planet to visit.  And of course intercepting Ike and Gilly when they come around, too.  And who can resist a yellow Eve with rings?  So on with the story!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is a career game with the usual Circus plethora of mods and heavy government subsidies.  I'm using Snacks! for life support this time.  And I see that in my absence some kind  souls have gotten TAC Self-Destruct (my all-time favorite mod) and Kerbal Foundries working again, so we should have plenty of gratuitous explosions and nifty tracked rovers.  But the real difference this time around is I'm using BARIS with the boxed checked that says "parts can explode".  Thus, plenty more explosions and some of them will be far from gratuitous.  Which brings us to the 1st item of note:  the death of Jeb.

Yes, the supposedly immortal Jebediah Kerman, in most other universes the 1st Duke of Mun and Minmus, was blown to bits on the AKTC's very first crewed launch.  After a successful sub-orbital flight east out over what has now been named "Scrap Metal Bay", while floating down gently under his parachutes, Jeb's Mk1 pod suddenly exploded for no good reason.  OK, it was leaking mono since launch, and maybe some of that dripped into the lithium-ion battery that was getting hot, but there wasn't enough of either to do more than cause a nasty fire.  Thus, sabotage was suspected and various junior Boffins were purged as a prophylactic measure.  The recovery crews didn't find enough of Jeb to do a conclusive debriefing/dissection on, so there's still no definitive answer as to what happened.  But at least his parachutes came down safely on their own, to be fished from the ocean and re-used.

As it happened, the chutes were re-used the very next day on an exact duplicate of Jeb's doomed ship, this time with Val bolted into the pod.  The main mission here was to see if the same thing would happen again, so that maybe the cause could be determined. But the pod didn't explode.  Instead, the single SRB under the pod exploded shortly after ignition.  However, the re-used chutes worked perfectly, depositing Val safely just a few hundred meters off the dirt launchpad.  Her debriefing/dissection failed to uncover any evidence as to why the SRB exploded.  More junior Boffins and this time some Scientists, too, were purged.

The Travelling Circus decided to hold off on further rocket launches until it could do more research on how to keep them from exploding.  This also allowed time to install more security cameras and goons all through the production line to prevent sabotage.  In the meantime, there were some simple contracts to do very minimal science at nearby places so the Boffins cobbled together a very bizarre aircraft with a pusher turboprop engine and the Scientists sent off Val once again.  The plane started disintegrating from the start.  Val managed to get to the first objective despite numerous malfunctions but while en route to the 2nd target, the fuel tanks all either fell off or exploded, and then the engine itself, despite a complete lack of fuel, also exploded.   However, the loss of mass was fairly well balanced on both ends of the plane so Val was able to maintain control and glide back to KSC.  After examining the flight data recorder, the Boffins finally got some hard data on the cause of at least 1 explosion--the engine had been hit by parts falling off the front of the plane.

Val awoke in ICU after her second debriefing/dissection in as many days and found herself envious of Jeb.  And at Mission Control, the Boffins and Scientists were glad they had huge government subsidies so could absorb a fair amount of losses.

Tune in next time for more epic failure and explosions.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 8, 2018 by Geschosskopf
Episode 34

[Just Jim]

OMG.... The Circus is BACK!!!

WOOHOO!!!

Edited September 7, 2017 by Just Jim

[FlyingPete]

Always thought this star system looked interesting. Looking forward to further endeavours

[Geschosskopf]

4 hours ago, FlyingPete said:

Always thought this star system looked interesting. Looking forward to further endeavours

It will be interesting to explore.  Thanks to every planet being totally resurfaced and often resized, it's a completely alien system,  even Kerbin, despite the familiar names.

I'm also sure this is going to be very bloody.  From what I can tell, every new part researched is going to explode a lot until you work out the bugs.  I foresee doing a lot of short, relatively safe sem-static tests of new parts while continuing to do missions with old, more reliable but obsolete stuff for much longer than normal.  Still, I expect heavy casualties.

@Just Jim, thanks!  Good to be back.  I doubt I can be as active as before but such is life.  Good luck with Irma!

[Angelo Kerman]

6 minutes ago, Geschosskopf said:

It will be interesting to explore.  Thanks to every planet being totally resurfaced and often resized, it's a completely alien system,  even Kerbin, despite the familiar names.

I'm also sure this is going to be very bloody.  From what I can tell, every new part researched is going to explode a lot until you work out the bugs.  I foresee doing a lot of short, relatively safe sem-static tests of new parts while continuing to do missions with old, more reliable but obsolete stuff for much longer than normal.  Still, I expect heavy casualties.

@Just Jim, thanks!  Good to be back.  I doubt I can be as active as before but such is life.  Good luck with Irma!

Don't forget your launch escape systems...

You can also use the Test Bench to help speed things up, and Tiger Teams in the Tracking Station to fix things from the ground Apollo13 style...

And there's lots of widgets to adjust difficulties with too.

Looking forward to more of the circus!

Edited September 7, 2017 by Angel-125

[Geschosskopf]

2 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

Don't forget your launch escape systems...

You can also use the Test Bench to help speed things up, and Tiger Teams in the Tracking Station to fix things from the ground Apollo13 style...

And there's lots of widgets to adjust difficulties with too.

I haven't messed with the in-game features yet, only set the starting conditions and do a few suicide missions to learn the consequences of NOT using the in-game features.  But one of the starting conditions is that I leatn a LOT from failure :D.  That way, I'll have an incentive to keep failing :p.  That's more entertaining than testing. 

"Failure isn't an option, it's standard equipment."

As to LES, the Circus has never done that because at the bottom line, all it's astronauts are expendable convicts and vagrants.  Usually an LES costs more than Kerbals (I use Custom Barn Kit to keep recruiting costs at a low, nominal fee in keeping with the utter uselessness of untrained pressees).

Anyway, I'm just doing this to have fun.  Nobody reading this should think this is how BARIS will always work.  I'll be deliberately doing things wrong, making decisions based on the value system of my twisted game world, and otherwise not being "normal".  BARIS has options that can largely defang it.  But why not see how mean it can be just for larfs?

 

Edited September 7, 2017 by Geschosskopf

[Dman979]

BARIS and the Boffins- an explosion every episode, or your money back!

 

Looking forward to this.  

[KAL 9000]

IT'S BACK! IT'S BACK! PRAISE THE KRAKEN, IT'S BACK! 

Spoiler

Sorry about Jeb, BTW. His DNA was sampled before launch, so we can clone him. And also restore his consciousness from a backup.

 

[Cydonian Monk]

Welcome back! (And with actual circus music.....)

Maybe someday soon I'll start posting again too.....

[insert_name]

glad to see this back, looking forward to the next installment

[Whirligig Girl]

Hey, that's pretty good.

[Geschosskopf]

EPISODE 2: Everything is Broken

Spoiler

 

Staying with appropriate theme music, here, with Tlaloc's approval, is the song I always sing during and after hurricanes.  And it fits the state of the AKTC.

So, Val got patched back together for the 2nd time and was again wired into the Turbopusher to finish the contract she'd had to abort the day before, plus do another similar one that had just come up.  However, as soon as she started the engine, her Mk 1 cockpit exploded.  One of the redundant SAS units also exploded, which is why the plane had 2 of them.  Luckily, however, none of the several parts that suddenly found themselves in free fall due to loss of support was damaged too badly upon hitting the ground, so this mission only cost the Circus the price of the cockpit and SAS unit.  Oh, and Val, of course.

Fortunately, the press gang had been busy, delivering 2 replacement airkerbs, Jack and Handin, before Vals spores had had a chance to settle.  The Turbopusher was quickly repaired and Jack was gently coaxed into the new, improved Mk 1 Cockpit OF DEATH with cattleprods.  Soon, the hatch was welded shut and Jack was on his way on what turned out to be the AKTC's only successful mission to date.  Although transmitter failure limited the amount of data he could accumulate, that was the only glitch in the mission.  For once, the Turbopusher stayed in one piece, the engine kept running just fine, and none of the fuel tanks leaked.  Jack was thus able to complete both contracts and EPIKFAIL (Extravagant Projects of Inspired Kerbals Following Absolutely Incorrect Logic) awarded the Circus a prize for setting a new all-time distance record of 38km.

Meanwhile, the Boffins and Scientists were trying to work the bugs out of their rocket parts.  They put some of every rocket part they'd so far developed onto a test stand and spent over a month carefully integrating all its parts.  Then they dragged it out to the launchpad and lit the fuse.  And it exploded.  In many places at once.  Then in some more places shortly thereafter.  The test was aborted in order to save the launchpad from further damage.  It's unsure if the Circus learned anything useful, but it was reaffirmed in its conviction to limit rocket expense for the time being by launching only probes.

NOTE:  Kerbin often seems tide-locked to Jool, the latter almost always hanging low in the western sky and nowhere else.  But sometimes Jool isn't visible so I really don't know, nor has the Circus managed to get anything high enough off the ground to be able to answer the question.  In any case, the day/night cycle of AK Kerbin is VERY long, and there are frequent and long-lasting total eclipses caused by Jool.  Thus, KSC is in the dark more than the light.  Also, because of the slow spin, you need more dV to reach orbit than stock.

This was borne out by the experiences of the GoUp probes, the whole series failing in its quest to leave the atmosphere..  GoUp 1 didn't get very far before its probe core exploded.  It didn't even have time to transmit any data from the upper atmosphere.

GoUp 2 managed to survive to Ap but this was only about 50km.  It exploded spontaneously on the way down.  So GoUp 3 was built somewhat bigger in hopes it would make it.  While it was being integrated, a couple of contracts came up for doing laser ablation at several points along the sea shore north and east of KSC.  For these missions, the Boffins made their 1st rover, again uncrewed.  They built a lot of redundancy into it, including 2 of the Okto Probe Cores OF DEATH.  Surprisingly, neither exploded.  But for some reason, the rover's engines kept failing silently, as in no explosions and no malfunction messages, but still just dead.  Even with a full battery.  Thus, it took 5 rover sorties to hit 6 waypoints.  However, each time the entire rover was recovered so this didn't cost much more than time and hassle.

By then, GoUp 3 was ready.  It looked certain to get over 70km when its gyros failed and it started tumbling.  This rapidly slowed it down so that it only reached 65km, then broke up during descent.  So an exact copy, GoUp 4, was lashed together and sent up.  It suffered a string of non-fatal malfunctions but kept flying straight and true, and would probably have reached space when, once again, the Okto Probe Core OF DEATH struck.

Probododyne's offices were by now surrounded by Imperial shock troops.  The defending droid troopers put up heroic resistance but were betrayed by their enslaved Kerbal workforce, who threw open the gates to get the fight over with before it delayed their lunch break.  The company's upper management droids then surrendered and were last seen being dragged into black marias.  Hopefully, this will result in quality improvements in the probe cores.'

Tune in next time just in case the AKTC ever makes any progress.

 

 

Edited September 12, 2017 by Geschosskopf
typos

[Angelo Kerman]

Oh my, this is too funny.  Will be looking at MM patches.

 And such this weekend.

[Whirligig Girl]

12 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

NOTE:  Kerbin often seems tide-locked to Jool, the latter always hanging low in the western sky.  But sometimes Jool isn't in the sky so I really don't know.  In any case, the day/night cycle of AK Kerbin is VERY long, and there are frequent and long-lasting total eclipses caused by Jool.  Thus, KSC is in the dark more than the light.  Also, because of the slow spin, you need more dV to reach orbit than stock.

Jool (and all of space in fact) is broken in the space center, there shouldn't be any other times when it's not in the sky unless you're on the far side--Kerbin is tidally locked.

[Geschosskopf]

3 hours ago, Angel-125 said:

Oh my, this is too funny.  Will be looking at MM patches.

 And such this weekend.

Glad you're enjoying it and look forward to some fixes.  While I, too, am finding this amusing, I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever make it to space :).

Here's a BARIS question for you.  That Turbopusher plane cannot be improved by integration.  Its before-and-after integration reliability is shown as 0/0, and putting it through integration takes zero time.  If I launch it without integrating, I get the warning message.  If I launch after the futile, zero-time integration, I don't get the warning.  Either way, it seems to fall apart just as often.  Why is this?  The Mk2 engine for sure is from @SuicidalInsanity's Mk 2 Expansion, maybe the other Mk2 parts are as well, or maybe stock, I really don't know.  But all the rest is stock.

And now a BARIS/Buffalo question.  What's up with the Mountain Goat wheels here?  Everything else on the rover was still working just fine, the big battery in the chassis was full or nearly so, and even the wheel brakes still worked.  But left, right, forwards, and backwards were totally dead after a few minutes of operation.  The wheels' right-click menu showed no problems and there were no malfunction events shown by F3.  Also, these rovers started with the front wheels steering-only and the back wheels drive-only, a form of redundancy so I could switch them around if need be.  So I tried that, and the wheels were still dead to all control inputs except brakes.

1 hour ago, GregroxMun said:

Jool (and all of space in fact) is broken in the space center, there shouldn't be any other times when it's not in the sky unless you're on the far side--Kerbin is tidally locked.

Thanks for the info (and for spoiling me figuring out the tide-locked status of Kerbin for myself from space  ).  I think you're right, I was probably way zoomed out in the space center, instead of flying something, when I didn't see Jool in the western sky.

But that aside, I really like this star system.  It has all sorts of potential and is beautifully done.  I'm really looking forward to when you've got the EVE stuff done to your satisfaction.

[Whirligig Girl]

1 hour ago, Geschosskopf said:

I'm really looking forward to when you've got the EVE stuff done to your satisfaction.

I'm more or less happy with the EVE pack. However, I am struggling massively with getting a good set of scatterer configs, particularly for Tylo, Eve, and Jool. (Kerbin, Duna, and Laythe are alright, aside from the fact that they're not dulled down for the yellower sun.) Click here to download the cloud pack.

There is a new version of AKR, 2.1.1.. It won't break save files. (I may be updating too fast, I keep thinking of new little things to add. Barring the discovery of anything game breaking, which there really legitimately shouldn't be, I won't be updating for a while longer.)

Edited September 9, 2017 by GregroxMun

[Geschosskopf]

3 hours ago, GregroxMun said:

I'm more or less happy with the EVE pack. However, I am struggling massively with getting a good set of scatterer configs,........

There is a new version of AKR, 2.1.1.. It won't break save files. (I may be updating too fast, I keep thinking of new little things to add. Barring the discovery of anything game breaking, which there really legitimately shouldn't be, I won't be updating for a while longer.)

Well, Scatterer is nice and all but it absolutely kills my system so I don't use it.  EVER.  At least as of 1 year ago.  Maybe things have changed.  But I'm not gonna trust it until I clone a heavily modded career save into another universe where Scatterer exists and see for myself.  In the meantime, I'll take EVE.  BTW, does KASE do anytihng in AK?

Thanks for the AK update.  At this point, it doesn't matter to me if it breaks saves or not   And if that becomes an issue later on, well, as the Circus has always said, "supernovae, elles sont chiennes, dans tout les sens."  Either this thread will live or die.  If it dies, then it will be reborn. If it lives, then most will wish it had died.  So in the Grreat Scheme Of Things it doesn't matter if you destroy this alternate universe or not.  

Edited September 10, 2017 by Geschosskopf

[Angelo Kerman]

5 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

Glad you're enjoying it and look forward to some fixes.  While I, too, am finding this amusing, I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever make it to space :).

Here's a BARIS question for you.  That Turbopusher plane cannot be improved by integration.  Its before-and-after integration reliability is shown as 0/0, and putting it through integration takes zero time.  If I launch it without integrating, I get the warning message.  If I launch after the futile, zero-time integration, I don't get the warning.  Either way, it seems to fall apart just as often.  Why is this?  The Mk2 engine for sure is from @SuicidalInsanity's Mk 2 Expansion, maybe the other Mk2 parts are as well, or maybe stock, I really don't know.  But all the rest is stock.

And now a BARIS/Buffalo question.  What's up with the Mountain Goat wheels here?  Everything else on the rover was still working just fine, the big battery in the chassis was full or nearly so, and even the wheel brakes still worked.  But left, right, forwards, and backwards were totally dead after a few minutes of operation.  The wheels' right-click menu showed no problems and there were no malfunction events shown by F3.  Also, these rovers started with the front wheels steering-only and the back wheels drive-only, a form of redundancy so I could switch them around if need be.  So I tried that, and the wheels were still dead to all control inputs except brakes.

Thanks for the info (and for spoiling me figuring out the tide-locked status of Kerbin for myself from space  ).  I think you're right, I was probably way zoomed out in the space center, instead of flying something, when I didn't see Jool in the western sky.

But that aside, I really like this star system.  It has all sorts of potential and is beautifully done.  I'm really looking forward to when you've got the EVE stuff done to your satisfaction.

Not sure why that is. The MM patches look for ModuleEngines and ModuleEnginesFX, and then add ModuleBreakableEngine. So it should work. You can always write a MM patch for the turboprop if desired.

As for the wheels, I haven't seen that issue before. They're working just fine for me.

[B-STRK]

Welcome back Gesch! Great to see the Circus roll back into town.

Well, probably not the losing Jeb part--geez, can't we have Mort test the prototypes himself first? Which brings up an idea--Angel, if you're reading this, can EVA parachutes somehow be integrated into BARIS, even as a randomized event, to provide that one last clear chance at surviving RUDs?

 

[cratercracker]

Here is a flag for your future missions buddy!

@Geschosskopf

--------------------------

"Keep making decisions"

--------------------------

Welcome back!

[Geschosskopf]

8 hours ago, B-STRK said:

Welcome back Gesch! Great to see the Circus roll back into town.

Well, probably not the losing Jeb part--geez, can't we have Mort test the prototypes himself first? Which brings up an idea--Angel, if you're reading this, can EVA parachutes somehow be integrated into BARIS, even as a randomized event, to provide that one last clear chance at surviving RUDs?

Thanks!

Don't forget, Val's dead, too . Probably won't be the last.

I thought about installing EVA chutes but I can only see that being of use if an intact cockpit falls off a plane.  Like if a fuselage tank behind it explodes.   If the pod itself explodes like happened to Jeb and Val, that should be fatal IMHO.  

But @Angel-125 said he was probably going to tweak the MM patches to protect pods.  They're not on the list of things that can fail but are doing so because they have fuel and EC in them so are being treated as tanks and batteries.  Apparently exploding pods was not intended.  Bur it us funny IMHO.

 

4 hours ago, cratercracker said:

Here is a flag for your future missions buddy!

.........

Welcome back!

Thank you very much!  I really appreciate this gift.  I'll use it as a mission flag on my 1st orbit attempt in hopes it brings me luck 

[Angelo Kerman]

2 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

Thanks!

Don't forget, Val's dead, too . Probably won't be the last.

I thought about installing EVA chutes but I can only see that being of use if an intact cockpit falls off a plane.  Like if a fuselage tank behind it explodes.   If the pod itself explodes like happened to Jeb and Val, that should be fatal IMHO.  

But @Angel-125 said he was probably going to tweak the MM patches to protect pods.  They're not on the list of things that can fail but are doing so because they have fuel and EC in them so are being treated as tanks and batteries.  Apparently exploding pods was not intended.  Bur it us funny IMHO.

 

Thank you very much!  I really appreciate this gift.  I'll use it as a mission flag on my 1st orbit attempt in hopes it brings me luck 

Latest pre-release has that fix.

[obney kerman]

 looks at mission reports

sees traveling circus

"Oh, cool"

 freezes

looks again

screams

[Geschosskopf]

1 hour ago, obney kerman said:

  freezes

looks again

screams

Yeah, I know, I suck at this.  Sorry.  I''m not a writier 

Edited September 11, 2017 by Geschosskopf

[Geschosskopf]

EPISODE 3: Tennessee Bird Walk

Spoiler

 

So, Mission Control returned to the business of getting out of the atmosphere and created GoUp 5, which was basically GoUp 3 with some more SRBs strapped on the sides to make up for Kerbin's lack of axial rotation due to being tide-locked to Jool.  

This turned out to be the AKTC's 2nd successful mission.  Nothing to speak of malfunctioned and the probe not only escaped the atmosphere but actually got an Ap out beyond Kerbin's tiny moon Bop.

As you can see, this also almost got into orbit except its Pe was at 38km, which was fortunate because it had no means of de-orbiting.

The GoUp 5 payload came down about 90^ longitude W of KSC in an area that has Jool at the zenith year-round.  This whole part of Kerbin is a desert.  Coincidence?

While these momentous events were unfolding, the trusty laser ablation / magnetometer probe rover was busily milking easy contracts in the vicinity of KSC.  This rover will always be remembered as one of the most profitable investments the Circus has ever made, so far having raked in close to $1M, which has paid for numerous upgrades to KSC.  And thus the VAB was fully upgraded in hopes of getting better quality in rocket construction.  And just to make sure everything was going swimmingly, the Boffins tested all the components of their GoOrbit design on the test stand. 

As with the final GoUp probe, and in sharp contrast to previous test runs, nothing went wrong, so Mission Control decided things were as ready as they could ever be and ordered GoOrbit Mk 1 into integration.  @cratercracker,, one of the junior Boffins, had a vision in which the Spirits instructed him to draw a particular design on the side of the capsule which, the Spirits assured him, would bring good fortune.  After casting various auguries, the senior Boffins couldn't find any reason why not, and so this design was adopted as the mission flag of the GoOrbit series of rockets.

Eventually, GoOrbit 1 was dragged out to the launchpad and Handin welded into the Mk 1 Capsule OF DEATH.  This particular part hadn't flown since it had killed Jeb but had been through a number of test stand trials since then.  Plus, the Angels had appeared to Mission Control and proclaimed it was now safe.  And thus GoOrbit 1 blasted off.  Things did not go well.  It suffered a number of critical SRB failures right off the pad and its sustainer LFO engine didn't work at all when it was its turn to go.  When this became apparent, Handin quickly spammed the STAGE button until his capsule broke free from the tumbling wreckage and the parachutes deployed.  He came down only a few klicks out into Scrap Metal Bay.  But he survived the Circus' 2nd crewed launch, which was more than Jeb could say.

While GoOrbit 2 was being integrated, Mission Control suffered a dangerous ice cream shortage due to global recession, hurricanes, and general pig-headedness.  This dire situation required instant attention so the Scientists were charged with researching how to develop ice cream production at KSC, and the Boffins had to develop a vehicle to carry the necessary equipment.  This resulted in the I Scream You Scream rover, basically a M.O.L.E. on wheels.  Bob and Samner were assigned the vital task of conducting this emergency research project.

Before I Scream You Scream could finish its important task, however, the GoOrbit 2 was ready to fly.  The only pressee yet to do anything was Bill so up he went.  Things went well to start with.  I mean, there was never any plan to shut off the Kiwi sustainer engine anyway so when a malfunction prevented shut-off, nobody cared.  However, the rocket leveled off way too low, probably due to some tailfeathers being knocked off by spent SRBs (why are Sepratrons so far up the tech tree?!?!?!?).  But whatever the reason, the GoOrbit 2 ended up going WAY too fast WAY too low.  Things deteriorated further from that point and the rocket both broke up and exploded in places.  However, the Mk 1 Capsule OF DEATH broke free and Bill came down safely, despite a parachute failing shortly before splashdown.  He almost made it to the land on the far side of Scrap Metal Bay, but not quite.  Still, this turned out to be the distance record so far for the GoOrbit series.

Eventually, about the time the top-priority ice cream research was finished, GoOrbit 3 was ready to go.  Now it was Jack's turn.  He didn't get far before the upper stage engine exploded and the whole rocket went to pieces.  But again, luck held and he survived, although his was the shortest flight so far in the GoOrbit series.  So maybe Cratercracker's vision had not been for the success of the launch, but on the improbable survival of the GoOrbit astronauts.  Mission Control would have preferred it the other way around 

Meanwhile, the results of the ice scream experiment had raised more questions requiring additional research.  Several contracts appeared from corporations eager to cash in on the Circus' efforts to produce ice cream.  This was the result the Emperor had always hoped for:  the space program fostering economic growth for the general population.  There was much celebration.

Will the Circus figure out how to make ice cream?  Will a Kerbal ever get to orbit?  Who will be the next to die?  Tune in next to find out, maybe :).

 

 

Edited September 13, 2017 by Geschosskopf