The Moderation Nation Space Program

[TheKosmonaut]

Greetings, fellow Kerbals!

Over the last week or so, us moderators had started talking about doing some mandatory bonding exercises co-op gameplay together. We used to play MC together or TF2 from time to time, the biggest problem is that we were often awake and asleep at varying times, and rarely were we ever all awake at the same time. I remember a ways back, the Youtube KSP community started a series together where they passed a save file around and built a space station in orbit of Kerbin. I thought to myself, surely we can do better, and thus the Moderation Nation Space Program was born. 

Over time, the OP will be updated with missions as we go through them. The game itself is relatively vanilla, I use VOID and a transfer window planner while a few other participants use similar (non-parts) mods. 

 

Our Mission

In order to ensure the Moderator's dominion over the realm, we have set out to build a grand space station in Low Kerbin Orbit, but will also pursue many ventures in the star system, from small robotic probes on Mun and MInmus, to massive colonies on Duna. Really, it's up to us to decide. 

Over time, if we see suggestions in this thread that we like, we may also pursue that. Please do let us know if you want us to set any other goals, we are leaving this rather open-ended.

 

MISSIONS

Mission 1 "MSP-01" by @TheKosmonaut
Mission 2 "Magic Carpet" and the invention of FLIGHT by @Deddly
Mission 3 "Ulysses I" by @DuoDex
Mission 4 "Manatee" sounding rocket by @Supernovy
Mission 5 "MSP-04-Echo" ORBIT GET by @TheKosmonaut
Mission 6 "Usagi I" for wads of cash and buckets of science, by @Snark
Mission 7 "The Omnibus" with tourists! By @Vanamonde
Mission 8 "Usagi II" for a high orbit, by @DuoDex. Also, whoops.
Mission 9 "Landfall 1" by @Vanamonde
Mission 10 "Type-41-1" robots in space, by @TheKosmonaut
Mission 11 "Usagi III" Expensive but sciency, by @Snark
Mission 12 "Flag and official logo" plus the most useful expenditure of science, by @Deddly
Mission 13 "Ulysses IA" space tourism, by @DuoDex
Mission 14 “Roundabout 1” Accidental update, by @TheKosmonaut
Mission 15 "Prospector 1" Money wasted on Skull Island, by @monstah
Mission 16 "Capricorn I" Space station! (on the wrong planet, but it's a start) by @Snark
Mission 17 "Goliath I" Munar surface rescue by @DuoDex
Mission 18 - Robots on the purple planet by @Vanamonde
Mission 19 - "Changxi" station in Mun orbit by @TheKosmonaut
Mission 20 - Munar station refueling, and Mun relay, by @luizopiloto
Mission 21 and 21.5 "Vert-i-go" by @Deddly
Mission 22 "Capricorn II" - Kerbin station in place! ... and then moved to Duna @Snark
Mission 23 "Grasshopper Mk I"  - Accidental prototype and the pitfalls of translation, by @TheKosmonaut
Mission 24 The Space Skuttle - an unexpected payload, with free drama and tension. By @Deddly
Mission 25 "Hector I" We (L)Ike rabbits, and the shooting star from Duna. By @DuoDex
Mission 26 Space Skuttle Contender launches the first part of the Moderation Nation Observation Station! By @Deddly
Mission 27 Capricorn continuation, with extra Ike, by @Snark
Mission 28 The fully-tested big mission is a lie, by @Vanamonde
Mission 29 Someone FINALLY adds something to the station. But wait, there's more (and more)! By @TheKosmonaut
Mission 30a/b/c/d... Project Habitat and flying a blind ox, by @Vanamonde
Mission 31 SNAC Kart, by @Ten Key
Mission 32 SSTO, tourists, rescues and comic strips, by @Deddly
Mission 33 Noobest mission yet, with credits! By @Noobton
Mission 34.1 Something a little epic, by @Deddly
Mission 34.2 The epicness continues, by @Deddly
MIssion 34.2 (??) Going Slightly Peculiar, by @Deddly
Mission 34.4 Ow!, by @Deddly
Mission 34.5 [Oh my!] by @Deddly
Mission 34.6 This "Submarine Challenge" has a worrying lack of submarines, by @Deddly
Mission 34.7 New toys bring new possibilities, and typos! By @Deddly
Mission 34.8 Yes, it's still going! By @Deddly
Mission 34.9 Still hogging the save. By @Deddly
Mission 34.10 Efficiency Squared. By @Deddly
Mission 34.11 Pole to Pole. By @Deddly
Mission 34.12 Technically. By @Deddly
Mission 35 Wastefully large and ungainly. By @Vanamonde
Mission 36.1 Undoing gross negligence. By @James Kerman
Mission 36.2 Low Kerbin Operations. By @James Kerman
Mission 36.3 Three disasters avoided. By @James Kerman
Mission 36.4 100% chance of landing. By @James Kerman
Mission 36.5 Lagerdorf's entangled pair. By @James Kerman
Mission 37 We invented everything. By @Vanamonde
Mission 38 Asymmetrical antennas. By @peteletroll

Mission 39 Housekeeping mission.  By @18Watt

 

Team
I want to thank my fellow moderators for humoring me in taking up this shared campaign, and a special thanks to @DuoDex for making our mission patches and @Deddly for securing our flaggy flag and emblem from the wonderful @Badie and friends at SQUAD. We are doing this in our fun, off-time that we do have and are really enjoying the results thus far. 

Members
@Noobton@18Watt
@peteletroll
@TheKosmonaut
@Deddly
@DuoDex
@Vanamonde
@Dman979
@Snark
@Supernovy
@goldenpeach
@Ten Key
@James Kerman
@luizopiloto
@monstah

[TheKosmonaut]

Transcript of Report Text: 
On the dawn of the first day of the MS Program, TheKosmonaut designed a simple solid-fueled booster piloted by Jebediah Kerman. The Flight lasted approximately 5 minutes.
Altitude Achieved: 9,515 Meters

Science points: 20.9 Earned, Total: 30

Flight time: Approximately 5m20s including pad time.

______

Above Image also contains other silly information. It's a basic flight but we have to start somewhere.

[Deddly]

NEWSFLASH!
Breakthrough technology makes horizontal movement through air possible

Today at Deddly Design, Jebediah Kerman was invited to test a new theory that flat surfaces can delay vertical descent sufficiently enough that horizontal movement through the air is possible. When asked whether he was nervous about testing this dangerous craft (dubbed Magic Carpet), Jebediah is reported to have said "Forget Living, I'm Going to Hell for This", thereby coining a new term: "FLIGHT". We will have to see if it catches on.
 

 

The test was a resounding success, and Deddly Design were able to contribute 14.5 science to the joint space effort.

Other interesting facts:
Build cost: 6650
Return: 6443
Mission cost: 207
Awards: Land distance records 1,000m, 3,000m, 10km
Jebediah reportedly complained that he couldn't see very well from the small window.
 

 

 

[DuoDex]

Mission complete! Profit of around 100k funds, and Science is at around 90.

Head here for the imgur album.

 

[Supernovy]

Alright, mission flown. No contracts, just getting some science.

https://imgur.com/a/JBnee

[DuoDex]

Have a mission patch, Novy.

[TheKosmonaut]

ORBIT GET!

Spoiler

The Echo-1 was designed to be a platform for future Kerbin Orbital missions, while the first flight had no dedicated science packages, it will be able to be adapted to bring up Material Science Bays with the extra 430 m/s delta V in reserve.

The MSP Flight Crew, making final assembly of the Echo-1, Ca. Y00-M00-D02

Dr. Wernher von Kerman inspects Echo-1 after assembly in the VAB

Safe return of Echo-1!

 

[Snark]

Mission complete.  Imgur album here:  https://imgur.com/a/WYXXE

Flight of the Usagi I:

Building upon the orbital shenanigans of @TheKosmonaut, the folks at Mission Control decided it was time to give Val her shot at the spotlight:  a Mun orbital mission.

Turned out to have considerably more dV than required (though not enough for a landing-and-return)... but then, I'm a big fan of safety margins.

Came back with wads of cash, 627 science, and experience points for Val. Full blow-by-blow in the imgur album linked above.

Net result of the mission:

• Started with 400K funds, ended with 700K funds.
• Started with 120 science, ended with 478 science.
• Upgraded launchpad, VAB, and astronaut complex to level 2.
• Researched Advanced Rocketry, General Construction, Flight Control, Fuel Systems, and Electrics.
• Completed an "Explore Mun" contract.

All done, passing the torch to the next explorer. 

[DuoDex]

Echo-1 Mission patch.

[DuoDex]

Usagi-1 mission patch.

[Vanamonde]

Mission director: "Jebediah Kerman, your mission, should you decide to accept it, and we know you will because you've never turned down anything we've asked you to do and done many things we've told you not to do as well, will be to take this specially and badly designed ship, The Omnibus, 

haul two tourists on a suborbital hop, 

and haul two more tourists on an orbital hop

And rescue Tesen Kerman from orbit. 

And then rescue Dafel Kerman from orbit, also. 

Then return them all safely to Kerbin. 

Oh, and collect some science while you're there. 

Anything will do, even if we already have it. Do you accept?

Jeb? 

Jeb? Do you accept?" 

Jeb: "Yeah, it's done." 

 Mission director: "Oh, okay then. Did you have any trouble?" 

Jeb: "Well, the first rescue went fine, but I was running pretty low on fuel by the second, so I had to stop quite some distance away and hope Dafel could cross the gap and find the rescue ship in the dark. There were some  tense moments there. 

But it worked out. Also, there was the problem that the only way to attach the crew cabins prevented them from being fitted with heatshields, so I set the ship on a rotisserie roll during re-entry. 

 

And by 'rotisserie roll,' I mean, 'violent random tumble which threatened to kill the crew and rip the ship apart.' But it turned out okay as well." 

Mission director: "And so you accomplished all five mission objectives for this launch?" 

Jeb: "Yes, and netted ??? after the cost of the ship, plus the value of the recovered parts, and minus the price of expanding the Mission Control building." 

Mission director: "Cool." 

[DuoDex]

Omnibus V mission patch.

[DuoDex]

Had a contract to launch to a high Kerbin orbit.

Album.

Patch.

[Deddly]

And @Vanamonde wins the best craft name competition.

[Vanamonde]

DuoDex was bugging me to run a mission so he could make a patch for it. Anyway... 

Bill and Bob were feeling left out. "Why should those glory hound pilots get all the, well, glory?" So since they could not fly themselves to space, not being pilots, they made a robotic probe. A contract was offered to gather science from Mun, but they weren't sure their ship could do that, so they sent it to Minmus instead, without a contract. 

And so probe Landfall 1 was launched. 

 

(Note the remaining fuel.) 

After gathering science from a mat bay, goo pod, barometer, and thermometer from the surface and goo pod, thermo and baro from near-Minmus space,  the return stage detached with all the science. 

 

And flew back to Kerbin. 

 

Where the mission garnered 482.5 science. 

 

Some clear shots of the ship in case Duo needs them for the patch. 

The lower end of the probe remains on Minmus as a marker to show which biomes have already been visited. I normally leave a thermometer on the lower stage as well for later "science from the surface of" contracts, but forgot this time.  

The end. 

 

[Snark]

42 minutes ago, Vanamonde said:

the return stage detached with all the science

Okay, I gotta say that that return stage is adorable. 

[DuoDex]

Mission patch.

 

[TheKosmonaut]

Mun Landing Get!

Album here. 

Unfortunately, due to lack of proper design skills, I wasnt able to do a sample return mission as I had hoped. But I did fulfill the "Explore the Mun" contract for a cool 90k funds. While I did not net science, I got us more of dat dank cash. 
I plan on sending another mission to Mun next time with the above goal in mind. Nobody steal my plans >:( 

I netted us about 230k funds though. So I wasn't completely useless. 

@DuoDexSee if you can fit the ridiculous name I chose for this mission on a patch  

[Snark]

Reporting a successful flight of the Usagi III, a crewed land-and-return mission to Minmus.

Imgur album:  https://imgur.com/a/t6khY

Executive summary:  Expensive but sciencey.

• Funds:
  • Started with 1333K funds
  • Finished with 691K funds
• Science:
  • Started with 641 science
  • Finished with 1027 science
• Upgraded:
  • R&D (to level 2)
  • Launchpad (to level 3)
• Researched:
  • Heavy Rocketry
  • Heavier Rocketry
  • Advanced Electrics
  • Precision Engineering
  • Electronics
  • Advanced Fuel Systems
  • Specialized Construction
• Miscellaneous accomplishments:
  • Bob now level 1.
  • First crewed landing on Minmus.
  • Hit just 2 biomes, so plenty of turf left for future explorers!  (Left a flag to mark each biome I hit.)
  • Left uncrewed Minmus Depot I in equatorial orbit of Minmus (launched together with Usagi III as part of same craft).  Has thermometer, small docking ports, about a dozen tons of LFO, relay antennas, RCS capability.
  • Uncompleted contract:  "Dock two vessels in orbit of Minmus".  So whoever can go to Minmus and dock with Minmus Depot I gets a wad of cash. 

The leftover "dock two vessels in orbit around Minmus" contract was a "gosh darn it" moment on my part.  It turns out that the game won't let you complete that contract unless the two vessels came from different launches.    I understand that they want to avoid the exploit of "launch as one ship, separate, immediately re-dock to reap cash."  But hell, if I took one of the ships, and then landed it while the other one stays in orbit, biome-hop, and then go back to orbit, that really oughta count, IMO.  Anyway, I'm out of KSP-playing time, and besides, that was my one mission.  So I'll view that as "I just left an opportunity for someone to reap cash and have the fun of docking with a mini-station" benefit. 

Best of luck to whomever comes next!

[TheKosmonaut]

4 hours ago, Snark said:

The leftover "dock two vessels in orbit around Minmus" contract was a "gosh darn it" moment on my part.  It turns out that the game won't let you complete that contract unless the two vessels came from different launches.    I understand that they want to avoid the exploit of "launch as one ship, separate, immediately re-dock to reap cash."  But hell, if I took one of the ships, and then landed it while the other one stays in orbit, biome-hop, and then go back to orbit, that really oughta count, IMO.  Anyway, I'm out of KSP-playing time, and besides, that was my one mission.  So I'll view that as "I just left an opportunity for someone to reap cash and have the fun of docking with a mini-station" benefit..

This is the part where I’d just cheat adjust my own game to accept what I did as completion of contract. Though, I suppose I understand what they’re trying to make you do. 

[Vanamonde]

Uh, why were Kerbals surprised that a robot survived space in Kosmo's mission, in light of the fact that my robot FLEW TO MINMUS AND BACK ON AN EARLIER MISSION?  

[TheKosmonaut]

3 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

Uh, why were Kerbals surprised that a robot survived space in Kosmo's mission, in light of the fact that my robot FLEW TO MINMUS AND BACK ON AN EARLIER MISSION?  

[Deddly]

 

Mission report:

The crack legal team at Deddly Design have secured funding for the production of a custom logo and flag. Since both the foreground and background images are recycled from elsewhere, the labour required was minimal, and the science points needed for the design of a special-purpose VTOL in order to deliver the flag to the runway for the photo opportunity came from generous space agencies who have recently flown missions of their own. Deddly Design is confident that these other agencies will be pleased with the much-improved availability of air-breathing engines, wings and wheels.

This was indeed a tough assignment, but Deddly Design is eager to demonstrate its willingness to use its and others' significant research resources for the good of kerbalkind.

[Just Jim]

Oh, this is gonna be fun!!!   

[DuoDex]

Mission report.