Kerbiting System: Revelation and closing of Thread

[Alpha 360]

20th Installment: Home at Last

We drifted in Low Minmus Orbit. Our fuel reserves were down to 180 m/s. Definitely not enough. Irfred spent her time researching in the science lab, and occasionally Assey went down there to help. I waited in my bunk, waiting until KASA could send an automated supply craft to rescue us. Waiting. We waited for 8 days in low orbit. 

Finally I called a meeting with the others. We all floated in the stern habitat, waiting for the other person to speak. Everyone wore glum faces, for they knew that we could not get back without help. I spoke up, "I think we can go to the old Minmus Orbital Outpost. We can surely dock there and have more supplies. But it will cost us our remaining Delta-V."

"Since we don't have enough to go back, we don't care how you spend our Delta-V." Assey announced. 

"Alright, then could we have a maneuver in 20 minutes?"

"Its possible." Irfred seconded Assey's announcement.

We went to work. After twenty minutes, we burned the engine and got our orbit to intercept the station. We coasted up to it. It didn't take much to equal our velocities. Then we discovered a problem.

"The station has only passive docking ports. We only have one active one, on board the reentry capsule."

"Alright, everyone on board the ferry then."

"Assey. The reentry capsule only has room for 3." I stated. Then I slapped myself in the head.

"You mean, one of us has to stay behind. And wait for rescue."

"Yes. That's what I mean."

"You and Billy have to go, so it will be between me and Irfred."

"And you are the first person to step on Minmus. If you don't come down, the public will throw a fit."

"Irfred might go insane if she is left alone on a space-station around Minmus. It already has happened once, we can't risk it."

"We need to call another meeting."

Assey went ahead to collect everyone. Bill appeared by my side. 

"Bill! Why do all the hard decisions fall to me? I have to chose between life and death, well-being and insanity. Why me." I was near breaking down again. 

"Roni. You're the best at making these decisions. You are a great leader, and you can make it through this. I am sorry that all these decisions have to fall to you, but you must bear up. You are the commander."

We all met in the stern again. 

"We face a problem here."

"Obviously, or else we won't be here." Irfred huffed. That was not good.

"The reentry capsule with the active docking port has only enough monopropellant for one trip to the station. And it can only hold 3 kerbals."

Irfred and Billy looked disbelievingly at the two of us.

"We all have to go. All of us." Billy stated.

"There's nothing we can do. Nothing."

I took a deep breath, "Irfred. It is either me or you. Which one of us will make it back?" 

Irfred closed her eyes, clearly trying to compose herself. She took a deep breath, then said the bravest words she ever uttered, "I'll stay. I'll stay here and work on the core samples. It needs to be done. I might as well do it alone."

"Once we get back, we'll try to get you back as soon as possible."

"I know that. Just next time lets make sure the engineers put plenty of Delta-V in their next rocket." We all agreed. Then we had to say painful good-byes to Irfred. Sure she was cranky, but she was one of us. A fellow kerbonaut.

Me, Assey, and Billy piled into the return-capsule and undocked from our station. Irfred waved us off from a window, then moved away. 

I burned the RSC, and started to move towards the MOO. 

We approached carefully. Slowly inching forward at point 5 meters per second. Finally, I stepped on the gas and speed up the rocket to 1.5 m/s.

"To the left, to the left." Billy called from the left window. 

"To the left, to the left." Assey called from the right window. 

I maneuvered closer and closer to the station. Then I miexcrements a control, spinning up the return capsule. 

"Oops." 

I looked at the monopropellant gauge. It read 3/4 left. Good.

"To the blooming left!" cried Assey. I tried to stop spinning, but I couldn't stop. I hit the station with an painful crunch. We bounced off towards Minmus. 

"Alright, I'm getting it under control!" I cried. I stopped the spinning, then burned slowly towards the station again. The gauge read 1/4 left. Okay, not good.

We approached a second time, but missed because of a slide to the right. Luckily it didn't cost much monopropellant, but the gauge was done to 1/6 left. Definitely not good.

"Do I have it lined up now?" I asked, trying to stay calm.

"I think you do." said Billy and Assey. 

"Well, third time's a charm." I pushed our capsule forward, slowly. 

"Everything looks lined up."

It better had been. I had 5 units of mono left.

"A little higher." 

Now there was 3 units left.

"A touch to the left."

2 units left. Only 1 more burst of monopropellant left.

"All clear." 

We were 5 meters away from docking. We were going to make it. I used our final burst of mono to propel us into the waiting docking port.  It worked. 

*clunk*

"We did it!" we all cried. We opened the docking port and entered the MOO. It was cramped. And old. About 2 months old. In other words, ancient. 

"Now, do we wait?" 

Wait we did. For a day we lounged around in the station, until I made a discovery. 

"The engine is still strapped on here."

"WHAT?!" cried Assey, "Does it work?"

"I hope it does. Because we just found our ticket home."

There was 880 m/s left in the tank. Excellent. The station that already saved me last time was going to save our lives again.

"What we are going to do, is to put us on a high sub-orbital trajectory, then once we are in Kerbin's SOI, we will undock. I will stay aboard the MOO and put it into a orbital trajectory using the main engine, then I will EVA back to the Reentry Capsule."

Billy clapped his hands once, "Lets get to work then." 

In a days time, we had serviced the engine and fuel lines as well plotted our maneuver node. 

Bill ghost appeared by my bunk-side by the end of the day. 

"I see that you have found a way home." 

"Yes, yes this station must have saved our lives twice now. I would hate for it to burn up in the atmosphere. Hopefully one day it will be useful to somebody. There should be 500 m/s still in it by the time we're finished with it."

"I'm proud of you Roni. You should know that, I am proud of you for all you have done up here in space. You have defied the odds and survived using your ingenuity. Thank you for saving KASA from bankruptcy."

I smiled, partly embarrassed, "I don't think I have ever been complemented by a ghost before."

"The ghosts of the past do tend to haunt you, not thank you." He had become deadly serious now. He then abruptly changed his mood again by asking, "Do you think that the MOO could be used as the base of a interplanetary spaceship?"

"Maybe. It deserves that honor, but it is just so old. It wouldn't survive that journey."

Bill started to disappear, "I'm keeping you from your sleep. Have a peaceful rest." And he completely disappeared. 

The next day, I was at the controls. Everyone watched as I flipped the throttle on the Vesta engine, and as it ignited. 

It propelled us forward. Back to good old Kerbin. Back home.

Minmus turned around beneath us. Turning away as well left its SOI.

The reentry capsule undocked, then drifted away, out of the way of the MOO. 

I slowly flipped the spacecraft around, then I hit the throttle once more, pushing it into a higher orbit. I patted the console sadly, as I donned my spacesuit. I depressurized the command module, then opened the hatch.

If only the camera crew caught the sight! Kerbin there at my feet, and Minmus behind me and the stars all around. I was engulfed in the blackness of the surrounding night. So far from any large planetary body. I felt isolated from everything else.

I saw the Reentry Pod descending further and further behind me. I powered up my jetpack and burnt over to it, all the time in wonder of the majesty of the darkness.

I entered the command module, where Billy and Assey were waiting for me. 

"Is the MOO in a safe orbit?" 

"Yes. It will stay in this orbit for eons to come. But we are on course to intercept Kerbin! If only we could drink to our success." We ended up drinking water to our success for the reentry.

We descended down to Kerbin. Our perigee was at 45 kilometers to be safe from most of the harsh rigors of reentry.

We originally went with our heat shield facing the atmosphere. But then aerodynamic forces forced the command module to flip.

That was very scary indeed. While our reentry was slow, and not very graceful, we survived and pulled the chutes once at a respectable altitude.

 We landed with the KSC mountains in sight over the horizon. 

Minmus hung over the landscape. Reminding me of a fellow kerbonaut that was stranded in orbit of that icy body. 

"We'll get you, Irfred. We're coming back."

"You will get her back. You got us back, so you can get her back as well." 

"Well, Assey. We don't know anything for certain, but we will try our hardest to get her back."

[Geschosskopf]

22 hours ago, Alpha 360 said:

"Don't worry. You'll bring him home somehow. Somehow you will bring him home."

My suggestion would be to GOAP (Get Out and Push) with the jetpacks

 

 

[Alpha 360]

The lucky thing is that that Minmus Station which I put up in the 8th or 9th installment. That thing has saved my bacon multiple times. I can't wait to use it as a core for my interplanetary spacecraft. It would be so great! Or, even better, upgrade it and send it as a depot for the main space craft to use when it arrives. I got to give a formal name for it. It will probably be Aphrodite or something of that sort. 

 

[Alpha 360]

21th Installment: The Dres Program

"Kerbals of all nations and countries and states on Kerbin." It was a grand statement, encompassing all of kerbality. It was the start of the grand speech Mortimer Kerman spoke to the globe. It told of recent achievements and the results from the achievements. Then it started to tell of future plans. That is where we pick up...

"Our chief engineers and financial advisors have conversed about our next destination. Somewhere near, yet somewhere with plenty of transfer windows. Somewhere like Jool, only that its next window is in a hundred days, or like Moho but it takes 3,000 m/s Delta-V to get there."

"There will be an interesting Dres Window popping open in 69 days. It is our intent to use this window to our advantage and to send a manned lander and spacecraft there at that window. Given that, the spacecraft might not be assembled in time, we will miss that window. But! During that window we will be sending all the supplies necessary to the operation, as well as communication sats, and scanning sats and miniature bases for the crew to stay at, and orbital supply stations to refuel the spacecraft. All of that is guaranteed to be headed over to that dwarf planet. And, whether in 69 days or for some stretch longer, when our kerbonauts go to Dres, it will be in the finest spacecraft we can furnish, and they will land upon this astronomical body within 3 years!"

The crowd went wild over these audacious and awesome commitments of the space program. They, in their life times, would see a whole new world unfold from the vacuum of space. 

(Here is the interior of the administration building, level 2)

Now back to the narrated section, and therefore the preparation section of this thread. The next few chapters will recover the reusable stages post, the 16th installment if I am correct. and start on the efforts to rescue Irfred Kerman and to moderate the orbit of Aphrodite, the MOO, which is currently in a high orbit above Kerbin. 

The first order of business was to see what Dres looked like and if we could get there. We designed the Valiant Dres probe to reach interplanetary space and to attempt to intercept Dres. 

Here is a reel of the launch of the Valiant. It was taken at night so the pictures might have not developed correctly..

Spoiler

Here was an interesting problem. There were four tanks all feeding into the middle tank, but there was too much weight. So we detached the two side tanks and continued using only two drop tanks. It worked, surprisingly. 

And then we were in orbit! After a quick trajectory plot to put the perigee at the tip of Dres' orbit, the engine fired up and the first interplanetary spacecraft launched away. 

The drop tanks run out of fuel and they are detached. 

And we continue onwards and upwards!

The maneuver is completed and the Valiant coasts towards it final goal. Interplanetary Space!

The Valiant now has gone farther than any spacecraft in History!

Look at that wheel pic. Looks like Kerbin has gained some spokes. From this angle at least. Unfortunately our camera engineers were taking a short coffee break when the Valiant went out of communications range. Sorry, but we just don't have the communications range for interplanetary space. That will be all for this post. 

Tomorrow Roni, Assey, and Billy are all going back to Minmus! And yet again problems assault them from every angle. It will be written in third person, as people have commented on me writing in first person before. BUT. If I receive to posts asking for first person, It shall happen in great detail and be in honor of the said individual(s). Sorry for the short chapter, but RL is coming more and more influencing. The next post will probably be delayed as well. Apologies in advance.

Happy Explosions Until Then! (Or should I say HEUT?)

[Alpha 360]

22nd Installment: Back To Minmus

Today, our engineers have decided to attempt to make the most economical lander possible. Here is what they came up with. Only they forgot to take a photo while on the launch pad. Shoot. 

As you see, there are solid rocket boosters. Big ones. On-board is Roni, Assey, and Billy. But the reentry capsule has only space for two..........Blast those blasted engineers' blasted design!!! WHY?!

(I'm just not a competent KSPer) 

This is the view from one of the cupola, from Billy's point of view. He doesn't realize that he might not be coming back. Yet.

 A semi-cross with the solid rocket boosters. I hope they have given us enough kick to get to orbit. 

The first stage has detached with a bang. Quite literally. Luckily, the first stage is planed to land and be recovered. Of course, my plans rarely become reality. The second stage carries the rocket higher in the atmosphere. There is enough TWR to get most of the way into orbit before I had to switch to the first stage. 

It is traveling at 30 m/s. Not slow enough. Then main chutes are pulled at 500 meters, I was worrying about my main mission. I appears I should have paid more attention to the first stage. 

Yes, it could have been expected. The first stage smashed into the ocean at 15 m/s. I was late to start the engine. And tada! We have lost 30,000 funds!

The second stage ran out at 1800 m/s and that was detached. the lander stage picked up from there to get into orbit. Then I crossed my fingers, set up a maneuver node, and got a fake intercept with Minmus.

So then I preformed the maneuver. That stage contains 2,200 m/s before the burn. It was a 700 meter per second burn. And it was completed. Three hours later my prayers were answered and I got a smooth intercept with the real Minmus. So then I burned around a bit, and went into a sub-orbital trajectory. Here is me just right here a couple of meters above Minmus. 

And, of course, the lander flips over. I'm predictable. Yet another unconventional lander. 

Please ignore that blue sphere behind our kerbal. It is a graphical bug/kraken showing disapproval of EVAs near Minmus. You will see how it affects everything later. 

After returning Roni Kerman to the lander, I used the solar panels to leap around until I can get my nose in the air and rocket into orbit. And then I decide to pick up my kerbal in the Minmus Convertible Lander. What happens is a partial catastrophe/success. I think I will write that out in first person since I have no pictures from that moment because I was either too busy raving or bursting with joy. Yet another short installment, but the next one should be a treat. Hopefully. My writing skill aren't the best so I will give it what I got. 

[Alpha 360]

23rd Installment: An unfortunate series of events around Minmus......

"And we are in orbit!" I cried, gleefully. We made off Minmus a second time. We had plenty of fuel to detach and leave for Kerbin. Then I discovered the first of many things wrong with this hastily designed mission. Billy was here. Assey sat beside me, and the limited space I was in prevented Bill from visiting me this trip. The worst part about it all was that we were going to rescue Irfred. Yet again abandoned on a station around Minmus. At least she had a science lab to work on. 

"Do you think we'll back it back home without any problems this time?" asked Assey eagerly. 

I sighed, the broke the truth over her, "The reentry pod holds 2. We are four, including Irfred." 

It took a second for this evil turn of events to finally dawn on her. Then she clenched her fists in righteous anger.

"WHY! WHY EVERY TIME WE COME HERE, THE ENGINEERS MESS SOMETHING UP THAT WE HAVE TO FIX!?" she screamed into the radio. Aimed at Werhner Von Kerman and his engineering team.

She continued, smashing the peacefulness inside mission control almost with a literal hammer, "YOU INCOMPETANT ENGINEERS! WHY, WHY, WHY ARE YOU THIS STUPID!?"

"Calm down, Assey." I attempted to soothe her. 

"Calm down! We have been given a death sentence by the stupid, useless, decisions on the ground. They forgot to check how many people were going on the mission, blast it all. When we get back, I'll sue them."

"What's the fuss up here?" Billy poked his head up the hatch. 

"The S******* engineers who designed this rocket have built the reentry pod to carry two. There will be four of us." 

"What? This can't be happening."

I solemnly nodded, "Look around you. This is the return stage. The cupolas are not apart of it. They are detached with the rest of the landing stage."

"So, KASA will send us a rescue pod?" asked Billy hesitantly.

"There is one problem with this rocket. There is no docking port."

"Ah, come on." Assey snapped her fingers in further anger. Luckily she seemed to have most of it bottled up somewhere then. I did not want to be in her way when all the corks on her anger-bottles blew. 

"We can all EVA?" Billy looked at the rack of three space suits. 

"Yes. That is one thing to be glad of. If not, we could never have been saved. After all we have only 20 days of supplies without Irfred on board."

"Shall we go fetch her while we wait for the KASA escape pod to arrive?" 

"Yes. Lets." 

A couple orbits later a maneuver node was set up and burnt. We were going to arrive on time. A dozen minutes later Billy gave us the low-down on our burn.

"Alright, the burn was a bit off. But we can easily correct that. Only that we have a very limited budget for the lander stage propulsion." commented Billy. 

"Watch out!" cried Assey. The Minmus Convertible Lander was a couple dozen meters away.

I threw myself at the controls, trying to turn tail and fire up our engine.

We spun the capsule around, and then engaged the engine. Only that the engine didn't fire. I looked out the window at the approaching MCL. We were out of electrical charge. 

"Blast!" I exclaimed, "I need to get out and board the MCL. Then I will use it to completely the rendezvous." I put my suit on as fast as I could, while the others depressurized one of the cupolas for me to use as an airlock. I felt a massive thump and our lander started to go into an uncontrollable pitch

I got there while it was still depressurizing. Making a quick decision, I locked the door behind me and then opened the hatch. I was blown out of that cupola like a bullet out of a gun. 

A piece of debris from somewhere was stuck in my suit. Causing a leak. I readjusted myself to this new angle, and found that we had passed the MCL. I fired up my jetpack and started to fly towards the MCL. Debris was scattered all along the way from the station. It was one of our lander's solar panels. I arrived and quickly found the hatch entry way. I entered the airlock, while it pressurized automatically. I rushed in, my suit still on but my helmet off. 

"Excuse me, Irfred." I quickly babbled our story to her as I floated up the hatch to the command pod. 

"Anyway, we need to catch up to them." I summed up. I took the throttle and joystick into my hands and maneuvered around to fire up the engine. The MCL had a small amount of delta-v left, but it was enough. 

"Didn't this craft have RSC?" I asked. 

"No. And even then its plum dry." 

"Shoot. We're both going to have to bail out and board our vessel and leave this thing on a orbital trajectory. "

"Alright. I'll follow you."

"No, when we get there you have to get out first. You'll know what to do, right?" I looked to her for reassurance. Her blank look gave me none.

Finally we came into view of the our lander. Irfred luckily got most of what I had to say, so she jumped ship. Then the Kraken struck. He struck hard and fast. A great blue sphere covered my entire view, almost blinding me. I wondered what it would be like for Irfred. 

"Slow down, Roni! Slow down!" cried Assey on the other side.

We were moving fast. Almost too fast. And we were on a trajectory which would smash into the other ship. 

"Slowing down!"

It was too late and the MCL turned too slow. I felt the entire spacecraft quiver as it hit the lander over the head. 

"The spacecraft have collided. Thank the kraken there is no visible damage"

"And Irfred, is she aboard?" 

"She's waiting outside the capsule for Billy to get out into one of the cupolas. Then when you come aboard, I will get into the other cupola. And now Billy is in the other cupola and Irfred's aboard. Will get into the other cupola." The radio inside the MCL cut off. I put my helmet on, and went to the airlock in the science lab.

"Leaving now." 

I exited the airlock to be blinded by a ray of bright blue light staring me in the face. An eye of the Kraken. It stared me down as I traveled over to our lander. It was angry. Very angry indeed. I could feel its rage flowing from it, trying to penetrate me and to overwhelm me. 

Little snake like voices filled my head, voices of the distant past. Voices that changed my life for the worse. 

"Stop it!" I cried as I grabbed onto the rung on the ladder outside of the lander. I entered, and the blue eye was gone.

"Whew. Now to get ourselves off of the MCL." I muttered to myself. I was exhausted, the blue eye plum exhausted me. 

Irfred was sleeping in her chair. The eye might have conquered her, but I found that unlikely.

With careful motions of the lander, I managed to un-beach it from the MCL. I fired a quick burst of the engine and we were far away from the MCL. That poodle could pack a lot of punch. 

Irfred woke up from the jerk of the engine, and then looked at our fuel gauges. 

"Roni. The tanks are empty. Dry as a bone now." 

I looked at our navigation, "And we are on an escape trajectory from Minmus." I sighed in disbelief, "This day couldn't have gone better." I spat. 

 

The next installment will be written in third person, about the rescue which takes place in high orbit. I plan to unveil some new technologies as well on the launch. Stay tuned to see how will the crew of four get out of this mess. 

Happy Explosions Until Then!

[Alpha 360]

24th Installment: Why do we Keep Having to Rescue our Kerbals!?

After the incidents around Minmus, Mortimer Kerman has fired the entire board of engineers and has replaced the lot. The new bunch plan to do more Kerbin-centric missions like space stations and satellites as well as a science lab. First things first, we have to rescue our kerbals on the Economical Lander.  

We have created the High Orbit Kerbal Saver, or the HOKS(pronounced HOOKS, for hooking things). This rocket is stuffed to the brim of Delta-V, containing at least 7,500 m/s. It has the most delta-v than any other manned spacecraft ever. 

And Lift-off!

I'm afraid that we won't be able to recover those solid rocket boosters, even if we had put parachutes on them.

And I quickly accelerate into orbit. The booster stage lacked parachutes and I was too slow on the throttle so the booster was lost yet again. 

This maneuver node will get the HOKS up to an intercept with the EL. I just realized I put a little too much delta-V on this rocket. Well, better to ever-engineer than under-engineer. I feel like that will be our new motto, our old one being, "Be as strict with delta-v as possible and we can get more stuff up there." 

That's the swivel firing up. That really does pack a punch. And an alternator. Guess what, I forgot the solar panels on this so I better get everything right the first time. 

Man, I got a lot of things in orbit of Kerbin. A lot of it is junk metal with no fuel circling the planet. The rest is spacecraft in the progress of returning home. 

Now zooming towards our rendezvous, I hope we will arrive in time. 

After burning around a bit with the engine to fine-tune our approach, the outer fuel tanks run dry and we detach them. Like the flair?

Sliding into view of the EL. Can you see it right up next to Kerbin? Probably.

One by one the crew disembark to fly over to the HOKS. Luckily we have exited the Kraken's Domain and remain unscathed. 

Roni is the last to disembark. She turns around to look at her fourth spacecraft as she leaves. Then she turns back around and EVAs over to the HOKS and boards. After setting up a maneuver node, they wait to fire up that swivel engine. Its the first time Roni has felt the kick of a swivel, and she's impressed.

"WHOOWHO!"

Now we descending towards Kerbin. But wait. WE HAVE NO KLARPING PARACHUTES! ****

Luckily I discovered this as we were just entering the atmosphere, so I burned most of the fuel in the swivel stage to get a 60 kilometer perigee. Close. And the engineers strike again, but they missed. Whew. More engineers are going to be fired because of this!

This is the circularization burn. The orbit ends up at 250 kilometers by 100 kilometers at 5.6 degrees from the equator. 

And guess what. We have to build another spacecraft to rescue them! I can't believe it! WHY DO WE HAVE TO KEEP RESCUING OUR KERBALS. Mortimer is going to be soo mad.....

Sorry but will be traveling a lot this weekend. Might not post until Monday. If I do post during the weekend, consider yourselves lucky.

Happy Explosions Until Then!

Edited January 25, 2018 by Alpha 360

[Geschosskopf]

22 hours ago, Alpha 360 said:

And guess what. We have to build another spacecraft to rescue them! I can't believe it! WHY DO WE HAVE TO KEEP RESCUING OUR KERBALS. Mortimer is going to be soo mad.....

This is so much like early experience with KSP.  I came to KSP after many, many years of playing Orbiter and its predecessors, all with full instrumentation so I always knew what I needed to accomplish some task.  I missed this a lot in KSP (and still do) but I gave it a go for a while pure stock, trying to play the game as it apparently was intended to be played.  As such, I ended up stranding countless Kerbals due to insufficient dV, crashing into Mun many times due to insufficient TWR, and such things.  Eventually I tired of this and got the mods that let me know what needed to be done, simply to actually accomplish what I wanted to do without so many problems.

 

22 hours ago, Alpha 360 said:

Happy Explosions Until Then!

Yes!  Explosions in KSP are almost always happy  

[Alpha 360]

25th Installment: All the science!

This below is the quick reel for the rendezvous and return of the Minmus Crew. 

Well. We rescued our kerbals. It was so overly complicated and stupid, but after 100,000 credits for rockets we didn't need, and at least 2 more hours, we got them home. Whew. 

But, we got the science home. Now we have discovered recyclers for the journey to other planets, and MOAR BOOSTERS. Look at that those science points. Remember this is at 60% science rewards.

This is just a quick update. Maybe tomorrow there will be a quick flash of a orbital station entering orbit and the rescuing of a Kerbal there. There will not be an update on Sunday, and on Tuesday I will release a longer Installment at last. I am sorry for the quick clips of KSP, but when I'm traveling, there isn't much time for KSPing. 

Happy Explosions Until Then!

 

[Geschosskopf]

4 hours ago, Alpha 360 said:

Remember this is at 60% science rewards.

That's pretty brutal.  In practical terms, this means that not only do none of the state-funded universities and science labs support you, but they hire all the best brains so you're left with the lower 25% of the graduating classes, who can't get better jobs elsewhere, even when considering rival low-paying government jobs.  IOW, the only people who care about the space program are those involved in it.

Edited January 27, 2018 by Geschosskopf

[Alpha 360]

26th Installment: The Kerbal Manned Orbital Space Observatory and Station (KMOSOS) 

Yes. That's a big name for a big space station. We plan to expand our presence in space with all the kerbals continually in space, taking furlongs from space instead of furlongs to space. 

We have very ambitious plans, including one to build a space station with 4,000 units of liquid fuel. The contract wasn't very specific on what the measurement of unit actually is. We're just going with the flow here, following our gut, doing it by ear, and other metaphors with the same meaning.

Here is the KMOSO on the launch pad. It doesn't look that big, but this is simply the core of the station. We plan to make a lot of additions to this station. 

And as an added bonus, we have made the booster recoverable, which will hopefully work THIS time. Of course, you know the result.

The engines ignite, sending the space station into the lower atmosphere. The space station carries new lifesupport systems which should lead the way to the 100% closed system. Eventually. 

The solid rocket boosters detach at 5,000 meters. You can just barely see them from here. 

The first stage has 62 m/s left. This is where things get a little tricky for the landing. I detach the first stage and then fire up the second stage, burning as fast as possible to Low Orbit. Luckily I stuffed 4,000 m/s onto this rocket, so that means I can waste a bit of fuel. As my apogee rises, I keep an eye on the first stage as it lowly reaches its own apogee. As I watch the first stage start to descend, my second stage runs out of fuel. I quickly detached that tank and fired up the poodle, sending the apogee to 230 kilometers. The orbit would be figured out later. Now, I needed to catch a descending rocket falling at 700 m/s!

I switch over to the first stage. I quickly move as much fuel as possible into the bottom tank, straightening the rocket with the fins downward. I really could modify the fin system but that is for another day. I watch as it descends, slowing down as it hits the lower atmosphere. As I reach 10 kilometers, I am traveling at 400 m/s. Still a bit fast for my liking. When I reach 5 kilometers and traveling at 300 m/s my nerve breaks. I recklessly spend my remaining delta-v to slow down and pull the chutes. Luckily I deployed the chutes at 2 kilometers so my currently abandoned crew on a sub-orbital trajectory shouldn't burn up in the atmosphere. 

After an agonizing minute, we are about to land just on parachutes. The lack of the fuel in the fuel tanks means that it is falling at 6.5 m/s. I cross my fingers worriedly as it slips into the water. 

WE LANDED! This was my first try, I can't believe it! YES! 

*starts dancing around the computer excitedly*

I return to the KSC, after recovering the stage. It then showed up that I recovered 40,000 funds from it. YES!

 *resumes dancing around the computer excitedly*

Finally I return to my crew on sub-orbital trajectory. They have passed Apogee and are now falling to Kerbin at 75 kilometers. I turn the poodle on max and hope that I have enough thrust to weight ratio to get into orbit. 

Poodles are just magical engines. They have loads of thrust-to-weight, the best efficiency of any chemical rocket, and are quite useful indeed. Anyway. The poodle boosted the KMOSO into orbit at a stable 75 kilometer by 74 kilometer orbit. 

I heave a sigh of relief, and start looking for the kerbal in LKO that I had a contract to save. After a few more maneuvers with the poodle, the encounter is set at 2 kilometers. It looks good. Also, now since the Minmus Crew has returned, I have three useless shuttles in Orbit. I started to look at their delta-v margins. All of them still have at least 1,000 m/s left. I then start plotting maneuver nodes for these shuttles to dock to the station. Or to enter onto a similar orbit as the space station. I got to use everything I sent up there. 

Are you wondering why we call it KMOSOS? The words Kerbal Manned Orbital Space Observatory means that the Mission Control observe the kerbals manning the station. We still don't know if space madness is legit. Or if kerbonauts fake it just so that they don't return to space again on one of our rockets. I have no idea why they would not want to go to space on our rockets. They're mostly successful? Right? 

The rest of the name, Station, describes its other roll as a platform into leaping into the deep blackness of space. 

A couple of hours later the KMOSOS arrives at the debris. After switching over to it, I tried to EVA the kerbal inside. There was no hatch. Brilliant. 

*Fourth Wall get broken down* 

Alright, Obberny Kerman. You are apart of our space agency! I totally didn't cheat to get you down to Kerbin. Totally........

Anyway, lets launch the second part of KMOSOS!

Since Obberny is a pilot, I decided to slap a command pod on the first stage to recover it. I am tired of losing my rockets just because the connection from air to ground was broken. 

Roni Kerman is also up there, controlling the actual space station part. 

If we lose this rocket. I will rage quit. Permanently.

At 5,000 meters, I detach the solid rocket boosters. I put on some fancy separation rockets on the solid rocket boosters, two on the bottom and one on the top. Oh, wait.

Oh, those are just the solid rocket boosters, hopefully.

Please. Just don't die. 

WHY?! WHY DID I PUT THOSE ******* NESTING ROCKETS!?!?!?! 

Just why. Why Why Why Why Why Why Why!?!?!

After some messing around, I can revert the flight. Now, everybody. Will these poor kerbals die because of SUCH a STUPID mistake and make the series come to an abrupt end, or will you allow me to revert the flight and flip around those nesting rockets. 

It all depends on you, the reader. Please, don't allow these more kerbals to DIE.

Unhappy Explosions, Why Me?! 

[Geschosskopf]

3 hours ago, Alpha 360 said:

Poodles are just magical engines. They have loads of thrust-to-weight, the best efficiency of any chemical rocket, and are quite useful indeed.

Yeah, these days they're quite nice.  Back in the old days, however, they sucked, and nobody used them.  They were considered the 2nd  most useless engine in the game after what's now called the "Thud" (the radial engine).

 

3 hours ago, Alpha 360 said:

A couple of hours later the KMOSOS arrives at the debris. After switching over to it, I tried to EVA the kerbal inside. There was no hatch. Brilliant.

Isn't there one on the Hitchhiker?

 

3 hours ago, Alpha 360 said:

It all depends on you, the reader. Please, don't allow these more kerbals to DIE.

Well, if it's a matter of continuing this story, then save them.  I enjoy reading this.

Edited January 29, 2018 by Geschosskopf

[Alpha 360]

1 hour ago, Geschosskopf said:

Isn't there one on the Hitchhiker?

I meant, there wasn't one on the pod I was supposed to rescue. My poor kerbonaut I had to rescue couldn't get out of the capsule. How I fixed it is that I pulled up f12, completed the contract and then zoomed over to the tracking station. There I destroyed the capsule where Obbertty was in, killing him. Then I re-spawned him in the KSC. That was really annoying, but it had to be done. Sorry for cheating, but I think I can be excused.  

[Alpha 360]

27th Installment: Space Construction Begins

Well, I clicked the button. Everything reverted back the way it was. Roni and Obbertty were on the ground, waiting for the rocket to launch. I quickly recover the rocket, and changed a few things up. I changed the first stage back to an unmanned command pod and trashed the nesting thrusters. Then we were go to launch once more.

This time nothing goes wrong. I will show a reel of it and not describe each picture separately. Because I am lazy. 

Here the second stage gets the spacecraft into orbit. Then I switch back to the booster plummeting through the atmosphere. 

YES! I have successfully landed once more. Finally after three hours, I am happy with KSP. 

Then the rocket starts to tip. I cross my fingers, hoping against hope that the first stage would not destroy itself by falling sideways into the water. 

It did.  I have been using the angry emoj too much now adays. 

Anyway, in orbit again. I have completed the rendezvous burn. The final interception range is at 1.5 kilometers. Yes, the space around Kerbin is covered with junk space ships. I'll deal with them later. 

I have slowed myself down sufficiently, so I am detaching the second stage which will drift in Kerbin's orbit for, forever.

Look at that sunrise. Isn't that pretty. Sharp eyes will have picked up the station high up in the picture, just barely visible. Hopefully none of the discarded debris will hit the station. That would be awkward. 

Fixing my approach to target. I got the station on a good angle of attack, luckily.

Now from the station's perspective. The approach looks good. Down to 150 meters. Travelling at 1.5 m/s.

Now within 50 meters. Man, orbital mechanics and docking can be so great in this game. That is just stunning. This is why I play KSP. 

Everything is green to go. Within 30 meters. I have crossed my fingers once more, praying that this will work out. 

And we are docked! The KMOSOS has gained another part. A pair of fuel tanks with extra monopropellant storage and a capsule with Roni Kerman on-board. Whew. 

One final beauty shot. There. Now to rescue another kerbal stuck in LKO........

Happy Explosions Until Then!

[Geschosskopf]

4 hours ago, Alpha 360 said:

I meant, there wasn't one on the pod I was supposed to rescue.

Oh, one of those....  You can use the Klaw on them and bring the debris down, Kerbal and all.

[DAL59]

10 hours ago, Alpha 360 said:

WE LANDED! This was my first try, I can't believe it! YES! 

*starts dancing around the computer excitedly*

I return to the KSC, after recovering the stage. It then showed up that I recovered 40,000 funds from it. YES!

 *resumes dancing around the computer excitedly*

Finally I return to my crew on sub-orbital trajectory. They have passed Apogee and are now falling to Kerbin at 75 kilometers. I turn the poodle on max and hope that I have enough thrust to weight ratio to get into orbit.

Use FRMS!  

[Alpha 360]

28th Installment: House-keeping

Unfortunately, Geschosskopf, the Klaw is locked behind 300 science points. Not going to happen in a long time. Is there a mod which can prevent certain pods without ladders from spawning? Could certainly use that!

DAL59, what does FRMs mean? Friends Ruining Memes or something along those lines?

Here is the lift-off of the Kerbal Rescue Shuttle Mk1! Or also known by its original name, The 1 Kerbal Rocket Pod. Abbreviated as 1KRP. 

Funnily enough, I must have designed this back when Neptune failed and when I was trying to come up with a replacement. 

Accelerating at more than 2 gees, this buddy needs to catch up badly with the pod stranded in orbit. Luckily this is only worth 13 thousand funds, so I can afford to be slightly wasteful. 

Not very efficient, but necessary. The pod is speeding in behind me. I hope the rendezvous would be smooth, and not end up with me ahead of the pod. That would be irritating.

Now running the monopropellant engines, inside the heat shield. I am proud of this little creation. It is cute, and very delta-v compact. There were 5 kilometers per second at launch.

Whew. The rendezvous has been completed. This should work. 

Coming up to the pod. 

Wait, what?! Your kidding me. The kerbal in the pod CANNOT get out because there is no hatch! Well, time for the f12 menu once more. Shoot. 

*fourth wall receives pounding, and collapses once more*

Alright, the kerbal is back down on Kerbin. Now what to do with the rescue pod?

Why not some awesome explosions?

Getting closer. Can't wait to see this go up in flames. 

*Boom* Look at that go! Beautiful! Spectacular!

Awesome! Its nice that these explosions don't matter. Unlike some occasions. 

Wait. The goo feels cold? How does that happen!?

Now we are coming down on the other side of the mountains. There are no parachutes so expect more explosions. 

Pretty. Hi Minmus!

That's it? Just a pooff. Really. I'm disappointed with you, deceased kerbal rescuer. 

Anyway. To more housekeeping!

Remember that Minmus Station which saved the lives of Roni and Assey at least twice? Well, its still in orbit. I want to bring it down to low orbit and see if it is possible to dock to the main station down there. 

This was the inclination burn. 

Beautiful, if a little unclear. 

Here is the deorbit burn into Kerbin's atmosphere. Areo-braking seems to be the best option, but the Station doesn't seem suited for it. Well, let's try it out.

Preparing for areobraking. 

Coming in slow. 

Oh. Now that looks dangerous. 

Now that's coming in hot. Lets hope it doesn't explode. The overheat bar on the engine starts to rise steadily. 

This is really dangerous. But it is saving me fuel. If it survives, then the ends justify the means. right?

No the spacecraft has flipped, exposing its entire side. Maybe I have just lost the station. 

BUT! The station has passed the perigee, which means the heating is slowing down. The station is intact!

Now to scurry back fully into orbit. Hey. I have only used about 220 m/s for the entire endeavor from getting from high orbit to low orbit. Call it a Win - Win scenario. 

Here is the rendezvous with the station. It is not entirely correct, the perigee being below the Kerman Line. 

Coasting up for the burn which will put this baby in orbit. I am so glad it all worked out. When the engineers were designing their parts, they knew what they were doing. Or Not. Did they know that their parts could withstand reentry, and yet give us heat shields? I smell another plot from the engineers.......

Anyway, here is the station in orbit. It will take 15 days until a rendezvous will occur, but before then is the Moho window. I'll be sure to send at least a half-a-dozen probes over there to put up relays there. 

Wait a second. There are no long range antenna which could even cover a fraction of the distance.  Looks like we will be missing this window to Moho. 

Anyway, I did more housekeeping. I terminated a couple of dormant spacecraft, then renamed all the stations, and debris, and the new "life pod" which used to be the economical lander. I am keeping that around just in case a pair of kerbonauts gets stranded in space, but can get to the lander, board, then detach the final stage to land safely on Kerbin. 

And that is all. Next Installment should be about Roni's stay on the KMOSOS in first person. Taking a short 1 day break from KSP, so there will be limited pictures. 

Happy Explosions Until Then!

[DAL59]

1 hour ago, Alpha 360 said:

FRMs mean? Friends Ruining Memes or something along those lines?

FMRS stands for flight manager for reusable stages.  When you separate your lower stage, it creates a time travel point.  Then, you continue to fly your upper stage.  Once in orbit, you can time travel back to when the booster separates, and land the booster.  Once it is landed, you jump forward in time to the main mission.

[Alpha 360]

Oh, thanks for clarifying. I will download that mod as soon as possible. That sounds like an amazing mod. Thank you for bring it to my attention. 

 

EDIT: Have downloaded it. I will be sure to try it out presently in the next installment.

Edited January 30, 2018 by Alpha 360
editing, editing, editing

[Geschosskopf]

11 hours ago, Alpha 360 said:

Is there a mod which can prevent certain pods without ladders from spawning? Could certainly use that!

Nope.  In fact, it's usually the other way around.  Mods cause this to happen.

Which specific parts have you had trapped Kerbals in?  Were they stock parts or mod parts?

[MattKent]

Have you considered 

[1.3.1] KSP Rescue Pod Validator (no more kerbals spawning in inflatable modules!)

It is designed to prevent these issues occurring.

Sorry about the formatting.

[Alpha 360]

13 hours ago, Geschosskopf said:

Mods cause this to happen.

Yes, I have noticed that all the stock command modules have ladders while Tantares puts in a lot of crewed modules without hatches. As I have written, its very annoying.

6 hours ago, MattKent said:

3.1] KSP Rescue Pod Validator (no more kerbals spawning in inflatable modules!)

Awesome!

Also, MattKent, formatting doesn't matter around here too much. I still don't know how to mention people correctly so your in the clear

Also, sorry for the delay on the story. I have decided to do the next section in third person, sorry for those Roni fans . 

The installment should be out by the evening, Plains Time or whatever you call it. I'm not good with times zones inside the US.  

[Geschosskopf]

1 hour ago, Alpha 360 said:

I still don't know how to mention people correctly

As soon as you type the "at" symbol, a box will pop up where the forum is searching for user names.  As you type letters immediately after the "at" system, lists of names starting with those letters will appear in the pop-up.  Keep typing the name you want until you see it on the list, then selected it.  This will embed the call-out into your post and you can keep typing your sentence.

Like this:  See, @Alpha 360, nothing to it.

Edited January 31, 2018 by Geschosskopf

[Alpha 360]

29th Installment: Okay, I might need a little help

I have failed to compile enough imagination to write a story about Roni in First Person, so I'll calling quits. This will be about the first crewed launch of Sirius Mk1, the new command module. 

Not a cheap spacecraft. Still, I have enough funds for a couple of launches. I will launch this into low orbit, and dock to the station where it will refuel. When the up-coming Dres Window comes up, we will be sending a modified Sirius Spacecraft. Unless this one just won't work. Then we'll have to design another entirely different rocket. Sheesh. 

I would also like to mention that I have installed another mod other than FMRS, its a new mod called Stockalike Station Part Expansion which are BEAUTIFUL. Never mind it was 250 millibytes and affects the performance of the game overall. That doesn't matter. 

This is just the capsule. It can hold up to 9 kerbals with two hitchhikers and an airlock module at the top. Yes, those are hitchhikers revamped from the new mod. Aren't they smooth.

Here is Sirius on the Launch Pad. I decided to add a space station module on the top of this rocket. I might as well bring something else up as this booster is wildly over-power for a payload this small. 

Look at that cute little panel. I wonder how I will use this? Whatever, I'll just figure it out in flight. 

Take-off! The clock has started ticking. What does that mean?

Look! Finally I have gotten a clean picture of the separation of the SRBs. After this I fly up to 55 kilometers and the first stage runs out of juice. I then leave the booster behind as I finish rocketing into orbit. After that I find that the first stage is still above the atmosphere. I told you that that first stage was overpowered. So then I hit this button which then jumped me back to the separation point.

Well, The clock on the timer, even if you can't see it, says 2:04 seconds and I switched back to booster when that clock said 5 minutes. I guess this works then. 

Ah, a clean picture. Here I start to drain the fuel from the radial fuel tanks I put up on top into the bottom fuel tank. I timewarp up and back down. Now I am reentering the atmosphere. 

This is pretty. Beware, the next ten pics are all beauty pics. 

This where the game froze up for a second. And the Sirius has crashed into Kerbin. Okay. I thought......Whatever. I hope FMRS deals with this. Hopefully.

I land safely, and recover the vessel with taking a picture for fear that the first stage would tip over too much and destroy the stage once more. Luckily none of that happens and I am transported back to the KSC. Then after the game thinks for a minute, I reappear on the launch pad. So, I reverted the flight?

I need help. Please, somebody tell me what I did wrong. 

Happy Explosions Until Then!

[Alpha 360]

30th Installment: Just Stop Reverting the Flight!

Okay...... Back where I started. Well this is just magnificent! There goes twenty minutes of hard work. *sigh* lets get back to work. 

Just so everyone knows, I didn't put the same photos in from last time to show this launch. I want to make that clear because a lot of this pictures have twins. Identical twins. Except that pictures cannot have twins, or babies for that matter. Whatever. Dropping the subject.......

Another clean separation. My appreciation for those separation SRBs has returned.

*The pervious American Accent vanishes and a Belgian accent takes its place*

Everything is about ze balance, everything must be in ze balance. 

We continue higher and higher. This time I am going pretty flat so the Apogee just touches space before the engines shut-down. 

More Seperation rockets remove all possibility of that booster reaching space. 

Finally here is a good shot of the FMRS panel. As you see, reverting to launch is an option from here. I make sure to approach that panel with upmost care with my cursor, for fear that I might press that button.

And here is Sirius moving in to dock with Minmus. Wait a second. Minmus has no docking ports........Does it? 

From orbit I quickly switch back to the booster, for I do not want to press out the other button on the panel, as the results weren't satisfactory.  

Opps, looks like I am reentering the wrong way around. I scramble to move all the fuel back to the bottom tank. The fire increases. 

I succeed in moving the fuel back, but I am stuck in this position. What shall I do now? I wait for the stage to slow down enough so that I can pull the chutes. 

At 20 kilometers and dropping like the mythical stone. Actually at the same speed as the stone if the stone was dropped from this height because gravity attracts all matter equally, regardless of their weight or properties. Why has a lecture inserted itself into a Mission Reports!? Maybe because I have been taking too much physics. I need to stop overdosing. 

And the parachutes are deployed, pulling the first stage into a retrograde position. I wonder that if a rocket had that happen to it, either the parachutes would break or the rocket. Luckily this is KSP and the rockets are sturdy. Enough.

Now descending quickly towards the water. The sun shines brightly at the horizon. Of course, we are traveling at 20 m/s so I continue firing the engine. You can just barely see the exhausts. 

Yippee! I'm starting to get good at this! In my excitement and joy, my mind fogs as I click the button which says recover vessel on the FMRS panel. Then, this happens. 

Oh, this is brilliant. Just brilliant. Just stop reverting my flights, FMRS! I need guidance! BADLY. Won't be continuing until guidance comes. 

 

Unhappy Explosions Until Then!