Oceans of Emptiness: Last Installment - "We failed."

[Alpha 360]

"Don't Push it Obberty"

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R. I. P. Obberty 

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Of course I'm kidding! 

 

Kathdred 1

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"Obberty. Are you okay in that tin can of yours?" 

"I'm fine, thank you very much. I find that there isn't nearly enough room to play handball in here."

"Sorry if you were looking forward to it, but this your work."

"Really? I thought that risking my life, sitting on top of a explodable rocket with 3 inches of tin between the heatshield and my back was merely for my pleasure."

"As I said, sorry to disappoint you."

"I bet you are."

"Now to get back to my question, is everything green in there?"

"Yes sir. That is, everything looks green from about 6 inches from my face."

"Thanks for your sarcastic remarks, Obberty." I replied dryly. 

I turned back to mission control. I had already checked up here, so I said, "Start to countdown."

"3. 2. 1. Ignition!"

"Flight. The Swivel Engine is at full performance."

"That's one reliable engine there." 

Even if the swivel engine failed to work, we had a launch escape system put into place which would save Obberty from an early grave. Of course that was the theory Billy put forth. 

The Swivel propelled the spacecraft further and further into space. 

Finally the GUIDO announced, "Booster at 100% depletion."

"Stage the booster stage and activate the engine." I ordered not the controllers, but Obberty in the cockpit.

"What in the world! Obberty what just happened!" I cried.

"Sorry, Flight. Looks like I stage the escape tower, not the terrier. Detaching escape tower and activating Terrier now."

The terrier fired up and the Kathdred propelled further into orbit.

"Mission Control. I'm in orbit." Obberty announced. 

A small cheer filled the mission control center. We got a kerbal in orbit!

"I can see Gol from here. I still have supplies and fuel plenty to visit it."

"Obberty! Don't push it! We don't have the tracking station ready for an intercept with Gol."

"Eh. I think I can do it."

Obberty shut off the radio.

"The Terrier is firing again."

"Blast him. If he doesn't get back down to Gaia......." I would say I would kill him, but then that would be another unnecessary fatality. 

30 minutes later streams of data came down from the Kathdred.

"Pull it up on screen."

(From here on out, its just going to be beauty shots )

We sent up a travel brochure to Obberty to see his reaction. His reaction was showing us the photo below with the caption, "I'm in the prettier spot."

"Immense oceans of rings spread out in all directions. Gaia is the center. A blue crystal sphere whom this endless expanse of particles orbit." He later wrote down and set to us.

We never suspected his artistic side of his personality, but this revealed his hidden depths. 

"Gol looks like its inches away. I long to reach out and touch it. Just through the rings I can see Olei, the speckled moon. Man its beautiful up here." another quote by Obberty. 

"I have now reached Apogaia. Time to burn retrograde to put my Perigaia into the atmosphere."

"The sun has slipped behind Gaia now. Gaia is a black orb now."

3 more hours later and Obberty reported, "This is the best day of my life. So beautiful. So beautiful."

"I have hit the atmosphere. I have also jettisoned the orbital stage. Hello Gaia."

 

"Reentry is pretty hot. I guess the heat shield is being tested right now."

"I'm about to fall out of the sky now. Loosing horizontal velocity rapidly."

"Parachutes have now deployed. Ready for landing. If only I had an EVA suit, then I could have gotten a much better look at things."

"Well, you'll have to wait a while for that. We're currently busy trying to get enough funds to do something more than these silly orbital flights." I replied. "We have just accepted a very lucrative contract which will hopeful perk us up funds wise."

 

Funds Before: 69,745

Funds After: Around 75,000

Science Before: 42.5

Science After: 50

 

Just as a side note, I would like to say that there will be only one post a day now with two launches. I know this is exhausting for some of you to run through all these reports, but I am just barely ahead in terms of the game. I have only 1 launch recorded after this one, which I will post tomorrow morning (Morning that is from where I live). 

Happy Explosions

 

[Alpha 360]

"Forget Project Goby!"

Goby 5

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"Um, Roland." Billy ventured nervously. His face was blacked with soot. I glared at him, knowing bad news was about to come. 

"Yes, Billy." I sighed. 

"We got some faulty material from the industry. It means that the Goby 5 launch will likely be flawed."

"Do you realize that the Goby 5 is 14,000 funds! We have to launch it and complete that contract."

"Alright, alright. But you've been warned." he quickly left Mission Control. Only an hour later the Goby 5 was rolled out to the launch pad. 

The Goby 5 was supposedly the next generation of orbital satellites. With a much larger antenna, it could provide more coverage than the Goby 3 satellites. 

"Lift-off in 3. 2. 1. Ignition!" cried the AFD, (Assistant Flight Director. I finally found the correct acronym for it)

"Launch is steady."

Seconds later a warning bleeped over on the engineering side of the room. 

"Flight! The top fuel tank of the booster is leaking. The leak is pretty heavy so we are activating the resource locks."

"This flight's going to end badly......" I murmured to myself.

The rest of the booster stage worked fine. 

But with the lack of altitude, I feared the terrier would not have enough thrust to carry the satellite the rest of the way. 

"Flight, Booster is at 100% depletion!"

"Stage and activate the Terrier!"

I breathed a sigh of relief as the terrier fired up, carrying the satellite higher and higher into the sky. 

"Flight! The Terrier has failed! It has shutdown and we can't turn it back on."

"God blast it out of existence!" I swore angrily. Billy cowered in the corner. I glared at him menacingly, but I returned to the rocket.  

"Pull the plug. I'm not in the mood for watching it die."

The Radio Officer pulled the plug and the screen went black, our connection to the Goby 5 terminated. 

"Start the integration of Goby 5a." I ordered.

 

Before Launch - Science: 9.8 - Funds: 74,134

After Launch - Science: 9.8 - Funds: 60,549

Goby 5a

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"Whew. Glad that's over." I wiped my brow as the crowds of kerbals left the KSC. 

"We got a rocket launch, flight."

"I know, I know." After taking my breather, I went to the mission control. The Goby 5 was already on the launch pad, in fact its rolling out was apart of the attraction for the visitors. We declined to let them watch the rocket launch because of a chance of explosions.

This only heightened the interest in the affair, at least for the younger kerbs. Their parents somehow got them off the  KSC property. In fact, we still found the occasional kerbling still hiding underneath the massive fuel storage tanks. 

"There's a 1 in 16th chance at the Terrier will fail. Again." Billy warned. 

"If that happens, I'll throw you out the window. I have had enough of these pitiful failures."

After a quick check-up with the rocket, I called out, "Start the countdown and pray that this one works."

"3.......2........1..........Ignition!" 

"We have lift-off of the Goby 5!"

"Everything is looking steady." 

"Booster at 100% depletion!"

"Stage and activate the second stage."

"Terrier is looking good."

I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe I didn't need to throw Billy out the window. 

"Flight! The Terrier has failed! We can't start it again."

"Pull the plug!" I cried. I looked for Billy. He was standing right next to the window. I removed my headset and then charge him. He did my job for me by leaping through the open window to escape. 

"Billy! Forget Project Goby! Redesign and build a rocket that we can trust! Good-bye!" I slammed the window shut. 

 

Before Launch - Science: 9.8 - Funds: 56,809 

After Launch - Science: 9.8  - Funds: 

Happy Explosions! 

[m.kerman]

Cant wait! Thank you for the mention as well.

 

[Alpha 360]

"Olei.....Olei Olei Olei! Olei!"

(If you want to know where I got this? Click here)

Childhood 1

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It took 5 plane launches and 5 contracts to finally get our funds up a notch. 

So then we upgraded the launch pad. With the upgrade, now we could go further than ever. Granted we still needed about a million funds for the VAB, Mission Control, and Tracking Station as well as science for the Eggheads, but we would visit that later. 

Then we found this contract. We interpreted this as a typo to visit Olei. So we built a rocket to go the Olei.

Then workers struck. But then after that, the Childhood was finally rolled out onto the launch pad. 

 "AFD! Get the countdown started already!" I yelled. 

"I'm on it, Flight. The problem is that the workers busted up the clock during the strike."

"Do you have a watch?"

"Yes."

"Use it." 

"Ah. Yes Flight."

"Lift-off in 3. 2. 1 Ignition!" 

"Obberty! Anything wrong up there yet?"

"Nothing, Flight."'

"WE SAW THAT!" 

"Bummer. Still I saved the launch!" he replied indigently. 

"Ignite the Swivel!" I called out.

"Flight, Swivel is doing fine."

A couple of seconds later the FIDO called out, "Booster stage at 100% depletion."

"Cut the engine and detach the thumpers. Once cleared of the boosters, relight the swivel."

"Yes, Flight."

My orders were carried out, and the Childhood continued onwards to orbit. 

"Detach the escape tower. Its unnecessary weight."

"Yes, Flight. Detaching escape tower."

"What in the world just happened!?"

"Um, Flight. I think we messed up staging. We detached the first liquid fuel stage, not the escape tower."

"IDIOTS! Haven't you learned to check your staging!?"

"Don't worry, boss. We'll still complete the mission."

1 day later the burn to Olei started and finished. Obberty was on his way to be the first kerbal to orbit another planetary body. 

"We only have 15 days of supplies. Please don't forget that." Obberty radioed us. 

"We know, we know."

"Approaching Olei now. Its one big moon. I must say it will be a challenge to land on it."

"Lets leave that for the future. How much delta-v do you still have?"

"Um....Around 1,200 m/s. Should be enough for orbit and return. Too bad the tracking station isn't upgraded so that we can do advanced trajectories."

"Its fine, just let us do our thing."

1 hour later Obberty entered Olei's SOI. 

Suddenly an earsplitting noise came from the radio, "Olei! Olei Olei Olei! Olei, Olei!"

"Obberty! Have you gone mad!?"

"No. That tune just popped into my head. I think its from soccer."

"Forget it, just try not to give us all nightmares about your singing."

An hour after that, Obberty fired retrograde and we were in orbit of Olei.

"The eggheads have had a fit about the data you have sent us. Apparently they came up with some new break-through."

(The rest will be beauty shots. A lot of them!)

After one orbit, Obberty fired up the engine and left Olei's SOI. 

"I'm heading back to Gaia now. say hello to everyone down there for me."

"This easily trumps the orbital mission. I can see every ring in clear detail. 

The Childhood would reentry over Gaia's North Pole. We expected to add to the beautiful lights with lights of our own. 

"Preparing for reentry. Decoupling transfer stage." 

"Wait. How much fuel do you have in there?"

"About 300 m/s."

"Alright. Fire up the engine and empty the tank. You're coming in at 3200 m/s, so every m/s we can wipe off, the better."

"Childhood has hit the atmosphere!" 

"Decouple the transfer stage now!" I ordered. 

"Yes, Flight."

The transfer stage was decoupled away from the capsule and was then promptly disappeared behind the capsule. 

Finally the heat shield ceased to burn ablator, and the capsule lost it horizontal velocity. 

"Pulling chutes, Flight."

"Wow. I never saw Kerbin's rings from this latitude. Man there're pretty."

The capsule landed safely and was recovered. 

The science from the mission was used to procure ourselves some new rocketry tech. That will come in use later on. 

 

Before Flight - Science: 12.1 - Funds - 62,111

After Flight - Science: 0 - Funds - 173,430 

 

Happy Explosions!

 

 

[Alpha 360]

"The Time of the Brotherhood has Begun!"

Brotherhood 2-a

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"Roland!" cried Billy. 

I turned to face him. He looked elated. "What is it?"

"We got it! We got a new rocket design. Its unmanned and everything."

"Show me."

Instead of my usual anger which I directed towards assignments, i had been encouraged to respond instead with kindness. I would only do this 1 day, as I found that kindness didn't carry with it any ferocious energy. 

"Hum. It looks much sleeker." i commented. "The faring makes it look better. But other than that it looks like a Goby."

"Inside that faring we can put a third stage. Such a design would be able to land on Olei and back."

I whistled, "So we will be able to complete that contract."

"Well, we are going to go interplanetary first. That will be the first test."

I nodded. "Alright. Lets do this."

I was tired of harshly criticizing my comrades. I wanted them to follow me out of more than respect, but so far that was the only reason they still were apart of the space program. I wanted to form a brotherhood, focused solely on exploring space. So i put forward the idea of calling the rocket, Brotherhood 1. Then Billy told me that he had already designed the Olei Lander, and so we named that Brotherhood 1. The problem was that we still needed to complete that contract. So we designed Brotherhood 2. And we started integrating it before Brotherhood 1.

After 6 days i walked outside to see a group of workers marching around with giant signs. 

"WE WANT SNACKS BEFORE LUNCH!"

I stared in complete distrust of my senses. Snacks before lunch?

"Get back to work!" I cried. 

"No! We want snacks!" they cried in unison.

"You already have snacks!"

"No! We only get snacks after lunch! We want snacks before lunch!"

That was the basic template for the rest of our conversations for the next 11 days. Finally we ceded and gave them snacks before lunch. 

We then rolled out the Brotherhood and ran the countdown. At the number 0, we ignited the engine.

"Lift-off!"

"No problems so far." commented engineering. 

Billy looked at the displays with a gleam in his eye. This was his special rocket. 

Suddenly, the Brotherhood exploded in a brilliant ball of flames. 

 

Billy almost cried. 

Before Launch - Science: 0.0 - Funds: 173,430

After Launch -  Science: 0.0 - Funds: 163,649

Brotherhood 2-b

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"I'll try it again, Billy but integrate it fully this time." 

"Yes, Roland. I'll do it this time." 

After another 6 days, i walked back out to see the workers lined up again with their signs. 

"What is it this time?"

"We want a break to eat the snacks before lunch!" 

"Completely ridiculous!" 

Unfortunately the workers had a stronger will and we gave them the break to allow them to eat the snacks before lunch.

"Is everything green?" i asked the controllers a few days later. The Brotherhood 2-b stood on the launch-pad.

"Everything is green."

"Go for countdown."

"3..........2.........1..........Ignition!"

"One fuel tank is leaking!"

"Shut it off!" I ordered.

The trajectory was straight up, to prevent loss of delta-v.

"Fuel tank 1 is empty."

"Open Fuel Tank 2 and eject the faring."

"We also installed a larger antenna onto the probe core. It will be able to be contacted outside of Gaia's SOI." Billy piped up. 

"Good to know."

"Booster stage at 100% depletion."

"Detach and activate the Terrier."

"No problems so far."

"Wait! The terrier has failed!"

The mission control's tension lightened when the chief engineer said, "The Terrier won't turn off now. It will still fire and the contract will be completed."

I exhaled deeply. 

It only took a minute until the terrier ran out of fuel.

"Let it coast." I said.

A day and a few hours later the contract was completed.

"Congratulations Billy." I shook his hand, "The time of the Brotherhood has begun!" A chuckle ran through the mission control. I also was making a personal statement at that time. I decided to follow through with my plans to create a "space brotherhood"> I decided this in order to create a program where kerbals stood back to back in this time of great progress through the great Oceans of Emptiness!

Whew, that was a mouthful. 

Before Launch - Science: 0 - Funds: 163,439 

After Launch - Science: 6 - Funds: 219,145

Happy Explosions!

 

Edited April 6, 2018 by Alpha 360
Expanded upon the story significantly. Please reread.

[Alpha 360]

"Brotherhood has Landed"

Brotherhood 1-a

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"Brotherhood 1-a is ready for launch." announced AFD. 

"Good work." I patted him on the back and then sat down at my console.

"Start the countdown." 

I had changed a few things up in the mission control building. Engineering was now divided into EECOM and GNC. EECOM took care of the electrical and software side of the engineering section and GNC took care of the physical parts of the engineering section. FIDO took care of trajectory and planning out the trajectory while GUIDO took care of the present speed, altitude and flight path. 

"3. 2. 1. Ignition!"

"Brotherhood is ascending!" called out the GUIDO.

"Good work, lets get this mission through." 

"The Swivel has failed! It's fuel lines have burst and it won't receive fuel anymore."

"Can we do anything!" I asked annoyed. 

"We can't do anything, Flight. The booster will fall back onto the launchpad."

We watched in horror as the booster fell straight down and hit the launchpad.

"Flight. Brotherhood has been terminated."

I hit my console, but i didn't say anything. 

"What will the new launch pad cost?"

"It'll cost 31,500 funds."

"Dang it!"

Before Launch - Science 6.0 - Funds 219,145

After Launch - Science 6.0 - Funds 174,242

 

Brotherhood 1-b

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"We are go for Brotherhood 1-b."

"Electrical systems are go!" cried the EECOM.

"Hardware is go!" announced the GNC.

"Guidance is go!" the GUIDO called out.

"Trajectory is go!" the FIDO gave thumbs up.

"Radio Operations is go!" cried the kerbonaut at the Capcom station. 

"Start the countdown!" 

"3..........2..........1.........Ignition!"

"Flight, The engine is preforming well." the GNC announced.

"Flight, Trajectories are looking good." said the FIDO. 

"Flight, Booster is at 60% depletion!" said the GNC.

"Flight, Brotherhood is at 20,000 meters and 400 m/s." said the GUIDO.

After another minute later and the GNC announced, "Flight, Booster at 100% depletion."

"Stage and ignite the second stage."

"Flight, Terrier is preforming well. It looks like it won't fail this time." reported the GNC. 

"Thank goodness."

After a couple of minutes the Brotherhood reached orbit.

"Flight, We are in orbit!" the FIDO announced. 

"Plot the course for Olei."

"Flight, we are about to lose connection. We have sent the command to deploy antenna and solar panels."

"Good job, CONNECT." I coined the name, CONNECT, meaning whoever on duty who needed to watch the mission's radio network. 

"Flight, we have lost control of Brotherhood 1." CONNECT reported. 

After 5 more orbits we were in a position to intercept Olei. 

"Prepare to burn for Olei. Ready FIDO?"

"Ready."

"EECOM, does the Brotherhood have enough electricity to perform the maneuver?"

"Affirmative."

"CONNECT, will we be in connection with the Brotherhood during this maneuver?"

"Affirmative."

"GNC, is the Brotherhood structurally well enough to perform this maneuver?"

"Affirmative."

"AFD, start the countdown for the maneuver, T-10 seconds."

"Yes, Flight." Then the AFD bellowed out the numbers on the clock, "10!  9!  8!  7!  6!  5!  4!  3!  2!  1! Ignition!"

"Flight, the terrier has reignited. All systems green." said the GNC. 

The burn commenced for 35 seconds and then I yelled, "Engine shut off!"

"Flight, the terrier has turned off." the GNC said.

"Trajectory is green for Olei encounter!" cried the FIDO exuberantly. 

"Connection is green out to Olei!"

"Good job crew. Lets see this mission through."

A couple of hours later i was replaced by Billy's team. We were to cycle the controller teams throughout the mission in order to keep everything up and running. Each team would be relived every 8 hours. My team was the Blue team. Billy's was Yellow while Irfred's team was White. 

"Its all ready for you, Billy. Get the the brotherhood into low orbit where Irfred will take over for the landing. I'll watch the landing, but you'll have to get the brotherhood out there first."

"Its alright, Roland. It should be a piece of cake." 

I returned to my bedroom in the astronaut complex where everyone stayed at the present. I went to sleep uneasily that night, but i still was chipper when i got up at 5 o'clock in the morning. I arrived at Mission Control where yaws were quite visible. 

"Billy, has there been any major things to note?"

"Nope. The brotherhood is in orbit of Olei."

"We have plenty of delta-v with the third spark stage. We hope everything will go well on the landing. Oh, and here is the new flight director herself." Irfred entered the room. 

I shook her hand, "Good luck on the landing. I will be up here for the most part. I won't interfere with the landing."

"Good to know Roland. Billy, could you hurry up your controllers? The landing is due to occur in the next hour and I need to do some checks." After some grumbling on the part of the half-asleep controllers, Irfred's crew put Brotherhood through its paces. 

"Ready to de-orbit, flight."

"Start up the spark. NOW!"

 
"Spark is preforming nicely." said the GNC

"CONNECT. Will we have connection when we land?"

"Just barely, but yes."

"We have lost horizontal velocity." called out the GUIDO.

"Landing trajectory looks good." the FIDO said.

"Descending at 200 m/s."

"Start the spark at 50% thrust."

 

"We're at 500 meters and 100 m/s,"

"Full thrust now!"

"Flight, velocity has been cancel at 20 meters above Olei."

"Let it drop."

"Flight. Brotherhood has landed!"

(To be continued........)

Before Launch - Science 6.0 - Funds 174,242

After Launch - Still not calculated as the mission hasn't been completed.

Happy Explosions!

 

[Alpha 360]

"Brotherhood is terminated!"

Brotherhood 1-b (Return)

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"3! 2! 1! Ignition!"

"We have lift-off from Olei."

"The ApoOlei  is high enough for orbital insertion burn." reported the GUIDO. 

"Preform Orbital Insertion Burn at ApoOlei in 1 minute."

1 minute later the spark ignited and carried the lander into orbit. 

"FIDO, set a trajectory for Gaia. We're heading home!" 

I left the mission control here to quickly check with my controllers. Our shift was coming soon. When I returned the FIDO had plotted a course and the spark engine in orbit of another planetary body ignited. 

It drained most of the fuel left in the tank, leaving little for the reentry. 

"Our Perigaia is looking good. Its at 50 kilometers."

My shift took over for the reentry. It didn't take long to fully prepare. Our recovery forces were in position, they just needed the Brotherhood. 

The Brotherhood reentered on time. The last dregs of fuel were used to slow down the Brotherhood. It was detached and then the antenna failed. 

"Don't worry, Flight. It won't matter because we have already since the parachute command."

"The critical part of reentry has been passed. The parachute will deploy at 12,000 meters. 

After a minute the flames ceased and the Brotherhood deployed the parachute. 

"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!?" 

"Everything is negative, flight. The spacecraft has had a catastrophic failure."

"NO! We were inches from recovering the stupid piece of junk!" 

I stormed out of the mission control room to be confronted with an army of reporters. 

"Roland! Has the Brotherhood been recovered?" cried the foremost reporter, jamming a microphone into my face. This was going to be a bad day. 

Before Launch - Science: 6.0 - Funds: 174,242

After Launch - Science: 80 - Funds: around 300,000

Brotherhood 3-a

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Even though the contract wasn't fully completed, we now could upgrade the mission control building, which we promptly did. We decided to launch another brotherhood. 

"Everything looks good. We'll be landing on Olei again soon." I encouraged the controllers. 

"Flight, the terrier engine has been jostled around. Just to prepare you for what might happen." cautioned the GNC. My hoped fell a little. We still had a third stage, but that no-where near enough delta-v for the rest of the mission. An idea came to me. 

"FIDO. Calculate a trajectory from LGO to intersect with Gol. I want to do an impacter mission."

"Alright, Flight."

"Booster at 100% depletion."

"Stage the booster and activate the engine."

"Flight, the Terrier has failed."

"Stage once more and fire up the spark. Looks like we're not going to Olei again."

"Flight, trajectory has been plotted." reported the FIDO

"Get the Brotherhood into orbit." 

We did so quickly. Then we fired the engine once more to intersect with Gol's orbit.

A day later we reached Gol.

"Flight, We will have impact with Gol!"

"Good job, FIDO. Grab the science data EECOM."

"Fire the engine and empty the tank."

"Flight, tank depleted."

"Stage and watch the explosions!"

"Brotherhood is terminated!"

 

Before Launch - Science: 0  - Funds: 82,159

After Launch - Science: 38  - Funds: 101,399

Happy Explosions!

 

 

Edited April 10, 2018 by Alpha 360

[roboslacker]

When do you expect to send kerbals to Olei?

[Alpha 360]

Well........After I have upgraded the reliability of the terrier and fuel tanks......after I land kerbals on Nightmare, Olemut and Gullis. I would guess around installment number 30. 

Edited April 10, 2018 by Alpha 360

[Alpha 360]

"Another day, Another Launchpad."

Brotherhood 3-b

(Sorry for the delay. I just didn't have the spirit to write these up. )

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"We are go for launch." announced AFD. 

"Good, start the countdown." 

This was the second flight of the new Brotherhood. Its destination was Olei. 

"3! 2! 1! Ignition!"

"Booster is looking good."

"Swivel is preforming well."

"Flight! The booster has shut itself down!"

"Get the blasted engine back on!"

"We can't Flight. The Mission's dead!"

I watched the booster fall back onto the launchpad where it went up in a ball of fire.

 

Before Flight - Science: 36 - Funds: 101,399

After Flight - Science: 36 - Funds: 62,486 (including launchpad costs)

Brotherhood 3-c

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I watched in the VAB as the Brotherhood 3-c stood, waiting to be launched.

"Are you sure this won't fail again, Billy?"

"Positive. You'll have to be very unlucky if it does fail on you."

"Billy, in the mean-time, could you design another rocket just in case this one fails?"

"I'll get my engineering team on it, but this one surely won't fail. I believe in good luck, and nothing about good luck means we lose two rockets in a row."

"Unfortunately I have found that bad luck is more dominate than good."

Once more the rocket was rolled out to the launchpad. I wasn't going to lead this launch. I left it to Irfred to get the rocket off the pad. I set up a lawn chair next to the Mission Control building in the shade to watch the launch. 

The shade was nice and relaxing, so I dropped off quickly.

"We are go for ignition!" I heard. It came from the open door of Mission Control. 

"Ignite the booster! Take her up!"

"Launch is looking steady." 

"What the #### happened!" 

I threw myself out my chair when I heard these words. I looked at the launch-pad. I saw the rocket suspended in mid-air. Then in horrific slow-motion the smoke from the engine cut out and the booster dropped. 

"NO!" I screamed. 

It came crashing back down, the swivel engine unresponsive. 

A pair of by-standers watching near-by looked at each other. One said to the other, "Well, another day, another launchpad."

Before Launch - Science: 36 - Funds: 62,486

After Launch - Science: 36 - Funds: 24,284

Happy Explosions!

 

[roboslacker]

Wow, your funds sure took a hit there. Is the Brotherhood still on?

[Alpha 360]

Here's a peak at the future. 

[Alpha 360]

"Running on Fumes!"

Brotherhood Block II-3a

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"Here is the Brotherhood Block II 3a." Billy gestured to the massive rocket in the VAB. 

"That's a bit of a mouthful." I commented. 

"It was going to be longer, but we decided that that would do."

"Its expensive. 20,000 credits? Surely we can do better."

"Our 0.625 engines haven't been cooperating as of now, so we decided to work solely with 1.25 meter engines. The solid rocket boosters make this rocket unable to destroy the launch pad, because they cannot shut down. You won't worry about that launch pad again."

"Good, good. What does the delta-v look like?"

"1,000 for the first stages. 1,500 for the second stage, and 2,500 for the last stage. Totaling 5,000 m/s. We can increase that with extra fuel tanks and stages as well as getting rid of the material's bay which cuts our delta-v down 250 m/s."

"Sounds like you've been doing your homework."

"Roland, I designed this rocket along with every other rocket we've built. I know them all inside and out. Trust me."

"The last time you said that, we lost another Brotherhood and the launch pad." 

"Whatever."

The next day the Brotherhood Block II 3-a was rolled out on the launchpad. 

"Is everything green?"

"Flight is green!" said the FIDO. "Our orbit, if everything goes correctly, will have an Apogaia of 6,500,000 meters and a Perigaia of 2,250,000 at a 6 degree inclination. This is the orbit required by the contract which funded this rocket."

"You're talkative. You're new right?"

"Yes, Flight."

"Continue the check-up!" I brought the attention of mission control back to the rocket.

"EECOM is green!"

"Guidance is green!"

"GNC is green!"

"CONNECT is green!"

"Start the countdown!"

"3! 2! 1! Ignition!"

"Brotherhood Block II 3-a is off the launchpad!"

"Flight, guidance is looking good." reported the GUIDO.

"Flight, Hammers at 100% depletion!"

"Stage the Hammers!"

The pair of Hammer solid rocket boosters detached and the Thumper continued up into space. 

"Flight, Booster at 100% depletion!"

"Stage the booster and ignite the first liquid fuel stage!"

"Flight, Swivel throttle controls are jammed! We can't throttle the engine."

"Just get the Brotherhood into orbit. That's just a minor issue." 

"Flight, Brotherhood has breached lower atmosphere."

"Flight, Brotherhood has breached the atmosphere! Brotherhood is pointing at the horizon!"

"Send the command to open solar panels."

"Yes, Flight."

"Flight, the Second Stage is at 100% depletion!"

"Stage and ignite the Terrier."

"Flight! Terrier has failed! It can't operate."

"####." I swore, "Detach the probe and preform the science experiment. Transmit it back to Gaia."

We flubbed the flight. We now didn't have sufficient funds for another rocket launch. We put all our hopes on this new rocket, and even accepted a satellite contract so that we could get enough funds to start launching more Brotherhood Block Is. 

"Okay, Flight."

Seconds later GNC cried out, "Everything's gone! Every single system's red! What in the world happened!?"

"Flight, Brotherhood has been terminated."

I swore fiercely as I stomped out of the room. A group of reports waited outside. One stuck a microphone into my face, "Roland Kerman. Will the Program close after this disaster."

"No. We'll keep going until there's no more funds in the bank. I'm busy." I left the reporters and strode towards the astronaut complex. I still had a trick up my sleeve.

Before Flight - Science: 36 - Funds: 34,196

After Flight - Science: 36 - Funds: 14,926

Brotherhood Block II-3b

  Reveal hidden contents

"A manned Gol landing!?!?!?" Obberty stared at me in disbelief.

"Its on the cards. Since we have landed on Olei with a probe, we have reason to believe that if we revamp a Brotherhood, creating the Childhood 2. The math checks out, but we'll have to do some testing. The good thing about announcing this is that we get immediate attention and funds. We'll put you, Elibert, and Harrigh into the simulators and we'll get some contracts concerning Gol."

"Wow, looks like you planned it out."

"I've had a few break-throughs before. Its not uncommon." I left the astronaut complex and then told Walt, the public relations guy, my plan. He agreed with my plan and he said he would work on it. 

The next day I grabbed a newspaper. On the cover in massive letters, "KASA Plans Put Man On Gol."

I looked further down the article. 

"After further failures of their primary launch vehicle, KASA has decided to go all in on moon initiative. Right now KASA is feeling a lean purse, so this might be a scam to get more money for future missions, but we'll like to think otherwise."

I threw the newspaper down and walked off towards Mission Control. After 6 days the Brotherhood Block II was on the launchpad. We had barely enough money to scrap this launch together, if we failed this time, we would never make it to Gol. 

I watched Billy as he prepped the launch. Finally he gave the announcement, "Start the Countdown!"

"3! 2! 1! Ignition!"

"The Brotherhood Block II is of the launch pad!" 

I watched the Brotherhood continue upwards from the displays inside. 

"Flight! Thumper has sprung a leak!"

I face-palmed. We needed every scrap of delta-v in this rocket to get to the assigned orbit. 

But the Brotherhood kept on rising. 

"Go for Hammer Staging!"

"Hammers staged, Flight."

"Separation is clean, Flight."

Seconds later Billy cried out, "Stage the booster on my mark........NOW!"

The Thumper cut off, only to be blasted away by the force of propellant leaving the swivel.

"Flight! The swivel has shut down!"

"Keep the darned mission going! Stage the second stage and get the Terrier running NOW! We're going to fail this mission over my dead body!" cried Billy. 

 "Second stage detached. Terrier is on full throttle."

"FIDO! Get us a flight path into orbit using the Terrier and upload it to the Brotherhood. GNC and EECOM, if this rocket fails on us, it'll be your fault. GUIDO, keep us posted on the delta-v." Billy seemed everywhere at once, holding the entire operation together by himself rather than relying on the controllers.

It worked, somehow.

"Flight! We have reached the Karmen Line!"

"Put the Brotherhood pointing towards the Horizon. GNC, how much longer can we burn the engine?"

"Long enough to get into orbit."

"Good answer." Billy whirled around to the FIDO, "Have you set everything up?"

"Yes, Flight. Brotherhood will reach orbit."

"We're not going just for orbit. We are going to the designated orbit."

"Flight, we don't have the Delta-v."

"At least we tried, okay. Get me the numbers."

"GNC! Give Brotherhood the command to unfurl its solar panels and activate its long range antennae." 

"On it, Flight."

A minute later and the Brotherhood entered orbit.

"Shut down the terrier! How much delta-v does it have?"

"No more than 1,100 m/s." the GUIDO answered.

"That'll do. FIDO, get us a trajectory. GNC and EECOM, run through checks of the spacecraft. Make sure its completely sound. CONNECT, tell the FIDO where and when we can burn while in connection with KSC. Lets get moving people!" Billy clapped his hands and the kerbs scurried. 

They set up a trajectory and then eventually the Terrier fired up again and the Brotherhood accelerated into a higher orbit. 

"Shut down!" 

"Apogaia is 6,300,000 meters."

"It'll do."

"How much propellant do we have?"

"Fumes. The Brotherhood is running on fumes."

"That doesn't matter. We'll get this contract in the bag."

"Brotherhood has reached Apogaia."

"Point Prograde and fire the engine."

"But Flight, we don't have the propellant. It'll kill the engine."

"Do it anyway. Do it now!" Bill ordered. 

The Brotherhood pointed Prograde.

"Make sure that we have reached Apogaia before we fire. We want as much bang for our buck as possible."

"We got it, Flight." 

"Good thing."

We waited for the moment Brotherhood would reach Apogaia.

"Wait for my mark..........NOW!" yelled Billy.

The Terrier ignited for a few short seconds, then shut off.

"Brotherhood is out of propellant, Flight."

"FIDO. What's our orbit?"

The FIDO glowed. "6,350,000 meters by 2,305,000 meters. We did it!"

Billy punched the air. We did it! We survived. 

"Let's call it a day." 

 

Before Flight - Science: 36 - Funds: 26,080

After Flight - Science: 48.4 - Funds - 52,637

Happy Explosions!

 

[Alpha 360]

"We failed."

Brotherhood 3-d

  Reveal hidden contents

"Flight, everything is green for launch." AFD reported. 

"Start the countdown for the fourth brotherhood launch."

"3! 2! 1! Ignition!"

"Everything looks good."

"Flight! The Swivel Engine has failed!"

I stared at the all too familiar scene. The collapsing rocket. The shocked look on everyone's faces. The explosions and the decimation of the launch pad.

"Flight, Brotherhood has been terminated. Again." The AFD heaved a massive sigh. 

"What will the launch-pad cost?"

"31,250 credits."

"How many funds will we have left?"

"7,064."

I face-palmed. "We failed." We had failed. Our contract tab was full. We could do nothing to get more money. We couldn't do anything. We had failed our mission. 

Before Flight - Science: 3.4 - Funds: 52,637

After Flight - Science: 3.4 - Funds: 7,064

This sadly ends the Oceans of Emptiness Career Thread. Sorry for not posting this, but I just couldn't face the task of writing up my failure. I am willing to start up Oceans of Emptiness Mk2 Career Thread, this time using moderate mode instead of hard. Please post your opinions on whether or not to continue the series down below. 

I will do one last post about Roland Kerman abandoning the KSC along with his controllers, then either this thread will close down or we will continue on with the new career mode mentioned above. 

Happy Explosions!

[roboslacker]

Well, you can only dodge so many bullets before one hits you.

[Ultimate Steve]

Disclaimer, I haven't read the story and the pictures don't want to load in for me right now, but I gathered that you destroyed the launch pad. Is the runway still intact?

And as far as contracts, unless you turned on negative funds and science, you could let them all expire and your funds will be zero, then accept a few more and get the money to launch a few more things.

If you are willing to get really cheaty, you can accept a bunch of contracts, use all the money on something expensive, let the contracts expire bringing your funds to zero, recover vessel, wash, rinse, repeat.

[Alpha 360]

  On 4/14/2018 at 6:05 PM, Ultimate Steve said:

And as far as contracts, unless you turned on negative funds and science, you could let them all expire and your funds will be zero, then accept a few more and get the money to launch a few more things.

If you are willing to get really cheaty, you can accept a bunch of contracts, use all the money on something expensive, let the contracts expire bringing your funds to zero, recover vessel, wash, rinse, repeat.

Expand  

The problem is that with 7,000, I can't even get into orbit from the runway, if that doesn't fail as well and destroy the runway in the process. All the contracts I have are either concerning Olei or Gol, meaning that I would have to resort to one of your "cheaty" methods which I would not like to do myself. I think I will start a science mode game with BARIS on the same settings as this game. Why science mode? I believe that people would like to see views of some of the many planets in the solar system instead of focusing so much on the Gaia system. I will put up a poll later concerning such a thing. Thanks for giving me those cheaty methods though. I now have them lodged in my memory so that I can use them when I'm not recording it.  

Happy Explosions!