[1.3.1][1.4.4][v0.5.6b] History of Spaceflight - Contract Pack for Stock/RSS/RP-0/RP-1

[Morphisor]

Project announcement:

I want to hereby declare my intention to take over control of this mod. @Frylovespi has still not been heard from or logged in since my brief contact with him. Given the developments in the Kerbal world I feel it would be a waste to leave this lying in limbo as it currently is. Taking control will allow me to safely continue work on developing the additions discussed in my previous post, as well as bring this mod to a proper release.

Functionally very little will change, since I already have all the necessary rights in the original Github repo. @Frylovespi remains of course very welcome to return and take back control if that is his wish.

I will leave this notification here for now and request that anyone who would like anything to say on this matter do so; if there's no objections I will push for a release at the end of next week.

 

--

But since I couldn't very well sit still in the meantime, there's a little surprise on the github dev branch some of you may have been waiting for: a complete and working 'light' version, which I call the Pocket Edition. Right now this is simply a redacted version of the stock edition, with most of the repetitions and failed missions being removed. This is was mostly done by paying attention to the equipment used and/or mission profile - whenever there was a notable change in either, the mission in question was preserved.

The result of this is a significant reduction in total number of missions: going from 663 down to 287.  Most of the reduction has been done in the recon programs, while the other programs do see some reductions but are left mostly intact. Gemini is still all there, no real space fan could remove any of those.

The next phase is to start adding more quality stuff into existing parameters and add the most significant of the post-1967 missions. No real promises on timeframe or order in which I do this, it will be whatever I feel like doing most probably.

 

Edited March 28, 2020 by Morphisor

[Morphisor]

I have spent the last week doing a quality pass for all US missions included in the Pocket Edition. What this means is that nearly all missions have received extra parameters and part requirements, mostly focusing on adding in science stuff and adding extras for users of the Bluedog Design Bureau parts - which is very well suited to be used with this pack and comes highly recommended.

These additions have also been retroactively added to the stock version of the pack. I am particularly happy with the later Gemini missions, they have truly become quite a bit more interesting. I have not added any of this to the RSS version however, for 2 reasons: 1. RSS/RO users tend to use Raidernick's mods instead of BDB, which I am not familiar with. 2. I am unsure how RO handles science and do not want to create unsuitable parameters.

If people want it, I will consider looking into improving the RSS version further in this manner, but some advice or help may be needed since I don't play RO myself.

 

--

Finally, I have begun the process of taking over the mod and have already published a formal 0.8 release on GitHub, with each version having its own zip file: https://github.com/Frylovespi/History-of-Spaceflight/releases/tag/0.8.0

I will also try to upload these to Spacedock and CKAN, as well as make a new thread in the releases section. It may not be version 1.0 yet, but that's just because I'm certainly not done with this yet!

 

Edit: release thread opened, any further info will be here: 

 

Edited April 4, 2020 by Morphisor
New thread link

[ndiver]

On 3/28/2020 at 5:15 PM, Morphisor said:

The result of this is a significant reduction in total number of missions: going from 663 down to 287.  Most of the reduction has been done in the recon programs, while the other programs do see some reductions but are left mostly intact. Gemini is still all there, no real space fan could remove any of those.

Isn't it possible to keep the missions you removed as extra? They make easy cash, and I used them to test stupidly funny rocket designs.
When i looked at the dependencies between missions, the main difficulty was that some crewed missions were dependent from un-crewed recon missions.
I agree however that their repetition is boring, but some were quite cool, challenging or useful (like polar orbits).

[Morphisor]

34 minutes ago, ndiver said:

Isn't it possible to keep the missions you removed as extra? They make easy cash, and I used them to test stupidly funny rocket designs.
When i looked at the dependencies between missions, the main difficulty was that some crewed missions were dependent from un-crewed recon missions.
I agree however that their repetition is boring, but some were quite cool, challenging or useful (like polar orbits).

They are all still there in the Stock and RSS versions, so those are for you if you want all of em! I just made Pocket Edition because not everyone feels the same way about this many similar missions, so more choice!

Also, the progression for all versions has been altered to be more logical and no manned or research missions should require a regular recon mission to be completed first.

[ndiver]

3 hours ago, Morphisor said:

They are all still there in the Stock and RSS versions, so those are for you if you want all of em! I just made Pocket Edition because not everyone feels the same way about this many similar missions, so more choice!

Also, the progression for all versions has been altered to be more logical and no manned or research missions should require a regular recon mission to be completed first.

If I can support you on this mod, do not hesitate

[Morphisor]

29 minutes ago, ndiver said:

If I can support you on this mod, do not hesitate

Thanks for your enthusiasm! For now it's mostly testing the whole thing and feedback on balance and any oddities would be really appreciated. While everything loads correctly I'm sure there's some little details I missed.

[ndiver]

Ideas for the Skylab missions, in red in the spoilers, real actions that can be used as KSP mission sub-element.
Note that Skylab should:

Quote

- be a station
- have a docking port,
- 2 solar panels,
- a cooling system,
- science parts including solar observation, micrometeorites

Skylab-2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab_2
Space walks details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spacewalks_and_moonwalks_1965–1999#1970–1979_spacewalks_and_moonwalks

Spoiler

Mission highlights:
On reaching the station, Conrad flew their Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) around it to inspect the damage, then soft-docked with it to avoid the necessity of station keeping while the crew ate, and flight controllers planned the first repair attempt. Then they undocked so that Conrad could position the Apollo by the jammed solar panel, so that Weitz could perform a stand-up EVA, trying to free the array by tugging at it with a 10-foot hooked pole, while Kerwin held onto his legs. This failed, and consumed a significant amount of the Skylab's nitrogen maneuvering fuel to keep it steady in the process.

The crew then attempted to perform the hard dock to Skylab, but the capture latches failed to operate. After eight failed attempts, they donned their pressure suits again and partially dis-assembled the CSM's docking probe; the next attempt worked. Once inside the station, the crew deployed a collapsible parasol through the small scientific airlock to act as a sunshade. (This approach was suggested and designed by NASA's "Mr. Fix It" Jack Kinzler, who was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for the effort.) Successful deployment of the sunshade dropped inside temperatures to sustainable levels.^[10]

Two weeks later, Conrad and Kerwin performed a second EVA, finally freeing the stuck solar panel and increasing the electrical power to the workshop. They had prepared for this repair by practicing in the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator at the Marshall Space Flight Center. Without power from the panel, the second and third Skylab missions would have been unable to perform their main experiments, and the station's critical battery system would have been seriously degraded.^{[7]:271–276} During this EVA, the sudden deployment of the solar panel structure caused both astronauts to be flung from the station's hull, testing their nerves as well as the strength of their safety tethers. After recovering their composure, both astronauts returned to their positions on the station and completed the EVA.^[11]

For nearly a month they made further repairs to the workshop, conducted medical experiments, gathered solar and Earth science data, and performed a total of 392 hours of experiments. The mission tracked two minutes of a large solar flare with the Apollo Telescope Mount; they took and returned some 29,000 frames of film of the sun.^[7]:291 The Skylab 2 astronauts spent 28 days in space, which doubled the previous U.S. record. The mission ended successfully on June 22, 1973, when Skylab 2 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 9.6 km from the recovery ship USS Ticonderoga. Skylab 2 set the records for the longest duration crewed spaceflight, greatest distance traveled and greatest mass docked in space. Conrad set the record for most time in space for an astronaut.

EVA-1:
Using a 10-foot (3.0 m) long tool, Pilot Weitz stood in the open hatch of the command module (as Science Pilot Joseph Kerwin held onto his legs) and tried to remove a strap preventing the release of a solar array wing on Skylab
EVA-2:
Conrad and Kerwin used long-handled cable cutters to remove debris that prevented the remaining solar array wing from deploying (the other was sheared off from the station during its launch). They then forced the solar wing to deploy, providing Skylab with the electrical power needed to operate.
EVA-3:
Conrad and Weitz ventured outside the station to replace exposed film cassettes in the Apollo Telescope Mount with fresh film. Conrad also fixed an electrical relay by whacking it with a hammer.

Which gives:

Quote

1) fly to Skylab with crew = 3 --> rendezvous
2) while at less than 200m of Skylab, crew report
3) do a first space walk (EVA)
3a) EVA report
4) dock to the skylab
5) activate the cooling system --> resource?
6) second spacewalk
6a) EVA report
6b) deploy a solar panel --> collect amount energy
7) do a solar observation
8) third spacewalk
8a) gather scientific result while in EVA
9) come back safely to Kerbin

 

Skylab-3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab_3

Spoiler

Mission highlights:

During the approach phase, a propellant leak developed in one of the Apollo Service Module's reaction control system thruster quads. The crew was able to safely dock with Skylab, but troubleshooting continued with the problem. Six days later, another thruster quad developed a leak, creating concern amongst Mission Control. For the first time, an Apollo spacecraft would be rolled out to Launch Complex 39 for a rescue mission, made possible by the ability for the station to have two Apollo CSMs docked at the same time. It was eventually determined that the CSM could be safely maneuvered using only two working thruster quads, and the rescue mission was never launched.

The crew, during their first EVA, installed the twin-pole sunshade, one of the two solutions for the destruction of the micrometeoroid shield during Skylab's launch to keep the space station cool. It was installed over the parasol, which was originally deployed through a porthole airlock during Skylab 2. Both were brought to the station by Skylab 2.

Skylab 3 continued a comprehensive medical research program that extended the data on human physiological adaptation and readaptation to space flight collected on the previous Skylab 2 mission. In addition, Skylab 3 extended the astronauts' stay in space from approximately one month to two months. Therefore, the effects of flight duration on physiological adaptation and readaptation could be examined.

A set of core medical investigations were performed on all three Skylab crewed missions. These core investigations were the same basic investigations that were performed on Skylab 2, except that the Skylab 3 inflight tests were supplemented with extra tests based on what researchers learned from the Skylab 2 science results. For example, only leg volume measurements, preflight and postflight stereophotogrammetry, and in-flight maximum calf girth measurements were originally scheduled for all three Skylab missions.

In-flight photographs from Skylab 2 revealed the "puffy face syndrome" which prompted the addition of in-flight torso and limb girth measurements to gather more data on the apparent headward fluid shift on Skylab 3. Other additional tests included arterial blood flow measurements by an occlusive cuff placed around the leg, facial photographs taken before flight and during flight to study the "puffy face syndrome", venous compliance, hemoglobin, urine specific gravity, and urine mass measurements. These inflight tests gave additional information about fluid distribution and fluid balance to get a better understanding of the fluid shift phenomena.

The Skylab 3 biological experiments studied the effects of microgravity on mice, fruit flies, single cells and cell culture media. Human lung cells were flown to examine the biochemical characteristics of cell cultures in the microgravity environment. The two animal experiments were entitled Chronobiology of Pocket Mice and Circadian Rhythm in Vinegar Gnats. Both experiments were unsuccessful due to a power failure 30 hours after launch, which killed the animals.^[4]

High school students from across the United States participated in the Skylab missions as the primary investigators of experiments that studied astronomy, physics, and fundamental biology. The student experiments performed on Skylab 3 included the study of libration clouds, X-rays from Jupiter, in-vitro immunology, spider web formation, cytoplasmic streaming, mass measurement, and neutron analysis.

The crew's health was assessed on Skylab by collecting data on dental health, environmental and crew microbiology, radiation, and toxicological aspects of the Skylab orbital workshop. Other assessments were made of astronaut maneuvering equipment and of the habitability of the crew quarters, and crew activities/maintenance experiments were examined on Skylab 2 through 4 to better understand the living and working aspects of life in space.

 

Skylab 3 – EVA 1
Garriot and Lousma erected a twin-pole solar shield to improve temperature control in Skylab. They also replaced film cassettes in the Apollo Telescope Mount solar observatory and installed micrometeoroid detection panels.
Skylab 3 – EVA 2
Garriott and Lousma disconnected external cabling, installed a new gyroscope selection box, and reconnected the cabling to the box. They also replaced the film in the solar observatory
Skylab 3 – EVA 3
Garrett and Bean replaced the film in the solar observatory. They also collected the Thermal Coatings Experiment Panel for return to Earth

Mission suggestion:

Quote

1) Launch vessel with crew = 3
2) dock to Skylab
3) EVA
3a) crew report
3b) activate cooling system while in EVA --> resource cooling?
3c) science while in EVA
4a) onboard science experiment
4b) recover science experiment
5) EVA n°2
6) EVA n°3
6a) science while in EVA
7) come back safely to Kerbin

 

Skylab-4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab_4

Spoiler

Mission highlights:

The all-rookie astronaut crew arrived aboard Skylab to find that they had company – three figures dressed in flight suits. Upon closer inspection, they found their companions were three dummies, complete with Skylab 4 mission emblems and name tags which had been left there by Al Bean, Jack Lousma, and Owen Garriott at the end of Skylab 3.^[7]

Things got off to a bad start after the crew attempted to hide Pogue's early space sickness from flight surgeons, a fact discovered by mission controllers after downloading onboard voice recordings. Astronaut office chief Alan B. Shepard reprimanded them for this omission, saying they "had made a fairly serious error in judgement."^[8]

The crew had problems adjusting to the same workload level as their predecessors when activating the workshop. The crew's initial task of unloading and stowing the thousands of items needed for their lengthy mission also proved to be overwhelming.^[9] The schedule for the activation sequence dictated lengthy work periods with a large variety of tasks to be performed, and the crew soon found themselves tired and behind schedule.

Seven days into their mission, a problem developed in the Skylab gyroscopic attitude control system, which threatened to bring an early end to the mission. Skylab depended upon three large gyroscopes, sized so that any two of them could provide sufficient control and maneuver Skylab as desired. The third acted as a backup in the event of failure of one of the others.^[10] The gyroscope failure was attributed to insufficient lubrication. Later in the mission, a second gyroscope showed similar problems,^[11][12] but special temperature control and load reduction procedures kept the second one operating, and no further problems occurred.

On Thanksgiving Day, Gibson and Pogue accomplished a 6¹⁄₂ hour spacewalk. The first part of their spacewalk was spent deploying experiments and replacing film in the solar observatory. The remainder of the time was used to repair a malfunctioning antenna. During the experience, Gibson remarked, "Boy if this isn't the great outdoors! Inside, you're just looking out through a window. Here, you're right in it."^[13] The crew reported that the food was good, but slightly bland. The quantity and type of food consumed was rigidly controlled because of their strict diet. Although the crew would have preferred to use more condiments to enhance the taste of the food, and the amount of salt they could use was restricted for medical purposes, by the third mission the NASA kitchen had increased the availability of condiments, and salt and pepper was in liquid solutions (granular salt and pepper brought aboard by the second crew was little more than "air pollution").^[14]

On December 13, the crew sighted Comet Kohoutek and trained the solar observatory and hand-held cameras on it. They gathered spectra on it using the Far Ultraviolet Camera/Spectrograph.^[15] They continued to photograph it as it approached the Sun. On December 30, as it swept out from behind the Sun, Carr and Gibson spotted it as they were performing a spacewalk.

As Skylab work progressed, the astronauts complained of being pushed too hard, and ground controllers complained they were not getting enough work done. NASA determined major contributing factors were a large number of new tasks added shortly before launch with little or no training, and searches for equipment out of place on the station.^[16][17][18] There was a radio conference to air frustrations^[19] which led to the workload schedule being modified, and by the end of their mission the crew had completed even more work than originally planned.

Skylab 4 was noted for several important scientific contributions. The crew spent many hours studying the Earth. Carr and Pogue alternately crewed controls, operating the sensing devices which measured and photographed selected features on the Earth's surface. Gibson and the other crew made solar observations, recording about 75,000 new telescopic images of the Sun. Images were taken in the X-ray, ultraviolet, and visible portions of the spectrum.^[16][20]

As the end of their mission drew closer, Gibson continued his watch of the solar surface. On January 21, 1974, an active region on the Sun's surface formed a bright spot which intensified and grew.^[16] Gibson quickly began filming the sequence as the bright spot erupted. This film was the first recording from space of the birth of a solar flare.

The crew also photographed the Earth from orbit. Despite instructions not to do so, the crew (perhaps inadvertently) photographed Area 51, causing a minor dispute between various government agencies as to whether the photographs showing this secret facility should be released. In the end, the picture was published along with all others in NASA's Skylab image archive, but remained unnoticed for years.

 

Skylab 4 – EVA 1
Gibson and Pogue spent 6½ hours on their first EVA replacing the film on the solar observatory and repairing the antenna for the Earth Resources Experiment Package.
Skylab 4 – EVA 2
Carr and Pogue used the extreme ultraviolet electronographic camera and the coronagraph contamination camera to photograph Comet Kohoutek. They also replaced the film in the solar observatory.
Skylab 4 – EVA 3
Carr and Gibson photographed Comet Kohoutek as it appeared from behind the Sun. They also recovered the Thermal Control Coatings Experiment panel.
Skylab 4 – EVA 4
Carr and Gibson retrieved film from the solar observatory for the last time. They also photographed Kohoutek using the electronographic camera.

Mission suggestion:

Quote

Like Skylab-3 with with 4 EVA, cooling issue replaced by maintain stability for a certain timing.

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by ndiver

[Morphisor]

On 4/13/2020 at 7:25 PM, ndiver said:

Ideas for the Skylab missions, in red in the spoilers, real actions that can be used as KSP mission sub-element.
Note that Skylab should:

Skylab-2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab_2
Space walks details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_spacewalks_and_moonwalks_1965–1999#1970–1979_spacewalks_and_moonwalks

  Reveal hidden contents

Mission highlights:
On reaching the station, Conrad flew their Apollo Command/Service Module (CSM) around it to inspect the damage, then soft-docked with it to avoid the necessity of station keeping while the crew ate, and flight controllers planned the first repair attempt. Then they undocked so that Conrad could position the Apollo by the jammed solar panel, so that Weitz could perform a stand-up EVA, trying to free the array by tugging at it with a 10-foot hooked pole, while Kerwin held onto his legs. This failed, and consumed a significant amount of the Skylab's nitrogen maneuvering fuel to keep it steady in the process.

The crew then attempted to perform the hard dock to Skylab, but the capture latches failed to operate. After eight failed attempts, they donned their pressure suits again and partially dis-assembled the CSM's docking probe; the next attempt worked. Once inside the station, the crew deployed a collapsible parasol through the small scientific airlock to act as a sunshade. (This approach was suggested and designed by NASA's "Mr. Fix It" Jack Kinzler, who was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal for the effort.) Successful deployment of the sunshade dropped inside temperatures to sustainable levels.^[10]

Two weeks later, Conrad and Kerwin performed a second EVA, finally freeing the stuck solar panel and increasing the electrical power to the workshop. They had prepared for this repair by practicing in the Neutral Buoyancy Simulator at the Marshall Space Flight Center. Without power from the panel, the second and third Skylab missions would have been unable to perform their main experiments, and the station's critical battery system would have been seriously degraded.^{[7]:271–276} During this EVA, the sudden deployment of the solar panel structure caused both astronauts to be flung from the station's hull, testing their nerves as well as the strength of their safety tethers. After recovering their composure, both astronauts returned to their positions on the station and completed the EVA.^[11]

For nearly a month they made further repairs to the workshop, conducted medical experiments, gathered solar and Earth science data, and performed a total of 392 hours of experiments. The mission tracked two minutes of a large solar flare with the Apollo Telescope Mount; they took and returned some 29,000 frames of film of the sun.^[7]:291 The Skylab 2 astronauts spent 28 days in space, which doubled the previous U.S. record. The mission ended successfully on June 22, 1973, when Skylab 2 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean 9.6 km from the recovery ship USS Ticonderoga. Skylab 2 set the records for the longest duration crewed spaceflight, greatest distance traveled and greatest mass docked in space. Conrad set the record for most time in space for an astronaut.

EVA-1:
Using a 10-foot (3.0 m) long tool, Pilot Weitz stood in the open hatch of the command module (as Science Pilot Joseph Kerwin held onto his legs) and tried to remove a strap preventing the release of a solar array wing on Skylab
EVA-2:
Conrad and Kerwin used long-handled cable cutters to remove debris that prevented the remaining solar array wing from deploying (the other was sheared off from the station during its launch). They then forced the solar wing to deploy, providing Skylab with the electrical power needed to operate.
EVA-3:
Conrad and Weitz ventured outside the station to replace exposed film cassettes in the Apollo Telescope Mount with fresh film. Conrad also fixed an electrical relay by whacking it with a hammer.

Which gives:

 

Skylab-3: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab_3

  Reveal hidden contents

Mission highlights:

During the approach phase, a propellant leak developed in one of the Apollo Service Module's reaction control system thruster quads. The crew was able to safely dock with Skylab, but troubleshooting continued with the problem. Six days later, another thruster quad developed a leak, creating concern amongst Mission Control. For the first time, an Apollo spacecraft would be rolled out to Launch Complex 39 for a rescue mission, made possible by the ability for the station to have two Apollo CSMs docked at the same time. It was eventually determined that the CSM could be safely maneuvered using only two working thruster quads, and the rescue mission was never launched.

The crew, during their first EVA, installed the twin-pole sunshade, one of the two solutions for the destruction of the micrometeoroid shield during Skylab's launch to keep the space station cool. It was installed over the parasol, which was originally deployed through a porthole airlock during Skylab 2. Both were brought to the station by Skylab 2.

Skylab 3 continued a comprehensive medical research program that extended the data on human physiological adaptation and readaptation to space flight collected on the previous Skylab 2 mission. In addition, Skylab 3 extended the astronauts' stay in space from approximately one month to two months. Therefore, the effects of flight duration on physiological adaptation and readaptation could be examined.

A set of core medical investigations were performed on all three Skylab crewed missions. These core investigations were the same basic investigations that were performed on Skylab 2, except that the Skylab 3 inflight tests were supplemented with extra tests based on what researchers learned from the Skylab 2 science results. For example, only leg volume measurements, preflight and postflight stereophotogrammetry, and in-flight maximum calf girth measurements were originally scheduled for all three Skylab missions.

In-flight photographs from Skylab 2 revealed the "puffy face syndrome" which prompted the addition of in-flight torso and limb girth measurements to gather more data on the apparent headward fluid shift on Skylab 3. Other additional tests included arterial blood flow measurements by an occlusive cuff placed around the leg, facial photographs taken before flight and during flight to study the "puffy face syndrome", venous compliance, hemoglobin, urine specific gravity, and urine mass measurements. These inflight tests gave additional information about fluid distribution and fluid balance to get a better understanding of the fluid shift phenomena.

The Skylab 3 biological experiments studied the effects of microgravity on mice, fruit flies, single cells and cell culture media. Human lung cells were flown to examine the biochemical characteristics of cell cultures in the microgravity environment. The two animal experiments were entitled Chronobiology of Pocket Mice and Circadian Rhythm in Vinegar Gnats. Both experiments were unsuccessful due to a power failure 30 hours after launch, which killed the animals.^[4]

High school students from across the United States participated in the Skylab missions as the primary investigators of experiments that studied astronomy, physics, and fundamental biology. The student experiments performed on Skylab 3 included the study of libration clouds, X-rays from Jupiter, in-vitro immunology, spider web formation, cytoplasmic streaming, mass measurement, and neutron analysis.

The crew's health was assessed on Skylab by collecting data on dental health, environmental and crew microbiology, radiation, and toxicological aspects of the Skylab orbital workshop. Other assessments were made of astronaut maneuvering equipment and of the habitability of the crew quarters, and crew activities/maintenance experiments were examined on Skylab 2 through 4 to better understand the living and working aspects of life in space.

 

Skylab 3 – EVA 1
Garriot and Lousma erected a twin-pole solar shield to improve temperature control in Skylab. They also replaced film cassettes in the Apollo Telescope Mount solar observatory and installed micrometeoroid detection panels.
Skylab 3 – EVA 2
Garriott and Lousma disconnected external cabling, installed a new gyroscope selection box, and reconnected the cabling to the box. They also replaced the film in the solar observatory
Skylab 3 – EVA 3
Garrett and Bean replaced the film in the solar observatory. They also collected the Thermal Coatings Experiment Panel for return to Earth

Mission suggestion:

 

Skylab-4: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skylab_4

  Reveal hidden contents

Mission highlights:

The all-rookie astronaut crew arrived aboard Skylab to find that they had company – three figures dressed in flight suits. Upon closer inspection, they found their companions were three dummies, complete with Skylab 4 mission emblems and name tags which had been left there by Al Bean, Jack Lousma, and Owen Garriott at the end of Skylab 3.^[7]

Things got off to a bad start after the crew attempted to hide Pogue's early space sickness from flight surgeons, a fact discovered by mission controllers after downloading onboard voice recordings. Astronaut office chief Alan B. Shepard reprimanded them for this omission, saying they "had made a fairly serious error in judgement."^[8]

The crew had problems adjusting to the same workload level as their predecessors when activating the workshop. The crew's initial task of unloading and stowing the thousands of items needed for their lengthy mission also proved to be overwhelming.^[9] The schedule for the activation sequence dictated lengthy work periods with a large variety of tasks to be performed, and the crew soon found themselves tired and behind schedule.

Seven days into their mission, a problem developed in the Skylab gyroscopic attitude control system, which threatened to bring an early end to the mission. Skylab depended upon three large gyroscopes, sized so that any two of them could provide sufficient control and maneuver Skylab as desired. The third acted as a backup in the event of failure of one of the others.^[10] The gyroscope failure was attributed to insufficient lubrication. Later in the mission, a second gyroscope showed similar problems,^[11][12] but special temperature control and load reduction procedures kept the second one operating, and no further problems occurred.

On Thanksgiving Day, Gibson and Pogue accomplished a 6¹⁄₂ hour spacewalk. The first part of their spacewalk was spent deploying experiments and replacing film in the solar observatory. The remainder of the time was used to repair a malfunctioning antenna. During the experience, Gibson remarked, "Boy if this isn't the great outdoors! Inside, you're just looking out through a window. Here, you're right in it."^[13] The crew reported that the food was good, but slightly bland. The quantity and type of food consumed was rigidly controlled because of their strict diet. Although the crew would have preferred to use more condiments to enhance the taste of the food, and the amount of salt they could use was restricted for medical purposes, by the third mission the NASA kitchen had increased the availability of condiments, and salt and pepper was in liquid solutions (granular salt and pepper brought aboard by the second crew was little more than "air pollution").^[14]

On December 13, the crew sighted Comet Kohoutek and trained the solar observatory and hand-held cameras on it. They gathered spectra on it using the Far Ultraviolet Camera/Spectrograph.^[15] They continued to photograph it as it approached the Sun. On December 30, as it swept out from behind the Sun, Carr and Gibson spotted it as they were performing a spacewalk.

As Skylab work progressed, the astronauts complained of being pushed too hard, and ground controllers complained they were not getting enough work done. NASA determined major contributing factors were a large number of new tasks added shortly before launch with little or no training, and searches for equipment out of place on the station.^[16][17][18] There was a radio conference to air frustrations^[19] which led to the workload schedule being modified, and by the end of their mission the crew had completed even more work than originally planned.

Skylab 4 was noted for several important scientific contributions. The crew spent many hours studying the Earth. Carr and Pogue alternately crewed controls, operating the sensing devices which measured and photographed selected features on the Earth's surface. Gibson and the other crew made solar observations, recording about 75,000 new telescopic images of the Sun. Images were taken in the X-ray, ultraviolet, and visible portions of the spectrum.^[16][20]

As the end of their mission drew closer, Gibson continued his watch of the solar surface. On January 21, 1974, an active region on the Sun's surface formed a bright spot which intensified and grew.^[16] Gibson quickly began filming the sequence as the bright spot erupted. This film was the first recording from space of the birth of a solar flare.

The crew also photographed the Earth from orbit. Despite instructions not to do so, the crew (perhaps inadvertently) photographed Area 51, causing a minor dispute between various government agencies as to whether the photographs showing this secret facility should be released. In the end, the picture was published along with all others in NASA's Skylab image archive, but remained unnoticed for years.

 

Skylab 4 – EVA 1
Gibson and Pogue spent 6½ hours on their first EVA replacing the film on the solar observatory and repairing the antenna for the Earth Resources Experiment Package.
Skylab 4 – EVA 2
Carr and Pogue used the extreme ultraviolet electronographic camera and the coronagraph contamination camera to photograph Comet Kohoutek. They also replaced the film in the solar observatory.
Skylab 4 – EVA 3
Carr and Gibson photographed Comet Kohoutek as it appeared from behind the Sun. They also recovered the Thermal Control Coatings Experiment panel.
Skylab 4 – EVA 4
Carr and Gibson retrieved film from the solar observatory for the last time. They also photographed Kohoutek using the electronographic camera.

Mission suggestion:

 

Thanks for taking the time to write it all out, that will surely help. That said, allow me to respond in detail.

 I had earlier considered doing a fully sequential mission, sort of like your sequence. Sequences in contracts can be a bit buggy sometimes, so I was hesitant - though it should be ok since there's no orbit/body changes included. Another reason I wanted to avoid these large sequences, is that it becomes quite a huge and complex thing with the ingame contract interface. Have a look at the new Apollo missions and you'll see what I mean. And that's about 6 objectives only. Finally, I worry that most players would find having to do 3 separate EVAs in sequence a bit boring. But if that's not an issue here, fine by me.

The solar/cooling systems activation may be a bit tricky, though I could try if the ResourceConsumption parameter could work for electric charge; for the cooling system activation I can only think of a part test. Finally, the differences between experiments are hard to achieve with stock, but we do have to account for users without extra experiments. So while that works well for BDB, any science objective needs to be double: one generic science for stock and one specific for BDB.

All that being said, I can definitely try to build, say, Skylab-2 in this way for testing. See if it works out in this way and if the contract is still manageable and doesn't break the interface. Would you be the guinea pig @ndiver? 

 

[ndiver]

On 4/14/2020 at 9:12 PM, Morphisor said:

Thanks for taking the time to write it all out, that will surely help. That said, allow me to respond in detail.

 I had earlier considered doing a fully sequential mission, sort of like your sequence. Sequences in contracts can be a bit buggy sometimes, so I was hesitant - though it should be ok since there's no orbit/body changes included. Another reason I wanted to avoid these large sequences, is that it becomes quite a huge and complex thing with the ingame contract interface. Have a look at the new Apollo missions and you'll see what I mean. And that's about 6 objectives only. Finally, I worry that most players would find having to do 3 separate EVAs in sequence a bit boring. But if that's not an issue here, fine by me.

I will tell you what I think of it when arriving at this step
My point-of-view on a mission is that an historical mission should ideally be a single contract from the take-off to the landing.
After if some steps are repetitive, we could set-up these steps as optional (it makes the mission closer to history, but rewarded as bonus funds / reputation / science).

On 4/14/2020 at 9:12 PM, Morphisor said:

The solar/cooling systems activation may be a bit tricky, though I could try if the ResourceConsumption parameter could work for electric charge; for the cooling system activation I can only think of a part test. Finally, the differences between experiments are hard to achieve with stock, but we do have to account for users without extra experiments. So while that works well for BDB, any science objective needs to be double: one generic science for stock and one specific for BDB.

All that being said, I can definitely try to build, say, Skylab-2 in this way for testing. See if it works out in this way and if the contract is still manageable and doesn't break the interface. Would you be the guinea pig @ndiver? 

Excellent idea to have "one generic science for stock and one specific for BDB"
Give me just a bit of time to progress in my current save before testing extra missions

Edited April 20, 2020 by ndiver

[Morphisor]

1 hour ago, ndiver said:

I will tell you what I think of it when arriving at this step
My point-of-view on a mission is that an historical mission should ideally be a single contract from the take-off to the landing.
After if some steps are repetitive, we could set-up these steps as optional (it makes the mission closer to history, but rewarded as bonus funds / reputation / science).

Excellent idea to have "one generic science for stock and one specific for BDB"
Give me just a bit of time to progress in my current save before testing extra missions

Making the extra stuff optional is a good idea, I think that would be a good compromise. Will start working on it as soon as I finish a few more Soyuz contracts! You'd better hurry 

[Morphisor]

@ndiver and anyone else interested, I just uploaded a heavily modified version of the Skylab 2 contract to the dev branch, so please go test it!

It should all work in its current form, but I still fear the major sequence could lead to stuff not triggering properly.

I followed the mission profile suggested by @ndiver as much as possible, but I had to leave out a few things: the cooling system check didn't work out; for a Part Test parameter to work, the part in question needs a specific test module in its config, which pretty much none of the mods parts have. It also requires a specific part to be mentioned, so that's annoying if players want to use something different. Picking up science on EVA was another thing I couldn't quite figure out how to reproduce, since there's no checks for taking/loading data onto a kerbal or any science container for that matter. The rest of it is in there, though!

Really eager to get feedback on this one!

[ndiver]

I will first try to install the 1.7 of BDB to see the impact of the parts on the errors I had, I just hope it will not crash my save

Edited April 25, 2020 by ndiver

[Morphisor]

6 minutes ago, ndiver said:

I will first try to install the 1.7 of BDB to see the impact of the parts on the errors I had, I just hope it will not crash my save

You should be fine with the release version of bdb now, I uploaded modifications to all affected missions that allow better compatibility with both versions!

[ndiver]

35 minutes ago, Morphisor said:

You should be fine with the release version of bdb now, I uploaded modifications to all affected missions that allow better compatibility with both versions!

I'm more afraid of ships already flying with replaced parts :-|

Edit: I give up with BDB 1.7, I get a large error message when loading KSP

Edited April 25, 2020 by ndiver

[Morphisor]

44 minutes ago, ndiver said:

I'm more afraid of ships already flying with replaced parts :-|

Edit: I give up with BDB 1.7, I get a large error message when loading KSP

Your error may be related to dependencies or such, but better to get help on that within the bdb thread. Other than that, all I can recommend is to stick with the version you used before in saves you wanna keep sane.

[ndiver]

22 minutes ago, Morphisor said:

Your error may be related to dependencies or such, but better to get help on that within the bdb thread. Other than that, all I can recommend is to stick with the version you used before in saves you wanna keep sane.

I checked on my sandbox save the update, I understand the impact and interest of BDB 1.7 for HoSF, there are indeed tons of new parts for probes
I also confirm that ALL contracts load correctly with 1.7    \o/

Edited April 25, 2020 by ndiver

[Morphisor]

@ndiver I have done quite some testing on the changes to Skylab mission 2 yesterday, and found that it simply isn't working as intended. There's several issues I found: the resourceConsumption parameter is not calculating properly - it seems to complete at any negative value, instead of at the specified value. So I'm removing that one. Furthermore, something seems fundamentally wrong with the size or completion of the large sequence I had built - the whole sequence automatically completed after succeeding at the 2nd EVA, even though the reports weren't done, another EVA was still on the list and there was still science to report. For some reason, it seems CC has too much trouble with a large amount of sequenced parameters.

So, I decided it's better to keep the mission simpler than the real thing. Don't worry, the Skylab missions are still more complex and engaging than they were before - but now the sequence ends after the EVA from the station (2nd EVA for Skylab-2, first one for 3 and 4). Let's hope KSP2 brings better mission design possibilities when it comes around.