Maian's Stock ISS Replica (07.26.19 - STS-110)

[MaianTrey]

 

This is a completely vanilla KSP replica of the International Space Station. All craft files, once hosted to KerbalX, will be posted here. Image albums and videos (if I record) of each mission will be posted as well. I will do my best to get through this entire build. This replica currently sits at 2,146 total parts, not including attached Soyuz, Dragon, or Shuttle crafts. I have just the ELC and ESP parts to finish building, and then everything will be ready to load up and launched. I have created a stock Shuttle, stock Proton-K, stock Soyuz, and stock Falcon 9 (with landable first stage without mods).

My shuttle has a working Canadarm, as does my ISS with the Canadarm 2 (shoutout to @sgt_flyer and @selfish_meme on their shuttle/ISS build for a few ideas and tips). The robotic arm for the Japanese Exposed Facility, though, is static. Everything is designed to be launched with the real world launch vehicle. I may use Dock Rotate as the only mod to ensure that everything is straight during the build, since I'll be using the Canadarm and not RCS Tugs (besides solar arrays on the trusses).

Current Status

A few VAB craft images

Spoiler

ISS Mission Status Table

Spoiler

 

ISS Module	Built	Launched	Craft File
Zarya (Proton-K)	Yes	Yes	KerbalX
Unity+PMA-1+PMA-2 (STS-88)	Yes	Yes	KerbalX
Zvezda (Proton-K)	Yes	Yes	KerbalX
Z1 Truss+PMA-3 (STS-92)	Yes	Yes	KerbalX
P6 Truss (STS-97)	Yes	Yes	KerbalX
Destiny Lab (STS-98)	Yes	Yes	KerbalX
ESP-1 (STS-102)	Yes	Yes	KerbalX
Canadarm2 (STS-100)	Yes	Yes	KerbalX
Quest Airlock (STS-104)	Yes	Yes	KerbalX
PIRS Adapter (Soyuz-U)	Yes	Yes	KerbalX
S0 Truss (STS-110)	Yes	Yes	KerbalX
Mobile Base System (STS-111)	Yes	No
S1 Truss (STS-112)	Yes	No
P1 Truss (STS-113)	Yes	No
ESP-2 (STS-114)	Yes	No
P3/P4 Truss (STS-115)	Yes	No
P5 Truss (STS-116)	Yes	No
S3/S4 Truss (STS-117)	Yes	No
S5 Truss+ESP-3 (STS-118)	Yes	No
Harmony (STS-120)	Yes	No
Columbus (STS-122)	Yes	No
Japanese ELM-PS (STS-123)	Yes	No
Kibo Lab+JEM Robotic Arm (STS-124)	Yes	No
S6 Truss (STS-119)	Yes	No
Japanese Exposed Facility (STS-127)	Yes	No
Poisk Adapter (Soyuz-U)	Yes	No
ELC-1+ELC-2 (STS-129)	No	No
Cupola+Tranquility (STS-130)	Yes	No
Rassvet Airlock (STS-132)	Yes	No
Leonardo+ELC-4 (STS-133)	Yes	No
AMS+OBSS+ELC-3 (STS-134)	No	No
BEAM (CRS-8)	Yes	No

 

Launch/Mission Videos:
Mission 1A: Zarya
Mission 2A: STS-88
Mission 1R: Zvezda
Mission 3A: STS-92
Expedition 1: Soyuz TM-31
Mission 4A: STS-97
Mission 5A: STS-98
Mission 3P: Progress M-44
Mission 5A.1: STS-102
Mission 6A: STS-100
Mission 7A: STS-104
Mission 4R: M-SO1 Pirs
Mission 8A: STS-110

Edited July 26, 2019 by MaianTrey
Added STS-110 Mission

[peteletroll]

So, you're going to use the Canadarm to assemble the station in space? Is the Canadarm moving via DockRotate?

[MaianTrey]

Yea I'm using it in space, but no - it's completely stock to work. It is made of 3 separate elements that use hinge assemblies to stay together. If you have it undocked (so that you can move it) you cannot timewarp until you 'stow' it again or it floats apart.

I made an imgur album a little while back that shows how the different hinges go together:
https://imgur.com/a/QBdqJ

Each of the three parts has a RTG so it doesn't run out of power, the smallest probe core for control, and reaction wheels for movement.

In the first exploded view in the album, the RCS part is attached to the shuttle itself, while the antennas around it are on the arm, so it creates a ball joint for it to move freely. The second hinge is a 2-way hinge, so it rotates around the reaction wheel part. The third hinge is another ball-joint hinge like the first one.

[Rune]

6 hours ago, peteletroll said:

So, you're going to use the Canadarm to assemble the station in space? Is the Canadarm moving via DockRotate?

I see I'm not the only one that had that idea. Great minds think alike, I guess! Already have some articulated drill arms worked out and everything.

 

Rune. Pretty cool ISS, BTW.

[peteletroll]

The way you made Canadarm work is amazing. Can't wait to see it in action.

[selfish_meme]

It was @sgt_flyer who built the first stock Canadarm, this is almost a copy of his from our ISS pack, it was a brilliant idea, and kudos to anyone who can replicate his work, but from a practical point of view RCS tugs are much easier

[MaianTrey]

I've uploaded STS-88 to KerbalX. Zarya, Zvezda, STS-92, 97, and 98 to follow the rest of this week.

[MaianTrey]

I've uploaded Zarya, Zvezda, and STS-92 to KerbalX.

I've also added the first four mission videos (STS-88 and 92 show the Canadarm in action).

[pTrevTrevs]

I’m really interested in that Shuttle, can you go over any special techniques you used to build it?

[MaianTrey]

The shuttle itself is pretty straightforward with 3 or 4 hidden exceptions. The shuttle is built for looks first, and function second. As a result, it doesn't glide as efficiently as a previous design, but it still works as well as it should otherwise.

1. The OMS Pods and all the RCS thrusters and shape in the back are all anchored on a short I-Beam, so that I can move it at once (which was helpful when I was tweaking the positioning). The OMS Pod is made of the in-line Mk1 Docking Ports, and the Advanced Grabbing Unit because of the rounded shape that I felt was most similar to the front of the OMS pods on the real shuttle. I tried using nose cones and things and couldn't get it looking good enough. There are a few radiator panels there just to even out the shape. The OMS pods are built off of one piece that connects to the I-Beam, so you can adjust the pod itself without it falling apart.

2. The RCS Thrusters are all the LF/O types. The only LF/O on the craft is anchored on a 2.5m Decoupler that is clipped into the back Monoprop fuel tank. I have crossfeed disabled, but the toggle for crossfeed tied to the RCS action group. This opens the fuel only when RCS is active (and keeps you from accidentally draining it if you go too long on the external tank in the beginning). I used monoprop as the main fuel source because the Shuttle OMS engines in-game are the O-10 Puff engines. The RCS on the nose are all oriented and positioned as they are on the real shuttle, and clipped into the nose in order to keep the nice shape of the nose (RCS clipped inside the craft it's anchored to still works just fine). As such, it's not quite centered, but the reaction wheels in the craft are enough to make for it mostly - translating left/right introduces a bit of a roll if you don't have SAS or hold the key down, but tapping it works well enough.

3. The tail fin of the shuttle is two tails clipped nearly on top of each other, so that you get the double-sided air brake that the shuttle has.

4. For the launch stack, I use 7 SRBs on each side, and add extra pieces to get the length better proportioned (existing Kickbacks are too short and small - real Shuttle SRBs are closer in proportion to the 2.5m size in-game). Now, in real life, there was a thrust profile applied to the SRBs that gradually lowered the thrust as the fuel was drained to keep a certain TWR. That doesn't exist in-game, so I took the 7 SRBs (6 around 1 center one) and adjusted fuel and thrust on each one so that they burn out one at a time. At 1:17 of the launch, the 6 outer SRBs are done, leaving just the center that has another 8 seconds of fuel to disconnect the SRBs to mimic the still slightly burning SRBs on the real shuttle at SRB Separation. This also keeps them flying with the orbiter enough for the ejection motors to push them away.

 

The orbiter also has two of the Fuel Cell Arrays clipped into the bottom of the cockpit, so if you remove the Canadarm (which has RTGs), it has a battery source. Fuel for them may be an issue depending on length of stay, though - it currently only has LFO onboard for the RCS.

[pTrevTrevs]

I decided to give your shuttle a test flight tonight, here's a photo that was taken during the underwing inspection with the Canadarm:

I think I'd like to try to reverse-engineer parts of your shuttle to build one of my own. I've never finished a working STS, but this example has a lot of techniques that have really piqued my interest and given me ideas...

[klond]

On 6/28/2018 at 9:21 AM, MaianTrey said:

Yea I'm using it in space, but no - it's completely stock to work. It is made of 3 separate elements that use hinge assemblies to stay together.

 Well that's frikken awesome!

[Dman979]

Congratulations on being September's Thread of the Month!

[MaianTrey]

Two more videos added:

TM-31 (First ISS Long-duration crew) and STS-97 (P6 Truss and Solar Array).

[Majorjim!]

On 8/30/2018 at 1:48 AM, klond said:

 Well that's frikken awesome! 

Thank @sgt_flyer I made a canadarm also but didn't release it before sgt_flyer but its not as slick as his.

[Bej Kerman]

Me: Yes, made a Falcon 9 replica in stock KSP! (except for the landing barge from https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/71323-143-launchers-pack-spacex-pack-v53-released-april-18th/)

Me, 5 seconds later after seeing this:

BTW, good job on this, looks amazing!

EDIT: Rocket: https://imgur.com/a/RPUOhfE

Edited September 28, 2018 by Bej Kerman
Imgur album

[MaianTrey]

I've added 3 new videos to the OP:

STS-98 - installation of the Destiny Lab module
Progress M-44 - Resupply mission with Progress spacecraft
STS-102 - installation of ESP-1, resupply with Leonardo, and crew rotation

All craft files showcased are uploaded and can be found in the KerbalX hangar (link in signature and in spoiler of OP).

Edited October 7, 2018 by MaianTrey

[RealKerbal3x]

Wow, this is fantastic! 2000 parts? My laptop would be a puddle on the floor.

[MaianTrey]

2 new crafts and videos uploaded - STS-100 and STS-104. 

Picture in the OP shows the configuration of the station after the latest posted mission.

[MaianTrey]

New launch posted - Pirs module, and OP updated. The video includes a few other maintenance / crew rotation launches to follow the timeline. I'm working on the next launch (STS-110 and surrounding maintenance launches) for the next one. Then the fun really begins!

[Russekof71]

hello, is your mod compatible with ksp 1.3.1 and Ro?

[DragonsForce]

17 minutes ago, Russekof71 said:

hello, is your mod compatible with ksp 1.3.1 and Ro?

This post has nothing to do with any mods.

[RealKerbal3x]

4 hours ago, Russekof71 said:

hello, is your mod compatible with ksp 1.3.1 and Ro?

No. As @DragonsForce said above, this isn’t a mod; @MaianTrey is building an ISS in a pure stock game.

Edited December 10, 2018 by RealKerbal3x

[MaianTrey]

So I did get STS-110 launched and landed, a few months back, but never finished uploading it. I think in the next month or so I'm going to try to finish launching my Vanilla ISS and upload it with a few screenshots and no videos to finish the project, and then update them with Breaking Ground robotics where necessary.

 

In the weeks leading up to Breaking Ground's release, I completely re-created my shuttle from scratch, and then incorporated robotics into its design for the Canadarm and other bits. So far I've only completely created STS-88 along with recreating the first two Russian segments (Zarya and Zvezda). I recreated and improved my Proton-K rocket as well. Everything is still completely stock, with Breaking Ground parts. No parts from the Making History are used in the following craft. I've automated the installation of STS-88 -- There are KAL controllers that completely perform grabbing the payload, lifting it out of the bay, docking it on the orbiter's docking port, extending out to grab Zarya, and then putting it on Unity once coupled. The launch sequence is automated through SRB ejection thanks to the newly released v1.7.3, you just have to steer.

Spoiler

I also recreated the P6 truss (so far) right after Breaking Ground released to test out the robotics for a self-deploying solar array. It folds up nice and tight to fit in the payload bay just like the real one did.
https://gfycat.com/brightunacceptablehalicore (recommend playing at 4x speed)

Spoiler

 

Edited July 12, 2019 by MaianTrey

[MaianTrey]

STS-110 uploaded to Youtube and KerbalX

Craft: https://kerbalx.com/Maian/STS-110-Atlantis
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCkEccXRDxs