totm august 2019 Apollo 11 50th Anniversary

[Munbro Kerman]

A replica that I've been working on for over 3 years now, the title and images pretty much explain themselves. 3 years of working on this project on and off due to frustrations with the craft and a little thing called "life", it is ready to be released, and at an appropriate time, too. Since I'm sure no one wants to hear me ramble on, lets get to it.

Features

Historic Paint Scheme done by fuel cells (don't want to talk about it)

Accurate stages (S-IC, S-II, S-IVB)

Realistic Lunar Module and Command Module

 

Action Groups

AG 1. LES Jettison

AG 2. Toggle CSM fuel cells

AG 3. Toggle CSM high-gain antenna

Flight Manual

1. Before heading to the launchpad, ensure that there are 3 kerbals in the first three Mk1 Command Pods by checking the crew tab
2. At launchpad, click "control from here" on the docking port of the CM (best done by aiming camera on the fairing base and zooming in, then resetting camera)
3. Launch! The first stage will get you to a velocity of ~1,100 m/s before cutoff, so start your gravity turn at about 90 m/s and continue to turn (DO NOT USE EXCESSIVE PITCH/YAW/ROLL, or risk the Saturn V blowing up, but you shouldn't need to do that many attitude adjustments after launching
4. After staging the first stage (don't panic if there are explosions near the engine base, just fuel cells overheating) and allowing for them to distance themselves, stage the second stage engines and go pro-grade, then stage the interstage (make sure to do this or the rocket may explode) I recommend that you enable unbreakable joints and allow part-clipping in the cheat menu, but this may be unnecessary, test at your own discretion. Press AG 1 to discard the LES
5. Use the second stage to finish your orbit insertion (between 80km and 110km is good) and stage to the third stage
6. Stage the S-IVB ullage motors, Use this stage for the munar injection, you should have plenty of fuel and room for error
7. Stage fairings and look over your staging menu (do this often) and make sure that everything is in check before decoupling the CSM from the LM and S-IVB, turn around and dock just as the Apollo missions did.
8. Decouple the LM and CSM from the S-IVB and enter munar orbit with CSM engine, press AG 2 to toggle the CSM fuel cells to "on" and AG 3 for the high-gain antenna (You must enter an orbit of <15km or the descent stage will not have enough fuel to land)
9. Transfer 2 crew from the CM to the LM, undock, and land on the surface; pretty straightforward (click "control from here" on the LM's docking port for landing and takeoff)
10. Munar operations: decouple the "science" package from the descent stage and use "infinite electricity" to flip the package over to expose the solar panels
11. Takeoff from the surface: I recommend that you enable "ignore max temperature" before staging to the ascent stage engine to lower the chance of the descent stage from exploding/jellifying.
12. Rendezvous with the CM in orbit, transfer the crew and discard the ascent stage, use the CSM engine for earth injection burn
13. Stage the CSM at 150km from Kerbin and face retrograde, reenter
14. Stage the docking mechanism at around 300 m/s, stage parachutes at 1,500 m 

 

Images

Launch

Spoiler

Liftoff! 5 FPS!!!

Saturn V in flight

S-IC Separation (AND EXPLOSIONS!!)

Interstage Separation

LES Jettison

S-II stage in flight

S-II Stage Separation

Transmunar Injection Operations

Spoiler

S-IVB Transmunar Injection Burn and Ullage motor jettison

Fairing Separation

CSM decoupling from the S-IVB and LM

CSM docking with LM and extraction

Munar Operations

Spoiler

Munar Orbit insertion

"The Eagle has wings"

Descent Orbit Insertion

"Houston, the Eagle has landed."

Flag planting and surface operations

LM Ascent

Rendezvous 

Docking

Discarded LM Ascent stage

Mission Recovery

Spoiler

Transkerbin Trajectory

CSM separation from CM

CM reentry

Docking mechanism staging

Parachute Deployment

Missed the water by that much

 

 

Well, despite all the frustrations I've had with this project, whether it was using fuel cells to paint stripes on the Saturn V, having the Saturn V blow up every time mid flight before finding the problem, or the LM descent stage running out of fuel, this project was really fun to do and I would do it again if I had to; even if it takes another 3 years.

DOWNLOAD

KerbalX: https://kerbalx.com/MunbroKerman/Saturn-V-Apollo-11

Edited July 18, 2019 by Munbro Kerman

[qzgy]

Really nice replica. The fuel cell work I like especially, I've never had the patience to really get it to that level.

Also wow, 3 years? Thats alot of dedication.

[Servo]

Phenomenal work! I remember watching this project come together years ago and it's amazing to see it finally see the light of day. The detail on this is insane, and I can't wait to pick this apart to see how you pulled everything off (that gold foil is brilliant)

[Majorjim!]

Awesome work mate, truly! The LEM is amazing and the overall detail is stunning! A true labor of love and congratulations on finally getting it released.

[Dafni]

I agree with the guys above! Amazing replica my friend. I am truly impressed, you did an awesome job indeed!

[ScaryTerry]

This is so amazing, I love it, the detail and all, and exactly on the anniversary, perfection 

[WooDzor]

Oh wow! That's more than enough for me to come out of hiding. It's giving me the KSP tingle again! Well done!

[Munbro Kerman]

11 hours ago, qzgy said:

Really nice replica. The fuel cell work I like especially, I've never had the patience to really get it to that level.

Also wow, 3 years? Thats alot of dedication.

Thank you! Yes, the frustration I've had with getting all the fuel cells in place to look like a Saturn V is what you would've expected, from me yelling at my computer to pulling my hair out, but the end result is satisfying and worth the frustration. This project shouldn't have taken that long, considering there were about three major phases it went through; the first being a barebone Saturn V, meaning that each stage only had the correct amount of engines, and that's it. No distinct shape,  nothing. Then the second phase was to get a more accurate LM and get the Saturn V body shape down, and the third phase (the one seen here) was to take it another step further and have the accurate black and white paint scheme that makes the Saturn V so distinct. 

5 hours ago, Servo said:

Phenomenal work! I remember watching this project come together years ago and it's amazing to see it finally see the light of day. The detail on this is insane, and I can't wait to pick this apart to see how you pulled everything off (that gold foil is brilliant)

Thank you for the kind words, looking back on old images I have of previous phases and to see how far it's come along is really something else. The 1.5 part revamp of the Probodobodyne RoveMate motivated me to revisit my LM and use it on the descent stage and I think it looks 1000x better than using structural plates.

5 hours ago, Majorjim! said:

Awesome work mate, truly! The LEM is amazing and the overall detail is stunning! A true labor of love and congratulations on finally getting it released.

Thank you! Your Selene Mk3 was really what inspired me to undertake the Apollo project, and its been an awesome experience. 

5 hours ago, Dafni said:

I agree with the guys above! Amazing replica my friend. I am truly impressed, you did an awesome job indeed!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! It truly makes me happy to see that everyone here has nothing but kind words for me, and that's why I love the KSP community.

3 hours ago, WooDzor said:

Oh wow! That's more than enough for me to come out of hiding. It's giving me the KSP tingle again! Well done!

Wow! I'm really happy to hear that my work was able to inspire you to come back to KSP.  

[Majorjim!]

4 hours ago, WooDzor said:

Oh wow! That's more than enough for me to come out of hiding. It's giving me the KSP tingle again! Well done!

Welcome back!

[RocketSquid]

This thing is beautiful

[Bubbadevlin]

Very cool! I love the detail on stuff, overall looks great. SO many fuel cells though, cant imagine how repetitive that must have been 

Edited July 18, 2019 by Bubbadevlin

[James Kerman]

Congratulations @Munbro Kerman, you have been awarded thread of the month for sharing your excellent replica with us all.