The Dream Is Alive: Recreating the Space Shuttle Program

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-61N Challenger Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Jane Steffensen (CDR), Tamara Mac Reachtain (PLT), Jordon Poole (MS1), Stuart Pryor (MS2), Kirsten Pavletic (MS3), Marie-France Gros, France (PS1), Gudmund Rasmussen, Norway (PS2)

Backup Crew: Renee Rousseau, France (PS1), Josefine Christiansen, Norway (PS2)

Payload: Galaxy VI-C commsat, Hot Bird 4C commsat, Freya 1 commsat

Payload Mass: 6,658 kg

Launch: January 21, 1987 0:30:00 from Pad 39A at Kerbal Space Center

Mission Duration: 6d5h54m44s

Landing: January 28, 1987 0:24:44 at Edwards Air Force Range

Statistics & Milestones: 50th Space Shuttle mission; 16th flight of Challenger; 21st landing at Edwards AFR. Payload Specialist Gudmund Rasmussen became the first Norwegian kerbal to fly in space.

Narrative Summary:

The Kerbal Space Shuttle program reached a major milestone on STS-51N with its 50th mission.

The first launch attempt, for a predawn launch on January 18, was scrubbed due to frigid temperatures at the Edwards AFR emergency landing site. Due to more than a week of forecast freezing overnight temperatures at Edwards, mission managers elected to retarget the launch for mid-morning Edwards time, when the temperature should have exceeded the safety threshold for shuttle operations.

After one more delay due to rain at KSC, Challenger lifted off on the third launch attempt on January 21 with a cargo of three international communications satellites. The orbiter was inserted into an initial 57x121km orbit. The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 16m to place Challenger into a 72x121km orbit, inclination 0.5 degrees, period 32m24s. At MET 22m54s the #3 oxidizer tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking; the crew were able to transfer most of the contents into other tanks, but due to the low Delta-v necessary for the orbit insertion burn there was insufficient room and ~1/8 of the tank's contents were lost to space.

The ascent was less efficient and reached a lower apoapsis than planned, leaving Challenger with insufficient fuel plus monopropellant margin for a KSC landing, and so mission managers determined to target a more forgiving landing at Edwards. At MET 4h52m the crew completed an OMS burn to raise the orbit to 72x199km. At MET 5h09m02s, one of the monopropellant tanks aboard Freya 1 began leaking. At MET 5h10m the crew completed a second OMS burn to circularize the orbit to 195x206km, period 39m56s.

At MET 2d1h15m26s the #13 liquid fuel tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking. At MET 2d1h18m01s one of the antennas on Freya 1 failed. Mission managers added a spacewalk to Flight Day 5 to fix the antenna, and extended the mission by one day to compensate. Galaxy VI-C was deployed from the payload bay at MET 2d1h18m18s. The first stage PAM burn placed the payload into a 198x2,920km transfer orbit. It reached its operational orbit the next day.

Hot Bird 4C was deployed from the payload bay at MET 2d4h45m23s. The first PAM burn one orbit later placed it into a 205x2,770km transfer orbit. Soon thereafter it reached its operational geosynchronous orbit.

Jordon Poole exited the airlock at MET 3d5h19m00s, followed by Kirsten Pavletic at MET 3d5h20m45s. Poole successfully repaired the antenna and patched the leaky monopropellant tank on Freya 1, and then the astronauts retreated outside. The total EVA time was 3m00s for Pavletic and 5m17s for Poole.

At MET 4d4h06m02s the internal battery in the #2 fuel cell short-circuited. Freya 1 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 4d5h32m49s. The lower stage PAM burn placed it into a 208x2,882km transfer orbit. Although the second PAM burn was successful, a software error caused the first RCS burn to initially be in the wrong direction, raising the apoapsis to 3,900 km before the error was caught. Due to the earlier monopropellant leak that had depleted half of the spacecraft's monopropellant, it exhausted its propellant when it had reached an orbital period of 5h59m19s, 10 second longer than geosynchronous. This would cause an unacceptable rate of drift from the satellite's perch over Norway, rendering it useless. The spacecraft's owner, NorSatCom, immediately ordered a replacement spacecraft, Freya 1R, and secured a launch slot on a future shuttle mission.

At MET 5d4h39m the crew completed an OMS burn to lower the orbit to 99x198km, and a second at MET 5d4h57m to circularize the orbit to 96x103km, period 32m36s, in preparation for reentry the next day.

The crew closed the payload bay doors at MET 6d5h15m in preparation for the first landing attempt. The weather was go. The three-and-a-half-minute-long RCS-assisted OMS deorbit burn concluding at MET 6d5h33m was only able to lower the periapsis to 17 km. Entry interface occurred at MET 6d5h38m30s. The orbiter experienced an unusual degree of pitch oscillations during re-entry, but this did not affect vehicle safety. Steffensen and Mac Reachtain brought Challenger in for a smooth landing at Edwards Air Force Range with wheel stop at MET 6d5h54m44s.

Next Up: Atlantis is standing ready on Pad 39B with another cargo of commsats. It is scheduled to launch on mission STS-61K on January 32.

Edited July 12, 2020 by ShuttleHugger
Added the backup crew to the summary, which I'd forgotton on the first pass

[JakGamingKSP]

Will you do Vandenberg missions as they planned to before challenger?

[ShuttleHugger]

On 7/16/2020 at 10:24 PM, JakGamingKSP said:

Will you do Vandenberg missions as they planned to before challenger?

I already am! Three flown so far: STS-62A, STS-62B, and STS-62C. I'm using the Dessert Launch Site as my Vandenburg analog.

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-61K Atlantis Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Nigel Simonis (CDR), Mindy Ibrahimovic (PLT), Georgia Fuentes (MS1), Justin Teague (MS2), Richard Thorpe (MS3), Govinda Patil, India (PS1), Elsa Eilerts (PS2)

Backup Crew: Vivek Tamboli, India (PS1), Zlatko Del Bosque (PS2)

Payload: INSAT 1-B commsat, BusinessLink 2 commsat

Payload Mass: 6,299 kg

Launch: January 32, 1987 3:30:00 from Pad 39B at Kerbal Space Center

Mission Duration: 5d1h56m29s

Landing: February 1, 1987 5:26:29 at Kerbal Space Center

Statistics & Milestones: 51st Space Shuttle mission; 7th flight of Atlantis; 10th night launch of the Space Shuttle program; 9th Space Shuttle launch from Pad 39B; 27th landing at KSC. January 1987 marked the first month to see four space shuttle launches, and had STS-61K landed on schedule it would have seen four full shuttle flights.

Narrative Summary:

The crew of this flight included Govinda Patil of India, the second Indian kerbal to fly in space (the first flew to the SSSR Salyut 7 space station in 1984), and journalist Elsa Eilerts, the second kerbal to fly through the Civilians in Space program. This was also the most delayed shuttle flight to date; when originally manifested it was planned to launch on April 34, 1986, and was within two months of launching in the summer of 1986 when it was repeatedly delayed, first to allow the Hubble Space Telescope to launch first, and then to allow Ulysses to launch.

STS-61K experienced better luck once the shuttle actually reached the launch pad; Atlantis lifted off into the night on the first opportunity on January 32. MECO occurred just after orbital sunrise, leaving Atlantis in an initial 36x255km orbit. At MET 19m the crew completed the OMS orbit insertion burn to place the orbiter in a 73x255km orbit, inclination 1.1 degrees, period 40m10s.

The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 4h58m to lower the orbit to 73x199km, and a second at MET 5h15m to raise and circularize the orbit to 196x210km. Soon thereafter they activated the six GAS cannisters in the payload bay. At MET 1d0h24m09s, one of the six secondary antennas aboard BusinessLink 2 failed, necessitating a repair spacewalk. This was scheduled for Flight Day 4 and the mission extended by one day as a result.

At MET 1d5h46m17s the battery in one of INSAT 1-B's probe cores short-circuited, but the position of INSAT in the forward position in the payload bay prevented spacewalkers from egressing the airlock while it was in place, and consequently prevented in-orbit repair. INSAT was deployed from the payload bay at MET 2d0h32m28s. The PAM first stage burn placed the satellite into a 198x2,865km transfer orbit. The upper stage PAM burn plus three RCS burns over the next day put it into its operational orbit.

At MET 2d4h04m58s the #18 liquid fuel tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking. At MET 2d4h08m17s the orbiter flight deck carbon dioxide retention manifold began leaking to space. The crew were able to redirect the CO2 scrubber flow to avoid venting the cabin atmosphere to space, but a second such failure would violate flight rules and require an emergency return to Kerbin. Georgia Fuentes exited the airlock at MET 2d5h08m30s, followed by Justin Teague one minute later. Fuentes successfully repaired the broken antenna on BusinessLink 2, and then the spacewalkers returned inside the shuttle. EVA time was 2m10s for Teague, and 3m41s for Fuentes.

At MET 3d4h01m33s the #15 oxidizer tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking. BusinessLink 2 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 3d5h18m20s. The first stage PAM burn one orbit later placed it into a 196x2,676km transfer orbit; the BusinessLink satellites are so heavy that even the most powerful PAM on the market is not quite capable of getting them to geosynchronous orbit even from the highest orbit the shuttle is capable of. 2m2s after the PAM lower stage was discarded, one of the large batteries aboard BusinessLink 2 short-circuited. It reached its operational geosynchronous perch the next day.

At MET 4d4h25m the crew completed an RCS-assisted OMS burn to lower the orbit to 100x214km, and a second at MET 4d4h44m to circularize the orbit to 96x105km in preparation for landing. The crew then prepared for landing, and a forecast 39% chance of rain at KSC held off for the planned landing time. At MET 5d0h59m41s, while the RCS thrusters were burning for the deorbit burn and seconds before the OMS engines were to light, the #7 oxidizer tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking. The OMS burn was aborted in order to avoid any possibility of igniting leaking vapors and causing an explosion. The orbiter was left in a 71x103km orbit, and the crew opened the payload bay doors and prepared for another landing attempt on the next orbit. They closed the payload bay doors again at MET 5d1h19m. The crew completed the deorbit burn on the second attempt at MET 5d1h34m. Entry interface occurred at MET 5d1h39m58s. Simonis and Ibrahimovic brought Atlantis in for a hard landing at KSC with wheel stop at MET 5d1h56m29s.

Next Up: Discovery is scheduled to launch on February 34 on mission STS-72A, carrying the first batch of operational GPS satellites.

[KerballingSmasher]

16 hours ago, ShuttleHugger said:

Ibrahimovic

*insert Zlatan joke*

[ShuttleHugger]

7 hours ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

*insert Zlatan joke*

I randomly generate the astronaut names, which sometimes unintentionally reference IRL famous people.

[KerballingSmasher]

21 hours ago, ShuttleHugger said:

I randomly generate the astronaut names, which sometimes unintentionally reference IRL famous people.

Oh thank god I was so afraid I was gonna have to explain it XD

[ShuttleHugger]

Soyuz TM-5 Yastreb Launch Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Vasilisa Kalnins (CDR), Georgiy Bogomolov (FE), Wedad Zaman, Syria (RC)

Backup Crew: Petras Vinogradov (CDR), Gerasim Romanov (FE), Hadiyya Abbas, Syria (RC)

Launch: February 19, 1987 1:45:44 from Site 33 at Woomerang Cosmodrome

Docking: February 20, 1987 2:36:44 at Svoboda's aft port

Narrative Summary:

The Mishchenie 27 freighter undocked from Svoboda at 1:05:00 on February 17 and dropped itself into the Pacific Ocean for disposal, thus opening a docking port for Soyuz TM-5.

Soyuz TM-5, callsign Yastreb, lifted off from Woomerang Cosmodrome on February 19. This was the first Soyuz rotation flight to Svoboda, allowing the EO-3 crew launched on Soyuz TM-4 to remain in space for longer than their spacecraft was rated for. This was also the first Interkosmos flight to Svoboda, carrying Syrian Air Force pilot Wedad Zaman for a week-long stay aboard Svoboda, during which time he would conduct a variety of experiments.

The launch placed the spacecraft into a 94x155km preliminary orbit, inclined by 0.9 degrees with respect to that of Svoboda. The crew completed a burn at 2:05 to align their orbit with that of Svoboda. At 1:48 on February 20 they made another burn to adjust the orbit to 102x155km and set up a pass by Svoboda at 1 km distance and 45.5 m/s Delta v one orbit later. It docked to Svoboda's aft port at 2:36:44. One orbit later the crew opened the hatches and Kalnins, Bogomolov, and Zaman greeted Filipp Sokolovsky, Anastasiya Chayka, and Anna Ignatova aboard the station and began a week of joint operations.

Soyuz TM-4 Almaz Landing Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Vasilisa Kalnins (CDR), Georgiy Bogomolov (FE), Wedad Zaman, Syria (RC)

Undocking: February 28, 1987 2:16:30

Landing: February 28, 1987 3:03:12

Mission Duration: 119d5h43m51s (spacecraft), 9d1h18m28s (crew)

Narrative Summary:

On February 28, 1987, the downgoing crew of Kalnins, Bogomolov, and Zaman boarded Soyuz TM-4 and bid farewell to Sokolovsky, Chayka, and Ignatova aboard Svoboda. They undocked at 2:16:30. They completed the deorbit burn at 2:48, and experienced a nominal re-entry. The parachute failed to deploy automatically, but the crew were able to deploy it manually at an altitude of ~1.5 km. They splashed down at 3:03:12 in the southern Indian Ocean, at 6d4h52m S, 149d20m08s E.

[billbobjebkirk]

What are your plans for Space Station Liberty's design? Will she be closer to the IRL ISS, Bush Era Freedom, Dual Keel, or one of the even earlier design studies?

[ShuttleHugger]

8 hours ago, billbobjebkirk said:

What are your plans for Space Station Liberty's design? Will she be closer to the IRL ISS, Bush Era Freedom, Dual Keel, or one of the even earlier design studies?

I think it's going to be somewhere between the IRL ISS and the Bush-era Space Station Freedom design. I'm planning to use the HabTech2 mod for the truss, so that will be basically identical to the ISS. The module configuration will be more like the later Freedom designs than the ISS. This is my current planned (subject to change) module configuration (left is front view, right is top view):

I particularly like the Freedom design feature of two parallel modules, so I use that in several places.

Given my rate of progress on the missions so far, though, it may be up to another IRL year before I even start building the station...

[billbobjebkirk]

1 hour ago, ShuttleHugger said:

I think it's going to be somewhere between the IRL ISS and the Bush-era Space Station Freedom design. I'm planning to use the HabTech2 mod for the truss, so that will be basically identical to the ISS. The module configuration will be more like the later Freedom designs than the ISS. This is my current planned (subject to change) module configuration (left is front view, right is top view):

-image snip-

I particularly like the Freedom design feature of two parallel modules, so I use that in several places.

Given my rate of progress on the missions so far, though, it may be up to another IRL year before I even start building the station...

I see!. I was personally hoping for a Dual Keel, but this configuration should be awesome enough to tide me over. (Also probably a lot easier for you to construct).

And hey, given how many delays the real thing had in its design process, I suppose its only fitting for this to take a good long time to get out of the gate, lol

[ShuttleHugger]

22 hours ago, billbobjebkirk said:

I see!. I was personally hoping for a Dual Keel, but this configuration should be awesome enough to tide me over. (Also probably a lot easier for you to construct).

I do like the Dual Keel design, but given the amount of effort that I need to put into every flight (especially complex missions like the assembly flights will be) I didn't want to be overambitious. It's already going to take me at least 23 missions to assemble, so at least 6 months of IRL time (practically more because they'll be interspersed with other flights).

[ShuttleHugger]

Kvant Launch Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: None

Payload: Kvant Laboratory Module; Kvant Transfer Module

Payload mass: 8,917 kg; lab module only: 7,192 kg

Launch: March 1, 1987 1:32:15 from Site 42 at Woomerang Cosmodrome

Launcher: Neitron

Docking: March 2, 1987 0:42:42 to Svoboda's aft port

Narrative Summary:

On February 31, the Svoboda EO-3 crew of Sokolovsky, Chayka, and Ignatova boarded Soyuz TM-5 and closed the hatches to Svoboda. They undocked from the aft port at 1:54:00 and backed away to a distance of 40 m. They paused the spacecraft there while Svoboda rotated itself to present the forward port towards the Soyuz. They redocked to the forward port at 2:04:09, 10m09s after undocking. This would be the last time that the Svoboda core module would be in free flight with no docked modules or spacecraft. This maneuver cleared the aft port for the launch of the Kvant module four days later.

The first additional module for space station Svoboda, the Kvant laboratory module, lifted off aboard a Neitron rocket on March 1. In addition to laboratory space and equipment, it carried some 70 days' worth of supplies for the station crew. Kvant itself was not designed for free flight, and so it was launched attached to a Transfer Module (derived from the Soyuz/Mishchenie service module) to steer it safely to the station.

A smooth ascent placed the module and upper stage into an initial 72x111km orbit inclined 0.5 degrees with respect to that of Svoboda. At 1:44 the Neitron upper stage relit to zero out Kvant's inclination with respect to Svoboda. Kvant and its transfer stage then separated from the upper stage to proceed with the rendezvous. At 2:15 it performed a burn to raise its orbit to 72x155km and set up a rendezvous sequence with Svoboda. At 5:53 it performed another burn to set up a 1.0 km pass by Svoboda one orbit later at a relative velocity of 50.3 m/s. Kvant commenced the terminal rendezvous sequence at 0:28 on March 2. Kvant docked to the aft port of Svoboda at 0:42:42.

At 1:38 the built-in battery in the Kvant aft compartment short-circuited. Soon thereafter the EO-3 crew opened the hatches and entered Kvant for the first time on-orbit. At 1:14 on March 3 the crew deployed Kvant's own solar arrays. Kvant's transfer module was undocked at 0:53:00 on March 4. Shortly thereafter it performed a maneuver to dispose of itself in the Pacific Ocean. After disposal of the transfer module, Svoboda and its docked spacecraft had a total mass of 20,360 kg.

[billbobjebkirk]

On 7/31/2020 at 9:16 PM, ShuttleHugger said:

I do like the Dual Keel design, but given the amount of effort that I need to put into every flight (especially complex missions like the assembly flights will be) I didn't want to be overambitious. It's already going to take me at least 23 missions to assemble, so at least 6 months of IRL time (practically more because they'll be interspersed with other flights).

Have you considered using a Shuttle C to launch larger and heavier payloads so you don't have to do as many flights? I Believe that was what NASA was planning to do for Freedom.

[ShuttleHugger]

On 8/9/2020 at 12:15 PM, billbobjebkirk said:

Have you considered using a Shuttle C to launch larger and heavier payloads so you don't have to do as many flights? I Believe that was what NASA was planning to do for Freedom.

That's not really on my radar for the Station--I want to build it more like the ISS actually was--but I would consider using a Shuttle C for the Duna program I have notionally planned for the late 90s or early 00s.

[Kerminator K-100]

I'm really liking these patches! They look super cool and are really well detailed!

How do you make them? They almost look hand drawn.

Also I like the shuttle design, I am trying to build my own but they usually flip over at launch. 

EDIT: How do you do the problems that some missions have? Things like this:

On 8/8/2020 at 12:22 AM, ShuttleHugger said:

At 1:38 the built-in battery in the Kvant aft compartment short-circuited

or

On 7/18/2020 at 7:42 PM, ShuttleHugger said:

Fuentes successfully repaired the broken antenna on BusinessLink 2

Is it just something you add or is it a random problem generator or something?

Edited August 14, 2020 by Kerminator1000
Added a question

[ShuttleHugger]

9 hours ago, Kerminator1000 said:

I'm really liking these patches! They look super cool and are really well detailed!

How do you make them? They almost look hand drawn.

Thanks! Most of them are hand-drawn, at least partially. For most of the patches, I first draw the main elements with pencil on paper, and then scan them. I use GIMP to composite everything together, and add the color, text, and geometric shapes. A few of the patches are purely digital compositions, usually because they require angles of the shuttle that my limited artistic skills aren't up to reproducing; in those cases I digitally trace over a screenshot to get the perspective I want.

9 hours ago, Kerminator1000 said:

Also I like the shuttle design, I am trying to build my own but they usually flip over at launch. 

It took me dozens of test flights in another save game to get the design right before STS-1. The wings on my external tank were my way of keeping it from flipping on launch.

9 hours ago, Kerminator1000 said:

How do you do the problems that some missions have?

The malfunctions are produced by the DangIt! Continued mod.

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-72A Discovery Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Eddie Schuchardt (CDR), Quinn Anker (PLT), Cecilia Trevis (MS1), Elizabeth Britton (MS2), Martina Moreno (PS1), Bedwyr Slovak (PS2)

Payload: GPS II-1, GPS II-2, GPS II-3 Global Positioning System satellites

Payload Mass: 7,998 kg

Launch: March 8, 1987 0:30:00 from SLC-6 at Dessert AFB

Mission Duration: 5d5h51m48s

Landing: March 14, 1987 0:21:48 at Dessert AFB

Statistics & Milestones: 52nd Space Shuttle mission; 12th flight of Discovery; 4th launch from and 3rd landing at Dessert AFB; 11th dedicated DOD mission, and first of these to be unclassified. The 25th spacewalk of the Space Shuttle program took place on this flight. Pilot Quinn Anker and Mission Specialist Cecilia Trevis became the first members of KSP Astronaut Group 11 (selected 1985) to fly.

Narrative Summary:

The first launch opportunity, on March 1, 1987 (pushed back one day due to forecast rain on February 34), was scrubbed at T-1h03m. While the crew were ingressing the orbiter, the external tank developed a hydrogen leak. Troubleshooting and fixing the problem took four days, plus time to roll the Shuttle Assembly Building (SAB) on and back.

Discovery lifted off on the second launch opportunity one week later. The orbiter was placed in an initial 20x234km orbit, after an ascent marred only by some issues with the flight control software briefly locking repeatedly. At MET 6m48s the #3 oxidizer tank began leaking; as the orbiter had not yet used any of its own fuel, all of the contents were lost to space. An OMS burn at MET 17m placed Discovery into a 72x234km orbit, inclination 66.5 degrees, period 36m24s. At MET 32m57s one of the antennas aboard GPS II-1 failed, but as this satellite occupied the forward position in the payload bay on-orbit repair was not possible. At MET 2d04h05m one of the probe core batteries aboard GPS II-3 failed, triggering a repair spacewalk and a one-day extension to the mission. At MET 2d07m58s one of the monopropellant tanks aboard GPS II-3 began leaking.

The crew conducted an OMS burn at MET 4m50s to lower the orbit to 71x99km, and a second RCS-assisted OMS burn at MET 5m04s to circularize the orbit to 98x99km, period 32m32s.

GPS II-1 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 1d5h20m15s. Five minutes later, one GPS II-1 had drifted to a distance of half a kilometer from the shuttle, its lower PAM stage ignited to place it into a 99x1,473km transfer orbit. Over the next few hours the upper stage PAM burn and two RCS maneuvers placed it into its operational 1,581x1,583km orbit, period 2h59m35s. At MET 2d2h01m16s one of the antennas on GPS II-3 failed; its repair was added to the agenda for the EVA.

GPS II-2 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 2d4h47m52s, and the PAM lower stage was ignited several minutes later when the phase angle with respect to GPS II-1 equaled the planned value of 21.4 degrees. Just before the second RCS burn to insert GPS II-2 into its operational orbit, one of its onboard antennas failed.

Cecilia Trevis exited the airlock at MET 3d4h38m15s, followed by Elizabeth Britton one minute later. Trevis repaired the shorted battery and broken antenna aboard GPS II-3, and patched the leaky monopropellant tank. The spacewalkers then retreated inside Discovery. EVA time was 3m55s for Britton and 5m28s for Trevis.

At MET 4d4h43m38s another one of the antennas aboard GPS II-3 failed. Mission managers decided to go ahead with deployment rather than stage another spacewalk. At MET 4d4h45m34s the #15 liquid fuel tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking, less than a minute before GPS II-3 was scheduled to be deployed; the deployment was put off for one orbit to allow the crew time to focus on the malfunction. GPS II-3 was finally deployed from the payload bay at MET 4d5h25m51s. At MET 4d5h26m16s the #3 oxygen tank in the orbiter aft compartment began leaking. The first stage PAM burn placed the satellite into a 98x1,516km transfer orbit. After the second PAM burn and two RCS burns it reached its operational orbit, but shortly thereafter another of its antennas failed.

The crew completed the deorbit burn at MET 5d5h31m. Entry interface occurred at MET 5d5h37m08s. Schuchardt and Anker brought Discovery in for a smooth landing at Dessert AFB with wheel stop at MET 5d5h51m48s.

Next Up: The day before Discovery landed, Columbia was rolled out to Pad 39A at KSC. It is scheduled to launch on March 18 on mission STS-61Q, an international space lab mission sponsored by Japan that will see the first Japanese astronauts reach space.

[Kerminator K-100]

On 7/11/2020 at 10:42 PM, ShuttleHugger said:

.

*Puts on Jehovah Witness Visual mod evangelist cap*

Have you considered a visual mod? Perhaps Spectra or AVP? Your soul  game is in danger of not being saved being as cool as it could be!

[ShuttleHugger]

On 8/17/2020 at 6:54 PM, Kerminator1000 said:

Have you considered a visual mod? Perhaps Spectra or AVP? Your soul  game is in danger of not being saved being as cool as it could be!

I have thought about it some, but I'm a little reluctant as my past experience has been that having too many mods installed (especially visual mods) tend to make the game chug on my machine. I already have issues with the game running slow (depending upon payload the shuttle can have anywhere between 250 and 450 parts upon launch), and I don't want to make the game run even slower.

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-61Q Columbia Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Abe Dykstra (CDR), Ted Valencia (PLT), Ethan Santoro (MS1), Kolby Baart (MS2), Fred Langbrook (MS3), Takeshi Akiyama, Japan (PS1), Yukiko Watanabe, Japan (PS2), Mao Suzuki, Japan (PS3)

Backup Crew: Aiko Moto, Japan (PS1), Kenji Matsumoto, Japan (PS2), Hoshi Maki, Japan (PS3)

Payload: Spacelab J-1: Spacelab Pressurized Module 2, Spacelab Vacuum Pallet

Payload Mass: 6,714 kg

Launch: March 18, 1987 5:30:00 from Pad 39A at Kerbal Space Center

Mission Duration: 10d0h35m57s

Landing: March 29, 1987 0:05:57 at Edwards Air Force Range

Statistics & Milestones: 53rd Space Shuttle mission; 18th flight of Columbia; 22nd landing at Edwards AFR. Commander Abe Dykstra became the first kerbal to fly on the Shuttle five times, while Payload Specialists Takeshi Akiyama, Yukiko Watanabe, and Mao Suzuki became the first Japanese kerbals to fly into space. Columbia surpassed 100 days of flight time, and the Shuttle fleet as a whole surpassed 300 days, on this flight. The first launch abort of the Space Shuttle Program occurred on this mission.

Narrative Summary:

Columbia lifted off into clear Florida skies on the first launch opportunity on March 18, 1987. It carried the second Spacelab pressurized module and a large number of experiments sponsored by the Japanese government, academia, and industry.

After a nominal liftoff, problems quickly developed. 59 seconds after liftoff, the water tank in the orbiter middeck began leaking. At 1 minute 38 seconds after liftoff, the #2 (port) space shuttle main engine failed at an altitude of approximately 20 km. Under the guidance of mission control, the crew were able to execute a successful ATO (abort to orbit) by keeping the remaining two SSMEs at 100% thrust for the remainder of the ascent, as the engines were normally throttled down to 67% at this point in flight. Vehicle control after the abort was significantly more difficult than usual due to the asymmetric thrust of the two remaining SSMEs. Commander Dykstra recalled in a post-flight media briefing, “The vehicle just didn't want to fly straight. I had to wrestle the dang thing all the way up into orbit, the master alarm blaring the whole time.” The ascent nonetheless placed the orbiter into a preliminary 43x219km orbit. At MET 19m the crew completed an OMS burn to place Columbia into a 74x219km orbit, inclination 3.2 degrees, period 35m55s. Due to the water leak and lost supplies, mission controllers determined that the mission would need to be ended two days shorter than planned (with return on Flight Day 10 rather than 12) in order to not run into safety margins for consumables. Blue Team (Valencia, Santoro, Langbrook, Akiyama) went to bed at MET 30m, while Red Team (Dykstra, Baart, Watanabe, Suzuki) worked to activate all orbiter systems. The two teams swapped spots at MET 3h00m. Langbrook and Akiyama began activating Spacelab, while Valencia and Santoro prepared to maneuver the shuttle. They conducted an OMS burn at MET 4h12m to lower the orbit to 74x129km, and a second at MET 4h28m to circularize the orbit to 128x132km, period 34m45s.

At MET 1d0h00m Red Team moved into Spacelab and began the mission's program of scientific experiments.

Despite the excitement of the launch and the shortened mission duration, the remainder of the mission proceeded much more smoothly with a successful program of science.

While the remainder of Red Team began shutting down Spacelab, Commander Dykstra began preparations to lower Columbia's orbit. Dykstra completed an OMS burn at MET 9d0h24m to lower the orbit to 100x128km, and a second at MET 9d0h40m to circularize the orbit to 98x100km. At MET 9d3h00m the final crew exchange occurred, with Red Team going to bed for their final on-orbit sleep cycle and Blue Team taking over to begin closing out all orbiter systems.

The crew completed the deorbit burn at MET 10d0h17m, targeting landing at Edwards due to heavy rain at KSC. Entry interface occurred at MET 10d0h23m31s. The approach to Edwards was significantly hotter than normal, but Dykstra and Valencia nonetheless brought Columbia in for a bumpy landing with wheel stop at MET 10d0h35m57s. After landing and being returned to KSC, Columbia was rolled into Orbiter Processing Facility Bay 3 for its Double Downtime maintenance period to perform additional maintenance and upgrades, including fitting the orbiter with a GPS receiver unit.

Next Up: Challenger is scheduled to lift off on May 12 on mission STS-61O, carrying Brazil's first astronaut and a cargo of commsats.

[The rocket exploder]

I really like whole mission report thing with the space shuttle missions. Keep up the good work.

[723179]

if you ever get to the end of the shuttle program, will you look at more shuttle derivatives?

these missions are amazing and I can’t wait for the next one

[ShuttleHugger]

I'm back! It's been a rather long hiatus, but I've picked KSP back up and should be posting new missions here at least intermittently.

On 2/12/2021 at 4:22 AM, 723179 said:

if you ever get to the end of the shuttle program, will you look at more shuttle derivatives?

It will probably take a very long time (each orbiter is rated for 100 missions and I've only flown a little over 50 flights total), but I do have some plans for a Shuttle Mk. 2 and perhaps a Shuttle C heavy launch vehicle for the late '90s-early '00s.

Mishchenie 28 Launch Report

(I don't usually post mission reports for cargo missions, but here's one just to have some actual content in this post...)

The Mishchenie 28 freighter lifted off into the predawn sky from Site 33 at Woomerang Cosmodrome at 0:38:16 on April 29, 1987. The booster slightly underperformed on launch, leaving the vehicle in an initial 5x122km orbit, but at 0:47 the spacecraft completed a contingency burn to raise its orbit to 80x122km, period 32m44s, inclination 45.4 degrees (or 0.2 degrees with respect to Svoboda). At 1:01 it conducted another burn to zero out its inclination with Svoboda's orbit, and a third at 1:04 to raise the orbit to 81x155km and set up the rendezvous sequence. Due to unlucky phasing at the time of launch the catch-up sequence was unusually long. At 1:34 on April 30 the vehicle conducted a burn to set up a pass by Svoboda at 1.5 km distance and 42.3 m/s Delta v one orbit later. Mischchenie 28 began the terminal rendezvous sequence at 2:08, and docked to the aft port of Kvant at 2:22:16. After docking, Svoboda had a total mass of 23,590 kg.

[ShuttleHugger]

STS-61O Challenger Mission Report

Quick Summary:

Crew: Casimir Deniau (CDR), Ellis Beitel (PLT), Bill Kerman (MS1), Zachary Averesch (MS2), Alanna Zelenko (MS3), Paquita Oquendo, Mexico (PS1), Lucia Santos, Brazil (PS2)

Backup Crew: Amparo Maradona, Mexico (PS1), Estefania Duarte, Brazil (PS2)

Payload: DoCielo 2 commsat, AztlanSat II commsat, Maritime Commnet B commsat, 4x GAS Canisters

Payload Mass: 6,596 kg

Launch: May 13, 1987 0:54:00 from Pad 39B at KSC

Mission Duration: 4d4h39m22s

Landing: May 17, 1987 5:33:22 at KSC

Statistics & Milestones: 54th Space Shuttle mission; 17th flight of Challenger; 10th Space Shuttle launch from Pad 39B; 28th landing at KSC. Payload Specialist Lucia Santos became the first Brazilian kerbal to fly in space.

Narrative Summary:

STS-61O debuted the new ACES pressure suits, featuring improved safety, lighter weight, and better comfort as the Shuttle Program moves towards the Space Station Liberty era. The crew posed for a pre-launch group portrait at the launch pad:

Left to right: Oquendo, Averesch, Beitel, Deniau, Kerman, Zelenko, Santos

Challenger lifted off on the first launch opportunity on May 13, 1987, carrying three commsats for Mexico, Brazil, and the Kerbal States Coast Guard. It was placed into an initial 25x211km orbit. The crew completed an OMS burn at MET 17m to place the orbiter into a 73x211km orbit, inclination 1.2 degrees, period 35m36s.

At MET 4h44m the crew completed an OMS burn to lower the orbit to 72x101km. At MET 4h47m25s, the #4 battery in the orbiter aft compartment short-circuited. They completed a second OMS burn at MET 4h58m to circularize the orbit to 99x102km, period 32m41s. Later in the day the crew activated the GAS Canisters in the payload bay. At MET 1d2h01m45s, the shuttle's #3 battery also short-circuited.

DoCielo 2 was deployed from the payload bay at MET 1d5h11m10s. The first PAM burn one orbit later placed the payload into a 100x3,081km transfer orbit. The upper stage PAM burn and two correction maneuvers placed the payload into its operational geosynchronous orbit.

AztlanSat II was deployed from the payload bay at MET 3d0h47m48s. 31 minutes after deployment, the battery in its probe core short-circuited. The first PAM burn shortly thereafter placed the payload in a nearly perfect 100x2,863km transfer orbit. Thanks to the excellent first PAM burn, only a single RCS maneuver was necessary to insert the satellite into its operational orbit.

At MET 3d4h03m38s, the deployment motors in the #4 GAS Canister in the payload bay failed. Maritime Comment B was deployed from the payload bay at MET 3d4h38m36s. The PAM burn one orbit later placed the payload into a 99x2,970km transfer orbit. The upper stage PAM burn and two RCS correction maneuvers delivered the satellite to its operational orbit.

The crew closed the payload bay doors at MET 4d4h04m, and completed the deorbit burn at MET 4d4h20m. Entry interface occurred at MET 4d4h26m04s. At MET 4d4h31m21s the internal battery in the #2 fuel cell short-circuited. Deniau and Beitel brought Challenger in for a hard landing at KSC with wheel stop at MET 4d4h39m22s.

Next Up: Discovery is scheduled to lift off on May 27 from Dessert AFB carrying three more GPS satellites on mission STS-72B.

In Other News: The Mishchenie 28 freighter undocked from Svoboda on May 13, and disposed of itself in the Pacific Ocean. The Soyuz TM-6 spacecraft lifted off from Woomerang Cosmodrome on May 15 and docked with Svoboda the next day. A mission report will follow.

In Meta: This mission, with payload specialists from Mexico and Brazil, was, of course, my nod to the team who made KSP, in thanks for making such a great game. On a personal note, I surpassed 1000 hours playing KSP during this mission!