The Cape Canaveral Mission Files: Chapter 4: The Bumper to end all Bumpers

[DunaManiac]

Well, I've decided to do one! This will chronicle my space agency's attempts at spaceflight.
 

What this is?

This is a super-realistic Realism Overhaul/RP-1 career game with the ultimate goal of landing Kerbals (or rather humans ) on the Moon.

First: Some background, I mean, who doesn't love a good story?

The year is 1951. A small space agency, the United States Space Agency (USSA) formed was created, getting a measly $75,000 to land Humans on the moon by 1970. 19 years from going from nothing to a massive space agency. The space agency's real agenda though, unbeknownst to it's leadership, was to develop technology that would combat the Soviet Union's advancements in nuclear technology. The nation's top scientists, Wernher Von Braun, and others were to collaborate in this endeavor. These are it's mission files.

The first chapter is coming soon.

Chapter list:

Spoiler

Chapter 1: The Bird Flies

Chapter 2: For Science

Chapter 3: Dollars and Honors

Chapter 4: The Bumper to end all Bumpers

 

Edited March 16, 2020 by DunaManiac
Updated Chapter List

[KerballingSmasher]

Can't wait! Love me a good RSS/RO series!

[DunaManiac]

Chapter 1: The Bird flies

Alright, the USSA is starting, here is the KCT settings and Main Menu.

(I'm Using the Tan-tares flag because I'm too lazy to make one myself).

It was the morning of January 1st, 1951. The USSA had only existed for a few hours, but was already getting in gear. The USSA had just accepted a contract from the FAI to launch a spacecraft sometime soon... the dates weren't discussed, along with other records.

The USSA soon made the necessary preparations to purchase all the required parts to kick start their space program (which mainly involved groveling at the FAI's feet for the parts).

And they were off! The engineers immediately took to work designing a sounding rocket, and not 2 weeks later, already had a sounding rocket idea on paper. It was christened the Raven 1, propelled by a Solid Fuel "Tiny Tim" booster, then a Aerobee rocket engine. It was predicted to have it's launch altitude somewhere between 65 and 70 km. Here's a screenshot of the completed craft below, complete with launch apparatus.

Some artists at the USSA created an artists impression of Earth to honor the USSA's first launch.

2 months later, the sounding rocket was ready for launch. Wernher von Braun waited expectantly at mission control. All eyes werefocused on this small rocket at Mission Control. Here was a shot from one of the many cameras at the launchpad/

The Agency was able to take a photograph of the rising spacecraft with a passing aircraft, the entirety of the United States Cape Canaveral Launch site (USCCL) complex can be seen below, as well as several outlying cities.

The mission somehow was able to go even higher then estimated, it reached an altitude of over 75 km, one of the highest manmade objects in history. Here's an image of the rocket at max altitude.

The sounding rocket soon smashed back down onto the ground close to Cape Canaveral, inciting fears around the general public of getting hit by a small sounding rocket, the USSA assures them this will not be the case.

The mission anylists compiled a list of the important events of the mission.

With the new money in their pockets, the USSA immediatly spent it on upgrades to the research labs and VAB. This was really only a publicity stunt, the sounding rocket didn't carry any scientific instruments whatsoever, other than telemtry reports. A scientific mission is planned next, Raven II.

 

Edited March 13, 2020 by DunaManiac
Grammer

[DunaManiac]

Chapter 2: For Science!

After the sucsessful Raven 1, the engineers at the USSA began to develop the Raven II, which was essentially the same rocket but with some scientific instruments (but don't tell the engineers that, they worked hard on it) and construction could begin within 2 days of it's conception. The agency also began the practice of recording the blueprints of the launch, which can be seen below.

In the mean time, the contract wing of the USSA, headquartered in the administration building was bartering on some contracts*.

*Some of you may have noticed that there is a discrepancy with the funding, it jumped up 60,000 from chapter 1. This happened because the game didn't save those two build points I bought from KCT, I did it later.

The USSA accepted a contract from the FAI to reach the Karman Line, and brake the sound barrier, as well as a sounding rocket one.

Meanwhile, in the research department of the USSA, the scientists down there were hard at work. They agreed to begin researching better avionics and better materials science.

Here is the Raven 2 in the VAB with some Delta V stats.

Finally, 2 months later, on May 26th, 1951, the Raven 2 was ready for launch. Unfortunately, the Temperature instrument failed to function, (which was really that I forgot to add a temperature experiment) so the Raven 2 was only able to collect pressure data.

The Raven 2 was estimated to reach an altitude of roughly 90km, and they were correct. Collecting new telemetry and pressure data, the sounding rocket breached the Raven 1's record. Here it is pictured at 90km up.

Another picture was taken of the horizon, clearly showing the curvature of the Earth.

Soon after, the sounding rocket crashed several kilometers away from the landing site.

Meanwhile at the KSC, with the new science and funds, promptly spent it on upgrading the research labs and construction facilities (the funding thing was corrected as well).

Edited March 13, 2020 by DunaManiac

[DunaManiac]

Chapter 3: Dollars and Honors

After Raven 2, Wernher von Braun declared a new sounding rocket was in order, and this time to complete that "Karman Line" contract from the FAI. He stressed quote, "working science experiments". The engineers, headed by Gus, went  right to work. When Wernher saw it, he nearly spilled his coffee. Raven 3 looked "ridiculous", and was just a disaster waiting to happen. Gus had faith in his engineers, and the Raven was approved. Raven 3 was essentially 1 core Raven sounding rocket, and two Raven 1 sounding rockets attached to it. When you see the plans, you'll see what I mean.

Meanwhile, in the labs, the science collected from Raven 2 was put to work, and the labs were hard at work developing new technologies for the USSA.

2 weeks later, the USSA had finished researching Post-War Materials science, opening the door to better rocketry. The USSA had to buy the patents though, bringing funds even lower.

With funds dropping the Raven 3 was finally ready. Here it was, after it was fiinished several months later in the VAB.

The USSA accepted a contract by some quirky company called "Sean's Canery", only promising a mear 3,000 but every fund counts!

While the Raven 3 was also under construction, the engineers had another breakthrough, this time in supersonic aircraft technology. After this, the scientists down in the labs would focus their attention on creating an engine, to break the sound barrier.

With that, the funding had reached an all time low, reaching 18,000 funds. Wernher called an emergency meeting, but the leadership assured him that the Raven 3 would be a success. Finally, it was launching day. It happened to be on the 1st of October, exactly 10 months after the formation of the USSA. The Supersonic aircraft engines were due to finish by the end of the month.

The engineers took a picture of the fateful sounding rocket.

The rocket took to the skies under the tiny tim booster.

Soon after, the tiny tim ran out of fuel, and the boosters fired.

Eventually, the boosters began to run out of fuel. Before they ran out of fuel, the main engine was ignited, so that the fuel in the booster would remain under pressure.

Soon after, the boosters separated, and the core sounding rocket continued on it's way skyward.

The rocket continued to climb skyward, higher and higher. The mission also was another breakthrough, the three tracking stations built by the USSA were able to monitor it's telemetry all the way up. Here it is at 75km, still going.

It continued upwards. Here it is at 90km.

The tracking stations produced a trajectory projection, going all the way to 190km, and the were correct.

Here's the spacecraft at top altitude. Oddly enough, Cape Canaveral is still visible.

After recording data, the Raven 3 crashed down in the Atlantic.

The mission was a success, restoring funds to a tolerable level, and getting international acclaim. The mission also provided tons of science for the space agency. To the delight of Gus, Wernher admitted that Raven 3 was a good design after all.

 

Edited March 16, 2020 by DunaManiac

[DunaManiac]

Chapter 4: The Bumper to End all Bumpers

The contract wing of the USSA was busy recieving more orders. The orginization was willing to provide enormous sums of money to build an orbital rocket, but the agency left that aside and only got a contract to have a sounding rocket to safely return to Kerbin from space, the first step towards a manned flight. The USSA was up to the challenge.

Meanwhile, in the R&D, the scientists purchased the patents of, you guessed it, fuel tanks. The good news is though, that the next technology will give us a host of new engines, that we can possible use to go into orbit.

Then the USSA spent another 30,000 funds on upgrading Cape Canaveral, brining down funds to a measly 67,000.

R&D reports it has a heavy list of technology reports. They recommend prioritizing on Research and Development. In other news, they had just finished Post War Rocketry testing!

The node unlocked better rocket engines, allowing for a possible aircraft!

Meanwhile, back in the VAB Gus gave the order to continue the bumper program. The 3rd to launch from Cape Canaveral, it would be "the Bumper to end all Bumpers" and provide a fitting end to one of America's most sucsessful sounding rocket programs. The Bumper 9 still had it's normal A-4 first stage, but it had a few key differences from the previous launches. One, the WAC Corporal 2nd stage was replaced with the Raven 1 sounding rocket, and minor tweaks to the engines were performed. The USSA's design is below.

Four days before 1952, post war avionics were produced, providing batteries to extend the life of sounding rocket instruments. At the same time, a contract was accepted from Sean's Cannery (again) to reach an altitude of 220km.

The space program also began to invest it's research in better science experiments.

The USSA firstly and for mostly, upgraded the space center with the free points awarded from technology research.

Finally, on March 3, 1952, a year after the formation of the USSA and 2 years after the last Bumper rocket, it was launching day of Bumper 9.

The Engineers were able to take a snapshot of the rocket just as it's engines were throttling up.

The rocket took off successfully!

In order to solve the problem of pressure, without any stimulus, the fuel would immediately float away from the rocket, rendering the aerobee inoperable. To solve this problem, 2 ullage motors were attached to fire right after the A-4 stage separated, to keep the contents under pressure while the Aerobee ignited. The ullage motors are more visible in this screenshot.

Here's the rocket heading upwards, telemtry was lost for a brief point while this photo was taken.

When telemetry came on, they triangulated a trajectory report, with the apogee reaching 577 kilometers, higher than any previous bumper!

When the rocket reached apogee, the whole flight team took a picture, illustrated how high up it is. Louisiana is clearly visible.

The rocket crashed over florida, and telemtry was recorded of it's destruction.

The USSA gained a ton of funds from the operation, the next mission was to sucsessfully recover a sounding rocket... Gus has a few ideas about that!

Edited March 16, 2020 by DunaManiac