Shuttle Adventures: An Album of Kerbalized Space Shuttle Missions

[Jacktical]

Hey Kuiper! I was wondering if I might be able to post some of my images to this thread to see what people think of them before I make my own thread related to a special concept announced in 1984

[Kuiper_Belt]

On 9/18/2021 at 8:06 AM, Hatattack said:

Hey Kuiper! I was wondering if I might be able to post some of my images to this thread to see what people think of them before I make my own thread related to a special concept announced in 1984

Sorry I’m getting to this late! I see you’ve made the thread and I’m quite excited to watch it develop! If you still want to post your missions here you totally can!

[Jacktical]

STS-10 June 22, 1984 (Fictional)

Space Shuttle Adventure launches from pad 39A on its maiden voyage, the shuttle carries some various exposed experiments and tests the still-in-development "BEATLES" (Big and Expensive test Article for Transportation of Large Experiments and Supplies) which will be a set of four large logistics modules to supply the upcoming Space Station Liberty with all it needs

Space Shuttle Adventure burns its OMS engines to place it in a stable orbit where the crew will carry out research for the next 12 days.

 

Space Shuttle Adventure performs a deorbit burn above the pacific ocean

And with another happy landing, STS-10 is brought to a close

If you liked this, I would really appreciate it if you checked out my thread, Thanks to @Kuiper_Belt for letting me post here  

 

[Kuiper_Belt]

STS-2 - November 12th 1981

After the first flight of the Space Shuttle Program concluded, the real magic of the program had just began. Columbia had been flown back from Edwards Airforce Base in California to be refurbished and re-flown. After spending 103 days in the Orbiter Processing Facility, being repaired from the previous mission and having it's payloads integrated, Columbia was moved to the Vehicle Assembly Building to be assimilated with the External Tank and SRBs. 

The payload STS-2 included the OSTA-1 pallet with a multitude of scientific experiments for example the Shuttle Imaging Radar or SIR-A, The Development Flight Instrumentation, and debut of The Legendary CanadArm. STS-2 had been the originally designated as the mission that would reboost Skylab but due to a multitude of reasons, this could not be achieved and thus STS-2 was reassigned to a different mission. Columbia was crewed by Joe Engle and Richard Truly, the second crew from the Approach and Landing Tests with Space Shuttle Enterprise. Though both NASA rookies Engle had already been awarded astronaut wings from the United States Air Force due to making several flights above 50 miles in the X-15. 

STS-2 stood by on Pad 39-A at Kennedy Space Center being the final shuttle stack to sport a white External Tank. All subsequent missions would utilize an unpainted Standard Weight Tank saving 600 pounds. Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off at 11:09 AM EDT becoming the first crewed orbital spacecraft to fly again.  

MECO. Columbia shut off her main engines and separated, coasting until circularization at which point she cemented the achievement of the first reusable spacecraft for NASA, The United States and Humanity. Columbia deployed the payload bay doors revealing the payloads held within.

Columbia reoriented to be "Upside and Backwards" so that SIR-A could begin to map Earth and the crew could take pictures. STS-2 was planned to be a five day mission where CanadArm tests would be conducted often but due to a failure of one of the three onboard fuel cells, it was shortened to two days. Though delayed the crew finished about 90 percent of the objectives due to Engle and Truly staying awake during sleep periods and performing tests of CanadArm while on Loss Of Signal (LOS) periods.

Nearing the end of the mission, Columbia stowed CanadArm and prepared for return to Earth.  Reentry would be subject to experimentation as Engle would perform manual inputs to test reentry dynamics. Columbia was designated to land at Edwards Airforce Base like the rest of the early flights. Intended to be subject to crosswind testing, weather violations caused Columbia to change from Runway 15 to Runway 23.

Columbia touched down at Edwards at 3:23 PM MT after 2 days and 6 hours in space. Compared to STS-1 tile damage was minimal requiring only 70 days in the Orbiter Processing Facility. Columbia would be flown to Florida for refurbishment and reflown on STS-3 as her first endurance test.

I'm real happy on how this mission turned out! This is somewhat of an anniversary edition as its both my 100th post as of writing and its's been a little over six months since I made the thread! How time flies! I've got more missions in the works, particularly the DIRECT proposal and more Shuttle-Skylab and this wonderful thing!

Still a little ways out on all of these. Though I would be interested on your opinions on covering other Shuttle Derived Launch Vehicles. Ares 1 & 5, SRB-X, NLS, SLS and probably some I can't think of. Just some thinking out loud if you know what I mean.

More missions coming soon!

Edited September 25, 2021 by Kuiper_Belt

[Jacktical]

8 hours ago, Kuiper_Belt said:

Though I would be interested on your opinions on covering other Shuttle Derived Launch Vehicles.

I would love to see this!

[Neebel]

41 minutes ago, Jacktical said:

I would love to see this!

Same goes for me!

I'd also love to see some proposed space stations/infrastructure built around or involving the Space Shuttle like the famous STS External Tank Station or the Space Operations Center.

 

[Jacktical]

Ares I

The Ares I was a crew vehicle being developed by Nasa as part of the constellation program, it would replace the space shuttle after its retirement in 2011 for crewed spaceflights. The spacecraft to be carried was Orion (now being used for Artemis on SLS). It featured a five segment SRB for the first stage and an upper stage derived from the shuttle external tank. The stage was propelled by a single J-2X engine fuelled by liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The J-2X was derived from the J-2 engine used during the Apollo program, this time with higher thrust and less parts. It had one test flight in 2009, in the form of the Ares I-X (The launch can be seen here.) Sadly, this beautiful vehicle was cancelled along with the constellation program in 2010. The program would turn into the Artemis program we have today.

"Stage separation confirmed."

The J2-X roars to life, sending the crew on their last stretch to orbit.

Side panel and LAS separation.

Engine cut-off is confirmed and the coast towards apogee begins.

Orion uses its RCS to move away the upper stage.

Ullage fires to settle the propellant in the bottom of the tanks.

"Service module jettison confirmed."

"Drogue chutes deployed."

"Main chutes deployed."

Orion splashes down gently over the coast of Brazil. The crew now wait for the recovery team to arrive.

I hope you have enjoyed.

 

 

[Guest]

On 9/24/2021 at 6:32 PM, Kuiper_Belt said:

This is the most Kerbal rocket ever proposed 

Edited September 30, 2021 by SpaceX_Boi

[Jacktical]

Buran: The Russian Space Shuttle

You might have noticed a visual bug on the nose, it's because I used conformal text decals on the nose to make the colour of the tiles. Otherwise I'm really happy with how this turned out.

[Neebel]

Nice mission! I have to ask tho, why didn't you use Tantares parts for the boosters and the core stage tanks?

[Jacktical]

46 minutes ago, Neebel said:

Nice mission! I have to ask tho, why didn't you use Tantares parts for the boosters and the core stage tanks?

My computer isn't the most powerful and if I use anymore mods I swear it will blow up lol  

[davidy12]

Quick question, how do you keep the robotic arm stable because mine keeps flopping like a noodle in the bay.

[Jacktical]

11 hours ago, davidy12 said:

Quick question, how do you keep the robotic arm stable because mine keeps flopping like a noodle in the bay.

I lock every moveable part in the VAB and then when in flight I use an action group to lock/unlock them all

[Kuiper_Belt]

Straight And To The Point, Direct, if you will.

The DIRECT 3.0 proposal coming soon!

22 hours ago, davidy12 said:

Quick question, how do you keep the robotic arm stable because mine keeps flopping like a noodle in the bay.

While maneuvering the arm I find it's best to keep all joints locked except one and move them one at a time slowly. Always have the traverse rate set to the lowest possible speed. While stowed, lock all the joints and autostrut the end effector. It is crucial that the robotic parts are locked because otherwise autostrut will not work as intended. Lastly patience is key! Hope this helps you out!  

 

Edited October 5, 2021 by Kuiper_Belt

[Guest]

17 hours ago, Kuiper_Belt said:

Straight And To The Point, Direct, if you will.

Great pun 

[pTrevTrevs]

On 10/4/2021 at 9:24 PM, Kuiper_Belt said:

Straight And To The Point, Direct, if you will.

The DIRECT 3.0 proposal coming soon!

While maneuvering the arm I find it's best to keep all joints locked except one and move them one at a time slowly. Always have the traverse rate set to the lowest possible speed. While stowed, lock all the joints and autostrut the end effector. It is crucial that the robotic parts are locked because otherwise autostrut will not work as intended. Lastly patience is key! Hope this helps you out!  

 

I’m sure this question has been asked too many times already, but how do you get Modular Launch Pads to play nice with Katniss’s Cape? Does it involve trickery with root part offsetting or something?

[Kuiper_Belt]

The DIRECT 3.0 Proposal - May 29th 2009

Authors Note: This'll be a rather long one! Hope you enjoy it as much as I loved making it ! 

DIRECT was proposed and advocated by a group of space enthusiasts including engineers of NASA and other aerospace contractor as an alternate path developed to replace the Space Shuttle as NASAs primary launch vehicle. Competing against the Constellation Program's Ares Shuttle Derived vehicles would be the Jupiter launch vehicles.  Their naming scheme being Jupiter-XXX with the first number indicating the number of cryogenic stages, the second number indicating the amount of first stage RS-25s and the third indicating the number of second stage engines. Jupiters could be configured to launch Crew, Cargo, or both.

The idea behind DIRECT was to reuse as many facilities and components of legacy Shuttle hardware as possible, the primary target was engines as it was supposed that developing new engines would lead to the longest delays. The Jupiter launch vehicles used  modified External Tanks designated the "common core stage" that were identical in volume and diameter but with a blunt liquid oxygen tank. This modification permitted the addition of an inline payload fairing or second stage that wouldn't be possible with the ogive shape of the standard External Tank. This would allow Lockheed Martin to continue using most of the existing tooling used to manufacture the External Tanks. Beside the external tanks were 4 segment Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters. The RS-25s would be mounted on a linear thrust plate where 

Jupiter 130

Jupiter-130 was the first of the two proposed vehicles being composed of only the common core as the final stage with 3 RS-25s. Though it's engine configuration looks unstable, the RS-25s large gimbal range could account for the unstable center of thrust. A Jupiter-130 could deliver 60 tons to LEO at a 51.6 degree inclination.

Due to the large payload capacity that could loft the Orion Space Craft and the delivery of a separate payload module to LEO, DIRECT enabled missions such as but not limited to ISS crew rotation and resupply

Or Hubble Servicing missions

After a given mission is done, Orion would separate from its mission module and then eventually its service module and reenter.

Jupiter 246

Jupiter-246 was the second proposed rocket under DIRECT 3.0. Sporting the same common core stage and SRBs, as the 246 suggests it has a 4th RS-25 on the first stage to help it lift off. As a result of this addition, the first stage will burn out faster than the Jupiter-130.

The Jupiter Upper Stage or JUS which is indicated by the 2 in 246 would finish up the orbital insertion. Designed with structural similarities to the Centaur upper stage, the JUS would act as the Earth Departure Stage of the Ares V. Instead of requiring the new J2-X engine, the JUS would use 6 RL-10B-2s which were already active on the Delta IV launch vehicle as the engine in the DCSS.

Jupiter-246 would be able to deliver 91 tons to LEO in a 241 km 29 degree orbit and act as the direct competitor of the Ares V. It holds the advantage of being comprised of all crew rated engines, such that you could launch lighter crewed missions to The Moon in one launch with. Designed with this objective in mind Jupiter-246 would be the rocket that would deliver humanity to surface The Moon.

DIRECT To The Moon - Mid to Late 2010s

DIRECT have a direct transition from Shuttle and LEO activity to The Moon and Mars. Following this will document the profile of a launch of crew to the surface of The Moon. As it was in competition with Constellation it would use the Altair Lunar Surface Access Module (LSAM) and the Orion Space Craft. Due to the lower margins to orbit than the Ares V, Jupiter 246 could not deliver the LSAM to lunar orbit, then immediately dock with Orion and finally initiate the trans-lunar injection. Thus the solution found would be to launch Orion and Altair to LEO and then rendezvous with a fully fueled JUS that was launched beforehand.

Rollout of the crewed variant of Jupiter-246 to Pad 39-A while the other is being prepared for launch at Pad 39-B

Liftoff off of the Jupiter-246 with the TLI JUS.

Fairing jettison. Though not much is being carried beyond the docking mechanism is crucial for the completion of the mission.

Stage Separation and Second Stage Ignition. The JUS finishes its orbital insertion and begins to wait for its visitors. Meanwhile back at Pad 39-A the crew prepares the second Jupiter-246 for flight.

Liftoff! Jupiter has cleared the tower!

Booster and LES separation.

MECO, Second Stage Separation and Second Stage Ignition.

JUS finished orbital insertion into a rendezvous path with the TLI JUS. Afterwards Orion will separate simultaneously with fairing jettison and will reposition for extracting Altair.

Orion and Altair would coast in its phasing orbit and make course corrections as needed.

After hard capture is made, the combined JUS Altair Orion craft will prepare for TLI.

After the TLI, Altair and Orion will separate from the JUS. They'll coast to the moon making adjustments as need.

Altair uses its RL-10 to capture in an elliptical orbit around the moon. This orbit will be circularized further by Orion but due to its small service module could not completely do a circularization burn. Orion and Altair orbit the moon and eventually separate.

Altair prepares for descent by putting itself on a suborbital trajectory using its RCS. (Authors Note: I'm not entirely sure if this was the process, I was cutting it close on fuel and needed to conserve ) Afterward Altair would fire its RL-10 all the way to landing

Touchdown! Altair lands safely in The Mare Crisium.  The crew will spend a week on the lunar surface conducting experiments.

The crew prepares Altair for liftoff and rendezvous with Orion.

Goodbye Moon. Altair will spend some time in a phasing orbit before it rendezvous with Orion at which point it will dock and begin to transfer science and samples.

Orion undocks from Altair and prepares for Trans Earth Injection and the trip home.

After the final coast phase Orion prepares to jettison its service module and orient itself for reentry, final descent and a parachute aided splashdown off the coast of Hawaii.

Welcome home Orion!

DIRECT actually wasn't a complete competitor to Constellation and The Ares rockets. Jupiter 130 and 246 were also designated Ares 3 and 4 respectively seeing it as advantageous to integrate with the program. Ultimately Jupiter and Ares would fall unused as DIRECT wasn't selected and Constellation was canceled. 

DIRECT 3.0 was the third iteration of DIRECT with other designed hiding in the older versions including  THE KERBAL Jupiter 3

I would like to go into depth on Jupiter 3 and Direct 1 and 2.0 but I felt that it didn't make sense to integrate them into this mission as it had grown quite long! I'll get to it at some point in the future as well as covering Constellation. I have more real and proposed missions queued up but unfortunately real life does a good job of taking up time! But I'll work hard to dig out time that can hopefully keep up some sort of cadence. This will also hopefully be the last mission on 1.11! I'll be working on updating to 1.12 as it gives performance benefits that are quite useful for a project that may or may not include ~450 parts cough* ISS cough*. 

Hopefully you enjoyed! More missions coming soon!

Edited October 9, 2021 by Kuiper_Belt

[Kuiper_Belt]

20 hours ago, pTrevTrevs said:

I’m sure this question has been asked too many times already, but how do you get Modular Launch Pads to play nice with Katniss’s Cape? Does it involve trickery with root part offsetting or something?

You are correct it is some root part offset trickery! The only way to get the Modular Launch Base to work with the Katniss Pads is to have the root part be somewhere NOT over the flame trench. For the shuttle launch base I set the root part to the base part of the fixed service structure. For Apollo and SLS pads I clip a little cubic strut into the pad and set it to the root part. Be warned, the launch clamp WILL NO LONGER WORK! Why? I don't know! I don't make the rules   ! To remedy this I usually just clip in a stack decoupler and call it a day. Remember to autostrut everything as the connection between the rest of the rocket and the decoupler is rather weak. Hope this helps and good luck!

 

[AmateurAstronaut1969]

Firstly, Amazing! I love what you did with the Altair. I might have to do something like that when I come to the ETS Artemis Missions as that lander isn’t particularly good looking

also...

10 hours ago, Kuiper_Belt said:

I'll be working on updating to 1.12 as it gives performance benefits that are quite useful for a project that may or may not include ~450 parts cough* ISS cough*. 

 

Does it actually give performance benefits?! I’ve been playing this whole time with so much lag around Freedom because it was at the time around 400 parts. I have reduced the parts now, but is the performance significantly better?

[davidy12]

On 10/4/2021 at 9:24 PM, Kuiper_Belt said:

While maneuvering the arm I find it's best to keep all joints locked except one and move them one at a time slowly. Always have the traverse rate set to the lowest possible speed. While stowed, lock all the joints and autostrut the end effector. It is crucial that the robotic parts are locked because otherwise autostrut will not work as intended. Lastly patience is key! Hope this helps you out!  

 

Strut them to what? Root or Grandparent, because it's still flopping around.

PS:AMAZING work on the ReDirect!

[Kuiper_Belt]

16 hours ago, AmateurAstronaut1969 said:

Firstly, Amazing! I love what you did with the Altair. I might have to do something like that when I come to the ETS Artemis Missions as that lander isn’t particularly good looking

also...

Does it actually give performance benefits?! I’ve been playing this whole time with so much lag around Freedom because it was at the time around 400 parts. I have reduced the parts now, but is the performance significantly better?

Thanks a lot! The shape is right but I the I think the makeover really pushed it further. In regards to 1.12 performance, they changed KSP to a newer Unity version and its supposed to give better performance (Here is an example!). I'm not sure how much of this will translate to the the modded mess that is my GameData folder but I am hopeful for a measurable difference! I'll be sure to note and inform you guys on my FPS in various situations in both versions to see if there is an actual difference. Granted PC component idiosyncrasies will cause the results to vary but if there is a measurable difference for me I'd wager to say that It would affect most people.

7 hours ago, davidy12 said:

Strut them to what? Root or Grandparent, because it's still flopping around.

PS:AMAZING work on the ReDirect!

Thank you! In regards to CanadArm generally do a heaviest autostrut but if you're having trouble I'd try root after heaviest. BE SURE TO LOCK ALL THE JOINTS FIRST! If you are in 1.11 or above you could send a Kerbal on EVA to strut the arm down to the payload bay.

 

[DonaldUnderwoodNG]

On 6/9/2021 at 3:23 AM, Kuiper_Belt said:

STS 41-B February 4, 1984

STS 41-B previously designated as STS-11 was the tenth Space Shuttle mission and the first flight of 1984. For those uninitiated to the flight numbering system the 4 in STS-41-B means Launched in fiscal year of 1984. The 1 means launched from the first launch site of Launch Complex 39. Launch Site 2 was Vandenberg SLC-6 but any plans to launch from there were canceled after the Challenger Disaster . The B means second scheduled flight of the given fiscal year. So STS-41-B means launched in 1984, from Cape Canaveral, and is the second scheduled of the year.  STS-41-B was pushed ahead of STS-10 due to a cancellation surrounding payload issues, resulting in the second scheduled launch of 1984 being the first. Flown by Challenger STS-41-B would be the first flight and demonstration of the MMU or the Manned Maneuvering Unit which assisted in hosted the first untethered space walk. STS-41-B also deployed 2 satellites Westar 6 and Palapa B. Despite  a nominal deployment from Challenger the Payload Assist Module failed to place the satellites in an adequate orbit. Those satellites would later be captured and safely returned by Space Shuttle Discovery on STS-51-A. Challenger would also relaunch the SPAS-1 satellite that had previously flown on STS-7. Though a problem related to Canadarm would leave it bound to the payload bay instead of free flight. Challenger would lift off from Pad 39-A in the mid morning.

After 7 days and 23 hours, Space Shuttle Challenger would land at Shuttle Landing Facility Runway 15 at Kennedy Space Center. After being recovered it would be reflown again for STS-41-C.

I LOVE the MMU! Its from Cormorant Aeronology, as well as the satellite dispensers. I can't wait to do more missions with them. The next mission I'm planning on doing is a little different from what I've done before but hopefully It wont take too long. Hope you liked it! More missions coming soon!

Amazing!

What mods do you use for the  PAM airborne support equipment ?Look so great！

[DonaldUnderwoodNG]

On 6/16/2021 at 10:58 AM, Kuiper_Belt said:

STS-2a: Skylab Reboost Mission, Late 1979

After the final boost conducted by the Apollo CSM,  the crew of Skylab 4 undocked with Skylab for the final time on February 8th, 1974, at 2:33 UTC. Afterwards Skylab's orbit would slowly decay over the following years. On July 11, 1979, Skylab reentered the atmosphere and debris landed in the Indian Ocean and Western Australia. When the crew of Skylab 4 undocked from Skylab, they left the hatch unlocked for the next crewed mission. Skylab 5 was suggested utilizing the Saturn 1B and Apollo CSM of the Skylab Rescue Mission (Which was assembled in the VAB for a problem with Skylab 4's CSM that was discovered in orbit.) but was ultimately not launched for either mission. NASA at the time was developing the Space Transportation System and in 1978 NASA had found that It was possible to reboost Skylab and awarded a $26 million contract to Martin Marietta to construct the Teleoperator Retrieval System. The second Space Shuttle Mission would launch to save Skylab. 

STS-2a would have probably launched from Pad 39-A and flown by Columbia. As an early Shuttle Mission the External Tank would have been White.

After boosting Skylab, several more missions would be sent to Skylab to refurbish, attach additional solar panels and expand Skylab to support more missions. Columbia would be eventually be reflown on another Shuttle Mission.

In reality Skylab would of course burn up due to orbital decay. Skylab also was reentered earlier than predicted due to increased solar activity. In addition to the solar activity The Shuttle Program was delayed for a multitude of reasons but lead to the impossibility of Skylab being able to be saved by The Space Shuttle. The TRS was also considered to be launched on the Titan III and Atlas Agena Launch Vehicles but plans ultimately fell through as well which lead to the demise of Skylab that we all know.

I brought back the warm TUFX config for the old flight. I intend to do another flight or two to Skylab and document it but It would be much more speculation than this. The next mission I intend to do will be a little different and will take a little time to make the craft. More missions coming in the near future!

you can found Skylab TRS in RN Skylab pack

[Kuiper_Belt]

On 10/16/2021 at 1:54 PM, DonaldUnderwoodNG said:

Amazing!

What mods do you use for the  PAM airborne support equipment ?Look so great！

Thanks! That would be Cormorant Aeronology.

 

On 10/16/2021 at 1:55 PM, DonaldUnderwoodNG said:

you can found Skylab TRS in RN Skylab pack

Interesting! I keep that in mind If I ever revisit it.

[Kuiper_Belt]

STS-H₂O - A Story of Thirst

This is just me fooling around... Launched by Space Shuttle Atlantis-Discovery (This'll make sense later...) from Pad 39-A, Jeb, Bill, Bob, and Val will be delivering a special payload to orbit.

(As you can see Atlantis Discovery )

After reaching orbit, STS-H₂O's Crew begin to deploy the payload bay doors and reveal the payload...

Behold, a enlarged water bottle! (Inspired by my water bottle) for all Kerbal Kind's  hydration needs! The crew begin to deploy and observe the payload in all its glory

Val goes on an EVA to get a sip...

Hope you guys like my silly billy creation! Literally whipped this up in like an hour so that's why it's got some... uh... let's say... inconsistencies... I was talking to a friend and jokingly said I should launch my water bottle to space and I couldn't just not do it.  Currently lined up for the next real mission is STS-72! Hopefully it wont take too long to make. Real life may be letting up on me for a little bit so I'll be sure to take advantage of the time I get both to relax and to work on this project!

More missions, goofy and serious hopefully coming soon! 

 

Edited October 24, 2021 by Kuiper_Belt