ISS Adventures: A Kerbalized Recreation of Missions to the International Space Station

[PokeWasTaken]

Yo thats the best looking canadarm 2 ive ever seen, will there ever be a craft file for it?

[Guest]

I come back to this thread after many months and HOLY FRACK THIS IS AMAZING!!
It truly is amazing what KSP can allow us to do these days, oh my gosh  
I would be more than happy to get the TUFX you use @Kuiper_Belt , if you haven't already given us a link. It makes these look as good as they are. 
Also, when you were flying the 747 SCA, I literally thought you were using X-Plane 11 or Microsoft Flight Simulator to take those screenshots omg 

[Kuiper_Belt]

On 6/6/2022 at 5:48 PM, JebNotFound said:

I come back to this thread after many months and HOLY FRACK THIS IS AMAZING!!
It truly is amazing what KSP can allow us to do these days, oh my gosh  
I would be more than happy to get the TUFX you use @Kuiper_Belt , if you haven't already given us a link. It makes these look as good as they are. 
Also, when you were flying the 747 SCA, I literally thought you were using X-Plane 11 or Microsoft Flight Simulator to take those screenshots omg 

Thanks! I used Balliisticfox's neutral configs generally. I have every TUFX  profile they've got on their github and I generally switch between them and Alverro's configs

 

On 6/4/2022 at 1:06 PM, PokeWasTaken said:

Yo thats the best looking canadarm 2 ive ever seen

You can thank Lemon Cup for that! We plan on making a new version, but I as of now we dont really plan on releasing craft files for them as they are quite janky to use sometimes .

[PokeWasTaken]

8 hours ago, Kuiper_Belt said:

Thanks! I used Balliisticfox's neutral configs generally. I have every TUFX  profile they've got on their github and I generally switch between them and Alverro's configs

 

You can thank Lemon Cup for that! We plan on making a new version, but I as of now we dont really plan on releasing craft files for them as they are quite janky to use sometimes .

Ahh, all good. Tell Lemon Cup good job on that lol

[lemon cup]

30 minutes ago, PokeWasTaken said:

Ahh, all good. Tell Lemon Cup good job on that lol

Thank you!  We both have done a lot of kitbashing to get the aesthetic right on some of these components. Couldn’t have done it without all the great mods like Restock, BDB, SSPXR, et al. 
 

Unfortunately our craft files would probably be classified as “perilous to the community”, with all of the backwards patches and pruned mod pieces we cobbled together lol.

[Kuiper_Belt]

It Is Important To Maintain Routine

H1 2006 Missions coming soon! (Had been delayed due to some mod changes and various technical difficulties. Currently my height  map is still screwed up but I think I've got a solution!)

Edited June 16, 2022 by Kuiper_Belt

[Kuiper_Belt]

The International Space Station - H-1 2006 - Impending Arrivals

The first half of 2006 would mark the last period of time where the Shuttle wouldn't regularly be visiting until the fleets eventual retirement. After Discovery's return as STS-121 the ISS would resume assembly with new truss segments and habitable modules being lifted to the orbiting laboratory. The first activities of the new year would involve the launch of a satellite.

Expedition 12 EVA 2 & Deploying Suit Sat - February 3rd, 2006 

Expedition 12's second and final EVA included several activates, such as retrieving and monitoring various experiments and equipment on the exterior of the station. Moving, and securing components of the station , including the now compromised Mobile Base System. To add to the excitement would be the deployment of SuitSat-1, an old Orlan EVA suit that had been stuffed with electronics to become a satellite with a radio transmitter for students across the world to receive and attempt to transmit to.

Long after the 5 hour 43 minute EVA was completed, SuitSat-1 would reenter the atmosphere at 16:00 GMT on September 7th of 2006.  

Departure of Progress M-54 - March 3rd, 2006

Following a 175 day stay attached to Zvezda''s aft port, periodically boosting and supplying the station with consumables, Progress M-54 would undock at 10:06 UTC on March 3rd to deorbit and provide an extra docking space for Soyuz TMA-7. Progress -54 would burn up over the pacific at 13:52 UTC ending the 177 day mission. 

 

Soyuz TMA-7 Port Relocation - March 20th, 2006

The crew of Expedition 7 now grown discontent with their spot attached to Zarya's nadir port and having already docking to Pirs left one option, the newly vacant Zvezda aft Port.  At 06:49 on March 20th Valery Tokarev and William McArthur undocked from Zarya and pulled around to Zvezda's aft port and docked at 07:11 UTC, just 21 minutes apart from the laboratory.

Now with Zarya's nadir port cleared, the Expedition 13 crew could arrive at the orbital outpost.

Launch & Arrival of Soyuz TMA-8 & Expedition 13 - March 30th, 2006

 (The Kerbals in this image must have used some crazy good fertilizer around Site 1/5)

Sitting atop Gagarin's Start at the Baikonur Cosmorome the crew of Soyuz TMA-8 awaited their voyages start. Consisting of Pavel Vinogradov and Jeffery Williams of Expedition 13 and Marcos Pontes of the Brazilian Space Agency  the crew would lift off at 07:30 local time. After launch Pontes became the first Brazilian in space.

After spending 2 days in a rendezvous orbit, the crew of Expedition 7 confirmed docking of Soyuz TMA-8 at 04:19 UTC marking the beginning of the one week join Expedition 12/13 mission.

Soyuz TMA-7 Departure & Landing - April 8th, 2006

After a 187 day stay aboard the, ISS Expedition 12 and Marcos Pontes, climbed into Soyuz TMA-7 and undocked from Zvezda at 20:28 UTC on April 8th.

After reentering the atmosphere, the  crew would land down at nearly 05:00 local time.

Progress M-56 Launch and Docking - April 24, 2006 

With the now unoccupied Aft Zvezda port and no new Soyuz launches for the foreseeable future, Progress M-56 would launch at 21:03 local time to dock tot Zvezda's aft port to provide orbital maintenance capabilities as well as ferry supplies to the Expedition 13 crew.

Docking to the ISS at 17:41 UTC on April 26th after the two day rendezvous orbit, the station would enter a drought of activity through the rest of April and all of May.

Expedition 13 EVA-1 - June 1st, 2006

Since February a crew hadn't stepped outside the station, but Expedition 13 would end that streak. Included in the 6 hour 31 minute EVA the crew would repair components of the Elektron oxygen producer, retrieve an experiment and contamination monitoring device and make repairs on the Mobile Base System.

Departure of Progress M-55 - June 19th, 2006

After a launch and docking in December of 2005, Progress M-55's 179 day stay at the outpost came to an end on June 19th, 2006 to allow for its replacement to launch and dock. The spacecraft separated from the station at 14:06 UTC and deorbited nearly 4 hour later. 

Progress M-57 Launch & Docking - June 24th, 2006

Standing by on the Soyuz U at Site 1/5 of the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Progress M-57 would lift off from at 20:08 local time, with a planned docking in 2 days time.

Progress M-57 docked to Pirs at June 26th, 16:25 UTC marking the final major event at the ISS, prior to the next shuttle flight  in 8 days.

STS-121 Coming Soon & Congratulations to Jeb and Boeing with the Successful Starliner Mission to the ISS!

Can't wait to cover it in a gazillian years

Edited December 14, 2022 by Kuiper_Belt

[cfopcuber2]

Just wondering how did you guys get the mobile base system able to move along the truss? And do you guys have a newer dev version of Habtech?

Edited July 10, 2022 by cfopcuber2

[Glass]

Hey @lemon cup is it possible if you can give me your tufx cfg?

Edited July 10, 2022 by Glass

[Guest]

On 7/10/2022 at 2:39 PM, Glass said:

Hey @lemon cup is it possible if you can give me your tufx cfg?

Lemon Cup and Kuiper Belt use Ballisticfox's TUFX profiles, you can find them on CKAN

[Glass]

@JebNotFound Is it possible if Lemon cup could send me a file that has all of his mods?

[cfopcuber2]

4 hours ago, Glass said:

@JebNotFound Is it possible if Lemon cup could send me a file that has all of his mods?

The first post in the form has a list of mods used for the images. Also when STS 121? @Kuiper_Belt 

[Kuiper_Belt]

On 7/29/2022 at 12:25 AM, cfopcuber2 said:

The first post in the form has a list of mods used for the images. Also when STS 121? @Kuiper_Belt 

Sorry for the delays, I took a bit of a break after a Shuttle Adventures mission that was quite taxing and then spent some time away from the computer to relax and read but now I'm back! Hopefully will have STS-121 out within week!

[Kuiper_Belt]

Coasting Coolly -Cross The Cosmos

Spoiler

This is an image form the first shuttle mission I conducted for ISS Adventures, STS-96. I'm quite proud of how far the series has come! 

I can't thank this community enough for their time to make wonderful mods for this game that keep making KSP look closer and closer to reality!

 

Edited August 4, 2022 by Kuiper_Belt

[Kuiper_Belt]

Launch Delays: A Message

Hello! First off I'd like to apologize for the delay with STS-121. I've got some good news and some bad news. First the good news: STS-121 is done! I've got all the images and I should be good to write the post. Now the bad news: I cannot imbed the images into forum posts for some reason and thus won't be able to make the mission post. I'm away from the computer I usually use for KSP and writing the posts and I knew that I'd be away so before I left I uploaded all the images to Imgur and they're there. (They're in my other window as I type ) But whenever I attempt to imbed the image into a post it gives me an error. What this is or why? I don't know! I think it may have something to do with my internet connection but I'm almost certain that it is not a forum issue. I've even tried other images I've imbedded in previous posts but no dice. This means I can't post the mission for a couple of days. I'm really sorry for the delay and hope to make your patience worth it. After this mission ISS construction resumes, with STS-115! I'm excited to continue building out this wonderful project. See you soon!

Normally I would include a picture with a post like this but the aforementioned problem forbids it  

[Kuiper_Belt]

STS-121 - Better Late Than Never - July 4th, 2006

STS-121 was initially plagued with delay, bringing the triumphant return of the shuttle fleet with STS-114 to a stand still. Initially planned for a September 2005 launch, Space Shuttle Atlantis was planned to fly the mission but several things presented issues. On the launch of STS-114 External Tank debris separated after liftoff, the same problem the resulted in the Columbia Disaster, resulting in postponing further flights until a solution could be made, but with inspections of Atlantis the second problem became apparent, an issue with the orbiters landing gear.  This pushed Atlantis out of the running for STS-121 which placed Discovery at the base of the External Tank. After returning Discovery to California, finalized schedules placed Atlantis in position to fly STS-115 in August 2006 following Discovery with STS-121. 

Rolling out of the VAB on May 19th of 2006, Discovery lumbered over to Pad 39B via the crawler beginning  preparations for launch. STS-121 was a dual flight of sorts, being a "Return to Flight" mission as well as an ISS resupply. STS-121 would carry newly modified components. as well as experiments and conduct new procedures to prevent future Columbia-esque disasters from occurring in the future. As well as carrying the tradition food water oxygen station equipment and experiments within the MPLM Leonardo, STS-121 carried one more important person on this flight. Thomas Reiter, ESA Astronaut who would mark the return of triple manned expeditions, which had been suspended since the Columbia Disaster. As well as Reiter Discovery was crewed by Commanded Steve Lindsey, Piloted by Mark Kelly, and supported by Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson as Robotic Arm Operators and Mike Fossum and Piers Sellers as space walkers.

As launch day approached delay reared its ugly head into Discovery's plans once more resulting in two scrubs due to weather. While a bummer on paper to those slated to fly it would present a nice coincidence for those on the ground. Discovery's third attempt would be on Independence Day, marking the first and only time a Shuttle would launch on Americas birthday. As the most beautiful and awesome firework ever made Discovery, the crew of STS-121 and NASA workers pulled together a spectacular celebration for the spectators of this launch. Space Shuttle Discovery would lift off from Pad 39-B at 14:37:55 EDT.

After reaching orbit STS-121 would begin its two day rendezvous procedures with the ISS, but in the meantime the crew would deploy they cargo bay doors and begin the TPS (Thermal Protection System) survey with the OBSS (Orbital Boom Sensor System).

After completing the survey, the crew would stow the OBSS and continue the rendezvous procedures.

Once within a relatively close range to the orbital outpost, the crew begin the beautiful dance that is the Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver or RPM or R-Bar Maneuver or Backflip (What ever you call it its beautiful  I think I went on a rant about this beautiful backflip in the STS-114 mission log).

After a complete flip and the pictures taken, Discovery repositions and reorients for docking to Destiny's PMA 2.

With a docking at 14:52 UTC on July 6th, Discovery returned to the ISS after nearly a year away. The crew immediately began procedures to retrieve Leonardo from the Shuttle's payload bay, as well as prepare for the three planned EVAs. 

With the extraction of the MPLM the cargo transfer and EVAs could now begin. EVA-1 would begin at 13:17 UTC on July 8th with Sellers and Fossum stepping out of the Quest Airlock to make repairs to the mobile transporter and test RMS + OBSS positions for possible TPS repairs. The EVA would conclude at at 20:48 after 7 hours and 31 minutes outside.

EVA-2 would fully restore the Mobile Base System transport cart to full functionality and and attach spare pumps to the outside of the ISS but the space walkers would encounter a problem. Sellers’ SAFER pack would become unlatched from the EMU requiring periodic pauses during the EVA to secure the SAFER pack to Sellers. EVA-2 began July 10th  on 12:14 UTC and lasted 6 hours 47 minutes  ending at 19:01 UTC.

EVA-3 would be the final excursion outside the ISS for STS-121, consisting primarily of experiments for repair of the thermal protection system components. Ranging from surveying reinforced carbon carbon panels and experimental repair techniques for pre broken thermal tiles stored in the cargo bay.  In addition Sellers’ SAFER pack was secured with a supplemental layer of kapton tape. July 12th at 07:11 UTC the EVA began and for 7 hours 11 minutes of work on TPS repair ending at 13:31 UTC.

After the EVA the next order of business would be the return of MPLM Leonardo to Discovery's payload bay. 

After 8 days 19 hours docked to the ISS, Discovery undocked from the orbital outpost at 10:08 UTC on July 15th. Afterwards Discovery would coast for 2 days orbiting Earth, after which the deorbit burn would be conducted and Discovery would drift down back to Earth.

Descending through the skies Discovery, returned to Kennedy Space Center at Runway 15 on July 17th 2006 marking the return of frequent shuttle flights and resuming the construction of the ISS but marks a more somber note in history, the final chapter of the Shuttle Program. The next 5 years would be the exciting final hour for a legendary program...

and it’s just about to start! STS-115 Coming Soon!

Edited August 11, 2022 by Kuiper_Belt

[Kuiper_Belt]

Shaders Are Something Else

my goodness are those panels beautiful! 

I plan on working on STS-115 soon but I cant promise it is completed quickly as I need to learn how to do a Shuttle Arm to Station Arm hand off! Once that's done it should hopefully be smooth sailing. But like many things easier said than done

[Kuiper_Belt]

House Keeping 

Expedition-13 EVA-2 Coming Soon

[Kuiper_Belt]

Expedition 13 EVA-2 - August 3rd, 2006 - What's That?!

Occupying one of the harshest enviornment known to man, the International Space Station is subject to wear and tear as well as serving as a wonderful testbed for experimenting in said harsh enviornment. The now fully staffed Expedition 13 crew now can expriment faster than they did a man down, but as always the station needs to be serviced requiring regular space walks.  Expedition 13's second and final EVA would see a healthy mix of both repair and scientific exprimintation. 

 Beginning on August 3rd at 14:04 UTC, Astronauts Jeffery Williams of NASA and Thomas Reiter of ESA stepped outsuide the Quest Airlock with a plethora of objectives including but not limited to:

Retrival of a ball stack on PMA-1 for inspection

Installation of MISSE's (Materials International Space Station Experiment) 3 and 4

Installation of the Floating Potential Measurement Unit

 

Repair of a Thermal Rotary Joint on the S1 Truss Segment

And Inspection and Documention of a scratch on the Quest Airlock

EVA-2 of Expedition 13 ended at 19:58 UTC, wrapping up the 5 hour 54 minute EVA as well as the final EVA for Expedition 13. With buisness outside the Station in order, the crew of Expedition 13 could now return to their normal duties as well as prepare for the arrival of Space Shuttle Atlantis.

STS-115 Featuring the P3/P4 Truss Segment Coming Soon!

P.S. As the ISS gets bigger and I want to show more of it off in one picture I have began to notice a problem with shadow sharpness as I zoom out. The shadows lose a lot of detail, An Example:

*Note the right truss segment (P1) and the nice shadow cast by the radiator and antenna *

*Now the shadow is  blurry and soft in regards to the radiator based shadow and the antenna shadow is now a blob*

I want to see more of the station while not losing the crisp sharp shadows.  Is there a setting or mod that can fix this (is this even a bug or an intended behavior?) or increase the distance at which these shadows are cast? I am aware that I could increase my FOV and zoom in to get more of the station but I personally perfer the low FOV shots more, they look more organic. Any guidance as to what I should do or who I should ask would be appreciated!

Edited September 5, 2022 by Kuiper_Belt

[pTrevTrevs]

What do you use to get all the extra wires and stuff on the PMAs? Are they some kind of conformal decal or are they a special part I’m just not aware of?

[Kuiper_Belt]

8 hours ago, pTrevTrevs said:

What do you use to get all the extra wires and stuff on the PMAs? Are they some kind of conformal decal or are they a special part I’m just not aware of?

That is a normal KSP flag decal part thingy. A while ago squad added these. Lemon Cup actually had the idea to use them like that and it works really well! I should also note there are some conformal decals as well on the PMAs to add closer, more contained wiring but the more free wires are the default ksp flag parts. Those flags are quite useful. We plan on using them to make Zarya’s partially folded solar arrays.

Edited September 5, 2022 by Kuiper_Belt

[pTrevTrevs]

2 hours ago, Kuiper_Belt said:

That is a normal KSP flag decal part thingy. A while ago squad added these. Lemon Cup actually had the idea to use them like that and it works really well! I should also note there are some conformal decals as well on the PMAs to add closer, more contained wiring but the more free wires are the default ksp flag parts. Those flags are quite useful. We plan on using them to make Zarya’s partially folded solar arrays.

Whoa, that’s actually really creative! I would have guessed that they’re some kind of 3D part, but I can definitely see that they’re flags now. Would you consider releasing the custom decals you’re using here to the public?

[lemon cup]

On 9/4/2022 at 5:36 PM, Kuiper_Belt said:

I want to see more of the station while not losing the crisp sharp shadows.  Is there a setting or mod that can fix this (is this even a bug or an intended behavior?) or increase the distance at which these shadows are cast? I am aware that I could increase my FOV and zoom in to get more of the station but I personally perfer the low FOV shots more, they look more organic. Any guidance as to what I should do or who I should ask would be appreciated!

Hey long time no see! Station and photos look amazing btw, your progress never ceases to amaze me.

I’m away from the computer right now and can’t remember where to find this, but there is a way to access the in-game Scatterer settings and manually change shadow quality distance settings. Yours are set to the default low number I reckon.

@Pioneer_Steve @Beccab @alberro+ you guys know what I’m talking about?

[alberro+]

Amazing thread, love seeing these 

1 hour ago, lemon cup said:

Hey long time no see! Station and photos look amazing btw, your progress never ceases to amaze me.

I’m away from the computer right now and can’t remember where to find this, but there is a way to access the in-game Scatterer settings and manually change shadow quality distance settings. Yours are set to the default low number I reckon.

@Pioneer_Steve @Beccab @alberro+ you guys know what I’m talking about?

On the space center screen, scatterer has a little button. There, you can open up the tab called "shadows", and turn on something that says long range shadow casting (or something along the lines of that).

[Beccab]

5 hours ago, lemon cup said:

Hey long time no see! Station and photos look amazing btw, your progress never ceases to amaze me.

I’m away from the computer right now and can’t remember where to find this, but there is a way to access the in-game Scatterer settings and manually change shadow quality distance settings. Yours are set to the default low number I reckon.

@Pioneer_Steve @Beccab @alberro+ you guys know what I’m talking about?

4 hours ago, alberro+ said:

Amazing thread, love seeing these 

On the space center screen, scatterer has a little button. There, you can open up the tab called "shadows", and turn on something that says long range shadow casting (or something along the lines of that).

It's a bit more complicated than that  - you go to scatterer -> shadows -> long distance terrain shadows, and then you have to change almost all the settings to make it work. These are the values I've been suggested:


The values then stick and remain set correctly forever, but unfortunately the toggle doesn't - every time you open KSP again you're going to have to go through the process of opening scatterer, going to shadows and clicking the button that turns long distance terrain shadows on again