Starbound - A JNSQ Adventure [Chapter 15]

Misguided Kerbal · May 8, 2022

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S T A R B O U N D

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Introduction

Oh boy, here we go again! I'm Misguided Kerbal, and here I am starting but yet another mission report (hopefully, of course, we'll manage to actually see this one through to completion!) I've been meaning to complete a full JNSQ playthrough for quite a while now, so I am seriously quite excited for this.

This playthrough, of course, will be in the titular JNSQ - sandbox mode, but with my own personal restrictions, as I really do dislike the grind of Science and Career mode and would much rather prefer to be able to just do my own thing. This vision of the Kerbalverse is all entirely of my own personal interpretation, of course - although you'll definitely spot strong influences from real (primarily American, for rather obvious reasons, I suppose) programs and projects I greatly admire, such as Raptor9's absolutely spectacular craft catalog and the like. I'll be playing with BARIS, which, despite all the trouble it's given me (which, I suppose, is actually it just functioning properly...), I still do consider it the overall pinnacle of part failure mods, along with Snacks! - combined, I do think this adds quite a reasonably Kerbalized amount of mild challenge, for the sake of just general flavor and enjoyment and all that, et cetera, et cetera.

So what exactly are we doing here? Great question, narrating voice in my head superimposed into the perspective of you, the dear reader! The aspirational end goal: land a kerbal on every single body in the JNSQ system, and thoroughly document all of the trials and tribulations experienced in the process. We'll see how it goes.

Restrictions

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Modlist

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Note: I'm not listing the dependencies here, only the mods themselves. I personally feel this gives a better overview of the mods than just the folder name (which can be sometimes confusing). I was going to just post a screenshot of my GameData folder otherwise, but I do hope the amount of effort I've ended up putting into this has helped at least someone looking to curate a respectable modlist - I know I'd certainly have appreciated such back then. Well, okay, then again, I also do believe hunting for good mods is in itself is half the fun, but I otherwise digress.

Updated list (as of 1/5/2025). This isn't necessarily wholly comprehensive, as I have some small things installed that I may not have listed otherwise - I didn't want this list to go on and on forever, so I wanted to try and at least cover what I personally consider to be the most significant contributors to my modded KSP experience.

Astrogator - Conveniently both identifies upcoming transfer windows and plots maneuver nodes for you!

Planetside Exploration Technologies - We're quite a ways from getting there as of current, but, aspirationally, perhaps we'll be able to litter the entirety of the Kerbol system with these wonderful base parts someday.

Coriolis Space Systems - It has a bunch of tether stuff which I find certainly quite interesting, as well as a strange little cockpit I do hope to be able to incorporate into some sort of frankenstein contraption, eventually.

Benjee10's Historical Kerbal Suits - Adds a selection of absolutely wonderful suits, which I can marvel at everytime I send a Kerbal peering into the vast empty void (probably on a mission to repair a snack container knocked out by BARIS or something)

Benjee10's Historical Kerbal Heads - And thus we have the mustache men.

Habtech - Who exactly doesn't love tin cans? Featuring many a great variety of such for your own personal pleasure!

Better Burn Time - A wonderful little modlet that's drawn my attention to rather important factors more than once!

BDB - I do think BDB is absolutely wonderful, but in this case, I've removed everything except for the ALSEP deployables - unfortunately, I don't believe the rest of BDB would necessarily be very compatible with this specific playthrough.

Bumblebee -

According to all known laws of aviation,

there is no way a bee should be able to fly.

Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground.

The bee, of course flies anyway,

because bees don't care what humans think is impossible.

Chatterer (with Chatterer+ soundpack) - Listening to Kerbals chatter about is perhaps the most significant contributor to my enjoyment of the overall KSP experience. Next question.

Comfortable Landing - Auto-deploying floats and airbags - absolutely wonderful stuff!

Conformal Decals - I don't know what I'd do without them. Well, okay, I do believe all of my designs would look at least 50% worse - no joke.

The Complete Nertea Experience^TM - I was going to, until now, list out individually all of the mods from Nertea I have installed - until I realized that I've installed literally everything (I believe) Nertea has to offer - that is, the complete Near Future Suite, Cryogenic Engines, SSPXr, Restock and Restock+, Kerbal Atomics, the Mark IV System, Heat Control, and Far Future Technologies. This is like 90% of my game, I'm truly not quite sure what I'd do without any of this amazing work.

Distant Object Enhancement - The ability to spot a speck of Jool or Duna in a far-off corner of my screen has contributed far more to my game than I ever thought possible in the first place.

Engine Light Relit - Much to the same effect as Distant Object Enhancement - it's really the little things which seriously contribute so much to my gameplay experience.

Extra Docking Ports - More Restockalike docking ports - most notably, in my opinion, a 1.25m port with Restock-matching color variations plus little slit cutouts for parachute attachment, which I've found absolutely indispensable as part of my building arsenal. Wonderful stuff.

FMRS (Flight Manager for Reusable Stages) - Partially aspirational - maybe we'll get around to building reusable launchers necessitating such someday.

FreeIVA - Honestly, I've found it so much more fun than I ever even thought it to be. That, and, of course, I do think it goes along just wonderfully with the excellent IVA work done in, for example, the exceptional SSPXr.

Internal RCS - Wonderfully flush RCS ports, which I don't believe I could live without anymore.

JNSQ - The crux of this entire playthrough, featuring a great helping of that je ne sais quoi. Comes with its own wonderfully adequate graphics (that is, Scatterer and EVE configs) as well! For a while I did try playing with Ad Astra, but I'm certain my Macbook didn't particularly enjoy such an, er, performant experience.

Kerbalized Flagpack + Kerbalized Decals - A wonderful variety of derivative (but excellently Kerbalized) flags and decals that I find do fit perfectly into my personal conceptualization of the Kerbalverse.

KHSK (Kerbal Heavy Exoskeleton Kit) - It looks cool. That, and perhaps we'll also get to actually use it someday, that as well.

Knes - Here I have much of the same rationale as I do with BDB - I do think the entire mod is wonderfully great work, particularly the variety of shuttles and lifting bodies that it has available (looking at you in particular, Hermes). However, I've kept only the paraglider portion, which should start making a great extent of appearances in leaps and bounds (behold, my plans for a realization of the Paragliding Gemini concept!!!)

KVV (Kronal Vessel Viewer) - It allows for the production of wonderful blueprints. Great stuff.

KS3P - I'm using a specific custom config here, derived from Zorg's great work. I suppose this is really much of an outlier here (as in, a throwback for many), but alas, TUFX doesn't appear to have any semblance of Mac support for the time being. Really, I'm just glad that such continues to function excellently.

KSCExtended - An absolutely beautiful launch complex, which I seriously don't believe I could ever live without. By far and away preferable to otherwise launching, say, solely from the singular KSC launchpad.

MechJeb - You know it, you love it - I've restricted myself to only being able to use MechJeb after doing something manually at least once, I suppose mostly in a bid to prevent myself from becoming too lazy.

Modular Launch Pads - Might I state my admiration for this mod in its entirety - I'm not sure what I'd do if I were still stuck with either stock launch clamps or having to kitbash some sort of launch tower manually - thus I can only proclaim MFP as my savior. That, and I don't think I could ever go back, even if I tried.

NASA Countdown Clock - It looks great, it feels great. What more can I say?

Docking Port Alignment Indicator (plus the Navball version as well) - There was a time when I manually aligned everything throughout the docking process, and I now fully accept such as but an archaic, unenlightened period.

Persistent Rotation - You spin me right round, baby, right round...

PlanetShine - Is shiny. 10/10.

RealPlume - Great stuff, but at this point, considering the advent of Waterfall, mostly just a fallback for said Waterfall configs - that, and still absolutely wonderfully leveraged by, say, RSMP (formerly SWE) for SRB plumes.

Reentry Particle Effect - The streams of plasma it creates are absolutely beautiful to look at. Undoubtedly wonderful stuff.

Rocket Sound Enhancement - In my humble opinion, it just makes such a great difference in the overall KSP auditory experience. Seriously, I feel I cannot recommend this more than enough.

SCANSAT - It creates beautiful maps, and it makes me feel like I'm doing actual sciency stuff, even as I only mostly pretend to do such in the comfort of my sandbox save.

Soundtrack Editor - Specifically, the Transfer Windows pack, which is just absolutely magnificent - especially in comparison to KSP's vanilla Kevin Macleod, which, while undoubtedly wonderful, have been etched so deep into my brain I could probably hum it all whilst deep in slumber. Actually, I think I already have...

Waterfall - My eyes have been blessed by but the beautiful plumes Waterfall makes possible. That, and I certainly can't not appreciate the performance increases Waterfall brings over Realplume, that as well.

Tac Self Destruct - I actually cannot stress how invaluable this mod has been. Bombs - they make proper abort sequences possible. Great stuff.

Through the Eyes - Finally, you can actually see out of those bulbous eyes our Kerbals possess, and it is wonderful. Albeit, the IVA effect it does cause while in use, that is, causing said Kerbal's head to disappear, is but a tad bit disturbing.

BARIS - A wonderful failures mod from Wild Blue Industries which I find particularly enjoyable, even if it did infact cause the whole Explorer saga. Regardless, I do believe such is wholly and entirely unique - and while updated to the latest version, I am saddened by its essential deprecation in all further capacities. Nonetheless, I continue to BARIS on - I'd certainly like to claim my spot as a fan of such, if said position were available.

Snacks! - Another wonderful Wild Blue creation - I do believe, in terms of life support mods, that Snacks truly does hit the spot. I'd like to think it truly fits well into the whole 'slightly more realistic JNSQ/Restock/Near Future Suite type of stockalike vibe' - that is, perfectly Kerbal in its implementation.

Final Frontier (plus the compatible Final Frontier ribbons pack for JNSQ) - And, of course, at the end of every manned flight we do wrap up with displaying our ribbons. Which I do believe in this case FF manages to execute perfectly. You really can't beat going through something major, a la Spacelab 4, and then having the crew not receiving any subsequent ribbons afterwards. Truly, this is it (I kid, of course, FF is yet again but a wonderful mod!)

- I do also have a custom solar-intensity boosting config, which I believe was a recommendation from the same guide of Zorg's which provided me with a modifiable KS3P config. I'd certainly recommend such for everyone, really.

Completed Missions

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Here's a list of all the completed missions so far, in chronological order. This list will be updated as the mission report goes on.

Mission Grading Scale:

(K)= Kerballed

Success - Full completion of mission objectives, with no problems.

Partial Success - Partial completion of mission objectives, and/or minor system failure.

Failure - Failure to complete mission objectives, and/or major system failure.

Catastrophic Failure - No completion of mission objectives, major, catastrophic system failure.

Fun Stats Corner (Up-to-date as of Chapter 15):

Cumulative Success Rate: 33/50 (Success + Partial Success/Total) - 66%

Manned Success Rate: 21/24 - 87.5%

Unmanned Success Rate: 12/26 - 46.2%

Crew Roster (spreadsheet my beloved)

(Launched Chapter 1)

(K) Moho 1: Suborbital flight mission utilizing the Arrow launcher and the Moho capsule, designed to put the first Kerbals into space as part of the Moho program. Successfully launched Jebediah Kerman into space, making him the first Kerbal in space. Result: Success

(Launched Chapter 2)

(K) Moho 2: Suborbital flight mission utilizing the Arrow launcher and the Moho capsule, designed to put the first Kerbals into space as part of the Moho program. Successfully launched Scott Kerman into space. Result: Success

(K) Moho 3: Suborbital flight mission utilizing the Arrow launcher and the Moho capsule, designed to put the first Kerbals into space as part of the Moho program. Successfully launched Valentina Kerman into space, making her the first woman in space. During flight, a malfunction occurred with the retropropulsion pack, however, this was not detrimental and the mission was completed. Result: Partial Success

(K) Moho 4: Suborbital flight mission utilizing the Arrow launcher and the Moho capsule, designed to put the first Kerbals into space as part of the Moho program. Carrying Alan Kerman, the flight was aborted a few seconds into the launch due to rupture in the main tank of the Arrow booster. The launch escape system activated and successfully pulled the Moho capsule away from the malfunctioning booster, and safely landed on the launchsite grounds. Result: Failure

(Launched Chapter 3)

Explorer 1: Orbital launch attempt utilizing the Javelin launcher and the Explorer satellite, intended to place the Explorer satellite into a low Kerbin orbit. 18 seconds into the flight, a leak was detected in the main fuel tank, as well as in the second stage. With the malfunction of the second stage, Explorer 1 ended on a suborbital trajectory and impacted into the ocean shortly after launch. Result: Failure

Explorer 2: Orbital launch attempt utilizing the Javelin launcher and the Explorer satellite, intended to place the Explorer satellite into a low Kerbin orbit. Completely nominal first stage performance and second stage ignition. However, fuel leakage caused the second stage engine to malfunction and shutdown prematurely, causing Explorer 2 to be placed on a suborbital trajectory and impacted into the ocean shortly after launch. Result: Failure

Explorer 3: Orbital launch attempt utilizing the Javelin launcher and the Explorer satellite, intended to place the Explorer satellite into a low Kerbin orbit. 20 seconds into the flight, upper stage leakage and failure was detected, along with the main guidance system failing shortly after. Rocket impacted into the KSC grounds and was destroyed. Result: Catastrophic Failure

Explorer 4: Orbital launch attempt utilizing the Javelin launcher and the Explorer satellite, intended to place the Explorer satellite into a low Kerbin orbit. 15 seconds into the flight, a leakage was detected in the main fuel tank. However, the booster continued to perform nominally. During stage separation, the upper stage failed and left Explorer 4 on a suborbital trajectory, which impacted into the ocean shortly after launch. Result: Failure

Explorer 5: Orbital launch attempt utilizing the Javelin launcher and the Explorer satellite, intended to place the Explorer satellite into a low Kerbin orbit. 5 seconds into launch, a malfunction caused the main booster engine to shutdown, causing the rocket to plummet and impact the launchpad, causing considerable damage. Result: Catastrophic Failure

Explorer 6: Orbital launch attempt utilizing the Javelin launcher and the Explorer satellite, intended to place the Explorer satellite into a low Kerbin orbit. 15 seconds into the flight, a leakage was detected in the main fuel tank. However, the booster continued to perform nominally. During stage separation, the upper stage failed and left Explorer 6 on a suborbital trajectory, which impacted into the ocean shortly after launch. Result: Failure

Explorer 7: Orbital launch attempt utilizing the Javelin launcher and the Explorer satellite, intended to place the Explorer satellite into a low Kerbin orbit. Successfully inserted Explorer 7 into a 216 km * 188 km orbit, becoming the first artificial satellite of Kerbin. Shortly after separation, 1 of the 4 redundant antennas went offline, as well as a few batteries malfunctioning. However, the satellite remained functional. Result: Success

(Launched Chapter 4)

Explorer 8: Orbital launch attempt utilizing the Javelin launcher and the Explorer satellite, intended to place the Explorer satellite into a low Kerbin orbit. Successfully inserted Explorer 8 into low Kerbin orbit with no problems, demonstrating that Explorer 7 wasn't a fluke. Result: Success

Explorer 9: Orbital launch attempt utilizing the Javelin launcher and the Explorer satellite, intended to place the Explorer satellite into a high Kerbin orbit and to test the relight capability of the Pug upper stage. 3 seconds into launch, a malfunction caused the main booster engine to shutdown, causing the rocket to plummet and impact the launchpad, causing considerable damage. Result: Catastrophic Failure

Explorer 10: Orbital launch attempt utilizing the Javelin launcher and the Explorer satellite, intended to place the Explorer satellite into a high Kerbin orbit and to test the relight capability of the Pug upper stage. The first stage performed nominally, however during circularization the engine became stuck at full throttle. This was fixed by shutting off the fuel tank valves, however this meant losing engine relight capability. Explorer 10 was inserted into a 887 km * 116 km orbit. Result: Partial Success

Explorer 11: Orbital launch attempt utilizing the Javelin launcher and the Explorer satellite, intended to place the Explorer satellite into a polar orbit. 7 seconds before launch, a minor gyroscope failure occurred, however this was deemed non-critical and the flight continued. 12 seconds into the flight, a major leakage occurred in the main fuel tank. However, the booster continued to perform nominally. During stage separation, the upper stage failed and left Explorer 11 on a suborbital trajectory, which impacted into the ocean shortly after launch. Result: Failure

Explorer 12: Orbital launch attempt utilizing the Javelin launcher and the Explorer satellite, intended to place the Explorer satellite into a polar orbit. 9 seconds into the flight, a leakage was detected in the main fuel tank. However, the booster continued to perform nominally. During stage separation, the upper stage failed and left Explorer 12 on a suborbital trajectory, which impacted into the ocean shortly after launch. Result: Failure

(Launched Chapter 5)

(K) Moho 5: Orbital flight mission utilizing the upgraded Javelin launcher and the Moho capsule, designed to put the first Kerbals into orbit as part of the Moho program. Successfully launched Alan Kerman into orbit, making him the first Kerbal in orbit. Result: Success

(Launched Chapter 6)

(K) Moho 6: Orbital flight mission utilizing the upgraded Javelin launcher and the Moho capsule, designed to put the first Kerbals into orbit as part of the Moho program. Successfully launched Valentina Kerman into orbit, making her the first woman to enter orbit. Result: Success

(K) Moho 7: Orbital flight mission utilizing the upgraded Javelin launcher and the Moho capsule, designed to put the first Kerbals into orbit as part of the Moho program. Successfully launched Scott Kerman into orbit. Result: Success

(K) Moho 8: Orbital flight mission utilizing the upgraded Javelin launcher and the Moho capsule, designed to put the first Kerbals into orbit as part of the Moho program. Successfully launched Jebediah Kerman into orbit. Result: Success

(Launched Chapter 7)

Pioneer 1: Munar flight attempt utilizing the Javelin-2 launcher, designed to put the Pioneer, a derivative of the Explorer satellite bus, into orbit around the Mun. Successfully inserted into Munar orbit, and became the first spacecraft to orbit the Mun. Result: Success

Pioneer 2: Minmar flight attempt utilizing the Javelin-2 launcher, designed to put the Pioneer, a derivative of the Explorer satellite bus, into orbit around Minmus. Lacking enough propellant to brake into Minmar orbit, the spacecraft unintentionally became the first spacecraft to exit Kerbin's SOI and enter interplanetary space. Result: Failure

Pioneer 3: Minmar flight attempt utilizing the Javelin-2 launcher, designed to put the Pioneer, a derivative of the Explorer satellite bus, into orbit around Minmus. Successfully injected into Minmar orbit, and became the first spacecraft to orbit Minmus. Result: Success

(Launched Chapter 8)

(K) Leo 1: Orbital flight test of the Leo spacecraft, using the Vanguard launcher, designed for advanced pathfinder operations in low Kerbin orbit as part of the Leo program. Successfully launched Jebediah and Bill Kerman into orbit, marking the first flight of both the Leo spacecraft and the Vanguard launcher. Result: Success

(Launched Chapter 9)

(K) Leo 2: Orbital flight mission of the Leo spacecraft, using the Vanguard launcher, designed for advanced pathfinder operations in low Kerbin orbit as part of the Leo program. Successfully launched Scott and Bob Kerman into orbit, with Bob Kerman becoming the first kerbal to conduct an EVA. Result: Success

(K) Leo 3: Orbital flight mission of the Leo spacecraft, using the Vanguard launcher, designed for advanced pathfinder operations in low Kerbin orbit as part of the Leo program. Successfully launched the first all-female flight crew, Valentina and Tracy Kerman, into orbit, with Tracy Kerman becoming the second kerbal and first woman to conduct an EVA. Result: Success

(Launched Chapter 10)

(K) Leo 4: Orbital flight mission of the Leo spacecraft, using the Vanguard launcher, designed for advanced pathfinder operations in low Kerbin orbit as part of the Leo program. Successfully launched Alan and Gus Kerman into orbit and rendezvoused with Explorer 7, with Gus Kerman conducting multiple spacewalks to investigate the derelict spacecraft. Result: Success

(K) Leo 5: Orbital flight mission of the Leo spacecraft, using the Vanguard launcher, designed for advanced pathfinder operations in low Kerbin orbit as part of the Leo program. Successfully launched Frank and Bob Kerman into orbit in a dual launch mission in conjunction with Leo 6. Result: Success

(K) Leo 6: Orbital flight mission of the Leo spacecraft, using the Vanguard launcher, designed for advanced pathfinder operations in low Kerbin orbit as part of the Leo program. Successfully launched Pete and Bill Kerman into orbit in a dual launch mission in conjunction with Leo 5, and successfully rendezvoused with Leo 5. Result: Success

(Launched Chapter 11)

LATV 1: Orbital launch attempt of the Leo Autonomous Target Vehicle, a modified pug upper stage designed to be rendezvoused and docked with by a Leo spacecraft, launched aboard a Javelin launcher. Successfully launched into orbit in conjunction with Leo 7. Result: Success

(K) Leo 7: Orbital flight mission of the Leo spacecraft, using the Vanguard launcher, designed for advanced pathfinder operations in low Kerbin orbit as part of the Leo program. Successfully launched Scott and Tracy Kerman into orbit in a dual launch mission in conjunction with LATV 1. and successfully docked and rendezvoused with the LATV. Result: Success

(K) Leo 8: Orbital flight mission of the Leo spacecraft, using the Vanguard launcher, designed for advanced pathfinder operations in low Kerbin orbit as part of the Leo program. Successfully launched Jebediah and Jim Kerman into orbit in a dual launch mission in conjunction with Leo 9. Result: Success

(K) Leo 9: Orbital flight mission of the Leo spacecraft, using the Vanguard launcher, designed for advanced pathfinder operations in low Kerbin orbit as part of the Leo program. Successfully launched Valentina and Sally Kerman into orbit in a dual launch mission in conjunction with Leo 8, and successfully docked with Leo 8. Result: Success

(Launched Chapter 12)

Courier 1: Orbital launch attempt of the Courier satellite utilizing the Javelin-2 launcher, intended to place the satellite into a Geostationary orbit. A minute into the launch, particulates from the SRBs caused the main engine turbopump to seize up and exploded, and was destroyed by range safety shortly after. Result: Failure

Courier 2: Orbital launch attempt of the Courier satellite utilizing the Javelin-2 launcher, intended to place the satellite into a Geostationary orbit. Successfully inserted the Courier into an 8968.11 km Geostationary orbit. Result: Success

Courier 3: Orbital launch attempt of the Courier satellite utilizing the Javelin-2 launcher, intended to place the satellite into a Geostationary orbit. Successfully inserted the Courier into an 8968.11 km Geostationary orbit. Result: Success

Courier 4: Orbital launch attempt of the Courier satellite utilizing the Javelin-2 launcher, intended to place the satellite into a Geostationary orbit. Successfully inserted the Courier into an 8968.11 km Geostationary orbit, completing the relay constellation. Result: Success

LATV 2: Orbital launch attempt of a Leo Autonomous Target Vehicle, a modified pug upper stage designed to be rendezvoused and docked with by a Leo spacecraft, launched aboard a Javelin launcher. Successfully launched into orbit in conjunction with Leo 10. Result: Success

(K) Leo 10: Orbital flight mission of the Leo Block II spacecraft, using the Vanguard launcher, designed for advanced pathfinder operations in low Kerbin orbit as part of the Leo program. Successfully launched Alan and Gus Kerman in a dual launch mission in conjunction with LATV 2 as the debut of the Leo Block II, and successfully docked with the LATV. Result: Success

(Launched Chapter 13)

Spacelab 1: Orbital launch attempt of Spacelab, a single-module space station launched onboard the Vanguard booster, designed to pioneer and facilitate long-duration space habitation and research as part of the Spacelab program. Launched in conjunction with Spacelab 2*, Failure of the upper stage engine caused by debris from stage separation placed Spacelab on too low of a trajectory to maintain altitude, and the station disintegrated while reentering the atmosphere. Result: Failure

(K) Spacelab 2*: Orbital launch attempt of the Leo Block II spacecraft, using the Vanguard launcher, designed to rendezvous and dock with Spacelab to pioneer long-duration space habitation and research as part of the Spacelab program. Due to the failure of Spacelab-1, the mission was scrubbed and redesignated as Spacelab-3. Result: Failure

Spacelab 2: Orbital launch attempt of Spacelab B, a backup to the original single-module space station designed to pioneer and facilitate long-duration space habitation and research as part of the Spacelab program. Launched aboard a Vanguard booster, Spacelab was successfully inserted into orbit in a dual launch mission in conjunction with Spacelab 3. Result: Success

(K) Spacelab 3: Orbital flight mission of the Leo Block II spacecraft, using the Vanguard launcher, designed to rendezvous and dock with Spacelab to pioneer long-duration space habitation and research as part of the Spacelab program. Successfully launched Frank and Tracy Kerman, the original crew of Spacelab 2*, in a dual launch mission in conjunction with Spacelab 2. Successfully docked with Spacelab for a 40-day long orbital stay. Result: Success

(Launched Chapter 14)

(K) Spacelab 4: Orbital flight mission of the Leo Block II spacecraft, using the Vanguard launcher, designed to rendezvous and dock with Spacelab to pioneer long-duration space habitation and research as part of the Spacelab program. Successfully launched Pete and Sally Kerman into low Kerbin orbit, however, experienced catastrophic failure in the service module shortly after separation. Due to a malfunction in the abort system, the service module was automatically decoupled, stranding the crew in orbit until the arrival of LATV 2 to bring it to Spacelab, with the subsequent rescue mission of Leo 12 successfully recovering the crew. Result: Failure

Leo 11: Orbital launch attempt of the Leo Block II B spacecraft, an autonomous version of the Leo spacecraft derived from the Leo Block II, using the Vanguard launcher, designed in an attempt to rescue the crew of Spacelab 4. Shortly after stage separation, debris in the turbopump caused the upper stage to prematurely perform an automatic shutdown, leaving the spacecraft on too low of a trajectory to attain orbit. The autonomous spacecraft nonetheless successfully reentered the atmosphere and made a splashdown in the ocean. Result: Failure

(K) Leo 12: Orbital launch attempt of the Leo Block II B spacecraft, an autonomous version of the Leo spacecraft derived from the Leo Block II, using the Vanguard launcher, designed in an attempt to rescue the crew of Spacelab 4. Successfully launched into low Kerbin orbit, rendezvousing and docking with Spacelab, and successfully recovered the crew of Spacelab 4. Result: Success

(Launched Chapter 15)

(K) Spacelab 5: Orbital flight mission of the Leo Block II spacecraft, using the Vanguard launcher, designed to rendezvous and dock with Spacelab to pioneer long-duration space habitation and research as part of the Spacelab program. Successfully launched Frank and Bob Kerman into low Kerbin orbit and successfully docked with Spacelab, however, experienced various Spacelab system failures during the 40-day long orbital stay. Result: Partial Success

LARV 1: Orbital flight test of the LARV spacecraft, an autonomous resupply vehicle derived from the Leo spacecraft designed to accommodate long-duration orbital stays, launched aboard the Vanguard launcher. Due to a software issue encountered with the first stage gimbal systems, the launch was promptly terminated shortly after liftoff. Result: Failure

LARV 2: Orbital flight test of the LARV spacecraft, an autonomous resupply vehicle derived from the Leo spacecraft designed to accommodate long duration stays, launched aboard the Vanguard launcher. Successfully launched into low Kerbin orbit, performed maneuvering tests and was subsequently successful in atmospheric disposal of the spacecraft. Result: Success

(K) Spacelab 6: Orbital flight mission of the Leo Block II spacecraft, using the Vanguard launcher, designed to rendezvous and dock with Spacelab to pioneer long-duration space habitation and research as part of the Spacelab program. Successfully launched Pete and Jim Kerman into low Kerbin orbit and successfully docked with Spacelab and was successful in deorbiting the station at the end of a 17-day orbital stay. Result: Success

Chapters

Prelude [Rewritten]

Chapter 1 [Rewritten]

A huge thanks to everyone who's supported this mission report of mine! Here's to many more (hopefully, on-time) chapters to come!

Edited January 25 by Misguided Kerbal
Substantial OP revisions!

Misguided Kerbal · May 8, 2022

[Edit] - If you're reading this after the fact, you may notice an amount of various (mostly visual, as they should've been revised as well) inconsistencies with the rest of the early chapters. I've rewritten this chapter from the ground up in an attempt to better embody the original message I wanted to convey - that is, I do hope this rewrite does overall provide a much more poignant (and hopefully, well-written!) introduction to what I want to accomplish. To supplement such, of course, I may have taken a couple of new screenshots - hopefully the difference isn't necessarily too jarring compared to what was originally there. If there is enough demand for such, I have no problem archiving the old chapters in an attached spoiler or the like, as I've already gotten them personally archived with the conclusion of each chapter rewrite.

Prelude

"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard." - John F. Kennedy

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January 1st, 1960 CE

10 years after the conclusion of the Great War.

Cape Kerman, at the inaugural Jeb's Junkyard^TM KASA Science & Technology Exhibition, proudly brought to you by Rockomax Conglomerate^TM, Kerbodyne^TM, Kerlington Model Rockets and Paper Products Incorporated^TM, Reaction Systems Limited^TM, and Probodobodyne Incorporated^TM.

"Ten years ago, through our own collective hubris, we, Kerbalkind, found ourselves teetering on the very precipice of extinction. Driven by fear, an utter societal cowardice, a collective moral failing, our thirteen former nations of Kerbin amassed nuclear arsenals, on a scale capable not only of firebombing our cities and nations into utter oblivion, but enough to annihilate our entire planet twice over. Through our own excuses, our self-assuredness, we justified the wielding of the atom on such a level as to surpass the very force of nature which launched our present Common Era. We built the means, save but only a hairline trigger, of destroying anything and everything our species has ever held dear, through a force of our very own making."

"In the face of this grim reality, in this shadow of seemingly imminent, inevitable devastation, we were granted a brief moment of clarity. We were forced to confront not only the instruments of our impending ruin, but the very fragile threads which bind ourselves to this world. Our former leaders, blinded, once, by borders and ambitions, came to understand the fundamental truth. As a species, as a civilization, we could not survive through division; no flag, no creed, nor ideology could justify, ever, the obliteration of our entire species. And so, with a trembling hand and the weight of the world upon them, the nations of Kerbin chose a different path."

"They realized the necessity of setting aside their rivalries and ambitions. They realized the folly of their differences, their divisions. They realized that no nation, no individual, could endure the consequences of such reckless power. Together, they realized the necessity of forging a new path forwards. Together, they signed a treaty - a promise to all Kerbals, to never return - and forged the United Kerman States. We declared, then, our vision - beneath the eternal gaze of Mun and Minmus, we declared that Kerbalkind would no longer remain as disparate, fractured tribes, but as one united peoples, bound by a shared commitment to peace and progress. For the first time in our history, we stand now united as one people, under one sky, with a shared dream of millions for a great future - one free from the shadows of annihilation."

"In the decade that has followed, our present decade, Kerbalkind has ushered in a new era of unsurpassed prosperity. Unified as one people, we have witnessed an unprecedented flourishing of our civilization. Across every domain — art, science, culture, and innovation — we have made extraordinary strides. The fruits of peace have nourished every aspect of our society - freed from the spectre of imminent destruction, we have turned our collective energies toward the pursuit of knowledge, the expression of creativity, and the betterment of life for all Kerbals. In these past ten years, we have achieved milestones that would have seemed like dreams in the shadow of war. The collective power of our shared knowledge has opened doors we never before imagined possible, and this progress shows no signs of slowing. Truly, we are living now in an age of renaissance, a time of boundless opportunity."

"But as we celebrate this era of peace, we must recognize that our potential lies far beyond the confines of Kerbin itself. Today, we have an opportunity. For millennia past, the night sky has been our canvas of wonder, the stars beckoning out at us to reach them, the inky void a question waiting to be answered. Now, for the first time, we possess the unity, the resources, and the will to turn that question into action. The eyes of the world look towards the stars above, and towards the vast gulf which awaits. Today we have the opportunity to harness our collective energies and go where no Kerbal has gone before, and usher in a new age of Kerbalkind."

"Today, I stand before you to announce that bold new chapter for Kerbalkind — a chapter that will define not only who we are but who we aspire to become. We will not be content to merely survive; we will seek to thrive. We will not limit our dreams to the soil of this world alone. With the creation of KASA — the Kerman Aeronautics and Space Agency — we declare our intention to journey beyond the bounds of Kerbin, to explore the cosmos, and to seek knowledge among the stars."

"KASA is not merely an organization; it is a promise — a promise that space shall not be a realm of conflict or conquest, but a sanctuary of discovery. We pledge that the heavens above shall not be tarnished by the weapons of war but filled with the instruments of knowledge and understanding."

"This is our great calling. This is our next great endeavor. As we embark on this journey, we stand on the shoulders of those who dared to dream before. Just as Kolumbus braved the open seas, guided only by the stars and an unshakable determination, so too shall we venture into the unknown. We choose to go beyond, we choose to go to space, not because it is easy or without peril, but because it is in our very nature - to strive, to overcome, and to accomplish monumental feats of greatness. The challenges will be immense, but they will be matched by our resolve."

"We meet today at the brand new Kerbal Space Center, an embodiment of the very heart of our mission - constructed from the ground up for the sake of science, built in the pursuit of knowledge, this remarkable facility has been built not for enriching uranium, but the minds of our very brightest young Kerbals. This center stands as a beacon of science, knowledge, hope - the cradle of our exploration, from this very ground our first pioneers will ascend to the stars, bearing with them the hopes and dreams of an entire planet."

"Behind me stand the pioneers of this new era, the Moho 8. These extraordinary individuals — Jebediah Kerman, Bill Kerman, Bob Kerman, Valentina Kerman, Scott Kerman, Alan Kerman, Gus Kerman, and Tracy Kerman — represent the best and brightest of our generation, embodying the courage, skill, and determination that define the very best of us. As members of the Moho program, they will be among the first to journey into the unknown, venturing into space on behalf of all kerbalkind. They will face danger, uncertainty, and challenges we cannot yet imagine - but they will also carry with them our indomitable spirit into the great unknown, charting a course for the rest of us to follow."

"The path ahead will not be easy. The challenges we face will be formidable, and the risks will be very real. But space is there, waiting for us to set forth, and it is our very destiny to rise to this challenge. This is the next great frontier, the greatest adventure Kerbalkind has ever embarked upon. It will demand courage, ingenuity, and an unrelenting commitment to our shared vision. But I have no doubt — we are ready."

"This is our moment to rise above - to look beyond the horizon and see not limitations but possibilities. We must embrace the stars not as distant, unreachable lights, but as destinations calling us forward, because they are waiting. Together, we set sail on this greatest of adventures — not as Kerbals divided, but as Kerbals united in purpose and destiny."

"Thank You."

- President Teddy Kerman, in his speech "We choose to go to Space".

Edited January 21 by Misguided Kerbal
Major revisions - a rewrite, in its entirety, from the ground up!

cxg2827 · May 9, 2022

Awesome, looking forward to this!

I'm in a similar boat as you, doing a full JNSQ crewed exploration playthrough but in career mode and with Kerbalism.

Misguided Kerbal · May 11, 2022

[Edit] - Completely rewritten from the ground up! I have to say, I really didn't think I'd have so much fun going back and rewriting everything, (well, okay, we're still only on the first chapter, but I digress) but here we are! Hopefully that keeps up, anyway - and also, I do hope the additional story beats added now are quite enjoyable.

I meant to get this out on the same day as the prelude, but I started messing with some mods. Long story short, we have a few more mods to add to the modlist! Most notable are BARIS and Snacks, since I decided I needed more of a challenge. I think it'll be quite interesting to see how it goes since I've never really played with life support or failures before.

Chapter 1

"The rocket will free man from his remaining chains, the chains of gravity which still tie him to this planet." - Wernher Von Braun

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One Commander Jebediah Kerman stood before the completed Moho-Arrow stack, it practically gleaming in the early morning sunlight, the reflections off of its various metallic flight surfaces absolutely glimmering with aspiration - to reach the stars, no doubt. One could almost be forgiven for admiring the apparent majesty of such an assemblage - in terms of stature, at least, the towering steed much overshadowed its diminutive green counterpart (although, might Jeb heartily remind you, certainly not in terms of achievement!)

The Arrow, of course, was far from a purpose-built spacecraft, whatever the definition of such might entail, nor was it particularly close to the vision of those sleek, rounded, futuristic silver rocketships flown by the Flash Kermans of yore. No, far from it - many a sardonic creature would perhaps classify such an assembly as rather crude, ironic much, even. A retrofitted ballistic missile, produced and stockpiled en masse during the preceding decades, its simplicity was perhaps its greatest strength. Being cheap - easily mass-produced - and quite reliable (at least, supposedly so), always ready to launch at a moment's notice, such a creature of the silo necessitated but only a smidgen of modifications - a couple of civilian avionics 'upgrades' here, a couple more sensors there, but most importantly, the replacement of the warhead with the spartan Moho capsule - fully reconfigurating the former missile for its new mission.

To most, even the mere thought of strapping oneself into a cramped, tiny little tin can (seriously, absolutely miniscule!) bolted atop a missile, let alone attempting to shoot for the stars, constituted utter münacy. Jebediah, of course, wasn't most Kerbals - no, he was the Jebediah Kerman - first kerbal to break the sound barrier, daring test pilot, and veteran combat ace. Soon, he was poised to add but another title to his already storied career - first kerbal in space.

At least, those were the words with which Jeb attempted to reassure himself. He found it all rather amusing, really, on many levels. A converted ballistic missile retooled for civilian use, a once-feared weapon of destruction now aimed towards the stars. Similarly amusing, he reckoned, if perhaps in a much more ironic manner - that involuntary flicker of tension crossing his face, beneath the usual cocky display for the cameras. Not the mission, no, for that he wasn't particularly nervous - they could, in his opinion, send up a baobab (if they could manage somehow to connect one such to the flight controls, anyway) in the capsule and the mission would turn out quite the same. Nonetheless, he trusted the Arrow as much as one could trust a piece of kitbashed flight hardware, however disconcerting such a thought might be.

What weighed on him, really, was the quiet realization that, after today, things would never be the same.

Jeb took one last, hard look at the looming Arrow as he meandered towards the access ladder, the acrid mix of hydraulic fluid and escaping liquid fuel hitting his senses all at once. Here, now, he made sure to take a deep whiff as a memento - albeit, not before recalling some words from the flight surgeon about how similar such stunts would only continue to take years off of his retirement. If that was the case, though, so be it.

He paused briefly, on the leading steps of the ladder - finding, suddenly, his gaze inexorably drawn to the massive engine bell beneath, nearly twice by height his superior, never mind its original design intent. Said powerplant, would, of course, should all proceed according to plan, tear him free from Kerbin's jealous embrace. He caught himself offering a silent prayer to whatever deities might be listening, whichever overhead, that the welders had been having a particularly fastidious day when assembling that particular component.

Launch control, through the rolling cameras, watched silently as Jeb ascended the ladder. No doubt they were all confident of the mission's success, all having worked on the hardware at one point or another; the pretense of decorum, on the other hand, kept them from more verbal musings on the nature of spaceflight and kerbalkind and whatnot. Nonetheless, the unspoken weight of the moment was absolutely palpable, and such silence thus curried its way through the room much as verbal chatter would otherwise be able.

The backdrop to this momentous occasion was, perhaps quite fittingly, as equally steeped in irony as that of the launch vehicle itself - the McDonald Missile Test Range, a facility whose very name spoke volumes of its original purpose, now repurposed for this decidedly more peaceful venture. Of course, he was aware of the various technical reasons at play, combined with a motivation by many in part to get flight materiel off the ground as soon as possible (hurried by what exactly, he could only point and shrug at the various political machinations at play). Soon enough, he mused, they'd be relocating to the shining new Kerbal Space Center, its final outfitting proceeding apace some hundreds of distant kilometers away. Nonetheless, he couldn't help but picture an alternative launch from said shining crown jewel, if but only a symbolic gesture. For now, this converted military installation would indeed have its role to play as kerbalkind's first tentative stepping stone to the cosmos.

He paused before the hatch, taking a final, sweeping glance of his surroundings - committing to memory the way the morning light played across the launch pad, the scent of sea breeze mingling with rocket fuel, the distant calls of seabirds wholly unaware of the momentous occasion about to unfold. Jeb’s thoughts drifted briefly to the others who would come after him, Valentina, Scott, Alan. Val, for one, was likely already itching for her turn. He smirked at the thought. She’d probably have some particularly choice words for him if he didn’t make it back in one piece. Not that I don’t plan to, he mused, though the faint hum of uncertainty lingered in the back of his mind.

Drawing a deep breath, he clambered into the capsule, settling into the seat with practiced ease. The interior was about as spartan as a kerbal capsule could get—barely enough room to stretch his legs, with a dizzying array of switches, dials, and displays crowding the narrow panels around him. The technicians, with perhaps more ceremony than strictly necessary, sealed him in with a series of metallic clicks and whirs.

"Launch Control, Moho's all ready to go."

"Copy Moho, it's green lights across the board down here at control. You're go for launch - we're ready whenever you are."

"Roger that, Control. Finalizing launch sequence."

The familiar countdown began, each number carrying the weight of years of preparation, of countless hours of training, of dreams both personal and collective.

Ten. The systems hummed to life around him.

Nine. He could feel the rocket swaying ever so slightly in the morning breeze.

Eight. The final umbilical fell away, tethering the stack no longer.

Seven. He thought of the rest of the corps, probably glued to the television in the mess hall.

Six. A bead of sweat traced its way down his forehead.

Five. The whole structure seemed to hold its breath.

Four. "Ignition sequence start," came the calm voice from Control.

Three. The rocket trembled with anticipatory power.

Two. He gripped the controls tighter.

One. Everything else ceased to exist.

"Liftoff! We have a liftoff!"

Back in the launch control room, one engineer scrawled onto a note: "Kermspeed Jeb, kermspeed."

Quite emblematic of its origins, the Arrow practically leapt off the pad - the initial sensation felt much less like flying than rather being strapped to a particularly enthusiastic explosion.

"Control, all systems are showing nominal. We've cleared the tower," Jeb managed through gritted teeth.

"Acknowledged, Moho. You're looking good from down here."

The roar of the engines drowned out everything as the stack continued to leap skyward, leaving behind a trail of fire and smoke. Jeb was pressed deep into his seat, the force of acceleration a familiar embrace, albeit, in a considerably novel orientation. Such a thought crossed his mind only quite briefly, however, quickly displaced by a new realization - that being of Kerbin, in just a couple of seconds streaking rapidly beneath him in nothing less of a blur - green shades gave way to blue shades gave way to cerulean, open sky, deepening with every second, a tinge of inky black appearing just around the corner, drawing ever closer...

Until the radio crackled to life, yet again - such brief musings interrupted by the marching cadence of flight.

"Trajectory looking green - you are go for roll program."

"Copy that, Control. Initiating roll program."

The maneuver, when it came, was almost elegant - rolling with the rounding horizon, synergizing with Kerbin's gravitic embrace, a graceful pirouette against the deepening blue of the sky.

"and... MECO. Initiating capsule release."

"Copy that, Moho. Good separation."

With the signature ka-thunk of the explosive bolts, the absence of the Arrow left now in its stead an almost deafening silence. broken only by the soft whir of environmental systems and his own measured breathing within the confining helmet.

Jeb noticed at once the drifting of his arm towards the upper console, the motion appearing almost dreamlike in its slowness. The sensation of weightlessness was not entirely novel – he'd experienced it in countless parabolic flights during training – but this absence of gravity, on such a scale and with the knowledge that Kerbin was rapidly falling away below, he found entirely much more profound. His stomach did a subtle flip as his inner ear tried to make sense of this new reality, where 'up' and 'down' were merely suggestions rather than laws.

Through the capsule's small porthole, he caught glimpses of the Arrow tumbling away, its white form catching the unfiltered sunlight and glinting like a distant star before disappearing into the vast black canvas of space. The sight brought home the finality of this moment – he was truly alone now, suspended in the void between worlds.

The horizon curved gently below him, an elegant arc that transformed his homeworld into something almost abstract. The blue and green hues of Kerbin stretched as far as the eye could see, a masterpiece painted in broad strokes – azure oceans bleeding into emerald continents, all softened by a delicate haze of white clouds swirling in patterns that seemed both random and purposeful. The terminator line between day and night was visible now, a gradual dimming from brilliant daylight to the velvet darkness where city lights sparkled like fallen stars.

The atmospheric layer appeared as a thin blue line hugging the planet's edge, fragile as blown glass, reminding Jeb of just how precious and precarious their existence truly was. From up here, the mighty mountain ranges that had dominated his childhood views were reduced to mere wrinkles on the surface, and the vast deserts he'd flown over countless times as a test pilot were now golden smudges in the tapestry below.

The sheer scale of it all made his head spin – or perhaps that was just another effect of zero gravity. The view through the capsule's small window seemed simultaneously vast and constrained, like trying to appreciate an entire mural through a keyhole. Every small adjustment of his position revealed new details: weather systems spinning their slow dance across oceans, the stark shadows of mountain ranges stretching across plains, and the ever-present terminator line marking the boundary between day and night as it crept steadily across the surface.

Something caught in his throat as he realized that every Kerbal who had ever lived, every story ever told, every triumph and tragedy in their species' history, had played out on that beautiful sphere spinning slowly beneath him. All except him, floating here in the void, adding a new chapter to their collective story.

"Control, Moho. What a view!"

His voice cracked slightly with emotion, betraying an attempt to maintain his usual composure. The words felt inadequate to describe what he was seeing, but they were all he could manage as he took in the curved edge of their world against the stark blackness of space. Each subtle movement of his head revealed new details through the small window – the glint of sunlight on water, the shadows of clouds racing across continents, the thin blue line of atmosphere hugging all that kerbalkind had ever known.

Beyond those very few available moments, there was, unfortunately, precious little time for any further sightseeing. For all it had been built up to be, after all of these years - the bane of nations, deliverer of death, destruction, and utter nuclear catastrophe - with its new, now manned payload, said Arrow was powerful enough only to boost the Moho capsule onto a suborbital trajectory, falling far short of orbit. He noted, not without a tinge of humor, of his extant ballistic course -again, just like that of a warhead.

"Moho, be advised: reentry phase initiating in approximately sixty seconds. Clear for turnaround maneuver."

"Understood, Control. Commencing retropack jettison."

Jeb's hand moved to the panel with practiced efficiency, finding the switch by muscle memory alone. The emergency deorbit packages, designed to slow the capsule in case of an overly enthusiastic ascent, separated cleanly - unnecessary on this particular flight, but their departure marked the beginning of the return journey. He felt more than heard the muffled clunk of the explosive bolts, followed by a slight shudder through the capsule's frame as the package fell away into the void, its metal surface catching a flash of sunlight before disappearing against the backdrop of Kerbin's atmosphere far below.

The sudden absence of these contingency systems made the reality of his situation all the more acute. From here on out, it would just be physics, the heat shield, and his training standing between him and the rapidly approaching atmosphere. His hand moved to the attitude control system, ready to begin the precise dance that would orient the capsule for its fiery descent.

The capsule shook violently as it hit the thicker layers of the atmosphere, the heat shield glowing with the intensity of reentry. G-forces built rapidly, pinning Jeb to his seat. The Moho's heat shield bore the brunt of the fiery descent, glowing as it absorbed the attempts by atmospheric gases to scatter, rather in vain. Jeb, however, bore the brunt of the G-forces.

15 Gees. It was enough to blur his vision and strain every muscle in his body, but Jebediah Kerman was nothing if not resilient. He gritted his teeth, muscles straining against the immense pressure. Fifteen Gees of deceleration painted his vision with interesting colors – reds and blacks creeping in at the edges – and made him question, albeit briefly, whether this particular achievement had been worth the effort.

But worth it? Maybe. Even as his body strained against forces that would make a fighter pilot blanch, a part of him – the test pilot, the explorer, the dreamer – catalogued every sensation with professional interest. Through the haze of physical stress, he knew they were writing history with every passing second, proving that kerbals could not only reach space but return safely through the fiery gauntlet of reentry.Though perhaps, he mused, in what little capacity for musing remained, future spacecraft could be designed with slightly more... comfortable... trajectories.

And then, almost as suddenly as it began, the worst was over. The drogue chute deployed with a crack like a rifle shot, jerking the capsule sharply as it slowed its descent. The sudden deceleration slammed him forward against his harness, then back again into his seat. Moments later, the main chute followed, billowing open with a reassuring thud that echoed through the capsule. The violent shaking subsided into a gentler swaying as they descended through the final layers of atmosphere, the peaceful blue sky now visible through his window. The familiar embrace of Kerbin's gravity, now restored to its usual strength, felt wholly reassuring after the extremes of reentry.

"Control, main chute has successfully deployed!"

The relief in his voice was quite palpable.

"Copy that, Moho. Visual confirmation received. Looking good from here."

The splashdown, when it came, was almost anticlimactic. A gentle splash, a bit of bobbing, and suddenly he was floating serenely in the vast expanse of the ocean.

"Splashdown confirmed. Stand by for recovery. How are you holding up in there, Jeb?"

Jeb leaned back, relief washing over him. It was at this point that a wide grin decided to utterly hijack his facial muscles, leaving him in temporary involuntary paralysis, or something like that.

"Can't wait to get back up there again."

Activating the recovery beacon, he leaned back in his seat, letting the enormity of the moment sink in. Within a couple of minutes, a carrier would be fishing him out of the water, but his mind was already racing ahead. Jebediah Kerman - the first kerbal in space - had a new dream: returning to the stars.

This was just the beginning.

And somewhere, he thought, Valentina would be green with envy.

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Edited January 22 by Misguided Kerbal
Major revisions - a rewrite, in its entirety, from the ground up!

Misguided Kerbal · May 15, 2022

This one is a bit long, and might be slightly boring. To be fair, Mercury-Redstone wasn't the most exciting program. However, since this is complete, bigger, better missions will be coming up soon!

Chapter 2

"Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department, says Wernher Von Braun." - Tom Lehrer

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After Moho 1 launched the first kerbal into space, media attention quickly tapered down. After all, who cared about more, nearly identical suborbital launches that didn't achieve anything?

However, there were bigger plans being drawn up, and all of them needed pilots with flight experience. Scientists also appreciated the medical data gained from the Moho program, and thus, it was cleared for 3 more launches - enough to get all 4 pilots in the astronaut corps valuable flight experience that couldn't be gained from the rudimentary simulators available.

A week after Jeb's historic flight, Scott Kerman launched on Moho 2, aboard another Arrow rocket. Scott was Jeb's younger, less experienced counterpart - Jeb's protegé. A former fighter pilot, he was nearly already on par with Jeb, and his career looked bright and promising.

Flying a nearly identical trajectory as Moho 1, the mission was practically indistinguishable from the previous mission.

However, a slightly prolonged trajectory meant Scott endured less gees during reentry. Mission Control took note of this for the next flight.

Minutes later, Moho 2 made a safe splashdown in the ocean.

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Another week later, Moho 3 rolled out for launch. It would be carrying Valentina Kerman - if all went well, Valentina would become the first woman in space. Valentina, another seasoned pilot of the Cold War was renowned across the globe for her daring stunts and skill flying experimental aircraft. She was also cooler headed and more rational than Jeb - a valuable asset to the Astronaut Corps.

Today she would be finally getting her flight. Mission Control created a modified trajectory, learned from the previous mission to try and prolong the suborbital hop.

The Arrow booster performed a much more aggressive gravity turn maneuver, intended to add more velocity and push the Moho to a slightly longer stay in space.

This new trajectory added up to a shallower, but longer trajectory. Scientists were delighted - they would have a few more minutes to perform science.

However, Mission Control quickly discovered a problem with the retropack. Fortunately, it wasn't fatal - the Moho would be able to return to Kerbin fine, due to its suborbital trajectory. Control made a note to add more engines to the orbital variant of the Moho, for extra redundancy.

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Valentina engaged the radio beacon and patiently waited to be recovered. She was the first woman in space, but she wasn't satisfied just yet. One day, she would beat Jeb's records. "Just wait and see, Jeb. Wait and see."

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With the month of January coming to a close, the final Moho-Arrow launch, Moho 4, was prepped for launch. It would be carrying Alan Kerman, another experienced test pilot and skilled naval aviator.

However, a few seconds into the flight there was a rupture in the main tank, and the order to abort was given.

The solid rocket boosters in the launch escape tower lit almost instantaneously and pulled the capsule away, while mission control commanded the defective Arrow booster to shut down.

Having done its job, the LES tower was jettisoned, leaving the Moho capsule to deploy its parachutes as if it was a normal mission. Meanwhile, range safety blew up the Arrow booster to prevent damage to the launchpad.

Alan clambered out of his capsule, the launchpad just a short walk away. While he had not had a successful mission, the impromptu test of the abort system was still a success.

"Well, we didn't get very far today, did we?"

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Edited May 15, 2022 by Misguided Kerbal

Maria Sirona · May 16, 2022

What about uncrewed missions?

Misguided Kerbal · May 16, 2022

On 5/16/2022 at 12:16 PM, Maria Sirona said:

What about uncrewed missions?

Expand

That's what's coming next! While I'm mainly focusing on the manned missions here, I do want to have a good mix of probes. Next chapter should have the first satellite in orbit, if all goes well.

The Dressian Exploder · May 21, 2022

*Proceeds to have 5 launch faliures in a row*

Misguided Kerbal · May 22, 2022

Well.. I would have gotten this out earlier, but I proceeded to have 6 launch failures in a row, literally. If you thought the last one was long and boring... here we go again. I promise things will get more exciting - unless we happen to have 6 launch failures in a row again. In fact, I originally thought I only had 5 launch failures in a row but I got so confused I missed one.

Chapter 3

"Our two greatest problems are gravity and paperwork. We can lick gravity, but sometimes the paperwork is overwhelming." - Wernher Von Braun

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While the Moho program was busy launching the first kerbals into space, engineers had been working on a new challenge - placing a satellite - an artificial moon, into orbit around Kerbin.

Putting something into orbit would be a much greater challenge than simply launching something onto a suborbital trajectory. It would require an entirely new launcher, something more powerful than the existing Arrow launcher.

Of course, missiles much more powerful than the Arrow had already been developed - ICBMs, or Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles, powerful enough to put many heavy warheads on a suborbital trajectory to nearly anywhere around the world.

For the new Explorer satellite program, the launcher would be derived from the Javelin missile, powerful enough to loft a small satellite into an orbit around Kerbin. With construction at KSC nearing completion, the Javelin-Explorer stack would be launched from TLC-40 at the KSC.

"Booster."

"Go."

"Telemetry."

"Go."

"Payload."

"Go."

"Range Safety."

"Go."

"All systems go for final launch countdown. Go for ignition sequence."

"Ignition!"

The engines on the Javelin roared to life. Compared to what it was designed to carry, its payload was relatively light, and it leaped off the launchpad.

"Control, we have a problem here."

"Go ahead, Booster?"

"The first stage tank is leaking, sir."

"Roger, Booster. Can we still make it to orbit?"

"We'll try."

"Alright, keep an eye on that."

"Sir."

"Yes, Telemetry?"

"Upper stage is giving negative readouts, sir."

"Copy that."

The Javelin continued on its journey. With a now defective upper stage, Explorer-1 would be doomed to a suborbital trajectory. However, perhaps the mission was still salvageable. Maybe they would get some valuable science?

Shortly after payload separation, one of the 4 antennas on the probe failed. However, this was non-critical, and it really didn't matter at this point. After all, the failed mission would just reenter through the atmosphere in a few minutes.

Somehow, the central probe core managed to survive reentry relatively intact, and impacted the water at 43.2 m/s shortly after. This came as a shock, as no one expected the probe core to actually survive reentry. Engineers duly noted this down for future reference.

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A week later, Explorer-2 was rolled out to the pad on a fresh Javelin booster. Surely, the first launch attempt was just a fluke, and this time it would be successful.

It wouldn't be.

With a completely nominal first stage performance, it seemed as if Explorer-2 was on track for orbit. Flight controllers cheered at successful stage separation.

"Flight, Telemetry."

"Go ahead?"

"Telemetry indicates second stage failure."

Explorer-2 would be fated to the same fate as Explorer-1.

Once again, the probe core survived reentry intact and slams into the ocean, breaking up.

After thorough inspection of the entire rocket, engineers were confident that Explorer-3 would succeed. "3rd time's the charm", they said. Mission Control echoed this mentality. What could go wrong..?

...only to have the upper stage fail 30 seconds into the flight. To strike another blow, ~~I wasn't paying attention and accidentally flipped the rocket over~~ shortly after the main onboard guidance system failed.

As a rogue rocket no longer responding to commands, Explorer-3 slammed into the ground right next to the KSC.

Slightly shaky, and after rigorous inspection, Explorer-4 was rolled out to the pad. "4th time's the charm?" the engineers said shakily. Administration threatened to cut funding to the Explorer program and launch an investigation if this launch wasn't successful.

"Not again..." sighed the Flight Director.

Once again, the Pug upper stage failed, leaving Explorer-4 on a suborbital trajectory.

Disappointed with the complete and utter failure of the Explorer program, Administration began a thorough investigation. However, they couldn't track down any specific faults that were causing the failures of the tanks and upper stage.

Since they couldn't pinpoint a specific problem, the go ahead was given for static fire tests to increase reliability and further stress-test the stages.

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The main Javelin booster was tested, and no problems were found.

Meanwhile, the Pug upper stage testing uncovered a slew of problems:

However, they were eventually ironed out, with successful static fires:

Administration was confident that the Explorer program would get back on its feet. The engineers were less confident. "We have to do more testing! Much more rigorous testing, for every single situation!"

However, Administration gave the go-ahead and Explorer-5 was rolled out on a fresh Javelin booster anyway, as the static firing tests had clearly fixed all problems.

Only to culminate, in once again, catastrophic launch failure, with the main booster engine shutting down just 5 seconds into the flight.

The booster fell back onto the launchpad, resulting in an utterly complete and embarrassing failure. While the embarrassing failures of the Explorer program were already known, this catastrophic failure brought it into an entirely new light. Citizens began to wonder if it was really worth it to try and launch a satellite into orbit, and if it was even possible.

Administration was put in a state of complete and utter chaos. Paranoia creeped in - were tall pink men swooping in with their UFOs and sabotaging the vehicles? Congress was also annoyed - while they had committed KASA to a nearly unlimited budget, no progress was being made. Threats were made to divert the funds to other development projects.

Finally, a compromise was struck. The Explorer program had 2 more launches to get into orbit, otherwise it would be cancelled completely and replaced with a new development program, or even worse, the entire space program would be outright cancelled.

Pressure was at an all time high. As Explorer-6 rolled out to TLC 40, pad crews poked and prodded every single available crevice of the rocket for problems. Nothing seemed wrong.

However, Explorer-6 would befall the same fate as its brethren.

Paranoia surged through the space agency. They had one more launch to get this right, and it didn't look like it was going to be successful. Before going ahead with launching Explorer-7, Administration began another thorough investigation of the entire assembly line and integration procedures.

They finally found what the previous investigation had attempted to, but hadn't uncovered. ~~I changed the BARIS flight experience modifier a bit because I was so frustrated~~ Quality assurance managers were found to be faking quality checks on the stockpiled Javelin boosters, and not performing the required safety checks to a necessary level.

Doubtful about the launch of Explorer-7, Administration began thinking of a new rocket development program. Halfway through the month of March, as Explorer-7 rolled out to the pad, pad crews coined it the name 'Unlucky Number 7'. The stakes couldn't be higher.

"Booster?"

"Go."

"Telemetry?"

"Go."

"Payload?"

"Go."

"Range Safety?"

"Go."

"Again, all flight stations confirm - go for launch?"

"Booster looks good sir."

"We're ready."

"Probe is secure."

"Range safety armed and primed."

"Copy that - all flight stations, go for final launch preparations. There's no going back now."

"Go for final countdown procedure."

"10"

"9"

"8"

"7"

"6"

"5"

"4"

"Ignition sequence start."

"2"

"1"

"Clamps release."

"Liftoff! We have a liftoff!"

"Explorer-7 has cleared the tower."

"Booster, status?"

"All systems nominal, flight. Number 7 is go."

"Telemetry indicates nominal stage separation, flight. Second stage looking good."

"Copy that."

For the first time since Explorer-2, the Pug second stage ignited and began to perform nominally.

"Flight, we have nominal payload separation. Explorer-7 is in orbit around Kerbin, 216 by 188."

Cheers erupted throughout Mission Control, throughout the entire world as the launch was being streamed live on Television. They had done it - Kerbin now had a new moon - an artificial one.

Shortly after separation though, some minor electrical problems occured. It was non-critical, as the satellite could remain on its 3 redundant antennas and internal battery and still remain operational. However, this was noted for future testing - engineers were still shaken by the previous failures.

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Edited September 18, 2022 by Misguided Kerbal

Maria Sirona · May 22, 2022

Vigorous? You mean rigorous? Anyway, YAY! THE SPACE PROGRAM DID IT

Edited May 22, 2022 by Maria Sirona

Misguided Kerbal · May 22, 2022

On 5/22/2022 at 6:42 AM, Maria Sirona said:

Vigorous? You mean rigorous? Anyway, YAY! THE SPACE PROGRAM DID IT

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Yes, haha - I was a bit sleepy and tired when I wrote that last night.

Misguided Kerbal · June 7, 2022

Sorry for the delay, the first time I wrote this chapter I was about 90% done when I accidentally hit refresh, and the forum editor didn't catch it like it usually does. Also, I've been trying to fix a few mod issues (all fixed now!). Anyways, this isn't the most exciting of chapters, but it does lay the foundation for the next one.

Small sidenote, I probably spend the majority of the time I spend writing chapters actually just looking for a quote, so if anyone has any good quotes, please send them to me.

Chapter 4

"You're going very fast when you're on orbit, going around the Earth once every hour and a half." - Robert Crippen

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With the success of Explorer 7 (and, of course, the 6 consecutive failures of the Javelin booster before it), feelings about the Explorer program and the Javelin launcher were mixed. After all, Explorer 7 could have just been a one off fluke, and considering the performance of the Javelin booster thus far, it wasn't unlikely.

However, Administration gave the go-ahead to extend the Explorer program by 5 missions, in a seemingly blunderous move. The public and representatives in Congress questioned this move - after all, what was the point of extending an already expensive program that was plagued by failures?

Administration had a legitimate reason for the program extension though. Simply put, the upcoming (extension of) the Moho program needed a launcher, and it would be cheaper to simply throw funds at the Explorer program to build up reliability than to spend time designing a entirely new launcher from scratch.

At least, that was what Administration hoped. Even under this circumstance, engineers within KASA itself questioned this move. Combined with unfavorable public opinion (quote: "why are they spending my money on goddarned failed space contraptions? spend it on something useful!"), the Explorer program was under high pressure to continue performing favorably.

With the goal for launching a satellite into orbit completed, Administration drew up some tentative plans for Explorer 8-12. Explorer 8 would be simple, being a repeat of Explorer 7 and hopefully proving it to not be a fluke. Explorer 9 would test the limits of the Javelin rocket and see exactly how high an orbit it could be inserted into, as with Explorer 7 there was an excess of fuel left in the upper stage. This would also test multi-stage relight capability, vital for possible munar missions.

Explorer 10 would attempt to insert into a polar orbit, as being in a polar orbit allowed for comprehensive scanning of planets, as instead of being confined to a simple orbital track, Kerbin would rotate 'under' the satellite allowing for coverage of nearly the whole planet. Explorer 11 would go into a geostationary orbit - by matching the same speed of rotation as Kerbin, a satellite could maintain a nearly constant position over a certain area. Building on this, Explorer 12 would test a new technology known as satellite relay - bouncing signals off satellites back to Kerbin, theoretically avoiding long, expensive undersea cables with satellite dishes and transmitters.

The launch manifest was ambitious, and jam-packed with new technologies, leaving some still skeptical of the continued Explorer program. However, with the green light given, Explorer 8 rolled out to SLC-40, ready for launch.

Booster performance is completely nominal, and the upper stage lights flawlessly with no problems.

With completely nominal and flawless performance of the Javelin booster, Explorer 8 separated from the spent upper stage. Engineers confirmed the performance seen on Explorer 7, with the Pug upper stage having about half of its fuel remaining once in orbit. This was duly noted for the planned upcoming Explorer missions which intended to use this excess fuel capacity.

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With the flawless success of Explorer 8, the Explorer program was charged with newfound confidence and renewed vigor. Explorer 7 hadn't been a fluke - Explorer 8 had done it again!

With this much-needed morale boosting success, Explorer 9 was rolled out to the pad, ready to test the limits of the Javelin booster.

...only to culminate in catastrophic failure, reminiscent of Explorer 5.

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With another catastrophic failure, Administration quickly launched an investigation. What they found was ~~nothing, BARIS was just being difficult~~ that impurities in the fuel mixture had created a buildup of soot, causing a clog in the turbopump and triggering catastrophic failure. To remedy this, engineers designed a new, higher-energy fuel mixture that contained much less impurities.

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Since Explorer 9 had culminated in catastrophic failure, its launch manifest was bumped up to Explorer 10 (which didn't really change much, as the Explorer satellites were all pretty much identical.)

"Booster's looking good, flight. All systems nominal."

Powered by the new fuel mixture, the Booster performed phenomenally with no problems.

The Pug upper stage lit, and began its circularization burn. The planned mission would put the stage through its paces - the stage would have to relight 2 times after the circularization burn.

However, halfway through the circularization burn, the engine once again ran into a problem - a leak had caused the main throttle control valve to fail, leaving the engine stuck at full throttle.

After some intense deliberation, engineers came up with a solution: ~~setting the thrust limiter to zero~~ opening a bypass valve in the tank and draining all of the fuel into space, along with the pressure that fed the little engine.

However, this meant that the engine could no longer relight and perform the original planned mission.

Even under these circumstances, Explorer 10 still reached one of the highest orbits yet, if much lower than planned.

With this partial success, Explorer 11 was free to take on the polar orbit test that was originally intended for Explorer 10, with the geostationary orbit test being bumped up to Explorer 12. However, this sadly meant that the satellite relay test would be delayed - but the technology was already behind schedule anyway, so this wouldn't matter that much.

While Explorer 11 was being integrated in the VAB, engineers bumped into a problem on Explorer 7:

The internal heaters keeping the sensitive electronics safe had failed, leaving Explorer 7 a crippled satellite. However, since it didn't have that much of a purpose anyway, it was more of a morale blow than one that actually mattered. However, engineers made sure to include redundant heaters on the next generation of Explorer satellites, if that would ever come.

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Shortly after the situation with Explorer 7, Explorer 11 finished integration and was rolled out to the pad for its polar launch attempt. Polar launch from the KSC required taking a 'dog-leg' trajectory, or performing expensive inclination changes in orbit, since the KSC was designed to take full advantage of Kerbin's rotation and launch into an equatorial orbit.

In fact, it would have been much more efficient to attempt a polar launch attempt from a sounding rocket range up in the northern latitudes. However, even the missile test sites at the most developed sounding rocket ranges up north would require extensive and expensive infrastructure to support the Javelin rocket, thus, the polar launch attempt would be performed from the KSC. Since the upper stage had plenty of fuel left after the circularization maneuver, this was deemed easy enough - the Javelin booster would just perform a regular equatorial orbit injection, with the upper stage would change the inclination.

This also hit two birds with one stone, as the inclination-changing maneuver would require a separate burn, requiring the engine to relight and testing engine relight capability.

However, it wasn't going to be that easy. The first sign of failure came while Explorer 11 was still on the launchpad:

One of the gyroscopes on the upper stage began sending faulty telemetry, and then abruptly cut off. However, with the gyroscope being a redundant spare out of the 4 gyroscopes available, this was ignored - it would be lengthy and painful process to roll the Javelin all the way back to the VAB and investigate this minor issue.

Shortly after liftoff, a major leak was discovered in the first stage - it turned out that one of the main fueling valves hadn't been properly sealed. However, the mission carried on - perhaps, at the very least, Explorer 11 could still limp to orbit?

All hopes of salvaging the mission were dashed when the upper stage once again failed, leaving Explorer 11 on a doomed suborbital trajectory reminiscent of the previous failures.

With another failure to get even to orbit (I'm looking at you, Explorer 1-6), it was another demoralizing blow to the space program. However, with Explorer 12 ready to go, the program simply pressed on.

Unfortunately, Explorer 12 received the same series of failures and suffered the same fate as Explorer 11. Once again, the space program received a demoralizing blow.

The public was also outraged - there had already been so many failures funded with their precious taxpayer money. Now, after being promised successes, why were more failures happening for absolutely no reason?

The future of the space program was uncertain. What would happen next..?

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Edited September 18, 2022 by Misguided Kerbal

cxg2827 · June 8, 2022

I like the design of your Explorer rocket.

The only failure mod I have deal with is via kerbalism, and that does not have any failure modes for the fuel tanks, but I have encountered engine failures on several occasions. Similar to what you mentioned, I have designed most of my crewed vessels with multiple engines out of fear that a failure of the engine will strand/kill the crew. And with requiring life support there really isn't a possibility for a rescue.

Good call on running several static fire tests.

Misguided Kerbal · June 8, 2022

On 6/8/2022 at 2:26 AM, cxg2827 said:

The only failure mod I have deal with is via kerbalism, and that does not have any failure modes for the fuel tanks, but I have encountered engine failures on several occasions.

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Interesting, out of all mods I would have thought Kerbalism would have had failure modes for everything.

On 6/8/2022 at 2:26 AM, cxg2827 said:

Similar to what you mentioned, I have designed most of my crewed vessels with multiple engines out of fear that a failure of the engine will strand/kill the crew. And with requiring life support there really isn't a possibility for a rescue.

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Indeed, I originally designed a lot more spacecraft for future programs, but with lessons learned here, I'm going back and designing them with even more redundancy out of fear. It's something that I never even considered before installing a failures mod, which has been really eye-opening. You really have to do a lot more testing and design than just 'haha space rocket go boom.'

On 6/8/2022 at 2:26 AM, cxg2827 said:

Good call on running several static fire tests.

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Hopefully, they actually work!

Misguided Kerbal · June 14, 2022

This one is a short one, and for once I don't actually have that much commentary. Here we go!

Chapter 5

"Zero G and I feel fine!" - John Glenn

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The nearly consistent failures of the Explorer program had brought the space program a lot of bad publicity. With the lack of results, KASA faced scrutiny from every angle - the public, normally excited about the prospect of space exploration, viewed the current space program as a waste of their taxpayer money. The press reported on the seemingly continual embarrassing failures of the upstart space program, and Congress threatened to cut funding entirely if results weren't seen soon.

In dire straits, Administration launched an internal investigation to thoroughly examine the agency and determine what exactly had caused so many repeated failures in the Explorer program. Normally ignored, engineers finally had their chance to voice their opinion on the matter - according to them, the Javelin booster, with its roots as a missile, was designed for simplicity and reliability, not redundancy.

Opinions were also voiced on quality control - it was uncovered that pad crews and engineers, pressured to meet launch deadlines, hadn't been conducting quality checks to the extent mandated by Administration and skipping over some inspections entirely, while some contractors had been manufacturing parts to a lower quality standard than designed.

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Administration concluded that what success the Explorer program had achieved was a miracle. Future programs would take the findings into account - increased redundancy, stringent quality control checks, and reliable contractors.

With lessons learned, the agency moved on to its next challenge. While the Explorer program had been going on, engineers had been hard at work adapting the Javelin booster to a new challenge - sending a Kerbal into orbit. While the Arrow booster had already sent the first Kerbals into space, those were mere suborbital hops - launching into a stable orbit something the mass of the Moho capsule would require extensive modifications to the Javelin booster.

Combined with the relatively shaky flight history of the Pug upper stage, that mostly meant designing a new high energy upper stage to push the Moho capsule all the way into orbit. This required a brand new engine, powerful enough to push this larger diameter upper stage. Luckily, a new engine had already been in development for just this purpose - the Sphinx engine, nearly an order of magnitude as powerful as the existing Pug engine.

The rest of the modifications to the Javelin booster were relatively minor. The tapering bulkhead of the booster would instead be extended to accommodate the increased diameter of the new upper stage (christened Sphinx, after the engine). The booster would also be slightly stretched, to squeeze out just a little bit more performance.

Unwilling to repeat the failures of the Explorer program, a rigorous testing program was begun, with the Sphinx engine undergoing many static fire trials to ensure reliability and engine relight capability.

As designed, the Sphinx engine performed perfectly in static firing with no hiccups to speak of. With static fire tests complete, the Moho program was ready.

...

Out of the 4 original Moho flights, Alan Kerman had been on the last. With a stroke of bad luck, his flight had been the only one that failed. Of course, Alan understood that it was out of his control. As a seasoned test pilot and aviator, he understood that things went wrong. But of course, he couldn't help but feel as if the odds were stacked against him.

He knew he was lucky - after all, at least he had a chance to actually get in a spacecraft. Thus far, only the pilots of the astronaut corps had been flying - while the Moho was technically flown by remote guidance from Mission Control, the pilot had to be ready to take over incase anything went wrong, like on his flight. It was also seen as an opportunity for the pilots to gain flight experience, for future programs.

By any rate, his stroke of bad luck had landed him an opportunity. Originally, Scott Kerman had been slated to fly onboard Moho 5. Jeb's protegé, he was arguably the most qualified option behind Jebediah himself - Administration wouldn't let Jebediah fly since he had already claimed the mantle of first kerbal in space. With Moho 4's failure, Alan was reassigned to Moho 5 in Scott's place.

While Administration claimed that he had been assigned to Moho 5 simply so that he could gain flight experience (much to the annoyance of the rest of the Astronaut Corps), he knew that he had been intentionally given the seat on Moho 5 to make up for the failure on Moho 4. He was, of course, elated - it was his first chance to properly pilot a spacecraft; being remembered forever in the history books as the first Kerbal in orbit was just a bonus.

Oh, that, and the envy from the rest of the Astronaut Corps for a long time to come. Just a small bonus.

...

"All stations, this is Launch Control. Go for final countdown sequence."

10.

9.

Alan Kerman shifted in his seat, strapped to the chair with a complex system of harnesses. He instinctively reached to wipe the sweat off his forehead, only to be blocked by his helmet faceplate.

8.

7.

He tried to ignore the fact that he was sitting on a huge tower of explosive, combustible fuel, to no avail. He blinked, trying to prevent the sweat from dripping onto his eyes.

6.

5.

Shifting his head, Alan turned to face the tiny window on the side of the hatch, his only view outside. He could see the launch tower right outside, looming over him and obstructing his view. Mere moments earlier, he had stood there, contemplating his existence.

4.

"Ignition sequence start."

The voice rang from the speakers embedded inside his helmet. Shifting his head back to the console above him, he steeled himself and braced for liftoff.

2.

Below him, he felt the low, deep rumble of the Javelin roaring to life, enormous amounts of fuel fueling a hungry beast as it awoke from its slumber.

1.

A clank echoed throughout the cramped Moho capsule, and Alan was pressed back into his seat.

"Liftoff! We have a liftoff!"

Guzzling fuel, the booster leaped off the launchpad and continued upwards, skywards, ever higher. It was like the rocket itself knew that it was destined for the stars, as it pushed ever higher and faster and higher and faster, fuel flowing out and combusting at an incredible rate.

Piercing through the clouds, the rocket continued on its journey. From the roof of the VAB, technicians in the middle of their shift dropped their wrenches, admiring their handiwork riding on a trail of fire to the stars.

Alan peered through the small porthole, bouncing against his seat as the rocket shook and shuddered violently, like a beast trying to gnaw through its restraints. Outside, the sky faded from a crisp, clear blue to a darker shade, the clouds receding through the background.

Live on televisions across the world, millions of kerbals watched as the Javelin continued onwards towards the stars. An entire generation of young kerbals would be inspired to head to the stars, and beyond.

Inside the capsule, the violent shaking had calmed down, and the roar of the rocket had been quieted to a muffled rumble in the background. The atmosphere retreated, while the empty vacuum of space approached and welcomed the Javelin with open arms.

As soon as it had started, the rumble died down, and Alan began to feel a sensation of weightlessness. This sensation was to be short-lived; with a loud clang, the booster stage fell away. The booster would drop back into the atmosphere, burning up and impacting into the ocean. It would sacrifice itself to keep the rest of the rocket on its way.

With a muffled roar, the Sphinx engine ignited, pushing Alan back into his seat. While still powerful, the push was noticeably more gentle.

Right on cue, explosive bolts detonated to jettison the launch abort tower and the fairing between the capsule and the upper stage bulkhead, no longer needed.

And then, the pressure pushing Alan back into his seat disappeared, with him being kept in place only by his harness. Another set of explosive bolts fired in synchronization.

He watched as the upper stage slowly drifted away, receding into the darkness. Without the force of gravity, only his harness kept him in place inside the capsule.

"Moho, this is Control. How was the ride?"

"It's as smooth as riding a bronco, I'll tell you that."

In a 227 km by 109 km elliptical orbit, the Moho capsule would circle around Kerbin for one and a half orbits before deorbiting and returning. The flight would be filled with activities, with scientists eager to try everything in microgravity ranging from different types of food options to just observing how certain materials behaved.

The military (technically, the Kerman Civilian Defense Corps), with their own stake in the space program, was keen to investigate the possibility of Kerbin observation from orbit, though under the cover of scientific observation. However, the small porthole of the Moho capsule meant that it was hard to see much in any detail. Perhaps, a stationary satellite platform with film cameras would be more effective.

After one and a half orbits, with primary mission objectives complete, Mission Control gave the signal to deorbit and return to Kerbin.

While the Moho capsule had originally aimed for the waters next to the KSC, a miscalculation caused the capsule to land in the rolling plains to the west of the KSC. While designed for a splashdown in the ocean, the Moho capsule could land on land, however, it meant a rather hard landing.

Alan Kerman climbed out of the capsule, taking in a fresh breath of air.

He laughed. "In your face, Jeb."

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Edited June 14, 2022 by Misguided Kerbal

Maria Sirona · June 15, 2022

Äpic

Also, i thing the space program needs more reliable non-military rockets (just for that awesome diversity, if nothing else).

I really enjoyed that storytelling part, more of that in the future please

Misguided Kerbal · June 16, 2022

On 6/15/2022 at 7:03 AM, Maria Sirona said:

Also, i thing the space program needs more reliable non-military rockets (just for that awesome diversity, if nothing else).

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Definitely! I do have a bad habit of designing a singular launcher (at least, one for each size class). I switch them out if they get old, but there's not much variety. I'll try my best to mix it up this save.

On 6/15/2022 at 7:03 AM, Maria Sirona said:

I really enjoyed that storytelling part, more of that in the future please

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I'll try my best, though I did mostly do some extra storytelling for this one since it's an important mission. I do enjoy writing storytelling parts, but it does get a bit exhausting (and repetitive, I feel. You can only have the same launch sequence so many times.) I do think it adds a lot of neat perspective for sure, so I'll try my best to incorporate some more.

Edited June 16, 2022 by Misguided Kerbal

Misguided Kerbal · July 4, 2022

Sorry for the long wait - I had everything ready but I just didn't have time to write this, since I was getting into a few other commitments.

Chapter 6

"I see Earth! It is so beautiful!" - Yuri Gagarin

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Moho 6 rumbled off the pad, with Valentina Kerman strapped tightly in her seat. She grinned. While the other, pampered astronauts of the corps despised the constant shuddering and vibrations of launch and the cramped conditions of the Moho capsule, Val could care less. She was going to space today - to orbit. She couldn't care less.

With all systems performing nominally, the Javelin leapt off the pad. It seemed like the booster had finally proved itself to be a reliable launcher - it was a shame it would be retired soon. Val would know, she had been part of the design team for the next generation of crew capsules, along with Jeb.

Moho 6 would take a slightly more aggressive trajectory than Moho 5, intending to reach a higher orbit.

Finally, the Moho capsule was in orbit, free to carry out its mission. While Moho 5 had been in orbit for just about 1 and a half orbits, Moho 6 would double that to 3 orbits. This extra time in orbit would be well spent - with Val's piloting skill, the Moho capsule would undergo all sorts of piloting tests, including maneuvering tests with the rudimentary altitude control system. While the altitude control system hadn't been designed for maneuvering, it worked well enough - the data gleaned from these tests would be put to use in future designs.

[ normally, I would have epic screenshots of these things here, but they didn't actually happen. I just warped 3 and a half orbits to the retroburn. ]

With the mission complete, Mission Control gave the go-ahead to deorbit and return to Kerbin. A trajectory was plotted to (hopefully) land Val safely off shore of the KSC.

However, later analysis would reveal that ~~I was dumb, and forgot to compensate for the reentry itself~~ there had been in error in the trajectory calculations - one kerbal would later sheepishly admit that 'I forgot my slide rule at home... so I just scribbled on a napkin.' Undershooting the KSC, the Moho capsule would end up landing in the desert sands of the western continent.

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Next up was Scott Kerman, on Moho 7. Originally selected for Moho 5, Scott had been bumped from his mission in favor of Alan Kerman. The mission plan would be identical to the previous missions, with the sole exception of Scott performing 5 orbits instead of 3. Of course, the Defense Corps discreetly ordered Scott to image certain locations of interest.

With lessons learned from the previous missions, Moho 7 perfected the more aggressive gravity turn maneuver, allowing for higher orbits.

With no problems, Moho 7 successfully returned to Kerbin after completing its mission. However, once again, the trajectory issue persisted and the Moho capsule landed in the desert (albeit, a different one from Moho 6.)

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In an attempt to gain public approval, the final mission of the Moho program would end off with a (hopefully, not literal) bang. Moho 8 would aim to break many of the previous records set by the Moho program.

Pushing the spacecraft to its limits, Jebediah Kerman would circle Kerbin for over 10 orbits - nearly an entire day spent circling Kerbin in a cramped capsule. The time would be packed with observation duties the limited science which could be performed in the Moho spacecraft.

Moho 8 would also be the first spacecraft to launch at dawn (for no real reason, but it did look cool).

Unbeknownst to Mission Control, Jeb entered his own calculated trajectory into the flight computer instead of inputting the precalculated trajectory data provided by Mission Control. Later, it would be discovered that the precalculated trajectory data had failed to take in account the rotation of Kerbin below the capsule, and that Jeb's calculations were perfect.

The trajectory calculations paid off, and Jeb splashed down just one mile of the recovery zone.

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Edited July 5, 2022 by Misguided Kerbal

Misguided Kerbal · July 10, 2022

Getting back into the rhythm of things!

Chapter 7

"Shoot for the Moon - even if you miss it, you will land among the stars." - Unknown

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Ever since the dawn of Kerbalkind, Kerbals have looked to the stars... only to find their view of the night sky blocked by the looming presence of the Mun overhead. Despite that, the Mun became engrained into the very fabric of Kerbal culture and society. The Mun was the Great Protector, its presence at night a comforting one. When Kerbol went to sleep, Mun shone bright, a beacon of light in a sea of darkness. Mun shone Munlight upon weary travelers, guiding them safely to their destination. Ancient Kerbals navigated the high seas with the aid of the Mun, sailing away to far off lands with its blessing.

Minmus was discovered quite a while later, during the Great Awakening. Curious kerbals pointed crude, telescope-like contraptions towards the stars - and found a tiny little ball of green. Confused, many theorized that this must have been made of cheese. Clearly, this was a cosmic meal fit only for the gods - Kerbol was saving it for a later snack. Only later, to the disappointment of many, was it discovered that Minmus was a ball of rock, just like the Mun.

With their (relative) proximity to Kerbin, it was quite obvious that Kerbin's two companions would be some of the first targets for the aspiring space program.

A heavily modified extension of the Explorer satellite bus, the Pioneer probes would aim to make the first trips to Kerbin's two moons. The Pioneers would be a magnitude more capable than the Explorers, with its own maneuvering engine, robust communications equipment, improved redundancy (especially on the batteries - lessons had been learned from the Explorer program), and rudimentary scientific equipment. A notable improvement from the original Explorer bus would be the foil blankets covering the entire spacecraft - when an engineer's mother came to tell him a bedtime story and tuck him into bed, he realized that wrapping a satellite in nice warm blankets would probably make it nice and snug too.

While leaps and bounds ahead of the spartan Explorers (them essentially being just batteries and a radio transmitter with solar panels stuck on the side), the scientific capabilities of the Pioneer were still quite minimal. With the spacecraft mostly being engineering testbeds anyway, this wasn't seen as critical. Future, more well-equipped missions would do that.

The Pioneers would be launched onboard the Javelin-2 launchers, the same ones used to launch the Moho missions. This extra lifting capacity would be well-needed - while the Pioneers itself were tiny (only about 1.5 times the weight of the Explorer satellite), they were going to be traveling an order of magnitude further than anything ever launched before.

With the first Pioneer spacecraft ready for launch, it was stacked onto a waiting Javelin-2 booster and rolled out to LC 40, ready for its trip to the Mun.

The launch performance was completely nominal - with the majority of its problems ironed out, the Javelin booster revealed itself to actually be a quite capable and reliable workhorse.

Safely in orbit, 2 of the 6 antennas were deployed - the others, still stowed, wouldn't be able to deploy while still mounted to the upper stage. This had been built into the design, as the two antennas were more than suitable enough for contact with Mission Control. The other four were only needed for transmitting science.

Shortly afterwards, the Sphinx engine relit to send Pioneer to the Mun.

Two days later, the Pioneer stack arrives at the Mun.

Once again, the Sphinx relights - this time for the final time, to brake Pioneer into an orbit around the Mun.

With its propellant expended, the upper stage is discarded and the Pioneer itself continues its burn.

Settling into a stable orbit, Pioneer deploys the rest of its antennas and its scientific instruments, most notably the magnetometer boom.

An astounding success, Pioneer-1 returned the first (rudimentary) orbital observations of the Mun. With the success of Pioneer-1, Pioneer-2 rolled out to the pad a week later, bound for Minmus. For Minmus, the upper stage bulkhead mounting the Pioneer was filled with fuel instead of just being a structural adapter, for the extra delta-v needed for Minmus.

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With a completely nominal orbit insertion, Pioneer-2 set out on its journey to Minmus.

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Two days later, Pioneer-2 arrived at the Mint Mun.

However, there was a problem - even with the upper stage and probe delta-v combines, the stack didn't have enough propellant to actually brake into an orbit around Minmus. Just 100 m/s short, the stack would zip past Minmus and head into interplanetary space. Me Mission Control assumed this was just a trajectory error, and the spacecraft performed its retroburn anyway.

However, just as predicted, the stack didn't have enough delta-v. Zooming past Minmus, Pioneer-2 would become the first probe to exit Kerbin's sphere of influence and enter interplanetary space.

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After reviewing Pioneer-2's flight data, engineers decided the best course of action was to switch out the Javelin-2 booster with the Javelin-2A, which was augmented with 6 solid rocket boosters. This extra delta-v boost would (hopefully) leave enough extra propellant for Pioneer to successfully insert itself into a Minmar orbit.

However, there had only been two probes produced. Luckily, a flight spare was found laying around and was converted into an operational satellite, Pioneer-3. Mounted on the Javelin-2A, Pioneer-3 was rolled out to the pad and prepped for launch.

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18 days later (which confused me, since the previous transfer was only 2 days), Pioneer-3 arrived at Minmus. (I am still confused about why that took so long. My best guess is just different transfer timings.)

The Minmus encounter would end up being... not ideal. Pioneer-2 would have to inject into a highly inclined orbit. However, with a good chunk of delta-v remaining, that would be fixed in the future.

At this point, Mission Control began receiving odd orbital telemetry data from the probe. After ~~me realizing that I accidentally put Pioneer-2 in a retrograde orbit~~ analysis of the telemetry, control concluded that somehow, Pioneer-3 had injected into a retrograde orbit around Minmus.

However, with the probe's fuels tanks pretty much full, this was easily remedied with a series of orbital maneuvers. Control also used this opportunity to straighten out the orbit's inclination to something roughly equatorial, and to lower the orbit for better science data.

Settling into its new orbit, Pioneer deployed its magnetometer boom and communications array, and immediately began sending valuable science back to the KSC.

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Edited July 10, 2022 by Misguided Kerbal

Maria Sirona · July 10, 2022

On 7/10/2022 at 4:19 AM, Misguided Kerbal said:

"Shoot for the Moon - even if you miss it, you will land among the stars." - Unknown

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False. Any KSP player knows that id you miss the Moon you will land among the humans, or end up in a high and remote Earth orbit, or even worse, get sent to a solar orbit

On 7/10/2022 at 4:19 AM, Misguided Kerbal said:

Minmus was a ball of rock, just

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HERESY! Minmus is made of ice... Cream! Mint-flavored ice cream!

On 7/10/2022 at 4:19 AM, Misguided Kerbal said:

when an engineer's mother came to tell him a bedtime story and tuck him into bed, he realized that wrapping a satellite in nice warm blankets would probably make it nice and smug

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Awww, that's so cute (:

Edited July 10, 2022 by Maria Sirona

Maria Sirona · July 10, 2022

Oh, why do you need an equatorial orbit? Isn't an inclined orbit better because it goes over more surface? Also, poor kerbonauts ;.;

Edited July 10, 2022 by Maria Sirona

Misguided Kerbal · July 10, 2022

On 7/10/2022 at 6:13 AM, Maria Sirona said:

HERESY! Minmus is made of ice... Cream! Mint-flavored ice cream!

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Green cheese! :sticktongue:

On 7/10/2022 at 6:24 AM, Maria Sirona said:

Oh, why do you need an equatorial orbit? Isn't an inclined orbit better because it goes over more surface?

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~~I didn't think of that, because I'm dumb~~ The Pioneer satellites are pretty much engineering testbeds, so there's not much (I literally just stuck a magnetometer and a thermometer on it, and only because it looked cool). In the future, I'll send dedicated satellites (I have SCANSAT installed), but for now I just stuck them into equatorial orbits because they looked cool. They might be useful as relays for future missions.

On 7/10/2022 at 6:24 AM, Maria Sirona said:

Also, poor kerbonauts

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BARIS is a cruel mistress. Luckily, I did check back up on the Astronaut Corps and they're all okay.

cxg2827 · July 13, 2022

On 7/10/2022 at 4:19 AM, Misguided Kerbal said:

18 days later (which confused me, since the previous transfer was only 2 days), Pioneer-3 arrived at Minmus. (I am still confused about why that took so long. My best guess is just different transfer timings.)

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2 day transfer to minmus is pretty quick. Looking at your trajectories for Mun and Minmus intercept, it looks like you are burning for short-transit instead of delta-v efficient. from my experience, a hohmann transfer to minmus is usually 7-8 days.

A rocket with enough Delta-V to get into Mun orbit should also be able to reach Minmus typically. If you aren't already, use the included Delta-V chart they added with the mod as reference. For Minmus, i usually wait for the space center to be under the path of Minmus' orbit so I can launch into it's plane and not worry about the inclination change. This makes the transfer burn a little easier as well.

I also recommend downloading PreciseNode, as this makes plotting transfers so much easier (I dont see it on your mod list).

Misguided Kerbal · July 13, 2022

On 7/13/2022 at 3:35 AM, cxg2827 said:

2 day transfer to minmus is pretty quick. Looking at your trajectories for Mun and Minmus intercept, it looks like you are burning for short-transit instead of delta-v efficient. from my experience, a hohmann transfer to minmus is usually 7-8 days.

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Looking back at what I did, I think I forgot to account for the Minmus transfer windows. I was launching at odd times, that's probably what screwed the transfers and astrogator up.

On 7/13/2022 at 3:35 AM, cxg2827 said:

A rocket with enough Delta-V to get into Mun orbit should also be able to reach Minmus typically.

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Yeah, Pioneer-2 did get to Minmus, but it was about 100 m/s short of the braking burn. With the SRBs stuck on, I got the boost I needed for Pioneer-3.

On 7/13/2022 at 3:35 AM, cxg2827 said:

For Minmus, i usually wait for the space center to be under the path of Minmus' orbit so I can launch into it's plane and not worry about the inclination change. This makes the transfer burn a little easier as well.

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That's probably a smart idea, I'll keep that in mind for the future.

On 7/13/2022 at 3:35 AM, cxg2827 said:

I also recommend downloading PreciseNode, as this makes plotting transfers so much easier (I dont see it on your mod list).

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Never heard of it before, I'll go check it out! Although the mod list isn't up to date, I've been adding mods. I should probably get around to updating it actually.

Maria Sirona · July 13, 2022

For me in 100% stock, a Minmus always mission takes 11 days from finishing burn to encounter with Minmus. I tend to use the minimum amount of fuel

Starbound - A JNSQ Adventure [Chapter 15]

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