A Hodgepodge of Whatever I Think of: The Madness of Manatee Aerospace.

[Blufor878]

Welcome! I few months ago I got back into KSP after a fairly long time. I was stunned to find how many new parts packs had shown up on the mod scene since I'd been out. BDB, Tantares, Near Future Technologies, just to name a few. Unfortunately this gave me ideas that will probably upset whichever God or Spirit you may or may not believe in. So welcome to Manatee Aerospace! Please don't get mad.

 

Before I start I should preface as well that I am NOT GOOD at KSP, other than reaching Kerbin orbit and flying to and from the Mun, I'm not good at much else. I unfortunately rely a fair amount on the cheat console options. I would never compare myself to the likes of Scott Manley, Matt Lowne, or the like. I'm just here to stretch my imagination.

Also I use a fair amount of craft files from KerbalX and Steam Workshop, so I will try to give credit to those creators whenever possible and if you recognize craft that belong to other creators, please let me know.

And hey, if you have any crazy ideas you want to share here too, feel free to!

Edited September 9, 2022 by Blufor878

[Blufor878]

First Idea, inspired by @Jasseji from a post that involved Orion on top of a Falcon 9 Booster. I decided to put Orion on a modified Saturn IB/IC booster.

I had to make few modifications to make this guy work. The Base Saturn IB was not nearly enough to get Orion into orbit. For starters, I had to switch to the Saturn IC engine housing on the first stage to allow for a BDB "Regor" engine, which provided more than enough power for the rest of the rocket. I also stretched the first stage fuel tank by a smidge. In Addition, I changed the engine housing on the upper stage from a single engine to a quad configuration. This was more than enough to get this guy into LKO, with fuel to spare.

Edit: Forgot to credit @benjee10 for his awesome Orion spacecraft (among other things), and @CobaltWolf and his team for their work on Bluedog Design Bureau. Thanks guys, and also sorry. 

Edited September 4, 2022 by Blufor878

[Jasseji]

4 minutes ago, Blufor878 said:

First Idea, inspired by @Jasseji from a post that involved Orion on top of a Falcon 9 Booster. I decided to put Orion on a modified Saturn IB/IC booster.

I had to make few modifications to make this guy work. The Base Saturn IB was not nearly enough to get Orion into orbit. For starters, I had to switch to the Saturn IC engine housing on the first stage to allow for a BDB "Regor" engine, which provided more than enough power for the rest of the rocket. I also stretched the first stage fuel tank by a smidge. In Addition, I changed the engine housing on the upper stage from a single engine to a quad configuration. This was more than enough to get this guy into LKO, with fuel to spare.

Haha, Cool, i'm now trying to get it to Duna, propably with F9 Heavy

[Blufor878]

2 minutes ago, Jasseji said:

Haha, Cool, i'm now trying to get it to Duna, propably with F9 Heavy

Please stop, you're scaring the children.
 

Just kidding, go for it dude!

Edited September 4, 2022 by Blufor878

[Blufor878]

Another quick idea I had. Weird combination of SLS, Saturn V, and Dragon 2 components to get...whatever this is.

Just wanted to post some test images. Design is definitely not finished. I'm thinking about replacing Crew Dragon's trunk with the Apollo CSM so it has something for leaving munar orbit.

Edited September 4, 2022 by Blufor878

[Mikki]

Aaah... oh. Horrible... and amusing. And horrible!

[Blufor878]

2 hours ago, Mikki said:

Aaah... oh. Horrible... and amusing. And horrible!

Don't know if I should respond with a Starship Troopers reference or a TF2 reference...

[Blufor878]

For some reason, I decided to give the H-II rocket the Delta Heavy treatment.

My apologies to @Beale for using his Gemstone mod to make...whatever this is...

Edited September 9, 2022 by Blufor878

[Blufor878]

Up next, I modified the Redstone rocket into a mainline smallsat launcher (yes, I know Juno exists).

I have the craft file on KerbalX as well:

https://kerbalx.com/ManateeAerospace/Redstone-SSL

[Blufor878]

I already posted some images of this elsewhere, but I wanted to post them here. I also have some new images. Behold the Apollo spacecraft on top of a Falcon 9! Also a custom Skylab-derived station I have.

Big thanks and apologies to @Damon and @CobaltWolf and the BDB team. I can't help it. I'm a Florida man. Also thanks to @Nertea for the station parts and solar panels.

Edited September 9, 2022 by Blufor878

[Damon]

On 9/9/2022 at 6:42 AM, Blufor878 said:

I already posted some images of this elsewhere, but I wanted to post them here. I also have some new images. Behold the Apollo spacecraft on top of a Falcon 9! Also a custom Skylab-derived station I have.

---

Big thanks and apologies to @Damon and @CobaltWolf and the BDB team. I can't help it. I'm a Florida man. Also thanks to @Nertea for the station parts and solar panels.

The fact that it fits, scares me.

[Blufor878]

10 hours ago, Damon said:

The fact that it fits, scares me.

I actually looked up the dimensions of Dragon 2 and Apollo. Apparently their pretty close in terms of diameter, so...

(Below was supposed to be a separate post, but it got merged anyway for some reason).

Something I made a long time, but hadn't visited in a hot minute. Parts courtesy of @Nils277's Feline Utility Rovers.

And below we have Dimon Kerman smiling for the camera.

I gave it legs to provide hard support when parked, and definitely not as a countermeasure against the kraken...

Edited September 10, 2022 by Blufor878

[Probird_23]

This is some stuff we should really see!

I feel like kitbashes are really underrated in this community, and all of the historical recreation parts have lots of potential in this game

[Blufor878]

12 minutes ago, Probird_23 said:

This is some stuff we should really see!

I feel like kitbashes are really underrated in this community, and all of the historical recreation parts have lots of potential in this game

Thanks! I love spaceflight technology, both real-world and the what-ifs. I have these weird scenario ideas where multiple (or all) spaceflight programs are extant/ongoing. So the end result is all of this stuff. I have way more too, these are the less terrifying ideas.

I also take a lot of inspiration from an old, obscure game called Skybase. It was basically an education game about the ISS they gave out back when I was in camp (forgot if it was space camp or my local science center) that allowed you to make your own space station using ISS modules. You could even tour the inside by clicking around. Even better the game gave you a brief rundown of your station's power, escape module, and crew capacity needs. Sadly I doubt the game would work on modern computers. However, I think games like KSP are a more than adequate spiritual successor to such games. Not only can I build my own space stations, but I can know build the rockets to get them there. I can build the habitats for use on other worlds. I can even build ground vehicles for short-term surface expeditions. All the possibilities, combined with mods, keep my imagination running.

TLDR I'M DOING THIS BECAUSE I'M A SPACE NERD, AND BECAUSE OF A GAME FROM THE 90'S THAT ALMOST NO ONE REMEMBERS.

Oh, and bonus points for using the word kitbash. I'm also into trains, and kitbash gets thrown around a lot in model train circles.

Edited September 11, 2022 by Blufor878

[Blufor878]

Random Stuff

First, my custom heavylifter, Hrothgar Ultra

Next, another Saturn I/Orion hybrid.

Finally, my Apollo Falcon 9, but backdated!

Edit: Silly me, forgot the craft files
Hrothgar: https://kerbalx.com/ManateeAerospace/Hrothgar-Ultra

Saturn I Orion: https://kerbalx.com/ManateeAerospace/Orion-Saturn-Ares-IC-S

Falcon 9 Classic: https://kerbalx.com/ManateeAerospace/Apollo-Falcon-9-Classic

Edited September 12, 2022 by Blufor878

[Blufor878]

Created a new hybrid Dragon 2/Apollo spacecraft called Tadpole 2, and made a modified INT-17 rocket for it to sit on as well. The main inspiration came from @AdrianDogmeat.

I also made a Tadpole 1 predecessor using @Nertea's Tethys pod.

 

Edited September 12, 2022 by Blufor878

[RocketBoy1641]

On 9/6/2022 at 4:12 PM, Blufor878 said:

Don't know if I should respond with a Starship Troopers reference or a TF2 reference...

Either.  But seriously, Orion on an Apollo CMS is more my style of decade slosh.

[Blufor878]

Just FYI, I am out of town at the moment. It may be a hot minute before I can load more pictures here or load more stuff to KerbalX. I am brainstorming some ideas in my head, and I’ll be around in the BDB and benjee10 mod threads.

[Blufor878]

Have a few ideas I want to try when I get back. 
- Cargo Tadpole (possibly a version 1 and 2)

- A version of the Saturn 1C/Orion hybrid but instead of the F1 on the first stage it uses a RS-25 Cluster

- Another version of the Saturn 1C/Orion with shuttle SRBs, for when you want to launch large station modules with Orion (or something)

Also have some craft I made a long time ago but want to post on KerbalX. 
- My take on the saturn shuttle using SOCK and BDB. Not nearly as good as other takes on it, as mine doesn’t have a flyback booster. But the aesthetics are…a thing. Also may or may not have a version using a nova/c8 style first stage… 

- Some space station core modules I had made by stuffing @Nertea‘s stockalike parts into an empty fuel tank to for a skylab-esque aesthetic/feel

- Used @Beale‘s N1 to create a kinda (very) stumpy and thicc heavy lifter (I know what I said)

 

 

[Blufor878]

Behold the Apollo Saturn IR.

Yes, those are restock KS-25/RS-25 engines. Because why not?

Oh, and a craft file:

https://kerbalx.com/ManateeAerospace/Apollo-ACSM-Saturn-Ares-IC-R

Finally, in case I forgot to mention it, a lot of my Saturn I posts, including this one, are inspired by @AmateurAstronaut1969's post here:

 

Finally, at the request of a KerbalX user, I made the inverse of the Apollo Falcon 9:

Edited September 23, 2022 by Blufor878

[Blufor878]

Did something a little different today. I noticed while looking at the overworld view of the space center that some of the offices have water features.

So I decided to take some kerbals on an exploration of these office buildings and their water features (some are stock, others I believe are courtesy of Kerbal Konstructs). Our crew for today is Rolin, Sara, and Germore Kerman. At the same time I also took the opportunity to test drive a rover I downloaded from KerbalX. This is the XDCR courtesy of urban_venture on kerbalx (https://kerbalx.com/urban_venture). It's an awesome rover and I would definitely recommend it.

We start by parking (somewhat) neatly at the original Astronaut office. This one looks like a simple pool. But still a neat detail!

Next Rolin and Sara drive across the lawn, hoping the landscapers won't notice.

We then stop by another water feature, this one looks pretty cool, with rocks and plants and everything.

Wait, Germore, what are you doing?

Aaand he didn't put his helmet on correctly...

Ahh, that's ok! He seems happy, what a good sport (someone get the paramedics on standby)!

Finally we end at the hangar, because they have the best vending machines, or something...

Mods seen in this series as follows (as far as I remember):

Edit: More mods seen here

Edited September 26, 2022 by Blufor878

[Blufor878]

First off, a preview of some other stuff I'm working on. These rockets are somewhat related to this post as well:

While I was away, I played another space program game on my switch called Mars Horizon. I wanted to try and recreate (creatively and loosely) the first launch I did in one of my playthroughs.

This is the S70, a derivative of the famous R7 that carried Sputnik into orbit. Unique to this rocket is the distinct bottleneck and "red onion" fairing on top. Our payload for this orbital launch is STJ-I, a satellite primarily meant for orbital insertion tests, but also carries some other experiments onboard. This will be the first orbital launch for PMD Aerospace, which uses (at least later on) hybrid designs that combine both American and Eastern Bloc components.

STJ-I rests onboard the S70 the pad ready for liftoff.

Liftoff! The S70 books it off the pad!

Everything is nominal through booster sep.

The S70's first flight goes well, almost too well. Initially meant for a low/mid LKO, it ends up with an apoapsis of over 1000km. Despite the excess altitude, STJ-I is in perfect working order.

The flight was an excellent showing for both the S70 rocket and the STJ-I satellite. Sadly the S70 would only fly a couple more times before being replaced by the more capable S71, and later RS73 series of rockets. Those would be phased out as well as the Sageata family of rockets came into service (which are mentioned in the above post). This was far from the end for the STJ-I however.

Edit: Now with a video and a craft file!

https://kerbalx.com/ManateeAerospace/S70-STJ-I

Big thanks to @Beale for Tantares and @CobaltWolf and the BDB team for the science and satellite components.

Edited September 26, 2022 by Blufor878
Now with video!

[EndAllFilms]

Will there be an Apollo Direct Ascent? Because i wanna use it for my sea dragon

[Blufor878]

22 minutes ago, EndAllFilms said:

Will there be an Apollo Direct Ascent? Because i wanna use it for my sea dragon

That sounds awesome. Sadly I can't say that I'm working on anything like that at the moment, I'm not the best at landers. But it's definitely a neat idea.

[EndAllFilms]

7 hours ago, Blufor878 said:

That sounds awesome. Sadly I can't say that I'm working on anything like that at the moment, I'm not the best at landers. But it's definitely a neat idea.

Ur good I'm also bad at building as well