Beyond: Kerbalkind's History of Space Exploration

[Kerbalsaurus]

MINTY 1: YEAR 1, DAY 72

Kerbin's mintiest moon...

Crew: Jebediah, Bob, Valentina

Kerbol sets over Cape Kerman, and a crowd of eager Kerbals waiting to see Kerbalkind's next adventure to another world. For centuries, Minmus has captivated the minds of many astronomers. And when we finally sent something to take pictures of its surface, it just raised even more questions. Well, we've had enough. After a ling time of work, we're finally sending something up to Minmus. One issue that our engineers faced when designing this mission was the payload. The payload for this mission is very heavy, and even the Eve I Rocket with 8 boosters isn't enough. We didn't want to design a whole new rocket for this, so we had a different idea. We know that there's only one rocket capable of lifting this much weight, and that rocket is...

The Tendagurensis Rocket. The most powerful launch vehicle built to date.

It will be launching from LC-39B, which still has yet to see any launches from it. The crew climb the elevator to the top, and sit down in the capsule, waiting for the biggest adventure in Kerbalkind's history to date.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, ignition sequence start, 5 4, 3, 2, 1...

We have liftoff! Liftoff on Minty 1!

Stage 1 separation

Main-engine startup

And within 8 minutes, Minty 1 enters LKO. Very quickly, the crew get to work setting up their rendezvous with the main habitat. After around 2 orbits of Kerbin, they burn for the spacecraft.

Arrival at the habitat.

Stage 2 separation

Jeb jump scare!

Crew's view out of the window.

After an inclination change into Minmus's orbital plane, Minty 1 burns for the green dot (I, uh..., forgot to get screenshots of the transfer).

Bob Kerman's EVA half way to Minmus.

Minmus orbital insertion burn

Orbit has been achieved by Minty 1! The crew watch Minmus out of the window, and Bob Kerman once again goes on an EVA to preform experiments in orbit of Minmus. Shortly after, they transfer over to the lander, called the Minmus Landing Vehicle (MEV)-1 "Sardine"

Drifiting away from the station

"Starting suicide burn" -Valentine Kerman, MLV pilot

Almost there...

Touchdown!

Jebediah goes outside the spacecraft.

"We done it" -Jebediah Kerman's first words on Minmus.

Mission control erupts into a frenzy of cheers. Kerbalkind has once again achieved the impossible: a Kerbal on Minmus! The rest of the crew step onto the surface, and pose for the all-important flag planting.

Valentina Kerman Goes off to some exploring with Jeb, while Bob stays behind to do some science. The crew report that haze gathered up on the visors golden material, most likely meaning that the dust is somehow magnetic. How? Further research is needed.

The crew spend around an hour one the surface, but time moves all to fast, and before they know it they have to head back to Kerbin. The crew pack up, board the spacecraft, and head back to the main habitat.

Arrival at the habitat

Bob preforming a quick check of the space craft

Burning back to Kerbin

See ya, Minmus.

Kerbin orbital insertion burn

Re-entry

Landing back at Kerbin

After around 14 days in space, the crew of Minty 1 finally return home! It was a long time to be up there, and a few times the crew were at each others throats, but whatever. Since when have Kerbals cared about safety? The scientific gain from this mission will be researched for years on end, and more science is sure to come back.

Edited March 17, 2023 by Kerbalsaurus
Seems like everytime I start a new page, it aligns with the era of space travel.

[Kerbalsaurus]

EVE MID-COURSE MANEUVER: YEAR 2, DAY 94

Nothin' much happened. Pioneer 1 continues it's mission to Eve steadily, expected to arrive in 120 days.

[Kerbalsaurus]

SECRET SPACE PROGRAM: YEAR 2, DAY @̵͓̯̘̺̟̙̠͉͔̹̿͛̀͌#̶̡̢̰̦̱̩̲́̄́$̶̠̘̙̝̉̔̽̄̀͆̌͒̈́̅̚͠%̷̛̮̩͚̩̙͒̐̔̍̔͐̏̾̕̕̕

Crew: Tim C. Kerman

Strange signals are being picked up from the Mun, and the Secret space program needs to know what they are. Several things are being built for further investigation of it, but the end goal is to send a Kerbal to check it out. The secret space program has found perhaps the best pilot they could: Tim C. Kerman. While he's not a household name kind of pilot, like Jebediah or Valentina, he's still a well respected one in the piloting community. He's flown every kind of plane he can. As his first little test for the program, he flies the Terror Bird. The plane is owned by Beyond, but Beyond is still a government agency. Therefore, the UKA has control over where the aircraft goes. Tim boards the craft, and lifts off from the Dessert Launch Site.

Stuntin'...

Foreshadowin'...

Landin'...

Edited August 9, 2023 by Kerbalsaurus

[Kerbalsaurus]

MAIN HABITAT RESUPPLY: YEAR 2, DAY 104

Hungy for fuelly...

During the Minty 1 mission, many a resource was used up. Beyond's sending up a huge pile of fuel tanks and monopropellant, which will give both the Main Habitat and Sardine fuel and monopropellant (duh). It'll launch atop the Eve I Rocket, which is now the full time work horse of the agency. It's completely replaced the Kitten II Rocket, and is much more powerful, able to carry more weight to LKO than the Kitten. Also it's bigger. Who doesn't like a bigger rocket? It's the perfect spacecraft for the job.

The resupply vessel refills the empty tanks of the Main Habitat, and then changes the inclination of the Habitat to align it with Minmus's orbital plain.

After it's job is done, the spacecraft burns up in the atmosphere. It's not a very expensive spacecraft, and it's built to crash into Kerbin.

Goodbye, vessel. Your 2 hours of life were not in vain.

[Kerbalsaurus]

JOURNEYER 1: YEAR 2, DAY 118

Meatball planet...

Beyond once again attempts to reach the planets in the Kerbol system, and the Journeyer Program will bring us to Moho, or the meatball planet. Why is it called the meatball planet? Well, you see, it's brown color, with various holes that look like warmer give a meatball like appearance. The fact that it's close to Kerbol just adds to the effect. And the less important question, why should we go to Moho? Well, It's the inner Kerbolar system's last unexplored world. Once we orbit Moho, we can begin more exploration of the inner Kerbolar system. Our scientists have warned us though that we may in fact not be able to orbit Moho, and that the Explorer upper stage is not optimized for Moho like Duna or Eve. But they're scientists. We in administration know better than them. Probably.

Mass of green lights.

Getting our orbit to intersect Moho's orbit will definitely be hard with our dinky litter transfer stage. But, Kerbin has a huge well of Gravity to it's name. That well is called the Mun. Journeyer 1 will flyby the Mun retrograde, and lower it's orbit. Here's to hoping.

So long, Kerbin!

[Kerbalsaurus]

Sorry about the abrupt name change, I just kind of thought the other name was kind of corny.

[Kerbalsaurus]

MINTY 2: YEAR 2, DAY 126

Ice cream run...

Crew: Lebro, Virsen, Bill

Beyond once again sets off to Minmus. While this mission may look like Minty 1, some more efficient practices were used. For example, the upper stage of the Tendagurensis Rocket is now going to also be used for the TMI burn, not just rendezvous and docking. This will possibly allow the main spacecraft to re-orient the main habitat to the plain of Minmus, as well as give it a nice, circular orbit. There could even be enough fuel left over to refuel the lander, and re-enter Kerbin's atmosphere! Beyond hopes for the best this mission.

Stage 1 separation

Orbital insertion

Burning for main habitat

The crew board the main habitat, and get all of its systems online. They proceed to have mission control check if everything's good, so that Minty 2 can actually go to Minmus. Mission control says everything's good, and that Minty 2 is go for TMI.

Sardine undocking from the habitat

Touchdown! And a very Soviet looking lander!

Lebro sets foot on Minmus!

The crew spend a total of 30 minutes on surface, preforming experiments, collecting surface samples, and playing Kerbal bowling. The crew also say that they're new visors have little to no dust on them, which means that these visors are less magnetic than your regular leading visor.  All too soon though, the crew are told to board the lander,and head back up to the habitat.

The crew shortly after Sardine docks with the habitat, Minty 2 burns back to Kerbin. This was perhaps one of the most successful flights done by Beyond. While Minty 2 heads back to Kerbin, a few million kilometers away, a spacecraft is doing its own thing.

[Kerbalsaurus]

PIONEER 1 ORBITAL INSERTION: YEAR 1, DAY 135

Purple majesty...

After 200 days of coasting through empty space, Pioneer 1 finally arrives at Eve. The photos taken during approach confuse Beyond. It's just a giant Purple chunk in the sky. How could you find life there? Our astronomers hope that it's simply a reflection of light, shining back into camera. They'll wait to take pictures once orbit is confirmed.

Orbital insertion burn.

Some amazing science is returned from Eve. Turns out it's atmosphere is very high, and it's hot there. Like, REALLY hot there. But where is everyone? No cities, no Evish people walking around or saying hi. We can't even see through the atmosphere! Our scientists suggest a very.... interesting idea. What if we land something on Eve. On it, we could have messages of peace of Kerbin, saying hello and what not. Engineers immediately begin making prototypes design for the lander. Eve is hiding something under those clouds, and we intend to know what.

[Kerbalsaurus]

MINTY 2 RETURNS: YEAR 2, DAY 141

After a brief interruption...

Minty 2 returns to Kerbin after around 14 days in space. The crew come back with more information about Minmus, and say that a landing in the mountains of Minmus would be perfectly safe.

[2009Tartigrade]

Beautiful, love your work. Also, page 3!!!!! Well done love it!

[Kerbalsaurus]

YEAR 2, DAY 262: KERMAN STATION ‘HARMONY’ MODULE

BIG...

As space travel on Kerbin advances rapidly, permanent infrastructure is needed. Specifically, a large space station, where crews can live for long times, where new spaceraft can be tested, and interplanetary missions to dock to and refuel. While several designs were proposed, Beyond settled on Kerman Station. Kerman Station will have two modules launched up before crew inhabit the space station, and there's also a long term plan that will expand the station so much that a truss would be built. It'll be an impressive construction, but we first need to get the first module in orbit.

Booster sep

Orbital insertion burn

However, one issue happened when the station was put in orbit. There was a camera malfunction! In all seriousness though, I couldn't get a picture of the first module because my F1 key had to get STUCK AGAIN!!! I'll have to fix that soon. Meanwhile though, let your imagination run to imagine what this module looks like.

Edited June 4, 2023 by Kerbalsaurus
Wrong Date. In fact, many dates on the page are probably very wrong. I kinda lost track of them.

[Kerbalsaurus]

MOHO MID-COURSE CORRECTION BURN: YEAR 2, DAY 264

We're on the road to nowhere, come on inside....

Nothing much, just getting ourselves a better encounter with Moho. However, one issue is we can't get into orbit. Journeyer 1 is moving so fast that even making the apoapsis as close as we can make it still makes the spacecraft move in a straight line. We'll probably have to make a new design for the spacecraft. but we'll still get a close encounter, and we can still get a lot of insight onto Moho, and get good pictures of it's surface.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTICE

Beyond is currently looking for commercial partners to deliver Kerbals who have signed up for a commercial flight to Kerman Station. These guests will be very special (*cough* *cough* rich *cough* *cough*), and we want to give them top quality service. So rather that riding in our designated crew vehicles, we will instead use spacecraft from a private space program.

All you need to do is:

Share your craft of KerbalX

Tell us what your company name is

Give us the flag for it (we need to know who made it!)

Thank you for helping all of Kerbalkind with their dreams of reaching the cosmos!

Edited April 10, 2023 by Kerbalsaurus

[Dunas Only Moon]

7 hours ago, Kerbalsaurus said:

MOHO MID-COURSE CORRECTION BURN: YEAR 2, DAY 264

We're on the road to nowhere, come on inside....

Nothing much, just getting ourselves a better encounter with Moho. However, one issue is we can't get into orbit. Journeyer 1 is moving so fast that even making the apoapsis as close as we can make it still makes the spacecraft move in a straight line. We'll probably have to make a new design for the spacecraft. but we'll still get a close encounter, and we can still get a lot of insight onto Moho, and get good pictures of it's surface.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NOTICE

Beyond is currently looking for commercial partners to deliver Kerbals who have signed up for a commercial flight to Kerman Station. These guests will be very special (*cough* *cough* rich *cough* *cough*), and we want to give them top quality service. So rather that riding in our designated crew vehicles, we will instead use spacecraft from a private space program.

All you need to do is:

Share your craft of KerbalX

Tell us what your company name is

Give us the flag for it (we need to know who made it!)

Thank you for helping all of Kerbalkind with their dreams of reaching the cosmos!

Wow

i do have a cool mun lander too

Edited April 10, 2023 by Dunas Only Moon

[Kerbalsaurus]

37 minutes ago, Dunas Only Moon said:

Wow

i do have a cool mun lander

Oh, I'm just looking for a simple orbital craft, that's all. Something like the CST-100 or Dragon. But a commercial Mun flight's an interesting idea...

[Dunas Only Moon]

 

3 minutes ago, Kerbalsaurus said:

Oh, I'm just looking for a simple orbital craft, that's all. Something like the CST-100 or Dragon. But a commercial Mun flight's an interesting idea...

It is called the MLO(Mun lander one) and im using it to make base

(Rocket's name is the Ratat 1)

I can make a partnership with you (i use Owl agency flag)

[Kerbalsaurus]

8 minutes ago, Dunas Only Moon said:

It is called the MLO(Mun lander one) and im using it to make base

(Rocket's name is the Ratat 1)

I can make a partnership with you (i use Owl agency flag)

I might remove the landing legs, just becuase it's simply meant to dock with an orbital space station. But other than that, just post the KerbalX link, flag, and yeah.

[Dunas Only Moon]

 

4 minutes ago, Kerbalsaurus said:

I might remove the landing legs, just becuase it's simply meant to dock with an orbital space station. But other than that, just post the KerbalX link, flag, and yeah.

Um, hate to break it to you but i am a console ksp player (PS4) but it is a launcher (the base can be put in lko but you need to remove the mining module and the gear)

 and the base is meant to be either a station or a base

[Kerbalsaurus]

8 minutes ago, Dunas Only Moon said:

Um, hate to break it to you but i am a console ksp player (PS4) but it is a launcher (the base can be put in lko but you need to remove the mining module and the gear)

 and the base is meant to be either a station or a base

Oh. Can you send a screenshot of what it looks like? I think you an do that on the PS4. And I think you can also export photos (I haven't had a PS4 for a loooong time).

[Dunas Only Moon]

Fyi: it does work for docking and it is multiple launch AND it has a optional lander instead

5 minutes ago, Kerbalsaurus said:

Oh. Can you send a screenshot of what it looks like? I think you an do that on the PS4. And I think you can also export photos (I haven't had a PS4 for a loooong time).

1. you can export photos
But...

2. it only does platforms like twitter and facebook (i do not have and do not want an account)

[Kerbalsaurus]

18 minutes ago, Dunas Only Moon said:

Fyi: it does work for docking and it is multiple launch AND it has a optional lander instead

1. you can export photos
But...

2. it only does platforms like twitter and facebook (i do not have and do not want an account)

I don't really know what to do, then. Am I supposed to just kinda make it up? Because I don't really know what it looks like. Also, what's the Owl Agency flag?

[Dunas Only Moon]

Winter owl.
Btw: it is just a mk 1 with fl 400(?) and 2 side fl200(? (now i play ksp 2)) with a nose cone on the fl 400(?) with 2 terriers and some batteries/panels (Console is ksp 1.11 so use the 1x6) with docking ports and parachutes

[Kerbalsaurus]

19 minutes ago, Dunas Only Moon said:

Winter owl.
Btw: it is just a mk 1 with fl 400(?) and 2 side fl200(? (now i play ksp 2)) with a nose cone on the fl 400(?) with 2 terriers and some batteries/panels (Console is ksp 1.11 so use the 1x6) with docking ports and parachutes

Something like this?

[Dunas Only Moon]

2 hours ago, Kerbalsaurus said:

Something like this?

Yep! (I added the fuel lines) , put the docking port on top and side parachutes.

use any launcher as the launcher has too much delta v (12K, so you will be using the 2nd stage when docking lol)  and it should probaly make it as it has extra fuel tanks

[Kerbalsaurus]

1 hour ago, Dunas Only Moon said:

Yep! (I added the fuel lines) , put the docking port on top and side parachutes.

use any launcher as the launcher has too much delta v (12K, so you will be using the 2nd stage when docking lol)  and it should probaly make it as it has extra fuel tanks

Ah, okay. I added the docking port on the bottom because that’s the docking port on the space station, but I’m adding adding an avionics module, so I could add a small docking port to it. Well, I’ll get to work!

[Dunas Only Moon]

Oh, add some RCS thrusters too, it would be very hard to dock without it