The Sky is Not the Limit: A Modded KSP1 Career Playthrough - Volume Two: Settling the Frontier

[Maria Sirona]

Hey, it looks like the Jovian-1 booster is only capable of launching the CSM. How are you planning to do with the lander?

[TwoCalories]

6 hours ago, Maria Sirona said:

Hey, it looks like the Jovian-1 booster is only capable of launching the CSM. How are you planning to do with the lander?

Using tech unlocked from Trinity-1 and Trinity-2, I made the Jovian-5: basically the Jovian-1 but I made the upper stage beefier and added a fairing segment. You'll see it in the next entry, hopefully today. The lander weighs about five tons but the lower stage still just barely has enough for the Trans-Munar Injection. I'm definitely going to have to get creative for the Minmus landings...

Edited July 19, 2023 by TwoCalories
Oh cool, page two.

[TwoCalories]

Chapter Nine: The Final Countdown

Spoiler

1969. The last year before the decade is out. Almost four years ago, US President John F. Kerman gave his speech at Rice University, giving his legendary speech, "we choose to go to the Mun in this decade and do the other things, not because it is easy, but because it is hard."

And now it was time to fulfill his promise. The preparations were complete. The vessel was constructed. The Kerbonauts were ready. And on that day, July 19th, Trinity-3, stacked atop the world's largest booster, took off from Cape Kernaveral, on a journey that would change the world.

As per usual for the Jovian-1, the booster inserted the craft into orbit perfectly. Only this was not the Jovian-1. It was a modified version, the Jovian-5, with the most notable difference being the fairing shroud that covered the lander during ascent. After one orbit of Kerbin and a round of checks to make sure all systems were in place, Trinity-3 began its Trans-Munar Injection burn.

The valiant crew of this risky mission would be Jebediah Armstrong Kerman, Valentina Ride Kerman, and Bob Collins Kerman. Jeb, the commander, would solo-pilot their Landing and Excursion Module (LEM), codenamed Eagle, to the surface, and become the first Kerbal to walk on another world.

After the TMI burn, the crew of Trinity-3 had a couple hours before they extracted the LEM from their depleted upper stage. Val expertly piloted the CSM, making a smooth and unproblematic docking. There had been plans for testing docking and rendezvous before, but there was no time, especially since the Zolosteni Space Program had their own Munar rockets that, according to Vankadian Intelligence, were ready to go.

However, no activity was heard from the Zolosteni side, and later it was found out that all their uncrewed tests ended explosively. That gave KASA a slim window to launch Trinity-3, which we took.

With a daylong trip to the Mun ahead of them, the crew of Trinity-3 settled into their new home for the voyage. While the LEM added a little extra cabin space, it wasn't much, as the LEM only just barely fit one Kerbonaut. KASA scientists and mission planners tried to make it as good for the Kerbonauts as possible with several quality-of-life improvements to keep morale up, as well as avoid a repeat of Pathfinder-7.

Given it had been hours since their pre-flight breakfast of steak and eggs (per tradition), the Kerbonauts gladly ate their meal of rehydrated beef and vegetables. While the common Kerbal would recoil at the sight of their packaged meals, it was definitely a step up from more primitive space foods (pureed food in a tube). The Trinity spacecrafts offered hot water for meal prep, a welcome improvement over the lukewarm water on Pathfinder capsules. Using the bathroom wasn't as jolly as the food situation, but we'll skip over that for now.

After a long day's work of operating in the confines of the Trinity CSM, stretched out hammocks and hit the rack for the night. At least, it would be night if it weren't for the fact that they're on a spacecraft, which has no daylight cycle. By the time the next day arrived, they were nearing the Mun. Soon, they performed the Munar Orbital Insertion.

The CSM performed perfect as usual, completing the burn with the usual accuracy and precision.

Now everything is ready. The vessel is in orbit. The landing is fully fueled. The pilot's EVA suit is sealed. All the mission controllers are at their stations. And on Kerbin, over 650 million viewers were watching worldwide. Every mission, every flight, every failure, every success, it all led up to this. We chose to go to the Mun, and it wasn't because it was easy. It was hard, and that's why it matters. That's why people care. That's why these three Kerbonauts have put their lives on the line. That's Kerbin's best engineers, scientists, and astronomers gathered at KASA to send Kerbalkind to the stars.

And that is why we must succeed.

 

Edited March 3 by TwoCalories
I imagine that the Director of KASA was giving that speech at the end to rally all the KSC workers just before this epic moment.

[Maria Sirona]

Truly epic

[TwoCalories]

This chapter is dedicated to the Apollo 11 crew, mission controllers, and all the engineers and scientists that made the mission possible. You gave the world a spark of hope in dark times and a glimmer of inspiration for generations to come.

Happy 54th Anniversary, Apollo 11!

Chapter Ten: One Small Step

Spoiler

Trinity-3 Mission Transcript | 7-20-69, 20:17 UTC:

Columbia: Eagle, you got four down and locked.

Eagle: Roger. Koaington, the Eagle has wings!

Columbia: That's a pretty fine flying machine you got there, Eagle, despite the fact you're upside down.

Eagle: Someone's upside down.

Eagle: Koaington, Eagle. We are go for final descent, over.

CAPCOM: Roger, Eagle.

Eagle: Okay, engine on. Throttling up.

CAPCOM: Rog, Eagle.

Eagle: *Alarm Noise* Koaington, the master alarm is on. It's a 1202 alarm... what is that? Gimme a reading on the 1202 Program Alarm, please.

CAPCOM: *Voices of other controllers picked up in background* 1202, is that radar? We didn't have this in the sims, flight! [Muffled]

CAPCOM: Eagle, this is Koaington. It's a temporary overload of the guidance computer. It's not fatal as long as it's intermittent. You are go on that alarm.

Eagle: Roger, Koaington.

Eagle: Koaington, Eagle. The projected landing site is too rocky, I'm going to have to find another.

CAPCOM: Make it fast, because your fuel is running low.

Eagle: Okay, I'm coming down west of that little crater. I can see the Eagle's shadow now...

Eagle: Slowing down to 3 m/s. 30 seconds of fuel, picking up some dust...

Eagle: Contact light! Okay, engine stop. ACA out of detent. Mode control both auto, descent engine command override off. Engine arm off. 413 is in.

*silence*

Eagle: Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.

*End of tape*

***

In Mission Control, people finally were able to breathe again. All around the world, viewers cheered. The Eagle stood proudly (though not really due to its small size) over the Munar surface, the first crewed vehicle to ever- for real, -ever land on the Mun.

After spending about 30 minutes running science experiments and checking systems, Jeb donned his EVA suit and opened the hatch.

Jeb looked down and thought to himself how he was now at the foot of the ladder; one small step away from making history and changing the world forever. While this may have been to beat the Zolostenis, which they did, it was still also for science and for exploration, improving our understanding of the universe for all kerbalkind.

Jeb stepped off the ladder.

There was silence, and viewers all around the world waited for him to say something. Something to commemorative and meaningful to mark this historical moment. Then he spoke.

"That's one small step for a Kerbal, one giant leap for Kerbalkind."

 

***

Thirty minutes later, Jeb had finished most of his EVA duties.

Spoiler

KASA had done it. They had won the space race and landed a Kerbal on the Mun before the decade was out. And Jeb had gathered loads of science from his EVA. But there was still one goal left, one last promise: to bring Jeb home.

Spoiler

Well, there you have it: the first Kerballed Mun landing, to celebrate the first manned Lunar landing! It's probably going to be a while before the next chapter since I'll be recovering from KSP burnout due to playing nothing but this for... what? Five days now? But one day I just noticed the date and I was like "I cannot miss this." Anyway, this is the moment we've all been waiting for, and you've got it. Now I just have to get the Kerbonauts home to Kerbin, with all that juicy science they got.

Cheers,

-TwoCal

 

Edited April 13 by TwoCalories

[Maria Sirona]

This was simply beautiful.

 

 

Now, to be questiony about tech yet again, sending three crew but landing only one seems a little unefficient. Are you going to upgrade the lander?

[TwoCalories]

4 hours ago, Maria Sirona said:

This was simply beautiful.

Now, to be questiony about tech yet again, sending three crew but landing only one seems a little unefficient. Are you going to upgrade the lander?

Thanks! It means a lot to me that you enjoy it.

Yes, I'm going to upgrade the lander eventually. I really wanted to do it Apollo-style because (IMHO) it's cooler than the Direct Ascent missions. Eventually I'll make a lander with two seats for more advanced exploration, but the current lander design will fly at least one more time for the first Minmus landing.

I have KSP burnout right now, and I just got Battlefront 2, so it's going to be a bit of time before the next chapter comes out.

[TwoCalories]

Originally this was going to be a short, TW@K (This Week at KASA) post, but I kept taking more screenshots and one thing led to another, and now I have a whole chapter's worth of photos. So, without further ado...

Chapter Eleven: Coming Home

Spoiler

Jebediah had gathered lots of soil and rock samples and had deployed all of the surface equipment. For future explorations, bringing along a scientist or engineer would have been optimal, but the LEM only seated one. Jeb made sure to follow the step-by-step instructions given to him by the KSC mission planners (and notes from Bill and Bob, of course) but we can't be certain how well the equipment will function, given the vastly different environment of the Mun.

Now it was time for Jeb to take off. Being sure to pack up all the science data and samples, he strapped into the Eagle's sole flight seat and prepared to launch. It was going to be tense. If one of the two engines failed, the Eagle would flip and crash into the surface. If both of the twin engines failed, the Eagle would be left stranded on the surface with no hope of rescue. Take your pick, both are lethal.

Or everything in this untested spacecraft could work completely fine, and the Eagle could rendezvous with Columbia and head home. All Jeb could do was hope he flipped all the correct switches in the correct order and activate the engine.

It's hard to see the engine plumes, but it worked! The Eagle's Ascent Stage blasted away from the surface, leaving the descent stage, flag (which is still standing. In your face, Apollo 11! ) and science equipment.

After a flawless takeoff and orbital insertion, Jeb made a few course corrections and put it on course to rendezvous with Columbia.

"You know, it would be pretty nice if we had... you know.... tested this? " -Bob

"Quiet, Bob. I'm trying to dock this bird right now." -Jeb

"There we go, hard dock confirmed. That wasn't too difficult after all."

After docking, Jeb greeted his fellow crewmembers in the CSM. Unfortunately, mission control advised against hugging due to Jeb's spacesuit still having Munar dust stuck to it, despite his best efforts trying to clean up. After securing the samples inside the CSM, Jeb and the crew closed the hatch to the Eagle, and prepared to undock it, leaving it in Munar orbit until it's orbit likely decays and it comes falling back to the surface.

"Farewell, Eagle. You were a beautiful little flying machine." -Jeb

CSM Columbia performed yet another perfect burn, this one putting them on a course for Kerbin. The crew strapped in for another day of travel until they finally reach home, where they'll receive a heroes' welcome and also be able to breathe air that wasn't condensed into liquid and put in a tank.

This shot reminds me a bit of Interstellar, somehow.

Trinity-3's pre-selected landing site was in the Pacific Ocean. However, there was a peninsula sticking out the nearby continent that many of the simulated flights ended up landing on. Jeb was suspicious that the pre-calculated landing guidance program would work, so he made some tweaks based on their current trajectory rather than the pre-planned trajectory.

Jeb's skill and instinct paid off, as they missed the peninsula with kilometers of margin. It was later found that had they stuck to the pre-planned trajectory, they would have landed on the peninsula. Landing in the ocean softened the impact of touchdown, while landing on land could cause injuries to the Kerbonauts inside the command pod.

The two stages of parachutes worked perfectly, and Trinity-3 safely landed in the Pacific Ocean. Recovery teams moved in, and the crew was brought safely onboard the recovery ship by helicopter and went into quarantine as a precaution in case they brought a foreign disease from the Mun. They received a fresh meal and souvenir caps (fun fact: All the Apollo crews actually got hats with the name of the carrier on it once they were recovered from the capsule).

After their three-week quarantine, the Kerbonauts were taken on a 45-day tour of the world, nicknamed the Giant Leap by KASA. The celebrations symbolized an end of an era, for the Space Race is now over and the US has won!

The lab coats at the KSC were busy crunching the data returned by Trinity-3. After analysis and studying, the total amount of science came in at about 400, a whopping amount.

The end of the Space Race brought anxiety that public interest in the space program would wane, but for most at KASA, it was a time of opportunity. A time to explore for the betterment of Kerbalkind, not to establish national superiority. A time to create and cooperate, and to go farther and faster, together.

 

Edited April 13 by TwoCalories

[Maria Sirona]

Eagle, the little lander that could!

[TwoCalories]

4 hours ago, Maria Sirona said:

Eagle, the little lander that could!

You know, the real-life Eagle's Ascent Stage might still be in Lunar orbit today. And it's not like there's actually orbital decay in KSP, so one day I might bring the historic spacecraft home. We'll see.

Edited July 30, 2023 by TwoCalories

[Kerbalsaurus]

On 6/22/2023 at 2:23 PM, TwoCalories said:

This Week at KASA: Unmanned Explorations

  Reveal hidden contents

Scout-9 has been placed successfully in a high elliptical orbit. This mission earned KASA valuable funds and science data.

Scout-9 separates from its expended transfer stage.

Nomad-1 ventured to a new biome to grind science. The little rover's drives have become of increasing duration, to push the limits of its capabilities. It soon set off for its longest journey after transmitting the last of the gathered data.

Munar night soon closed in on the Nomad-1 rover, but with its batteries still full from its last charge, Nomad continued on its long journey to a new biome where it gathered as much science as it could before succumbing to the bitter cold and lack of sunlight to power its photovoltaics. Rest in peace, Nomad. You have served us well.

  Reveal hidden contents

I must confess that for these long drives I do use VesselMover to skip over the drives, made treacherous by Parallax rocks. If there is any better way to automate the drives, or make them more tolerable, please let me know.

More news on the crewed spaceflight developments: KASA administration is considering cancelling the proposed two-seat vessel program. The program, named Gallant, was designed to pave the way for future, more advanced crewed missions to the Mun and Minmus, and maybe do flyby missions itself. However, it will take extra time to develop all the technologies, and KASA feels that the job can be done with its current Pathfinder vessels. Plans are being made to find ways to push the limits of the Pathfinder capsules, to pave the way for future technologies that will take KASA to the Mun, before the Soviets.

 

Awesome thread! To answer your question in this post, you can use Bon Voyage to have your rovers drive to where you want in the background. You don’t have to hold W and melt your finger. It saves a lot of time, and gives you more free time to do what you want in the save.

[TwoCalories]

14 hours ago, Kerbalsaurus said:

Awesome thread! To answer your question in this post, you can use Bon Voyage to have your rovers drive to where you want in the background. You don’t have to hold W and melt your finger. It saves a lot of time, and gives you more free time to do what you want in the save.

The thing is that I have Parallax 2 with colliders on the scatter, so I wasn't sure if Bon Voyage would work for me.

Edited August 1, 2023 by TwoCalories

[Kerbalsaurus]

I have finished the mission report, and I must say... great job! The storytelling's great, your voice is amazing, and I like the sort of "kerbalized realism" of the whole report, if you understand what I mean.

I do have a few suggestions. Maybe you could perhaps show what the Soviets are up to with their space antics. Something like one screenshot from a sandbox save or something. Also, what if Bill Aldrin Kerman was the first Kerbal on Minmus, and his first words on the surface were "Magnificent Desolation".

Edited August 2, 2023 by Kerbalsaurus
i cant tpe

[TwoCalories]

On 8/2/2023 at 4:17 PM, Kerbalsaurus said:

I have finished the mission report, and I must say... great job! The storytelling's great, your voice is amazing, and I like the sort of "kerbalized realism" of the whole report, if you understand what I mean.

I do have a few suggestions. Maybe you could perhaps show what the Soviets are up to with their space antics. Something like one screenshot from a sandbox save or something. Also, what if Bill Aldrin Kerman was the first Kerbal on Minmus, and his first words on the surface were "Magnificent Desolation".

I'm so glad you like this! By the way, the mission report isn't over. More chapters will be coming soon.

Funny you ask, I was actually planning to do a multiple-part interlude that showed the Soviet side of the story sometime soon. And also, about the Bill Kerman as first on the Mun Minmus, I never thought of that. I just always make Jeb the first in every save, because Jeb is just such a legend that I have to do it, don't I?

Don't worry, Jeb won't be the first to walk everywhere. Maybe Bill will be first on Minmus?

Edited August 8, 2023 by TwoCalories
Put Mun instead of Minmus

[Kerbalsaurus]

Congratulations on the nomination for TOTM!

[TwoCalories]

6 hours ago, Kerbalsaurus said:

Congratulations on the nomination for TOTM!

Thanks a lot! I was actually confused why the I was tagged in the August TOTM. Actually, I should be congratulating you for your mission report getting TOTM!

[TwoCalories]

Hi, all.  Sorry it's been a while since the last chapter was released. I'm still on KSP burnout and I'm going to be pretty busy by the time late August comes around. Now that at least eight people follow this mission report, I feel a little more pressure to get a chapter out for them, but I also have to remember to pace myself. A new chapter should come out in a few days.

[TwoCalories]

New chapter coming tomorrow-ish.

[Maria Sirona]

13 hours ago, TwoCalories said:

New chapter coming tomorrow-ish.

Yay.

[TwoCalories]

Soon...™️

[TwoCalories]

 Note: I've decided to divide eras of space travel into "Volumes". The Space Race is categorized as Volume 1: The Race for Space. Anyway, here's an Interlude:

Interlude One: A Different Perspective - Part 1

*Note: most of the photos for all three parts of the following interlude have been completely redone because I just wasn't happy with the originals since they were so rushed.

Spoiler

We've been focusing a lot on the Vankadian side of the story. But what about the Zolostenis? What have they been doing?

Like KASA, the Zolosteni Space Program began with a simple hopper flight.

The antenna. meant to gather altitude intel, got shattered shortly into flight.

The flight, named Avangard-0, was mostly covered up by the state media as to not make the ZSP look unimpressive and unserious. However, KASA did a similar thing only a couple of weeks later... so... yeah.

And so, the ZSP was now racing to get a Kerbal into space. They used a modified ICBM to lift a capsule into orbit. And so Avangard-1 was launched.

Avangard-1 may look unnecessarily big, but it's necessary. Since the Cosmodrome is located well north of the equator, the beefier rockets are required to lift a capsule into LKO. The large fairing was also necessary, because the whole capsule is pretty un-aerodynamic.

Speeding through the atmosphere.

The SM finished off the burn to orbit.

Circularization.

Yuri Kerman entered orbit successfully and opened the solar panels and cargo bay. There was lots of science to be done here!

This mission was also to make sure Yuri didn't go *crazy*. We weren't even entirely sure, don't tell him that, okay?

Avangard-1 landed safely in the forests, bringing home science and earning the ZSP more funding.

 

Edited March 3 by TwoCalories
Added new photos

[TwoCalories]

So, my school has started again. This means I'll only be active on the weekends and the occasional holidays and breaks.

I'll try to get a chapter out every 1-2 weeks, but it depends on my school schedules and homework loads.

[Maria Sirona]

Heck

[TwoCalories]

Interlude Two: A Different Perspective - Part 2

Spoiler

The Vankadians had started to notice the ZSP's success by now, kicking off their space program with the Pathfinder missions. They also made the very brave (and possibly cocky) announcement that they would land a Kerbal on the Mun before the end of the decade. If they wanted a race from the Zolostenis, they'd get a race from the Zolostenis.

Following the success of Avangard-1, the Soviet Space Program launched Avangard-2, carrying Sofia Kerman, into a high Kerbin orbit.

"That was an odd stage sep, huh?"

Sofia Kerman carries out the first ever EVA.

The ZSP decided to move toward scientific satellites, to get data about our home before venturing out to the Mun and Minmus. So we built the Spudnik satellites. They were small, but they worked.

Success! The Zolosten Union has put a satellite in orbit!

It was looking good for the ZSP. It was all over the news that one of KASA's manned flights had suffered a near disaster. They had taken a step back and started building their own satellites as well. To stay ahead in the race, the ZSP set their sights for Kerbin's nearest neighbors: the Mun.

And so...

...they put a Spudnik in orbit of the Mun.

An engineering camera took this photo of the Mun's crater surface.

A new satellite was then sent to Minmus, to ensure that the Zolostenis stayed well ahead, for now. The Vankadians were definitely a competitive folk.

The ZSP had been very busy with their new Spudnik satellites, but now that the missions were completed, it was time to focus on landing on these celestial bodies, too! A lander was being designed, with tech derived from the Spudnik satellites, and even a rover was in the works.

Spoiler

Sorry for the lack of photos. I was really stripped for time and had to cheat the satellites to the Mun and Minmus, because I really wanted to get this chapter out for you. More will be on the way. By the way, I used a new TUFX profile. What do you think?

 

 

Edited March 3 by TwoCalories

[TwoCalories]

New interlude coming tomorrow. It'll be the third and final installment of Interlude One, and that last part before the next real chapter.

Edited September 4, 2023 by TwoCalories