Assembling stations in orbit around Kerbin and Mun; a Krakenous affair

[Sylvi Fisthaug]

 

THE PRELUDE STATION
THE BEGINNINGS OF THE KERBAL BASE STATIONS

Well, the time has come.

After almost 200 hours of KSP1, and 100 hours of KSP2, it was time to nail down my rendesvouz and docking skills to build a space station. Or two. Maybe three.
Enter here, the adventures of the prototype station, the K-lab.

So the K-lab was meant to be a refueling depot in LKO, some 200 km above the ground of Kerbin. The station was not designed in the VAB, and was rather designed, built and launched one by one. In the middle of the build, I stole some drones from the Kerbonaut of @BechMeister. This made the assembly of the station much easier. There was one hitch; Bill snuck on the station at launch, even though he was ordered not to. Ah Bill, the adventorous little soul. He probably wanted to sit in the cupola on the top (bottom?) of the main bus, witnessing my rather untalented first dockings and assemblies of the K-lab. He was not allowed to, and was promptly sent back to Kerbin.

This first post will have a lot of images for your viewing pleasures. Of course I met a few struggles assembling my stations, and the Kraken entwined it's long space-time tentacles around my craft more times than I can count to on both my hands and feet. 
But KSP2 is so beautiful, and with the roadmap ahead it has so much potential. I want all the updates now, but have settled with the fact that I will have to wait with patience, as I had to with KSP. 

I hope to share some of this beauty in the screenshots below. (yes I am considering removing the telemetry data showing my FPS and stuff.)

Here is a overview of the main bus while I'm docking the solar array:

As you can see I opted for the cupola in this design of the main bus. Here Bill, Jeb and Val could enjoy the views of Kerbin from LKO. Although just one at a time, as the cupola only seats one, and the view from the crew module is severely limited. But, the station was never fully assembled. More on this below. 

I also added necessities for docking like monopropellant, some methalox and a battery to the main bus. I have found that adding this to the first launched piece of the station will give you a little wiggle room while docking it, before you dock extra monopropellant and methalox reserves for later. 

Below are some more screenshots of the docking of the station: 

 

 

 

Spoiler

Bill getting picked up by the crew orbiter v1, to be swiftly removed from K-lab and sent back to Kerbin to be grounded.

Leaving the station main bus...

...and being sent back home.

After Bill was grounded, the assembly could continue. As you probably saw, I launched the station main bus with the connecting node still attached. I had thought of what was a genious idea to dock the solar array to the station... or at least I believed so. Enter the Solar Array Docking Spacecraft (S.A.D.S)! 

How on earth is this to be docked?

Approaching the station...

...docked half of the array...

...docking the other half...

...and docked! But...

...this is why my way of assembly for the solar array was not so genious after all. 

Some corrections to the the not-so-straight solar arrays. Much better! Not perfect, but meh. I was so afraid to lose one of the panels. 

Arrival of my reentry probe, and guess what? 

Bill snuck on it again! He will definately be grounded when he gets back home this time. 

For the next launch I had perfected my launch vehicle, and put my payload in orbit in one burn without seperating. That was glorious. And the payload...

The tug drones which design I stole from @BechMeister! Please go and read his thread about K.G.01 here.

Docking the tug drones. The old design from the image on top ran out of monopropellant before it could dock to the station for the first time. So it was quickly redesigned. 

I also launched a methalox module, complete with a "core" for the K-lab. Yes, that light flashes green. Building cargo bays is probably my favourite activity in the VAB. 

The last thing I did was building an XL tug and docking it. This performed severely worse than the two other drones, which also was possible to dock together for better performance. I also added a structural element beneath (on top?) of the station, for attachment of the hydrogen tanks. 
In the last picture here you can see the latest iteration of the crew transfer craft, docked to the left side of of the main bus. Maybe I will show off this later...

Here the station is, in its current state. The part count got too high, the FPS too low, and the station was never designed from the VAB together. To many new ideas lead to the assembly of a new station, with a larger crew and better capabilities than the K-lab. It will be parked here in LKO until heating and shock cone effects are added to the game. Deorbiting it then is going to offer some great views! 

Next post: the establishment of KERBAL BASE 1, or KB-1! 

Stay tuned!

   - Sylvi, out

Edited May 22, 2023 by Sylvi Fisthaug
typos, added title

[BechMeister]

Kerbals sneaking onto missions they are not supposed to is something I have experienced too. My first moon mission became an instant rescue mission because Jeb snug onboard... and the return vehicle only had room for 3. But two rescue missions later and all 5 kerbanouts were back - I had to send a rescue mission to the rescue mission when the lander didn't have enough propellant to get back to the orbiter and the orbiter was not automated. 

Any way it all ended well x) 

 

  

11 hours ago, Sylvi Fisthaug said:

I actually really like the designs of this - I may use it in the future.. when I have a lot of small odd parts Im not quite sure how to get to space.. this could be a solution x)

11 hours ago, Sylvi Fisthaug said:

 

Oh damn, that's a really nice interior!

11 hours ago, Sylvi Fisthaug said:

 

The last thing I did was building an XL tug and docking it. This was swiftly deorbited, as it performed severely worse than the two other drones, which also was possible to dock together. 
I also added a structural element beneath (on top?) of the station, for attaching of the hydrogen tanks. 

I have found myself, making my tug drones, that I dont like the 4 directional thruster that much - It often thrust when I dont want to. Unless its a very small craft And there is not room to put individual thrusters I use the single point thrusters. I make sure that they are spaced the same distance from the center of mass.. and then i manually make sure they cover the 6 directions I need to thrust to move: left/right/up/down/forward/Backwards -  by spacing them equal around the axis of the mass, you keep the ability to roll, yaw and pitch too. - But they do get quite cumbersome if they start weigh a lot of tons. 

But it makes sense... I guess. the RCS thrusters can only thrust so much after all. - I am actually experimenting with a smaller size tug drone now - I hope I can share on my blog in a few days.

I think its nice that you just dump the pictures - No need to censor them x)

Looking forward to see more 

[Sylvi Fisthaug]

Thank you for kind words @BechMeister! 

1 hour ago, BechMeister said:

left/right/up/down/forward/Backwards -  by spacing them equal around the axis of the mass, you keep the ability to roll, yaw and pitch too. - But they do get quite cumbersome if they start weigh a lot of tons

This was actually a pretty good idea. Maybe I'll redesign my beefy tug again, and make it run on methalox. The monopropellant "puff" engines appearantly suck, and having the "Vernor/vernon/something" methalox RCS thrusters for each direction might help... they're pretty good at rotating my first stage launcher around for deorbiting after orbital insertion. I'll post some pictures here! 

Also having TWENTY of those multi-directional RCS things does not help on the part count... 

The normal monoprop RCS thrusters both produce 1,0 kN of thrust in a vacuum, and the Vernon engine (yes, that was what it was called) produces 12 kN. So yes, less parts = FPS goodness.

[BechMeister]

Have you considered just using the big monopropellant engines for all 6 axis you can move? I find more thrusters tend to eat your fuel a lot, and not necesairly for better performance?

But.. does the big methalox engines work like an RCS thruster where its directional? or will you have to make costume action groups to change what direction the engines go from?

[Sylvi Fisthaug]

6 hours ago, BechMeister said:

or will you have to make costume action groups to change what direction the engines go from?

You're onto something, I use action groups. With the monoprop "puff" engines on each end as pictured, and with the methalox engines on the new drone. I'll post some pictures of it once I get it to orbit... maybe tomorrow! Or next week, too much work ahead, lol. 

For the big tug, which I named "beef" because of its extra oomph, I used those radially attached "lumpy" methalox engines, as they swivel nicely, and provide much more bang for the buck than the small vacuum engines with some radial fuel tanks or nose cones attached... much higher thrust to weight ratio, and I need as low as a weight as I can get! As you see in the picture from the previous post, I'm not able to fit more than two reaction wheels, and the short and stubby look of the drones is not there anymore already... 

6 hours ago, BechMeister said:

Have you considered just using the big monopropellant engines for all 6 axis you can move? I find more thrusters tend to eat your fuel a lot, and not necesairly for better performance?

Hmm, might work, but I would lose track of all the action groups, lol. 

Unless you meant the vernor/vernon engines? They will have to be put on all 6 axis. I used 4 on each side top and bottom, alligned with the orientation of translation of the ship, and 4 on the top and the bottom. 
As I have a large docking bort at the bottom, I had to make use of the placement/rotational tool in the VAB instead of just sticking them to the engine plate at the top... just like you see with the groups of three RCS thrusters on this drone pictured. Some might call it cheating but I won't! 

11 hours ago, BechMeister said:

I actually really like the designs of this - I may use it in the future.. when I have a lot of small odd parts Im not quite sure how to get to space.. this could be a solution x)

22 hours ago, Sylvi Fisthaug said:

So I made a new iteration of this design in KB-1 - I guess you will have to wait and see! 

The main bus of the KB-2 has a COMPLETELY different design, but I think it turned out very nice! Am looking forward to slaying the Kraken so I can launch it tomorrow or next week. 

Stay tuned! 

[BechMeister]

Maybe this is your issue. I make sure to put RCS thrusters at the end of the parts I am moving as well, on the section opposite to where the tug drone connects . So the tug boat will be the set of RCS thruster at one end of the station, and the part will have the RCS thrusters at the other end. 

I usually also pack the modules with its own monoproppelant fuel - So my tug boats only hold the fuel they need to move from the station to the part they move and a bit more (for unforeseen things - like me forgetting which puf is up/down/left/right xD ). It means the tugs are very light - and then I just have to make sure to refuel them every time I need to use them.

[Sylvi Fisthaug]

5 hours ago, BechMeister said:

I make sure to put RCS thrusters at the end of the parts I am moving as well, on the section opposite to where the tug drone connects

Okay this was pretty clever! But for every assembly, it will add 4 more parts to the station. I wonder if this have a big effect on the FPS? In the current state of the alpha I need to save on that to get as much FPS as possible 

5 hours ago, BechMeister said:

I usually also pack the modules with its own monoproppelant fuel

Okay this was very smart. With the small "roundified" tanks you use on the drone I constantly ran out of fuel due to the stuff you described, like burning absolutely the wrong way  I might do this to make the drones lighter, and maybe just use two of the "cylindrified" elongated radially attached monoprop tanks. With this I could use the golden swim ring shaped methalox tanks instead of the smallest large tank, which is not very small... Hm!

I am looking forward to defeating the Kraken and launching the Mun station!

[Sylvi Fisthaug]

CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

Sometime next week I might find time to make a post about the assembly of my proper station currently in orbit around Kerbin, KB-1.
It's currently inhabited by everyones favourite dream team, Bill, Jeb and Val. (Bill feels like he is thirdwheeling a bit.) 

Here is a little teaser of KB-1: 

Have a good final part of the weekend!

Edited May 18, 2023 by Sylvi Fisthaug

[Sylvi Fisthaug]

Construction of KB-1
Massive SAS Induced Oscillation

Well! 

It's been a week, and this week was not devoted to that much playing of KSP2. I managed to add another part to KB-2 this week, but first tales need to be told of KB-1. 

Here it is! I decided to increase the size of the main bus from medium to large, as the cupola really fits nicely on top of the "Wanderer" lander can. The thing also seats like five kerbals, say whaat.  

This means I ditched the crew cabin as well. I might bring it back in a later main bus (who knows?). Even so, I like designing main buses. It's the beginning of a new station, a new project, a new dawn. A new way to experince sunset and sunrise more than once a day. 

For the design of the main bus, I included basic supplies here as well. A bit of monopropellant and a bit of methalox, a battery, a probe and some reaction wheels at the bottom. This did not stop Bill from sneaking on it at launch again. He does not respond well to reprimanding. The picture to the right also shows a bit of the crew transfer / reentry craft, which I am really happy with (entirely for aesthetic reasons. 

The solar array stayed mostly the same as well. Only difference is the docking procedure, which was rather cumbersome in the last build. Now I just launched the entire tall structure and tossed in orbit, docking it using the aforementioned space tugs I slanderously stole from @BechMeister. 

Below that I ditched the entire "core" with the cargo bay and fancy interior. The main goal of this build was to reduce parts to improve performance (yes I'm chasing FPS). The previous build averaged around 7 FPS, and this new build in its complete form averages around 12, and sometimes 14. Great! 

And below there again you will find the assembly for the two hydrogen tanks (yes I tried launching both and no, it did not go well). This includes a subassembly for the ginormous radially attached monoprop tank "Embiggened". It was a hazzle docking this to the station, and this, included rather random placements of SAS modules, induced severe SAS Induced Oscillation where my station not so gently rocks back and worth to a point where it flexes so much it almost "dances" in orbit. Maybe 0.1.3.0 will see a reducing of noodly rockets. Oh well. 

Anyway, this made the docking port on the rear of my monoprop assembly shift a lot, and now it floats just above it, as you can see in the provided snip.

The reentry / transfer craft is one of the parts I am most happy with. It is rather compact but still carries about 1700 delta-v, which should get Kerbals from KB-1 to the Mun. 

It features the aerospike engine, which further applies to the compact look. It also includes a probe core to be able to be launched autonomously to the stations for rescue missions. Only thing is that kerbals (Bill) really likes to sneak in just before launch. In the cargo bay you will find some monopropellant for docking, reaction wheels and some batteries. 

I do not have that many screenshots of the construction of KB-1, but I have included a few highlights below for your viewing pleasure. 

So I guess this concludes this post. (remember to check the spoiler below for images!)
I hope to post more often than weekly, but I cannot promise myself anything. 

Next post will document the beginning of the assembly of the KB-2, which is actually in current construction. After this I might go into design details of some parts of KB-1 and KB-2, and continue with construction updates of KB-2. 

Enjoy your Sunday, Kerbonauts!

   - Sylvi, out

 

 

 

VIEW THE IMAGES FROM CONSTRUCTION HERE 

Spoiler

The station tugs are docked to the solar array. Speaking of which...

...rather dark picture, but this shows my lazyness regarding my launches. The saught for realistic launch vehicles dwindled after about twenty launches in between the assembly of the two space stations. 

My laziness is also apparent in the failed launch attempt of the hydrogen tanks. Even though a bug was the cause, I had to use quite a bit of the fuel in the tanks to get them to the station.
I opted instead for a more sensible approach, which of course was launching them one at a time. 

This game is almost too beautiful. 

Docking the monopropellant assembly. It was rather precarious to convert the radially attached "Embiggened" tank to a vertical attached part, but I managed to do it. 
Can you see which parts I used to get it? 

Completed station!

Edited May 22, 2023 by Sylvi Fisthaug

[BechMeister]

I really like the interiors and your clever use cargo bays - even if its not necessary i like that you made it an openable space - RP wise i can now see how you could do maintenance x)

 

17 hours ago, Sylvi Fisthaug said:

he cupola really fits nicely on top of the "Wanderer"

This actually looks really good!

 

17 hours ago, Sylvi Fisthaug said:

 Im curious as to why you made the docking port from the tank the way you did? - It seems to me you could have gotten the same result with less parts?

 

17 hours ago, Sylvi Fisthaug said:

he previous build averaged around 7 FPS

haha yeah.. I think K.G.01 is something similar.

But it looks good - keep building

[Sylvi Fisthaug]

4 hours ago, BechMeister said:

 Im curious as to why you made the docking port from the tank the way you did? - It seems to me you could have gotten the same result with less parts?

The monopropellant tank does not accept the struts, as it is meant to be radially attached, and not in stacks. I really wanted a strut, and not just to attach a medium docking port directly to it. Didn't like the look of it 

Could propably get the same effect if I attached another strut adapter to my structural element, but then it wouldn't fit in the fairing of the launch rocket, lol. Priorities 

4 hours ago, BechMeister said:

haha yeah.. I think K.G.01 is something similar.

Yes, but K.G.01 is MASSIVE, and has probably twenty fuel lines. 

[BechMeister]

8 hours ago, Sylvi Fisthaug said:

Yes, but K.G.01 is MASSIVE, and has probably twenty fuel lines. 

unfortunately yes x) bit of an oversight for me... especially considering the fuel lines bug out, so they are not visually pleasing any way.

[Sylvi Fisthaug]

3 hours ago, BechMeister said:

especially considering the fuel lines bug out, so they are not visually pleasing any way.

Well, some struts bugged out on the solar assembly of KB-2... I might just crash the entire thing into the Mun as it now looks awful 

[BechMeister]

Oh no... *Sad Noises*

[Sylvi Fisthaug]

15 minutes ago, BechMeister said:

Oh no... *Sad Noises*

This means that the improved main bus I built don't have to be sent to Minmus instead  I think my next project after KB-2 will be a base around Minmus. Maybe Duna but launching lot's of stuff in succesion in the launch window sound tedious, and I do not trust the trajectiories in the game yet...

[fulgur]

Minmus is very good for practicing building surface bases. Lots of flat areas, low gravity, lots of fun to be had.

[Sylvi Fisthaug]

Just now, fulgur said:

Minmus is very good for practicing building surface bases. Lots of flat areas, low gravity, lots of fun to be had.

mmmm yummy, with a small space station. For relay purposes mostly. Maybe fuel. Maybe aesthetic reasons. Maybe just as an excuse to build said space station. 

Edited May 22, 2023 by Sylvi Fisthaug

[BechMeister]

3 hours ago, fulgur said:

Minmus is very good for practicing building surface bases. Lots of flat areas, low gravity, lots of fun to be had.

So maybe the ideal place to go once the colony feature goes life?

[Sylvi Fisthaug]

Construction of KB-2
The Kraken attacks

Well, another week has passed.  

Quote

I hope to post more often than weekly, but I cannot promise myself anything. 

Really glad that I didn't promise myself anything! I am really good at making these posts a bigger project than they should be, and procrastinate them away. 

ANYWAY... I started launching KB-2 with a very different design of the main bus... 

Main design choices

The "Wanderer" lander can fit 4 (!!) Kerbals (Jeb, Val, Bob and Bill as mentioned in part description), so I didn't feel the need to add a crew cabin to the station. Might regret that later... still, with the capacity of 9 kerbals in munar orbit, included the cupola, I felt it was very spacious. The color scheme also changed, to metal and red. I really like the the shiny metal parts!

I went for the same strategy as before, with basic necessities like EC, monopropellant and a little methalox together with a probe core. Stuck some antennas on there aswell for good measure. And yet again, a kerbal snuck on board! This time it was junior kerbonaut Gregmon Kerman. He will be heavily reprimanded by commander Val once they arrive to pick him up, but right now he's really glad he made it to space for his first time. Look how happy he is! 

I also designed a new station tug, with extra oomph. It is visible behind the station in the complete picture on the right, and here below on the left. With action groups you can toggle the engines, and it serves as both a large station tug to get heavy parts around, and as a service module for orbital manouvers of the station. It run's on methalox and uses the "Vernon" RCS thrusters. 

To the right again you will find the reaction wheel module. Will actually move the station around pretty well! 

But then, the Kraken attacked. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tentacles of Kraken

As you can see in the picture, the struts from the launch of the solar array... well, the Kraken brushed by them and suddenly they've stuck to my medium station tug. This created some... interesting results, as you can see above. Undocking have caused some game freezes and crashes, and RCS translation for docking manouvers does not work at all anymore. 

So KB-2, volume one, will reside here for the time being, in orbit about 200 kilometres above the surface of the Mun. 

But... this does mean that KB-2 volume two will be constructed soon... below the spoilered slideshow you will find a lil' teaser!

IMAGE SLIDESHOW HERE 

Spoiler

Edited May 31, 2023 by Sylvi Fisthaug

[BechMeister]

its a really nice looking design using two moon landers as the crew compartment with the view ports.

I also really like your big tug drone. It has a pretty nice design. Very big! It must be able to move things around rather easily.

also i have to commend you on the layout with images and all. albeit it works best on a full screen browser on a pc x)

Edited May 31, 2023 by BechMeister

[Sylvi Fisthaug]

3 hours ago, BechMeister said:

also i have to commend you on the layout with images and all. albeit it works best on a full screen browser on a pc x)

yeah, mobile users are sadly not prioritized  thank you! 

3 hours ago, BechMeister said:

I also really like your big tug drone. It has a pretty nice design. Very big! It must be able to move things around rather easily.

VERY inspired by your design, but thank you! I love the color scheme you made for them. It can easily deorbit a mun station lol, maybe a station around Kerbin as well. Might attach it to KB-0 and see.

3 hours ago, BechMeister said:

its a really nice looking design using two moon landers as the crew compartment with the view ports.

Thanks, really happy with that one! 

[Sylvi Fisthaug]

Construction of KB-2
A small update

I had never heard about the word "cadence" before Nate used it describing the timing of their updates. 
Now it is one of my favorite words, just below Scott Manley saying "hypergolic" on my Word Tier List. 

This post might improve my own update cadence on this thread.  
Probably speaking too soon, but oh well. 

I really regret not adding fuel lines within my fuel tank truss section here, like @BechMeister did in his Kerbin orbital station:

But oh well, he also highlights that they bugged out. They still look very cool in my opinion! 
His space station K.G.01 is displayed in all its glory on the right here in this forum post. 

Another update on the construction, I am doing some lazy approaches. First, I'm trying to launch stuff in succession to the mun. Second, I am building lazy launch assemblies in order to get the most stuff as possible to the Mun in one go. 118 tonnes, but my launch vehicle seems to be pretty capable! I'll share a craft file here if anyone's interested. Images relevant here below:

To the right here is a good picture showcasing @BechMeisters K.G.01:

 

Fly safe, Kerbonauts! 

Establishing traffic of station assemblies:                                                          Lazy launch assembly:                         The launcher! simple XL build:

Edited June 4, 2023 by Sylvi Fisthaug
formatting, typos

[fulgur]

Nice update! I admire launching all the Mun rockets in succession; I always mess up and have to be manoeuvring two rockets at once, leaving one of them to just fly off into deep space forever, but you seem to have planned that pretty well. The launcher rocket is pretty good but it could be bigger

Also, minor typo - do you mean hypergolic (as in fuels which spontaneously react on contact with each other)?

Edited June 3, 2023 by fulgur

[Sylvi Fisthaug]

On 6/2/2023 at 10:49 AM, fulgur said:

Also, minor typo - do you mean hypergolic (as in fuels which spontaneously react on contact with each other)?

Oh, it is not spelled hypergholic? Thanks! Edited it now, just always sounded like that was what Scott Manley was saying!  Yeah, I meant those types of fuels! 

On 6/2/2023 at 10:49 AM, fulgur said:

...I always mess up and have to be manoeuvring two rockets at once,...

 uhm so... yeah. New update soon, I guess! 

Edited June 3, 2023 by Sylvi Fisthaug

[Sylvi Fisthaug]

Rebuilding stations
Construction failure?

Here it is! 

KB-2 vol. 2 is assembled, missing only the fuel tanks to be a proper fuel depot in Munar orbit! 

The station bus is redesigned again, and the solar array now closely resembles the "helicopter" of Skylab. Probably one of the prettiest space stations in my opinion.

Below you will find the story of contruction, in non-mobile friendly view as always! 

Triple transit

 So... you remember this? The double assembly transit? Yeah... this did not go so well. 

I launched a third rocket, the "lazy" build of my fuel assembly from the last post. 
It didn't have enough DeltaV to get to the Mun, so I figured I would just refuel it
at KB-1. I didn't want to spend any of the fuel in the tanks I was going to dock to
KB-2. 

ANYWAY... I parked it in LKO to go back to my two other assemblies as they were
approaching the Mun... 

And the truss assembly had run out of Electric Charge! I had not added solar
panels or extra batteries to it, and the probe core spent all of that internal battery
juice in transit.   So I had to start a rescue mission, as the Trajectory Bug caused
it to be on crash course with the Mun.

The solar array and monopropellant tank

Luckily I had left the solar panels on the solar array extended after testing it in
transit from Kerbin. The second stage launch vehicle still had EC, so I stowed
the solar panels and let it drift towards the Mun to check back on my methalox
tank assembly orbiting Kerbin...

And would you guess it, it was out of electric charge!  Luckily, I added some
docking ports to the tank, so I should be able to launch a small vessel with
some undockable batteries with solar panels I can just dock to it, and then
rendezvous with KB-1 for refueling. 

After some swearing and angry rambling, I switched back to my stowed solar
assembly parked in Munar orbit. Uhm, yeah. It was out of electric charge.
Regarding the rescue mission, I now had TWO uncontrollable vehicles on its
way to the Mun, one on gravity assist escape trajectory from the Kerbin
System, and one on crash trajectory. I had to choose... I only had one station
tug with powerful methalox engines, and did not have the time to rescue both
craft. So one had to go.

As the truss assembly had to be docked TO the solar array-monoprop assembly,
I had to choose the Solar array with the monopropellant tank. 

The rescue mission

I docked to the 2nd stage via the Solar Array, and was then able to decouple the
Solar array from the 2nd stage, after slowing it down to circular Munar orbit. I
realized to late that I could've just opened the Solar array panels to charge the
vehicle once docked... oh well. Now I had some uncontrolled space junk floating
around the Mun, and I wanted to get rid of it! So i undocked the Solar Array and
monoprop, eased my "Beef" station tug to the 2nd stage, and PUSHED it out of
orbit to crashing trajectory. Then I sped up again with the station tug, and
rendesvouzed again to the Solar array. Complicated, I know. 

Then I was finally able to dock 1 out of 3 parts to KB-2. But it felt completed!
Suddenly it had that proper Skylab feel with the windmil-esque solar panels,
and just needed to attach the fuel tanks to be a proper fuel depot! But the station
itself was complete, and is now ready to be manned. Jeb, Val, and Bill are dying
to see the Mun, but Val is also a little annoyed, as she will have to pick up
Gregmond, who is still happily orbiting on the failed version of KB-2 in
higher Munar orbit, cursed by the Kraken. 

Design choices

So this time I redesigned the station bus again. I wanted it to hold more crew,
and had never used one of the crew modules in a build. So now it was time! I still
kept the old design of the two "Wayfarer" capsules on each end, added another
cupola attached, and had a probe core and battery to either side. The solar array
also has a battery, and some backup Methalox and fuel cells in case of bad timing
with a Munar eclipse. And of course a blinking green status light to calm down Bill
when he gets angsty in those Munar eclipses...The methalox "Beef" tug is now out
of fuel though, so I had to do some shenanigans docking it to the right port on KB-2
for the pictures... so the design choice about leaving out the necessities didn't work
out that well. I should send some Methalox to the Mun before sending the
heavy Hydrogen tanks over!

So that was it! The next blog post will probably highlight the tedious launch process
of the hydrogen tanks... oh well. That time, that sorrow, which is an old Norwegian
saying! Have a good rest of the weekend! 

Sylvi, out.

Edited June 4, 2023 by Sylvi Fisthaug
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