Freedom - A Kerbalized Assembly of Space Station Freedom

[Toaster355]

May 28th, 2005 | STS-118

Wow, sorry it's been over a week!
I experienced burnout because of how horribly long the load times were, so I have been playing in stock-ish KSP for the past week. I will find the motivation to finish this though, before I get a new CPU. 

Also from now on, I will post less screenshots cram almost all of them into just one spoiler to avoid boring you and to finish posts quicker, unless you want it the old way.

 

 

Atlantis will take the second solar-truss-segment to the orbital laboratory, that being P-3. A fuel tank will also be brought to Freedom to refuel ROAV; the mission will last just under 6 months..

Spoiler

=

New engine! I just copied-and-pasted the stock KS-25 into the parts folder of SOCK, and changed the stats to make it nearly identical to the one from reDIRECT. The engine now has a prettier model, and much, much prettier plumes.

^ Turned the lights off for this shot. Do you think the Orbiter looks better with the lights off? On? Do you think it depends on the shot it's in? I think they look good when off in pics like these, and better when they are on at night, as I'm sure they would in real life.

More cameos! This time with Mars, Saturn, and I what I think looks like Neptune? (Or it could be Eve, haha )

One of my favorite shots I've ever taken; a rotated view of Earth, the shuttle, Freedom, Sol (I am such a poet), ROAV, a new segment being added, and a glowing solar truss. I wish the starboard cupola was open   ^

Very pretty lighting during this landing.  

Atlantis came to a stop on Runway 33, landing the Shuttle how it was intended, unlike last time. That's when the crew realized something was off...

 

Jeb: "Hmm, nobody asked me to do something stupid this time, why is that?"

Bill: "Oh I don't know, maybe because we installed the second-to-last solar-truss and stayed for an entire 6 months?"

Val: "Bill's right, I don't think we would need to do anything else to make it a mission that stands out, ha."

Jeb: "No, that's not the point. Do you guys think maybe a certain Kerbal that was supposed to be on this flight is missing?"

Bill: Oh no, don't tell me...

Jeb: ...We forgot Cal.

Bob: I blame it on memory loss for you landing us backwards last time, Jeb!

Jeb: Yeah, hahaha. I'm sure he'll understand.

Edited September 17, 2023 by Toaster355
Fixed some dialog.

[Toaster355]

December 24th 2005 | STS-120

 

Ho Ho Ho! Discovery Spreads it's wings on Christmas Eve of 2005, bringing yet another solar-truss up to the nearing-completed station.

 

Spoiler

Calbart leaves the safety and comfort of the station to attach the P-4 truss to the starboard side of the Integrated Truss Structure.




 

Discovery noses up and turns to the right at 95,000 feet before landing. Now that Calbart is back on a flight, he can get back at everybody for forgetting him on the last one.

 

Bob: "Listen Cal, I know you're probably still a little bit angry at us for forgetting you on '118, but please, don't-"

Cal: "Jeb, land us backwards again!"

Jeb: "You got it!"

Tedous: "CAL!!!"

Almost Entire Crew: *Inaudible chatter again, interrupted by a brief weightlessness, then starting to fall backwards *

Val: "Weeeee technically deserve this for forgetting him. Let's try to enjoy it, maybe it'll stop him from from asking Jeb for such a maneuver again!"

Jeb: Huh; that's actually quite smart, Val. But now that I now your plan, I am not going to stop. Muhahaha!

 

Cal: Thanks, Jeb!

Bob: I should've left you on Earth again, Cal.

 

Edited September 17, 2023 by Toaster355
Changed dialog (again).

[Kerbalsaurus]

The screenshots your taking seem to be getting a lot better! If you told me this was blender, I'd believe it. Also, what is Calbert's obsession with landing backwards?

[Toaster355]

6 hours ago, Kerbalsaurus said:

The screenshots your taking seem to be getting a lot better! If you told me this was blender, I'd believe it. Also, what is Calbert's obsession with landing backwards?

Thanks so much man!

 

I don't really know. It was the first thing that came to his mind when Jeb asked everyone, and he thought it would be funny so he just said it out of the blue, and didn't think Jeb would actually accept it.

He did it again because he knew it drove some other crewmates crazy, and wanted to get back at them in a funny way.

Also the dialog in the past 3 posts of mine have been changed to better suit the crew's characters just FYI

[Toaster355]

July 21st, 2006 | STS-122

After another 6 month stay of Discovery, Columbia will take ST-P propulsion modules (tanks with RCS thrusters) up to Freedom, have them attached to the ITS via an EVA done by the very first engineer of the space program, who helped save the lives of the original 4 on the Moon; Bill Kerman. Next, the P-5 truss will be relocated to the end of P-4, which will be it's final resting place.

 

Spoiler

^ I forgot to change the name on the forward fuselage here. I am a literal idiot.

Bill ventures into the infinite void of blackness to install the ST-P modules, open the rest of the radiator panels, and to close up the panels on and move P-5.

Retracting the solar arrays and radiators, moving, and redeploying everything on S-5.

Sing it with me; more cameos here! This time with Saturn, Venus, Jupiter, and what looks like Mercury. Hopefully I will one day visit these huge, beautiful gas giants.

At this point, the station looks basically complete with all 3 solar arrays in the right place, haha. 

Absolutely fantastic shot IMO here; Columbia, Freedom, Earth, the Moon, and a solar array reflecting a lot of light, revealing dirt on the camera. The Moon foreshadows some things I'm going to do when I finish this thread...

I was very low on fuel for the de-orbit burn; I was literally down to just RCS and still couldn't get the trajectory ideal, so I had to glide for a very long time to get back to the Cape.

Fantastic view of the KSC though!

\

Accidently opened the cargo bay upon landing, lol

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by Toaster355
Forgot to add Mercury to the cameos list.

[Kerbalsaurus]

Awesome, man! I do have suggestion though. In the shot of Columbia lifting off the pad, you had the chromatic abberation there, which would mean it was most likely shot by a camera on the launchpad. Maybe you could have more shots like that, caught by onboard cameras aboard Freedom and the shuttles too. I feel this screenshot would go well with it:

On 9/19/2023 at 6:51 PM, Toaster355 said:

[Toaster355]

On 9/20/2023 at 5:11 PM, Kerbalsaurus said:

Awesome, man! I do have suggestion though. In the shot of Columbia lifting off the pad, you had the chromatic abberation there, which would mean it was most likely shot by a camera on the launchpad. Maybe you could have more shots like that, caught by onboard cameras aboard Freedom and the shuttles too. I feel this screenshot would go well with it:

Thanks again dude!

Also I'm sorry, I forgot to say that I was tampering with TUFX settings the past few missions, so there were some inconsistencies like this. I'm also working on profiles for docking cameras and cameras like that, so that'll hopefully look pretty cool

Edited September 26, 2023 by Toaster355
Fixed some embarrassing typos

[Toaster355]

April 21st, 2007 | STS-126

After a long history of the shuttle program and putting together the massive orbital station known as Freedom, Atlantis will unfortunately embark on it's final endeavor; that being taking the ST-F fuel modules for the propulsion system up to the station.

 

Spoiler

Bill and Calbart exit the orbiting laboratory, where they help eachother install the fuel modules in the planets shadow.

Atlantis undocks from the massive, nearly finished station. Like the past several missions, Atlantis drained all of it's fuel and was down to RCS before it even got to the station, because of the heavy payload. Because of this, excess life support and other unneeded measures have been either left on the station our thrown out into orbit, so it had enough RCS delta-v to slow into the atmosphere and land.

It undocked and deorbited quite early as well, as they thought they had enough delta-v to land with a less-than-ideal window.;
The Kerbal engineers had highly overestimated the amount of fuel for the RCS remaining. The estimates they took... were including the fuel in the ST-P modules.

Because of how well the shuttle program had gone, they were slowly taking more unsafe measures to their missions like this, as they felt they were becoming unneeded. This would also reduce the amount of labor going into the program, and get work done faster.
Kerbals haven't always been known to be fancy on safety, have they?

Atlantis had enough fuel to enter the atmosphere and land, but because of how early they undocked, but because of the life support that was ditched, they did not have enough of it to wait for a better return window. They didn't even have enough gas to return to the station as it was already too far.
The engineers were considering a rescue mission; Endeavor was getting ready to fly but was not quite ready, and wouldn't be for a few days.

Atlantis would have to be ditched in the ocean.
 

A sharp, inverted reentry angle is needed to bring the periaps down enough to land.

Gene: "Atlantis, bring her as close to the cape as you can with your remaining velocity."

Jeb: "Will do, Houston."

Atlantis kept her nose dumped to maintain a steady 130ish meters-per-second velocity, but she has now reached the deck and will slowly lose velocity until she splashes down. 

Jeb: There's some really big kelp out here. And... probably the only stuff out here as well.

Jeb: "Even more kelp! Even bigger, too."

After a few minutes, Atlantis's speed reaches under 40 meters-per-second, so a steady pitch is required keep the altitude from dipping. Atlantis only hold this pitch for under 10 seconds, as the aggressive pitch bleeds the shuttle's velocity even further, which requires an even more aggressive pitch, which continues until the shuttle stalls onto the vast ocean below.

Jeb: "Houston, Atlantis has landed. Or should I say, watered? Oceaned? I don't know. All I know is that we are no longer in the sky." The crew all start to chuckle. Jeb has always been known for keeping his sense of humor, even is the most desperate of times. "We will begin exiting the craft now."

Gene: "Copy. A rescue team of boats and choppers have been headed to you before you even entered the atmosphere, for scenarios like these. They should be there within an hour."

Val: "Roger that, Houston. Keep us posted."

 

The crew climbs out and waits on the wings and the top of the orbiter and the for their rescue.

Because of being exposed to water for an extended period of time, Atlantis will unfortunately be too damaged to ever fly again. She will be put on display at a museum in Florida, where she will permanently rest.

^ I spent nearly an HOUR  making this shot. The waves kept bouncing the orbiter around, which shook the kerbals off, so I would need to reposition everything. Something I did to make it easier was turn gravity down, but that made the kerbals very slow, and if they left the ground by even an inch, it would take a million years for them to touch back down. If you know how to turn waves off, please tell me. >:(

____________________________

 

Kerbals have been reminded how important safety is, no matter how unneeded safety precautions may seem. The fleet will be grounded for a couple years, so more efficient engines can be researched for use until the shuttles retire soon.

In the meantime, a new project will continue development...

Probably the most exciting mission to date! Sorry it took so long, I'll explain why;

@Fossilized convinced me on Kari's KSP Mods Discord server to try out Real Solar System and Realism Overhaul, so that's what I've been doing for the past week. I've gotten Explorer 1 into orbit, sent a mercury capsule on a suborbital trajectory and trying getting one into orbit (never managed to do so), and had a crewed Gemini capsule dock with Agena. Today I'm going sending crew to the Moon, which I will do several times, and then do some shuttle stuff, head back to the moon with a mix of constellation (favorite space architecture to date (especially their crewed Mars mission, man, I am infuriated that constellation was cancelled)) and Artemis, and eventually send crew out to Mars.

I've been massively considering finishing this series in RSS/RO. It wouldn't be that hard to transfer over.
Do you want that? Or do you want me to keep using KSRSS? Tell me everything. I love you 

Edited September 25, 2023 by Toaster355

[Kerbalsaurus]

On 9/23/2023 at 6:13 PM, Toaster355 said:

April 21st, 2007 | STS-126

After a long history of the shuttle program and putting together the massive orbital station known as Freedom, Atlantis will unfortunately embark on it's final endeavor; that being taking the ST-F fuel modules for the propulsion system up to the station.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

Bill and Calbart exit the orbiting laboratory, where they help eachother install the fuel modules in the planets shadow.

Atlantis undocks from the massive, nearly finished station. Like the past several missions, Atlantis drained all of it's fuel and was down to RCS before it even got to the station, because of the heavy payload. Because of this, excess life support and other unneeded measures have been either left on the station our thrown out into orbit, so it had enough RCS delta-v to slow into the atmosphere and land.

It undocked and deorbited quite early as well, as they thought they had enough delta-v to land with a less-than-ideal window.;
The Kerbal engineers had highly overestimated the amount of fuel for the RCS remaining. The estimates they took... were including the fuel in the ST-P modules.

Because of how well the shuttle program had gone, they were slowly taking more unsafe measures to their missions like this, as they felt they were becoming unneeded. This would also reduce the amount of labor going into the program, and get work done faster.
Kerbals haven't always been known to be fancy on safety, have they?

Atlantis had enough fuel to enter the atmosphere and land, but because of how early they undocked, but because of the life support that was ditched, they did not have enough of it to wait for a better return window. They didn't even have enough gas to return to the station as it was already too far.
The engineers were considering a rescue mission; Endeavor was getting ready to fly but was not quite ready, and wouldn't be for a few days.

Atlantis would have to be ditched in the ocean.
 

A sharp, inverted reentry angle is needed to bring the periaps down enough to land.

Gene: "Atlantis, bring her as close to the cape as you can with your remaining velocity."

Jeb: "Will do, Houston."

Atlantis kept her nose dumped to maintain a steady 130ish meters-per-second velocity, but she has now reached the deck and will slowly lose velocity until she splashes down. 

Jeb: There's some really big kelp out here. And... probably the only stuff out here as well.

Jeb: "Even more kelp! Even bigger, too."

After a few minutes, Atlantis's speed reaches under 40 meters-per-second, so a steady pitch is required keep the altitude from dipping. Atlantis only hold this pitch for under 10 seconds, as the aggressive pitch bleeds the shuttle's velocity even further, which requires an even more aggressive pitch, which continues until the shuttle stalls onto the vast ocean below.

Jeb: "Houston, Atlantis has landed. Or should I say, watered? Oceaned? I don't know. All I know is that we are no longer in the sky." The crew all start to chuckle. Jeb has always been known for keeping his sense of humor, even is the most desperate of times. "We will begin exiting the craft now."

Gene: "Copy. A rescue team of boats and choppers have been headed to you before you even entered the atmosphere, for scenarios like these. They should be there within an hour."

Val: "Roger that, Houston. Keep us posted."

 

The crew climbs out and waits on the wings and the top of the orbiter and the for their rescue.

Because of being exposed to water for an extended period of time, Atlantis will unfortunately be too damaged to ever fly again. She will be put on display at a museum in Florida, where she will permanently rest.

^ I spent nearly an HOUR  making this shot. The waves kept bouncing the orbiter around, which shook the kerbals off, so I would need to reposition everything. Something I did to make it easier was turn gravity down, but that made the kerbals very slow, and if they left the ground by even an inch, it would take a million years for them to touch back down. If you know how to turn waves off, please tell me. >:(

____________________________

 

Kerbals have been reminded how important safety is, no matter how unneeded safety precautions may seem. The fleet will be grounded for a couple years, so more efficient engines can be researched.

In the meantime, a new project will continue development...

Probably the most exciting mission to date! Sorry it took so long, I'll explain why;

@Fossilized convinced me on Kari's KSP Mods Discord server to try out Real Solar System and Realism Overhaul, so that's what I've been doing for the past week. I've gotten Explorer 1 into orbit, sent a mercury capsule on a suborbital trajectory and trying getting one into orbit (never managed to do so), and had a crewed Gemini capsule dock with Agena. Today I'm going sending crew to the Moon, which I will do several times, and then do some shuttle stuff, head back to the moon with a mix of constellation (favorite space architecture to date (especially their crewed Mars mission, man, I am infuriated that constellation was cancelled)) and Artemis, and eventually send crew out to Mars.

I've been massively considering finishing this series in RSS/RO. It wouldn't be that hard to transfer over.
Do you want that? Or do you want me to keep using KSRSS? Tell me everything. I love you 

I feel like you should stick to KSRSS, and save yourself from the headache of RSS/RO. As for Freedom, if the shuttles are being retired, what's going to continue flying crew to Freedom?

[AstroRangerBeans]

On 9/24/2023 at 12:13 AM, Toaster355 said:

April 21st, 2007 | STS-126

After a long history of the shuttle program and putting together the massive orbital station known as Freedom, Atlantis will unfortunately embark on it's final endeavor; that being taking the ST-F fuel modules for the propulsion system up to the station.

 

  Hide contents

Bill and Calbart exit the orbiting laboratory, where they help eachother install the fuel modules in the planets shadow.

Atlantis undocks from the massive, nearly finished station. Like the past several missions, Atlantis drained all of it's fuel and was down to RCS before it even got to the station, because of the heavy payload. Because of this, excess life support and other unneeded measures have been either left on the station our thrown out into orbit, so it had enough RCS delta-v to slow into the atmosphere and land.

It undocked and deorbited quite early as well, as they thought they had enough delta-v to land with a less-than-ideal window.;
The Kerbal engineers had highly overestimated the amount of fuel for the RCS remaining. The estimates they took... were including the fuel in the ST-P modules.

Because of how well the shuttle program had gone, they were slowly taking more unsafe measures to their missions like this, as they felt they were becoming unneeded. This would also reduce the amount of labor going into the program, and get work done faster.
Kerbals haven't always been known to be fancy on safety, have they?

Atlantis had enough fuel to enter the atmosphere and land, but because of how early they undocked, but because of the life support that was ditched, they did not have enough of it to wait for a better return window. They didn't even have enough gas to return to the station as it was already too far.
The engineers were considering a rescue mission; Endeavor was getting ready to fly but was not quite ready, and wouldn't be for a few days.

Atlantis would have to be ditched in the ocean.
 

A sharp, inverted reentry angle is needed to bring the periaps down enough to land.

Gene: "Atlantis, bring her as close to the cape as you can with your remaining velocity."

Jeb: "Will do, Houston."

Atlantis kept her nose dumped to maintain a steady 130ish meters-per-second velocity, but she has now reached the deck and will slowly lose velocity until she splashes down. 

Jeb: There's some really big kelp out here. And... probably the only stuff out here as well.

Jeb: "Even more kelp! Even bigger, too."

After a few minutes, Atlantis's speed reaches under 40 meters-per-second, so a steady pitch is required keep the altitude from dipping. Atlantis only hold this pitch for under 10 seconds, as the aggressive pitch bleeds the shuttle's velocity even further, which requires an even more aggressive pitch, which continues until the shuttle stalls onto the vast ocean below.

Jeb: "Houston, Atlantis has landed. Or should I say, watered? Oceaned? I don't know. All I know is that we are no longer in the sky." The crew all start to chuckle. Jeb has always been known for keeping his sense of humor, even is the most desperate of times. "We will begin exiting the craft now."

Gene: "Copy. A rescue team of boats and choppers have been headed to you before you even entered the atmosphere, for scenarios like these. They should be there within an hour."

Val: "Roger that, Houston. Keep us posted."

 

The crew climbs out and waits on the wings and the top of the orbiter and the for their rescue.

Because of being exposed to water for an extended period of time, Atlantis will unfortunately be too damaged to ever fly again. She will be put on display at a museum in Florida, where she will permanently rest.

^ I spent nearly an HOUR  making this shot. The waves kept bouncing the orbiter around, which shook the kerbals off, so I would need to reposition everything. Something I did to make it easier was turn gravity down, but that made the kerbals very slow, and if they left the ground by even an inch, it would take a million years for them to touch back down. If you know how to turn waves off, please tell me. >:(

____________________________

 

Kerbals have been reminded how important safety is, no matter how unneeded safety precautions may seem. The fleet will be grounded for a couple years, so more efficient engines can be researched for use until the shuttles retire soon.

In the meantime, a new project will continue development...

Probably the most exciting mission to date! Sorry it took so long, I'll explain why;

@Fossilized convinced me on Kari's KSP Mods Discord server to try out Real Solar System and Realism Overhaul, so that's what I've been doing for the past week. I've gotten Explorer 1 into orbit, sent a mercury capsule on a suborbital trajectory and trying getting one into orbit (never managed to do so), and had a crewed Gemini capsule dock with Agena. Today I'm going sending crew to the Moon, which I will do several times, and then do some shuttle stuff, head back to the moon with a mix of constellation (favorite space architecture to date (especially their crewed Mars mission, man, I am infuriated that constellation was cancelled)) and Artemis, and eventually send crew out to Mars.

I've been massively considering finishing this series in RSS/RO. It wouldn't be that hard to transfer over.
Do you want that? Or do you want me to keep using KSRSS? Tell me everything. I love you 

I think you should stick to the KSRSS since the RSS/RO has a wide-ranging complex apoapsis and periapsis that make it difficult to navigate.

What would the successors to the Atlantis be like since the space shuttle itself has been damaged from splashing down in the ocean or on the sea?

[Toaster355]

17 hours ago, Kerbalsaurus said:

I feel like you should stick to KSRSS, and save yourself from the headache of RSS/RO. 

Alright, I'll stick with KSRSS.
I was no longer considering RSS/RO either because of how long it takes to do literally anything, when I can get more done in less time in KSRSS while staying semi-realistic.

Thank you man 

17 hours ago, Kerbalsaurus said:

As for Freedom, if the shuttles are being retired, what's going to continue flying crew to Freedom?

I'll... leave it a secret for now. 

[Toaster355]

5 hours ago, AstroRangerBeans said:

I think you should stick to the KSRSS since the RSS/RO has a wide-ranging complex apoapsis and periapsis that make it difficult to navigate.

What would the successors to the Atlantis be like since the space shuttle itself has been damaged from splashing down in the ocean or on the sea?

Yeah... and literally everything else is difficult, too.  

Freedom will be complete with the remaining 3; Columbia, Discovery, and Endeavor.

You all might also be wondering what happened to Challenger (most may think they already know, but it's actually not what you think) and Explorer. And the answer to that is that they were simply just old. Challenger was the very first shuttle to ever fly, carrying the original 4 in it, and Explorer was the second. They were both technology demonstrators. They were outdated and heavy, so it didn't make much sense to use them as often as more modern shuttles like Columbia, Atlantis, and so on. Explorer  was briefly modified to put Union-1, PMA-1, and Cupola-1 into orbit, but it didn't make sense to keep using these early shuttles because of how expensive the modifications were for an outdated shuttle, when the 4 others could do the job much better.
But if you miss the original 2 and want to see them in action, don't worry; I am planning on posting a couple bonus missions on this thread of them once Freedom is complete.

 

The successor to the shuttle program will be kept secret for now, as I told @Kerbalsaurus. It will be revealed soon 

[AstroRangerBeans]

11 hours ago, Toaster355 said:

You all might also be wondering what happened to Challenger (most may think they already know, but it's actually not what you think) and Explorer. And the answer to that is that they were simply just old. Challenger was the very first shuttle to ever fly, carrying the original 4 in it, and Explorer was the second. They were both technology demonstrators. They were outdated and heavy, so it didn't make much sense to use them as often as more modern shuttles like Columbia, Atlantis, and so on. Explorer  was briefly modified to put Union-1, PMA-1, and Cupola-1 into orbit, but it didn't make sense to keep using these early shuttles because of how expensive the modifications were for an outdated shuttle, when the 4 others could do the job much better.
But if you miss the original 2 and want to see them in action, don't worry; I am planning on posting a couple bonus missions on this thread of them once Freedom is complete.

What about other countries that might be able to participate in building the space station Freedom when sending the particular modules or parts to complete the construction?

[Toaster355]

On 9/26/2023 at 1:46 AM, AstroRangerBeans said:

What about other countries that might be able to participate in building the space station Freedom when sending the particular modules or parts to complete the construction?

Huh, I never really thought of that until now.
But the next modules will actually be from foreign nations like Europe and Japan, so I hope that satisfies your request.

Russia does not play a part in this timeline because of the inclination of Freedom not intercepting Russia (< it actually does intercept Russia, but there are no compatible ports for Russian spacecraft (we can also just pretend that the relationship between these countries are higher than they are in reality, I guess), sorry for the lie), and the station obviously being all American (and allies of America).
And because there is no Russia and no Soyuz for Freedom, a new program for rotating crew on the station after the shuttle retires will be critical, as there will be no other vehicle capable of doing so.

Edited September 28, 2023 by Toaster355

[Toaster355]

May 5th, 2009 | STS-128

Hey everyone, I'm back!

Upgrades on the final 3 orbiters have been complete, so Freedom's construction can be finished.

Endeavor will lift Erikson and ROAV 2 up to the station on Mexiko's independence day.
ROAV 2 will be a smaller, lighter, less complex upgrade to ROAV 1 for the completion of Freedom and future service for the station.

Spoiler

New TUFX Profile! I used a modified version of @Pioneer_Steve's Steven_ApolloLEP profile; modifications include no chromatic aberration or camera grain (I may use some camera grain in the future, because it can also look pretty good), and the addition of ambient occlusion, motion blur, bloom, sharp antialiasing, and auto exposure.
Do you like this one, or do you prefer a simpler one like the one before?

New SSMEs! I'm using the RM-25-69 "Cotopaxi" engines from the great RMM mod, made by the same guy that made the even greater O.R.A.N.G.E.S. mod.

The Pood's Milky Way Skybox will been seen a lot in this mission. Do you like seeing it, or do you like the sky always being black?

Endeavor nearly enters orbit with plenty of fuel still left in the External Tank! The new engines and lighter materials have proven themselves.

Beautiful Milky Way Skybox shots here! The skybox will be seen a pretty decent amount of times in this mission; do you like seeing it? Do you like the sky always being pitch black?

The crew begines to get comfortable for the long stay in orbit again. The cupolas begin to open.

ROAV 1 prepares to move to the bottom port of Union-1, so the aft port of the module can receive Erikson.

(I had to manually turn off the skybox in almost every shot from here on, because it looks very blurry, low-res, and just generally bad with a very low field of view. I think shots like these also just look better with it off.)

ROAV 2 prepares to permanently leave the orbiter's cargo bay. (I am so sorry about the second solar panel clipped into the larger one; I didn't even notice that until I deployed them. Really sorry!

ROAV 2 deploys his solar panels as she drifts towards the RMF (ROAV Manipulation Fixture).
And yes, ROAV 2 is a him, haha. My reasoning for this is because females are larger many species of animals like spiders, fish, owls, and even blue whales. Orbiters, space stations, and pretty much everything in crewed space exploration is very big, and ROAV 2 is an exception.

Space exploration lore I guess? 

ROAV 2 latches onto and pulls Erikson out of Endeavor's payload bay,

Approaching Union-1's aft port.

Hard capture!

Erikson can now server as increased living space for the crew, and as another laboratory.

ROAV 1 gets ready to permanently leave Freedom.

Retracting her solar arrays for fitting inside the orbiter's payload bay.

She just barely fits inside.

After a 6-month-and-2-day stay on Freedom, the crew gets ready to head home while in Earth's shadow over Australia.
Enjoy some Milky Way eye-candy!

Endeavor performs her de-orbit burn over the coast of Antarktica.

 

Reentry past the coast of Ekuador.

I tried adding a drag chute to the shuttle... Worked pretty well I guess? 

After over 2 years of the fleet being grounded, Endeavor has come to a complete stop at the Shuttle Landing Facility.

 

Before you all and I go, I must ask a question.
I'm currently working very hard on a bonus mission, and I'm debating between a couple skyboxes for it;

Should I use Pood's Deep Star Map or Pood's Milky Way Skybox?
The Deep Star Map is more calm, toned down, and slightly more realistic looking one, and the Milky Way SKybox is a much brighter and more beautiful one IMO.
I'm not including the Calm Nebula Skybox because it feel's a little too cartoony for KSRSS and just better matches the stock system.

(I wonder what the milky way would look like from space IRL; would it look more like the Deep Star Map or the Milky Way Skybox?)

It's up to you guys. You can check out @Poodmund's thread for screenshots if you're not sure.

 

Love you all!

Edited October 1, 2023 by Toaster355

[Poodmund]

I prefer the Deep Star Map.  

These shots are incredible by the way, thank you for sharing.

[Kerbalsaurus]

I feel the Milky Way one is better, as Earth, as you know, is in the Milky Way. Also, I've been using that one for months now with no reason to change it. If you want to have a black background during the day, I suggest @Lisias's mod Distant Object Enhancement".

Edited October 1, 2023 by Kerbalsaurus

[Toaster355]

3 hours ago, Poodmund said:

I prefer the Deep Star Map.  

These shots are incredible by the way, thank you for sharing.

Alright, that's a good choice. I'll try the next mission here with it!

Thanks man!

47 minutes ago, Kerbalsaurus said:

I feel the Milky Way one is better, as Earth, as you know, is in the Milky Way. Also, I've been using that one for months now with no reason to change it. If you want to have a black background during the day, I suggest @Lisias's mod Distant Object Enhancement".

That's also a good choice!

I actually already use it.
But if you rotate your camera away enough from the planet below, the skybox will be shown again, and that's what can sometimes bug me.

[TwoCalories]

I actually prefer Pood's Calm Nebula. It's definitely not realistic, but the light blues and blacks and few stars are kind of calming. It's also the most similar to KSP2's skybox, in my opinion.

And I like the Steven's TUFX. It's less saturated than BallisticFox and a bit more realistic, IMHO.

Also, you spelled "United States" on the orbiter's fuselage wrong (I'm sorry to be this kind of person).

[Toaster355]

2 hours ago, TwoCalories said:

I actually prefer Pood's Calm Nebula. It's definitely not realistic, but the light blues and blacks and few stars are kind of calming. It's also the most similar to KSP2's skybox, in my opinion.

And I like the Steven's TUFX. It's less saturated than BallisticFox and a bit more realistic, IMHO.

Also, you spelled "United States" on the orbiter's fuselage wrong (I'm sorry to be this kind of person).

Alright, I understand. However, I just think it looks a bit too unrealistic for my standards, hence it was not an option.
Alright, me too!

Oh... SHOOT!!! How did I not see that?!?!
No need to apologize, thank you for telling me!! 

Edited October 1, 2023 by Toaster355

[Toaster355]

Heres an Apollo mission I quickly threw together to test out Pood's Deep Star Map:

(You can enjoy a little bit of Apollo eye candy from me too! )

Spoiler

I can lower my FOV quite a bit and still have the skybox look pretty good!

(Landed off the shore of Australia, I don't think my crew will survive until they're recovered ) 

I think the skybox looks really nice, and will still even look pretty good with a low FOV. I still think the Milky Way is a bit more beautiful though.

Have I changed anyone's mind, or do you still want the Milky Way Skybox?

[Toaster355]

January 4th, 2010 | STS-130

In the early winter of the new decade, Discovery will embark on it's final journey with the Japanese Experiment module; Tomodachi.

Discovery has been an absolute workhorse since it's first flight in 1984, carrying a huge variety and a huge amount of people and payloads. But todays launch will be it's last, after 36 years of service at NASA.

 

I chose this day because this is the exact day I turned a year old, which I thought was pretty nice.

Spoiler

(I completely forgot to remove the IPMU on Tomodachi, so please ignore it sticking out of the heat shield^)

Main engine cutoff.

Spelled "United States" right this time

 

I can still zoom in and have the skybox look pretty good!

Arriving at the station and achieving a soft-capture.

ROAV 2 detaches from EGF (Erikson Grapple Fixture).

Floating over to Tomochodi.

(I didn't take a screenie of ROAV 2 docked for some reason)

Calbart will embark on an EVA to move EGF to Tomochadi, as TGF was forgotten because I'm an idiot.

Cal will deploy the UHF Antenna on Erikson too.

Deploying Erikson's UHF Antenna.

Removing EGF.

Attaching it to Tomochadi.

ROAV 2 relocates to EGF.

Once grappled, TGP's (Tomochadi Garret Port) thermal covers close up as it waits for Garret to be attached.

Pulling the module out.

Tomochadi has been berthed to the station!

It can't just be me that thinks the aft of the module disturbingly looks like a face...

He even has eyelids too!

Reentry over Georgia, with a fantastic view of the glowing capital; Atlanta.

Discovery comes to a stop for the final time.

She will be mounted on the 747 SCA, where the orbiter will then be put in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

 

________

In loving memory of my cat, Socks. He was put down today as he was suffering from liver failure because of his 10 years of age.
He was no longer eating and was barely moving, so we ultimately decided to put an end to him suffering.

I think you can imagine the grief I'm going through.

Spoiler

 

Edited October 5, 2023 by Toaster355

[Kerbalsaurus]

The new TUFX profile honestly lookin’ pretty slick. And sorry about your cat. It’s always sad to lose a long time pet/friend .

[Toaster355]

On 10/4/2023 at 7:51 PM, Kerbalsaurus said:

The new TUFX profile honestly lookin’ pretty slick. And sorry about your cat. It’s always sad to lose a long time pet/friend .

Thanks, I really like it too! Steven did a fantastic job, so I figured I would just yoink it and change it up a bit.

Yeah... he was a good kitty. He loved getting his belly rubbed. He would even come sleep with me sometimes

 

But anyways, I really like the spooky PFP

Edited October 7, 2023 by Toaster355

[Toaster355]

Hello again, Kerbonauts! No new Freedom mission just yet sadly.

Sorry for the lack of anything; I've been grieving the loss of my cat, watching/helping my sister in her marching band, and dealing with Scatterer which is refusing to work in my KSRSS install  (which I still have zero clue as to why).

But what I have been doing in KSP is toying around with @blackrack's volumetric clouds (which, currently, you unfortunately must pay 5.37$ American dollars for on his Patreon) in a stock-ish install, and... just let the screenies speak for themselves.

 

Atmospheric flight with a MiG-21 inspired plane I threw together:

Spoiler

The plane is quite fast, thanks to the Whiplash engine.

Very, very fast even.

Perhaps a bit too fast?

The intake was about to overheat, so I tried pulling hard to slow the thing down like an idiot so the wing popped off.

I tried regaining control so I could land the thing back at the KSC, but the plane refused and was nosediving so poor Jeb had to eject.

 

Orbital flight with my Ares 1 and custom Orion:

Spoiler

High antialiasing creates weird flashing lights at the KSC for an unknown reason, so I apologize for them in the shot ^

Using Orion's engine to get into a higher orbit of Kerbin.

 

I don't even have any words for these clouds, but what I will say is that I am going to try using them in all missions from now on! Worth every penny.

Thank you all for being patient, I will fix the Scatterer issue and finish this thread Soon™

Edited October 12, 2023 by Toaster355