CKR: A Soviet-Style KSP Playthrough

[Kerbalsaurus]

CHAPTER 9: FULL FORCE

YEAR 2, DAY 194 - DUNA 1

After over 240 days of coasting through empty space, Duna 1 finally arrives at its implied destination. Finally, after centuries of speculation, Kerbalkind will finally be able to see what's on the surface! Many scientists minds flood with exciting thoughts of a potential first contact. Others say that Duna cannot support intelligent life, but does perhaps have vast forests of red vegatation on the surface. And then there's that one shunned scientist who's imprisoned enjoying a nice vacation up north, saying that Duna is just another boring, lifeless rock. Whatever the case is, several Kerbals wait outside of state media centers waiting for news on the probe.

"Telemetry coming back now... engines starting up nicely." - Bobak Kerman (Flight Director)

"Orbit achieved!" - Bobak Kerman (Flight Director)

Duna 1 is now in orbit of Duna! The very first interplanetary probe! Science experiments are started up, and the cameras on board deploy. It isn't long until the first pictures from another planet are sent back.

Picture of Duna taken by Duna 1.

It's, it's... boring. That's it?! Just a plain red rock? Maybe that guy wasn't wrong. No metropolis, no forest, no counter Dunan space program? This whole build just for nothing to appear? Well, maybe we haven't gotten nothing out of it. I mean, there's still science coming back. A lot of it. And Duna still has a moon. Maybe it wasn't all for nothing. Maybe there's more to the red planet we have to see!

***

YEAR 2, DAY 205 - MUNA 10 (MUNAKHOD)

Remember that potential rover mission we talked about earlier? Well, now it's finally coming into fruition with the launch of Munakhod. Munakhod, literally meaning "Mun Rover" (actually it means nothing) isn't much of a spacecraft. We more just filled a block with wires, added a solar panel, and added wheels. Okay, maybe some more work was done, the basic idea isn't much more creative than the eraser it's based on. As usual, a K-8 Grom will be launching this, except the upper stage will in fact land on the Mun, which saves costs by a lot! (I couldn't be bothered to make a separate lander).

Launch Sequence

Spoiler

"Liftoff on Muna 10!" - Bobak Kerman (Mission Director)

"Beginning coast to apoapsis." - Bobak Kerman (Flight Director)

"Go for orbital insertion!" - Kris Kerman (Engines)

With Muna 10 successfully placed into Kerbin orbit, ground teams immediately get to work on the next phase of the mission. Maneuvers are systems are checked, I'm sure you get the procedure by now. After about one orbit of Kerbin, Muna 10 is off to the Mun!

"Go for TMI!" - Bobak Kerman (Flight Director)

The maneuver goes flawlessly, and Muna 10 begins coasting up to the Mun!

"Go for MOI." - Kris Kerman (Engines)

A small amount of time is spent in Munar orbit, prepping the rover and such, but before long it's time to head down. Muna 10 faces retrograde, and prepares to head down to the munar surface.

The descent is... actually quite hairy. I did not get a single screenshot of it. Mission control is on the edge of their seat, but in the end the spacecraft successfully touches down the surface of the Mun! Munakhod is separated, the side engines fire and explode on impact (actually saving the mission), and Munakhod stands on the surface!

Now's the perfect time to show the most important part of the mission. Now, a driving vehicle on the surface of another world. Pretty monumental, right? Well, our engineers decided to show this monumental occasion by making a vanity plate for the rover.

The rover gets its footing on the Munar surface, and is off to a nearby crater deemed worthy of study.

I will go out of character here and say that I had to take creative liberties with the rover. Lunakhod is a very uniquely shaped rover, with the bathtub and all, which makes it extremely difficult to recreate in KSP. Therefore, I kept some of the rover's Soviet qualities, and tried my best to translate it to a cube. I think it made a very Soviet yet Kerbal design (the two are fairly indifferent though).

Munakhod reaches the lip of the crater, and stares at the area ahead of it. Daunting, but not too challenging.

***

YEAR 2, DAY 220 - PETARDA 1

Since Kerbalkind first started to look up at the stars, they dreamed of living right up there with them. Now, living up there permanently? That's impossible. But, if we build a little outpost in orbit that can sustain Kerbals for a month or two, that could work. So that's exactly what we made! Petarda 1 is a monolithic space station, designed to only three Kerbals, and containing science experiments on board. Now, no rocket could possibly lift up such a massive and demanding payload, so we had to make one ourselves. Thus, the Bozon rocket was created! Essentially, take the body of the K-8 Grom, but morph it all together and get rid of the second engine! It's flawless! The first stage boosters start up, and Petarda 1 is on its way to orbit!

"Liftoff on Petarda 1, the very first space station!" - Gen Kerman (Flight Director)

"Continuing on to orbit." - Gen Kerman (Flight Director)

"Orbital entry is established!" - Gen Kerman

Petarda 1 successfully enters a 200x200km orbit! Now all it has to do is sit around and wait for crew to arrive.

***

YEAR 2, DAY 240 - DRUZHBA 4

CREW: Bardok K.|Tenard K.|Rofri K.

With Petarda 1 in orbit, its now time for the first crews to head up to space station. Druzhba 4 will spend about one month on board doing experiments and such, before heading back down to Kerbin's surface. Simple enough mission profile. There isn't really much to say, as Druzhba launches are quite routine at this point.

Spoiler

"We have ignition, and we have liftoff! Liftoff on Druzhba 4!" - Gen Kerman (CAPCOM)

"Druzhba 4, you are go for LRB sep." - Gen Kerman

"Roger KC, LRB sep." - Burkal Kerman

"Second stage separation confirmed!" - Burkal Kerman

Druzhba 4 is in orbit! Quickly, the mission gets ready for rendezvous. First, an inclination change is done to align with the station's orbital plane. Then, the spacecraft readies itself to head off to Petarda 1.

"Starting rendezvous burn." - Burkal Kerman

"Hard dock confirmed!" - Rofri Kerman

The first space station is now inhabited! Quickly, they step out of the hatch and into Petarda. They quickly get acquainted to their new home, and then get to work. After around two orbits of Kerbin, Tenard and Rofri Kerman suit up and step out of the airlock.

"Man, what an amazing view!" - Rofri Kerman

"Alright KC, I'm at the exterior laboratory. Starting to collect data." - Tenard Kerman

After about 15 minutes on EVA, both Kerbals one by one get back into the airlock, and everyone settles in for their stay aboard Petarda 1.

***

YEAR 2, DAY 263 - MYATNYY 9 (MYATNYYKHOD)

The Mun has a rover, now its Minmus's turn. Myatnyykhod is similar to Munakhod, save a few modifications that optimize the rover a little bit. The rover's target will be the mysterious Minmus flats, which data indicates might be in fact frozen lake beds. Other than that, everything that can be said has already been said.

Launch Sequence

Spoiler

"Liftoff on Myatnyy 9!" - Bobak Kerman (Flight Director)

Myatnyy 9 enters orbit without a single problem. And thus, the standard practice continues.

Inclination change

"Terriers performing at 100%, TMI trajectory looking good." - Kris Kerman (Engines)

As Myatnyy 9 drifts through endless space, Kerbin seems to get much smaller, while Minmus seems to get much bigger.

"Go for terrier startup!" - Gen Kerman (Flight Director)

"Roger, terrier startup." - Kris Kerman (Engines)

With Myatnyy 9 now in Minmus orbit, the fun part can begin. Ground crews wait for about two orbits, before turning retrograde and heading for the surface. Due to Minmus's surface gravity, the descent is not as grueling as Muna 10. Mission controllers said that, actually, it was quite relaxing.

"Starting suicide burn." - Gen Kerman (Flight Director)

"Contact! And a successful landing!" - Gen Kerman

Myatnyy 9 is now standing on Minmus's surface! Now comes the time to release the rover. This time, deployment is not as fiddly, and the better sunken engines don't explode. Just a few small puffs and...

Myatnyykhod is now on the surface! We now have movable vehicles on the surface of both the Mun and Minmus! Now, long term investigation can take place. Myatnyykhod immediately gets to work on the surface.

Science equipment is deployed, and it's discovered that Minmus's lake beds are in fact made up of water. But how? Minmus is far too small to support a liquid sustaining atmosphere, let alone have water flowing itself. Further research must go into it. Research that far exceeds the capabilities of a robot...

***

YEAR 2, DAY 263 - YEVA 1

Yeva 1 with the Kerbin system in the background. From here, the whole systems is just a few dots.

Nothing much happens, just a mid-course correction burn on the way to Yeva. The probe will arrive at Yeva before the end of the year!

***

YEAR 2, DAY 270 - DRUZHBA 4 RETURN

CREW: Bardok K.|Tenard K.|Rofri K.

After spending a whole month in space, it's time for Druzhba 4 to come back down to Kerbin. After one more orbit of the planet, Druzhba 4 undocks and heads down to surface.

"Beginning descent to the surface KC." - Bardok Kerman

"Roger that. See you down here." - Gen Kerman (CAPCOM)

"See you, Gen. Over and out." - Bardok Kerman.

"Chutes deployed!" - Bardok Kerman

"Welcome home, Druzhba 4!" - Gen Kerman (CAPCOM)

Edited December 31, 2023 by Kerbalsaurus
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[Kimera Industries]

On 9/19/2023 at 4:06 PM, Kerbalsaurus said:

Well, I'm honestly very disappointed with the huge lack of soviet based mission reports. There are several based on NASA. Hell, even Beyond is based on NASA. But there's something about Soviet spacecraft that has character to them. The round spacecraft shapes in contrast to the sharp-pointed fairings, the round circular windows. Sure, the Soviet Union wasn't the greatest of countries, but from how much they've contributed to space travel, they at least deserve some form of recognition on the forums.

Well, dang- you just summed up why I made Wrong Red Moon. My dad has always liked how their spacecraft shapes are unique like that, and that carried over to me as well. I feel like stories of the space race shame the USSR for not getting a man on the moon, but they deserve the opposite- literally the first ever man in space! And a whole lot more! That's something, especially for a space program considered more of a way to show off to other countries by its leaders.*

*footnote: 

Spoiler

Source: The excellent book Space Race by Deborah Cadbury, I highly recommend.

Edited January 6 by Kimera Industries

[Kerbalsaurus]

Man, it's been a long time, hasn't it? I meant to write the next chapter, got half way done, finished up for the night, woke up the next day to find that everything I wrote had been deleted. And so I felt uninspired to write this for what, 4 months? Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, new chapter. Soon.