Odyssey to the Stars: An Interstellar Quest

[Cosmic Sailor]

Odyssey to the Stars: An Interstellar Quest

Hi everybody, today I made an account on the KSP Forums so that I could share my last big mission in KSP 1. This is a completely stock mission, without even visual mods. Because of this (and the fact that this is my first mission report), it won't have as nice eye-candy as the other reports on this forum.

As for the actual mission, it will be a Jool Flyby expedition. It will include a multi-launch craft, which will slingshot past Jool towards the stars. 
 

Spoiler

Each module will be named after notable Kerbals from my KSP experience. I will explain the names when I launch each craft.

Launch of the Karman and Beadred Gravity Rings:

To keep the kerbals healthy, two gravity rings will be launched.  I will only have screenshots of one of the launches as they are the same.



Starting gravity turn..

Tilting to the side...

Only took a few attempts to get them both to orbit . Decoupling MOAR BOOSTERS and then we will be go for docking. The Karman and Beadred Gravity Rings are docked!

Spoiler

The Gravity Rings are named after Karman Kerman and Beadred Kerman. Karman Kerman was the first kerbal to land on the Mun in Science mode, and after about 20 years she actually went home! Lucky!

Beadred Kerman was the kerbal who flew the first rocket to take advantage of staging. I called the rocket the "Beadred Space Explorer." Even though it had something like 10k m/s of Delta V, I still only barely managed to get to orbit. 

(I am better at KSP now, I promise!  )

 

So what do you guys think? Would you like more pictures? Hope you all stick around for the rest of my mission report . The reason why it's my last big mission is because I'm thinking of getting a PC upgrade so that I can play KSP 2.

Edited November 8, 2023 by Cosmic Sailor
typo

[TwoCalories]

I think you have to imbed the Imgur links with the "Insert image from URL" button in the lower right corner of the posting interface. But you can still see the images by clicking the links.

Impressive stock gravity ring! Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

[Cosmic Sailor]

Launch of the J.E.B.E.D.I.A.H. Interstellar Engine

Today marks the launch of Kerbalkind's first every interstellar engine, the "Journey Engine for Beyond Everything Distant Investigated Away from Home".
It uses censored to get an amazing mix of high thrust and efficiency. The engineers aren't sure which was harder, engineering the engine or coming up with an acronym that sort of fits .

The J.E.B.E.D.I.A.H. engine is so heavy that even on Kerbin it can't be launched fully fueled. We will need to the craft during the next post, but that won't be the only thing done, so don't worry that it will be boring.

I'll try to record more of the launch and rendezvous process this time. Okay, we are go for launch in t-minus 10 seconds...
 

Liftoff of the J.E.B.E.D.I.A.H. interstellar engine, carrying with it the hopes of the kerbal species!



Reaching upper atmosphere...



Orbit achieved and rendezvous planned.



Docking process begins



Docking of the Karman and Beadred Gravity Rings to the J.E.B.E.D.I.A.H. engine! As the ship approaches completion, kerbals on the ground can only wonder what next will need to be added...




 

23 hours ago, TwoCalories said:

I think you have to imbed the Imgur links with the "Insert image from URL" button in the lower right corner of the posting interface. But you can still see the images by clicking the links.

Impressive stock gravity ring! Looking forward to seeing where this goes.

Thank you! I edited the first post to include the pictures. The gravity rings probably look similar to Matt Lowne's gravity rings, I don't watch many other stock KSP players.


Timing Update

I'm thinking of posting every two or three days, as I think I can pretty easily uphold that schedule. That means that the next post will probably come on Wednesday or Thursday. Remember to feel free to share any thoughts on this mission report, it helps make me better at posting these. Thanks!

Edited November 6, 2023 by Cosmic Sailor

[Cosmic Sailor]

No, this mission report has not been abandoned! It was just delayed by a day because I had to do real-life stuff.  Frustrating, but hopefully not too bad of a delay.

Orbital Refueling and Docking Port Launch

Today's post will be longer because it will involve quite a few launches. First, let's return to our ship, recently christened the "Mergard" after the first ever Kerbal to land on Duna. The J.E.B.E.D.I.A.H. engine needs to be refueled so that it will be able to thrust the craft on a trajectory towards the stars. The refueling craft is named the Dilrod.

Dilrod sits on the pad, awaiting launch.



Liftoff of the Dilrod!



Performing 90 degree roll...


As the rocket soars into the air, it slowly begins to pitch to the side.



SRB separation...



The Dilrod safely made it to orbit and docked to the Mergard. The tedious process of fuel transfer began.


 

Spoiler

The Dilrod was named after the first kerbal to dock to another craft. It was a Science campaign and I had gone for the Clamp O Tron Jr. because it can be unlocked quite early on. For that first docking, Dilrod docked to a probe. Dilrod was later given a nice permanent vacation to the Mun for this wonderful achievement.

 

Bilfred Docking Section

The Mergard is just about ready for its interstellar trip, but we obviously need to get the crew up there first. As none of the crew-rated rockets are currently able to dock with the Mergard's giant docking port, we will need a brand new docking segment. The Bilfred Docking Section will contain extra fuel, living space and an airlock. Let's begin the launch.

The Bilfred waits patiently for the Mergard to fly over the KSC.



Forgot to record the launch, but here it is in orbit, waiting for rendezvous.



The booster is spent and the Bilfred fires its engine to clear it.



Planning rendezvous...



Slightly too close an intercept . Quickload time!



And docked!



Bill decided to hitch a ride on that very safe (trust me guys) rocket, so with the Bilfred comes the very first kerbal to set foot on Mergard station! Bill will do a quick fly-around to check all of the systems, and then we will be ready for the first ships to start arriving.



Bill: Hey, if I squint I can see my house from here!
 

Spoiler

If I'm being honest, I feel sorry for Bilfred. He had been sent in a cramped pod to the Mun for 20 years. It was some sort of communications satellite. Yep, back in the days I would treat my kerbals very nicely. Then one day I was thinking about those long outdated satellites. I had sent two of them up and I wanted to do something with them. In the end I docked them together and put them at a super low orbit of the Mun. One time it was only 300m from the surface!

Thanks for reading this slightly longer mission report! I checked the delta-v requirements, and we can definitely do the mission! If you have any thoughts or comments, please feel free to post them down below. Thanks!

Edited November 10, 2023 by Cosmic Sailor
Can't forget about Bilfred!

[TwoCalories]

How is the station powered? Solar panels? RTGs? Also, each module has a name, but what is the station's name as a whole?

[Cosmic Sailor]

4 minutes ago, TwoCalories said:

How is the station powered? Solar panels? RTGs? Also, each module has a name, but what is the station's name as a whole?

1. RTGs, they're inside the J.E.B.E.D.I.A.H. engine. The Bilfred Docking section has solar panels but those were just to power it during during orbit and rendezvous.

2. It's called the Mergard after my first kerbal to go to Duna (I'm glad I still have have that save, it's useful now ). The name's at the top of the previous post.

[Cosmic Sailor]

Hello, just wanted to say that I'm posting tomorrow. I've been sidetracked by... errrr.... another project let's just say. If you really want to see it then here it is. I write all of the scripts.
https://www.youtube.com/@LegendOfTheBlocks/featured

Edit: Mods, feel free to take this post down if you think it's self-promotion, I'm just showing them what I've been doing.

Edited November 14, 2023 by Cosmic Sailor

[Cosmic Sailor]

It's been a month?! Where does the time go... Well anyway, I'm back, this time with Restock and Waterfall.

I am going to be launching a few craft. I first want to swap the docking module with another fuel module, and then I will launch a crew of seven to the station in the next post. Without further ado, I present to thee the launch of the

Zelsby Tug

This tug will pull the docking module away and later attach it to the new fuel module. Here is the rocket waiting on the pad.


Blasting off the pad, multiple engineers weep because of just how unaerodynamic(?) it is


The rocket reaches the upper atmosphere and begins to turn to the side


The rocket is in space and is finishing off it's orbital insertion burn


The craft prepares for docking...


Docking is complete!


Okay, I will need to split this post into two because I'd better go to sleep, but the second half will be released within 24 hours! Feel free to share any thoughts in the comments, and see you later.

Edited December 19, 2023 by Cosmic Sailor
Grammar

[Cosmic Sailor]

The Second Part of the Previous Part: Part Two: Electric Boogaloo

The Zelsby tug's RCS pulls the Bilfred docking segment away, leaving room for the next module


Launch of the Vervin Fuel Module

This module contains extra fuel to keep the mission within reasonable Delta-V margins. Here is the giant ship awaiting launch.


The vernier engines ignite first, starting the main ignition sequence


The main engines ignite, lifting the Vervin into the air


The craft starts its gravity turn



The second stage fires to insert the craft into a stable orbit


The third and final stage fires briefly, placing the Vervin into a stable Kerbin orbit


The craft is aligned for docking


Aaaanndd docked! Now all we need to do before the big mission is reattach the docking module and bring some crew up there!


Redocking of the docking module is complete!


The Zelsby tug deorbits itself and burns up in the atmosphere






As I said in the previous part, the next post will have the crew docking. If you have any thoughts, feel free to comment them down below. Thanks for reading!

Spoiler

The Zelsby and Vervin craft were named after two kerbals who were trying to land and return from Eve. I had switched to other missions while the craft made its way to Eve, but when I reloaded the craft the Kraken had struck and it was on a trajectory out of the solar system. I think it was still fairly close when I quit that save, maybe in between Dres and Jool's orbits.