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NuclearWarfare

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I sent my Firewalker to Eve. It's a tiny little probe that I plan to send to Eve (done), Jool, and Laythe before I send bigger ships their way. I tried to model it after that one that dropped into Jupiter.

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Heat shield released.

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IPEV Tailwind arrived at the Mün to take up position as an exploration staging platform, and HSOC-01 Spectre provided guidance and control to mount the automated service column that arrived soon after, turning Tailwind into an orbital mission staging platform. Upon completion of all planned exploration missions, the service column will be removed and de-orbited before Tailwind departs for the next planned location.

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The service column's main drive was then removed and de-orbited, before Spectre took to one of the berths to refuel and stand by for more arrivals

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HSOC-02 Wraith approaches on its first trans-orbital test flight. An expansion of the first High-Speed Orbital Courier frame, Wraith has proven extremely capable as a SSTO, but like its older sister Spectre, is nearly impossible to handle in atmospheric return flights. For this reason, the HSOC series will be used solely to transfer pilots and supplies between the various orbital stations around the Kerbol system, and will only make landfall on planets or moons with little or no atmosphere.

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Five days later, the first Sun Sprite Explorer mission arrived to deliver additional crew to Tailwind, and then continued on to land on the Mün to investigate apparent upheavals that had occurred on the surface. Since an old landing site no longer presented suitable terrain, this mission's primary goal was to check the Civik rover formerly abandoned near the Münar arch, verify it was still operational, then move it to a more suitable landing location to act as a beacon.

The mission nearly suffered a catastrophe, when the crew realized the altered terrain was not just unsuitable for landing; it would be suicide to attempt it. Only the most incredible luck and Shepdo's piloting skills prevented disaster. As he approached a hastily-selected secondary location, their fuel ran dry a mere 15 meters above the surface. The landing was hard, but the sturdy craft survived.

After a change of shorts, Shepdo proceeded with the first stage of the mission, marking the Arch for appreciation by future explorers.

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The rover's lights can be seen just beyond the far leg of the Arch

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Shepdo then proceeded to the rover and discovered it was in perfect operating condition. He drove it back to the lander and returned inside to rest and recharge his MMU pack.

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Hanry went on EVA to take the rover down into the crater to the north, one of two that the Arch overlooks. The rover's computer apparently suffered a malfunction however, and though the rover arrived at its final parking point still operational, it arrived with many components broken or missing after a long, terrifying tumble down the crater wall. His portion of the mission completed, Hanry returned to the lander and took one last look out over the south crater that nearly claimed their lives.

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Sun Sprite's first mission now successfully accomplished, Shepdo took the stick and guided their tiny return craft back into Münar orbit, there to rendezvous with Tailwind, after which the lander would be set adrift to act as a data and comms relay for further exploratory missions.

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Newwell Kerman, being one of the latest recruits, decided to acquaint himself with the space centre, and so took a Runabout Rover out for a spin...

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Scratch one rover. Also, the guys in the SPH don't like the new hole in the side of their building, Newwell.

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Paying respects to an old hero, like every good recruit should.

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MCC isn't letting guys in at the moment, Newwell. Go back down, but be careful not to --

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-- not to trip. Ugh...

Meanwhile, at Eve...

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I found KSP through Steam so I have only experienced V0.20.* so far.

Once I figured most of the basic stuff out I started a program to build "A" space station as a stepping stone / refueling depot to get ships even further out. And then got a bit carried away...

My initial design using ioncross O2 scrubber and "pass-through docking/escape pods" using regular engines. But I didn't really like the idea of kerbals somehow "magically" being able to crawl through the engines to get in/out of the stations but I hadn't come up with anything better yet...

Station "A" 1st half in orbit with launch tug:

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2nd 1/2 of the station is a mirror of the 1st with a simple ioncross O2 tank instead of the scrubber in the 2nd half.

Station "A" with 2nd half mated:

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Then I downloaded KOSMOS and fell in love with the station struts and the monofuel engines

I eventually deleted all of the KOSMOS mod except for the 3 versions of the struts (only used the crawl tubes) and the mono-fuel engine parts for the escape pods. KOSMOS has a LOT of parts that I was not using, made the game take a lot longer to load on startup and cluttered up the parts lists in the VAB.

Station "B" 1st half on the pad:

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This design pushed the docking ports further out and got rid of the need for regular fuel tanks for the escape pods as well. The escape pods became a crew module and an RCS tank with radially mounted mono-engines. This gives the station MUCH more RCS if needed during docking maneuvers, etc.

Still pushing it but much more believable as a "pass-through" docking port then design "A". Also added 4 quantum struts around the nose of each docking pod.

Station "B" 1st half on the way up:

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Station "B" 1st half circularizing:

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Station "B" 1st half parked near station "A":

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With station "B" now well in progress, decided to move station "A" from 100 Km orbit to 150 Km:

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And then sent up a tanker to refuel all station "A" tanks to 100% and also leave an additional RCS fuel pack as "A" had VERY little RCS in it's design.

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Station "B" completed with lights off and on:

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Around this time I was tired of the stations being wobbly in the middle so I finally said, "Heck, it can't be THAT hard..." and just lofted an entire station with room for 25 Kerbals plus 4 pre-docked space probes around the middle and 8x 3-Kerbal pass-through "lifeboat"/docking pods. I dunno the total tonnage but it was a LOT to get into orbit in one lift!!!

Total kerbals that can fit in station "C" = 49 + 8 (1 in each crawl tube) but the station is only safety rated for 24 kerbals as that's the number of lifeboat seats... ;)

Early launch attempts had MANY structural failures and other mishaps and, of course, a number of rather large explosions when things didn't quite go according to plan. More space tape was needed among other things...

Station "C" on the launchpad:

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Going up:

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Circularizing:

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And not QUITE having enough fuel...

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After a bit more reworking of the lifter and the launch program sequence the final launch worked as follows:

Using MechJeb 2.0 and FAR:

Final stack on the launch pad was well over 750 parts... The 24 main SRBs, plus stage separators, plus support struts, etc. was easily 80-90 parts alone that dropped off at about 10 Km up. ;)

Throttle set to no more than 20M/s acceleration in the MechJeb ascent module (more thrust caused parts to break off)

Used FAR to watch Mach numbers.

Launched with 24 SRBs wrapped around an asparagus core of 7 mainsails.

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Once speed reached about Mach 0.95, MechJeb was throttled back further to 10-11 M/s until the SRBs expired at about 11 Km up.

Once the SRBs were staged off (all in one group) MechJeb was throttled back up to 20 M/s

The 1st asparagus stage finished and is dropped off about 10-15 seconds later.

at 15 Km, the gravity turn commenced and after a bit the 2nd asparagus stage was dropped.

Then shutdown and coast up to the circularizing burn.

At that point 2 more small SRBs were fired to help circularize the launch.

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With all of that, I STILL managed to run out of fuel but at least had made an 85x240 Km wonky orbit so it would not crash again.0uBaAJ1.jpg

Sent up a nuke powered tug to fix the orbit issues:

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And commenced several 10-20 minute burns to get the station nicely orbiting at 100x100Km.

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So that was it for version 20...

I'm having all kinds of issues with the VAB in 21.1 - Once I get that ironed out I'll get back to building and launching improbable things into orbit. ;)

-dc4bs

Edited by dc4bs
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I think this picture has something special about it. I really like it.

It's my first(and atm only) Space Station ever built. Nailed it first try. The apoapsis is less than 300m further away from earth than the periapsis which causes them to twitch when the time is sped up.

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Edited by Kevinement
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A strangely forlorn scene. I found out that I made a mistake with this base on Minmus! I neglected a few action groups, and while messing around in the VAB with the base design, after landing the current one, I cut out the Kethane unit on the side of the base, which allowed me to merge the habitation module with the base, making it a single-stage base, compared to this two-stage one. So basically this base was both broken and outdated. Here we see SpaceX's Dragon capsule waiting for the last of the research base's 3 crew members to hop onboard to return them to Kerbin. The last Kerbal out shuts off the lights for the last time, and folds the solar panels up. He opens the hatch and floats out, leaving the base in the shadows of the lonely moon.

So I guess it's kinda cool, because now I have this abandoned base all alone on Minmus.

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I think this picture has something special about it. I really like it.

It's my first(and atm only) Space Station ever built. Nailed it first try. The apoapsis is less than 300m further away from earth than the periapsis which causes them to twitch when the time is sped up.

-snip-

*Kerbin.

Congrats on your first station, it's a great accomplishment. :)

-snip-

Awesome probes! :D

Mind the .craft files?

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*Kerbin.

Congrats on your first station, it's a great accomplishment. :)

Awesome probes! :D

Mind the .craft files?

sure!

http://www./view/2w24p0xp00xfrsj/JoolExplorer-3.craft

it'll need bobcat's historical pack though, and I think I used a KW decoupler somewhere in there

http://www./view/isxa21sq1blk5s7/JoolExplorer-2.craft

this is the rover vehicle. It's a very old craft file and when I opened it recently I found that I was missing 2 old KSPX parts, also you'll need an outdated mechjeb part. It's a cool rover, just if you want to open it you'll have to go on a scavenger hunt.

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I think this picture has something special about it. I really like it.

It's my first(and atm only) Space Station ever built. Nailed it first try. The apoapsis is less than 300m further away from earth than the periapsis which causes them to twitch when the time is sped up.

Congrats I remember my first station (Glory Base)

Everybody remembers when they make mile stones.

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HSTAC-103 Banshee II completed its first interplanetary crossing today, arriving at the Jolian system with great flair- er... flare.

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After five more days on the transfer to Laythe, the crew were eager to initiate their first low altitude pass, and were treated to an exquisite view for their impatience.

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Unfortunately, they would not be stepping out onto Laythe's sandy shores just yet. The low pass allowed the ship to recharge the cooling system pressure tanks, as well as to verify the suitability of the chosen final landing site.

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Returning to low orbit once more, Banshee II takes up standby configuration and begins its long wait for IPEV Excursion and the new IPSV Nightingale, expected to arrive in three and five months, respectively.

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Since the new version nuked my old saves, I'm rebuilding my logistics network from scratch. Step 1: LKO space station/refuelling depot. Currently assembling.

So far, Kraftworld Kodexia has the following components installed:

- Docking hub

- Habitation module/power plant

- 2 (full) Fuel/monopropellant storeage modules

- Long range hauler, which will eventually be used to ferry Münbase Alpha modules from LKO to LMO

- Small tug probe, used for orbital assembly

- Evacuation corridor, complete with 8 escape capsules

- Science module with Cosmic Mind Control Beam Detection/Repellant array.

Current crew: 5 Kerbals

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My grand tour vessel, coming in from Moho to EVE, doing a fairly aggressive aerobrake.

Was too distracted praying my periapsis would stay as it was to hide my ui :P

I love their expressions - Bill / Bob flipping out as always during my maneuvers.... Jeb on the other hand....

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