What did you do in KSP1 today?

[NathanKell]

Made orbit from the starting node in RP-0.

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[Sharkman Briton]

Made a bearing! I will admit it's basically a tweaked version of FlipNascar's ferris wheel, though.

[The_Rocketeer]

Today I completed a refuel-rescue mission.

Jeb had taken Bill and Bob to orbit on a multi-goal mission. The first step was to rescue a drifting Kerb in LKO, then on to Mun to deploy 2 scansats into different polar orbits, then into equatorial orbit to rescue two more drifting kerbs. The mission was a total success until the last kerb intercept, when someone back at ground control forgot to carry the 1. Fuel almost depleted and the craft on a surface-impact trajectory, Jeb ended up making an executive mission abort and attempting a slingshot to throw the craft, with it's precious 6-Kerb complement, back into a Kerbin re-entry. He saved the mission from crashing into Mun, but the re-entry trajectory was a failure, and the rocket ended up in a highly eccentric orbit with a periaps around 1.5Mm.

Enter Val. Fortunately the VAB team had the lower stages of a Minmus deployment rocket under construction, and junking the incomplete command and payload stages, she threw Mk1 pod on the front, grabbed a couple of KIS connector ports and a drill, and launched to the rescue.

12 hours later, Jeb and the crew were discussing the merits of cannibalism, as preferable to the nutritional content of mulch, when there was a knock on the airlock. Val to the rescue! Bill grabbed the drill and hopped into his EVA suit to bolt on the connector port and Val started the fuel transfer. Then she joined them in the re-entry vehicle (there fortunately being a spare seat), and by the end of the day they were all toasting their success, and Val's heroic pilot skills, in the astronaut complex.

The phone rang - it was Gene, calling to let them know another Kerb had come adrift in orbit of Minmus...

Edited September 25, 2015 by The_Rocketeer

[Clear Air Turbulence]

I actually successfully reskued my first Kerbal from orbit today. Total noob, too!

I built a lander to take a three man crew to Minmus. It was a very tall lander, and Bill knocked it over upon Eva. So I had three standed Kerbals.

I built a second, squatter lander to bring them back. But the ladder did not touch the ground. Jeb was unfamiliar with the Jetpack controls and launched himself out of Minmus SOI & ended up in a rather eccentric orbit. Bob and Bill got back down to Kerbin, though Bob perished getting out of the pod, falling to his death from a height of 1 metre. .... happens.

Folks back at Space Centre designed a third rocket, this time paying careful attention to delta v calculations, a rather new concept at the time.

The reskue craft got far enough to find Jeb; rendezvous (with MechJeb for the last few kilometres, admittedly) & picked up Jeb, who had a nerve racking half hour with the jetpack again.

When he got aboard the reskue craft, almost all the liquid fuel was gone. But there was a bit of monoprop

Gravity assisted slowdown past Mun got him into aerobraking.

Nightside splashdown just east of Space Centre.

it's a nice feeling of accomplishment, is all I can say.

Now for building my first space station

[Sharkman Briton]

You're better than me m8, if you can rendezvous at all.

[Clear Air Turbulence]

Well, if you are prepared to waste all of your liquid fuel on matching velocity again and again and again, it can be done.

[Slam_Jones]

*Long-winded story warning*

So, I've built what I'm calling "KSC3" and sent it to Duna. It includes drills, ISRU, a workshop, and an orbital construction dock, which means it can land, dig up some stuff, and build things out of that stuff. Here it is, in Duna sub-orbit, with the Heat Shield, "swallow-tail" airbrake module, and Nuclear-powered "StarDrive."

After at least half a dozen shallow aerobraking manuevers, its apoapsis finally fell below 50km. Since it was no longer needed, we disconnected the StarDrive and let it burn up in the atmosphere.

Airbrakes were deployed until it was safe to open the Drogue chutes, and then the rest of the chutes.

As it descended, it was still a bit heavy, so we dropped the Heat Shield first, then the "swallow-tail" airbrake module. Once both were dropped, the base balanced and descended at about 14 m/s.

It was still a bit faster than I hoped, and it hit the ground hard. Nothing exploded, but every single landing leg broke. Not a big problem, as Bill was more than capable of fixing em. Regardless, it was an exciting moment... all that hard work paid off! We were safely on Duna. (Note: this is the largest non-Munar base I landed safely)

Once the dust had settled, we began mining and converting ore to rocket parts. The first on-site vessel was a propellor-driven plane, called the D-1 Duna Racer. (Note: This is the first thing I've ever built off-world )

Jeb took it out and checked out the local scenery. Not much to see, but it was still an interesting experience.

Next, we built a small unmanned rover with a claw, capable of moving around otherwise stationary modules. We called it the "Lifter-Mover rover," because (you guessed it!) it lifts and moves modules.

Once we had this ready, we built the solar tower. We actually had to build it twice... on the first attempt, the LM rover was knocked over by the tower, damaging both.

With the old tower removed and the rover fixed, we built a new one (lucky they're light on Rocket Parts) and managed to shuffle it to its new position.

With the new tower in place, we were able to ramp up production to higher levels, allowing both drills to be run at all times. We soon were able to produce a little Habitation Module, thus allowing the Kerbals to sleep somewhere other than the workshop.

After that, we built a little 2-seat rover for the Kerbals to take a Sunday drive in.

Most recently, we built the biggest off-world item yet: a 5-seat propellor-driven plane. I intend to use this to recover and transport inbound Kerbals (Kerbals themselves being the one thing I can't produce on-site). It needs more solar panels to run at 100% power (Currently I can run it at 60% power with consistent charge), but with KAS and my current facilities, this should be easy to achieve.

Due to some lag, we ended up moving the two planes down the hill about 700 meters, which somehow lessens the lag to acceptable levels, and puts them on a flatter surface, potentially making take-off easier. Transport down and up the hill is provided by the rover.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Slam_Jones
Formatting, grammar, spelling

[Starhawk]

I finally finished putting together my Jool-5 ship. Modular construction. One vertical launch, and all the rest delivered by spaceplane.

Attaching the spaceplane to the top was the coolest docking I've ever pulled off. It was unpowered and uncrewed, and I delivered it on a tug which grabbed it after refueling at Kerbin Station. I lined up the spaceplane with the mother ship docking port as perfectly as I could (DPAI was essential for this) and began pulling the spaceplane toward the mother ship. I then disconnected, thrusted toward the mother ship, and then laterally to get the tug out of the way. I quickly switched to the mother ship to see the space plane drift gently on to the docking port, wobble, and connect!

It only took two tries. My first foray into orbital construction has been tonnes of fun.

Happy landings!

[Itsdavyjones]

Had my new space station get a kraken attack. Would get extremely unstable, wouldn't break (kjr) but would flop around like a wet noodle. So i disconnected the side modules, and hyperedited Val back down. Got a new station that is almost identical that I will hyperedit back into space, the probe with science experiments will just get infinite fuel to go back to the station.

[purpleivan]

I finished assembling the KOSTAR station (274 tons in Mun orbit) a couple of days ago.

[JeSuisPret]

I performed a Moho flyby and collected precious science. Bob had just enough delta V to get back home.

[Trann]

After accepting two different missions to fly-by and land on a series of nearly the same bodies, I've built my first self-sufficient ship that carries four (2 drive, 2 refinery). A Minmus refueling run seems to confirm everything is operational. Mighty proud of myself for this one.

 

*The science pod is separate because I forgot to build it in. The scanner is separate because I didn't send one out to every body so I figured I should bring one along with me to mine more efficiently.

**Pardon the low-res; taken from a Google Images screenshot because hosting site overwrote the original image.

Edited February 21, 2018 by Trann
Photo*ucket

[Bangstry]

With Bob stuck in the lander can and his sanity hanging in the balance the boys at home had to think fast,

using a copy of his craft they designed a workshop and way-station.

Bob arrives still stuck inside and no parachutes.

The two engineers waste no time in dismantling the craft.

With Bob safely back on Kerbin the first group of Students return from their exam flight

and its time to return them home to collect their 3 star rating,

while the next crew who came up in the multi can head out for their 100 day training course.

[Clockwork13]

I toured a slightly modified Duna system, transmitting a lot of data from high and low orbits of Duna, Vix, and Ike. I'm currently about to attempt landing my probe onto Duna, but it doesn't have parachutes (it was actually supposed to be a Minmus explorer, but it had a lot more potential thrust than i intended) so landing might be a little hard.

EDIT: Finally landed but in a rather explosive way. My ship tipped over and I lost my booster, but I still got some good science from the surface and atmosphere before I crash landed.

Edited September 26, 2015 by Clockwork13

[Itsdavyjones]

Deorbited an old space station using the propulsive power of a service module of the 3 man pod (station predates my 8 man LKO shuttle and 8 man LKO space plane). It was quite the fireworks show, even if the crew of the pod disagreed with all the debris flying by. In related news, the space program has received many complaints as several homes were destroyed, and an entire shopping mall rendered unusable due to the stations full fuel tank landing on the mall, causing a massive, and toxic, fireball in the area. Estimated damages range in the millions, with 25 families having no home, and 256 dead at the mall.

[RocketPilot573]

Nothing to see here, move along.

Darn

I mean really, was there a bomb in the cargo?!

[mdkendall]

More work assembling my modular base on Minmus.

[Kyrt Malthorn]

Finally all the pieces fall into place and I begin my mission to Duna! This represents a lot of firsts for me, as a player.

- First Kerbals to leave Kerbin's SOI

- While I have a probe in orbit of Duna, obviously this is the first manned visit.

- First time entering an alien atmosphere with parachutes and intent to land.

- First time attempting to put a rover on any body beyond Kerbin's SOI.

- First time attempting a round-trip from any body beyond Kerbin's SOI.

- First time (re) launching from any body beyond Kerbin's SOI. (If I can land.)

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I borrowed a Scott Manley trick and made my orbital period a multiple of Duna's rotational period - every so many orbits, I believe it's 8 orbits, my periapsis will pass over roughly the same spot on Duna as it did the previous day, and I'll use that to put down my lander and rover at different times but relatively close proximity.

Or I may screw it up horribly. Who knows! FOR SCIENCE!

Edited September 26, 2015 by Kyrt Malthorn
Does anyone read these?

[Bev7787]

I'm addicted to Eyes Turned Skyward

[eddiew]

I did not go to space today.

But it was a valiant effort.

[Gasofidas]

My first base on the moon, and my first rover also, Yay !!!

[astrobond]

Hi All

B.O.B. keep on going the almost gran tour now entering Jool system:

Added a new album (part 6) with Eeloo to Tylo trip:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/134955-KSP-1-04-STOCK-ISRU-Mammoth-SSTO-Explorer-Almost-Gran-Tour

Fly safe with Valentina

[Slam_Jones]

*The story continues*

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/29533-What-did-you-do-in-KSP-today?p=2214338&viewfull=1#post2214338

While kicking rocks around and drifting the rover in the sand, the kerbals at Duna started to get a little bored, and called Mission Control for backup. Pretty soon, a shuttle was dispatched and routed towards Duna. Being significantly lighter than the base, it only performed one aerocapture before popping the chutes and setting down.

As the recruits neared the surface, they realized the shuttle was still moving about 10m/s too fast. Thinking quickly, one of the pilots re-engaged the reaction wheels, flipped the shuttle retrograde, and fired the thruster. Luckily, it touched down smoothly, with no damage to the ship.

After some calculations, the Kerbals at KSC3 got the heading to the shuttle, and sent Jeb out in the transport plane for the 400km round-trip journey. As he flew gracefully over the red sands, Jeb couldn't help but think how much easier it is to get around via planes as opposed to rovers. Rovers are fun, but they have the constant chance to lithobrake and explode. Planes only have two opportunities for that: take-off, and landing. (Took me about 20 mins to fly there and back... a rover would've taken a week, real-time)

The new recruits made it back to the base safely, and got right to work on continuing expansion. While Mission Control on Kerbin was planning new buildings and modules for the base, the Kerbals were busy building an additional tank to store Rocket Parts, thus allowing even bigger construction. It was completed that night.

With the storage for Rocket Parts more than doubled, we set out to build a more stable Lifter-Mover rover. The old one worked (sort of) for small modules, but was easily tipped over. Our solution? Bigger and wider. And, it's a LOT more stable. Here it is, lifting a several-ton Hab Mod as if it's made of Styrofoam. It also has a double-hinge in the middle (as opposed to the old single hinge) allowing it to basically fold itself in half. Also includes a Rotatron at the base, so a Module can be rotated and placed accurately without moving the rover.

With the addition of the new Parts tank and another Hab Module, we decided to put up another solar tower as well. Despite being more stable, the new LM rover still managed to drop the tower incorrectly once... requiring us to build the tower again. The second time, we got it in place.

Some time after this pic was taken, we realized Tieny (one of the brand-new pilots from Kerbin) had decided to take out the D-1 Racer. We're not sure how, or when, but at some point during her flight, both she and the plane disappeared. Dunatians? Kraken? Dust Storm? No one knows, but we mourn her loss nonetheless.

(IRL: I think it spawned in below the surface or something... one minute it was there next to the big plane, the next it wasn't :\ )

(Also, if folks are enjoying the narrative, I could submit it to Mission Reports or something )

Edited September 26, 2015 by Slam_Jones

[Tortfeasor]

Thursday night I got my first probe down on Duna. Then, last night, Bill, Bob, and Jeb followed to become my first Kerbals (ever) to get to Duna.

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The probe took some fine tuning to capture since it was such a long, narrow body. Once it captured though, it was easy, and low stakes. Getting my crew down was easier and harder. Capture was easy since I had that big, draggy lander up top. But when it came to the actual landing I realized that I may or may not have forgotten aerobrakes. And by may or may not have I mean I totally did forget them. It took more Delta-V to land them than I'd planned, but the lander/return stage was built to accommodate such mishaps. Now they're in orbit of Duna and a year and a half from the transfer window back to Kerbin. I've got about 700 m/s in the two side boosters still on the ship, and the CSM itself is full with about 2.7 km/s. Think I can orbit Ike and transfer home from there?

Lessons for next time:

The crew transfer stage still had about 800 m/s when I ditched it. I should have taken the opportunity to explore Ike then. In future operations I think I'll downsize the transfer stage and compensate by ditching the useless heat shields on the lower lander. Hopefully the lower part count is a bit more merciful on my computer. Oh yeah, and Aerobrakes!

[Val]

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[TR]

[TD]

I made a stock "Kerbalized" version of the awesome looking 1979 Rockwell Spaceplane SSTO Concept, the Star-Raker. And in the process discovered where some of the larger B9 spaceplane parts draw inspiration from.[/TD]

[TD][/TD]

[/TR]

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