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[AAR] The Space Race

czokletmuss

By czokletmuss
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el_coyoto

el_coyoto

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Thank you very much for your comment and for the link to this webpage; I've quite a collection of pages about oldschoold spacecraft, if you are interested I can share it here.

About the blowing hatch - the meeting was few months after the accident with Gus Grissom, so this is not precognition in this case ;)

I'm trying to show here that although what astronauts did was vital for the succes of the program, the effort of engineers and even bureaucrats was also very important. The next chapter or two probably also will be more informative than narrative and than with this background I will start more regular "pilots and rockets"-style AAR. So if you miss explosions and screenshots from the game be patient, they are coming :) The schematics and discussions about what's going on in international politics won't dissapear though. The Space Race was a unique period when engineering, piloting skills, politics and many other things blended into this awesome achievement of humanity which the Race was. I'm trying to show both Kerbal States and Kerbal Union, however with much fewer materials in Russian it's much harder to give good descriptions about details. I'll do my best though :)

Oops, thanks for the precision : I've always had problems parsing and remembering dates... :D

And yes, it seems easier to find detailed information and data about almost any shadowy American prototype, whereas the results of a search of for their Soviet counterparts seem more scarce. In my case, it might also be because I inherited my father's love for the American space program and their fragile, expensive and beautiful, streamlined crafts.

I wish I could try sources in Russian, but although I studied it at school as my first foreign language and could more or less handle an everyday simple conversation at the time, apart from painfully deciphering Cyrillic and a few basic sentences, there's nothing left of it now. Not enough practice, and much less Internet in those days...

The ultimate irony being that I chose this rather exotic language in my country because I was a space geek, wanted to become an engineer at the ESA, Russia had just become a democracy and thought it would be a plus to easily discuss with Russian engineers. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I can't wait to see what you will do with the Reds, because if it as detailed and documented as the previous episodes, I'm sure you I'll learn many interesting new things about their space program.

And again, I'm impressed by your sense of balance when you write : engineering details, but nicely vulgarized. The fun of politics as a human factor, without all the gloomy sttuf behind the Space Race. The tone is funny, but not *too* funny which would spoil the "archaeological" work you did to capture the atmosphere.

Ok, time for bed, this message is already messy enough. lol

Good luck for your next episodes, and take the time to enjoy your book quietly! :D

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wminsing

wminsing

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Fantastic AAR and great writing, very inspiring work! I do have two questions:

1. Those clouds! Added later or some kind of plug in?

2. The brown pressure suit for 'Yuri' on page 5 of this thread, is that available anywhere as a mod?

-Will

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czokletmuss

czokletmuss

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Fantastic AAR and great writing, very inspiring work! I do have two questions:

1. Those clouds! Added later or some kind of plug in?

2. The brown pressure suit for 'Yuri' on page 5 of this thread, is that available anywhere as a mod?

-Will

Thank you :) These are mods using Universe Replacer, Cloud SD pack and Soviet spacesuit http://www.reddit.com/r/KSPTexturePacks/

Oops, thanks for the precision : I've always had problems parsing and remembering dates... :D

And yes, it seems easier to find detailed information and data about almost any shadowy American prototype, whereas the results of a search of for their Soviet counterparts seem more scarce. In my case, it might also be because I inherited my father's love for the American space program and their fragile, expensive and beautiful, streamlined crafts.

I wish I could try sources in Russian, but although I studied it at school as my first foreign language and could more or less handle an everyday simple conversation at the time, apart from painfully deciphering Cyrillic and a few basic sentences, there's nothing left of it now. Not enough practice, and much less Internet in those days...

The ultimate irony being that I chose this rather exotic language in my country because I was a space geek, wanted to become an engineer at the ESA, Russia had just become a democracy and thought it would be a plus to easily discuss with Russian engineers. :rolleyes:

Anyway, I can't wait to see what you will do with the Reds, because if it as detailed and documented as the previous episodes, I'm sure you I'll learn many interesting new things about their space program.

And again, I'm impressed by your sense of balance when you write : engineering details, but nicely vulgarized. The fun of politics as a human factor, without all the gloomy sttuf behind the Space Race. The tone is funny, but not *too* funny which would spoil the "archaeological" work you did to capture the atmosphere.

Ok, time for bed, this message is already messy enough. lol

Good luck for your next episodes, and take the time to enjoy your book quietly! :D

Ha, it's indeed ironic :) I don't know Cyrillic at all (I should learn it someday, the alphabet isn't that hard after all).

And you are completely right - I am learning more and more about both space programs. That's why KSP is such a great game - I was kinda a space fan for a long time but only since I bought KSP I'm really getting into it. I still remember my first Mun landings on a 13.3 demo, when I just build a giant rocket, point it into the Mun and ignite the engines to discover later that coming with 5000m/s velocity to the munar surface wasn't a good idea :P But since then I learned really a lot and I watched quite a few documentaries about space and space exploration (American and Soviet/Russian). The only other game which stimulates to do some research and learn new things is for me CK2 or maybe EU4.

I'll do my best to give good representation of the Reds, that's for sure :) About sense of balance and gloomy stuff - well, we're in 1961, so the Cuban crisis and all the really nasty stuff is still ahead of us :P

Edited by czokletmuss
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el_coyoto

el_coyoto

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Due to the incoming release of the 0.22, the next update of The Space Race is postponed until all the mods are updated as well. Sorry!

All right, I'll try to be patient then... :D

And the integration of !!science!! in this AAR will be well worth the wait I guess...

Cheers!

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  • 2 weeks later...
czokletmuss

czokletmuss

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Real life happened. As you may have noticed, I didn't have quite enough time for my AARs lately as I'd wish to. However, I'm not abandoning neither "The Space Race" nor "The Grand Tour". I'm trying to keep ratio of new episodes 3:1 or 2:1 in favor of "The Grand Tour", so you should expect new episode (at last!) soon. Keep in mind though that "The Space Race" require more free time (conversion to 0.22 is still not finished) than "The Grand Tour", where all I need is just to start the game and play (the mission plan was done months ago).

TL;DR - expect new chapter sometime soon; don't expect them to be released as frequent as those of the Grand Tour though

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czokletmuss

czokletmuss

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yEdh07v.jpg

CHAPTER 6

1962: AURORA BOREALIS

y0Ff9ue.png

***

24th MAY, 1962

PAO: ...and liftoff of the Mercury-Atlas 7, the last flight of the Mercury program! The brave space pioneer who is going to the very edge of the unknown in the spacecraft known as Aurora 8 is Jebediah Kerman, one of the youngest kerbonauts of the Original Eight and one of the few civilians in the program. This historic moment-

JEB: Err, I'm getting your transmission KSC.

CAPCOM: Please repeat.

JEB: KSC, this is Aurora 8, I can hear your public affairs officer talking.

CAPCOM: Copy that, Aurora 8. Switch the channel to A-53.

JEB: Done.

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CAPCOM: Alright Aurora 8, prepare for the gravity turn.

JEB: Roger.

CAPCOM: Gravity turn initiated.

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CAPCOM: Aurora 8, GUIDANCE wants your telemetry readings, please confirm.

JEB: Copy that. Altitude 26789 meters, velocity 1094.3 meters per second.

CAPCOM: Okay, Aurora 8, GUIDO is happy with that. Two minutes to apoapsis.

JEB: Roger.

CAPCOM: Correct your pitch, Aurora 8, you're slightly off.

JEB: Correcting.

CAPCOM: You're leaving the atmosphere in 30 seconds, Aurora 8. Prepare for preburn position adjustments.

JEB: Copy that, preparing for the burn. SAS on.

PAO: ...great achievement. The first manned flight in polar orbit makes all Kermaricans proud of their capabilities and spirit. The scheduled-

JEB: Err, I'm getting your P&R bull**** again, KSC.

CAPCOM: Hot mike, Aurora 8.

JEB: Crap! Sorry.

CAPCOM: Circularization in progress. T minus 55.

3tRappv.png

CAPCOM: Burn completed, you're in orbit Aurora 8. Confirm.

JEB: Roger. Periapsis 74,53, apoapsis 79,86. Nice orbit fellas.

CAPCOM: Copy that. There's someone who wants to say a few words before we proceed, Aurora 8.

JEB: Don't stop him, KSC.

BILL: Hey Jeb. Congratulations! You're in space, buddy.

iskpZin.png

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JEB: Thanks, Bill. I just wished I could've done it before you brought your lazy ass here.

BILL: I bet you do. Well, me and the guys are hoping you're going to enjoy being there, 'cause this three-day mission sounds quite boring.

JEB: Maybe for you, mister First-Kermarican-In-Orbit. I'm going to have the time of my life.

BILL: That's the spirit! Remember, don't be late – I don't know how about you but we down here are quite busy, so we won't postpone the party.

JEB: It's my welcoming party, so for all I care you can wait whole week, asshole.

BILL: We love you too, Jeb. Take care!

JEB: You too, big guy.

CAPCOM: Alright, that's enough. We're proceeding with the mission plan. Prepare the LES for detachment.

JEB: Roger. Wait a second... LES ready.

CAPCOM: Detach LES.

JEB: Copy that, LES detached.

CAPCOM: Prepare the capsule for separation

JEB: Capsule ready.

CAPCOM: Separate the capsule.

JEB: Capsule separated.

1XwaUhQ.png

JEB: All systems nominal.

CAPCOM: Good job, Aurora 8. You'll be passing above the north pole in 6 minutes – prepare the first experiments and check whether they are working correctly.

JEB: Roger. Checking the first experiment. 2HOT is working

ongw8mn.png

JEB: Everything's fine. Checking the second experiment.

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JEB: Everything's fine too.

CAPCOM: We copy, Aurora 8. The pole should be in your line of sight right now, could you confirm?

z8lrGfq.png

JEB: Roger. North pole in sight. Wow...

CAPCOM: Proceed according to the plan, Aurora 8.

JEB: :sigh: Copy that. Now where's my pen? Ah, it's floating right here.

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CAPCOM: You may speak loudly besides taking notes, Aurora 8. Tell us what you see.

JEB: Copy that. Ahem. The, err, the sea ice appears to be...

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***

27th MAY, 1962

JEB: …deorbit burn completed.

CAPCOM: Copy that. You're on course, Aurora 8.

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JEB: That's good news, KSC. I swear to Kod, few more hours in this tiny capsule and I would be ready to get out and push it out of the orbit.

CAPCOM: It was a long three days, Aurora 8. In few hours you're going to have a cup of warm coffee on board the rescue helicopter.

q7hvco2.png

JEB: Ahh, coffee... We need to find a way to send it up here. During longer missions a small coffeemaker is going to be a necessity, you know?

CAPCOM: Err, yes Aurora 8, we hear you. You may pass your remarks to the engineering team after you're back.

JEB: It's probably too late to save Gemini. But I hope that the Mun spacecraft still can be improved!

kwrbE9e.png

***

CAPCOM: ...enter the ### of contact ### Auror ###

JEB: Contact with KSC lost, Aurora 8 has entered the atmosphere.

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JEB: Uhh! 2g is worse than I thought after these three days. 2,3g.

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JEB: Altitude 22300 meters, velocity 1400 meters per second. It's getting hot in here!

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JEB: Yeah! I'm riding the fraking falling star! I'm the king of the wor- wow! It kicks like a young- uhh!

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JEB: This bang must've been the sonic boom! Aurora 8 is no longer supersonic! It's time for the drogue chute.

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JEB: KSC, do you copy? This is Aurora 8, continuing slow descent above the target zone. The – uh! The main chute is working now. KSC, please copy.

CAPCOM: ... ### …

JEB: KSC, do you copy?

CAPCOM: ... ### …

JEB: I don't know how about you, but- uh! The main chute has been deployed!

Xp0G33j.png

JEB: Weather conditions are A-okay, warm and sunny – just like you've said, KSC.

CAPCOM: … ### you, Aurora 8, we copy.

JEB: This is Aurora 8, all systems nominal, I'm descending at 7,5 meters per second, the splashdown-uh!

CAPCOM: Repeat, Aurora 8?

JEB: Aurora 8 has landed, splashdown at 3 days 1 hour 12 minutes and, err, 17 seconds according to the mission clock.

BioNCXU.png

CAPCOM: Roger that, Aurora 8. The rescue teams are on their way. Secure the experiments, give us full status report and wait for the teams. Confirm.

JEB: Copy that, KSC. Man, it's good to be back on the good ol' Mother Kerbin.

H7Akm4v.png

yEdh07v.jpg

***

Edited by czokletmuss
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czokletmuss

czokletmuss

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Getting this all to work was a pain in the, err, nozzle. Speaking of which:

ATTENTION! HELP NEEDED!

There are too many mods on this forum and I don't have enough time to take a look at all of them. But I would like to use the very best stuff there is for "The Space Race". And that's why I'm asking YOU for help!

What do I need?

I need mod suggestions for "The Space Race". To be more precise, I need mods which:

- are plausibe for this period (no futuristic high-tech stuff)

- improve some more tiresome things in the game (docking, liftoff, you name it) but don't do everything for you

- increase the difficulty of the game

- are NEW and/or relatively UNKNOWN; most of the old ones I know, so don't suggest BobCat or NovaPunch - concentrate on this less popular but interesting

I spend a lot of time recreating KASA space program in 0.22 today and I don't really want to spend so much time on the Soviet program too. And searching the mod, reading about it, downloading, installing, testing and turning game on and off several times takes hours if you want plausible and realistic-ish representation of the real Space Race in the game.

So please help me with this and I will have more time for writing :)

Edited by czokletmuss
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Patupi

Patupi

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I haven't played with a lot of component mods, and I was going to suggest the clouds and city lights mod... but I see you're already using it :) It was just a pretty sunny day when Jeb splashed down. Most of what I use are adjuncts that don't really affect the visual look of it from your point of view. Actions on the Fly, Editor Extensions, Root mod, etc. They might help you during the play through but aren't going to affect play balance or change the look of it.

Edited by Patupi
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