The Medwedian Space Program

[MedwedianPresident]

The Medwedian Space Program

This is going to be updated constantly, starting on this weekend

Table of Contents

Prologue (4 parts)

Edited November 22, 2013 by MedwedianPresident

[MedwedianPresident]

Prologue - Part 1

It was a cold day at the Medwedian presidental palace.

Agent: Good Morning, sir!

President: Morning. What news do you have?

Agent: Yes. From our Aeronautics Commitee.

President: Tell me.

Agent: They have finished the development of the rocket engine.

President: Have they?

Agent: The first test vehicle reached an altitude of 25.330 meters.

President: Where did it end up?

Agent: The signal was lost shortly after it landed near a small town on the border with Kwitzerland, in the mountains. We sent the army there, and they found out the villagers thought of it as an alien UFO, we only could confiscate it using force. It's now being transported to the Aerial Research Center, remember the territory you bought from Kafrica 15 years ago? They're going to expertise it.

President: Anything else?

Agent: You can except a manned flight within five years. This is all.

The agent left the office.

The President decided to travel to the tiny exclave in Kafrica by himself so he see the new rocket by himself. It was since four years now that he was visited by one of his top agents and got those news.

The airplane was slowly taxiied to the runway, and the propellers started to roar. The president watched out of the windows as the airplane toke off and gained altitude, yes, he was obsessed with the sky. Before he became a politician he dreamed of flying. He wanted to become a pilot and be the first Kerbal to set foot on the Mun. But then he turned to his Prime Minister, who was sitting beside him.

PM: What's the matter, Sir?

President: I am thinking about it...i mean the sky...how they will fly out of the atmosphere, far beyond any weather balloon. I mean...the astronauts...i'm sure they are in training already?

PM: Yes, they are. The top three of the giant Kerman family, Jeb, Bill and Bob. The pilots. The top three of a hundred.

President: But how...a hundred people...all related...

PM: Indeed. It is unknown how such a large family was formed, but they all posess genes which make them excellent pilots. This is why we commissioned them for our space program. They all accepted.

President: A hundred...pilots?

PM: A couple of them are in the engineering and mission control team, in those people are also all, kerbals with the name "Kerman".

President: Who leads the team?

PM: A man named Gene Kerman. The head engineers are Wehrner von Kerman and Fritz von Kerman, they are Brothers.

President: Gene? I know him. Served in the army with him. But Wehrner and Fritz...

PM: Wehrner and Fritz? They're from Khwitzerland. Nice chaps actually, i once went skiing with them. In Khwitzerland, of course.

President: Why are they from Khwitzerland?

PM: You know...a distant branch of the Kermans.

Pilot (through Speaker): Dear Passengers, we have reached our peak altitude now. We will begin descent in 40 minutes. The steward will start giving out snacks now. Enjoy your Flight!

In Kafrica, the sky was very clear. The President noticed that it was much warmer when he still was in the Airplane. It started descending slowly, and after flying in circles around the exclave, each lower and smaller, it finally touched down on the Runway of the Aerial Research Center, which was now renamed to Kerbal Space Center as it became more international, and most important, a probe was launched from it one year ago which entered Orbit around Kerbin. The President and the Prime Minister exited the airplane, followed by their bodyguards. The whole company entered a bus rented for them, and they started the 40-kilometer-ride to the KSC, as the only runway was near the mountains. The runway immediately next to the KSC was occupied by the always landing and starting cargo flights, and the training flights of the Kerman family.

Policeman: Welcome to the Kerbal Space Center. Please sit down in the waiting area, the delegation will be there shortly. They are conducting an important training now. In the centrifuge.

The President sat down on the couch and opened the book he was reading right now. It was "Invaders from the Mun" by H.K.Kerells, a science fiction classic of that time. 20 minutes later the residents of the KSC came in.

Jeb: Good morning, sir. Welcome in the Kerbal Space Center. I am Jebedidah Kerman, the commander of the flight.

Bob: I am Bob Kerman, the pilot.

Bill: I am Bill Kerman. I am a keologist. I will conduct some experiments up there.

Gene: Hello, i am the chief of mission control. I will be supervising the flight.

Wehrner: Gruezi, i am the chief engineer. Sorry, but my brother, who is the deputy, is currently lying in the hospital. An accident with a barrel of rocket fuel, he got a light burn on his right arm. He will be all good in one week.

President: So, if i understand correctly, you are the crew? I mean, the main crew. Of course i appreciate the others...the other people of your family which also support us.

Jeb: Well...some are working with the KSC externally. For example my uncle Dunfred, who spends most of his day on his boat, doing some water research. This morning he departed onto another expedition, eastwards. He said that he and his crew will watch the rocket launch tomorrow.

Bill: Of course, we also have a black sheep in our family. It's Norfred Kerman. He is working for...well...another organization. We lost contact with him ten years ago. The only thing that is known is that they have another research program, working for Kina. Did you see the recent news of the sighting of another space centre? It's him.

Bob: We will lead you into your room now, sir. Then you can look around as much as you want, just make sure you'll be there tomorrow at twelve o'clock for the launch.

Edited November 21, 2013 by MedwedianPresident

[MedwedianPresident]

Prologue - Part 2

It was 11:50 in the morning. The rocket, christened Medwedia One, was standing on the launchpad, glancing in the light of the sun. The sky was clear, like on the last day. The last service cars were clearing the launch area, and the atmosphere in Mission Control was energic. The members of Mission Control were all sitting next to their screens, working and working. Live streaming from the cockpit already was established before the Kerbalnauts entered the cockpit.

Gene Kerman called the engineering team on his red phone.

Gene: Wehrner, do you confirm the fuel level?

Wehrner: Yes i do. It's 100 percent, all stages. SRB ignition candles are on the ready, the engine is warming up.

Gene: Very good. We can proceed with the countdown.

There were now only a couple minutes left, and the Kerbalnauts were sitting in the cockpit, waiting for the launch anxiously.

Jeb: Engineering confirmed fuel is good. I am currently checking RCS.

Bob: Good. The gauges are all calibrated. You should now see the altimeter showing upwards. Also, the airspeed gauge is now compensating the wind. It was Bill's idea to install that shield which prevents the wind from beating it. Bill, you should now also see the radar. Bill? Bill?

Bill: Just had a last-minute nap. You know, we had training till midnight and they threw us out of bed at four o' clock.

Jeb: Folks, let's concentrate on the launch now. We will have time to chat in space. Also...my controls are online. I am testing the RCS right now, this is why you hear the phooshing sounds now.

Mission Control: T-60 Seconds

Jeb: Timer is calibrated. Mission control, we are all ready. I am activating the advanced cushions now so we won't faint because of the G-forces.

Mission Control: T-30 Seconds

Bob: And how about the Abort system, Bill? I was worried the whole time about the left SRB, so you'd better check the escape rocket and the decoupler are OK, otherwise we won't be able to watch the fireworks. We will be part of them instead.

Bill: You and your Humour! And yes, abort is ready. I spoke with Wehrner before we boarded the ship, he said they replaced the SRB while we were sleeping. Guess what they did with the one that had a leak?

Jeb: They made Fireworks!

Bill: You are almost correct. They are making a weather rocket out of it. Well, it's anyways the same thing as fireworks.

Mission Control: T-10...9...8...7

Jeb: The first part of the flight will be controlled by KSC. We will only go onto manual in orbit.

Mission Control: ...5...4...3...2...1...Ignition Sequence Started

The engines roared, and the SRB's started to rustle like a fire. Slowly, the rocket started ascending as the Kerbalnauts felt the G-Force pinioning them to their seats. Yes, it was a beautiful sight.

President: And they are going up...

Gene: The first stage will burn for a couple of minutes before it will burn out. And of course the boosters, they will be dropped at 20 kilometers. The second stage will raise their apoapsis and circularize them.

Mission Control: Tower Cleared. Ascent speed 8 m/s.

Jeb: This must be a nice weather rocket...it's already 4,5 G! I can imagine that it will be a nice firework. Bet it will reach sixty kilometres?

Bob: It's nozzle was not made for the upper atmosphere, so it won't be efficient after twenty. You will notice this with our SRB's, their thrust will slightly decrease during the next 3 minutes. But who knows...maybe they're gonna modify the nozzle. Didn't you chat with Lundenby, Wehrner's assistant at breakfast? He is in charge of the weather rocket.

Jeb: Yes, i remember something about the nozzle. But i was half-asleep. You know...i am an owl.

Bill: I was also listening to your conversation. They said they're gonna strap fins on the booster, maybe this will somehow help with the ascent.

Mission Control: Altitude: 10 kilometers. Sound barrier compromised.

Bob: We are halfway through the boosters. The torment will be over in 2 minutes, and the G-forces will sink to 2,5 when we will drop them. Just be patient!

The President was drinking his third cup of tea and eating his fifth donut.

PM: Gene, if i'm allowed to call you by your first name, how much did the whole project cost?

Gene: You are always allowed to call a Kerman by his first name. Anyways, the project costed about 400 billions of Medwedian Dollars. But we got a large fraction of the money from donations and loans.

President: The tea and the donuts are delicious! Anyways, Gene, i heard that you had to replace a booster because it was damaged. But you're planning to make a weather rocket out of it instead of simply detonating it in the air.

Gene: Yes, sir. It actually was determined to be a weather rocket until this morning, we then decided to make the first stage of a probe out of it. One that will photograph the dark side of the Mun. But this is top secret. Yet.

Mission Control: Altitude: 20 kilometers. SRB burnout confirmed. SRB decoupling compromised.

The SRB's started to fall down, and they looked as though they knew that their fate was to crash into the Ocean.

Jeb: Finally...i can feel the ease already!

Bill: Now the first part of the launch is over. We are accelerating really quickly now, and you can see the stars now.

Jeb: The stars...where i always wanted to go. Now my wish if fulfilled...

Bob: I confirm the boosters are out of radar range now.

Jeb: Yes...they're supposed to crash into the ocean. Aren't they?

Mission Control: T-30 until staging.

Edited November 21, 2013 by MedwedianPresident

[MedwedianPresident]

Prologue - Part 3

The further launch and the circularization burn went on smoothly, without any problems.

Mission Control: Congratulations, you are in Orbit now!

Jeb: Thank you. Permission to switch to manual?

Mission Control: Permission granted. Switching to manual.

Bill: I'm gonna do my first experiment now. A zero-G experiment with water.

Bob: Do that. I'm gonna deploy the antennae now and activate the API so we get energy until our landing.

Jeb: Apropo energy...they are developing a new "Eco" way to gain energy now.

Bob: What is it?

Jeb: It may sound silly...but it is powered by the radiation Kerbol gives out. It's called "Solar Panels".

Bill: I've heard about that by Fritz before he had his accident. He is in charge of the project. They are already testing them in the mountains high up in Kwitzerland.

Bob: Didn't they say they had a prototype on the second orbital probe?

Jeb: Yes they did. Fritz said that when we were visiting him in the hospital. Remember when you went to the restaurant but i was not hungry and i went for a walk with Fritz when you ate?

Bill: Yes. But it's your fault that you didn't taste the delicious burgers they had there.

Bob: And the Tortillas! Remember we still weren't full after the burgers so we decided to order some more food?

Jeb: Sounds Yummy! Much Yummier than the space food we will have to eat right now!

Bill: Jeb, you are completely wrong. Remember that you ate 40 blocks of condensed ice cream?

Jeb: Oh yes...

Mission Control: Your panels are deployed now. In other news, the President will be on screen in ten seconds.

President: Congratulations! How is it up there?

Jeb: Zero-G is quite funny. We are used to the G-forces, but we didn't get to train zero-G often because a parabolic flight with the airplane or a suborbital flight with a modified weather rocket is a thing that doesn't happen at the blink of your eye. For example, Bob forgot that lemonade floats in space. So we had to suck the bulb up quickly before it broke up into smaller pieces which would have hit the apparature.

President: Be careful next time. Anyways, did you already carry out any experiments?

Bill: Yes. I already exposed a piece of paper into the void. It is all black and crumbled, because the temperature outside is 220 degrees. Nice BBQ...

President: We will have a BBQ tonight, so don't worry.

Bill: I also made sure the mini-probes are released. Remember you said they started as prototype space mines?

President: Yes. The space mines are actually still being developed. Militarization of space is a bad thing, but it's necessary.

Jeb: Correct. Remember that you insisted on putting a cannon onto the third probe?

President: I know...those were funny times. The probe run out of fuel so the cannon was used for deorbiting. It was your idea!

Jeb: Yes...another thing...i and the others were speaking about solar panels...i meant the invention.

President: Yes, we installed some on our second probe. They were destroyed due to a micrometeorite shower. You know...space is dangerous.

Jeb: Understand.

President: You have work to do. Good luck! KSC video out.

Jeb: KSC, i have a little problem. The RCS is malfunctioning. I locked it but it is still phooshing around. We are starting to rotate. I copy, RCS is not responding. If we won't take action the rotation will speed up until we would be squashed by the G-forces or we will be flung out of Kerbin orbit.

Mission Control: Copy that. Do you see the panel with the switches that are red? The one that is locked under a window. It's the emergency panel. Find the key in the blue drawer and open the panel. Then pull switch 14-332. This will dump the RCS fuel. Then shift to the reserve RCS built into the SAS by pulling 15-337.

Jeb: Understood.

Jeb followed the instructions and the phooshing stopped. Then the reserve RCS was activated, which was controllable.

Jeb: Thanks KSC! In fact, our G-forces didn't go over 0,5.

Bill: I knew that you should never trust the old RCS computer...

Bob: Bill, they're installing the new one soon. On our next mission such a thing won't happen again.

Bill: Next mission...the one in which we will stay in space for a whole day and experiment with the orbital engines?

Bob: Yes. I hope they'll have solar panels there so we can test them.

Mission Control: Orbit completed. Control switched to automatic. Initializing de-orbit sequence.

Edited November 23, 2013 by MedwedianPresident

[MedwedianPresident]

Prologue - Part 4

Mission Control: De-orbit burn completed. Your predicted landing site will be in northern Medwedia, not far from Bjergsted. The rescue teams have been dispatched. Comms blackout in 15 minutes.

Jeb: Understood you. Lads, make sure you finish your stuff and prepare for the landing. And remember, the predicted maximun is only 3 G so don't worry much. Bob: Heatshield precooling initialized. Liquid helium is running through the bottom of our capsule now. It also will be used to help our capsule drift away when we separate from the service module. The vents will be opened for half a second, and we'll gain 5 m/s of relative velocity.

Bill: Nice statement. Anyways, the people who're down there will have a nice thing to watch. Remember when we watched the reentry of Orbiter-5? Through a telescope.

Jeb: Yes.

10 minutes later.

Mission Control: T-5 mins until reentry. Altitude: 85 km.

Jeb: Prepare for the big sauna.

Bob: Apparently you are also a good humorist.

Bill: Okay...the service module is at a safe distance now so we have nothing to worry about.

Mission Control: T-3 mins.

Jeb: Remember in the school, when Kerndorf strapped a videocamera to a firework rocket? Of course he attached a parachute and he also put the fireworks out. He actually managed to recover the camera and the teachers then realized he was a genius? Now he is the head of the weather rocket departament. Not the most prestigeful position avaliable, but at least something. Actually he was the person who designed the rocket for Orbiter-1.

Bill: And I was also obsessed with fireworks. I also dissected rockets, and i was the first kerbal in the world to make a multistage rocket at home. Remember i used school glue and sticky tape to glue the stages together? Anyways, mine reached ten kilometres.

Bob: And i made a rocket go off too, not one time. Except...downwards. Remember the face of the policeman when he recovered a rocket from a 20-meter-deep hole? He thought it was a Kinese ICBM. Yes, it was in the ICBM age.

Mission Control: T-20 seconds...T-10 seconds...5...4...3...2...1...atmosphere detected.

Jeb: And we're coming in hot!

Bob: Remember, watch the gauges. The KSC cannot control the helium flow as we're in blackout. Increase it when temperature goes into the red zone and decrease when in green. Otherwise the liquid helium will run out and we will be cooked. Or we will be simply cooked.

Jeb: Understood. Temperature is following the predicted curve.

Bill: Very good. I am checking the ejection system in case we won't be able to stay in the capsule or the parachutes would break.

Mission Control: Altitude 40 km. You're almost halfway through.

President: Gene, are you sure they will survive that?

Gene: I'm sure...althrough...althrough the weather department phoned my secretary saying there will be turbulences...

Assistant: Sir...we detected a storm forming in the predicted course.

Gene: They must use the RCS...but...the blackout....

President: If i must i can award the medals post-mortem.

Gene: No time for joking now. This is a dangerous situation. Assistant...can they survive if they don't correct their trajectory.

Assistant: I don't know...maybe...but there will be serious damage to the capsule...probably they'll have to bail out because the storm lies within the part of the flight where they have to use the parachute.

Gene: Or maybe...Jeb is resistant to G-forces, you know. Maybe...maybe...he will manage to notice the storm out of the window?

Mission Control: Unauthorized course change detected. Capsule is not predicted to hit storm.

Jeb: That was close...we almost did fly into that hurricane.

Bob: It would have ripped our parachute open.

Bill: I've restored contact with KSC.

Mission Control: Congratulations on evading the storm. We have informed the rescue teams on the change of the predicted landing site.

Jeb: Thanks. We already have opened our drogue parachute. Altitude is around 10 km now...you must calibrate your altimeters.

Mission Control: Our apparature is already calibrated for the landing.

Jeb: Good. Do you anyways know that RCS is not the worst thing in the world? I mean, seriously, it saved our lives now. Maybe not our lives...because we could've ejected...but that would destroy all the fun of the landing, won't it?

Bob: And we like fun landings, don't we?

Bill: We like them, oh yeah!

Jeb: We're going to deploy our main parachute now, so prepare to feel good ol' normal gravity now.

Bill: Nice. Can't wait to be in a normal airplane again that flies at 200 kilometers per hour!

Jeb: You are sort of a grounded person...don't you like space and G-forces and everything?

Bill: Well...

President: They are coming in for landing now?

Gene: Yes they are. There already are sightings of the parachute.

Mission Control: Landing site is confirmed. Calculation of slow fall course in progress.

President: Nice...they survived.

Jeb: Main parachute deployed. How does 1 G feel?

Bob: Excellent!

Bill: There's a field below us! And a hut!

Jeb: Remember our holidays in Bjergsted...that's Hjornulf Kjolsen's Farm!

The rescue teams entered the field in their orange cars and made a circle around the place where the capsule was to land. Kerbals in hazmat suits started getting ready to retrieve the astronauts.

Sergeant: Lads, make sure the perimeter is safe. I already spoke with the farmer, he is not gonna disturb us.

Private: The Kwitzerlandish border control is notified.

The capsule touched down gently.

Jeb: Finally!

Bill: Let's open that airlock! We need some fresh air!

The astronauts left the capsule and threw off their helmets. They enjoyed the first moments of breathing fresh air again, and traveled to the airport in Bjergsted to board the next airplane to the KSC.

Jeb: Okay...let's fly home!

Edited November 22, 2013 by MedwedianPresident

[MedwedianPresident]

Please feel free to post any comments/thoughts/ideas. I will also maybe already add some screenshots today.

[Guest LTrotsky]

pictures

[halocon720]

You really are obsessed with your beloved Medwedia, aren't you?