Do you even Spacestation?

[Umlüx]

hello my fellow kerbonauts. yesterday i built another space station, and.. i am curious.. how do YOU construct and assemble stations?

normally, i build the whole thing in the VAB. stations in kerbal orbit mostly look like the real thing (MIR, ISS..). stations at other planets or moons are looking more exotic, with gravity rings and such.

then i break them down into single modules and transport them up with a special designed lifter+spacetug.

to assemble them in orbit, i use a little help from navyfishs excellent docking monitor mod plus mechhjebs Smart A.S.S. module . otherwise my OCD would kill me when i see docking ports not exactly lining up

do you use the help of mods? do you plan your whole station first? or simply throw together some modules? are you trying to get something useful, or simply good looking?

[Slouch]

I normally build mine fairly ad-hoc to suit my needs. I have several modules (lab, fuel, etc.) and send them up as needed. I also have rigs that are mainly just struts and docking ports, in case I've run out of space in a station. I've got:

A fuel station above Kerbin,

A lab station at Mun,

A lab and fuel station at Minmus

and lab, fuel, rover and lander sections heading to Duna.

[Scotius]

^ That's pretty much what i'm doing. I have couple of modules saved - they are launched and pieced together as needed. My best lifter has about 75 tons to LKO capability, so weight isn't much of an issue. Problem is only size - too long modules decrease stability of entire craft. That's why i'm sending my stations to space in pieces.

[LordFjord]

I'm using mods for space station to give them a purpose except being refueling stations. I found Station science greatly enhancing this. Lots of quite heavy modules to create resources for experiments, some smaller experiments parts to actually use these and do the research.

It yields a lot of science points, but the effort to build it is immense.

Most important thing in my opinion is to build it modular. Just put docking ports on all ends, then you can always "reshape" the station as you see fit.

Here's my current project. This wasn't a 3-hulled design at start - i built it more box shaped, but I made a new connection module (at the top and bottom) and rearranged the modules to fit the design. With a few more of the connection modules in the middle and a few more engines on the back, I hope it is stable enough to be sent to Mun, Minmus and maybe beyond.

[SSSPutnik]

At first yes, now, not so much. Usually I find I just build required ship in orbit adding tanks as required. I am planning a Kethane plant on Vall because lugging fuel out there is a pain.

[MaverickSawyer]

My stations tend to run towards the smaller end of the spectrum, and are usually aimed at filling a specific purpose. For example, I have a station in orbit around Kerbin right now that is used as a hub for my efforts to visit every biome on the Mun. I send up a fresh crew, they pile into the station, the lander and transfer stage are refuelled, they dock and head for the Mun. Upon arrival, the transfer stage undocks, the lander goes about it's business, and it docks with the transfer stage, pumps across the unused fuel, and makes the burn for home. After arriving back at Kerbin, the stack returns to the station, where the experiments are cleaned out and prepped for reuse, the crew takes the samples and data, returns to the crew capsule, then heads back to the KSC.

I will probably use the same station for use in exploring Minmus, but other than that, I have no need to build any others in career mode. Once I finish off the career mode, and switch to sandbox, then I might go larger and more exotic. Until then, it's all about being realistic.

[Streetwind]

I just built my first station yesterday. And with "built" I mean "I managed to launch two parts and dock them together".

Considering that I have never done a rendezvous or docking maneuver before, never launched something bigger than a lander before, am completely improvising everything about the station and that the whole thing happens to be in orbit around Minmus and not Kerbin, I'm considering that enough of an accomplishment for now

[Epthelyn]

The only spacestation I've built recently was to test the performance boost in 0.23. After finding out that it was considerable I got bored and went back to interplanetary travel.

If you consider orbital construction sites "space stations" then I have one in progress now as part of a long-term mission to visit places I've rarely been to (namely Dres and most of Jool's moons).

[Sirine]

Found out that space station serve no purposes. At the end evacuate all crew and de.orbit the station.

[Flixxbeatz]

Prior to docking nodes, there are no other option than to build the whole station on VAB and launch it into orbit.

After docking nodes were introduced, there was no other easier method on building one other than launching each module piece by piece and docking them like some sort of 3D puzzle.

[J0hnsmine]

Yes. Indeed i DO ​ space station.

[Flixxbeatz]

Found out that space station serve no purposes. At the end evacuate all crew and de.orbit the station.

One of the reasons why I don't build massive stations with numerous modules. I'll eventually forget all their purposes and crew maintenance (like launching a new crew after a set amount of time and bringing the old crew back).

[Ralathon]

Since I play with FAR, RSS and Deadly Reentry lifting big stations in 1 launch is a no go. Even on my EPL munbase I tend to launch stuff 1 at a time to avoid excessive stress. So I'm stuck launching module by module.

If I build a station it usually needs to serve some purpose. For example, the station I'm currently building in LKO is supposed to be a temporary hangout for crew and cargo before they transfer to other destinations (For now mostly the mun). So it needs to have ample living space, plenty of life support storage, a fuel depot to refuel munar ferries, a docking ring so the mun ferries can dock and a utility craft to tow things around and clean up debris.

[LarryWallwart]

I have built one (well at least half of the sections are in orbit and connected) while the design looks cool, it is too flimsy and difficult to dock.

I will probably start over.

Edited January 20, 2014 by LarryWallwart

[Pecan]

I'm trying to develop modularly so I have transfer vehicles that are not designed to land anywhere, just ferry crew, fuel and new modules between stations. Similarly each planet/moon gets its own landers as I reach it. A space station in each place is a 'truck stop' for the transfer vehicles to refuel between launches/descents.

[Captain Sierra]

I build the entire thing (or at least draw it out) and then break it into modules. Rarely will I exceed my capacity to launch the module (considering the fact I try to avoid asparagus staging).

But when I do, it must be big . . .

Starpoint Gantry (modules currently under construction):

125 tons to 850 km orbit. My lisfting capacity is 3 orange tanks, ~110 tons, to LKO. This had to be hyperedited.

Edited January 20, 2014 by Captain Sierra
changed image

[Tank Buddy]

I always build modules and fly them up one at a time. Most stations have a purpose (LKO SSTO refueling station) or are just novelty (Space Base at 500 KM)

[Seshins]

I have a LKO crew / fuel station that has just been finished. Will be setting my eyes on the mun next

[SkyRender]

Most of my stations follow a six-pointed-star formation, wherein the "top" and "bottom" are part of the main launch and contain the habitation and fuel storage, while the four arms of the station are for docking. Example:

It's a very utilitarian approach to station design, but it works out well and makes for easily-expanded stations. (That particular station was sent to Duna; it's loaded with TAS Life Support containers, 4 times more than necessary these days since at the time TAS Life Support only provided 6 hours' worth of supplies per listed day.)

[TimePeriod]

I use the kethane mod for interplanetary travel. Gives me the option to refuel on the mun rather then back on Kerbin, with much less gravity to deal with.

[DisarmingBaton5]

Found out that space station serve no purposes. At the end evacuate all crew and de.orbit the station.

Stations serve no purpose... except fun!

What is the point of anything in this game, anyway? It's a sandbox! Go have fun!

I have, to date, never finished a station with >3 modules.

[SkyHook]

I tried once. Then I realized it was a lot of work and 112% pointless. Working on an orbital shipyard though.

[GamerMitch]

I just started docking to build mine since I just recently learned the basics of docking.

[jmiki8]

I have a basic one, following the ideology "all saves must have at least one space station".

[Joshington]

I have over 130 hours in the game, but still haven't taken the time to rendezvous, so I'm pretty limited when it comes to space stations. But I have built two accomplishments:

Giant refueling station, something close to 425 tons. My biggest payload yet.

Space station kit, sends all the pieces up in one go. It's not very pretty, but at least it's not running out of electricity anytime soon.