The Boldly Go: The Space Intiative (AAR)

[NASAFanboy]

"In the early days of the space race it took a crisis - the fear that our national security would be compromised - to speed things up. Today we don't have a crisis; we have an opportunity. To seize this opportunity, I'm not proposing a 10-year plan like Apollo, no, no; I'm proposing a long-range, continuing commitment. First, in five to seven years, for the coming decade, I propose an Assembly Space Station in LKO, an critical step in all our endeavours and the Kerbal Exploration of the Solar System. And next, I propose that we return back to the Mun, back to the future, this time, to stay. And then, an journey into tomorrow, an journey that will inspire, innovate, and cement our leadership in the field of technology and spaceflight...an manned mission to Duna." - President Madfield, 20th Anniversary of the first Kerbal Mun Landing

★★★★★★★★★★★

CHAPTER PORTAL

Prologue Part 2

Chapter One: The Core

Chapter Two: Shuttle SSK-23

Chapter Three: Random Stuff

Chapter Four: Assembly Required (SSK-24)

★★★★★★★★★★★

[PROLOGUE]

President Madfield shivered nervously. The temperature had dropped several degrees in his meeting room despite the best efforts of his heaters as an cold front swept across his country. He sat silently in his chair, reading the daily paper with an determined patience, almost as if he was anticipating something. He had been awake the entire night giving press briefings and performing an last minute visit to the Chaiqeng ambassador before he left for his home country, such were the duties of his office, and although he felt no sentimental attachment to them, he certainly liked the air of respect and authority his presence carried, almost as if he were some grand emperor. Which, in a sort of way, he was. Although his hair had mostly whitened in his years in the Presidency, and although he nolonger ran two miles a day as he had before, he was still as grand and as healthy as he ever was. In the next room down the hall, the phone rang, and his Assistant Press Secretary popped his head in through the door and called him.

"Mr. President! The phone!"

"I'll get it. Patch them through to my desk."

"Got it!"

The official scurried off, and Madfield picked up his reciever. Several Kerbal voices quickly broke through the silence.

"Is this the Green House?"

"Yes, yes it is."

"Ok, can you get the President on the line? It's important."

"This IS the President"

There was a pause, and Madfield could hear several Kerbals scurrying at the other end. Another Kerbal picked up the line.

"Mr. President, we've finished the 90-hour report on your goals for space exploration that you set forth at the speech last month."

"Compared with my State Department, you work quite fast."

"Yes, yes we do, Mr. President. Should I fax you he document? It's around 45 pages long."

"Go ahead. We won't run out of paper."

"Ok. We're sending it."

Down in the Green House Basement, the fax machine was at work. Several interns watched, grabbing each paper and running them to Madfield's desk. The President stopped brooding over his newspaper, and opened the 90-Hour Report.

And unknowlingly opening an new chapter in the history of exploration.

★★★★★★★★★★★

GOALS

• Construct Assembly Platform in LKO
  
• Return to the Mun, This Time to Stay
  
• Mount an Expedition to Duna
  
• Lay Groundwork For Manned Exploration Of Jool
  

★★★★★★★★★★★

Being an democratic nation with an gridlocked Congress, the 90-Hour report soon found itself under fire. Although more than 4.5 billion dollars in funds had been allocated to fund and develop the assembly platform for the first year, the Orbital Platform was soon scaled back. Facing budget cuts, the 90-Hour Report was only saved with the intervention of President Madfield himself and the NAA Administrator, both of whom took political reprecussions for their defense of the program. But onward the program persevered, its engineers and scientists laboring away, their toil and sweat spent fulfilling one of the most ambitous projects ever proposed. Alongside them, the propulsion engineers worked, trying their best to modify one of their rockets to fit the standards set forward by design teams. With almost the entire manpower of the Manned Spaceflight Division and the Propulsion Division focused on this project, or, more than ten thousand employees working day and night, to inspire, innovate, and explore...

Edited March 16, 2014 by NASAFanboy

[NASAFanboy]

★★★★★★★★★★★

[PROLOGUE PART TWO]

"The Space Exploration Intiative, if followed completely under the 90-hour report, will cost upwards of $450 billion dollars. That's not in any way sustainable or affordable under our current budget."

"I know, I know."

Director Edgert was in an tight spot. He was being mandated and constantly pressured by the President to hurry with the Space Exploration Intiative to achieve results quickly and cheaply; and he was faced with constant funding wars raging across Congress. He couldn't achieve the results without the money, and the money was being withheld by Congress, and Congress was being soon overrun by fillibusting Senators. The fact that the Midterm Elections had put many political enemies of President Madfield into the office hadn't helped either. But progress was being made, he was sure of it. Rockomax Aerospace was finishing up the core of the new Heavy Lift Vehicle, and the contractors at FusTek Corporation were finishing up the space-worthy payloads for the first launch of the assembly site. This was coming at an cost; many technical issues were being overlooked and most of the systems had been quickly rushed. There would certainly be alot of good luck charms and prayers during the day of launch, he was sure of it.

"The ion thruster research needs to be funded too!"

"We don't have the funds. Unless it fits into the design of the Space Exploration Intiative, we can't afford it. And heck, we're already in a tight spot with the SEI itself."

"What do you mean?"

"It's on life support right now. Once Madfield pulls the plug, its all over. We have one more year to get the station core into orbit, that's all. One more year, and then the budget axe comes down and hacks off the SEI programs. It's that simple. We cannot support your program at such critical a time."

Edgert hated cancelling design projects that had ambition, but this time, he had no choice. It was either the ambitous programs that wouldn't bear fruit in the short term, or his career and the future of spaceflight, and likely the careers of President Madfield and his political allies. He chose the latter.

"But my proposals can make that happen! I can get it done at a cheap-"

"Enough. Dismissed."

The Kerbal in front of him gave a sad sigh, gathered his papers and left without another word. It was only two years into the program, and he had only one year left. He stared at the photo of one of his predecessor, Webb Kerman. What would Webb do now?, Edgert pondered, wondering about his next course of action. The vultures were closing in on the SEI, and the political rivals were already circling the target, their mouths salivating at the thought of such an easy kill. Madfield was starting to distance himself from the Space Exploration Intiative, and had even admitted to him that he might cancel it at some time in the near future. Edgert couldn't take the political fallout, nor could he take the guilt from the SEI's death - but he had an impossible schedule with funding that was being quickly strapped down to only the basics. He was trapped.

At the VAB, work was frantic. The workers well knew that their very jobs depended on the SEI's survival, and they knew that they only had a year left before the unspeakable happened. The core was almost finished, but the payload was an whole other story....

The sounds of metal on metal clanged throughout the interior of the VAB. Workers scurried to and fro, grabbing equipment and supplies. The payload consisted of several modules, an airlock and an hub/habitation module along with an third module that would act as an assembly platform. An new future was taking place, that is, if they could get it finished on time and under the budgetary limit. But in one of the clean rooms in the side wing, another future was taking place.

"It's an nice spacecraft."

"It certainly is. It's the Duna Site Reconaissance Orbiter. Supposed to look for landing sites on the Dunian surface, although I'm not sure when we'll get there."

"The President says ten years."

"It's a government program, and it's underfunded. More of twenty or thirty years."

"How so?"

"Word's out we'll be a dead fish by next year if we don't get this and the core of the assembly platform into space. Even Madfield's distancing himself from the Program."

"That sucks."

"I have to agree, but there's not much we can do about it."

The clock was ticking. It was an race against time, a race they couldn't lose.

★★★★★★★★★★★

Visits from Foreign Dignitaries to the VAB were not unusual. They would come at their own request, and balk at the massive rockets under construction and chat with the launch crews and other employees at the center, before going back to their home countries and becoming ardent fans of space exploration. So when the Enligan Diplomatic Officer made a special announced visit to the center, everyone assumed it was to look at rockets. But it was for an entirely different purpose.

"Mr. Administrator, I wish to speak with you regarding possible international cooperation in the Space Exploration Intiative." were the first words the Kerbal spoke on arrival, thus breaking any illusions of an typical visit. The Kerbal was now sitting in Edgert's office, sipping tea and talking in an thick native accent from his home country.

"As you can see here, the nation of Enlgian is well prepared to utilize its industrial expertise to participate in the SEI. We have small plans, yes, they are quite small, but large things and achievements all were small plans at once, just ideas in the heads of some, yes?"

"I suppose so."

"Well, take a look at our ideas."

The diplomat opened his briefcase and took out a sheet of paper, putting it on Edgerts desk.

"Uh, you spelled 'Munar' wrong. No 'L'."

"Forgive me for that very trival mistake. It's spelled 'Lunar' in our dialect of language, just an cultural thing, nothing more, nothing less."

"Oh. So, you have a space program?"

"Yes, yes we do."

"And you are willing to partner?"

The diplomat hesitated, then replied.

"We are willing to partner with your lunar, sorry, 'Munar' and Dunaian ambitions. Of course, your wonderful nation will take the lead in the project, but we will contribute engineers, funds, and manpower to this endeavour. You will not regret."

"Are you sure about this? You well know the SEI is on life support in the current Administration in an bleak future."

"Which is why I'm here to help. I have an interest in the SEI myself, you see."

"I'll think about it."

"I hope you will."

And with that, the diplomat walked out of Edgert's office and back into his waiting car, and pulled out of the Space Center. The sun was dipping below the mountains on the horizon now, and the nighttime workers were arriving at KSC in droves while the daytime workers left as the lights turned on at the R&D facility. Edgert slowly walked out of his office, grabbing his coat and shutting off the lights, making a slow walk to his car. The Mun stood still against the dark backdrop of space, glowing with its stolen light form the Sun. The sound of the machines in the VAB continued throughout the night, but one thing was clear.

A new player had entered the field, and the belgeaured space program soon realized, it was not alone in its struggle.

★★★★★★★★★★★

Edited March 14, 2014 by NASAFanboy

[NASAFanboy]

★★★★★★★★★★★

CHAPTER ONE: THE CORE

Jebediah Kerman was one of the ancient Munwalkers that had first set foot on the Mun a decade ago. He was respected, adored, and admired by the space community worldwide as a god amongst kings, and was an rising popular culture celebrity. He had been the first to plant his foot into the Munar regolith, and now, he stood in one of the computer aisles of the Mission Control center, watching as the future of spaceflight sat on the pad, the clock ticking down to launch. Next to him stood Director Edgert and Vice President Jedfrey. Jedfrey was an small, unassuming Kerbal, and was an unlikely running mate for the tall and grand Madfield to choose for his Presidental campaign. But in office, he soon proved his worth as an effective politican who could get bills passed. But even now, he was facing difficulty gaining support in Congress for the SEI. The tensions were rising, and the entire future of the program depended on this one launch.

The Congressional Budget Hearings were tomorrow, and they needed a success to convince the Congressmen, to sway some of them over to their cause. They all knew that this wasn't an fight to explore anymore, but an mere fight for survival, a fight to preserve the spirit of exploration and pioneering, an fight for the survival of Kerbalkind. They couldn't scrub the launch, no matter what. An massive crowd of Kerbals gathered outside the Mission Control center, carrying picnic baskets and chairs, spectating the launch of one of the worlds most capable HLV rockets. The countdown timer started.

"T Minus Two Minutes", announced Gene Kerman.

The last of the launch preparation crew cleared out from the pad. The rocket was in the hands of destiny now, and they couldn't do anything to help it.

"T Minus One Minute", Gene said a mintue later.

Edgert felt his heart pounding, almost as if it was ready to jump out of his chest. Jebediah took a deep breath, and Gene bit his nails.

"T Minus Ten Seconds"

The massive engines roared to life, screaming their defiance at the skies.

"Booster ignition, and liftoff!"

The rocket jolted, and the SRB's roared to life. The crowd cheered as the massive spacecraft, an masterpiece of Kerbal engineering, soared into the sky on an pillar of smoke and flame.

The fight was not yet over in Mission Control, however.

"Altitude 3,000m, 4,000m, and counting!", yelled an Mission Controller

"Hitting supersonic speeds!", yelled another.

"I'm bored", murmured the Range Safety Officer, staring at the big red button in front of him.

"Gravity turn!" screamed Gene, just as the crowd outside was starting to disperse.

Slowly but confidently, the rocket soared into orbit.

"Radial decoupler failure!", came a cry.

Gene wiped the sweat off his brow.

"Is it still gaining speed? Will it be able to keep flying?"

"Yes, yes it is! It should still fly, but we got a dead weight."

A collective sigh of relief flowed over the Mission Control center.

"Keep her flying, I want to see it through", ordered Jedfrey.

"Fairing seperation! Stage Two ignition successful!"

"Roger that!"

"Coasting to Apogee!"

Edgert kept silent thoughout the ordeal.

"It's a two minute run to the Apogee."

"Awaiting Apogee burn."

The controllers wondered if the engine would restart successfully at Apogee. There had been plenty of probelms with the Second Stage Engine during testing, but they did not have either the time or funding to address the issue, and had installed some last minute equipment sent from the Enligian Space Agency that would apparently remedy the issue - but they didn't test the gear yet. Their fears were soon washed away with an confirmation signal that the second stage had fired.

"We've entered orbit!", yelled the Telemetry officer.

"What?"

"We've entered an circular orbit!"

"Oh kod! Thank them Enligians! Thank you!"

The gear had worked.

An second loud cheer arose from the Mission Control facility. The assembly stage had been launched, and the SEI had hopefully been spared the budgetary axe.

For now, they had been spared. For now, they were alive. For now, the future was safe.

But not for much after.

For they were only in the eye of the storm. The worst was yet to come.

★★★★★★★★★★★

Edited March 14, 2014 by NASAFanboy

[NASAFanboy]

★★★★★★★★★★★

CHAPTER TWO: THE SHUTTLE

With the core of the assembly platform finished and the Dunaian Site Reconaissance Orbiter launched a week later, the Space Exploration Intiative was saved for another year. But launching the core didn't finish the job - the crew had to get up there after all. Which was exactly the reason why SSK-23 was sitting on the launchpad right now; to serve as an bus to and from the station. Onboard the shuttle was an specially designed docking module for future supply runs, supplies and matierals, and the first crew for the station. Maintaining a station was no small task, it required millions of dollars per day and billions of dollars to construct an new one.

"SSK-23, do you copy?"

"Roger that Bob, we copy. Let's get to that station, shall we?"

Bob Kerman, one of the twelve moonwalkers, had long since quit his job in the astronaut corps for an easier life of an Mission Controller. Of the original Luna 12 crew, only Jebediah remained as an full-time astronaut, and had even volunteered his services to lead an mission to Duna, an mission who's existance depended on the survival of the SEI. And despite the passing of the SEI Spending Bill, the outcome was bleak. It was only passed by three Represenatitives and scooted by a single Senator in Congress. Certainly not good news for a program supposed to last twenty years, from the Mun, to Duna, to Jool.

"T Minus Two Minutes"

The rest of the launch crew scurried off the pad, racing toward safety. Safety was never to be found in the fumes of rocket exhaust, and several fatalities at the dawn of the Space Age had proved his unfortunate fact.

"T Minus One Minute"

Gene walked into the Mission Control center holding some coffee. He stared at the shuttle on the pad, and walked out, murmuring something about ducks and pizza. Noone gave alarm to the hint of alcohol on his breath, after all, his weekend afternoon drinking habits were no secret. Several Kerbals shadowed him, making sure he didn't cause any disasters. They couldn't delay any more launches.

"T Minus Ten Seconds"

The main engines flared into life, blasting hot gases against the scorched solid concrete of the pad with an mighty roar.

"T Minutes Zero Seconds. Liftoff of the SSK-23", Bob shouted excitedly.

The shuttle lifted off into the sky, its SRB's having joined in the battle chant of defiance to the gravity that had bound it to one planet for so long. It lumbered into the sky at first, shaking a little here and there, then smoothing itself out and maintaining its balance. Bob grinned, then added another tally mark to his notepad. Ten successful liftoffs, this is great! he thought, staring at the pillar of smoke into the sky.

"All systems nominal. SRB's apporaching burnout, and we're past Mach One.", an Mission Controller proudly announced in the usual jargon of an Mission Controller. Misison Control had an specific language of itself, one that the Astronauts like to poke fun at.

"Beginning gravity turn. SRB burnout, we've decoupled them successfully!"

The shuttle continued its rountine ascent. It had followed this flight profile dozens of times, and there was no reason for it to fail this time. Not today, and most certainly not at an mission with such an high priority.

"External Tank has been ejected! SSK-23 has entered orbit!"

qq

The role of Mission Control was over; everything else would fall to the astronauts now....

★★★★★★★★★★★

The cargo bay door opened with an dull clang that could be heard inside the flight deck. The blue glow of Kerbin's atmosphere filled the bay with light as the astronauts onboard waited inside the Flight Deck for the rendezvous.

The crew was small, just two Kerbals, but that would be enough for now. The station was still heavily incomplete, and couldn't support much more than three at an time. Onboard the shuttle was an docking module to accomandate supply vessels. The Mission Commander was Adam Kerman. Adam had flown two times prior to SSK-23, having went to space on SSK-11 and SSK-20. This was the first Mission he had commanded, and he was going to ensure it wouldn't be his last.

His sole companion for the entire mission was an Kerbal named Billybobfred. Billy was one of the younger astronauts. This would be his first time in space, and he still hadn't lost the glee of floating in microgravity, an experience which would seem like an complete and total annoyance to an 'ol-salt spacefarer' like Adam or Jeb. Billybobfred had grown up worshipping the astronauts who had landed on the Mun and who had went to space, and had been very excited for an chance to work in the astronaut program, alongside his heros. He was somewhat annoying, but Adam could stand it. He had been through much worse.

"Mission Control, we have station rendezvous in five minutes, visual contact with Assembly Platform has been established."

"Roger that SSK-23, make your way to it."

Adam gripped the shuttle controls, and cautiously fired each thruster, one at a time, to ensure that they all worked. Taking a deep breath, he set the shuttle on a course to intercept the station, which was currently an small dot on the horizon. The approach was an long one.

"Mission Control, we are going to pass through to the night side in twenty minutes. Should we dock or should we await reentry of the daytime side again?"

Adam knew how dangerous it was to dock with an spacecraft in total darkness. The Great Union had attempted such an feat with its Kaylut Station a year ago, and only succeeded in losing three astronauts, a spacestation, and creating around a hundred pieces of debris; this came with the added gift of political backlash, as the Great Union had to delay its plans of an multi-modular station for another five years. Luckily, the station was at an low orbit, and all the debris had rentered only a month ago. But still, Adam didn't want to die in space.

"You've underestimated. Probably glitch with shuttle computer...you have more than 50 minutes on the bright side to dock. Do it now, and get it done quickly."

"Roger that Control."

The station was near the Shuttle now, and Adam felt a bead sweat roll down his neck as he released the Docking module.

The module began to head toward the station, twisting and turning to avoid hitting its solar panels. After what felt like an eternity, the module finally docked. They had twenty more minutes until the shuttle crossed over to the nighttime side.

"Let's do this!", Adam murmured.

The shuttle banked and rolled over, exposing its docking port to the newly installed docking module. It approached cautiously and slowly, careful not to collide with the station. Approaching at 0.5m/s carefully, Adam brought the two ports together. The first crew had arrived onboard the Assembly Platform, and was ready to begin their operations.

But back on Kerbin, Edgert's mood was far from etastic.

"What do you mean by you 'want to scale down the program'?!", he said, his temper rising.

"It's just not affordable. We need one HLV launch and one Shuttle launch per Munar mission. I've looked at the plans for the SEI, and they plainly cannot be sustained for much longer. Look, Edgert, I know you love the program, but we can't sustain so much at once!"

"Give me another two years. Atleast one more year!"

"I ca-"

"Just give us it! I'll show you that it's worth it!"

The President sighed. His approval rating was on an downward streak after he took off some money for social welfare programs to fund the SEI, and some Congress were pressuring him to elimate the program outright - an process that would require the deorbiting the assembly platform and the shutdown and layoffs of much of the NAAs facilities and workers. This, and the fact that his nation was in an recession. He had to be responsible for his nation and he had to win reelection, but he couldn't abandon Edgert, and he would never forgive himself if he ever abandoned the SEI.

"Fine, one more year.", the President said sadly.

"I won't dissappoint you".

And with that, Edgert hung up on the conversation.

Madfield sighed. He knew he was buying time for himself and the SEI, and he wondered how much longer he could keep up his act.

★★★★★★★★★★★

Edited March 15, 2014 by NASAFanboy

[NASAFanboy]

OK now, I'll admit it.

Is my writing style bland or what? Or does the AAR need to focus less on politics/money and more on actual exploration?

I just read the whole thing and it's half an political essay on Government and half an story about the budget.

[NASAFanboy]

★★★★★★★★★★★

CHAPTER THREE: UNNAMED

With the Platform's main body in place and funding secured for the near-future, the eyes of the Space Program fell from Low Kerbin Orbit to an more desirable destination - the Mun. No Kerbal had walked there since Munshoot 17, but as Madfield had put it "We shall return to the Moon; return to our future; this time, to stay". Of course, that was all political banter on his part (After all, he was supposed to give an speech as something symbolic exactly twenty years after Kerbals first landed on the Mun), but Congress and Edgert took him seriously, with an Anti-Space coalition forming up and Edgert ordering design times to quickly write up an proposal to fulfill the goals set forth by Madfield in the "90 Hour-Report On The Current Status Of Provincal Spaceflight And Offworld Operations", which had been uncerimonously called the "90HROTCSOPSAOO" in an acrynom that no Kerbal had yet to pronounce correctly.

Edgert was sitting down for another conference with his Assiociate Adminstrator. Being an government agency, they had to have meetings to ensure that everyone was working on the right thing; there had been an few catrosophic instances when ARPA had been ordered to produce robotical killing dogs, but had produced genetically engineered cute puppies instead after misreading the orders set forth by Congress. Of course, the government had made an massive profit by selling them, but they couldn't afford the same style of that mistake here.

"It's going to take two launches per Munar expedition. One to carry the lander, one to carry the crew and other consumables. Or we can just build the whole thing at the Assembly Platform.", Edgert announced.

Being an veteran of the Munshoot Program, it was starting to worry him about how mind-bogglingly complex that this new program was, with orbital construction, fuel depots, and an colony on the Mun with its own nuclear fission plant. The cost estimates had started at $150 billion, but had grown to $450 billion. Of course, spread over twenty years, it was somewhat affordable, but that budget had put the agency in the crosshairs of every one of Madfields political enemies.

"I've already got design teams working on the assembly platform, which we've named 'Liberty'. We hope to launch the truss pretty soon.", Hughes replied. Hughes had always been an loyal confidant to Edgert, and never let anything slip.

"All in one piece?"

"We have no choice. Has SSK-23 reported back?"

"They've installed the docking module. We're also working on an hangar, am I correct?"

"Yes, yes we are."

"How much will the station sustain at full capacity?"

There was a pause. Hughes quickly drew up an mental estimation, then fired it out.

"Around a crew of twelve. Get our propulsion teams working on the lunar module, I need to show the public that we're making progress."

"But how will we go to the Mun? Will we base off the 'Liberty', or assemble the module in orbit and go from there?"

"I don't know yet, Mr. Administrator. It's too early to tell."

"We've only got enough money to launcht the HLV once a year. We'll likely have to either go with using our shuttles to build it, or just building it at 'Liberty'."

"Yes, and what about KSC?"

"What?"

"Look, we got a brawl coming soon. Congress wants to direct the National Space Policy, Madfield wants to direct the National Space Policy, we've got the Presidental Aeronautics Council fighting for control of the policy, and we've got seperate divisions inside this agency fighting for the policy control.".

What Edgert said was true. Opposition in Congress was getting quickly unbearable; and Madfield was rejecting much of their proposals. And they had the Aeronautics Council refusing to cooperate and lend them their aircraft for transport, and almost every engineer in the agency was fighting to add their own little piece to the SEI, increasing costs, which was quickly proving to be unsustainable. The SEI couldn't survive much longer.

"When do you think we can mount our earliest Munar return?"

"In a year or so."

"No, when can we flyby the Mun?"

"I'm guessing a year from now. We're pretty close to completion to our system's validation in the Munar Archetecture Division, they're already doing test-flights with their Munar Excursion Vehicle."

"Is MAD done with its lunar habitat study?"

"No, they're finished next week, Mr. Administrator. Is there anything else?"

"No, nothing."

Hughes hung up on the conversation. Edgert buried his head into his arms. So much to do, so little time to do it, he thought. As a kid, he had always dreamed of going to Duna, and he wasn't going to let that dream go out without a fight. He called his secretary.

"Yes, Mr. Administrator?"

"Who leads this anti-Space coalition; no, who is the most effective member of it?"

"An Senator by the name of 'Malrey'."

"That's all I need, thank-you."

Edgert immediately phoned an friend of his who had fought alongside him in the Big War. His friend, an experienced sniper, was one of his true supporters in the fight for the SEI, and currently worked as an space systems Engineer in the Station Division.

"Sondas?"

"Edgert? What do you need?"

"Remember that favor you talked about back then, during the urban fighting?"

"Yeah, what do you need with it?"

"I need you to come here. I got an job for you...."

★★★★★★★★★★★

Senator Malrey was dead. He had been shot twice in the head by an assasins bullet while walking outside. The perprator of his crime had slipped past the police, unseen and unnoticed, having thrown his weapon into the mighy river that empited out into the ocean. Perhaps, one day, he would be caught, but no matter. Malrey was an powerful leader of the Anti-Space Coalition, which adovocated more down to Kerbin expeditures of government funding, and had been almost radical in this respect, once slandering Edgert on the Senate Floor a couple months ago. None of that mattered now, since he was dead.

Edgert paced the floor of his office nervously. He now had blood on his hands, and he didn't know if anything he could do would wash it clean. He had arranged the whole thing, shooting, and Sonda's escape to Chaiqeng. He had never wanted to spill blood, but he had to. Malrey was simply too much of an obstacle to overccome with the Space Exploration Initiative. The Senator had to go. There was an knock.

"Come in."

Jebediah Kerman walked into the room. He was neatly dressed, and had an folder tucked under his arm.

"Hello, Jebediah. What can I do for you?"

"I'm going back."

"To where?"

"Up there", Jebediah said, then pointed toward the ceiling. Edgert quickly understood what he mean't.

"But you can-"

"Yes, yes I can. I've heard about SSK-25, and how they need a commander. I volunteer my services!"

"If you die, our Space Program dies. Go home, Jebediah. You are an national hero, we cannot afford your loss."

"Then what happened to the spirit?", Jebediah protested.

"What spirit?"

"The one of taking risks!"

"I know where you are going with this, and I don't like it."

"Look, I just want to command SSK-25. You marketed the SSK shuttles as vehicles that would provide safe, affordable access to space."

"I did."

"What could be a better way to prove it than to send me up? I can be an PR stunt!"

"Why do you want this so bad?"

Jebediah smiled.

"You know the fourth planet form the Sun? Duna?"

"Yeah."

"That's where I want to go."

Edited March 16, 2014 by NASAFanboy

[NASAFanboy]

★★★★★★★★★★★

CHAPTER FOUR: Assembly Required

[NOTE: YAY, My seventh unintruppted post. I could probably mess around in here and talk to myself, and noone would notice )

With the death of one of the most prevalent opponents of the SEI, the Anti-Space coalition began to crumble. Edgert found a close confidant with President Madfield, who was quite relieved by this new unexpected development, "Almost like waking up one day to a Christmas present that you didn't expect and were too ashamed to ask for", he said in an phone call. The truss segment of the newly named Space Station Liberty had docked with the station a week ago, delivered up in segments onboard an HLV booster and an assembled with several EVA's by Adam and Billybobfred, of whom were scheduled to return to Kerbin soon. The MAD (Munar Archetecture Design), teams had finalized their Munar Excursion Vehicle designs, and they would be finished soon.

But first, they needed to build the modules in orbit

It would take three launches of an shuttle to construct an single Munar expedition in LKO, unlike the previously estimated two launches. The crew would remain onboard 'Liberty' while the construction was taking place, an process which could last anything from one day to three months. The Station was now in its operational configuration, and Beyond-Kerbin Orbit exploration could begin.

SSK-24 stood on the launch pad, ready to be shot off into space. The shuttle was one of the twelve constructed for the Space Program, and it was an fine masterpiece of engineering. Being completely reusable except for the orange External tank, it could provide low-cost access into space, and would form the backbone of any concentrated space effort, especially one as high-profile and extensive as the SEI. Onboard the shuttle was an massive delivery of rocket parts, needed to construct the Munar Module in LKO. The shuttle was fully staffed with an crew of six, Jebediah Kerman as the commander as per request.

"Mission Control, we're ready to launch", Jebediah said proudly.

"Jebediah, be careful out there. You're the hero of our nation, and we can't afford to lose you. I'm worried", Gene replied.

It was true, Jebediah was the first Kerbal to step on the Mun and was widely regarded as an international hero of sort. Jebediah disliked being thought of as an historical figure, as he said it "Makes me feel like I'm gonna die". But that didn't matter now, he had to accomplish this mission if he was to prove to Edgert that he could command an manned mission to Duna. He had to.

"Don't worry Gene, anxiety is not good for your heart"

"I'm more worried about yours."

"I'm not worried; you are."

"What do you mean?"

"Gene, I'm Jebediah Kerman. I went to the Mun. If I can get to the Mun, a short jaunt into space isn't going to kill me."

"This isn't a short jaunt, its a week-long stay onboard Space Station Liberty"

"Ah, well, who cares? My Mun trip was a week."

Flipping through the pre-launch checklist, Jebediah took a quick head count. There were six Kerbals onboard, and he was the only Munwalker. He was the oldest, but one of them, Ordas Kerman, had made three spaceflights compared to his two spaceflights prior. He had an entire paylaod bay full of fuel and rocketparts for the assembly of the Munar Module, an act that had violated the protocol set in place after the "Dauntless" disaster three years before. He still remembered that day, the shuttle rising up, only to flip over three kilometers up then nosedive into the R&D center. The R&D center itself took an whole year to fix, and was still scarred from the blast to this day. There weren't even enough remains left of the crew to host an funeral. He took a deep breath.

"T Minus Two Minutes", Gene said, going through the usual pre-launch countdown. Jebediah felt his grip tightening on the controls, the alderiane rushing through his veins. He savored the excitement of an space launch, and he wasn't going to waste this one.

"T Minus One Minute". One of the crewmembers, an Payload Specialist by the name of Nedbob Kerman, tapped Jebediah on the shoulder.

"Are the experiment racks secure?"

"Yeah."

"T Minus Thirty Seconds". Jebediah stared out the window at the open blue sky above. There was not an cloud in sight.

"T Minutes Ten Seconds". There was an rumbling inside the shuttle as its main engines started up. The flight deck started shaking, and one of the astronauts looked around in worry as the deck started to vibrate.

At zero seconds, the boosters ignited and the shuttle hurled off the pad, roaring as it hurtled toward the heavens. The onboard computers worked feverishly, transmitting data to Mission Control and providing the astronauts inside with information about their current trajectory.

Gene monitored the situation from his seat in Mission Control, reading over telemetry and other assorted data. SSK-24 was the ninth shuttle launch that had had suprevised, ten if one counted the Dauntless disaster. The disaster had nearly killed the entire SSK program, and it wasn't until an massive investigation that it was confirmed that the mission, listed as SSK-14, had an faulty pump that had disengaged on the launch pad, forcing the orbiter to use its onboard, which ran out at around 3KM. With the fuel gone, the engines shut off, and the onboard computer immediately decoupled the SRB's. The spacecraft attempted to glide back to the runway, but instead smashed into the SRB Research Building in the R&D center, causing an chain reaction of explosions that had destroyed the R&D division, obliterated two of the three tracking dishes, and set the VAB on fire. For added insult, the underground hydrailuc pipes that brought water to the firefighters had failed, forcing an complete rebuild of the VAB, setting the space program back by an year and delaying almost every manned launch by two more years.

The shouts of several of his colleagues shook him out of his thoughts.

"SRB's have been decoupled! SSK-24 is speeding to apogee"

"SSK-24?", Gene asked.

"Yeah."

"This makes it the tenth shuttle mission since the Dauntless Disaster!"

One of his friends, and stout Kerbal named Sammund grinned.

"Well then, let us drink to the shuttle program and the success of the SEI, shall we?"

"No, not now."

The orbiter was now heading into the blackness of space. Where the atmosphere ended and space began was always an subject of dispute, with some setting the limit at 50KM, some at 70KM, and even some at 30KM. But it was an generally accepted fact that space was hard to reach, even with the technology and engineering of an Modern Kerbin. The early days of the space race had only proved this, as rocket after rocket exploded.

"We've hit the Apogee!", came a cry.

The shuttle had now decoupled its external tank and was coasting to its highest point, at which it would fire its engine again and enter into an round orbit. Years of satellite launches had fine-tuned this process, and it had become almost rountine to the different space agencies around the world. Onboard the flight deck, Jebediah looked out into the blackness of space for the third time. An drop of water, condensed into an ball, floated past him. He felt an surge of nationalistic pride that was both embrassing and amusing. Here he was, as an Provincal astronaut, in an Provincal-built spacecraft, conquering space. He quickly shook the thoughts out of his head.

"Should we start our experiments?", Nedbob asked.

Nedbob was an scientist by nature, and had been assigned to the flight as it payload specialist. As an aspiring scientist, he had no clue on how to fly the shuttle, like most of what Jebediah called the "3rd generation spacers". There was an slight thump as the circulization burn ended, and the computers flashed for a bit.

"Sure, go ahead, we're in orbit and we got three hours until our rendezvous with Liberty. Feel free to do whatever you want, as long as you don't kill us all!", Jebediah called out to the rest of the crew. There was an slight murmur of approval as the astornauts began to unbuckle themselves from their flight seats and started to move around the interior, accustoming themselves to the microgravity. Jebediah turned the shuttle tenatively, trying to figure where the sun was, then set the "Sundshader" controls to "Automatic". He couldn't afford to be blinded by the sun, not at this time.

Some three hours later, the crew was bored, bouncing off the walls and floating as the station and shuttle slowly danced arund each other, getting closer and closer to dock. Jebediah was asleep, having turned the shuttle onto "Autopilot" mode an hour before.

There was an sudden bump as the station and shuttle docked, followed by an fizzling sound as the docking ports pressurized themselves. Jebediah woke up an an start, then made his way to the airlock. Most of his crew were already inside the station, restarting its computers and systems. Nedbob was at the science module, admiring the gleaming equipment that now lay at his disposal, and several astronauts could not hide their amazement as they went from module to module, touching, poking, and generally acting in an curious manner. Jebediah could'nt blame them; although he had flown to the Mun and had one flight flying solo on the longest solo space mission, he had never seen the interior of an space station, let alone an multimodular one.

He looked over the mission profile. He had a week to construct the Kerbin-Departure Stage for the Muanr Excursion Vehicle, after which he was to leave a crew of two to assist in the assembly of the main body when SSK-25 docked. After undocking frm the station, the crew was to perform scientific experiments in orbit, then fly back down to Kerbin. Opening the station's blueprint containers, he found the design outlines for the Munar Module. He grinned as he looked through each and every design.

"Let's get started!", Jebediah shouted excitedly as he found an roll of duct tape.

It was time to begin.

★★★★★★★★★★★

Edited March 16, 2014 by NASAFanboy

[NASAFanboy]

Ah, ok now, this AAR is certainly suffering from "Chronic-Nonposting-Disorder". On the other hand, I can now brag about posting seven times in a row without being reported for spam or being interrupted. Anyways, Chapter 4 will be done soon, Chapter 5 will be up shortly.

[Guest]

Let me be the first to say, nice work! It's very realistic.

[kenbobo]

well done!

[NASAFanboy]

Thanks for your support!

I was almost going to abandon it until you stepped in.

Chapter 5 will come out tomorrow and detail the beginnings of the new manned Munar program, along with the political infighting with an event coming soon....

[USKnight]

Dear NASAFanboy,

I like your mix of political and rocketry intrigue. There are both realistic and kerbal elements to your story, from government and monetary pressures to space diagrams with question marks on them. I hope you continue your story.