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Project Alexandria: a history of spaceflight done in Real Solar System

Felbourn

By Felbourn
in KSP1 Mission Reports

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Felbourn

Felbourn

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I don not remember much about episode 1, but i was a bit surprised that you did not at least mention the X-1, first supersonic flight!

You're correct in thinking that remembering more of episode 1 would help in this case. I mentioned the premise of Project Alexandria in it. As a reminder, this was to be about spaceflight history, and I commented that space was defined by the FAI as 100 km. The X-1 therefore had nothing to do with spaceflight history per se. It didn't even get 30% of the way to space. It's maximum speed is far, far below orbital or even a meaningful sub-orbital. The purpose of the X-1 was to advance our knowledge of aircraft design, and to prove the sound barrier could be broken.

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Sampa

Sampa

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True, but it DID play a role in getting us there, like when you mentioned that Chinese guy (Gosh dangit, I totally forgot that guy's name!) It WAS, at least worth a mention. Perhaps mentionable around the shuttle period? Wasn't spaceflight for say, but it DID shape the way we learned about human's capacity to operate at high speeds (important for when rocket's like Atlas and beyond)

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Felbourn

Felbourn

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I'm worried that you'll only "gloss over" them, and anything other than US, USSR/Russia, and Europe...

Anyways, I'm glad to see this series starting back up again.

The Canada "first" I glossed over was their first satellite, but it was actually a U.S. launcher (a Thor-Agena) so it was only 50% special. Yea, it's pretty special to have a first satellite if you're Canada, but if you're Bob or one of Bob's fans then you probably don't want to make or see yet another Thor-Agena launched from the U.S. or a satellite that might as well be a Stayputnik with a few solar panels stuck to it. Also, there's not really a lot to SAY about Alouette.

Alouette_1.jpg

The Japanese first may be more interesting and worth a complete launch.

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Rune

Rune

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The Canada "first" I glossed over was their first satellite, but it was actually a U.S. launcher (a Thor-Agena) so it was only 50% special. Yea, it's pretty special to have a first satellite if you're Canada, but if you're Bob or one of Bob's fans then you probably don't want to make or see yet another Thor-Agena launched from the U.S. or a satellite that might as well be a Stayputnik with a few solar panels stuck to it. Also, there's not really a lot to SAY about Alouette.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Alouette_1.jpg

The Japanese first may be more interesting and worth a complete launch.

I heartily support this. You are heading into the times when the US and Russia really kicked this space thing into high gear, and we want to see the juicy manned stuff. I mean, in 1965, there were 70 launches in the US alone! And I want to see you build MIR, personally, or re-hear the story of Polyus, or re-create some of the amazing things that happened with the early stations, both Salyut and Skylab. Hopefully this lifetime. Quite a lot of drama there!

Rune. So yeah, time to hit the not-quite-fast-forward.

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davidy12

davidy12

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Just started watching the newest episode. AWESOMENESS!!! Huge fan of yours!

PS: Why haven't you covered the Saturn I. A day before Kennedy's death, he said this rocket would put us ahead of the Soviets in terms of lifting capability (Ironic because it only launched one thing that wasn't a boilerplate). Have you covered it?

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Felbourn

Felbourn

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david: I did the first Saturn I launch (1961). I will try to make this sound friendly, but I fear it may sound confrontational just because it's text. I mean it in a friendly way because I am so happy you found my series and so glad you're watching! But... you need to watch the series because then you'd already know the answers to your questions. :) Project Alexandria is about firsts (as said in videos) so until the Saturn program does something really meaningful again (a new first) there will only be passing references to the program, if any. Also, note JFK dies in 1963. Alexandria is on 1962 so JFK is alive. "Have you covered it?" can be answered by watching the shows. :)

Rune: Yes, I have not thought too much about what's going to be in episodes past where I am (1963 in production now). But NOW I have a pretty good idea about how much time I can devote to each episode, and how much content I can put in one, and how much video time a launch takes up (LEO versus non-LEO too) because I have done so many of them now. A decision I made (as you saw this last episode) is to have this and all future episodes be one and only one year each. The next episode will be 1963, and the one after that only 1964. At some point too much cool stuff will be in each year. I'm not sure what I will do about that. Skip a lot? BUT! In the specific case of things like Mir, I have an idea of making a spin-off like I have done with my Shuttle-constructing. It will be a special Mir mini-series and will take the place of Alexandria until I am done. That's my thought right now, at least. Plans could change.

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Probus

Probus

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Again, thank you very much for this series. I love it!

One thing that caught my eye is all the beautiful work you've done to the Kennedy Space Center (The Cape) and the Russian cosmodrome. I would be in heaven if I could set up my RSS game just like yours. Do you have a link?

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Felbourn

Felbourn

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I've also been thinking a lot about certain major space history events that might not make sense to FULLY do in Project Alexandria. The two biggest are maybe Mir and the real ISS. Those are huge projects that span years. What might make MORE sense is to do them each as two mini-series, and then use clips from my own footage later when the time is right to incorporate them into Alexandria. That would allow me to give them both the attention they deserve but also not lose out on events from their same years in PA. For example, if I did Mir in PA, you might see me dock a module, but I might not have time to launch resupply missions or do EVAs etc. In PA I'd probably just mention supplies and EVAs in passing. In a specialized mini-series I could DO all of it, for Mir and ISS. Also, I could add story like you might see from an Odyssey-style episode. In Alexandria I would later cut all that and just show real history.

Something to think about...

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sp1989

sp1989

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I've also been thinking a lot about certain major space history events that might not make sense to do in Project Alexandria. The two biggest are maybe Mir and the real ISS. Those are huge projects that span years. What might make MORE sense is to do them each as two mini-series, and then use clips from my own footage later when the time is right to incorporate them into Alexandria. That would allow me to give them both the attention they deserve but also not lose out on events from their same years in PA. For example, if I did Mir in PA, you might see me dock a module, but I might not have time to launch resupply missions or do EVAs etc. In PA I'd probably just mention supplies and EVAs in passing. In a specialized mini-series I could DO all of it, for Mir and ISS. Also, I could add story like you might see from an Odyssey-style episode. In Alexandria I would later cut all that and just show real history.

Something to think about...

I agree however maybe in the beginning especially the ISS those are touchstone moments. I mean the launching of Zarya and Harmony should be part of Alexandria. Its not like Mir or ISS were built in a year. Each year stuff happens and then an ISS section or a Mir section. I mean each mission or expeditions are the same. There only a few a year. So I think that Alexandria and Mir kinda do fit into Alexandria.

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Rune

Rune

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They'd all be IN PA. I'm saying I'd do the full station outside PA and then use clips of the footage for PA many episodes from now at the right times.

That sounds nice. I mean, resupplies and such are completely unreasonable for PA, yet PA might gloss over a lot of nice stuff and only show the big launches... and at the same time that might leave a lot of interesting tidbits out. I am referring, of course, to the nicest parts of successfully averted station disasters on the part of the Soviets...

Still a miniseries showing ISS construction might span a lot of episodes. And you have "short of" already built ISS. So... good thing MIR comes first?

Rune. And even better that Salyut comes first-er, that is PA material for sure, lots of firsts.

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