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Topic: this is going to kill a lot of kerbals.

squeegee started this discussion 8 years ago #76,275

space shuttles are hard. I'm building an ISS like space station and launching it in bits and doing rendezvous. i've already launched the first section based on the russian Zarya module. i didn't look, but i think that was launched on a traditional rocket which is how i launched this section. this module provides attitude control and engines for station keeping, power, and in this build contains food, water, oxygen and habitation for 4 kerbals. it also has a few heat exchangers, 3 docking ports, and very modest fuel reserves.

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squeegee (OP) double-posted this 8 years ago, 2 minutes later[^] [v] #897,336

a lot of the rest of the station, including the next section were delivered by space shuttle. i've not really had many successful space shuttles. stacking an airplane on the back of a giant fuel tank with rocket boosters sounds easy, but it's got a few, uh, complications.

squeegee (OP) triple-posted this 8 years ago, 9 minutes later, 11 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #897,338

loaded with the Unity Module. time for a test flight i guess....

squeegee (OP) quadruple-posted this 8 years ago, 2 minutes later, 13 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #897,339

a night time launch will help with the cover-up...

Anonymous B joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 28 seconds later, 14 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #897,340

squeegee (OP) replied with this 8 years ago, 50 seconds later, 15 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #897,341

things went wrong pretty quickly, tbh

squeegee (OP) double-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 17 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #897,342

squeegee (OP) triple-posted this 8 years ago, 26 seconds later, 17 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #897,343

hmmm... interesting...

squeegee (OP) quadruple-posted this 8 years ago, 44 seconds later, 18 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #897,344

probably shouldn't have sent my 3 best guys on that mission

squeegee (OP) quintuple-posted this 8 years ago, 3 minutes later, 21 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #897,345

right, right, right, tweaked the engines angle of attack to intersect the center of gravity of the vehicle. that might be helpful.

squeegee (OP) sextuple-posted this 8 years ago, 10 minutes later, 31 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #897,346

much better. more up than down this time

squeegee (OP) septuple-posted this 8 years ago, 6 minutes later, 38 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #897,348

main engine throttling is going to be super important to having a good launch profile. too much thrust or too little and we get off course and move sideways and not as much up. once you've got it balanced then you have to adjust the throttle based on weight, speed, and where you want to be in your launch profile. and also if you've dropped boosters and are on the main engine only. and you've also got to be rolled and into position, on heading, and as level as possible before dropping boosters otherwise you'll start rolling around your center of gravity and waste all your fuel trying to stay on course.

squeegee (OP) octuple-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 39 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #897,349

...just totally going the wrong direction now.

squeegee (OP) nonuple-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 40 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #897,351

managed a fair amount of speed but never left the atmosphere.

squeegee (OP) decuple-posted this 8 years ago, 52 seconds later, 41 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #897,352

bad launch, bad recovery from bad launch, overall success in that no kerbals exploded.

squeegee (OP) undecuple-posted this 8 years ago, 14 minutes later, 56 minutes after the original post[^] [v] #897,353

this is one of the only actual SSTO (single-stage to orbit) space plane i've built. i've heard that space planes are pretty easy once you know how to fly them, but they all rely on the R.A.P.I.E.R. engine which is based on the SABRE engine which is entirely experimental at this point in reality. so yeah, space plane. unproven in reality tech. firmly science fiction ATM.

Anonymous C joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 17 minutes later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #897,354

squeegee (OP) replied with this 8 years ago, 29 seconds later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #897,355

before i can actually launch shuttle missions i either need a super fancy mod that adds mechanical actuators to the game, or i need some other way to manipulate a payload to dock with the station once it's left the cargo hold. a mod would allow me to "stand the payload up" and then use the shuttle to perform the station docking. that's kind of a pain in the ass though. this little robotic manipulator will undock from the station, go out and grab the new module, bring it back and hook it up.

mods are great, but too many mods fucks everything up and that mod can jack everything up in my experience. this should work just as well, just with more steps involved with docking new station components. this will also be this first attempt at using this space plane to deliver a functional payload. it makes it to orbit with a fuckload of fuel when it's cargo hold is empty, we'll see how it lifts.

squeegee (OP) double-posted this 8 years ago, 44 seconds later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #897,357

@897,354 (C)
radio teleporters

squeegee (OP) triple-posted this 8 years ago, 22 minutes later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #897,358

squeegee (OP) quadruple-posted this 8 years ago, 3 minutes later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #897,359

the station is going into the easiest orbit to intercept so we fly straight east at a fairly shallow 10-20 degrees and lazily rise into the stratosphere while gaining lots, and lots of airspeed.

squeegee (OP) quintuple-posted this 8 years ago, 51 seconds later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #897,361

dum de dumm dum de dum de dum

squeegee (OP) sextuple-posted this 8 years ago, 40 seconds later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #897,362

hmmm, hmm hmm

squeegee (OP) septuple-posted this 8 years ago, 21 seconds later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #897,363

let me check my map here. yep, still there

squeegee (OP) octuple-posted this 8 years ago, 52 seconds later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #897,366

oh shit. time to turn the engines over to closed cycle requiring oxidizer. the air intakes are also closed to reduce drag

squeegee (OP) nonuple-posted this 8 years ago, 58 seconds later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #897,367

on the way to apopsis

squeegee (OP) decuple-posted this 8 years ago, 31 seconds later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #897,368

look at that shalloooooow ascent profile.

squeegee (OP) undecuple-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #897,370

and that's orbit. got plenty of fuel to deorbit, and have quite a lot of monopropellant to get this thing to the station.

but now i'm going out. later

Anonymous D joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 19 seconds later, 1 hour after the original post[^] [v] #897,371

Anonymous B replied with this 8 years ago, 6 hours later, 7 hours after the original post[^] [v] #897,415

squeegee (OP) replied with this 8 years ago, 6 hours later, 14 hours after the original post[^] [v] #897,453

@previous (B)
lots of trial and error. building things i've probably mostly just drawn from real life and try to make something that looks very close to a source image. figured out pretty quickly, especially with airplanes, that if it looks "realistic" then it'll probably work. there were lots of things i had to read about though, like how to actually get to orbit, like, procedure-wise. then the orbital mechanics stuff... yeah, video tutorials. Scott Manley.

and trial and error. first ship i got to orbit was uncontrollable because i didn't know about placing maneuvering thrusters along the center off mass. first lunar transit attempt failed because i forgot batteries. that kinda stuff. spaceplanes and shuttles being built "squirrely" by placing the center of lift exactly within the center of mass (i did this forever tbh) and having a ship that wants to fall into the atmosphere backwards and doesn't "fly."

a few issues were figured out with info from the reddit sub. there've been some great posts in the pasts dealing with principles of airplane design and that kind of thing.
this one was great https://imgur.com/gallery/ICZi8eS and helped me to design better airplanes.

with rockets the most helpful thing i think was learning the rule of 3, which is basically 3 units of fuel for 1 unit of payload + drymass + engine. a 1kg payload with a 1kg engine needs 6 kg of fuel in the first stage. the second stage is the entire weight of the previous stage + drymass + engine. so 8 kg previous stage, a 2 kg engine (engine weight just doubles per stage) so 10 kg needs 30 tons of fuel so already we're at 40 tons. do it again for a third stage and we get (40 + 4) x 3 = 132 tons of fuel for a rocket weighing 172 tons. if you follow that rule then pretty much any rocket will fly as long as your engine is big enough. at least you'll have a much, much better chance of getting good performance out of it.

Anonymous B replied with this 8 years ago, 5 minutes later, 14 hours after the original post[^] [v] #897,454

squeegee (OP) replied with this 8 years ago, 8 hours later, 22 hours after the original post[^] [v] #897,540

docked with the station. making it here was a real bitch. i really need to bump it up to 212km to make rendezvous easier. faster, really. the little service bot works just fine. got it docked and ready to be used on the Unity module.

squeegee (OP) double-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 22 hours after the original post[^] [v] #897,541

Jeb and Valentina, my two best Ace pilots are heading home

squeegee (OP) triple-posted this 8 years ago, 55 seconds later, 22 hours after the original post[^] [v] #897,542

going to land on the runway we took off from

squeegee (OP) quadruple-posted this 8 years ago, 39 seconds later, 22 hours after the original post[^] [v] #897,543

doing great, right on the money

squeegee (OP) quintuple-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 22 hours after the original post[^] [v] #897,544

forgot to hit f1 for pics during the approach. landed right smack dab on the numbers...

Anonymous B replied with this 8 years ago, 47 minutes later, 23 hours after the original post[^] [v] #897,562

There Thy or Eye joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 14 minutes later, 23 hours after the original post[^] [v] #897,568

squeegee (OP) replied with this 8 years ago, 2 hours later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,584

squeegee (OP) double-posted this 8 years ago, 15 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,585

shuttle works. in theory. lotta problems with these fucking things. getting the correct launch profile is pretty fucking hard. it carries just enough fuel to make a healthy 100km orbit, but this is falling well short of that. mostly i think it's due to the number of corrections i'm making, every one wastes a little bit of fuel and i'm making hundreds. i think it may also be underpowered which means more engines which means more weight which means more fuel and everything starts to get all fucky.

i could "fix it" by putting an engine on the bottom of the fuel tanks, but that's almost like cheating. the whole point of shuttles is to re-use engines.

squeegee (OP) triple-posted this 8 years ago, 8 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,587

i say it works in theory because if i just add 30% more fuel using hyper-edit then it makes orbit just fine. that's true for most things that have a positive thrust to weight ratio though. it's proving to at least be controllable and has no sudden-death type flaws. i do think an actual working shuttle can be launched without needing to put an engine on the fuel tank. i'm just not sure if i'll ever make one stable enough to fly.

one thing is certain though, mechJeb cannot fly this thing at all. the PID controller cannot make sense of the center of mass and loses it's shit every time. if i can ever make a legit shuttle that's also stable enough to be launched by autopilot i'll have mastered vehicle design in KSP.

squeegee (OP) quadruple-posted this 8 years ago, 4 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,589

after nursing the shuttle into orbit making rendezvous with the station was pretty straight forward.

squeegee (OP) quintuple-posted this 8 years ago, 3 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,591

after deploying the payload, exploding, reloading a save point and deploying again the Unity module is not free from the cargo hold. the Remote Mover Bot (RMB) is undocked from the station and makes its way over to Unity

squeegee (OP) sextuple-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,592

pretty much it's a docking collar with a couple of propellant tanks and thrusters.

squeegee (OP) septuple-posted this 8 years ago, 2 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,593

the RMB docks onto unity's forward adapter collar and reorients and prepares to dock Unity to the station's forward docking collar.

squeegee (OP) octuple-posted this 8 years ago, 2 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,595

the rest happened in shadow. the RMB works very hard to dock the two modules. manual docking might've been cheaper on gas. mechjeb kinda freaked out due to a slightly unbalanced load. by the end it was kind of oscillating really hard and i had to disengage autopilot to let the docking collar magnets do their work.

squeegee (OP) nonuple-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,596

the RMB finally did the trick and we have the functional beginnings of a space station.

squeegee (OP) decuple-posted this 8 years ago, 11 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,597

the RMB back docked to the underside of the service module. the station is now stocked with food, water, oxygen and has a full waste storage system including a carbon dioxide scrubber, as well as all of the systems to control and maintain the station's position. it can support 4 kerbals due to habitat size restrictions. the next big module launch will increase that capacity by 4. the station is planned to house 8 kerbals permanently, to be rotated out with every major launch or so. at least until the part count makes the lag so bag i give up and quit.

i'm trying to keep the part count down as much as possible but i always end up making stuff overly complicated for the sake of looks and shit.

squeegee (OP) undecuple-posted this 8 years ago, 3 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,599

here's an actual pic of the real thing. i now see i docked them upside down.

squeegee (OP) duodecuple-posted this 8 years ago, 3 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,602

there we go. little closer.

squeegee (OP) tridecuple-posted this 8 years ago, 4 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,605

the shuttle crashed after reentry killing all 4 aboard. i have only successfully landed an unpowered shuttle once when i somehow managed reentry right into a perfect glide slope to land on the runway at KSP. super unforgiving stuff.

squeegee (OP) quattuodecuple-posted this 8 years ago, 31 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,613

new altitude, 212.5km. very circular. should be easier to hit rendezvous now. the actual ISS is at 400 something km. the 4 little engines on the service module worked great. they're not meant to be strong, just efficient. cost a lot of fuel though, but i probably won't be moving it again. we'll see.

(Edited 1 minute later.)

squeegee (OP) sexadecuple-posted this 8 years ago, 43 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,622

next module coming up on a Russian Proton-like rocket. the Kerbvezda module. additional habitation, additional power, primary life support systems for oxygen and water recycling for the entire station.

squeegee (OP) sedecuple-posted this 8 years ago, 30 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,628

this thing launches great

squeegee (OP) septuadecuple-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,629

designed by the russians originally to launch and deliver 100+ megaton nuclear warheads anywhere in the world. no wonder it's so peppy.

squeegee (OP) octadecuple-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,630

the russians i think drop their boosters prettier than this

squeegee (OP) just kept on posting this 8 years ago, 2 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,631

the new altitude of the space station is making it very quick to get to and isn't as expensive fuel wise to make a mistake with.

Anonymous F joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,632

squeegee (OP) replied with this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,633

way faster arrival, basically went straight to it after launch, no meandering around waiting for orbits to sync up.

squeegee (OP) double-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,634

@897,632 (F)
google Korolev cross

4th module docked and providing life support systems to the station.

squeegee (OP) triple-posted this 8 years ago, 5 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,636

this is what the ISS looked like round about this point.

squeegee (OP) quadruple-posted this 8 years ago, 5 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,637

and the approximation. next up is a resupply ship, and a finally a Soyuz style crew module and the stations first semi-permanent residents.

(Edited 2 minutes later.)

squeegee (OP) quintuple-posted this 8 years ago, 6 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,640

Anonymous F replied with this 8 years ago, 43 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,642

squeegee (OP) replied with this 8 years ago, 48 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,644

built a resupply ship along the lines of the Progress modules and will be the stand-in for the 3-crew Soyez pretty much. oh yeah, this was supposed to be a supply ship but Jeb somehow managed to sneak aboard. so the station is now manned.

(Edited 2 minutes later.)

Anonymous G joined in and replied with this 8 years ago, 1 hour later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,653

squeegee (OP) replied with this 8 years ago, 8 hours later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,707

the crewed Soyuz-ish ship. this ship will remain docked and act as an emergency lifeboat for the crew. the resupply ship will be undocked and deorbited and replaced with another Soyuz when it comes time to rotate crew.

squeegee (OP) double-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,708

the station has been fully refueled from the tanks on the re-supply ship

squeegee (OP) triple-posted this 8 years ago, 6 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,712

life support systems are working to now remove carbon dioxide from the air, and contaminants from the waste water. available electricity completely covers everything, so there shouldn't be any down time on any of the life support, or attitude control for that matter. the station is still at half capacity, so life support is showing to last way longer than intended.

next up, science modules.

that's it for today though.

Anonymous B replied with this 8 years ago, 11 minutes later, 1 day after the original post[^] [v] #897,716

squeegee (OP) replied with this 8 years ago, 1 day later, 3 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,127

squeegee (OP) double-posted this 8 years ago, 3 minutes later, 3 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,129

the next module is the Z-1 module which goes on top of the Unity node. this structure connects the truss to the station, which carries all of the huge solar panels. the Z1 module is the primary electrical center and routes all power throughout the station from here. it also contains some interior space to hold supplies

squeegee (OP) triple-posted this 8 years ago, 3 minutes later, 3 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,130

i'm working out how to build the truss. it needs to be very light, and have as low a part count as it can because it's huge. it also needs to be assembled in 7 pieces

squeegee (OP) quadruple-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 3 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,131

it's rigid enough that it doesn't snap under more gentle turning, but it wobbles and shakes around a lot. using small docking ports which may be the problem.

squeegee (OP) quintuple-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 3 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,132

this one is a bit longer, has 7 more parts in it, but seems to be a lot more rigid.

squeegee (OP) sextuple-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 3 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,133

under thrust you can see how much the structure bows. much better than the first one.

squeegee (OP) septuple-posted this 8 years ago, 2 minutes later, 3 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,134

this one is probably the smallest i can make it and have it still appear somewhat correct. about 15 fewer parts. prefer the look of the bigger one though.

squeegee (OP) octuple-posted this 8 years ago, 4 minutes later, 3 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,136

squeegee (OP) nonuple-posted this 8 years ago, 1 day later, 4 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,406

new shuttle, this one is a little better than the old one. this one can actually make orbit rather easily. not sure if mechjeb can fly it, but it's pilotable.
here it's pictured with the Z1 module and the P6 solar strut.

squeegee (OP) decuple-posted this 8 years ago, 2 minutes later, 4 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,408

makes orbit with fuel enough to spare to get back and forth to the station it looks like. this was just a test launch to see how it goes, so the inclination of the orbit is way the fuck off, which means launching to the station will be even more efficient. that also means this thing can hit some crazy orbits and maybe even polar ones. if this thing lands then i'll be doing the rest of the construction with this.

squeegee (OP) undecuple-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 4 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,409

the fuel tanks can be domed off on the ends and the boosters can be arranged a bit better an i think it'll even look the part

Anonymous B replied with this 8 years ago, 54 minutes later, 4 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,414

squeegee (OP) replied with this 8 years ago, 16 hours later, 5 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,570

squeegee (OP) double-posted this 8 years ago, 3 minutes later, 5 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,571

after a few tweaks and a launch like a bucking bronco we've achieved a 115km apogee and are on our way to a legit orbit at 92 degrees with payload and fuel to spare.

squeegee (OP) triple-posted this 8 years ago, 7 minutes later, 5 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,572

5 engines in total, with 4 RCS thrusters for docking and small adjustments. three large main engines, tilted off axis to point approximately through the center of mass during launch. the two small engines are tilted slightly to be more or less in line with the ship's center of mass after dropping the large tank. that means the angle is optimized for each new payload. the RCS thrusters are mostly in line with the ship's center of mass when completely unladen, and light on fuel. after deploying a payload the RCS thrusters become important because the two vacuum optimized engines used to rendezvous with the station have to run at a lower power level to keep the ship from flipping end over end, and the RCS provides additional thrust.

squeegee (OP) quadruple-posted this 8 years ago, 5 minutes later, 5 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,574

going to let mechjeb try the rendezvous and see if the ship is stable enough for that. already these engines are at 31%, much more and i'd need to add more tilt to the engines. they are aimed forward of the center of gravity to try and keep the nose of the ship more inline with the engines. in reality the space shuttle would perform maneuvers with these engines with their nosed pitched upwards like 10 degrees so the engines thrust the center of mass along the correct vector. mechjeb, i don't think, has a simple setting for that. pretty sure it expects everything to be in-line.

squeegee (OP) quintuple-posted this 8 years ago, 3 minutes later, 5 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,576

mechjeb did alright though. i did have to intervene to stop the PID controller from oscillating (if you don't kill it, it just amplifies) but that's due to the fast ramp-up of the engines and can be stopped. once it's on target and thrusting, it's fine. definately not hands free yet, though.

squeegee (OP) sextuple-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 5 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,577

and we're docked.

squeegee (OP) septuple-posted this 8 years ago, 3 minutes later, 5 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,578

preparing to unload the first payload

squeegee (OP) octuple-posted this 8 years ago, 1 hour later, 5 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,583

everything started out great.

squeegee (OP) nonuple-posted this 8 years ago, 1 minute later, 5 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,584

little helper bot latched onto the Z-1 module with power pylon and solar panels attached.

squeegee (OP) decuple-posted this 8 years ago, 2 minutes later, 5 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,585

the payload was carefully extracted, and then placed on top of the Unity Module. unfortunately, engineers at the assembly building put the docking clamp on up-fucking-side-down. that means no attachment. i was just banging it against the top of the station to no effect.

squeegee (OP) undecuple-posted this 8 years ago, 2 minutes later, 5 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,586

i said fuck it, everything was legit right up to this point, an actual launch, an actual rendezvous, an actual docking and successful payload deployment. so i cheated a fixed Z-1 module into orbit and did a quick rendezvous with the station to hook it up. fucking -sue me-

squeegee (OP) duodecuple-posted this 8 years ago, 3 minutes later, 5 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,587

i used the bot to remove the bad z-1 module and dump it into a lower orbit. then i went back and pulled the power pylon out, which was tricky. there was very little room to navigate the bot into the hold and then dock. kinda like parking a car in the back of a moving truck on the highway, then pulling out with a trailer attached. fun stuff.

squeegee (OP) tridecuple-posted this 8 years ago, 5 minutes later, 5 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,588

docking the pylon to the top of the Z-1 module was hard as fuck. i hadn't considered testing the service bot and solar pylon combo in space before trying this, and it was a mess. the center of gravity is way, way up in the pylon, so translational thrust made it want to rotate, bad. so i had to turn RCS on and off as needed so i could freely rotate with gyros and then pop rcs back on to provide directional thrust. i basically had to spin the ship around and thrust in all kinds of directions to line everything up, keep everything lined up, and all the while i was having to turn rcs on and off. it was a bitch. took several attempts and had to back off and start over again multiple times. so, they're not perfectly lined up, i don't care. shit took like 30 minutes.

squeegee (OP) quattuodecuple-posted this 8 years ago, 14 minutes later, 5 days after the original post[^] [v] #898,589

probably hard to tell how big the station is at this point. it's big enough that using mods to maintain it's orientation causes the whole thing to bend and wobble like a rubber hose. i may end up having to add reinforcing struts to keep it from shaking apart when i try to move it. i happen to have the Kerbal Attachment system mod installed, so i can do that but it'll add to the overall part count which is starting to get up there. currently there are 3 vehicles docked and i believe 7 kerbals aboard.

Next up is another Universal Docking Adapter, a large science lab, a small science lab, and a couple of more sections of truss. and maybe a mission to deliver a bunch of struts.

squeegee (OP) sexadecuple-posted this 8 years ago, 2 days later, 1 week after the original post[^] [v] #899,202

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