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The Few Good Men Space Program

Nathangun

FGM Major General
FGM MEMBER
I did a few mods for the Kerbal Space Program game and installed them with a ton of other mods for a unique version of the game, in total there are 83 mods installed, most notably RSS (Real Solar System) this mod replaces the stock game solar system which is ten times smaller than the real solar system and a other noteworthy mod is Kerbalism, this mod adds a level of realism where many things can go wrong such as part failure, science experiments, comms network and several crew welfare considerations such as radiation sickness, food supplies and mental health.
In this game I will use FGM members as in game characters (who never age) as well as the stock game characters, please feel free to sign up (provide a photo so I can mod you into the game) and play an alternative history of the NASA Space program.

So welcome to the Few Good Men Space Program.

Background story:
In early 1951 NASA was still in it's infancy and had by now launched several satellites around Earth and the Moon, collecting valuable science data and increasing our understanding of the universe.
However, several attempts were made to land a probe on the Moon and return it to Earth.
As a result of these failures NASA decided to create a special task force and it was called 'The Few Good Men' and were lead by @Bootie & @Rico . This group was to be the lead design team for all future missions.

@Bootie & @Rico pose for the camera.
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The Few Good Men team.

Name Skill Level

@Bootie Engineer 1
@Rico Scientist 1
@Nathangun Engineer 1
@Hedgehog Pilot 1
@Ithikial Pilot 1
@Louis Scientist 0
@Dutch Grenadier Pilot 0
@Rambler Scientist 0


Mission: Land a probe on the Moon and return it to earth.

The team began designing new launch rockets that will give better performance and came up with new designs for the probe that will land on the moon.
As all other designs failed because the rockets were either too heavy to carry the payload all the way to the moon and back or too light that it didn't have enough fuel to launch from the moon.
Soon they built their new rocket/probe for the Moon and called it Phoebe, NASA was shocked with the price tag of the new designs but every body agreed it was a good looking rocket.
The main body of the rocket will lift the payload to orbit, it is hoped that the main body (or the 'lower stage') will be recovered using a lot of parachutes.

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The payload below (or sometimes called the 'upper stage'), this payload once in orbit will do the trans-jection burn to the Moon as also land on the Moon. The upper part will launch off the Moon back to Earth, so it's hoped.

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In the early hours of July 17th 1951 the Phoebe 1 was launched from the Cape Canaveral launch center in a night time launch.
Below in the screenie, our rocket has made orbit, travelling at 7872m/s (meters per second).

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After doing the trans-jection burn, the probe travels across the void of space and 4 days later arrives at the the gravitational Sphere of influence (SOI) of the Moon.

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15 hours later, making final approach...

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...coming into land...

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Touchdown!

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After several experiments were concluded, the probe set off for home.

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After escaping the SOI of the Moon, our probe makes a course correction burn to Earth, from this far out very little fuel is needed to change course.

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Once the fuel has been used, the tank and the solar panels were jettisoned to lighten the load when entering Earth's atmosphere.

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It's here the mission fails, I plotted the probe to enter Earth's atmosphere at around 70km above sea level (the atmosphere goes all the up to 140KM) hoping to do a 'Aero-brake' (using the atmosphere to slow down) it slowed down but not enough to land, just stuck in an orbit that will slowly reduce in size over months.
Despite this, I consider the mission a partial success, it prove it was possible to bring a probe back to Earth (even if it didn't land on Earth) and valuable science data was collected.
 
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Nicely done, and great job with the AAR. Cool looking rocket too. Looks like a Delta type. Sign me up as an astronaut in the FGMSP!

Coincidentally, I just recently got back into Orbiter, so I've been out playing around in space as well (more like relearning everything I forgot ;)).
 
A screenshot I meant to post from the last mission which I like, might use as my desktop background.

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Mission: Send a human on a suborbital trajectory of Earth.

It's all well and good launching satellites and sending probes into outer space, but now we will try to send a human into space.

Crew:
@Bootie - Engineer
Jebediah (stock game character) - Pilot

The Zeus II rocket successfully launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S.A.
Bootie looks a little scared
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As the rocket travels at 6444m/s Bootie starts to feel faint...

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...and passes out...

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..but not for long, the pilot separates the service module from the main rocket and the two men are in outer space.

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Bootie holds on for dear life as he becomes the first ever man to do a 'space walk' or a EVA (Extra Vehicle Activity) has it is officially known.

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Glad to make it back into the command pod Bootie enjoys the view.

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Jedediah the pilot separates the service module from the command pod and both astronauts begin to descend back to Earth.

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Bootie gets nervous as the command pod enters the Earth's atmosphere and see's the flames lick the outside of the pod.

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As seen in the map view below, the pod will land west of the Gulf of California.

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Within a few minutes the crew 'splashdown' in the Pacific ocean.

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The mission was a total success!
This is the first step of colonising the solar system.
 
A new mission for the brave astronauts of the F.G.M.

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Mission: Send a human into Earth's orbit for 30 days.

Crew

Pilot - @Hedgehog
Engineer - Nathangun
Scientist - @Rico

The crew will spend their time in orbit in this luxury capsule, there is enough food for 50 days, water and oxygen for 100+ days. Solar panels are attached to the sides to provide electricity. These brave souls will become the first men to reach a stable orbit around Earth. Sky Nest will be their home for 30 days.

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On launch, the brave astronauts one by one lose conciseness (which is fast becoming a F.G.M. tradition) first Nathangun, Rico then Hedgehog.

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Once in a stable orbit the rocket is detached and de-orbited to burn up in Earth's atmosphere.

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The second phase of the mission is to launch a return capsule and dock it to Sky Nest.

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The return capsule approaches Sky Nest.

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The return capsule docks successfully.

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After 14 days into their mission, the hatch to the return capsule is broken and the only other hatch has a massive solar panel placed over it (poor design on my behalf) it was assumed that this hatch wouldn't be needed, the astronauts are essentially imprisoned within Sky Nest.

Mission control decide to send up another crew to dismantle the solar panel blocking the second hatch as the crew of Sky Nest are unable to E.V.A.

New Mission: Dismantle Solar Panel on Sky Nest.

Crew:

@Ithikial - Pilot
@Bootie - Engineer

The launch goes successfully, but as always, the guys pass out during the launch.

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After several orbiting maneuvers Bootie and Ithikial approach Sky Nest.

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Ithikial decides to do a quick E.V.A and in doing so become the first man to do such a thing in a stable orbit around Earth, well done sir.
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Bootie makes his way to Sky Nest.....
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....and removes the solar panel blocking the hatch.

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Bootie giving Sky Nest a quick look over and checks the broken hatch.
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Eventually Bootie and Ithikial say their goodbyes to Nath, Rico and Hedgehog and return to Earth without incident.

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Nathangun, Rico and Hedgehog take turns to try out the hatch and board the return capsule.
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Mission Control make the decision to keep on the '30 day' mission so our brave astronauts still face unknown danger.
To be continued....
 
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