dialing...
connecting to dmz.ksp.gov.kb...
connection established
authentication (method: trust) successful
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release notes:
    o kmail now supports attachments!
    o fixed: issue where sometimes logging in could remove everything from the disk
    o fixed: jaguar floats across screen at treetop level;

you have mail!

ohh ok well that is good news I guess

> kmail

K M A I L
=========
subject                    | from
1) nusku II                | r&d@ksp.gov.kb
2) RE: re: FW: re: socks   | ~theanalyst@staff.ksp.gov.kb

alright! the r&d team got back to me about the development of our new craft.

K M A I L
=========
from:    r&d@ksp.gov.kb
subject: nusku II

~jumblesale!!

please find attached the blueprints for the new Nusku II!!!!

we took off the Thumper rockets and added more fuel to the central stage.

with this design we think we could go all the way up into SPACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ATTACHMENTS:
============
1. nusku.craft

r) reply                           f) forward
n) next                            a) archive
d) delete                          D) very delete
t) download attachments

ok wow! this is pretty exciting. let's have a look at the new Nusku design.

> t

downloading attachment:
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next thing we should research is a better connection.

downloading attachment:
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come on...

downloading attachment:
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download complete! opening nusku.craft

the Nusku II is a much improved version of the overpowered Nusku I. let's take a look at its stages.

1. the initial booster stage consists of two RT-10 Hammer solid fuel boosters. these little guys will give us enough punch to get off the launchpad but will burn out and separate early on to prevent the problems with the previous model of making the craft uncontrollable.
2. the Hammers are radially mounted to the main stage of four FL-T200 fuel tanks. the Swivel liquid fuel engine will give us enough lift to get us out of the atmosphere and into the tasty space layer fabled to be beyond. the Swivel has some amount of gimble which will be important later - as we ascend we want to slowly tip our nose to the east to give us a more efficient launch profile.
3. the final stage is a simple Reliant liquid fuel engine attached to two more FLT-200 fuel tanks. we'll separate the main stage and then use this fuel to circularise our orbit. there's not much fuel and the engine is not very powerful but that's fine - once we're out of the atmosphere we don't need much power to make large changes to our orbit. there's also some goo on this stage so that we can observe its behaviour in orbit (prediction: v. similar to just being in space)
4. finally the crew module. a single seater with an ablator panel fitted to the base. we'll separate this from the rest of the stack and bring it gently back down to earth on the parachute fitted to the nose.

our pilot for this mission will be our only pilot, ~nclm. you don't go to space with the pilots you want, you got to space with the pilots you're yet to smash into the ground.

ok pre-flight checks:

1. staging - yep, all looking good. we're not firing the final stage engines at the same time as the stack separates because this has caused the stack to explode previously. we'll just take this one slowly + carefully. we are after all ejecting an accidentally-conscious piece of meat outside of 80,000km of atmosphere to swing around the planet at unimaginable speeds insulated by only a thin layer of tin designed by researchers whose only methodology to date has been trial and error. I'm sure it's gonna be fine though ~nclm.
2. SAS - enabled. it's time.

the ground crew watch nervously as ~nclm clambers up into the capsule. gosh this is nervewracking. did ~nclm brush their teeth? has ~nclm packed enough clean underwear? the success of the mission could depend on these factors.

there were a couple of old crt monitors lying around in mission control (they had been set up to show a vhs of murder she wrote on loop but they were getting tired of jessica fletcher always doing the same solution) so we've bolted them into the cockpit. from here ~nclm can get a bunch of information on "mission paramters".

the tilde banner helps remind ~nclm what this is all for.

everything's lookin good and it's another clear day on Kerbin. a light flashes in mission control: ~nclm has completed preparations. it's time to see if the Nusku II can make it.

5...

4...

3...

2...

1...

~nclm hits the ignition.

we immediately begin the gravity turn. by 10km we're at a 45 degree angle - a pretty standard ascent profile.

at about 5km up the boosters burn out and ~nclm hits the button to separate them. they collide with one another but already the Nusku II is far enough away to not be affected by the explosion.

as the main stage runs out of fuel, ~nclm sheds the spent rocket. the tiny capsule continues under the momentum of the Swivel rocket. the atmosphere ends at 70km so we need to get at least that high to be able to circularise. we've comfortably beat that - our altitude is a safe 84km.

~nclm cruises up to the apoapse before burning to circularise.

a stable orbit is anything where the periapse (the lowest point of the orbit) is above the atmosphere of the body being orbited. ~nclm burns until the periapse is above 70 and we've done it.

the Nusku II is a success. the craft has 165m/s of delta v - not much (the apoapse ended up far too high which was a piloting error rather than a design problem) - but enough to get ~nclm back. but there's no rush. ~nclm floats listlessly suspended above the planet, a tiny speck hurtling above the ground watching continents drift and disappear as days spin into existence and withdraw again beyond the circular horizon.

back on terra firm there's plenty to celebrate.

phew. join us next time as we repurpose the Nusku II as a civilian tourist craft and explore more of ther Kerbin surface.

session disconnected (terminal lost)
bye!!