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< welcome back, ~jumblesale >
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you have mail!

thank you computer :)

> kmail

K M A I L
=========
subject                    | from
1) lights                  | ~nclm@staff.ksp.gov.kb
2) RE: re: FW: re: socks   | ~theanalyst@staff.ksp.gov.kb

better see what it was ~theanalyst wanted last time...

K M A I L
=========
from:    ~theanalyst@staff.ksp.gov.kb
subject: RE: re: FW: re: socks

~jumblesale,

I found my socks

they were

on

my feet

where I left them

thank you

~theanalyst

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

> a

email archived!

phew glad ~theanalyst was able to find their socks. those yellow ones suit them so well. what did ~nclm want I wonder?

K M A I L
=========
> n

from:    ~nclm@staff.ksp.gov.kb
subject: lights

~jumblesale,

there used to be lights. but now there are no lights.

in space, it is dark at night.

~jumblesale I'm scared.

love

~nclm x

huh?

huh. ohh. oh no.

so the batteries on the Nusku II are drained. the reaction wheels in the command module require electricity to function and it looks like ~nclm has spent most of the electricity on doing sick spins in space.

I can't blame them tbh, this is exactly the sort of thing I'd want to do in space. our problem is that although the research department have got some theories about harnessing the power of the sun to recharge our batteries, we don't currently have the technology to do it.

ok this isn't catastrophic. we can definitely recover from this. we have a few options:

1. wait until the craft is naturally pointing retrograde and burn. this will deorbit the ship and deposit it back on Kerbin. not a bad option but gives us no choice over the landing site.
2. send a rescue craft. given the currently available technology this isn't going to be possible. orbital rendezvous are tricky and ~nclm is our only pilot. if we managed it we'd have the chance to either get ~nclm to do a spacewalk to the rescue craft, or to send up an engineer with fresh batteries to replace the spent ones. not a great option.
3. let ~nclm do a few more turns around the planet while we make a decision. this is the lowest cost option and although it'll cost us a pilot for a little while is definitely preferable.

taking option 3 we head back to the admin building and see what contracts are available. there's a nice easy contract to test a basic jet engine - the miniature Juno - in flight. ~theanalyst steps up to pilot this one.

this basic craft will shoot up then immediately jetison the Flea engines, activate the Juno and then float gracefully back down to the space centre on its parachute. hopefully.

yeah whatever it was fine. a slightly shaken ~theanalyst emerges from the command module clutching the Juno reports and the finance department rings up another successful mission.

we pack some of the crisp kerbal credits into a jiffy bag and head over to the workshop where they're finishing up development on the final, crucial element of our next mission:

the crew cabin can hold two kerbals and also we have two kerbals waiting to spend many space bucks on a suborbital rocket flight. now that we have somewhere to stick them and a proven, safe suborbital rocket we can finally finish up that contract. all we need is a new ship...

the Nusku III suborbital tourism rocket. the design is much similar to the Nusku II except for the differences. here we're using the more powerful Hammer solid fuel rockets as our booster stage. our main stage remains unchanged and is proven to give us enough boost to get out of the atmosphere. the final stage has replaced the Reliant and liquid fuel with the crew cabin and two extra radial-mount parachutes.

the staging for this is going to be a little different. with the Nusku II we jetisoned the entire stack to leave the command module to float back to earth. here however this is impractical. the final stage is, unfortunately, super aerodynamic. it will hurtle back to the ground at a speed too great to have chance to activate the parachutes. instead what we'll have to do is to keep the main stage attached as we descend. this will generate enough drag to slow us down. there should be some extra fuel remaining so that we can do a retrograde burn to further slow the craft if necessary. provided that all goes ok and the highly volatile fuel doesn't explode as the craft hurtles back towards the ground, we can simply pop the chutes and let the crew drift back home.

the only thing we're missing is a pilot to take the craft up. with ~nclm inidsposed we're going to have to hire someone new. please welcome the newest member of the space programme: ~louis. ok their tilde page actually has a rotating moon on it. ~louis I think you are ~perfect~ for this mission.

the Nusku III sits proudly on the launchpad. with our two tourists already safely ensconced and their prodigious wealth safely in an escrow in the case that they don't return from this trip for whatever reason, command gets the green light to go.

5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

the Nusku III's a little difficult to control with the power of the Hammer engines but ~louis does a magnificent job getting it under control. they burn until the apoapse is up over 70km giving us a suborbital trajectory. meanwhile our passengers are being served a gin and tonic and a little bag of garlicy pretzels which they'll be tasting long after the flight has ended.

the view for the passengers is kind of nice

the rocket peaks at its apoapse before coming hurtling back through the atmosphere providing a terrifying lightshow for our passengers. we got a really amazing recording of this but then our recording software crashed - must remember to put in a request to r&d to take a look at "segmentation faults".

~louis pops the cutes and the craft cruises back down into the ocean.

the craft splashes down somewhere well east of the space station. it's not a problem for our passengers - apparently it's easier to get the bus from here than to get from the space centre anyway. the Kerbin navy set out to bring ~louis back home.

welcome back buddy. looks like things went pretty well out there.

with that contract out of the way we have plenty of space bucks and enough science stored up to invest in some pretty interesting components. as to our next mission though there is only one sensible choice:

oh heck yes. see you soon for adventures to the moon.

session disconnected (terminal lost)
bye!!