So after beginning with a pair of mapping missions, fully intending to proceed to robotic landers and rovers, I've switched to manned (kerballed?) missions for absolutely no good reason.
This sequence has had four launches: Skippy I, which was a launch vehicle and orbital dynamics test (ie: would the launcher get into orbit, be able to maneuver, and return without killing the occupants?):
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| Skippy I Launch |
This was such a success that before it even returned I launched the identical Skippy II with an eye towards trying for a docking. I modified the lifter a bit because Skippy I ended up on orbit with less fuel than I would have liked; the extra boosters made enough of a difference that I ended up with plenty of fuel on orbit in Skippy II.
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| Skippy II: solids for a little extra push into orbit |
....and after chasing Skippy I all over the sky and not getting any closer than about 20km, I gave up and returned Skippy I to Kerbin while there was still fuel aboard to make that a worth while pursuit. The immediate follow-up mission was Skippy III, which was also targeted at a docking with Skippy II. Interestingly, the exact same crew from Skippy I, Jeb, Bill, and Bob, was drawn for Skippy III.. well I found it interesting.
It turns out that if you read the documentation on the navball *before* trying an intercept, the glyphs make a lot more sense. This time the intercept happened much more smoothly, and shortly before orbital dusk I had Skippys I and II in the same postal code ready for final dockings. And of course this meant that this attempt was going to happen in the dark.
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| Like two teenagers fumbling around in the dark |
It wasn't totally unaided -- I had Kerbal Engineer going to give me the separation and velocity vector component values. But I did fly it in, and...
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| First Docking! |
Success! I took the requisite screen shots and transferred fuel back and forth because I could now.
So the whole point of docking is to have something to dock with, right? Right. So even before separating the two Skippys, I built a primitive space station spine, and sat it on a modified Skippy called a Silverado, and then put the whole thing on a suitably-overkill lifter arrangement:
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| Station Spine with lifter |
Launch went so well the station found itself in a 150x150km orbit after only a few tweaks. And then I thought... why not send one of the Skippys up to it? I put all the fuel in Skippy II, and sent the three rock stars in Skippy III back home (well, back down anyways -- landing navigation is something we still need to work on) on the strength of the RCS (which was totally sufficient for that). And then I sent Skippy II chasing off after the space station.
I like this picture since it shows Skippy II approaching the space station, while conveying how vast and empty even near-Kerbin orbit is.
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| Skippy II approaches Texaco I |
This time I had the extra Docking Port Alignment plugin enabled, and after a bit of trying to figure out what it was trying to tell me it guided me right in:
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| Contact! |
Between watching the Navball, Engineer, and the DPA I didn't spend much time actually watching the docking. I'm doing more and more by flying the ball and instruments rather than looking at the screen, so I'm thinking I might have to actually start recording my dockings and intercepts so that I can actually watch them later.
But I am pleased that I've managed two rendezvous and dockings this weekend and figured out a bunch of the plugins.
My ultimate goal is a couple of orange tanks on the space station, and I'm thinking I need some proper orbital facilities for Kerbals to live in, as well as both a manned and remotely operated tug vehicle. So we'll probably do the tug next, and then send up some habitation modules as well.
