Year 22, Day 350 (Far Horizons Mission to Plock Launches!)

The most far-flung mission ever attempted is ready to launch – the Far Horizons mission to Plock! While there is some debate about whether or not Plock is actually a planet or maybe an asteroid, most Kerbals do agree that it is quite interesting regardless!

The powerful Nova Rocket carries the probe off the launch pad!

“Wow – look at it go!”

-Edan, watching at Mission Control

The Nova Rocket’s first stage detaches, falling toward Kerbin…

… while the second stage lifts the probe to a very high orbit of 900k!

Mission Control will spend the next week testing subsystems and ensuring that Far Horizons is ready for it’s trip! Departure is expected by the end of the year!

Year 22, Day 148 (Crew Transport Shuttle Refit Revealed!)

KSEA engineers are excited to reveal the refit of the Crew Shuttle Adventure! The entire Crew Shuttle Program was shut down in Year 17 after the CTS-3 Intrepid suffered a major catastrophe – major nose cone damage from re-entry heat that nearly destroyed the spacecraft! Val is widely credited with saving the entire crew with her calm handling of the disaster!

Since then, engineers have been working on a way to make a safer Crew Shuttle – the result is the refit of the only surviving Crew Transport Shuttle – Adventure! (Intrepid was badly damaged, and Endeavor was dismantled!)

The new Crew Transport Shuttle launches using the Nebula Rocket as a re-usable lifter, which should make the entire Crew Shuttle mission reusable! The vehicle is en route to the White Mesa desert launch facility for initial testing.

“If everything works out with Adventure we’ll see about adding a few new space-planes to our roster! We’ll need some new names though – the DSV fleet took ‘Endeavor’ and ‘Intrepid’ for their latest vehicles!”

-Gene, at Mission Control

Year 21, Day 392 (KSEA Announces Sarnus Station Plans!)

Blueprints have been released for Sarnus Station, a new deep space research station to be placed in orbit of Sarnus! The station will be launched aboard one of the ultra-heavy Nova Rockets, and carried to Sarnus by a modified DSV class nuclear drive! Once at Sarnus the same nuclear reactor will provide the station with ongoing power. The new Life Support Cargo Modules add a significant amount of mass to the station, however they will hold up to 60 years of life support materials for a crew of 3!

“This is the first step to letting us conduct serious investigation of the Sarnus planetary system! Future expansions will eventually grow the station, and it may even be moved into a different orbit, depending on what we need in future years!”
-Gene, at Mission Control

Year 21, Day 350 (New Mun Lander Announced!)

KSEA releases plan for a new Mun Lander! The heaviest Mun Lander yet, the Heavy Mun Lander can transport three Kerbals to the surface and move various payloads, such as Rovers or base components!

This will be the first Mun Lander that won’t be delivered with Aurora Missions – as it’s simply too big! Instead, mission planners intend to provide additional fuel to re-load the Space Port instead!

“I can’t wait to test that new lander!”
-Jeb

Year 21, Day 115 (KSEA Announces Aurora Base Munar Research Facility!)

While scientists are still grumbling that the lack of water means the outpost will likely never be self-sustaining, KSEA is nonetheless excited to release plans for Aurora Base – the next Munar Outpost! The name was chosen to honor the Aurora Program, which paved the way for every crewed KSEA mission!

The site chosen by Orlas and Summer has been named Aurora Crater.

Unlike previous Munar Outposts, this one will have a greenhouse and supplies to make habitability long term, if not permanent (with minor support from Kerbin.)

Construction has already begun, and the Outpost will be launched on a Jool-X rocket soon!

Year 21, Day 32 (KSEA & KOAA Develop Munar Water Scanner!)

A key to any long term colony site is finding an ideal location that has ample supplies of water. To this end, KSEA and KOAA (the Kerbin Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) have worked together to develop the Aqua Scanner Mk1.

Launched on a Nebula Rocket, the spacecraft will travel to Mun orbit and start scanning for ideal landing sites! Once sites have been selected, Kerbals will scout them out, and then the development of an actual colony can commence!

Year 20, Day 107 (New Crew Vehicle Announced!)

KSEA is excited to announce the Mk2 Nebula Crew Vehicle! The Crew Vehicle itself is a modified version of the original Nebula Crew Vehicle, making a number of minor modifications: the escape/landing rockets were tucked down below the Forward RCS system, and the internal storage system was reconfigured for a more balanced spacecraft.

The Rocket itself is entirely new, and provides a versatile new tool to the Kerbin Space Exploration Administration! Designed to be launched from the Desert Facility, White Mesa – the rocket carries the crew vehicle to an apoapsis of 200k, where the Crew Vehicle detaches. Then, the Rocket does a 180 degrees flip and fires it’s engine… changing it’s landing site to the main Space Center! There it will be recovered, refurbished, transported to the Desert Facility, and prepared for it’s next launch!

“This new rocket is going to give us the ability to quickly deliver crews to and from the Spaceport! It looks a bit less silly than the Mk1 too!”
-Gene

Future iterations of the design should allow multiple Nebula Rockets to be strapped together for heavier lifting capability!

Year 20, Day 3 (KSEA Releases Designs for Nebula Crew Vehicle!)

KSEA releases designs for the successor to the Aurora Crew Vehicle, the Nebula Crew Vehicle (NCV) capable of carrying 4 crew to a 200k orbit!

The NCV is launched using KSEA’s first reusable rocket: the Nebula Rocket. The Nebula Rocket has previously been used to launch an Aurora Crew Vehicle and will likely be the new standard for crew launches!

The NCV is also the first Crew Pod to carry 4 passengers!

Year 19, Day 385 (Spacedock Refueling System Announced!)

KSEA unveils designs for the third component of Kerbin Spaceport: A modular refueling vehicle! Construction has already begun, and will launch soon along with the other components for Kerbin Spacedock!

Year 19, Day 320 (KSEA Announces Construction of Kerbin Spacedock!)

KSEA is pleased to announce the newest space station – Kerbin Spacedock! This fully stocked crew facility in orbit will serve as the central hub for the Deep Space Vehicle fleet, providing a place for crew to return, rest, train, and even get promoted!

The station has three distinct components: the Docking Section with three ports at the end for Deep Space Vehicles, and two on the sides for Crew Vehicles arriving from the surface. The Habitat Section provides comfortable long-term orbital living for Kerbals and has almost all the comforts of home! Not pictured is a new Fuel-Supply module that will provide in-orbit refueling and resupply of the DSV fleet!

Construction has begun on the three modules (depleting the bulk of KSEA’s funds for quite some time!) Blueprints will likely be updated as launch date gets closer, and feature-creep inevitably slows down the production!

“Kerbin Spaceport has served KSEA and the Kerbal States well for years. However, it was built with a different kind of spacecraft and a different kind of mission in mind – Liquid Fuel and Oxidizer tanks with no option for changing fuel types, and docking ports that are too close together for the DSV fleet! With Kerbin Spacedock we’ll finally have a true home in the sky!”
-Gene