"The FASA Historic Rockets Mod," Episode 135 of Journey Into Space
11Kerbal Space Program is Copyright Squad
https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/
No Kethane, no work. :(
Well, no, I can't do what I originally intended to do in this series without a Kethane mod that works with 0.24.2, but some other things have come along instead that I want to take a look at. One of the coolest things to come along with 0.24 is the FASA historic rockets mod by frizzank3d. This includes the parts and ship files for every historic rocket from Explorer 1 to Apollo, and also includes a number of rockets that were proposed but never implemented as part of the "Big Gemini" series of proposals to extend the use of the Titan II and Gemini spacecraft to such things as space stations and even a Gemini Moon landing.
At one point NASA was stuck on the idea of direct ascent, that the whole spaceship would land on the Moon rather than a dedicated lander, and for this they needed the Nova rocket which was much larger than a Saturn V. And they weren't sure how or when they could get this Nova rocket built, so various people proposed ways that NASA could achieve circumlunar flight or even a landing using existing rockets. Hence the "Big Gemini" or Gemini Advanced proposals. Remember, we were thinking (wrongly) that the Soviets could do a circumlunar manned flight almost any day back then. People were significantly concerned that the Russians would beat us to a circumlunar flight. There was even a movie made of a Gemini-based moon landing, the 1968 movie "Countdown" which I highly recommend especially for historic spacecraft fans. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countdown_(1968_film) . There was also an (ill considered) proposal to do exactly what was depicted in that film: land a guy on the Moon and keep sending him supplies until we can figure out how to get him back. ;)
It should also be remembered that it was Project Gemini, not Project Apollo, that put us ahead of the Soviets for the first time. The Soviets claimed a successful space rendezvous back in 1962 or 1963, but they lied. The two spacecraft did not get very close together and lacked maneuvering thrusters to close distance. The first successful space rendezvous was between the Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 spacecraft in 1965. Arguably this mission did more to make Apollo possible than any other.
Anyway, I highly highly recommend this mod, it's a lot of fun! Frizzank really went above and beyond in making this mod. He must love these rockets from the past even more than me!
http://www.curse.com/ksp-mods/kerbal/220632-fasa
My hard science fiction novella,
Jake Barnes, Lunar Freebooter:
https://www.createspace.com/4449024
http://www.amazon.com/Jake-Barnes-Lunar-Freebooter-Moon/dp/1492766739/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1379755235&sr=8-1&keywords=Jake+Barnes%2C+Lunar+Freebooter
Also if you get a copy, do me a favor and write a review on Amazon! I would appreciate it.
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A Penny For NASA - message your congressfolk and tell them you want more budget for space exploration!
http://www.penny4nasa.org/
"We Stopped Dreaming" by Neil DeGrasse Tyson.
http://youtu.be/CbIZU8cQWXc
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