Mission 55 + 56 - New crew for Futurelab

(Nebula-4 and 5 were undocked from Futurelab and safely returned to Kerbin.)

Mission 55

Reusable Crew Vehicle 02 "Mirrored Sound" | RCV Flight 02
Mass at launch: 5140 kg

Launch vehicle: Symphony-5k Type-01a

Mission objective: Rendezvous and dock with Futurelab.

Crew: Lemfrid, Seezer, Harsey, Hermy, and Kelvan Kerman

Viewing the launch from the pilot's seat

The retrofitted Symphony-5k performs a powered landing back onto the launch pad.

RCV-02 rendezvous/docking with Futurelab

Mission 56

Reusable Crew Vehicle 03 "Circulating Sound" | RCV Flight 03

Crew: Newmin, Aldely, Patwin, Wilke, and Milsted Kerman

Lazor Docking Cam + Docking Port Alignment Indicator

Futurelab is now home to 10 Kerbals.

Mission 54 - Moho lander

Mission 54

Mouhou Project 3
Description: A probe designed to land on Moho.
Mass at launch: 650 kg (7352 kg with upper stage)

Launch vehicle: Symphony-10k Type-01
(reusable SSTO booster with 10000 kg payload capacity)

Mission objective: Land on Moho.

The Symphony-10k launch vehicle is propelled by nine aerospike engines.

Mouhou Project 3 and its upper stage, separated from the launcher

It was realized that a powered descent using MechJeb's landing autopilot only costed about 350 m/s in delta-v. So, that landing method was used instead of the parachutes (which added more mass to the vehicle and weren't as effective at slowing the craft before it reached the ground).

Upper stage performing trans-Moho injection

Arrival at Moho

Initial orbit

At apoapsis

Lander in circularized orbit

De-orbit burn

Falling towards the surface

Landed on Moho

Mission 53 - 5-Kerbal reusable spacecraft

Mission 53

Reusable Crew Vehicle 01 "First Sound" | RCV Flight 01
Description: A reusable spacecraft which is capable of carrying 1 pilot and 4 passengers into low Kerbin orbit and back.
Mass at launch: 4990 kg

Launch vehicle: Symphony-5k Type-01
(reusable SSTO booster with 5000 kg payload capacity)

Mission objective: Launch into low Kerbin orbit, then de-orbit and land near the space center.

Crew: Newmin Kerman, Henly Kerman, Lemfrid Kerman, Patwin Kerman, Wilke Kerman

"Symphony-5k" SSTO booster on launchpad

Launching into orbit on five toroidal aerospikes. (Started using MechJeb's ascent autopilot this time; 50+ manual launches got tedious)

RCV-01 "First Sound" decoupled from booster, in a 71 km orbit.

The Symphony-5k booster was de-orbited and recovered near KSC.

Landing solely with parachutes

Once in orbit, the capsule is propelled solely by RCS thrusters.

Top-down view of the spacecraft. The pilot module is in the front, while the passenger module is in the back.

Inside the passenger module

After completing two full orbits, the spacecraft was brought home. Three parachutes were added instead of four to save some mass, but this caused the spacecraft to tumble slightly due to the asymmetrical configuration. This was corrected by the SAS on board the pilot module. This particular spacecraft will be retrofitted with four parachutes (on the pilot module instead of the passenger module) the next time it flies.

From left to right: Newmin (pilot), Henly, Lemfrid, Patwin, Wilke

KASDA plans to construct two more RCVs in addition to "First Sound".

Mission 52 - one-Kerbal rocket SSTO

Mission 52

Reusable Prototype Vehicle Type-02
Description: A single-stage-to-orbit vehicle capable of carrying one Kerbal into low Kerbin orbit and back.
Mass at launch: 25545 kg

Mission objective: Launch into low Kerbin orbit, then de-orbit and land near the space center.

Crew: Newmin Kerman

For the first time, the MechJeb software was installed on the spacecraft; however, its autopilots were not used. More on that later.

The craft ascended with two toroidal aerospike engines, connected to the main fuel tank via Radial Attachment Points (in suborbital test simulations, the Stack Bi-Adapter tended to fall off when the parachutes fully deployed).

Vessel in stable 70 km orbit

Watching the sunrise from the inside

MechJeb's landing autopilot tended to waste too much fuel. Instead, a maneuver node was set up, and MechJeb showed the predicted landing site. A manual de-orbit burn occurred at the node. Any deviations from the landing site were corrected using short and careful bursts of the engines. Final predicted landing site was 2 km west of the space center.

Re-entry

Deployment of the six parachutes caused the predicted landing site to shift to about 9 km west of the center.

Landing gear down

Touchdown

Newmin Kerman stands beside the vehicle.

Mission 51 - experimental unmanned SSTO

Mission 51

Reusable Prototype Vehicle Type-01
Description: A robotic vehicle designed to reach low Kerbin orbit without jettisoning parts (single stage to orbit) and return to the surface. It contains a toroidal aerospike engine for great efficiency in the atmosphere and in space.
Mass at launch: 12002.5 kg

Mission objective: Launch into low Kerbin orbit, then de-orbit and land near the space center.

Going straight up until reaching an altitude of 10 km

Gravity turn

The RPV Type-01 in a stable orbit of 70 km

UI screenshot for proof

After one orbit was completed, the spacecraft deorbited on the opposite side of the planet from the mountains west of the space center. (note: This took several trial and error attempts, most of which landed in the ocean. I'm considering using the Mechjeb autopilot mod for the maneuvers that are too precise to be done manually.)

Plasma during atmospheric re-entry

Parachutes deployed at about 23 km above sea level

Fully deployed at 500 m above the surface

And thus concluded the flight of KASDA's first SSTO.