Captain Jebediah is back in the pilot seat to make his own attempt at landing without a chute – via an approach over the water no less!
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Kerbal Space Agency
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for once, Civvie gets to stay out of the HAB after flight, will be ready for Cpt Jeb tomorrow! Saving on deployment costs also a win 🙂
Kerbal Space Agency
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Cpt Jeb is getting suited up in the ready room while HAB workers unchock the Civvie & get her ready. Another windy day. Waiting on Wx report
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Wx says prevailing winds have returned out of the west. Good for takeoffs, bad for landing. We are considering a Rwy27 approach over water
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have given a Go for flights after 3rd sunrise in order to get a MSV in place to standby in case of water recovery from a ditched landing
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since the Civvie is grounded Bill & Bob are taking the opportunity to see if they can attach some external cameras to it for inflight photos
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MSV Lymun has arrived on station just offshore, ready to assist in any water recovery. Jeb is back in the ready room to suit up for flight
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Jeb is awaiting taxi clearance, Flight deciding if it's light enough to allow a takeoff. Note cam attached to tail. 2nd under left wing also
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Flight has given Jeb clearance for taxi & takeoff, he's now on his way out to Rwy27. Winds are out of the west at 8-10kts, scattered clouds
Kerbal Space Agency
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on his way at last, Jeb will climb to 2.5km & perform a series of steep turns, dives and high-G maneuvers on the Civvie for this flight
Kerbal Space Agency
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climbing through 1km Flight has vectored Jeb from hdg270 to 225 to stay clear of the mountains. Current climb rate ~3m/s at full throttle
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Jeb has reached 2.5km for a nice safety cushion of altitude and Flight has given the go ahead to begin maneuvers, starting w/steep turns
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Jeb has successfully completed a series of S-turns & circles w/ roll angles exceeding 50°. Now setting up for some steep dives (pitch > 70°)
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WHOOOAAA Jeb pulled out of one dive so hard he actually managed to loop over the top! Flight has instructed him *not* to do that again
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Jeb is on his way home, will do a low-speed pass over the runway to prove he can handle the approach, and if so can land w/o chute deploy
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currently flying north of KSC on the downwind leg, this right-turn pattern will keep Jeb clear of KSC airspace so he can descend properly
Kerbal Space Agency
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kerbs in launch ctrl carefully vectoring Jeb onto base & final so he doesn't end up in the water. Approach to Rwy27 looking great so far
Kerbal Space Agency
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with great control Jeb flew <10m over the entire runway length at just over 50m/s - Flight has cleared him to go around & land w/o chute
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Bob took this photo of Jeb as he approached for his flyby. MSV Lymun is visible in the background. Thankfully seas today are fairly calm
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Jeb is back on short final, Bob is spotting and says he's way too low. Jeb saying he needs to level off early to bleed speed. Flight agrees
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congrats to Cpt Jeb on a bouncy yet nominal landing! He reports he was going about 46m/s just before touchdown. Is taxiing back to the HAB
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C7 engineers pulling TDU recordings for quick assessment & determine if more data needed. Today last chance for flight before 2016 ops end
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a look at Jeb's maneuvers out over the Grasslands, including his loop the loop! Engineers weren't sure that was even possible to pull off
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here is his landing, you can also see the low pass he made to prove he could make the approach properly & touchdown safely w/o his chute
Kerbal Space Agency
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C7 engineers say they're satisfied w/ data, but Wernher has gotten approval for one last flight to collect some additional science readings
Kerbal Space Agency
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Jeb is out for his walk around check of the aircraft, which has been refueled. You can see both cams now. pics to be pulled after the flight
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ooops! We forgot to pull images from the outboard cameras for the Civvie. Bob & Bill say they will get to that tomorrow after 2nd sunset
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Bob & Bill have looked thru the footage from the Civvie outboard cams and have a few sweet screenshots to share - imgur.com/a/nDoFe
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that's it! We're out! Everyone enjoy the holiday, see you next year! Before you go though, here's a 2017 preview: bit.ly/OpsSummary12-1…
