Expedition VII: Apollo 11 - Fly Me To The Moon
- Thread starter Deluvian
- Start date
Mission Time: 1:23:45:23
I have to admit that the mission does not go as smoothly as planned originally. As you can see, started on Tuesday night but "clocked" only ~48 hours. I log out on Wednesday night to avoid any problems during Thursday morning server maintenance. Got up in the morning, restarted and got the ship going again... and.... left for work. Long day, came back home late in the evening just to first see the message: "Lost connectivity with the game server".. it got me really mad, but what can you do.. there must have been a glitch after I left around 10:58 AM EST and the game lost connectivity.
This creates another doubt.. well as I can see the progress of my ship slowly leaving Earth.. I cannot see at all any movement of the Moon. Honestly, not a blip..
Am I crazy or the Moon is actually not orbiting the Earth and it just sits there? It is kind of important as I am flying in the opposite direction trying to have a "randes vous" with it in two weeks, when (according to its period) it should appear almost in front of me.. Should I actually turn around and fly towards it?
I am so confused and angry with myself that this mission is so unprepared
Comments? Advise?
I have to admit that the mission does not go as smoothly as planned originally. As you can see, started on Tuesday night but "clocked" only ~48 hours. I log out on Wednesday night to avoid any problems during Thursday morning server maintenance. Got up in the morning, restarted and got the ship going again... and.... left for work. Long day, came back home late in the evening just to first see the message: "Lost connectivity with the game server".. it got me really mad, but what can you do.. there must have been a glitch after I left around 10:58 AM EST and the game lost connectivity.
This creates another doubt.. well as I can see the progress of my ship slowly leaving Earth.. I cannot see at all any movement of the Moon. Honestly, not a blip..
Am I crazy or the Moon is actually not orbiting the Earth and it just sits there? It is kind of important as I am flying in the opposite direction trying to have a "randes vous" with it in two weeks, when (according to its period) it should appear almost in front of me.. Should I actually turn around and fly towards it?
I am so confused and angry with myself that this mission is so unprepared
Comments? Advise?
When you're on a collision course with something, a fun little side-effect of the geometry is that the object will not appear to move laterally, only grow closer from the same direction. But this is with straight linear trajectories. Since the moon is presumably still pretty far "behind" you, it should still appear to be swinging around, and this lack of apparent motion shouldn't be there until later in your journey.
I was thinking that maybe ED's "sphere of influence" system might be messing with you, but for quite a while you should be in Earth's SOI, and so the moon should still appear to arc around you. Hmm.
I was thinking that maybe ED's "sphere of influence" system might be messing with you, but for quite a while you should be in Earth's SOI, and so the moon should still appear to arc around you. Hmm.
Two thoughts, possibly both flawed, come to mind..
1: If you are on a "collision course" with the moon, it shouldn't appear to change it's aspect ratio as you approach, I would have thought.. In other words, it won't actually appear like it is moving to you when you are some distance from it, but it should start to get bigger. Since I am no orbital mechanic, I may well be wrong on this point, and I'm sure someone with detailed knowledge (looks at Orvidious ) will be along shortly to explain!
2: Since you're in normal flight, not Supercruise, is it possible that there is a bug that doesn't show planetary movement in normal space flight?
o7
1: If you are on a "collision course" with the moon, it shouldn't appear to change it's aspect ratio as you approach, I would have thought.. In other words, it won't actually appear like it is moving to you when you are some distance from it, but it should start to get bigger. Since I am no orbital mechanic, I may well be wrong on this point, and I'm sure someone with detailed knowledge (looks at Orvidious
) will be along shortly to explain!2: Since you're in normal flight, not Supercruise, is it possible that there is a bug that doesn't show planetary movement in normal space flight?
o7
Ok, I quickly updated the drawing I was trying to work on..
Here is the story:
When I first started I put Moon exactly behind me (Point A) and started flying essentially 180o (in an opposite direction). Based on a proportion of Moon's period 27.3 and time needed to travel its radius in straight line 14.6 I calculated the actual azimuths 192.53o. No reference points though, so Wednesday evening with help of Cmdr Zibadian I established the final course on Point D (a bit advanced from green line to give myself a better chance not to miss the Moon at Point C). Ever since I see the Moon in position B behind me, and it does not seem to move at all on its orbit. I will see late at night as again I will have no chance to be back home before 10-11 PM
Here is the story:
When I first started I put Moon exactly behind me (Point A) and started flying essentially 180o (in an opposite direction). Based on a proportion of Moon's period 27.3 and time needed to travel its radius in straight line 14.6 I calculated the actual azimuths 192.53o. No reference points though, so Wednesday evening with help of Cmdr Zibadian I established the final course on Point D (a bit advanced from green line to give myself a better chance not to miss the Moon at Point C). Ever since I see the Moon in position B behind me, and it does not seem to move at all on its orbit. I will see late at night as again I will have no chance to be back home before 10-11 PM
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Mission Time: 3:10:26:16
Finally expedition files are updated with all the necessary functions to accommodate any flight anomalies. Mission Time calculation works correctly.. but that was not so positive overall, just helped me realized how much time I wasted during game crashes and late recovery.
It is what it is.. I am chasing The Moon and now it slowly makes sense.. now I can see it moving, tirelessly orbiting behind my back and heading towards our randes vous point.. I am still not sure how I am even going to do it, not to miss it.. But we will cross that bridge as well once the time is right
Thank you for all the help.. especially to my good friend Moose for fixing my time calculation
o7
Finally expedition files are updated with all the necessary functions to accommodate any flight anomalies. Mission Time calculation works correctly.. but that was not so positive overall, just helped me realized how much time I wasted during game crashes and late recovery.
It is what it is.. I am chasing The Moon and now it slowly makes sense.. now I can see it moving, tirelessly orbiting behind my back and heading towards our randes vous point.. I am still not sure how I am even going to do it, not to miss it.. But we will cross that bridge as well once the time is right
Thank you for all the help.. especially to my good friend Moose for fixing my time calculation
o7
Mission Time: 5:19:25:40
Good long weekend and the game did not crash. I pushed some serious hours which is very much needed. Unlike any of my previous adventures, this one has the orbital timing of The Moon incorporated, nothing can be postponed nor kept for "better circumstances".. As mentioned before I have done some more calculations and realized that I lost a bit more than 25 hours already.. that means 1.0445 days.. but if you think about it, that is actually almost 14 degrees angle of moon traveling on its orbit. I have a feeling, I need to make some additional curse adjustment to account for that lose. I am going to consult my Flight Controller - Cmdr Zibadian #FuelRats and turn right again by 15-20 degrees (estimated).. Honestly I have a hard time to believe that I can make this mission successful, or I will be the luckiest Cmdr in the darn Universe.. We shall see.
o7
Expedition Files:
Photos@ Expedition VII: Apollo 11 - Fly Me To The Moon
Live@ Deluvian's Twitch
Good long weekend and the game did not crash. I pushed some serious hours which is very much needed. Unlike any of my previous adventures, this one has the orbital timing of The Moon incorporated, nothing can be postponed nor kept for "better circumstances".. As mentioned before I have done some more calculations and realized that I lost a bit more than 25 hours already.. that means 1.0445 days.. but if you think about it, that is actually almost 14 degrees angle of moon traveling on its orbit. I have a feeling, I need to make some additional curse adjustment to account for that lose. I am going to consult my Flight Controller - Cmdr Zibadian #FuelRats and turn right again by 15-20 degrees (estimated).. Honestly I have a hard time to believe that I can make this mission successful, or I will be the luckiest Cmdr in the darn Universe.. We shall see.
o7
Expedition Files:
Photos@ Expedition VII: Apollo 11 - Fly Me To The Moon
Live@ Deluvian's Twitch
Self doubt is creeping in. You can see he is wondering.
Does he have, the right stuff.
If anyone can pull this off, it will be you
Keep on travelling, Commander - it sounds like you have a good GUIDO / FIDO team in flight control.
Keep on travelling, Commander - it sounds like you have a good GUIDO / FIDO team in flight control.
If anyone can pull this off, it will be you
Keep on travelling, Commander - it sounds like you have a good GUIDO / FIDO team in flight control.
Too generous.. this time I am really not sure if I know what I am doing, but indeed ED Community always helps!!!
BTW, if I am destined to "catch the Moon" I guess I need to plan for a sick leave
Mission Time: 12:10:10:59
Almost 12,5 days of travel and still some more.. DEL-77 Rocinante has been "glide-cruising" all that time (with some interruptions - approx. 34:15 hours lost due to Frontier server maintenance and primarily other disconnects that I could not react to quickly enough). The journey is long and requires abnormal patience.. as most of my adventures
It was so far peaceful but we are at 83% of hull due to a collision with my support ship ELL-77 Ranliao Shu.. when I got completely stupid.. see few minutes of the document starting from about T: 6:22:35:00:00
Everything is fine though and I keep on flying. Decided also to keep it "realistic" and not to repair it immediately (Apollo 11 would not have had that chance.. well, nor would have hit another ship.. but it could have been an asteroid ). Instead of, I placed Ranliao Shu on the Moon's orbit as a point of reference..
Mission Flight Time: 12:10:10:59
Time Offset/Deviation: 34:14:28
Flight time in days: 1.43
Degree of necessary course correction: 18.81 deg
Distance to support ship: 0.34Ls (flight deviation included)
We are getting closer and the moon is restlessly chasing us..
Almost 12,5 days of travel and still some more.. DEL-77 Rocinante has been "glide-cruising" all that time (with some interruptions - approx. 34:15 hours lost due to Frontier server maintenance and primarily other disconnects that I could not react to quickly enough). The journey is long and requires abnormal patience.. as most of my adventures
It was so far peaceful but we are at 83% of hull due to a collision with my support ship ELL-77 Ranliao Shu.. when I got completely stupid.. see few minutes of the document starting from about T: 6:22:35:00:00
Everything is fine though and I keep on flying. Decided also to keep it "realistic" and not to repair it immediately (Apollo 11 would not have had that chance.. well, nor would have hit another ship.. but it could have been an asteroid
). Instead of, I placed Ranliao Shu on the Moon's orbit as a point of reference..Mission Flight Time: 12:10:10:59
Time Offset/Deviation: 34:14:28
Flight time in days: 1.43
Degree of necessary course correction: 18.81 deg
Distance to support ship: 0.34Ls (flight deviation included)
We are getting closer and the moon is restlessly chasing us..
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Mission Time: 14:14:55:51
Another disaster stroke last night.. T: 14:13:05:50, just few minutes shy of informational stream scheduled for 21:00 EST my Trhustmaster Warthog joystick stopped responding.. apologies and big thank you to #DeluvianCrew (my small but very loyal Twitch community).. after PC reboot the joystick came back for next couple of minutes but then it died permanently and no matter what I did OS errors out discovering this USB device. I did try the joystick on other computers at home - the very same behavior.. You can imagine that when I tried to address the issue (in a panic mode), I forgot to save my H.O.T.A.S ED config and the configuration got wiped out.
Here is the biggest disappointment of the night though.. I said: no problem, a month ago or so I bought a brand new and very expensive controls from VIRPIL (that I have never tried!!!!) because I missed adapters for the clamping system.. well guess what? Virpil Controls discovered by OS - no problem.. Profiling with Virpil software a bit convoluted but finally successful.. and then ED.....(( The game does not see the hardware no matter what I did. The HW is not very popular yet, especially because of the price tag, not many articles on how to integrate it. Found some on Frontier forum from last year, where it was recommended to use some Gremlin and vJoy third party to enable all the buttons.. but nothing about: the game does not see it at all... if anybody could help here, I would appreciate any help..
Flew for some time using mouse and keyboard but that was not very effective..
Eventually I dug out my old x52 Saitek, hooked this one up, adjusted dead zones to like half the scale as the old good Saitek is wobbly like.... never mind
I do not give up, I will do everything what is in my power to finish this Expedition.. Thank you for your support
I am almost at the Moon orbit and looks like I have enough slack for "adjusting maneuvers".. keep the fingers crossed
Another disaster stroke last night.. T: 14:13:05:50, just few minutes shy of informational stream scheduled for 21:00 EST my Trhustmaster Warthog joystick stopped responding.. apologies and big thank you to #DeluvianCrew (my small but very loyal Twitch community).. after PC reboot the joystick came back for next couple of minutes but then it died permanently and no matter what I did OS errors out discovering this USB device. I did try the joystick on other computers at home - the very same behavior.. You can imagine that when I tried to address the issue (in a panic mode), I forgot to save my H.O.T.A.S ED config and the configuration got wiped out.
Here is the biggest disappointment of the night though.. I said: no problem, a month ago or so I bought a brand new and very expensive controls from VIRPIL (that I have never tried!!!!) because I missed adapters for the clamping system.. well guess what? Virpil Controls discovered by OS - no problem.. Profiling with Virpil software a bit convoluted but finally successful.. and then ED.....
(( The game does not see the hardware no matter what I did. The HW is not very popular yet, especially because of the price tag, not many articles on how to integrate it. Found some on Frontier forum from last year, where it was recommended to use some Gremlin and vJoy third party to enable all the buttons.. but nothing about: the game does not see it at all... if anybody could help here, I would appreciate any help..Flew for some time using mouse and keyboard but that was not very effective..
Eventually I dug out my old x52 Saitek, hooked this one up, adjusted dead zones to like half the scale as the old good Saitek is wobbly like.... never mind
I do not give up, I will do everything what is in my power to finish this Expedition.. Thank you for your support
I am almost at the Moon orbit and looks like I have enough slack for "adjusting maneuvers".. keep the fingers crossed
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Mission Time: 15:05:33:08
The nightmare of last night seems to be over.. situation stabilized. Backup controls work somewhat, eventually this mission is not a combat adventure.. all maneuvers need to be executed slowly and precisely. All distances are squeezing and look more and more scary. I moved support ELL-77 Ranliao Shu 0.25Ls in front of the upcoming moon. This exercise is conducted to experience the actual moon's velocity. After about three hours, the moon reduced the distance to the ship down to 0.22Ls. DEL-77 Rocinante change her course at T: 15:01:48:38 and currently is traveling perpendicular to the moon. Gaining some more "altitude" I am getting ready for some sharper turns tomorrow.. I hope so much that I am not gonna miss the randes vous point. This is so difficult to precisely predict the right course/angle as the speed is only the terrible 304 m/s and the moon.. well, the moon has no mercy and its velocity is just terrifying..
The deciding moments of this story are soon to come...
The nightmare of last night seems to be over.. situation stabilized. Backup controls work somewhat, eventually this mission is not a combat adventure.. all maneuvers need to be executed slowly and precisely. All distances are squeezing and look more and more scary. I moved support ELL-77 Ranliao Shu 0.25Ls in front of the upcoming moon. This exercise is conducted to experience the actual moon's velocity. After about three hours, the moon reduced the distance to the ship down to 0.22Ls. DEL-77 Rocinante change her course at T: 15:01:48:38 and currently is traveling perpendicular to the moon. Gaining some more "altitude" I am getting ready for some sharper turns tomorrow.. I hope so much that I am not gonna miss the randes vous point. This is so difficult to precisely predict the right course/angle as the speed is only the terrible 304 m/s and the moon.. well, the moon has no mercy and its velocity is just terrifying..
The deciding moments of this story are soon to come...
Mission Time: 16:14:57:50
Navigation change, yet another adjustment. We are turning towards the moon. The approach is slower than originally anticipated but I still think that the worst is still in front of us. Put the duct tape over "Supercruise control" button.. No matter how big is the temptation - this is not happening. More than 16.5 days of travel, all the problems and incidents are just flashing in front of my eyes.. "It is not over, till it is over" keeps on jingling in my ears. I need to stay extremely focused, all the biggest disasters stroke usually at the very end of all endeavours (especially in my case)..
Looks like I am not going to sleep tonight...
Navigation change, yet another adjustment. We are turning towards the moon. The approach is slower than originally anticipated but I still think that the worst is still in front of us. Put the duct tape over "Supercruise control" button.. No matter how big is the temptation - this is not happening. More than 16.5 days of travel, all the problems and incidents are just flashing in front of my eyes.. "It is not over, till it is over" keeps on jingling in my ears. I need to stay extremely focused, all the biggest disasters stroke usually at the very end of all endeavours (especially in my case)..
Looks like I am not going to sleep tonight...
Mission Time: 18:20:36:12
Earlier this morning I checked and corrected the flight for the last time.. at around 7am EST it was 15.5 hours left till "touchdown".. I know it is a very "virtual landing" on the moon.. but if everything goes fine I will have a chance to honor the three astronauts as well as countless people on the ground who contributed to success of Apollo 11
Tonight.. it is coming
Expedition Files:
Photos@ Expedition VII: Apollo 11 - Fly Me To The Moon
Live@ Deluvian's Twitch
Earlier this morning I checked and corrected the flight for the last time.. at around 7am EST it was 15.5 hours left till "touchdown".. I know it is a very "virtual landing" on the moon.. but if everything goes fine I will have a chance to honor the three astronauts as well as countless people on the ground who contributed to success of Apollo 11
Tonight.. it is coming
Expedition Files:
Photos@ Expedition VII: Apollo 11 - Fly Me To The Moon
Live@ Deluvian's Twitch
Mission Time: 19:05:10:23
"Houston, we've got a touchdown"
Commander - Neil Alden Armstrong +
Lunar Module Pilot - Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin Jr
Command Module Pilot - Michael Collins
and a long line of names supported and making the Apollo 11 mission possible
o7 as a simple salute to you from (virtual) Cmdr Deluvian Reyes Cruz.. your story became an inspiration for so many events, happenings and developments
Thank you for this one small step of a man, one giant leap for mankind..
It is crazy and insignificant story, but this is my own special way to honor y'all:
Mission flight actual duration: 461:11:26
Mission days "launch" to "landing on the moon": 20.99
Time subtracted due to technical reasons: 42:40:30
We are inside of Moon's Exclusion Zone.. this is as far as we can get.. now, to fully resemble the story of Apollo 11 I will travel for another couple of weeks to come back home.. down to Earth...
Expedition Files:
Photos@ Expedition VII: Apollo 11 - Fly Me To The Moon
Live@ Deluvian's Twitch
"Houston, we've got a touchdown"
Commander - Neil Alden Armstrong +
Lunar Module Pilot - Edwin Eugene "Buzz" Aldrin Jr
Command Module Pilot - Michael Collins
and a long line of names supported and making the Apollo 11 mission possible
o7 as a simple salute to you from (virtual) Cmdr Deluvian Reyes Cruz.. your story became an inspiration for so many events, happenings and developments
Thank you for this one small step of a man, one giant leap for mankind..
It is crazy and insignificant story, but this is my own special way to honor y'all:
Mission flight actual duration: 461:11:26
Mission days "launch" to "landing on the moon": 20.99
Time subtracted due to technical reasons: 42:40:30
We are inside of Moon's Exclusion Zone.. this is as far as we can get.. now, to fully resemble the story of Apollo 11 I will travel for another couple of weeks to come back home.. down to Earth...
Photos@ Expedition VII: Apollo 11 - Fly Me To The Moon
Live@ Deluvian's Twitch
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“You gotta bunch of guys about to turn blue, we’re breathing again, thanks a lot!”
Congratulations, commander!
o7
Congratulations, commander!
o7