Scenes From The Road:
INT. SHUTTLE COCKPIT, NIGHT: Evening shift aboard the USSR Ptichka on Yet Another Kuiper Belt Survey. Nobody ever said space exploration was always glamorous. SORA HASEGAWA is settling into the commander's seat for the next couple hours' flight.
SORA: Good evening, Ptichka. How're we doing tonight?
PTICHKA[1]: Hi Sora, everything's looking fine. We're on course for Makemake, no anomalous objects in our flight path, all systems are green. Closest ship is Melchizedek, about six AU solward of our 7 o'clock.
SORA: Tell Mel I said hi.
PITCHKA: I will, as soon as I get Mel to broaden her musical horizons.
SORA (shakes head): Oh, Ptichka. You aren't trying to convince her to give up metal, are you? You remember what happened when Dizzy tried...
PTICHKA (piously): Nothing of the sort! I'm just saying that she needs to find something more than Maiden tribute bands. You know, she should try some Tull, or Quiet Riot. Or Rush! What kind of space shuttle doesn't like Rush?! They wrote a tribute song for us, for crying out loud!
* Sora listens to this diatribe without laughing, a heroic feat in many ways.
PTICHKA (cont.): But does she listen? Of course not. 'Go listen to your grandma music,' she says. Grandma music! I ought to fly over there and smack her upside the head for that! No respect for her elders, oh it pains me to think where the next generation's going.
SORA: Okay, chief musicologist, let's just stick to the schedule so we can get home on time. You can argue metal bands with Mel later.
[1] Translated from the language of the birds for your reading pleasure. Suffice to say that yes, Sora understands everything Ptichka's saying; it's a crew perk/quirk.
The Soviet Air Force during one of their many design conferences/bullshit sessions considered using an Energia stack as a range-extending booster and/or extra mobile living quarters before finally deciding on the Gagarin-class mothership design. Those plans still exist in the VVS mainframes, and might end up... leaked to the PKG as a birthday present for Mel from her doddering grandma.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
INT. SHUTTLE COCKPIT, NIGHT: Evening shift aboard the USSR Ptichka on Yet Another Kuiper Belt Survey. Nobody ever said space exploration was always glamorous. SORA HASEGAWA is settling into the commander's seat for the next couple hours' flight.
SORA: Good evening, Ptichka. How're we doing tonight?
PTICHKA[1]: Hi Sora, everything's looking fine. We're on course for Makemake, no anomalous objects in our flight path, all systems are green. Closest ship is Melchizedek, about six AU solward of our 7 o'clock.
SORA: Tell Mel I said hi.
PITCHKA: I will, as soon as I get Mel to broaden her musical horizons.
SORA (shakes head): Oh, Ptichka. You aren't trying to convince her to give up metal, are you? You remember what happened when Dizzy tried...
PTICHKA (piously): Nothing of the sort! I'm just saying that she needs to find something more than Maiden tribute bands. You know, she should try some Tull, or Quiet Riot. Or Rush! What kind of space shuttle doesn't like Rush?! They wrote a tribute song for us, for crying out loud!
* Sora listens to this diatribe without laughing, a heroic feat in many ways.
PTICHKA (cont.): But does she listen? Of course not. 'Go listen to your grandma music,' she says. Grandma music! I ought to fly over there and smack her upside the head for that! No respect for her elders, oh it pains me to think where the next generation's going.
SORA: Okay, chief musicologist, let's just stick to the schedule so we can get home on time. You can argue metal bands with Mel later.
[1] Translated from the language of the birds for your reading pleasure. Suffice to say that yes, Sora understands everything Ptichka's saying; it's a crew perk/quirk.
Quote:There's an image on the wiki of an OV-200 mounted to an external tank and booster set. Instead of external fuel tanks, maybe a shuttle-transported mobile space-station (taking example from Stellvian early construction), allowing a reasonably sustainable outpost to be left behind at any mission site, which can then be resupplied or removed when the science is done. The hard part, was getting them off Earth's surface.
The Soviet Air Force during one of their many design conferences/bullshit sessions considered using an Energia stack as a range-extending booster and/or extra mobile living quarters before finally deciding on the Gagarin-class mothership design. Those plans still exist in the VVS mainframes, and might end up... leaked to the PKG as a birthday present for Mel from her doddering grandma.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"