Melody Space Center — Exploring the Kerbol System

We flew KerbalOrbit first. We built the abort stack everyone else now has to match.

KOEING's R-SLS2 is the Melody Space Center's designated crew transfer vehicle— affordable, reliable, and equipped with a tower Launch Abort System NASA mandated after MSC-002 proved the concept. MSC-001 put Valentina Kerman in orbit on SLS 3C; MSC-002 and MSC-003 flew R-SLS2 through EVA, Mach 3+ reentry, and the program's first clean station docking at LSI 1. MunShot Phase 1 is the next crucible—and KOEING enters with two flawless crewed missions and native onboard crew control.

Design philosophy

Don't reinvent what works

R-SLS2 started as a modified SLS 2—same heritage stack, same operations muscle, room for three kerbals and an abort tower. That restraint is deliberate: every flight buys down risk for the crew office and for NASA oversight. Skyward Works, our integration campus outside Melody, still runs full-scale water-landing drills while the pad teams practice LAS pulls twice a month—fiction that fits how this kerbal program actually behaves when the budget is “unlimited” but the spotlight is unforgiving.

Cost-aware reliabilityMSC-002 · MSC-003 heritage

The rivalry is operational, not theatrical

KerbalX took SOLARCOM and the LSI core; we took KerbalOrbit and the crew lane. Tabloids need a narrative—we need docking interfaces that close and margins we can publish when Orbital Mechanics Quarterly asks nicely. OMQ already flagged our Mach 3+ reentry as “inside envelope but tight;” we're scrubbing the thermal dataset for a release that satisfies peer review without handing competitors a cookbook.

Competition: KerbalXThermal margins · pending

SLS family — flight-proven hardware

SLS 2

Operational

Orbital workhorse that launched both KERBCOM planes—equatorial and polar—on NASA's satellite backbone contract. Water landing recovery; ground plus onboard crew control.

SLS 3C

Operational

Crew-rated KerbalOrbit winner. Valentina Kerman's MSC-001 vehicle—the flight that ended MSC's probe-only era and established SLS as a crew platform.

R-SLS2

Fleet primaryAbort-equipped

Modified SLS 2 with three-kerbal accommodations—the workhorse NASA points to for LSI crew rotation. MSC-002: first EVA in MSC history, Mach 3+ reentry validation, Basic Station docking spec failure (not a vehicle fault). MSC-003: first successful MSC station docking; R-SLS2 remains berthed at LSI 1 Port 1.

LLS 2

Sidelined

Heavy-lift variant that contested SOLARCOM against KerbalX's SH-3. Lost the relay network award; MunShot upper-stage roles remain under NASA evaluation—still part of the conversation when mass margins get stubborn.

Launch Abort System — program baseline

Tower LAS · first integrated on R-SLS2

The tower-mounted solid assembly that can peel the crew capsule off the stack during any in-atmosphere emergency debuted on MSC-002. NASA's subsequent mandate made KOEING's LAS the baseline for every future crewed vehicle operating in Kerbin's atmosphere—including MunShot contenders that still have to close their onboard-control gaps.

Quiet advantage: we designed it, we fly it, we train crews on its cues before every ascent. External partners inherit the requirement; we inherit the flight-test pedigree.

Post MSC-002 mandateNASA safety culture shift

Mission heritage

Mission	Vehicle	Notes	Status
MSC-001 · KerbalOrbit	SLS 3C	First crewed orbital; Valentina Kerman	Complete
MSC-002 · Station rendezvous	R-SLS2	First three-kerbal crew; first EVA; Basic Station decommission on docking spec mismatch; LAS validated; Mach 3+ reentry	Complete
MSC-003 · LSI 1 first crew	R-SLS2	Jedidiah, Huddin, Katdorf Kerman; first successful MSC station docking; docked Port 1	Ongoing
MSC-MUN-1A · MunShot Phase 1	R-SLS2 (planned candidate)	Crewed Mun flyby or orbital insertion; onboard control + abort on atmospheric phases; fly-before-select vs KerbalX	Planning

MunShot Phase 1 — MSC-MUN-1A

Head-to-head with KerbalX

NASA expects both contractors to fly before naming a Phase 1 winner. R-SLS2's record—two missions, zero vehicle anomalies, LAS-qualified, native onboard crew control—is the natural baseline for trans-Munar operations. Requirements bite: minimum two crew, Mun flyby or orbital insertion, safe return, abort coverage through atmospheric flight. Phase 2 surface landing stays locked until Phase 1 proves the broader crew-control story.

“We congratulated KerbalX on SOLARCOM because relays matter—and because MunShot will be decided on flights, not press releases.”— External relations boilerplate, lightly leaked to the Herald

MSC-MUN-1A planningOnboard crew control ✓

LSI 1 — station contributions

Extended Power Array · LSI-003

Deployable solar wings and battery banks—KOEING's open bid on the station expansion board. Passive mount architecture stayed outside the original docking-spec fault tree; NASA still asked for verification paperwork after Basic Station, and we're happily complying: redundant relays beat heroic EVAs.

Power moduleSpec review · precautionary

Crew on orbit

MSC-003 delivered Jedidiah Kerman (pilot), Huddin Kerman (engineer), and Katdorf Kerman (science) to LSI 1—the station KerbalX lifted on Starship Heavy 4 after Basic Station stood down. First berth at Port 1 is ours; the storyline the public sees is three kerbals doing science overhead while the MunShot manifest firms up.

MSC-003 dockedAwaiting module cadence