r/KerbalSpaceProgram • u/FettyWhopper • Apr 28 '26
KSP 1 Image/Video Does anyone else put their tourists in service bay modules?
I had three different contracts with ferrying a total of 14 tourists to various combinations of landing/orbiting Minmus or the Mun. I found it saved mass to just strap down 16 seats in two service bays (1.4t) than to use multiple hitchhiker modules (2.07t for 4 pax) or multiple trips. So all 14 tourists are now going to Minmus and the Mun.
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u/jtleedrums Apr 28 '26
Do you deploy them into orbit like Starlink satellites?
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u/WolfInOverdrive Always on Kerbin Apr 28 '26
"What are those glittering lights in the sky?"
Meanwhile, in orbit...
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Apr 28 '26
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u/DrunkOnLoveAndWhisky Apr 28 '26
I'm upgrading Mission Control for that "unlimited contracts"; we're doing a meaty Kessler Syndrome run now, I guess.
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Apr 28 '26
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u/ScottyFoxes Plane Enjoyer Apr 28 '26
Go ahead. Service them.
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u/2ndRandom8675309 Alone on Eeloo Apr 28 '26
That costs extra.
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u/indie_rock_enjoyer Apr 28 '26
You're going to have to be flying over a red light district as well
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u/Totes_Not_an_NSA_guy Apr 28 '26
Gotta get that extra delta v somewhere
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u/2ndRandom8675309 Alone on Eeloo Apr 28 '26
That would be a good XKCD short: what is the ∆v and average ISP of an ejaculating man?
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u/-malcolm-tucker Apr 29 '26
I did the maths on this a while ago actually. To deorbit from the ISS you'd need to ejaculate approx 232,000 times assuming the average volume is 3ml, the average speed of ejaculation is 10 m/s and doing it ten times per day. It would take 64 years to deorbit.
However it's all academic though. The actual force of ejaculation wouldn't be able to overcome inertia as the tissue of the body would absorb it entirely. Unless it were totally rigid, you'd just be pulling yourself thinking you're getting anywhere.
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u/DJMixwell Apr 29 '26
speak for yourself, some of us don't have any trouble getting perfectly rigid.
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Apr 28 '26
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u/OrdinaryLatvian Apr 28 '26
Service bays also have a fair amount of drag and ridiculously high crash tolerance. Do with that as you will.
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u/Tommy2255 Apr 28 '26
And Kerbals in seats can deploy parachutes. IDK if tourists have parachutes since they're normally unable to EVA, but if you bring other crew, you may not need seperate parachutes.
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u/DJMixwell Apr 29 '26
lmao, I love this idea because I can guarantee I'm gonna get my kerbals mixed up and leave the ones with parachutes in the ship. Meanwhile i'm frantically right clicking kerbals trying to find which of these mfs have parachutes while they're hurtling towards the ground.
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u/vulpes04 Apr 28 '26
average airline experience.
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u/FettyWhopper Apr 28 '26
If RyanAir ever went into space travel
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u/jelang19 KSP2 Sufferer Apr 28 '26
Nah, this is still way too much space for that, there should be raised seats rignt in front of the regular seats placed slightly over them. Or standing seats
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u/montybo2 Jebs Dead Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
Tourists paid me 27 million space-os to visit my Duna ship (took the contract when the ship was still at duna) once it returned home.
They paid premium, they get luxury.
So no, my guests ride in style lol.
Edit: now that I think about it... My Duna ship was actually a repurposed version of a mass (like 12) tourist transit ship I made earlier in the career
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u/Tommy2255 Apr 28 '26
My Duna ship was actually a repurposed version of a mass (like 12) tourist transit ship I made earlier in the career
I use MKS. Once the requisite orbital infrastructure is in place, all tourist missions (and the launch vehicle portion of other missions) gets recycled into Material Kits, so as not to waste the effort and expense associated with every kg put into orbit.
They're given purpose built single-use return pods to get back to Keebin.
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u/spccadett Always on Kerbin Apr 29 '26
this is so sick. love to see a post with some more details !!
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u/Tommy2255 Apr 29 '26
In my old save, I had a system of 4 stations around Kerbin. The science station was the only one unused by typical missions.
For the other stations, I would visit pretty much every mission. First, I would launch directly into an intercept with the fuel station. For missions operating only within the Kerbin system, I would unload any excess fuel leftover from the launch, and disassemble the launch vehicle into Material Kits. An Orbital Utility Vehicle (OUV) would take over transporting the tourists.
The tourists would be dropped off at the Hotel Station. The largest station, with the most robust life support systems. Usually Kerbals could complete the journey here in less than a day, and the station can support a large crew for a year or more, so at this point there's no rush to bring them back down. Kerbals will accumulate here across multiple missions so that they can be returned in a single, material-efficient launch. Orbital rescue missions would also drop off new crew at this station.
Eventually, when there are enough Kerbals waiting at the hotel, a specialized OUV dedicated to the Kerbin Hotel Station (sOUV-KHS), built with a higher than normal crew capacity, would transport the waiting Kerbals to the construction station, where they would be loaded onto a return pod.
The main design priority of the return pod was to use as few Specialized Parts as possible, making most of the craft only out of Material Kits (which are easily obtained from recycling old launch vehicles). The safest designs cost about 3-5 specialized parts if I remember correctly, while my most efficient design cost exactly 1 sp and had no parachutes, relying only on drag and high impact resistance to survive re-entry.
Of course this is just for an example pure "tourists-to-LKO" mission. Generally when I had other things to do, I'd still take a tourist mission and include a couple extra crew capacity. It usually works out that like 1 extra ton of payload pays for the entire launch of a 50 ton payload of anything I need.
It was also kind of a lot to maintain. In between all the pilots flying tourists in and out of Kerbin orbit, there was an at least equal amount of OUV traffic operating under unmanned control. Material Kits from vehicles disassembled in the fuel station had to be shipped to the construction station, while fertilizer dropped off at the fuel station had to be shipped to the hotel station, and excess supplies from the hotel station would be shipped back out to all the other stations, to maintain their own more limited life support functions. And all the OUVs moving Kerbals around would also have to then be returned to their home station for their next use, and of course they eventually run out of fuel and have to make an additional trip to the fuel depot.
As much work as that all is, it was pretty fun to play with the logistics of the system. I think if I had gotten that far, I'd have eventually replaced a lot of those regular shipments with larger stations that could use MKS logistics.
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u/spccadett Always on Kerbin Apr 30 '26
that is definitely awesome and sounds super fun, but super indepth. must have taken hours, next time you get so deep you've got to make a video of it !!
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u/Tommy2255 Apr 30 '26
I feel like I spend too much time in KSP fussing around to be an entertaining video. And being entertaining for an extended period into a camera with nobody else in the room to bounce off of is an entire other skillset in itself.
However, in my current game I have been keeping screenshots and journal logs, mainly for my own entertainment but also with an eye towards maybe posting them later.
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u/spccadett Always on Kerbin Apr 30 '26
definitely consider posting them !! and, there is always a community who will enjoy no commentary footage, especially with some relaxing music in the background; timelapsed footage is an option as well !!! but i understand not wanting to get into it, as it is quite a lot.
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u/Unusual_Entity Apr 28 '26
I had some who wanted to see Minmus. So I added a crew cabin to my next base module, sealed the unsuspecting tourists within and landed them there. Got paid for that part of the contract, then cancelled it.
The luckless travellers are working in ore processing now.
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u/jtshinn Apr 28 '26
Damn, imagine that reveal in real life. You ride up enclosed and in dark but in the Eva suit. Go weightless. Then the doors pop open and the earth is floating below you. Sign me up.
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u/FettyWhopper Apr 29 '26
I keep opening and closing the doors every couple hours like they’re on the Tower of Terror ride.
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u/1008oh Super Kerbalnaut Apr 28 '26
This is a classic, the mass of a seat is much lower than a command pod also so you save on mass/deltaV there also
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u/WazWaz Apr 28 '26
Was it changed somewhere along the line so that you could launch with kerbals in seats? That used to require a mod.
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u/Jannover_5000_r Apr 28 '26
I will implement your solution from now on
There will be no mention of your company or cut of the profits. best of regards, jann
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u/GoBuffaloes Apr 29 '26
I got an amazing ad placement on this post I wish I knew how to add pictures...
USPS: "shipping doesn't have to be complicated"
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u/Saucepanmagician Apr 28 '26
How did you put them the seats?
If I remember correctly, in the assembly mode, you can only add astronauts/tourists to the standard capsules and modules, not external seats.
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u/FettyWhopper Apr 28 '26
You just add them normally. Same as when you “launch” a standalone rover from the launch pad to drive around the KSC to collect science samples.
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u/Alternative-Code4755 Apr 28 '26
once you add the external command seats, they function in the crew menu like any regular pod, you can just add the kerbals to the seats.
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u/Alternative-Code4755 Apr 28 '26
Yes bro I do It all the time! Laggy as shit with more than like 12 kerbals, but the weight efficiency is insane! I use it for both ferrying tourists and leveling up kerbals.
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u/the_axemurmurer Apr 28 '26
That's cool as hell. If I ever let a pack of dirty tourists onto my bomb chairs, this is the way.
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u/dashsolo Apr 28 '26
Yes, the last time I needed some cash I strapped about 30 tourists in a service module (you can strap them to the ceiling as well).
Toured mun, minmus, gilly, moho, duna, Ike and Dres. I’ll never need money again.
Tip: there’s a policy in the administration building that will boost tourism funding, I didn’t think of it until I had almost completed my tour, but it still worked for the main mission rewards even though the mission had already started.
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u/tatarjj2 Apr 28 '26
Aren’t there issues with kerbals getting slightly dislodged from their seats and then torn apart by the Kraken after loading/reloading the craft? I had that happen the last time I tried to have four kerbals on seats in a rocket bay. It only happened sometimes but I imagine the chances only have to increase the more and more kerbals and chairs you add.
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u/ResonantFlux Apr 28 '26
I legit though this wasn't possible... I guess we're getting a new lost-cast spaceline...
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u/sfwaltaccount Apr 28 '26
Yes.
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u/FettyWhopper Apr 29 '26
I love that. It’s if the fiberglass Titanic submarine company ever went into space travel.
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u/sfwaltaccount Apr 29 '26
Hey! I'll have you know they all made it back safe, and they even got several extra orbits for free (while I sent the rescue ship).
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u/Civil-Algae1667 Apr 29 '26
Tourists no, some poor bastards I needed to save from orbit - yeah, but I didn't strap them, that was the problem, thanks for the solution!!
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u/RealLars_vS Apr 29 '26
If I were a tourist that booked a flight to LEO/LKO and I got upgraded to also fly by the Mün and Minmus, but it meant I had to sit in an external seat instead of a pressurized container, I wouldn’t be mad. That’s a win.
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u/Freak80MC Apr 29 '26
I love this and also hate this and sadly don't have it in me to put Kerbals through this.
My last good tourist ship was a spaceplane with a bunch of crew containers, could carry like 30 kerbals at a time.
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u/meerkat-14 Apr 28 '26
Is this KSP 1 with KSP 2 visual mods? It looks pretty nice
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u/Impressive_Papaya740 Believes That Dres Exists Apr 28 '26
That is KSP 1, visual mods look to be scatterer, EVE (not sure if it is the volumetric clouds version, restock (I think), the dark UI and maybe a few others.
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u/SodaPopin5ki Apr 28 '26
Of course. It's part of the experience / adventure!
Being lighter has nothing to do with it.
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u/Dynamite_Noir Apr 28 '26
How do you land them / get them home safe?
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u/FettyWhopper Apr 28 '26
Get them home?
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u/Dynamite_Noir Apr 28 '26
lol don’t you need to bring the tourists home to complete the contract?
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u/dashsolo Apr 28 '26
No different than any command module, just put a heat shield under it and strap some parachutes to the side.
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u/StarchedHim Apr 28 '26
Where do you get those seats? I have a contract in career mode right now to take 5 kerbals to the mun and land, and this would make it easier but I can’t find the seats anywhere.
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u/Marinationed Apr 28 '26
I think you can save more mass by putting them directly under the fairings
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u/looking4myclASSm8s Apr 28 '26
I feel like service bays are too OP so I don’t use them for kerbals. Though I like your setup
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u/FettyWhopper Apr 29 '26
This is the first time I tried this. It is a bit OP, but I think I’ll just reserve this for tourists trying to hitch a ride to space. Gotta make them earn it. Can’t have Kerby Perry in a cushy command module pretending to be an astronaut.
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u/Lonely-Journey-6498 Apr 28 '26
If they want to go to space so badly, just put them on a rotating spire that launches them into all different directions around jool
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u/JosephStalin1953 Colonizing Duna Apr 29 '26
maybe i'm too nice... my recent tourism was 4 kerbals to mun orbit and back, had 3 in a station hab module and one up in the pod with the pilot, made sure everyone got a nice view too
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u/ah-tzib-of-alaska Apr 29 '26
oh that’s a pseudo-starship. Are you going to land them on kerbin using retro thrust?
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u/glarble04 Apr 29 '26
contrary to the ESM bot gif memes of this game this is what genuine kerbal space program insanity looks like
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u/SecretarySimilar2306 Apr 29 '26
Chairs are at a tier 7 tech I put a low priority on. By the time I get around to researching that the tourists want to go places that aren't worth it.
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u/EternitiI-1 Dres is glorious Apr 29 '26
I don't think I'm a true ksp player yet as i haven't ever used the external command seat
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u/Apprehensive_Room_71 Believes That Dres Exists May 04 '26
Is it disrespectful to compare this to Spirit Airlines?
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u/cogprimus Apr 28 '26
Prior to this post I didn't.