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Space Station "Rhône"

V1.2
- Fixed fuel supply priority symmetry issue that affects station CoM as fuel burns. Update to KSP 1.9.0.

V1.1
- Fixed wrong Lab orientation, so that crew won’t be upside down under the artificial gravity if the ring were to rotate.

Because the Elbe cannot be launched smoothly in 1.7.3 and needs to be fixed. Fixing then became completely rebuilding from scratch. With many useless parts scrapped and asymmetry minimized, the result is much more streamlined and practical. Newly designed launch vehicle is easy to fly and pretty reliable (for now). I think the difference is significant enough for a separate upload.

Named after one of the major rivers in Europe. Wish you enjoy the Starry Night Over the Rhône.

100% Stock, 240 parts in total (station itself has 181 parts). Root part is the copula module.

- Major streamline work, station part count dropped from 267 to 181, better game performance.
- Lower drag and less asymmetry for a safe and smooth launch.
- Twice the TWR without sacrificing thrust vectoring capability. Slightly increased dV.
- Better relay functionality as a gateway station.

- Compact ring station as orbital gateway with integrated fuel storage (1 orange tank) and propulsion system.
- Reliable lifter: see flight instructions at the bottom.
- Reaches LKO with 2km/s dV in total. Station itself has 1077m/s dV and a TWR of 0.42 (around Kerbin) with full fuel.
- Powerful relay dish array enables relay transmission from Jool system.
- 4 RTGs provide sufficient electricity even without sunlight.
- 5 universal docking ports (1.25m + 0.625m).

AG4 = toggle panels & antennas
AG9 = toggle emergency fuel cells
AG0 = toggle station engines

- It can reach Mun/Minmus/Duna/Eve orbit without refueling. For missions to other destinations, it's recommended to either refuel at Mun/Minmus orbit, or launch a large nuclear-powered interplanetary transfer module and dock with it.
- It works best with some sort of surface-orbit shuttle with ISRU and fuel transport capability. It would be perfect if the aforementioned transfer module can also do this job.

- Engage SAS, fire engines, wait for it to be stable, release launch clamps and lift off.
- Slowly pitch down to 80deg @ 2-2.5km, lock prograde, DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING until booster separation. Intervention would likely lead to RUD event, because the draggy station on the top renders the whole craft non static stable.
- Correct orbit angles only in upper atmosphere or in space.
- Note that vanilla game dV reading is strangely inaccurate on this station. It shows 776m/s while it actually has 1077m/s. The mods MechJeb and/or KER are highly recommended not only for this reason.
- Remember to jettison upper stage once its fuel runs out.

Wish you enjoy and happy launching!