N.S.P. Summarized
N.S.P. Corporation, professionally called Nicholas Space Productions, is owned by Nicholas Kerman, and was founded in 1985 on December 13th. Throughout the years, the space program went through many changes, but ultimately ended up being the world's leader in Aerospace Technology.
The beginning
On December 13th, 1985, Nicholas Space Productions was braught into the world, but it wasn't called N.S.P. Corp. Instead, it was known as Nicholas Aeronautics, and it's vehicles went under the name of Arrow Aviation, which was a sub-company to Nicholas Aeronautics. During this time, experimental rockets like the Flea were tested, and data was gained on how rocket motors worked. Although many N.S.P. rockets today are grand in size, this Flea was truly the spark that set it all. The flea was manufactured out of Sheet metal found at Jeb's workshop, and Nicholas Kerman put down 1000 credits to assemble and produce the "Flea" rocket. This decision would end up being one of the best decisions ever made by him.
Aviation
Nicholas Aeronautics was known for putting it's branding on planes, along with their sub-company, Arrow Aviation at the end. This would form an abbreviation seen to be NAAF, standing for Nicholas Aeronautics Arrow Fighter. However, before the Arrow Fighters, Nicholas Aerospace would simply name their planes Arrow, with a pre-selected nickname before that. Nicholas Aeronautics first plane was the Observe Jet 1, which resulted in much needed data on how things flew in the Atmosphere of Kerbin, and how planes worked. The Aviation Era of N.S.P. would go on to help produce the Astra Sailor, the N.S.P. N.A.S.E., and the Arrow Fighters.
Into the Cosmos
After Nicholas Aeronautics understood the atmosphere of Kerbin, they decided to tackle orbit of Kerbin. It was hypothesized to be possible, since you just go fast enough to where you don't fall back into the planet, however, many were skeptical. But, Nicholas Aeronautics was able to pull it off, and this eventually led to the modern day technology that we now have for space travel. In fact, this mission was so successful, that Nicholas Aeronautics decided to focus heavily on space. The rocket that launched N.S.P. into space was known as the "Mammoth Block 2" This mission would lead to the formation of Kupera Aerospace, which is the main sub-company behind rocketry, and N.S.P. Corp would form as the companies that own both Nicholas Aeronautics, Kupera Aerospace, and Arrow Aviation.
Commercial Orbits
Now that Nicholas Space Program's main structure was formed, they decided to create a fully reusable rocket that could launch satellites into orbit for commerical contracts, along with servicing them. However, before this re-usable era of rocketry, N.S.P. formed the Joolkian Rocket, which was a cheap rocket that allowed them to reach orbit with plenty of fuel left. This rocket allowed N.S.P. to understand rockets and how they were affected in orbit along with how orbital mechanics work, which led to the N.S.P. N.A.S.E. program. This program was aimed at creating a space plane that could return back to Kerbin while being fully reusable, and it passed with flying colors. This era made N.S.P. Wealthy.
Two the Moons!
After N.S.P. understood how orbital mechanics worked and they became wealthy through contracts, they decided to explore other close celestial bodies, such as Minmus and the Mun. With this, they created the Astra Minma and Astra Munma programs, which allowed N.S.P. to go to the two moons. The programs ended up being a success, and this allowed them to land on the two moons, and eventually set up colonies there, too. Furthermore, now that they mastered landing on other celestial bodies, they decided to reach further out in space.
Minmus Colony
We all know of the infamous Minmus Colony, Permafrost Point. After the Astra Minma missions, Permafrost point was set to be a colony that would house Kerbals for living on Minmus. The program was funded mainly by the Kerbelian Government, and after this funding, the program was a go. This colony on Minmus would reveal many secrets of the universe, and it still does to this day. Fun Fact, the base is still used today, after all of this time, to process all of our scientific data we collect from different planets and moons!
Interplanetary
After N.S.P. explored every nook and cranny of the Kerbin system, they decided to go further out beyond Kerbin. With this, they went to many different targets, mainly because they wanted to discover the secrets of the Solar system, and if a planet was to be habitable or not. To add onto this, though, the Kerbelian government issued N.S.P. a grant to find a celestial body that could host future life of Kerbals due to the rising Syracusian threat. Thus, N.S.P. looked at 3 main targets: Eve, Duna, and Jool. And with this, a new era of space exploration began. Furthermore, Duna was found to have an atmosphere that was too weak at the time, but it could be terraformed. Eve's atmosphere was too corrosive and deadly to Kerbals, and Jool was classified to be a Gas Giant by N.S.P.. However, a moon of Jool, being Laythe, was discovered, and later missions were planned for it.
Era of Astra Sailor
Now that N.S.P. was spending large amounts of their money on missions outside of the Kerbin System, they had to develop a rocket that was fully reusable, such as the N.A.S.E.. So, funding was put into the new Astra Sailor program, and a shuttle-like plane was built and would hold the cargo, and it would glide back to home. The booster, known as Super Lifter / Super Booster, was able to return home after hauling Astra sailor to orbit on one stage. The program was expensive to develop, but it led to cost cutting in the space program, and Astra Sailor became the workhorse for N.S.P. projects, and later revisions to Astra Sailor would be made as fit.
Jool Colonization
With the moons of Jool as a main focus for N.S.P., they decided to send an Astra Sailor to drop off cargo at Laythe's north pole, which would eventually result in the presence of Life on Laythe. Furthermore, this would snowball into Laythe becoming a second home for all of Kerbal kind. After laythe was fully colonized by N.S.P., they were able to use it as a secondary launch area, and decided to set up a colony on Vall, the frozen moon of Jool that had many resources. Now that N.S.P. had a literal planet at their disposal, dust started to settle, and not much happened for the next 6 years publically...
Titan Cronus
Somehow, the Titan Cronus mission went under the radar, and nobody knew N.S.P. had launched a probe to Saranus, the ringed world beyond Jool's orbit. At first, nobody knew that there were planets beyond Jool due to the large amount of distance between Jool and the sun, but there infact are. N.S.P. knew this information, but it somehow never got through to the public. Quite odd.... Moving on, Titan Cronus allowed N.S.P. to explore the Saranus system, and it did so flawlessly. Infact, it spotted many moons to be explored in the future, and it even dropped a probe on a suspected moon that could have life: Tekto. This mission would result in further investigation into the Sarnus System.
Tekto Colonization
As quick as we found Tekto, we colonized it. Many believe it was a risky move to do so due to the far distance from Kerbol, but in the end, it ended up working well. This is because Tekto was found to have Crude Oil under it's oceans, and it also had life at one point in it's life! Furthermore, it has Mun-like gravitiy, and this causes its atmosphere to reach out 95 kilometers into space! It's a huge atmoshpere for such a small moon! Furthermore, a launch base was manufactured and created on Tekto, and it now serves as a gateway for deeper exploration into the vast solar system, and possibly even others. And, finally, Tekto has been used to establish a Deep Space Network for far venturing probes.
Eve Transformation
With the lessons learned on Tekto about dealing and treating corrosive atmospheres, N.S.P. was determined to make a permenant outpost on Eve, and terraform it too. The difference between Eve and Tekto is that Eve is closer to the sun, so an oxygen/nitrogen atmosphere would work well, and an ocean of water would too. So, N.S.P.'s first steps to this was to land kerbals in Eve, which they did, and then make a colony, which they also did. Now that the colony was up and running, the kerbals living their spent a long time manufacturing a space center to be used to launch rockets. After this was complete, the first rocket made from Eve was launched into the atmosphere, and entered a polar orbit to survey the planet for the future terraforming. Now that this was done, terraforming began, and over many years, Eve became livable.
Asteroid Exploration
After the completion of Eve's terraformation, an effort to discover the Asteroid belt was put into place due to the threat that asteroids have on Kerbin and many other planets throughout the solar system. Furthermore, they could possibly contain many materials that would be beneficial to the progression of technology, and we may even be able to mine them for fuel of our interplanetary ships. So, in a mission called Asteroid Armata, an Astra Sailor was sent up to Dres, who controls most of the belt, mainly to study it's composition, gravity, tidal forces, and gravitational influence. During this trip, many new things were discovered, such as Dres having a ring, and the Dres system being a binary system with a barycenter. After this mission, satellites were launched into the asteroid belt to act as a deep space network for the solar system, and to also image/discover asteroids.
Duna Terraformation
Now that the Inner Kerbol System was secured, and the Treaty of Space was Signed, Duna was the last planet in the Kerbol System allowed to be colonized. Along with this, N.S.P. was looking for a planet that could act as a center of operations for the future that could support a livable atmosphere, which lower gravity. So, Duna was the target, and after many missions, N.S.P. and Kerbal Mechanical Labs had Duna terraformed completely. With this, they were able to use Duna as a spaceport and gateway into the depths of the universe, and better technology was able to be developed on Duna.Â
Era of Titan Sailor
After the legendary Astra Sailor was starting to become too expensive and old, a replacement technology was put into place, called "Titan Sailor." This spacecraft shared qualities to the Astra Sailor, but the main difference was its 5 meter payload bay, which ran 15 meters in length. Furthermore, it is able to comfortably reach any destination in the Kerbolar System, and may even be the foundation for travel outside of it. However, with the Titan Sailor, the budget is able to be cut down a considerable amount to allow for missions to places like Moho, Urlum, Nideon, and Plock. Possibly even to the far reaches of other Star Systems.
