I'm happy to share that the 0.96 update has been released! This update is focused on Project Mercury and contains a new Debrief System used to refine the "Mission Accomplished" window when ending a mission.
This first release of the Debrief System will be used to test how it works and integrates with Mercury, before being rolled out to Gemini and Apollo as well (planned for 0.97 and 0.98). It also applies a new update to the Mercury Flight Manual, the first step in updating all flight manuals and the reentry game manual before 1.0, and a dynamic skybox during pre-launch operations.

Note: If this updates gives you issues, you can revert back to a previous version by using the Steam betas tab for the game.


Mercury Debrief System
The main feature update is the improved Debrief System for Project Mercury. The goal of this system is to better communicate what goals you completed in a given mission and give you a timeline of your mission execution along with stats and graphs from various stages.

For example, the mission timeline will show you all of your main events:


And various stats and graphs can be used to analyze your mission execution and performance:


The is just the first step of this system and more stats/graphs will be added over time once I verify that the generic system works. If you have any good ideas for this, be sure to let me know!


Updated Mercury Manual
The flight manuals for Reentry is in need of updates. This is the first step of giving all of the flight manuals a big update before the 1.0 release. The screenshots has been changed, sections has changed and all checklists has been updated to the latest version.



Mercury Dynamic Skybox during pre-launch
A new dynamic skybox has been added to Project Mercury as an initial test. The skybox requires quite a lot of calculations and will update at an interval of 10 seconds (or after completing a timescale).

The sequence below shows the skybox as time to ignition counts down from T -2 hours for an early morning launch.





Updated LM/CM digits
Updated the general digits in the Command Module and the Lunar Module. This applies to the EMS and both Mission Timers in the Command Module, and the Mission Timer, Event Timer, Oxid/Fuel Quantity indicators and the Helium indicator in the Lunar Module

Command Module


Lunar module


Recovery ship in Mercury
I have added a recovery ship floating in the background when you splash down. I have reached out to various manufacturers on permission to models similar to the real recovery helicopters as well to start the journey on improving the recovery of the crew after a mission. If I do not get a response, I will use a generic helicopter model for this.


Mercury ASCS Updates
The Mercury ASCS (autopilot) has received some updates and fixes to better handle attitude maneuvering. The ASCS has previously been too perfect leaving almost no drift. This has been changed, and the logic has been modified to fix some issues present at lower framerates (faster fuel consumption, chasing impossible perfectionism, etc.).


Removed the deprecated Historical Missions tab
The "Historical" tab that was available on the main menu was replaced by the Campaign, and used to be the main red line that would guide you through the game. After the campaign was introduced, I left the tab there so the few incomplete missions would be accessible.

The Historical Missions mode will be redefined between 1.0 and 2.0, where a different mission system will be used to let you fly missions with launch date and goals similar to the real missions (campaign does this too). The Mission Creator will also let you create missions like this.

A summary of update 0.96 can be seen here:
https://youtu.be/AxQuZClklC8


List of changes:

• Added a better Mission Debrief/Summary for Mercury. This system will be applied to Gemini and Apollo in the next couple of updates.
  
• Mercury: Dynamic Skybox
  
• Recovery ship in Mercury
  
• Updated Mercury Manual
  
• ASCS fixes
  
• Light Bleed bug on some Mercury Cockpit internal models (glow in the dark)
  
• Major changes in the Mercury ASCS
  
• More Gemini mission changes for the new OBC Catchup Program procedure
  
• Modified orbital decay logic
  
• Removed the infinite fuel flag from Mercury RCS
  
• CSM: Change the Hg to He texture issue on CSM panel % F
  
• Deprecated the old "Historical Missions" section as the Campaign has been designed to guide you through similar missions. A new Historical Missions System will be implemented when the game is ready for it.