The Great Escape

[Eat Uranium]

Now listen up Kerbalnaughts!

The plan is to launch a rocket into a solar escape trajectory. Now, I will need 3 volunteers: yes, I knew you\'d have the guts to step forward Jeb, and you even dragged Bill and Bob along by the ear too. Now understand this, you will never come back. So long and god-speed!

So yeah, this is a challenge to escape the pull of Kerbol\'s gravity and drift amongst the stars. There are the following end states listed in order of least to most acceptable:

1) In a solar escape hyperbolic orbit.

2) returned from 1 into a heliocentric orbit.

3) returned from 2 into a Kerbin orbit.

4) returned from 3 to the surface of Kerbin.

[Eat Uranium]

So, my entry:

I managed to get into an orbit around the sun, and waited until periapsis for my escape burn [image1]. This took 131 days, which even at x10k is a long wait. At the 1 (Kerbin) year mark, all three intrepid Kerbalnauts were in good spirits.

For my burn I had available 4.4 LFTs and the non-vectoring LFE. With 0.6 tanks remaining, my AP marker had disappeared and I took that to mean I was hyperbolic[image 2]. I used the remaining fuel to retro burn into my final solar orbit image 3].

So I think I am allowed to award myself a level 2 result.

Attached also is my entirely stock ship (which flies very well I have to admit - from experience with previous incarnations it doesn\'t even need any SAS).