ManEatingApe

I had a hunch that it was possible to unlock the elusive "Advanced Rocketry" node in the very first launch. The "Aha!" moment was when I recalled that EVA and Crew reports are per biome in "low space" and "flying low" situations respectively, providing just enough extra science to get us over the line. Amusingly, I also discovered that a Kerbal jumping from Kerbin's surface counts as a "in flight" vessel when recovered, providing a few more bonus science points. Bob bravely rode the ladder all the way to space, with nothing but a Goo canister between him and certain death. There was a complex dance to collect 6 Crew Reports, 7 EVA Reports and 6 Goo experiments, shown in the short video below. The most important unlocked part is the larger FL-T400 fuel tank. This should allow us to go the Mun, Minmus and beyond, within the 30 part limit of the Level 1 VAB. It was a lot of fun flying this ridiculous contraption to space, so if anyone would like to try, the craft file is available here. Now I must plot the 2nd mission...

It's a tricky thing to pull off, nicely done! I always budget way way over the normal dV needed in order to account for correction burns. Then the correction burns to fix the previous "correction" burns.

Thank you very much, I'm honoured!

I've actually spent the last couple of hours racking my brains trying to figure out how to include a Minimus visit in the 2nd mission as well. If only I could only squeeze another few hundred m/s out of the design I feel it's possible. Perhaps some other daring Space Engineer can try...

The crew cabin and Mk1 pod on the left is a craft that got stuck in orbit without fuel. The contraption on the right is the rescue tug. It's job is to de-orbit the whole shebang to a safe speed. Getting them together is like a normal docking maneuver. The only small trick is once you get close enough: Switch to the tourist craft Select the rescue vehicle as target Rotate so that the tourist craft is facing exactly away With a little luck it should "slot" into the girder cage. (this may take a few attempts!) This photo shows the rescue vehicle approaching: Definitely not docked in the official sense! However if you maintain at least a low thrust for the entire descent then the slight acceleration will keep the tourist craft lodged in the girders. Hopefully by the time aero forces pull the 2 craft apart the speed will be low enough to deploy the chutes. An album with more detail is here.

There's always the low tech claw solution...

This is an interesting challenge that required some very careful planning to complete. TL;DR 2 Launches to Mun landing, recovery time Y1, D3, 03:09:30 Firstly I started a fresh career on Hard mode. Then Jeb set off in my tried and tested Caveman opener, a cobbled together contraption of girders and Fleas. This carried 5 Goo canisters to just outside the atmosphere, allowing us to collect plenty of science and satisfy the Launch our First Vessel, Escape the Atmosphere and Science Data from Kerbin contracts. Even on Hard mode there was enough science to unlock the first few crucial nodes. The World First's awards provided enough extra cash to upgrade the Launchpad to Level 2, allowing us to launch vessels up to 140 tons. Jeb then set off in a 2nd, even more deadly contraption. The 30 part limit of the Level 1 VAB forced some...erm, interesting design decisions. Without patched conics we had to estimate the Mun encounter by eye. By the time we landed on the Mun, a combination of the Orbit Kerbin contract and more World First's awards allowed us to upgrade the Astronaut Complex to Level 2, so that Jeb could actually leave the capsule! An unprotected Mk1 capsule is rugged enough to survive re-entry from anywhere in the Kerbin system, so a Mun return didn't trouble it too much. Full mission album here If I could make a small suggestion: A round trip to Minimus is easier than to the Mun, as you only need ~1,600 m/s dV from LKO (compared to 2,700 m/s for a Mun round trip) and the landing is much more forgiving. Sure, without patched conics the rendezvous can be a little tricky but it's not too bad with a little practise. So I'd make Hard mode include both the Mun and Minimus

All done! A final mission fulfilled five closely related contracts finally allowing us to purchase that fancy coffee franchise for the engineers erm...I mean all the remaining building upgrades. As a minor hack the 2nd stage was intentionally placed in front of the 3rd stage so that the spaceplane could be mounted at the back. This allowed its wings to help stability (rather than hinder it, if the spaceplane was mounted conventionally towards the front) The stations shared parts in order to save mass. The spaceplane on its own comprised the Jool "station", while the counterweight had the necessary liquid fuel and extra accommodation for the Laythe station. Valentina gazes across the endless tranquil ocean, trying to remember if she packed a towel. Amusingly a Kerbal counts as a "craft" for contract purposes, so Valentina got paid over half a million funds for a quick dip. There was plenty of room, so Bill and Bob came along for the ride too. Once back at Kerbin the remaining 3 contracts were finished. Look at that shiny fully upgraded Space Center! Full mission album here Craft files from this and previous missions for the curious, each craft chemical powered, fully Kerballed and suitably primitive! 01 - Kerbin Suborbital 02 - Kerbin Orbit 03 - Minimus 04 - Mun 05 - Duna & Ike 06 - Dres & Eeloo 07 - Jool 08 - Moho 09 - Eve & Gilly 10 - Cash Cow @5thHorseman Kudos on creating an thoroughly entertaining challenge, I had lots of fun. Looking forward to watching your final entry!

Please do! I've shamelessly pinched some ideas from Foxster's excellent Eve landers in this challenge thread, especially using the circular intake and small hardpoint to minimise drag. For example 33.2 tons here and an incredible 18.79 tons here (kudos to @Foxster) Mine are a bit bigger to make up for ham-fisted flying skills, but do the trick from most elevations (below 500m you'll have to jetpack the final part into orbit )

Now that Love Island Season 3 is finished I finally have time to chip away at this challenge. Jeb and Valentina team up to tackle the final two worlds: Eve and Gilly. The Eve ascent is the usual mix of frustration, elation, desperation, exhortation and celebration. A quick pitstop on Gilly... ...then our dynamic duo return safely. Even though all 18 building upgrades are unlocked, I'm still not able to finish the challenge due to insufficient funds. Relying solely on the World's Firsts awards for cash was a reasonable plan, but ultimately not enough to fully upgrade buildings without additional contracts. Never fear, while the Eve mission was underway, our eagle eyed intern accepted a series of lucrative contracts. Stay tuned for the adventures of the Cash Cow... Complete mission album link.

Here's a cheap and simple entry using only 2 SRBs and a little monopropellant. 7 parts total and 5,180 funds. SRBs are difficult to aim, so if you can't aim the ship, aim the KSC instead! By warping to a Duna transfer window, then waiting until the KSC is pointing the right direction, you can get within a few m/s of a Duna intercept. A place anywhere RCS port then provides the fine control for a decent transfer. (Astute players will note that, strictly speaking, the RCS thruster is unnecessary, as you can just nudge the capsule with a Kerbal on EVA. However I was a little lazy, so perhaps so another cunning poster can try that approach!) Interestingly, the heat and impact tolerance of a Mk1 pod is so good that a heat shield is not required for an Duna aero-capture and a single Mk16 parachute will do (even if you have the misfortune to land at high elevation)

Very clever workaround, adjusting the maneuver precisely to the dV remaining!

Jeb was sent off to Moho in an asparagus staged chemical only tug. Once in Moho orbit, a tiny lander consisting of only a Command Chair, Oscar B and a pair of Spiders landed and returned to the mothership. By chance, our re-entry just overshot the KSC by a little Full album available here That's another 2 building upgrades unlocked. Just Eve and Gilly left to do! Interestingly cash has become an issue, as the career game doesn't like the order I'm visiting planets, so I'm not getting any contracts for unvisited planets. I'll probably have to do an extra cash generating mission after Eve, in order to actually afford the building upgrades.

Finally got around to my Jool 5 and had an absolute blast. For this mission I continued my K.S.C. theme: K. Kerbals for all craft. S. Stock only. C. Chemical engines only, none of yer' fancy nukes or ions. The R&D building remained at level 2, however important tech upgrades were the Twin-Boar, Mainsail, Panther and Command Chair. To maximise dV the Tylo, Val, Bop and Pol landers were spartan; no luxuries such as reaction wheels. This meant that thrust had to be maintained at all times during descent to keep pointing the right way. This mostly worked very well (especially on Tylo where you almost always want to be accelerating) however there was the occasional mishap. There's a fair number of photos so I've broken them into spoilers below. A high level overview of the mission was: Aero-brake mothership directly into Lathe capture orbit. Detach Laythe spaceplane, descend and return. Bring mothership into parking orbit just outside Tylo orbit. Detach Tylo lander, descend and return, rendezvous with mothership. Detach Val lander, descend and return, rendezvous with mothership. Detach combined Bop & Pol lander, you get the idea... Return to Kerbin using our trusty Mk1 pod and heat shield to survive a jaunty re-entry speed of 4 km/s. Outbound Laythe Tylo Val Bop & Pol Inbound Complete album available here Summary After this mission I have 6 building upgrades available, and Eve, Gilly and Moho remaining. At some stage one of the upgrades will have to be a Level 3 R&D, as I don't fancy an Eve return without a Vector or Aerospike, but for now I think I'll try a chemical only Moho mission.

@Tattiebogle Nice progress. I love the warts and all mission reporting. Apropos of nothing, your list of things to do is almost a haiku, tweaked it for you... I'm kinda tempted to make all my future update in haiku form now! Some pesky RL stuff is getting in the way of my Kerballing, but Jool 5 mission plotting is underway and I hope to have a mission report soon.