When boredom leads to writing...

[Fred Cop]

...20,000 meters...

Slowly rising from the depths of Kerbins atmosphere came a Mk.1 rocket fit for orbit. The layers of blue sky disappeared and space revealed it's face to Hadson Kerman. Hadson was the paranoid type, he had his mouth open in fear for the whole trip but he seemed to be calming down, only in 4 minutes he would be in orbit and he wouldn't have to worry about anything.

...30,000 meters...

*Beep* "Hadson Kerman? This is KSC, Prepare for decoupling Stage 04 in T-... ...23 seconds."

"KSC, should I Jettison the Fuel along with the thrusters?"

Silence, with Hadson's breath resounding through the Mk.1 capsule.

*Beep* "Go ahead, Hadson, just remember; do it in the next 12 seconds"

...40,000 meters...

Hadson brought the Throttle to zero and readied his hand over the Staging button, counting from 10 in his head. Upon reaching "one..." he pushed the Staging button firmly. Hadson expected a sudden explosion, he was used to that on land (and in sub-orbital flight is another thing), but none came.

...50,000 meters...

*Beep* "Hadson Kerman, you are approaching your Apoapsis in T-1 minute. Thrust at full for 32 seconds and you should raise your Periapsis, then decrease your thrust to 30% and continue for 6 seconds to level out both ends of your orbit."

...60,000 meters...

A Blue mark appeared on the NavBall, marking the direction for the orbital manoeuvre. Using Monopropelant and disabling the SAS modules, Hadson slowly spun towards the Blue mark and no matter how delicately he did, he was too fast to slow down directly on or before the mark. He then moved the vessel in the other direction but more slowly, and as soon as he aimed towards the point, he activated SAS and sat back.

*Beep* "Hadson, you will approach your Apoapsis in 30 seconds, prepare for thrusting"

...70,000 meters...

"Roger, I'm pointed towards the Manoeuvre."

*Beep* "Good work, but its not over yet... ...15 seconds."

Hadson slowly grasped the Throttle.

*Beep* "10 seconds"

Hadson looked out the window, looking towards the beautiful sight of Kerbin below.

*Beep* "5 seconds, 3..."

Something suddenly blocked the view of the Mk.1 window.

"...seconds, 2, 1..."

...74,748 meters...

Hadson, gripping the Throttle, thrust it forward. The object blocking the view seemingly zoomed towards the craft before...

**CRASH**

Hadson gripped to his controls as much as possible when the craft slowly but suddenly rolled. Anything outside the window randomly switched between Kerbin and Space. Shaking himself out of shock, Hadson shut off the engines.

*Beep* "Hadson!? HADSON!?..."

The sound of Gene Kerman shouting Hadson's name seemed to ricochet around the Mk.1 capsule.

"...What happened!?!"

Hadson attempted to up-right the craft, or at least he did the best he could according to the NavBall.

"KSC, Something happened..."

...70,000 meters...

"...I think the debris from Stage 04 collided with the craft. Although I can't tell what's been damaged, could you tell me, KSC?"

*Beep* "We can't, sorry, but your better prepare yourself Hadson; your Apoapsis, including you, is dropping towards Kerbin."

"I'll deploy the parachut--"

*Beep* "NO! We don't want what happened to Jeb to happen to you."

...60,000 meters...

"KSC, shall I skip to Stage 02?"

"Go ahead, Hadson Kerman"

Hadson gave the Staging button two presses to reach the re-entry Stage, where all his rocket consisted of at this point was a Mk.1 capsule, a parachute and a Heat shield. Slowly the re-entry effects faded into view, and the capsule began to slowly sway as Kerbin's atmosphere tried to slow down the rocket's descent.

...50,000 meters...

Having not noticed it until now, Hadson turned the capsule around till the Heat shield faced towards Kerbin, hence receiving all the heat. Hadson stared towards both the instruments on the dashboard for Distance and Speed.

The rocket began to move from swaying to shuddering.

...40,000 meters...

"KSC, can I do anything else to slow my descent?"

*Beep* "Do-- --ry a--ut --"

The radio feed from KSC was beginning to increase with the sound of static.

...30,000 meters...

"KSC, can I deploy my parachutes!?" Hadson's voice trembled as much as the capsule did.

*Beep* "----------------------------"

...20,000 meters...

Hadson reached for the Staging Button...

...10,000 meters...

...and pressed it...

Edited July 31, 2015 by Fred Cop

[Whirligig Girl]

Apoapsis and Periapsis.

Orbit takes about 8 minutes at most in KSP, 5 minutes usually. Nowhere near 26 minutes.

And of course, we all know what happened to poor Hadson and his parachute when he deployed early.

[Fred Cop]

Apoapsis and Periapsis.

Orbit takes about 8 minutes at most in KSP, 5 minutes usually. Nowhere near 26 minutes.

And of course, we all know what happened to poor Hadson and his parachute when he deployed early.

Noted, I've edited the story to fix the mentioned mistakes. I will admit, the "26 minutes" part was an attempt to be somewhat realistic, but rather "non-Kerbal".

[Whirligig Girl]

Noted, I've edited the story to fix the mentioned mistakes. I will admit, the "26 minutes" part was an attempt to be somewhat realistic, but rather "non-Kerbal".

In real life, launches take 7-9 minutes IIRC.