★★★ My first mission to Eve ║ Athena-Orion ★★★

[Rdivine]

✪   A t h e n a   -   O r i o n   ✪

My first mission to Eve

Athena One Crew

[Pilot] Jebediah Kerman  |  [Engineer] Meltrude Kerman  |  [Scientist] Dadie Kerman

Athena Two Crew

[Pilot] Sonnie Kerman  |  [Engineer] Bill Kerman  |  [Scientist] Jean Kerman

Athena Three Crew

[Pilot] Valentina Kerman  |  [Engineer] Kersy Kerman  |  [Scientist] Geofgun Kerman

 

So i've been playing Kerbal Space Program for 3 years. 3 years is a long time, and i've done alot of crazy, unthinkable stuff with my creations. I've made a replica of the ISS , a moon base, and the curiosity rover. I know i won't be able to find sufficient time to keep on playing KSP (because i have school), so i'm ending my journey in KSP with my first mission to Eve.

The idea came to me that i should put a Kerbal on Eve, not because it is easy, but because it is hard. Doing a return mission to Eve seemed impossible to me at that time, so i had to start with something. I went online to search for delta-v estimates. The wiki stated that i needed about 8000 ~ 8400m/s of Δv to reach low eve orbit(LEO) from sea level. I did some brainstorming and came up with an asparagus design for the ascent vehicle.

The lander, which was named AEL(Athena Exploration Lander), had a heat shield at the top, and an rcs/stage 3 module that would be jettisoned after docking. It would be docked to this station, called Athena, which had four nuclear engines at the bottom which provided about 6000m/s of Δv. There was also a service module to house kerbals in the middle.

Logically, i would put the kerbals in Athena Station, and send it on a trip to Eve. However, since the station didn't have enough Δv to make it back to Kerbin, and the transfer window to Eve was very small, i had to build another station, called Orion AEM-1(Athena Exploration Mission 1). It consists of 2 parts - Orion Propulsion module, and Orion(Yes, this Orion is a replica of the real-life orion spacecraft). The propulsion module would provide about 2000m/s of Δv for the initial trip to eve and orbital insertion. After which, the Orion spacecraft would jettison and use it's 3900m/s of Δv to rendezvous with Athena One, which would already be in Eve Orbit.

I know it sounds very complicated, and i'll let the pictures speak for itself. I've spent about a month thinking, brainstorming, and crunching numbers to come up with this plan. I scheduled the mission to be 7 January 2016. When the day came, I crossed my fingers and hoped everything would go according to plan. (This was the first mission i did without any quicksaves. If someone dies, that's it.)

After many days of planning, Athena One was a huge success.

Athena Two scheduled for : 18 Jan 2016

Athena Three scheduled for : 21 Jan 2016

 

It has been a blast playing Kerbal Space Program. Cheers!

[Just Jim]

Outstanding!!!!!

[JedTech]

Ironic that Eve represents both the beginning of Humans and also the end game of KSP.

[Rdivine]

 

10 hours ago, Just Jim said:

Outstanding!!!!!

Thank you! I've spent a lot of time and effort into making this mission a one to remember.

9 hours ago, JedTech said:

Ironic that Eve represents both the beginning of Humans and also the end game of KSP.

Indeed. Getting to Eve is really hard and i'm sure many players regard it as the most important achievement to get in KSP.

[Ozymandias_the_Goat]

Very well done! The mission patches are great too!

[STEAMED_PIGLIN]

nice