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Rendezvous Contract Question


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Hi friends,

Ive finally got a contract to land Kerbals on another planet, namely Duna.

But a component of the contract, along with planting a flag, is to dock two vessels in orbit.

I was planning to do an Apollo style mission - where a lander will detach from the CSM, perform a landing, and then return to dock. But would that satisfy the contract? Or would the fact that the lander and CSM originated from the same vessel void that?

The guys and gals standing by the drawing board sketched an alternative direct landing, with a stop off at an orbiting refuelling station that would be sent to Duna from Kerbin earlier as a separate mission... but that would be far more expensive.

I’m open to ideas.

Edited by Chequers
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8 minutes ago, Streetwind said:

The two vessels docked together in orbit must be from separate launches, in my experience. I've never managed to fulfill a docking contract with two spacecraft detached from the same launcher.

That’s what I feared. I half hoped landing would somehow ‘reset’ the flag. Alas!

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You can dock by just grabbing one vessel with a klaw on the other. But yes, the vessels must be from separate launches. If you have a junk satellite anywhere with 1500 dV left, you can move it to Duna as a target.

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Yes, it must be two seperate launches. But the docking vessel dont have to be manned.

Just build a tiny probe with a HECS, solar and proper antenna with a docking Junior port and park it in Duna orbit.

2 Oscar B tanks + a Spark engine will give you plenty of dV with very low cost. 

Edit:

Once the contract is fullfilled you can undock again, no need to bring the dead mass back to Kerbin.

If possible use a proper relay antenna so your leftover will still act as a relay sat for future missions without extra costs ;)

Edited by Draalo
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i know for a fact that to get the achievement for the "world first" to "create a space station", you don't need two launches.

or perhaps you do, but you can join your lander and orbiter in kerbin orbit and they will still give the achievement once you detach them on duna. i did a grand tour with a ship entirely assembled in kerbin orbit in multiple launches, and i got the rendez-vous, docking and space station achievements for all planets.

not sure if the contract works differently.

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Thanks for the suggestions - looks like it’ll have to be separate launches then.

I like the idea of the docked vessel having some future use, such as providing relay capability for later missions.

It will also contain some refuelling capability, to give me a reason to dock with it once the landing is complete. That means I won’t have to pack as much fuel on the lander.

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1 hour ago, domendemo said:

Does rescue mission count as 2 separate vessels?

Yes, you can get the rescue, rendezvous, dock 2 vessels, build a space station, transfer crew, and do a space walk contracts all done with the same mission. it's pretty great when  they line up that way.

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36 minutes ago, Superfluous J said:

Yes, you can get the rescue, rendezvous, dock 2 vessels, build a space station, transfer crew, and do a space walk contracts all done with the same mission. it's pretty great when  they line up that way.

Great! This is what i want to know

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