IntellectualTortoise's Universe Quest: A Near-Stock Career

[IntellectualTortoise]

IntellectualTortoise's Universe Quest

 

Background Info and Goals:

I have been playing KSP for a number of years but usually tend to only use the older features that I know best rather than the newer ones. In my previous career games, I usually lose interest somewhere in the mid-game stage and never complete the tech tree. Also, even in sandbox games I have never flown crewed missions to every planet and moon in the stock Kerbol system (though I have visited everywhere with probes).

 

So my goals for this career game are, in no particular order, as follows:

1. Use this as an opportunity to familiarize myself with the game's newer features (EVA construction, robotics, Breaking Ground surface features, etc.)
2. Complete the tech tree
3. Land at least 1 Kerbal on every celestial body excluding Jool and Kerbol and return them safely to Kerbin
4. Have fun. I'm trying to make this career neither excessively challenging nor excessively easy for myself, and I'm hoping that this will be fun and rewarding enough that I feel motivated to reach the above goals.

 

Modlist:

Spoiler

Click Through Blocker

Kerbal Engineer Redux

Module Manager

Spacetux Library

Stage Recovery

Restock

Restock+

 

Making History DLC

Breaking Ground DLC

 

Game Settings:

Spoiler

 

Acknowledgements:

Before I start my first ever mission report I would just like to thank all other members of the KSP community for providing excellent, inspiring mission reports, videos, challenges, crafts and more and for inspiring me to join the forums myself. I would also like to thank the creators and maintainers of the mods I am using for helping to elevate the KSP experience to new levels. Lastly, a huge thank you to everyone involved in the development of KSP -- without you, none of this would be possible and I can't express my gratitude for your hard work.

 

Without further ado, let the flying begin.

 

Part 1: The First Leaps

Spoiler

It's a sunny day as usual at the KSC. As of now, the new space program is completely broke, so the usual two early-game contracts are accepted -- to gather science data from Kerbin and to launch a vessel.

 

Unfortunately, the ~2,000 funds gained from accepting the contracts are not enough for even a basic Flea-powered rocket unless Mystery Goo canisters are excluded. So scientist Bob Kerman ventures onto the launchpad -- where that huge burn mark came from, nobody knows -- to gather some science and fulfill the fledgling KSP's first contract. The 6.1 science points gained are used to research Basic Rocketry, but the KSP won't be using those shiny new parts just yet.

 

Now that the KSP has a little more money in the bank, brave pilot Jebediah Kerman is at the controls of the KSP's first launch, Leaper 1. After a high-G blastoff, Jeb reaches an altitude of approximately 13 kilometers. He collects science from the low atmosphere and, after a splashdown under parachute, the ocean.

 

Leaper 1's post-flight science summary.

 

The science gained from Leaper 1's mission allows access to Engineering 101 and Survivability technology.

 

Pilot Valentina Kerman heads into the sky on Leaper 2, bristling with latest science equipment and equipped with not one, but two liquid-fueled stages. Her mission: to become the first Kerbal to enter a stable Kerbin orbit (even though my foolish self the KSP administration) only accepted contracts to escape the atmosphere and test the Pug engine on the pad).

 

The Swivel-powered first stage performs well, boosting Leaper 2 to over 700 m/s before separating. The much less powerful Pug stage takes over, slowly accelerating the spacecraft through the upper atmosphere.

 

Valentina becomes the first Kerbal to reach not only space, but also Kerbin orbit. She wastes no time in gathering science.

 

After a deorbit burn, the Pug stage is jettisoned and Valentina experiences a fiery but otherwise nominal reentry.

 

The historic flight ends in a peaceful descent under parachute into Kerbin's welcoming grasslands.

 

Leaper 2 fulfilled all its science objectives and yielded 42.3 science points for the KSP.

 

These are spent on General Rocketry and Stability. In addition, the launchpad is updated and contracts are accepted to perform a preflight test on a decoupler and a Mun flyby.

 

Jeb lifts off aboard Leaper 3 in a spectacular night launch after performing the decoupler test. His spacecraft shares many design elements with Leaper 2, but features a stretched Swivel core stage and a pair powerful Thumper SRBs.

 

Orbital insertion is successful and Jeb relights the Pug engine to burn for the Mun. Unlike Leaper 2, Leaper 3 does not include a Kerbal Engineering System computer for part count reasons so Jeb has to eyeball this maneuver and all subsequent ones on this mission.

 

Jeb's guesswork advanced astrodynamic calculations are successful and after a correction burn, Leaper 3 passes within 9 km of the Munar surface. The scientists back at KSC are giddy with the prospect of analyzing the first science from another celestial body.

 

From the safe but cramped confines of his Mk. 1 capsule, Jeb marvels at the strange cratered landscape below. One day, I'm gonna walk down there, he thinks to himself.

 

Leaper 3 departs the Munar SOI and after some more engine burns that were definitely calculated and planned to the extreme beforehand, Jeb prepares for reentry.

 

Minutes later, Leaper 3 has successfully splashed down. Jeb takes a quick celebratory swim in front of his spacecraft.

 

The mission provided R&D with 124.2 science points to analyze to their heart's content. Meanwhile, the engineers note that Leaper 3 had far more delta-V than necessary to complete its mission, and are already exploring the prospect of using upgraded versions of the design for further exploration missions to the Mun or possibly even Minmus. Also of note is that Administration authorized an upgrade of the Tracking Station so that future in-flight maneuvers will hopefully be more accurate -- not that Jeb's weren't.

 

The next science nodes researched are Basic Science and Electrics.

 

The KSP's next objectives are to launch Leaper 4 to the Mun to orbit it and gather even more science, as well as to establish a network of orbital relay satellites to provide communications coverage for future unmanned missions such as single-seat, probe-controlled rescue flights.

 

That's all for Part 1, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed! If you have any feedback, ideas or suggestions I would greatly appreciate them!

 

 

[IntellectualTortoise]

Part 2: Touching the Void

Spoiler

In another night launch, scientist Bob Kerman ascends aboard Leaper 4. His mission objectives are: 1) to become the first Kerbal to reach Mun orbit, 2) to collect materials bay science from Kerbin's and the Mun's SOIs, and 3) to become the first Kerbal to perform an EVA while in flight. (Since the return of Leaper 3, the Astronaut Complex has been upgraded.)

 

Low Kerbin Orbit is successfully achieved, and Bob performs an EVA during sunrise. He feels a deep sense of awe as he floats in the void with only his suit to protect him.

 

A couple of maneuvers later, Leaper 4 ignites its Pug engine to capture into an elliptical Munar orbit.

 

As his spacecraft nears apoapsis, Bob takes another EVA to collect science and marvel in the beauty of Kerbin's closest celestial neighbor. Back at the KSC, Jeb can't help but feel somewhat jealous because on his flight, he only had a small window through which he could gaze at the Mun whereas Bob gets to see the whole thing.

 

After a few orbits, Bob performs the escape burn and begins the trip back home.

 

On his way down, Bob witnesses a stunning eclipse, the first one seen from space.

 

The reentry sequence goes as planned and before long Bob is parachuting to a safe splashdown.

 

Leaper 4 was a very successful mission and returned a wealth of new science to the KSP.

 

Most of that science was spent on Advanced Rocketry, General Construction, Flight Control and Miniaturization. In addition, the Mission Control building was upgraded.

 

Now that the KSP has the technology for uncrewed missions around the Kerbin system, it needs a reliable relay network to ensure connectivity to the KSC. The first step in this project is the launch of relay satellite Farsight 1. The mission profile calls for a vertical ascent to ensure line-of-sight communication with the KSC, followed by a burn of the Terrier upper stage to insert the satellite into its target orbit as specified by a contract.

 

The outer Thumper boosters burn out, separate and deploy parachutes for recovery while the main vehicle continues through the atmosphere against the backdrop of the Mun rising over Kerbin's mountains.

 

Farsight 1, still on a suborbital trajectory, coasts to apoapsis.

 

After insertion into its final high orbit, the satellite deploys its relay antennas, ready to provide communications support for many missions to come.

 

A second satellite, Farsight 2, is soon launched to fulfill another contract. This contract specifies the inclusion of a materials bay on the spacecraft, but otherwise it is identical to Farsight 1.

 

Directly over the KSC, Farsight 2's boosters separate and the core stage is ignited. Immediately after this image was captured, parachutes deployed to bring the boosters to a safe landing.

 

Soon, the Terrier engine is ignited to accelerate the satellite further.

 

After reaching orbit, the antennas are deployed and a small amount of science data collected during the launch is transmitted.

 

This is by no means the best communications network, but it will do for now. The fact that the satellites were placed into contract-specified orbits means that constructing this preliminary network was actually quite profitable for the KSC, profitable enough to allow for a VAB upgrade. Future plans call for a network of satellites in synchronous orbit around Kerbin, as well as sub-networks around the Mun and Minmus. Another mission in the works is Venturer 1, a two-crew direct-ascent Mun lander.

 

Thus concludes Part 2. Thanks for reading!

 

[IntellectualTortoise]

Part 3: The Mun Rocks

 

Spoiler

With Valentina and Bob at the helm, the KSP's largest rocket yet, Venturer 1, lifts off on its mission to land on the Mun. Propelling it off the pad are a quartet of Thumper SRBs with parachutes for recovery. Jebediah begged and pleaded to the KSP administration for a seat on this flight, but Valentina was ahead of him in the crew rotation.

 

As the vehicle passes through the supersonic region, the Thumpers separate and the core stage's three Swivel engines fire up.

 

Higher up in the atmosphere, the next stage with its solitary Swivel is ignited. The core stage falls back to Kerbin and is successfully recovered.

 

After orbit is achieved, the Swivel stage expends the last of its fuel on the Mun transfer burn, though the Venturer 1's Terrier-powered landing stage has to complete the majority of the burn.

 

The coast phase to the Mun is uneventful for Valentina and Bob, apart from a simple engine test at a certain altitude for a contract.

 

Valentina brings the Venturer 1 into a low Munar orbit before deorbiting. The spacecraft's delta-V readout is lower than she'd like, so she tries her best to minimize fuel expenditures during the landing by attempting a risky suicide burn.

 

This daring maneuver works successfully and Venturer 1 and her crew become the first spacecraft and Kerbals respectively to touch down on another world.

 

Valentina is the first one to disembark, jetpacking down onto the grey, rolling Munar midlands.

 

While his crewmate takes in the scenery, Bob gets to work running the science experiments.

 

Some of the science experiments are a little...um...unorthodox.

 

Valentina plants the flag as Bob looks on. Both Kerbals have temporarily stopped worrying about their ship's delta-V problem and agree that exploring the Mun is awesome enough to make the dangerous trip worth it. In other words, the Mun rocks, both figuratively...

 

...and literally. Bob jetpacks a few dozen meters from the landing site to find a Mun Stone. When he tries to break off a sample to bring back to Kerbin for analysis (and to fulfill a contract), the whole thing disappears. Interesting.

 

Soon, the frolicking on the Mun comes to an end and Bob and Valentina reboard the Venturer 1, and are reminded by Mission Control of their spacecraft's predicament. Valentina cautiously takes off and flies a shallow ascent profile to a very low Mun orbit.

 

The spacecraft has no problem reaching Mun orbit and escaping its SOI, but its fuel runs out before a Kerbin periapsis in the atmosphere is achieved. The command capsule and landing stage separate, and the once-massive Venturer 1 is reduced to hardly more than a hollow metal sphere floating through the endless vacuum of space. Bob remarks that the experience is making him feel very small. He realizes that if they want to get home, they only have one option...

 

...that is, to simply get out and push. Valentina remains in the capsule to keep it pointing retrograde while Bob uses his EVA pack to lower their periapsis around Kerbin, occasionally returning to the capsule to refill his propellant tanks. After several minutes of pushing, the periapsis is finally within the atmosphere.

 

Next up are some aerobraking passes, four in total excluding the final reentry. Although Valentina and Bob were initially concerned about the limited amount of ablator on the capsule, they were surprised to find that less than 1 of the 20 units had been used up before the end of the mission.

 

In between aerobrakes, the brave Kerbal explorers are treated to a beautiful view of Kerbin as their spacecraft's orbit is gradually lowered.

 

After the reentry, the parachutes deploy and Venturer 1 splashes down uneventfully.

 

The mission brought no shortage of science back to the KSC. Even Bob's golf experiment seems to be of great value to the R&D department, which also received a brand new facility thanks to the funds gained from several contracts and World Firsts records.

 

The new nodes unlocked are Fuel Systems, Advanced Construction, Advanced Flight Control, and Space Exploration.

 

The next launch is Venturer 2, a two-Kerbal spacecraft whose lone occupant at launch is rookie engineer Bill Kerman. His mission is to perform the KSP's first rendezvous and rescue the stranded Herbart Kerman.

 

After separation of the recoverable core stage, Bill witnesses an impressive sunrise as he prepares to circularize at apoapsis.

 

Despite this mission being his first spaceflight, Bill shows skill in guiding Venturer 2 to its rendezvous with Herbart's capsule.

 

Herbart, a scientist, is instructed to EVA to the Venturer 2.

 

Bill and Herbart soon deorbit and jettison the Terrier propulsion module.

 

As flames begin to envelope the capsule, the KSC is visible on the continent below. Within minutes it safely splashes down.

 

Although Venturer 2 was not a science mission, a small amount of science points were gathered throughout the flight. The decision is made to save these points rather than spend them on Aviation, the only Level 4 node still available.

 

The KSP's next project will involve a space station and reusable lander that will dock in Mun orbit. Minmus missions are also in the works, however the KSP has not yet received any contract offers that would necessitate a mission there.

 

As always thanks for reading and feel free to give me feedback!

 

[MSteele]

I love it. You catch the right scene at the right time and the narration is witty, yet informative. Looking forward to more.

[IntellectualTortoise]

Part 4: Early-Onset Kessler Syndrome

Spoiler

Another stranded Kerbal, Roke, is detected in low Kerbin orbit and the KSP quickly throws together the Leaper 5 rescue mission, which launches uncrewed via probe control.

 

Due to the rushed nature of the vehicles's construction, certain "nice-to-have" features such as recovery parachutes on the Swivel first stage were omitted.

 

Leaper 5 (center) rendezvouses with Roke's command pod (lower right of center), which coincidentally is orbiting within 300 meters of Herbart's abandoned spacecraft (visible as a small circle in the plane of the background galaxy, on the right side of the image). The KSP's scientists are puzzled at how Kessler syndrome seems to be beginning to set in even at this relatively early stage of space exploration. Perhaps orbital cleanup missions are in order once the necessary technology is available.

 

Roke, a pilot, exits his pod and jetpacks to the Leaper 5.

 

As the Leaper 5's reentry begins, Roke notes the large crater visible on Kerbin below the ship. Perhaps it is evidence of an ancient prehistoric space program which built a massive ship that crashed into the planet...or it could just be from an asteroid impact. Either way, Roke hopes that none of his own space missions will end in such a geography-altering way.

 

Although the landing site was intended to be Kerbin's large desert (for science reasons), the capsule slowed down quicker than anticipated so a grassland landing would have to suffice.

 

A modest amount of science was acquired during the mission.

 

Next up to launch is the first module of Lookout Station, to be placed in a low Munar orbit. Its first crew consists of recent rescuees Herbart and Roke.

 

The two recoverable Thumper boosters separate as the tried-and-true Swivel engines continue propelling the station into a parking orbit around Kerbin.

 

There's nothing particularly noteworthy happening in this image, but one of the KSP's PR staff thought it "looked cool".

 

The first stage and fairings separate and the station itself blazes through the upper part of Kerbin's atmosphere with its integrated Swivel propulsion system.

 

Now safely in orbit, the crew of Lookout Station spend an orbit or two timewarping past their earliest possible transfer window to the Mun checking their spacecraft's systems to make sure they are all functioning properly.

 

After some completely expected and intentional delays, the burn for the Mun commences.

 

The transfer is uneventful and the station soon captures itself into an equatorial Munar orbit at roughly 25 kilometers above the surface.

 

And thus Lookout Station becomes the first long-term Kerbal presence in space. Unless something truly catastrophic happens, it will surely not be the last.

 

As the contract-giving agencies still seem to have a phobia of Minmus, the Mun will remain the KSP's primary scientific target for the time being. The next launch will include a two-Kerbal reusable lander and a small fuel depot that will be used in conjunction with Lookout Station to survey more Munar biomes.

 

Thanks for reading and I'm very happy that people seem to like this mission report so far!

 

[IntellectualTortoise]

Part 5: The Meetup Over The Mun

Spoiler

His long wait to return to space finally over, Jebediah launches for Lookout Station aboard the new reusable Mun lander Craterleaper.

 

The launch vehicle is similar to the one used for Lookout Station itself, but with four recoverable Thumper boosters instead of two.

 

The core stage burns out and the fairings separate, exposing the Craterleaper and the attached fuel reserve and upper stage to Kerbin's upper atmosphere.

 

The upper stage uses its twin Swivels to reach orbit. Jeb's delta-V readout for the upper stage reads 1,900 m/s after orbit insertion and he is confident that the mission will proceed without issue.

 

Craterleaper burns for the Mun. It is designed around a Mk2 Command Pod, an enlarged design based off of the Mk1 Pod used on the Leaper spacecraft, hence the inclusion of "leaper" in the lander's name.

 

A day or so later, Jeb brakes into Munar orbit. He can't help but feel a bit dizzy and disoriented during the burn, even though his ship barely changes attitude. As the confusion fades, the phrase "orbit insertion camera shift" materializes out of nowhere in his mind. The mystery of what exactly just happened will forever remain unsolved for Jeb.

 

Despite the weirdness that just happened, Jeb feels perfectly fine while making a rendezvous with Lookout Station and preparing to jettison the dual-Swivel upper stage.

 

Controlling from the docking port on the fuel reserve, Jeb uses his RCS thrusters to dock to the station core. Back on Kerbin, Mission Control celebrates the success of this previously unattempted maneuver. Later, the lander itself will separate and dock to the port along the station core's axis, leaving one available port opposite the fuel reserve for future visiting spacecraft or additional modules.

 

Meanwhile, the Craterleaper's transfer stage has performed its job more than admirably, with plently of excess delta-V remaining. However, the KSP does not want the Mun to experience the same Kessler Syndrome problem that was discovered around Kerbin during the Leaper 5 mission, so the stage is deorbited.

 

Back on Lookout Station, Jeb, Herbart and Roke, constituting the largest group of Kerbals in space at a given time, throw a party to celebrate the former's safe arrival. The mood is ecstatic until Herbart glances at a screen and points out to his crewmates that the newly-delivered fuel reserve is nearly empty despite being completely full at launch. Jeb realizes that the reason for the Swivel stage's high delta-V readings was that the stage was consuming the payload fuel as well as its own. There is still enough fuel stored in the lander's tanks for one "roundtrip" to and from the Munar surface, but another fuel shipment from Kerbin will be needed before long.

 

Back at the KSC, Leaper 6, another rescue mission bound for LKO, takes off during a beautiful sunrise.

 

The spacecraft is virtually identical to Leaper 5 save for the inclusion of three radial parachutes on the Swivel core stage.

 

While not used on as many flights as the Swivel, the Terrier has still proven itself to be a reliable upper stage engine for both crewed and uncrewed spacecraft. (While the Mun lander Venturer 1 was Terrier-powered, the KSP determined that the reason for its failure to complete the mission without the use of certain extreme measures was not related to the functionality of the engine itself.)

 

Erbin Kerman, an engineer, EVA's across to the Leaper 6, his spacesuit's headlamps illuminating the gold reflective foil on the spacecraft's engine.

 

The spacecraft deorbits and lands in Kerbin's deserts, fulfilling an unmet science objective of the previous mission Leaper 5. Unfortunately, due to me forgetting to take screenshots the remoteness of the region, no images of the landing are available.

 

22 science points were gained from the Leaper 6 mission.

 

The KSP spends their accumulated science on Heavy Rocketry. Designs using these new parts are already being drafted for the next mission, Venturer 3. This three-Kerbal spacecraft will be launched unmanned along with an additional fuel resupply tank for Lookout Station, this time with tank's valves locked throughout the flight. Apart from providing fuel, the spacecraft will also serve as a Kerbin return vehicle for Jeb, Herbart and Roke whenever they are needed for other missions or whenever they get bored of living in an enlarged tin can, whichever happens first.

 

Thanks for reading as always!

[IntellectualTortoise]

Hey everyone, I apologize for the delay in posting Part 6, but here it is. Hope you enjoy!

 

Part 6: Giant Flying Space Carrots

Spoiler

While munching on some carrots during a lunch break, one of the KSP's rocket engineers had a flash of genius. He was reviewing plans of older rockets, and came to the conclusion that their color schemes were "too boring". He quickly began doodling on the back of a napkin and came up with a new, "way cooler" carrot-inspired paint job that utilized almost exclusively the color orange. The first rocket to use the new color scheme is the uncrewed Venturer 3, lifting off under the power of five Bobcat engines. Unfortunately the KSP's supply of orange paint ran out before the boosters could be fully painted.

 

The boosters are equipped with solid-fueled separation motors and detach flawlessly before recovery via parachute.

 

The core stage, still fully fueled thanks to fuel crossfeed technology between it and the boosters, continues pushing Venturer 3 towards orbit.

 

The core stage is jettisoned and recovered while the next stage's Poodle engine ignites. The rocket still somewhat resembles a carrot, it's just shorter than before.

 

Orbit is achieved and a transfer burn to the Mun is plotted.

 

The four-chamber Poodle engine is reignited for the Mun transfer.

 

Mun orbit insertions like this one are becoming a routine maneuver for the KSP.

 

Venturer 3 rendezvouses with Lookout Station, ready to deliver its cargo of fuel and serve as a return vehicle for the 3-Kerbal crew after their stay is complete.

 

Unfortunately, the Mun obscures line-of-sight communications between Venturer 3 and Kerbin moments before docking, so Jebediah Kerman is forced to board the spacecraft via EVA and manually complete the docking.

 

Despite this little hickup, the docking and fuel transfer is successful.

 

Jeb and Herbart depart Lookout Station in the Craterleaper for a Mun landing.

 

The sole engine, a Terrier, decelerates the spacecraft for landing.

 

The touchdown is smooth and there is still plenty of fuel aboard for the ascent and rendezvous with Lookout Station.

 

The first to disembark is Jeb, his dream of walking on the Mun finally coming true.

 

Herbart joins Jeb on the surface and sets up the science equipment, consisting of a control module, a Mystery Goo experiment, and two solar panels.

 

Jeb heroically plants a flag. While this is the first flag he has planted, he promises himself it won't be the last.

 

Soon, it's time for the Craterleaper to fly back into orbit to refuel before its next landing.

 

Rendezvous and docking proceed without a hitch.

 

Plenty of fuel remains aboard Lookout Station, however a shipment of additional surface experiment equipment is needed before more landings can be done.

 

Back at the KSP, another rocket giant flying space carrot is launched, carrying Venturer 4 with Valentina, Bill and Bob aboard. Their destination is Minmus, the smaller of Kerbin's two moons.

 

This space carrot's boosters do not include separation motors, so their separation is somewhat less clean compared to that of Venturer 3. Only one of the four Thumpers is recovered intact.

 

The twin-Bobcat stage detaches before it, too, is recovered.

 

The fairing is deployed once the craft passes through the top of the atmosphere. Astute viewers of this and subsequent images may notice the Venturer 4's design similarities to the successful Craterleaper Mun lander.

 

This burn would mark the first time that one of the KSP's ships performs a transfer burn to a body other than the Mun, but as luck would have it...

 

...it happens to be in the way. Venturer 4 completes a gravity assist off of the Mun to reach Minmus, saving a small amount of delta-V. This also means that for a short period of time, six Kerbals were in the Mun's SOI, a new record.

 

About eighteen days into the mission, the spacecraft finally reaches Minmus's SOI. Bob quickly goes on EVA to run the experiments, collecting the first science data from Minmus.

 

This is another one of those images that KSP Administration thought would look good on the cover of one of the annual reports to the stockholders, even though nothing especially important is happening in it.

 

In this image, however, something important is happening: the Venturer 4's orbit insertion/deorbit burn around Minmus.

 

The Poodle stage uses the last of its fuel to decelerate the ship before landing; it is then jettisoned.

 

 Valentina makes a perfect landing on the Lesser Flats of Minmus. Bob remarks that her piloting skills have improved since their last mission together.

 

Valentina dons her EVA suit and leaves the craft, and decides to perform an important scientific exercise: testing how high one can jump on Minmus.

 

Her crewmembers also disembark and salute as she plants the flag.

 

Bob takes the opportunity to perform another of his unconventional scientific experiments.

 

He then works with Bill to set up the stationary science equipment.

 

With over 2 km/s of delta-V in the tanks, the crew decides to take the Venturer 4 on a series of suborbital hops to visit more biomes and gather more science, the first being a 1.5 km flight to the neighboring Lowlands.

 

A flag is planted and more experiments are ran, then the spacecraft takes off once again.

 

The third biome visited is the Flats.

 

The KSP's plans for the immediate future include the visitation of several more Minmus biomes by the Venturer 4 as well as an unmanned cargo spacecraft to deliver surface science equipment to Lookout Station. Relay satellites around Minmus and the Mun are also in the works to provide reliable communication links for ground-based experiment stations.

 

Thanks for reading and I apologize again for the delay in posting this part!

 

Here is a little bonus image: (Caution: Easter Eggs ahead!)

 

Spoiler

This happened when I was closing KSP after completing some of the gameplay featured in this part. This is the first time I remember this happening in the 5+ years I have been playing the game. 

[IntellectualTortoise]

Once again I apologize for the delay in posting the next part. Missions are more complex and taking a little longer to fly now that I've reached what I consider to be the mid-game. I'm also trying to balance this mission report with other KSP projects and changes to my real-life schedule so I think new parts will be posted on a weekly basis for the near future.

 

Part 7: Minty, Marvelous Magnificence

Spoiler

On the cold, distant moon of Minmus, the intrepid crew of the Venturer 4 dauntlessly set off in search of greener mintier pastures. Or, in less grandiose terms, Val, Bill and Bob begin another biome hop.

 

Bob plants a flag on a hilltop in the Midlands, the fourth biome visited during the mission.

 

The spacecraft ascends yet again and flies northward towards the pole, becoming the first polar expedition on another celestial body.

 

Bob enjoys a quiet moment of solitude gazing at Kerbol from near the pole.

 

He then promptly proceeds to break the silence by smashing a frozen banana with a hammer. Bob's claims that this "experiment" is for "purely scientific reasons" are regarded with skepticism by his crewmates.

 

All science experiments at the pole complete, the Venturer 4 heads southward to its final destination biome.

 

During the suborbital coast, the crew takes a few minutes to marvel at the minty, marvelous magnificence of the moon of Minmus.

 

The final biome the crew visits is the Greater Flats. After a flag is planted and the science experiments ran, the Venturer 4 takes off for the final time.

 

The Terrier engine throttles up for the Minmus escape burn.

 

As the spacecraft descends towards Kerbin's atmosphere, the crew witnesses one last sunrise from space.

 

The Terrier engine burns the last of its fuel to decelerate the spacecraft prior to reentry.

 

The propulsion module and science gear separate as flames envelope the spherical capsule. The crew wishes the spacecraft's windows were a bit bigger so they could see the spectacular fireworks display soon to begin.

 

After the fireworks and the rest of the reentry, a drogue chute deploys to provide additional deceleration to below 250 m/s.

 

This is followed by the two main chutes which provide a gentle splashdown for the three brave Kerbal explorers.

 

Venturer 4 was a hugely successful mission, yielding a vast amount of new science information.

 

A whole slew of new nodes are unlocked. An intern can't help but notice that no research into plane technology has been done yet, and questions why the space center even has a spaceplane hanger and a runway if they're never used.

 

The next launch is an unmanned rocket powered by a newly-unlocked Twin Board liquid-fueled booster.

 

The single-stage-to-orbit rocket powers through the upper atmosphere.

 

The fairings separate revealing the payload: Farsight 3 and Farsight 4, two new communication satellites with long-range relay antennas.

 

Farsight 4 is the first to separate. It's destination: Minmus orbit.

 

It is followed by Farsight 3, slated to become the first satellite in keosynchronous orbit.

 

The booster's reserve fuel tanks are unlocked and it performs a deorbit burn for recovery. It possesses no heat shielding, so careful flying is required during reentry to prevent overheating and/or loss of control.

 

Eventually, the harsh reentry gives way to a peaceful descent under eight parachutes.

 

Over 20,000 funds were saved as a result of the booster's recovery.

 

Back in space, Farsight 3 fires its Spark engine to enter a keosynchronous transfer orbit.

 

It performs another burn at apoapsis to circularize its orbit.

 

Soon afterwards, Farsight 4 burns towards Minmus.

 

The satellite performs a distant flyby of the Mun on its way to the mintier of Kerbin's two moons.

 

Farsight 4 successfully reaches high Minmus orbit and begins completing its secondary mission objective -- to collect magnetometry readings of Minmus.

 

The science data transmitted is enough to unlock Nuclear Propulsion.

 

Now that more advanced electrical, science, communication and propulsion technologies are available, designs are being drawn up for an interplanetary mission to Duna and Ike. In the shorter term, plans call for members of the crew of Lookout Station to perform another Mun landing in a new biome via the Craterleaper lander before returning to Kerbin aboard the Venturer 3.

 

That's all for this part! Hope you enjoyed!

[IntellectualTortoise]

Part 8: The Last Venturer

Spoiler

In low Munar orbit, Herbart and Roke depart Lookout Station in the Craterleaper for another surface excursion.

 

The lander's Terrier engine fires to decelerate the spacecraft prior to landing.

 

A successful touchdown in the East Crater.

 

Herbart quickly runs the science experiments and then uses precious EVA time to hone his golf skills. He's got his swing almost down to a science by now, and doesn't miss the opportunity to gloat to his friends back at KSC over the radio.

 

Roke joins his companion on the surface and they plant a flag, the third such object on the Mun.

 

The crew elect to perform a risky biome hop to the Twin Craters rather than fly directly back the station.

 

To conserve fuel (a lot of which is needed to reach the non-equatorial second landing site), Roke flies as horizontally as possible.

 

Due to the crew's stress caused by their spacecraft's low fuel, they rushed through their science and forgot to take any pictures while on the surface. Thankfully, the Craterleaper did enough delta-V to make orbit and match inclination with Lookout Station, but it was unable to complete the rest of the rendezvous and docking procedure. Luckily, there was a contingency plan for this kind of scenario.

 

When he heard the Craterleaper's call for help, Jebediah wastes no time in boarding the Venturer 3 and undocking from the station. His plan is to dock with the lander and partially refuel it as well as take Herbart and Roke aboard. The three Kerbals will then return to Kerbin while the Craterleaper autonomously redocks to the station.

 

Jeb meets up with his stranded comrades and prepares to dock.

 

Despite running out of monopropellant in the process, the Venturer 3's docking is sucessful and the Craterleaper's fuel tanks are partially replenished.

 

Suddenly, Jeb remembers that he forgot to collect the science data stored aboard the station before departing on his rescue mission. "Oh, Jeb..." sigh Herbart and Roke before flying the Craterleaper back to collect the science.

 

This time, the Craterleaper is the one to perform the rendezvous and docking.

 

One of the Kerbals goes on a brief EVA to perform an exterior inspection of the two docked spacecraft.

At last, the Venturer 3 with all three Kerbals aboard leaves low Munar orbit.

 

Jeb takes one last look at the Munar surface below him. It would be cooler if it was red, he thinks to himself.

 

The Poodle engine burns the remainder of the fuel and wipes off the majority of the spacecraft's velocity during the first part of the reentry.

 

The service module is jettisoned, becoming another shooting star in the midday skies of Kerbin.

 

The flight ends as always with a picturesque parachute descent.

 

Several hundred science points were returned for processing.

 

A couple of new tech nodes were unlocked.

 

The KSP's next rocket is Venturer 5, the last planned mission in the Venturer program. Powered by two Pollux boosters and a Twin Boar core stage, it lifts off unmanned from the newly upgraded Level 3 launch pad. Its mission is to rescue three stranded Kerbals -- two from low Kerbin orbit and one from low Minmus orbit. A Minmus lander is also carried aboard to fulfill a flag-planting contract.

 

The SRBs separate midway through the ascent and are recovered by parachute.

 

A Poodle engine performs the circularization burn after the core stage detaches. Unfortunately not enough fuel is left aboard the separated stage so the automated powered recovery is unsuccessful.

 

The Venturer 5 resuces Munbles Kerman, a stranded pilot. He admires the massive spacecraft as he approaches the hatch. Its components, from left to right, are the service/propulsion module, two space tugs with klaws, the Mintleaper reusable Minmus lander, the main crew module, and a third space tug.

 

After Munbles is safety aboard the Venturer 5, a space tug is sent out to grapple his original command pod.

 

Sepratrons fire to deorbit the tug and capsule...

 

...enabling a recovery via the parachutes aboard the tug. This way, the KSP can earn a bit of extra cash from the recovery and have one less piece of debris in orbit. Despite having a case of early-onset Kessler syndrome, efforts are being made to intervene as early as possible to avoid the worsening of symptoms.

 

A modest amount of funds are gained from the recovery.

 

Meanwhile, the Venturer 5 rendezvouses with engineer Dergard Kerman's pod. Contrary to how this photo may portray it, the pod is just a normal, genuine Mk2 model and not a monstrously oversized model.

 

Another space tug grapples the forward node of the pod after Dergard is rescued.

 

Unfortunately, due to the sepratrons' thrust vector being off-center due to a poorly executed docking a completely unanticipated error in the guidance system, the sepratrons do little more than simply spin the craft around. Luckily, enough monopropellant remains aboard to deorbit the pod-tug complex.

 

The reentry and splashdown are as successful as they are uneventful.

 

The recovery returns no science points. Not really any surprises there.

 

Back in orbit, Munbles and Dergard burn for Minmus.

 

The spacecraft is initially placed on an impact trajectory. After the SOI crossing, the structural adapter for the first two is jettisoned to collide with Minmus, again in an effort to reduce space debris buildup while also decreasing the Venturer 5's mass.

 

After orbit insertion, a rendezvous is made with the third stranded Kerbal, scientist Arsy Kerman. Her rescue is uneventful.

 

The third and final space tug, identical to the others save for the lack of parachutes, grapples Arsy's pod and deorbits it onto Minmus.

 

Now that the cargo of tugs has been replaced with a cargo of three Kerbals, the second phase of the mission can begin -- the exploration of a new biome on Minmus's surface. Arsy Kerman volunteers to pilot the Mintleaper lander -- essentially a scaled-down version of the similarly-named Mun lander.

 

The lone Spark engine provides deceleration prior to landing.

 

After the landing on a mountaintop in the Highlands, I forgot to take a screenshot Arsy accidentally knocked over the TV camera, so no photos are available. She remembered to bring it on her short jetpack excursion to the edge of the summit plateau, which gave an awe-inspiring view of the beautiful Minmus landscape.

 

Arsy takes this opportunity to plant a flag, thereby fulfilling one of five contracts the mission intends to fulfill.

 

Soon enough, Arsy flies the Mintleaper back into orbit. The view from up here is somehow better than the one from that mountain, she thinks to herself.

 

She successfully redocks to the Venturer 5 and transfers over to it. The lander will remain in orbit for possible refueling and future use. As a still-operational spacecraft, it is not classified as space junk.

 

The Venturer 5's Poodle engine is relit for the Minmus escape burn.

Kerbin grows bigger and bigger in the small window as the spacecraft approaches.

 

The engine is relit one final time to decelerate the spacecraft during reentry,

 

The landing procedure is commonplace, boring, and successful.

 

Over 500 points, a few tens of thousands of funds and three new Kerbals are the KSP's net gains from the mission.

 

With multiple successful expeditions to both the Mun and Minmus under its belt, the KSP plans to pause all Kerbin system operations for the time being. All resources are being redirected towards construction of the Resilience 1, a nuclear-powered mothership that will be used for the KSP's first interplanetary mission.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

[IntellectualTortoise]

Part 9: Retirement Can Wait

Spoiler

Atop the KSP's largest rocket yet, Jeb, Bill and Bob launch aboard Resilience 1, bound for the Duna system.

 

The three Kickback SRBs separate, leaving the four Mainsails in the main stage to complete orbit.

 

The orbiter unfurls its solar panels and separates from the booster along with the lander.

 

The booster deorbits and survives reentry mostly intact, apart from the loss of two engines. While it splashes down fine, it tips over into the water destroying several major components.

 

The lander is docked to the front docking port of the orbiter. Suddenly, Jeb realizes that the engineers in the VAB forgot to add radiators to the craft, putting the two nuclear engines in danger of overheating. What will the KSP do?

 

Their solution is to send up engineer Erbin Kerman on the hastily-built Leaper 7 with radiators stored aboard for in-orbit attachment to the Resilience 1.

 

After the recoverable first stage separates, the trusty Terrier engine is used to accelerate to orbital velocity.

 

As the Resilience 1's only docking port is occupied by the lander, a klaw is used to secure the Leaper 7 to the hull. With the Duna transfer window nearing its end, Erbin quickly goes on EVA and rapidly works to secure the four radiators -- unfortunately, this means that no pictures could be taken.

 

With the new radiators attached, Leaper 7 detaches and the Resilience 1 can at last begin the burn to Duna.

 

Meanwhile, Erbin safely guides his craft to a splashdown.

 

A small amount of science was collected during the brief flight.

 

After a months-long voyage, Resilience 1 enters Duna's SOI.

 

A few shallow powered aerobraking passes are conducted to lower the ship's orbit. Jeb thinks the periapsis height can be lowered thanks to Duna's thin atmosphere, but Bill doesn't want the non-retractable solar panels to tear off as this would severely reduce the ship's power supply and prevent him from watching videos of the game "Human Space Program" on KerTube.

 

An Ike encounter is also used to reduce the Resilience 1's apoapsis, though it has the side effect of putting the ship into a retrograde orbit around Duna.

 

Despite that little astrodynamic gltich, Jeb and Bob board the lander and prepare to deorbit.

 

The entry is smooth and before long, the parachutes deploy. Jeb prepares to light the engines to cushion the landing.

 

Touchdown confirmed! Kerbalkind has reached another planet!

 

The parachute packages are detached, and Jeb climbs down the ladder to becomes the first Kerbal to walk on the rust-colored landscape of Duna. Now I can retire, he thinks. Oh wait. We still have two planets, two dwarf planets and seven moons to go. Retirement can wait.

 

Bob disembarks too, and like he's done on the Mun and Minmus, wastes no time in whipping out his golf club.

 

The science gear is set up and a flag is triumphantly planted.

 

Bob recieves instructions from the KSP to search for a geological feature known as "blueberries". He finds some a few kilometers from the landing site and decides to stand proudly atop them.

 

 While he initially had planned to eat them rather than bring them back to Kerbin for R&D to analyze, he realizes after hitting them with a pickaxe that they are in fact made of rock and probably not safe for Kerbal consumption. Disappointed, he collects them and returns to the lander.

 

 Jeb and Bob blast off from Duna and fly west to meet up with the orbiter and Bill in their retrograde orbit.

 

The night docking goes off without a hitch.

 

The nuclear engines light up to begin the transfer to Ike.

 

Jeb thinks that Ike looks like a smaller version of the Mun. Bill argues that it looks like a larger (and less minty) version of Minmus. After a short but heated debate, they agree to disagree.

 

Resilience 1's capture into low Ike orbit is uneventful.

 

Refueled, Jeb and Bob set off once again the lander.

 

They touch down in the foothills of one of Ike's larger mountain ranges.

 

As per tradition, a flag is planted. Jeb makes a mental note to ask the KSP for flags with a lighter-colored background so that the image of Kerbin is more visible.

 

Bob practices his swing once again, determined to beat Herbart at golf at their next game once he returns to Kerbin.

 

The lander, being designed for Duna, has more fuel than necessary for a single landing on Ike, so a biome hop is performed.

 

The landing site is technically in the Lowlands but on Ike, it would seem you're never too far from the mountains.

 

The mission's third and final flag is planted. Jeb uses his headlamps to illuminate the flag for the photo.

 

Another science package is deployed. It's identical to the one used on Duna except with a seismometer instead of a weather analyzer.

 

After surface operations are complete, Jeb and Bob take off from Ike and return to the orbiter.

 

The orbiter and lander are reunited for one final time. All oxidizer in the orbiter is transferred to the lander and all liquid fuel in the lander is transferred to the orbiter.

 

The lander is cast away, to remain in Ike orbit indefinitely.

 

The nuclear engines propel Resilience 1 out of Ike orbit.

 

Ike slowly gets smaller in the window as the Resilience 1 departs its SOI.

 

Another burn is performed in high Duna orbit to put the craft on a Kerbin intercept trajectory.

 

As Duna shrinks in the rearview mirror, Jeb, Bill and Bob can't help but wonder where their travels across the solar system will take them next (other than Kerbin, of course).

 

After another long transfer, no one is happier than Jeb, Bill and Bob to see their homeworld once again.

 

The nuclear engines light up one final time to decelerate the spacecraft immediately prior to reentry.

 

As glowing plasma erupts around the vessel, the service module is finally discarded.

 

After more than three years in space, the Resilience 1 mission ends as nearly all missions do, with a peaceful descent under parachutes.

 

Splashdown! Jeb, Bill and Bob are finally home...

 

...and boy, did they bring back a lot of science!

 

Most of the science is kept unspent until the R&D facility can be upgraded, but in the meantime a few more nodes are unlocked, allowing the KSP to use large spaceplane fuselages as liquid fuel tanks for interplanetary nuclear stages on future missions. Already, plans are being drawn up for a mission to Eve's moon Gilly. 

 

Thanks for reading and sorry for the long delay from Part 8!

[IntellectualTortoise]

That was a long pause. Hopefully this new part is worth at least some of it.

Part 10: Better Not Ask Too Many Questions

Spoiler

One sunny morning at the KSC, Valentina, Dergard and Arsy blast off aboard Resilience 2. Their destination: Gilly, the only moon of Eve and one of two known bodies in the Kerbol system that could pass as a big rocky potato.

 

The four Thumper SRBs burn out quickly and are jettisoned and recovered.

 

They are followed by the four liquid-fueled boosters, each with a four-chambered Kodiak engine.

 

The core stage with 3 Mainsail engines brings the spacecraft close to orbital velocity.

 

After separating from the booster, Resilience 2 deploys its main solar array and ignites its twin nuclear engines to circularize.

 

The core stage loses a few airbrakes to reentry heating but successfully deploys its recovery parachutes...

 

...only to tip over upon touchdown and disintegrate. At least two of the expensive engines survived.

 

Val, Dergard and Arsy begin the burn for the Eve system, dropping a small auxiliary liquid fuel tank along the way.

 

As Kerbin recedes in the distance, the command/landing module separates and redocks to the rest of the spacecraft, allowing the crew to access the spacious habitation module, a vast improvement over the living space available on previous missions such as Resilience 1.

 

A few months of uneventful spaceflight later, the purple marble of Eve appears in the window and grows larger as the spacecraft approaches.

 

A powered capture maneuver places Resilience 2 in an elliptical Eve orbit. The inclusion of the cupola and Hitchhiker crew module allows the spacecraft to fulfill an Eve station construction contract.

 

The crew enjoys a beautiful sunrise over the purple horizon as they prepare for their Gilly encounter.

 

As predicted, Gilly is in fact very potato-like and also very small.

 

It also appears to be translucent, as seen in the sunset taking place during the capture burn.

 

The brave explorers leave the mothership in orbit and depart in the command/landing module. Although vastly overbuilt for Gilly, it allows the surface mission to include multiple biome hops.

 

The lander descends to the first of four landing sites required by a temperature survey contract.

 

The touchdown is excruciatingly slow but successful.

 

Val, the commander, is the first to disembark. Upon watching the footage of her exit from the spacecraft, doctors at the KSC conclude that months in space have made Val a little crazy as she apparently fails to realize that the ground is below her rather than above.

 

Eventually, the crew gets their act together and lines up nicely albeit diagonally for the obligatory flag-with-crew-and-spacecraft photo.

 

After performing the first science from Gilly's surface, the crew perform the first biome hop.

 

It's not technically a biome hop as the second landing site is still in the Highlands. But it is a required destination for the aforementioned temperature scan contract. Maybe the agency that gave the contract really just wanted to see a spacecraft land on one landing leg. If that turns out to be the case, the Valentina is happy to oblige.

 

The Terrier engine propels the lander to the third of four required landing sites.

 

This site is by far the flattest yet. Dergard reckons you could probably pitch a tent on it if you wanted to have a night of space-camping.

 

The fourth landing site, this time in the Midlands, is a return to the typical sloping terrain of Gilly.

 

Arsy, the mission scientist, performs her experiments as she has done with every landing so far.

 

While the temperature survey contract is finished, Gilly's lowlands remain to be visited. Val performs a fifth and final landing in this biome, and the crew wastes no time in deploying the surface science experiments, planting a flag, and climbing back inside the spacecraft, eager to return to a higher-gravity body.

 

Val, Dergard and Arsy leave Gilly's surface for the last time.

 

During the slow ascent to orbit, flight engineer Dergard notices a strange division in the Gillean terrain, with the background stars visible through it. He silently ponders if he should ask Val for permission to explore it, but then reasons that such a mysterious anomaly could in fact be deadly and result in an untimely death. The loss of a Kerbonaut would be a tragedy, especially as the KSP's interplanetary exploration initiative is far from over. Better not ask too many questions, he thinks. I'll leave that to the scientists.

 

The lander gradually rendezvouses with the orbiting propulsion/habitation module...

 

...and docks successfully. Val and the crew immediately depart Gilly for high Eve orbit and plot their return transfer burn to Kerbin.

 

After waiting in high Eve orbit for a number of months, Resilience 2 lights up its engines and burns for home.

 

Upon arrival, the nuclear engines burn once again to decelerate the spacecraft from interplanetary speeds. 

The command/landing module separates and performs a final deorbit burn using its Terrier engine to aim for a splashdown just off the coast of the KSC's location.

 

While the reentry overshot, the splashdown was gentle, bringing an end to the KSP's second successful interplanetary mission.

 

A large amount of science points and funds were collected during the mission. The latter was sufficient to allow for a much-anticipated upgrade to the R&D facility.

 

Several new technology nodes were unlocked, and only five remain still to be researched. With the KSP's goal to explore the Kerbol system far from over, preparations for the next mission are already underway. The upcoming Resilience 3 is already proving to be a controversial mission, as its target is a dwarf planet that, for whatever reason, many on Kerbin claim doesn't actually exist...

 

Thanks for reading as always!

[IntellectualTortoise]

Part 11: Herbart the Space Detective

Spoiler

Despite, or perhaps in part due to an ongoing debate about the existence of a hypothetical dwarf planet called Dres orbiting between Duna and Jool, the Resilience 3 is launched to investigate, with Herbart, Munbles and Erbin aboard.

 

The recoverable Kickback SRBs are jettisoned after burnout as the powerful Mammoth core stage propels the rocket upwards, all while the crew witness a beautiful sunrise.

 

The Mammoth stage completes orbit and Resilience 3 separates. The spacecraft itself is very similar to Resilience 2, with a command/landing module (CLM) and a propulsion/habitation module (PHM), but has a few minor upgrades.

 

The core stage deorbits and undergoes a fiery but successful reentry.

 

Unlike previous attempts, this booster actually lands successfully and can be fully recovered.

 

The amount of funds regained from the recovery is just short of the cost of a brand-new Mammoth engine.

 

Back in space, Resilience 3 begins its Dres transfer burn, dropping a small liquid fuel tank partway through.

 

The CLM performs the transposition maneuver and the crew settle into the habitation module as Kerbin recedes in the window.

 

After what feels like years, the crew reach their destination, and can say with certainty that Dres does in fact exist. While they're pleased that their mission was not in vain, the KSP reminds them that their mission isn't over: they still need to actually land on Dres to prove that it isn't just a weird mirage or optical illusion.

 

The twin nuclear engines complete a long burn to capture the spacecraft in a circular orbit. During the burn, pilot Munbles spots a cool-looking canyon on the surface and begins pleading to commander Herbart to let him land as close to it as possible as it would make for a fun piloting challenge. Herbart, realizing that exploring the canyon could have a lot of scientific value, agrees and declares the midlands north of the canyon as the landing site. The flight engineer Erbin is the only one unhappy with this decision, as it would be up to him to repair the ship if it were to fall into the canyon, and he knows that wouldn't be fun. But he knows he can't override the commander's decision.

 

Shortly after the distant sun rises over the barren surface of Dres, the crew depart in the CLM for the landing.

 

Munbles fires the trusty Terrier engine to decelerate the spacecraft. If it wasn't for the humungous canyon, you'd think this was the Mun, thinks Herbart.

 

The canyonside landing is smooth, and Herbart as commander has the privilege of being the first Kerbal to prove that not only does Dres visually appear to exist, but that it has a solid surface and can be walked on. He has solved the greatest mystery of modern Kerbal astronomy, and thus officially declares himself the first space detective.

 

Munbles and Erbin get out next and a flag is planted. Six bodies with solid surfaces other than Kerbin now have that flag on them. There are still eight to go before they all do.

 

Herbart takes a stroll to the cliff overlooking the huge canyon. Despite looking small from space, it's quite large in-person. Maybe Erbin was right, thought Herbart. It would be a pain to fix a spacecraft if it fell down there.

 

After Herbart gets back, he works with Erbin to set up the science experiments. This makes the CLM lighter and gives it more delta-V to complete a biome hop before returning to orbit.

 

Herbart, Munbles and Erbin blast off from the Midlands on a short hop to the highlands to the east.

 

At the second landing site, more footprints are made, more science is done, more samples are taken, and another flag is planted.

 

Herbart investigates a large rock outcropping, but can't seem to take a sample of it for analysis. He hopes Linus will understand and won't be too mad at him for failing to get one.

 

Soon, the crew takes off from Dres for the final time, flying nearly parallel to the canyon on their ascent.

 

Munbles flawlessly rendezvouses and docks the CLM to the PHM.

 

After the initial air of mystery surrounding Dres passed, the crew found they quite enjoyed their time exploring the small dwarf planet. But eventually it was time to leave and head back home.

 

The crew say their farewells to Dres as the Resilience 3 speeds away from it.

 

After a long time in space, a crescent Kerbin is a welcome sight to the crew's eyes.

 

The CLM separates from the PHM and performs a powered aerocapture, using its main engines, RCS thrusters, and service bay airbrakes/doors to decelerate.

 

A good portion of the service module is burned away during the low aerocapture, but the crew are safe in their command pod and their periapsis remains in the atmosphere.

 

What's left of the service module is jettisoned and the command pod of Resilience 3 undergoes a smooth final reentry.

 

The parachutes deploy as the spacecraft descends into a remote region of Kerbin.

 

The landing isn't as gentle as, say, a splashdown, but nevertheless Herbart, Munbles and Erbin are home. This picture was taken moments before a group of angry conspiracy theorists ran to the capsule, banging on the walls and demanding to see the surface samples at once. Sadly, despite many images of the surface operations on Dres being published in the media, a select few Kerbals still remained in denial of its existence.

 

After the group sees the samples, they are at last convinced and hand them over to the KSP for analysis. The samples, along with the other science data collected, brings in a good number of science points and enough cash to upgrade the VAB.

 

Now only two nodes of the tech tree are left to be unlocked.

 

Resilience 3 was another successful mission for the books, as well as the KSP's first flight to the outer solar system. It will surely not be the last, however, as an Eeloo transfer window is quickly approaching and Resilience 4, a major redesign from previous Resilience spacecraft, is nearing completion...

 

Thanks for reading! I'm hoping to wrap up this mission report by the end of the year, but we'll see how that goes...

[IntellectualTortoise]

This mission report isn't dead yet...

Part 12:  A Cool Place to Visit

Spoiler

Commanded by Bill Kerman, Resilience 4 takes to the skies. Its mission is to reach the most distant world in the Kerbol system: the icy dwarf planet Eeloo. Bill and his crewmates Bob and Roke packed multiple pairs of ice skates in anticipation.

 

As the rocket soars into the sunlight, the empty Clydesdale SRBS are separated and recovered by parachute.

 

The second stage, powered by a Rhino liquid-fueled engine, brings the Resilience 4 into orbit. This mission features a redesigned propulsion/habitation module, sporting four nuclear engines, double the amount used on all previous Resilience spacecraft

 

The remainder of the Rhino stage's fuel is used to initiate the large transfer burn to the edges of the Kerbol system.

 

The quartet of nuclear engines finish off the burn as the Resilience 4 begins its swift exit from Kerbin's sphere of influence. Bill, Bob and Roke settle down for the multi-year flight to Eeloo.

 

During the Resilience 4's outbound flight, the KSP takes on a few other contracts to generate some additional revenue. One such contract requires an orbital adjustment of an old communications satellite, Farsight 2, however the spacecraft itself does not have enough fuel to complete the necessary maneuver. Jebediah Kerman bravely volunteers to pilot the Leaper 8 in order to refuel the satellite via a klaw.

 

Jebediah admires the view from his small capsule as he pilots the Leaper 8 to orbit.

The rendezvous and grappling goes off without a hitch and Jebediah begins transferring fuel from the Leaper 8's tanks to the antiquated commsat.

 

Jeb uses the last of his leftover food to brake prior to reentry.

 

His craft touches down in the desert right as Kerbol sets on the horizon. While it doesn't stand up to the Jeb's other achievements in space, he nevertheless enjoyed his first solo mission in quite some time.

 

A virtually insignificant amount of science was gained from the Leaper 8 mission.

 

Meanwhile, Farsight 2 successfully reaches its new orbit, fulfilling the contract and earning the KSP a bit of extra cash to put towards the next Resilience missions.

 

After years in deep space, the Resilience 4 finally reaches its distant destination: Eeloo. From afar, it reminds Bob of a dirty pool cue ball. Bob ponders as to whether it was once part of a larger set of pool balls that are now scattered throughout the cosmos.

 

About half of the Resilience 4's tankage, now empty, is jettisoned during the orbit insertion burn.

 

After a circular orbit is achieved, the three kerbonauts board the command/landing module and prepare to become the first little green men to walk on a giant pool cue ball floating in space.

 

This CLM is similar to those used on Resilience 2 and 3 but has a few minor upgrades including more delta-V thanks to two exterior fuel tanks mounted near the engine.

 

The landing goes as planned and Bill is the first to walk on the icy surface of Eeloo.

 

Roke and Bob also begin their EVAs and join Bill for the traditional flag-planting. Unfortunately the lighting is not ideal for photos due to Kerbol being almost directly overhead.

 

Bob begins his scientific experiments on the surface, starting with a repeat of the one he attempted on Minmus back on Venturer 4: hitting a banana with a hammer only for it to shatter into shards -- an identical result to the one he obtained on Minmus. He deduces that the correlation is because Eeloo and Minmus both have ice in their compositions, although Minmus is theorized to also have another element called "cream" in addition to the ice.

 

While unpacking the cargo containers, Bill is disappointed to realize that no ice skates were packed after all, despite the crew's pleas to the technicians. With a sigh of resignation, Bill instead helps Bob set up the surface science equipment. Ice-skating would have to wait until the crew got back to Kerbin and could take a vacation to one the poles.

 

After that task is done, Bob takes a quick jaunt away from the landing site to investigate a particularly shiny chunk of ice. When he tries to sample it, the whole thing disappears in an oddly similar fashion to the Mun Stone he encountered years ago. Most curious indeed.

 

Bob encounters a couple of other interesting features: a brown boulder and a larger mound of ice. They're unfortunately too large to sample with the tools he has on hand, but are definitely a fascinating sight to behold. Eeloo is a cool place to visit, thinks Bob to himself. Both figuratively and literally.

 

Bob, Bill and Roke make their way back to the ship and begin a biome hop to the closest "brown zone" of the surface.

 

The touchdown is once again nominal. If the rest of the mission goes as planned, the next touchdown the crew will experience will be back home on Kerbin.

 

Bob disembarks to plant a second flag (with better lighting this time) and collect the science. 

 

Soon afterwards, Resilience 4 leaves the surface of Eeloo for the final time.

 

As they await their rendezvous with the PHM, Bill, Bob and Roke take a quiet moment to reflect and contemplate how incredibly far they have traveled, and the fact that they may be the only Kerbals to undertake a journey of this length for the foreseeable future.

 

The two components of the Resilience 4 are reunited in space and a transfer burn back to Kerbin is planned for the next orbit. The timing of the mission just happened to work out such that a layover in Eeloo orbit is not necessary.

 

The mighty nuclear engines roar to life once again as the long trip back to Kerbin begins.

 

Bye-bye, big cue ball, thinks Bob to himself as Eeloo shrinks to a spec behind the spacecraft.

 

After what seemed like an eternity, Resilience 4 finally reaches Kerbin once again. The nuclear engines ignite one final time to wipe off speed before reentry.

 

Once all the nuclear fuel is burned, the CLM detaches with Bill, Bob and Roke and its Terrier engine provides a few more seconds of deceleration before atmospheric entry.

 

The reentry is one of the fastest and harshest endured by any spacecraft, and the detached service module can attest to this as it explodes from the heating.

 

Nevertheless, the parachutes deploy and guide the command pod to a safe splashdown. The crew are glad to be back on a planet, this time one where the water is liquid instead of solid.

 

A good haul of science was collected during the mission.

 

It's enough to unlock the last few tech tree nodes, so any more science gathered from here on out is "bonus points" for the KSP. The new technologies researched are being considered for the KSP's next mission to the opposite edge of the Kerbol system -- the inner one. That's right folks, Moho has been selected as the target for Resilience 5.

 

That's all for this part; thanks for reading and I apologize for another long delay since Part 11. There are only three more missions planned for this mission report and I'm hoping to have them all done within the next few months.