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Fastest Rendezvous, Docking and Deorbit


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The Mission

Launch two ships into Kerbin orbit. Designate one as the target ship. You may place this ship into any stable (non-atmospheric) orbit, but once you\'ve positioned it, you may not move it again. (Imagine it\'s out of fuel.) Your second ship is the capture vessel, which must rendezvous with the target, dock with it, and use its own engines to deorbit the target safely.

The Challenge

Do it as fast as possible, using the mission time from launch to touchdown for the target ship. I\'ve done a few docking missions by now, but I only paid attention to the clock on one of them and achieved this in about 18 mission hours. I\'ll try again tonight with time in mind and take screenshots to have better evidence. A few notes:


  • [li]I use stock parts. Docking is not only possible, but actually reasonably easy, with stock parts.[/li]
    [li]The target craft can tumble out of control, so I sometimes switch control to it to stabilize it. I don\'t do any actual maneuvering on the target, so I deem this acceptable.[/li]
    [li]Bonus points for small retrieval craft (and launch vehicle).[/li]
    [li]Bonus points for retrieval from high-inclination orbit.[/li]
    [li]Bonus points for large/heavy target craft. (Requires more impulse to deorbit.)[/li]

I also don\'t use any parachutes, solid boosters or apoapsis/periapsis numbers, but I\'m not sure if those count as verifiable challenge bonuses. ;)

[EDIT] Actually, it looks like I achieved this in under 8 mission hours: http://imgur.com/a/nJ9Zf

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