Saltpeter

Brilliant! I especially like the ablative armor, but that lithobrake is just the cherry on top.

(The issue for me was incompatibility with the Docking Port Alignment Indicator mod. I removed it and that solved the problem.) I am seeking outside sources of spaceplane expertise for the construction of the transport. The KSP eagerly awaits the results.

MechJeb has been restored. But every jet that the KSP has come up with turns out to be unlandable. Temptations are strong to simply build a rocket to accomplish the job. Much like recommendations for use of the Triskelion's radial ports, the KSP is polling the community for spaceplane designs.

(One MechJeb reinstall later, I discovered a Spaceplane Guidance tool. Yes please.) (Actually, now MechJeb isn't appearing at all. This is a problem. Stand by.)

Calbart walks away from a good landing to inspect the landers for damage.

Testing of the release mechanism for the landers. Landing this plane is quite difficult. - - - Updated - - - Only the best for Kerbin's planetary heroes!

The plane is confirmed to deliver three lander cans into orbit. Test flights for deorbit and landing are underway. The plane has a serious lift profile.

KSP engineers are hard at work making their very first spaceplane. In fact, it's the very first plane of any kind they've tried to make. The crew has voiced their concerns, but ground control assures them that extensive testing will go into the plane's design before it's used to bring the crew home. So far it is proven to safely jettison the landers, and make touchdown, though newbie jet pilot, Calbart Kerman, need more practice on the landing, and there is no guarantee yet that it can make it to Hexaflexagon.

(The next update may take a while; I'm absolutely terrible at making planes in this game and am looking up all the tutorials right now.)

You make a good point, though it was better to have the station in lower orbit for the start because it would've made the Triskelion's preparation all the more expensive. Now that it's here, though, you're absolutely right. The adventure is hardly over! This was only the first mission. The next mission will keep the Triskelion closer to home, but expand on it's usefulness as a mothership. Stay tuned as we deliver the stranded kerbs home!

The Triskelion and her crew are docked with Hexaflexagon Station. The mission is complete! The image of the final dock before Kerbol, Kerbin, and the Mun is sure to be used on the obverse of the next series of minted currency. But the task at hand is not yet complete. Lobal, Kelbald, Guskin, Jim, Kirk, and Bill Kerman need to be safely delivered home. And not just in plain old landers, but in style! Plans are being drawn up for a special transport to bring back the test crew and the stranded kerbs.

The fuel ferry has arrived! With this load of fuel the Triskelion has everything it needs to rendezvous with Hexaflexagon Station.

The circularization burn put the Triskelion 250km over Kerbin. This is the best it can do until the fuel ferry arrives. Donory can see the KSP site from the helm.

While calculating a circularization burn: Donory: Hey, I got a Mun encounter! Anyone wanna go to the Mun? Jerwin and Merkin: Yeah! Everyone else: NO. Donory: okay

Triskelion is now in a safe Kerbin orbit. According to MechJeb, this is the first maneuver in the process of reaching Hexaflexagon station. I'm not saying I don't believe it, but that one maneuver is an entire fuel ferry's worth of delta-v. But the good folks at the KSP will spare no expense to bring their living legends home! Donory, Jerwin, this launch is for you!

Thanks to some serious 1337ness, the Triskelion can make a safe orbit with one last maneuver. It has enough fuel for this. Probably not enough fuel to get back to Hexaflexagon station, but the next fuel ferry won't have to travel nearly as far.

Uh-oh.

The Triskelion is going to attempt the transfer. It has enough fuel for the injection, but it remains to be seen if it has enough fuel for the orbit burn. KSP scientists were emboldened by projections that the post-Kerbin escape orbit has a peribolion under Eve's orbit, indicating considerable gravity braking. That can be used to the Triskelion's advantage.

As it turns out, Mechjeb is very good at this. Jerwin plans on having a celebratory arm-wrestling match with Mechjeb after the Triskelion crew gets home.

Alas, the Triskelion will not be able to make it home to Kerbin with its remaining fuel. It has a circular orbit around Kerbol, with matched plane to Kerbin. I have two options: 1. Devise and send a fueling ship to meet up with the Triskelion. 2. Launch another Triskelion. I'll settle for a fuel launch. This will give the KSP a chance to test Mechjeb's ability to rendezvous with non-planets orbiting Kerbol.

I've taken the fuel out of the outer tanks. I know it doesn't help my delta-v, but the landers were grabbing fuel out of tanks willy nilly. Mechjeb is gonna handle this transfer. I just hope I don't end up crashing into Kerbin by the time my fuel runs out. That would be too comical for a mission of this length and importance.

The Triskelion crew has itself been at work for nearly nine years. With the crew rescued, the time has come to reunite with the KSP at Hexaflexagon Station. The two landers have been separated and attached to one another, and together have been renamed the Triskelion Rescue Mission Success Monument. KSP officials declare this monument a testament to the great leaps in technology and exploration made possible by the KSP, and swear up and down that it's not just a mass-cutting measure to save on fuel. Jerwin and Merkin, the two lander pilots, are safely aboard the Hitchhiker modules. Donory, bring us home!

Jerwin once again demonstrated his excellent lander chops with a close landing, using less than half the lander's worth of fuel despite the landing zone being at a 100 degree inclination! It's time to bring Kelbald, our last stranded kerb, to the Triskelion.

This is Kirk Kerman. He's been standing at this flag for ten years, valiantly convincing the conspiracy nuts that these flags do not, in fact, wave in the wind that blew in the KSP studio. And mission command forgot he was around. It would seem a third lander trip is necessary. The limits of the Triskelion's fuel are going to be sorely tested on the return trip. I'm hoping to snag an awesome Kerbin aerobrake that in another world would be physically impossible without the ship tearing itself apart.

A spellbound Lobal Kerman takes a quick EVA tour of the Triskelion. He's been on his Dres mission, living off of astronaut ice cream in his lander for twelve years. Lobal issues the following statement: "I got to go to distant planets and eat all the ice cream I wanted. And then I get rescued by a ship that looks like it came out of Star Kerb? I could've done far worse!"