Saltpeter

The lander of the Interplanetary Missioner, the first manned ship I made that successfully traveled to another planet. An inelegant vehicle from a less civilized time.

I allowed Mechjeb to calculate this particular maneuver. It was surprisingly expensive.

Oh, did I mention Lobal's orbit was clockwise?

This is fantastic. But...how did the ship survive at 134 m/s? @_@

Lobal is on the lander in the highly inclined blue orbit. Kelbald is on the surface. I doubt I'd be able to retrieve both of them in a single lander trip and rendezvous with the Triskelion.

Dres is an unkind planet to otherworldly explorers. The orbit burn is going to cost 1800 delta-v. I'm not certain I will have enough fuel to get home. But at least, if I do not, all of the crew members will be aboard the Triskelion, where they can be picked up by another Triskelion.

It's a 2-hour window, but it's enough. Two maneuvers. I predict the orbit burn will take about 7 minutes once I reach Dres's SoI. I may have to cut out the Jool portion of the mission because of my miscalculation when transferring to Duna.

So I was time warping around Duna when all of a sudden Ike happened: One autosave restore later, I trimmed my orbit so I wouldn't get caught in Ike's SoI anymore.

(or autosave could restore my rover. I think I'll take that. Regardless, about 50 science was transmitted to Kerbin.)

The dunar rover had an accident. While slaloming uncontrollably down a particularly steep dune, the rover took off and landed monoprop face down. The rover only lost two parts. Unfortunately, one of them was the antenna, rendering the rover useless. Well what would a good adventure be without multi-million-credit setbacks? Onward to Dres! I didn't like this rover design, anyway.

It's beautiful! But it lacks grace. But what it lacks in grace it makes up for in ingenuity! RCS thrusters, activate! Time to go exploring!

Away goes the rover! Repeated aerobraking will ensure the safest and most fuel-efficient landing. Can't be too careful with this low-atmosphere environment.

It's rover time! Since the Triskelion was just barely on Ike's sphere of influence, getting an orbit with Duna was easy. What's also good is that Ike was eclipsing Duna at the time the Triskelion escaped it, resulting in the highest possible apodunaion. This means an easy ejection towards Dres. The rover will be dropped at peridunaion.

A disturbed Bill and an unsettled Jerwin in low-Ike orbit. There is no telling what effects the mass exhalation of RCS fuel can do on the kerbal mind. The recovery and rehabilitation of Bill Kerman is a top priority for this mission.

Bill Kerman has been watching the libration of Duna, contemplating his existence, and holding his breath for the past seven and a half years. Somehow he's figured out how to breathe carbon dioxide and exhale EVA fuel. With a full tank, it'll be easy for him to reach the lander.

Bang-up job, Jerwin! Reuniting with the Triskelion should be a piece of cake with this amount of fuel remaining. I can get some science in along the way. I'll correct the Triskelion's inclination before the rendezvous, so I can tave on fuel for the Dres transfer.

Unfortunately I misjudged the encounter a bit. The orbit burn is going to be very expensive, at 1510 delta-v. HOWEVER, while adjusting the burn to remedy some of that inclination, I got an Ike encounter! This is good, it'll allow me to pick up Bill Kerman easily enough and allow me to plan for the next phase of the mission in a relatively controlled environment.

The KSP crew is getting a lot of experience with the maneuver tool. Mechjeb hasn't been used for anything except docking alignment since the Triskelion left Kerbin. In a single maneuver, the Triskelion will transfer to Duna from the Mun.

The first mission objective is a success! Jim and Jerwin Kerman are safely aboard the Triskelion. It's time to travel to Duna!

Inexplicably, despite a more fuel efficient landing, the lander ran out of fuel trying to meet up with the Triskelion this time. With the last bit of fuel the lander got a kind-of concentric orbit. Some RCS wizardry made the rendezvous possible. Never underestimate the power of RCS.

A much better landing this time! And with slightly more fuel to spare! Jim Kerman will easily be able to make it to the rescue lander on EVA fuel.

What a sight for sore eyes! With 20 units of fuel left, RCS can bring us the rest of the way. Once they've docked, Jerwin Kerman will pilot lander #2 and rescue the remaining test pilot.

Jackpot! Time to bring our boys home.

Things are looking good for Donvin and Merkin! There may even be enough fuel left to make a proper rendezvous.

Donvin Kerman of the lander test crew was able to get pretty close on EVA fuel considering how far away he was. 1.9km is still a long walk on the Mun.