Jebediah Kerman starring as... The Rocket Rider! So one day while I was laboring away on a gargantuan laythe mission and figured I needed a break from tweaking launch vehicles to not fall apart I decided to give Jeb a special treat and let him ride a rocket to the Mün. This is something of an AAR I suppose. Originally this was an imgur album and I have no idea if it's even possible to embed those here so I've just recreated it in bb code. Adventures of Rocket Rider Mün Landing Jebediah takes off on his trusty Rocket. Heading for the Mün to do a bit of sight-seeing. Drop some dead weight, this seems to be working... Orbit achieved! All systems nominal! LKO isn't good enough though, thrusters to max! I can see the Mün in the distance, are we there yet? Found a nice hilltop, time to retroburn. Jebediah just loves riding rockets in space. Incredible feeling. Now some of you may have noted the lack of landing gear... Jebediah doesn't need any landing gear. LANDING GEAR IS FOR PEOPLE LIKE BILL OR MISSION CONTROL!! Touchdown. Perfect execution. Perfect landing. The imaginary crowd chants Jebediah's name over and over again. Meanwhile back on Kerbin, Bill takes off in the mark II, rescue boogaloo. It's been a while since Jebediah had this much fun. Who knew so much of the craft would survive? Standing upright even! In the grips of space mania, Jebediah tries to ride the flywheels like a rover before the batteries run out. Experimental data confirms that this is a terrible idea. Bill has his reservations against the entire Rocket Rider program, but he really needs the money. And even though it's dumb, he can't just leave Jeb stranded on the Mün, and who else would be dumb enough to get on one of these things? There goes the last lifter stage, to gently ram into the surface and leave no space debris. Don't litter! There wasn't even time to plan a daytime landing. Luckily they installed those lights. Landing legs. Jeb might disapprove, but Bill really enjoys them. Jebediah: Are we there yet? Bill: Oh god... Jeb, we just took off! Jebediah: ... Are we there yet? Having spent all night alone in utter darkness on the Mün, slowly running out of oxygen, Jebediah is still grinning like an idiot. A bit of a hot aerobrake there. Luckily these suits are pretty awesome. No leaks or overheating. Chill out in the cold vacuum of space for a few minutes, because this is about to get real. A bit of maneuvering to not completely disintegrate during atmospheric entry. Alarms, screams, the whistling of hot air squeezing through the cracks in the helmet glass. The maddening red dance of plasma trailing by. Everything starts fading to black... Then it's over. The only thing keeping Jeb awake through the pain is the adrenaline. He laughs, or screams, he can't tell. Systems are back online, but they're off target. Better try to correct that. Final stage! Did I mention parachutes are for people like Bob? That's right, pulverize all that debris. Remember, don't litter! Perfect landing! Standing ovation at the Space Center! Bill drops out of his seat and kisses the ground before helping Jebediah out of the melted mess he's sitting in. Another complete mission success! Hardly any kerbals were harmed during the making of this... thing.
