Do the tourists need to return to Kerbin?

[Sharpy]

Do the tourists need to return to Kerbin?

Because... umm, an especially annoying group, three of them wishing for Mun flyby, fourth desiring a Minmus flyby... and I just got two contracts, build a new orbital station, Mun orbit and Minmus orbit...

Edited June 28, 2015 by Sharpy

[Grumman]

Yes, they do. The contract is not ended until all the tourists have been recovered.

[juanml82]

Just land them in your orbital station once all the contracts have been fulfilled. That way, you also get to recover part of the funds you've expended in sending the space station for even more profit

[Grumman]

Don't troll the newbies, Juan.

[juanml82]

Don't troll the newbies, Juan.

Uh? What trolling? I assume Sharpie is making a single station to fulfill the Mun and Minmus contract and will also put the tourists there. To which I'm advising him to design the station to survive reentry, so he can recover it in Kerbin, with the tourists still inside, once he finishes all contracts.

For an added bonus and if he's also sending up astronauts from his crew roster for xp, if he has enough delta-v, he can send the station just beyond Kerbin' SOI after he's done with Minmus and return it to Kerbin for extra xp for the astronauts. But he's going to need some 1,000-2,000 extra delta-v to be in the safe side. Doable with Nervas, not so sure about using chemical rockets.

[Ripper2900]

You need to being them back, yes. But you don't have to do all of them on a single trip.

You can however make a full monty mission, because the station-missions doesn't require your station to stay in mun or minmus orbits, just to be there in 10 seconds. So, you could make one, fill it with tourists, send it to orbit minmus, then transfer to mun, and finally land it back at kerbin. Good luck.

[Grumman]

Uh? What trolling? I assume Sharpie is making a single station to fulfill the Mun and Minmus contract and will also put the tourists there. To which I'm advising him to design the station to survive reentry, so he can recover it in Kerbin, with the tourists still inside, once he finishes all contracts.

I apologise. When I read your post I was thinking of a proper space station and not just the kerbal box with a docking port that satisfies some contracts, so the suggestion that he drag the whole thing out of orbit when all he needs is a flyby seemed like schmuck bait.

[Kryxal]

It's only a few hundred extra delta-v to return the stations and avoid clutter ... the issue would be landing them.

[rofltehcat]

Luckily ships don't need to actually be space stations to fulfill space station functions and they don't need to stay where they are.

Take a piece of paper and write down what you need at every step of the way. So for example if you need space for 20 Kerbals in Kerbin orbit but only space for 4 tourists, leave behind modules with space for 16 Kerbals in orbit, then go to Minmus (maybe leave transfer stage in orbit), land, do your science, take off (leave empty fuel tanks etc. behind), redock with transfer stage (for transfer or just for fuel), go to Mun, land, take off... you get the idea. Just make sure to plan accordingly for every step (including return).

[Sharpy]

Well, I needed a station for Minmus so I tackled the opportunity that someone funded the construction for me... so it's genuine. The Munar one is not really fit for reentry either. But I'll get them back... eventually. For now I upgraded Mission Command so I no longer mind them hogging a contract slot. (with all these Duna contracts underway, and the few parts I'm supposed to be testing it was really getting tight. Yeah, yeah, I am going to test that Twin Boar in Minmus suborbital flight... Eventually... after I research the tech node...)

(yep, 80% of my flights run on engines that were "borrowed for testing").

[rofltehcat]

(with all these Duna contracts underway, and the few parts I'm supposed to be testing it was really getting tight. Yeah, yeah, I am going to test that Twin Boar in Minmus suborbital flight... Eventually... after I research the tech node...)

(yep, 80% of my flights run on engines that were "borrowed for testing").

Another day at Rockomax, another call from KSC: "Yeah, we'll need another one of those experimental engines..." - "Another one? You were supposed to test one of them half a year ago and you managed to somehow 'lose' ten of those!" - "Yeah, uh they are performing promising but... see, the pilots are having problems with the testing parameters, so the results aren't really..." - "You were supposed to just activate the thing on the launch pad!"

[Skorpychan]

It's only a few hundred extra delta-v to return the stations and avoid clutter ... the issue would be landing them.

Then you have a detachable bit for actually landing the tourists in, with a probe core on it for control. Unless you're interested in salvaging the rest after landing.

[Sharpy]

You were supposed to just activate the thing on the launch pad!"

Too risky, too easy to fulfil the contract by chance. My favorite are for launch stage engines on escape trajectory. The Ant is on lease too, to be tested somewhere a bit outside Duna orbit. It's on its way there, honestly! Another year or so...