A Munar Rescue! [0.16][MechJeb][Crew-Able Pods]

[IvanTehFennec]

Hello fellow KSP-ers, I come to you with a craft that has been successfully tested, and has saved 3 Kerbalnauts from near certain death on the desolate landscape known as the Mun. After Jeb and Bill successfully landed a luxurious space-lab on the surface, the Space Program decided to launch a few guests. However, the "Cake" was unable to support that many lives. Something had to be done, or they might have had to eat Bill for lunch. After countless <del>minutes</del> hours of tinkering, they came up with a solution - <a href="http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/15016-0-16-Crew-able-empty-pods-0-3"> SENDING MORE THAN ONE CAPSULE AT A TIME!</a> Introducing, the <del>unoriginal</del> COMPLETELY ORIGINAL Mun Rescue Craft!

Based off of <a href="

">trydyingtolive's Mun Rocket from .13</a>, and a little bit of craziness, it launches the entire thing into Kerbal orbit, then burns to the Mun. Using the sophisticated <a href="http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/showthread.php/12384-PLUGIN-PART-0-16-Anatid-Robotics-MuMech-MechJeb-Autopilot-v1-9">Autopilot</a>, it then transitions to a Munar orbit, where the landing computer takes over, and puts it down right next to the <del>victims</del> Kerbalnauts, who then board the cramped containers.

They then blasted off back to Kerbin, headed home. The lander/return ship has JUST enough fuel to put the craft back onto a <del>collision</del> Return trajectory back. Then comes the tricky part.

How to get them safely on the ground? That's where the engineers kicked in their creative juices, and made the pods all have their own chutes. Upon hitting 10,000 meters, all four chutes deploy. After a moment, they eject the capsules, one by one, until the main pilot capsule is safely away from the craft, where they all safely land back on terra firma.

HURRAY! Now the "Cake" can happily house Bill and Jeb, as they continue their exploration of the desolate lands of the Mun.

Imgur gallery of (most) of the mission can be viewed <a href="http://imgur.com/a/f6LY2">here</a>

The first time I used it in a mission, I just about shat myself when it came SCREAMING back to Kerbin. Came in around 3,200 m/s, and I thought it would be certain death for my 4 kerbals.

If there's any demand, I'll post the .craft. The necessary add-ons are <del>obvious in the text-block above</del> hidden in the story.

Edited August 10, 2012 by IvanTehFennec

[Geronimo]

You should post the craft.

[IvanTehFennec]

Craft - http://lh.rs/1gGTnQfYZ2y1

[EricLimaB]

amazing. Very.

[techno156]

Cool spaceship, though looks a little too much on the rockets

[IvanTehFennec]

Cool spaceship, though looks a little too much on the rockets

I actually added the SRB's because I don't want it to stop accelerating. They were necessary to keep it accelerating through the atmosphere, due to the size of the lander.

[Elven_sword]

No need to panic on the 3200 m/s re-entry, I've survived 5000+ m/s speeds. This craft has effectively eradicated the system of letting a kerbal or two jump out on the pad, rescuing 2 kerbals, going back, launching with 1 kerbal left on the pad, and rescuing the third. My system, combined with my sub-adequate piloting skills, often results in a vicious cycle of rescuing kerbals. Thanks so much for this!

[IvanTehFennec]

No need to panic on the 3200 m/s re-entry, I've survived 5000+ m/s speeds. This craft has effectively eradicated the system of letting a kerbal or two jump out on the pad, rescuing 2 kerbals, going back, launching with 1 kerbal left on the pad, and rescuing the third. My system, combined with my sub-adequate piloting skills, often results in a vicious cycle of rescuing kerbals. Thanks so much for this!

I'm so happy someone actually thought it was good! I'm still editing it on a play-to-play basis, and I think the next thing to do is make it more efficient at returns. I haven't actually TESTED the current version to the Mun. That's my next test. Once I do, I'll post more images of it in use.

Edit: Strange, adding more SRB's made it less efficient. Climbing, sure, fuel consumption = bad. Re-working the entire staging to be more intuitive and more efficient.

Edited August 10, 2012 by IvanTehFennec

[IvanTehFennec]

<iframe width="640" height="480" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4L7jkOryy94" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Here's a Demo video of the staging as it is now, minus the TOP SRB's. I removed them in the latest version to allow it to turn properly, although they might be re-added. I'm attatching the latest version of the rocket, as it sits in my save folder.