Goin' Places With the Mk1-2

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

Like a child's blanket, I try to bring my favorite command module with me wherever I go. Though it's absurdly heavy, as is completely unnecessary, I just like the way it looks. To me, it's the coolest command pod by far. It's girth does presents problems however, but the challenge of getting past those hurdles is a lot of fun. Wanted to log two of my most recent, and current favorites, because they were so tough.

First up is my just completed mission to bring the Mk1-2 to Eve's surface and return to orbit. It was a monster, at almost 2,000 parts and over 7,400 tons. Not to mention 3,000,000 bucks. The November designation should tell you how many redesigns I went through. Surprisingly, only a couple were used on the ascent vehicle. My last Eve mission lifted 2 Kerbals, so I had a pretty good idea of what I would need. Getting it down to the surface, however, proved to be exceedingly difficult.

 

 

Full glory on display on the launchpad. Almost looks like I'm lifting a space station to orbit.

 

 

Plenty of staging; as you can imagine.

 

 

Completing the transfer. The Vectors burning are meant to be the landing and capture engines, but I needed them to complete the burn.

 

 

Because I had to use them to transfer, after capturing, I didn't have enough fuel to lower my orbit properly. Had to make a shallow dip into the atmosphere and let Eve help me out. Took a bunch of passes, because I can't hit the atmosphere too steeply. I despise autostrut, so the ship is manually strutted like all my others. I have to be careful, or some of the exposed struts overheat. Spectacular, explosive disassembly follows. So I took it slow.

 

 

Dumping inflatables is always a dicey proposition. The ship may be a monstrosity, but I discovered a way to dump them without destroying half the ship.

 

 

Transfer droptanks with heatshields dumped (they stuck out a bit, hence the shields). Those are a ton of sepatrons burning.

 

 

Last of the shields dumped. Looks bad, but worked just fine. SRB's fired to keep them away from the ship. No damage.

 

 

Comin' down easy.

 

 

All but 2 of the landing legs busted. Probably should've warped to morning, but I was excited. Jeb jumped out to do his thing.

 

 

I'm not good with ladders, so one of the toughest parts for me is always getting in and out of the ship when you can't just jetpack. Came up with a good method this time, though. Took a few redesigns, but in the end, it worked pretty well.

 

 

What made this tougher than usual was, not only did I bring the Mk1-2, I also brought along a service module packed with equipment. Figured if we were goin' to Eve, lets get some science out of it.

 

 

Liftoff. The landing engines still had fuel, so I used them to help with the ascent; though that wasn't planned or used in the testing phase.

 

 

Dumping the landing engines.

 

 

Dumping a couple of Vectors.

 

 

And again.

 

 

Last radial tanks.

 

 

Poodle time.

 

 

Back in orbit.

 

 

Because I used the landing engines to help with the ascent, I actually have some fuel left. In testing, I was empty upon reaching orbit. If I get out and push, I can just make it back to Kerbin for a rescue instead of refueling. For now though, I'll leave it here. I wanted to bring the Mk1-2 to Eve's surface and back to orbit, and I did. I'm extremely happy with the turnout. And proud, of course. 

 

Here is my Jool 5.

 

 

Used the Mk1-2 and 5 different landers, with 5 Kerbals along for the ride. As always, no nuclear, ion, or jet engines. All stock. No mods except KAC. Way too many pics, so I'll just post the album link below.

 

https://imgur.com/a/Yog1d

 

Anyway, thanks for checking this out. If there are any more fans of the great Mk1-2, feel free to post here as well. I'd love to see your work.

 

[cratercracker]

I am also a fan of mk1-2!

Should i make a patch for your future exploration?

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

23 minutes ago, cratercracker said:

I am also a fan of mk1-2!

Should i make a patch for your future exploration?

Absolutely! As you can see by my signature, I'm a fan of your patches. 

[cratercracker]

@Cpt Kerbalkrunch

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"80 foot of overhanging ice''

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Enjoy~