Supra-orbital Rescue

[Bluejayek]

As a result of one of his frequent mishaps, Jebediah is alone in a spacesuit on an escape course from Kerbin.

Despite, or perhaps because of, his many failings, Jebediah is very popular amongst the general population of Kerbin, if not with us here at the space agency. Because of this, it is likely that if Jebediah were lost the space program would lose significant funding and be set back many years.

You are therefore tasked with retrieving Jebediah and returning him safely to Kerbin. While we do not believe that the public would be able to tell the difference if we replaced Jebediah's brain with that of a monkey, it would be preferable for you to retrieve him within 24 hours, as the EVA suit systems will start to fail at this point and permanent brain damage will set in. However, if you are unable to retrieve him in this time frame we will go ahead with the brain transplant operation.

Oh, and one final note. The public doesn't much care about any of the other kerbonauts. Therefore, they are to be seen as expendable. If you need to flush one out the hatch in order to save Jebediah, do not hesitate.

Challenge rules:

There will be a stock and modded leaderboard. Stock craft are to use ONLY stock parts, and particularly no mechjeb. Modded craft builders can do whatever they like.

Ranking will be based on elapsed time at successful rendezvous with Jeb.

To be ranked on the leaderboard you must submit the following screenshots:

Launchpad.

Jeb with the mission timer visible immediatly before entering the rescue craft.

Rescue craft successfully landed back on Kerbin.

Multi-craft rescues are allowed (eg, one craft to grab jeb and bring him into kerbin orbit, another to rendezvous and bring him to the surface).

Persistence file required: http://www./?qjnq23ul48ifd6s

Please back up your old persistence file if you wish to keep it. Then, delete it, and put this one in its place. Persistence saves can be found in the folder KSP > saves > defaults > persistent.sfs

Good luck!

Stock Leaderboard:

1) Nao with the Mercury Hammer 1:10:01

2) nhnifong 2:03:57

3)

Modded Leaderboard:

1) maltesh 3:55:56

2)

3)

Edited September 10, 2012 by Bluejayek

[OdinYggd]

Why flush one? As long as the craft has one in it you can still fly it. Tell the other two to get off while on the launch pad so there's plenty of room for Jeb.

Also is Orbital Construction allowed in the modded class?

I could see this done really easily using that.

[Bluejayek]

Go ahead and use orbital construction if you wish to. I find it too difficult to sift through mods and say "oh, this ones ok, that one isnt" so I just consider them to all be in one class. You will probably be more satisfied if you do it without though

As per flushing one: The 1 person pod is lighter, and thus you need less of a monstrous rocket to get it to jeb. It may be easier this way to rendezvous with that, and leave its hapless pilot floating in jebs place.

[Nao]

I was expecting another orbital rendezvous, but this time Jeb just made things straight from the start, straight up that is.

Ship name: Mercury Hammer (i was watching LoL regionals while launching )

Category: Stock (only mod used is fuel fix mod)

Time of Jeb on board:1:10:01 (his mission time), 2:53:55 party on the beach.

No kerbals were lost during this mission, at least to the best of my knowlage.

12 pictures taken during the mission.

http://imgur.com/a/VPx4y/

Jeb returned with his adventure buddies Bob and Bill, poor Adam Kerman was left on top of launch station to clean the mess after launch.

Also i need to stop using that command-pod setup with engine on top, navigation is a pain with half of the directions reversed.

[Bluejayek]

Nice job! I liked the beach landing

[nhnifong]

Man that was hard!

My entry for the stock list

Final mission time: 12:27:08

[maltesh]

Well, since you did my challenge, figured I might as well return the favor. Yeah, I mechjebbed this one, and , unfortunately, didn't take as many screenshots as I'd like to have taken.

Jeb was on board at 3:55 after launch, and returned to Kerbin after 2 days, 06:15.

[OdinYggd]

Oh interesting twist. I expected him to be stuck in some odd high elliptical orbit, but he literally went to infinity and beyond. Using a spacedock like this might end up a significant handicap because it means I have to launch from orbit and then intercept him, although it does make the return somewhat easier at least because I can return him to orbit and land normally.

We'll see what I can do. I just perfected my landing craft, so as long as the Albatross can reach him without using up the landing fuel I should be able to get him and go.