The Scrape of Things to Come - Phase 7: Inner Planets Missions

[TheSaint]

Mission 508 - Minmus Base Refinery Extractor Module and Converter Module

This mission will be lifting the last two pieces of the fuel refinery for Minmus Base: the extractor module which contains the drills to extract the water from the subsurface deposits, and the converter module which will crack the water into hydrogen and oxygen and then chill and compress it into a liquid state. Once these modules have arrived at Minmus then everything required to make Minmus Base operational will be on location.

Independence has flown her fifteenth mission, which means that she is due for the first of three scheduled maintenance periods that will take place over the life of each spaceplane. So Liberty will be taking her place in the rotation, flying her thirteenth flight. Her flight crew will be as follows:

Commander Charles Kern
Pilot Keith Kilpatrick
Flight Engineer Selma Knotts
Payload Specialist Clarice Kopp
Mission Specialist Cleo Kiser
Mission Specialist Gary Knight

The ground crew rolls Liberty out to the runway on a sunny morning, and the crew takes their seats and runs through their pre-flight checklist. When everything is Go, Commander Kern runs the throttles up to full and takes Liberty to the skies.

She cruises through Mach 1 and then transitions to closed-cycle, proceeding to orbit.

Hold on....

There appears to be a problem onboard the spacecraft. We're cutting over to the live comm feed for more information.

"Control, Liberty, number two engine has failed on transition. Attempting to restart, over."
"Copy that, Liberty, over."

Liberty is currently 165 kilometers downrange at an altitude of about 20,000 meters, speed is approximately Mach 4, and it appears that one of the main engines has cut out when it was instructed to transition to use internal liquid oxygen. The crew is attempting to restart the engine to continue the climb to orbit, but if the engine cannot be restarted the mission will have to be aborted. More on comms...

"Control, Liberty, number two engine restart failed. Combustion chamber 2C inlet damper position indication is intermediate, manual cycle did not restore indication. Engaging RTLS mission abort plan, over."
"Copy that, Liberty. Engaging RTLS mission abort plan, over."

So, the crew was unable to restart the engine. One of the combustion chamber dampers is in an intermediate position, so the engine computer will not allow the engine to start in either open or closed-cycle mode. This means that the mission cannot continue, so the crew has moved into abort procedure. In this case they will be executing a return-to-launch-site, or RTLS abort, where the spacecraft will turn around and land back at KSC without proceeding to orbit.

The crew has already cut the throttles as part of the engine troubleshooting procedures. Now Commander Kern pitches Liberty nose down to begin losing altitude and speed. At the same time, Flight Engineer Knotts begins dumping liquid oxygen out of Liberty's tanks to reduce the ship's weight and transitions the three good engines back to open-cycle.

Finally, Liberty reaches about 9,000 meters altitude and drops below Mach 2. She is inside of her maneuvering envelope now, the speed/altitude regime where she can turn without placing undue stress on her airframe. Commander Kern takes control and begins to bank her around to return to KSC, now almost 300 kilometers away.

The flight back to KSC is uneventful, although the crew maintains a close watch on the #2 engine to ensure that nothing else goes wrong with it.

As they begin their final approach to KSC, Commander Kern shuts down the #1 engine as well. This will help keep the ship's thrust symmetrical during the delicate process of landing. He lines Liberty up with the runway and brings her in for a smooth touchdown.

Everyone in Mission Control heaves a huge sigh of relief as Liberty rolls to a stop at the end of the runway.

Obviously there will need to be an investigation into why this engine has failed. Until that investigation has been completed the spaceplane fleet is grounded, except for emergency support.

However, this does not mean that everything drags to a halt. Back out at Minmus Station, the crew can begin deploying their rovers to investigate the base candidate sites.

[TheSaint]

Minmus Orbital Operations - Y1 D51-53

While the engineers are taking Liberty apart bolt by bolt, and the politicians are warming up their commission seats, the folks out at Minmus set about to getting some work done.

When Minmus Station comes back around in its orbit again, Commander Kauffman undocks Orbital Tug 5 and backs it away from the station.

Then, as it approaches its return window, Mission Control guides it through its return burn and it begins its journey back to Kerbin Station.

Meanwhile, XO Kimball undocks Cargo Drone 5 and brings it over to dock with the first survey rover.

Then, as the station approaches Candidate Site A, she undocks the drone and rover and burns for landing.

The drone sets down on the edge of the Great Flat, in an area the survey satellite had indicated contained useful water deposits. Chief Scientist Klinger takes control of the rover and guides it out of its capsule.

He maneuvers the rover away from the drone and begins to survey the area.

Back up on Minmus Station, Captain Kauffman undocks Cargo Drone 6 and brings it over to dock with the next survey rover.

The drone is now ready to bring the next rover down, but the next two candidate sites are still shrouded in darkness. However, Minmus Station has come back around in its orbit over Candidate Site A, so XO Kimball guides Cargo Drone 5 through liftoff and rendezvous to return to Minmus Station.

She brings it in to dock with an unused port on the docking complex.

Then, as Minmus Station makes yet another orbit, Candidate Site B moves into daylight. So Captain Kauffman undocks Cargo Drone 6 and uses it to bring Survey Rover 2 down to the surface.

The drone sets down on a moderate slope, so Kauffman needs to keep a steady hand on the controls while Assistant Scientist Kemp carefully guides the rover out of its capsule.

While the initial landing site is obviously unsuitable for base construction, Kemp quickly finds a level area in a nearby valley and uses that as a starting point for her survey.

Back on Minmus Station, XO Kimball undocks Cargo Drone 5 from the spent capsule and brings it over to dock with the last survey rover.

However, once again, Candidate Site C is still in darkness, so the last landing will have to wait. As Minmus Station once again passes over Candidate Site B, Kauffman guides Cargo Drone 6 through its liftoff and rendezvous.

He guides it in to dock, depositing the spent rover capsule in the stack with the previous one.

Now, as Minmus Station passes around the moon again, Candidate Site C has finally been illuminated. XO Kimball undocks Cargo Drone 5 and burns for landing.

Candidate Site C is a small hill, just at the south edge of the Lesser Flat. Kimball sets the drone down right at the edge of the flat and Klinger drives the rover out onto the moon's surface.

He drives the rover up into the hills and begins the survey.

Back up on Minmus Station, Kauffman is preparing for the return of the last capsule. He undocks Cargo Drone 6 and brings it over to a convenient parking spot on the core module.

Then, when Minmus Station comes back around in its orbit again, Kimball brings Cargo Drone 5 back to orbit and docks it with the stack of expended drone capsules.

Then she maneuvers the drone around and parks it in a spot on the docking complex, clearing the capsule stack to be brought back to Kerbin Station by the next available orbital tug.

Over the next couple of days the scientists on board Minmus Station will use the rovers to continue surveying the candidate base sites to determine which of them will provide the best location for Minmus Base. Once all that data has been compiled and transmitted back to KSA headquarters, management will make the final decision.

We'll keep you posted.

 

[TheSaint]

Just an FYI: The mission report will be going on hiatus for the next couple of weeks. Look for another update near the end of the first week in August. Have a great couple of weeks, go out and do something fun.

[TheSaint]

Mission 509 - Minmus Base Refinery Extractor Module and Converter Module

So after three days of investigations and deliberations, the Mission 508 Incident Investigation Board releases its findings. The failure of the #2 engine on Liberty was due to a failed position indicator on a combustion chamber inlet damper. The damper was moving correctly in response to control input, but because it's position wasn't being reported correctly to the engine computer the computer shut the engine down. While this incident did not result in an immediate threat to crew safety, it did uncover several deficiencies in vehicle engineering and operating procedures. The board has released the following recommendations:

1. This specific position indication switch, and several other key instrumentation items in the engines should be re-engineered to provide redundancy. While these changes aren't considered to be immediate necessities, they should be incorporated as the engines are overhauled and replaced over the lifetime of the spaceplane fleet.
2. The spaceplane's engines and other key components should be subjected to more detailed inspection and maintenance between each mission. This will require a reduction of the current operating tempo of the spaceplane fleet. Currently there is a three-day turnaround between spaceplane launches, allowing one mission per day. Because of the more detailed teardown and testing required on each engine now, turnaround will be increased to at least six days. This will reduce the launch tempo to at most every other day, possibly less.

This is obviously disappointing news to the folks at KSA, but in the interest of maintaining program safety they're accepting the board findings and implementing their recommendations.

Independence is fresh off of her first maintenance availability, so she will be flying the first mission after the break. Liberty's payload has been moved over to her cargo bay, so she will be carrying up the extractor and converter modules for the fuel refinery on Minmus.

Her flight crew is:

Commander Arlene Koehler
Pilot Duane Kong
Flight Engineer Dawn Kirkpatrick
Payload Specialist Justin Kennedy
Mission Specialist Mattie Kearns
Mission Specialist Marlin Ketchum

Independence is rolled out to the runway on a bright and sunny morning of day 53. As the tugs roll away, Flight Engineer Kirkpatrick double-checks her pre-flight checklist. Even though the techs have gone over everything with a fine-tooth comb, everyone is still a little on edge. Finally, she gives the 'Go'. Commander Koehler brings the engines to life, and Independence takes flight.

As Independence approaches the closed-cycle transition point, Koehler glances nervously at the levers.

But the transition goes flawlessly, as it has many times before. Independence cruises to orbit, and everyone heaves a sigh of relief.

Once in orbit, the crew of Independence has an hour to wait before their first rendezvous burn. So the crew decides to relieve the tension by watching a quick movie. Marlin's suggestion of "Airport" is quickly dismissed.

After an hour has passed, they take their seats and burn to rendezvous with Kerbin Station.

Pilot Kong takes the conn and brings Independence in to dock at Kerbin Station.

Once the hatches are open, Independence's crew is greeted heartily by the crew of Kerbin Station after their extended absence.

Kerbin Station is becoming crowded with hardware waiting for the tugs to return from Minmus. They will have to do some maneuvering to get the modules settled.

So they get to work. Payload Specialist Kennedy deploys the modules in Independence's cargo bay.

Then Captain Koontz brings Cargo Drone 2 online and moves it over to dock with the Converter Module.

She extracts the module and brings it up to dock with the zenith side of the station docking complex.

She then undocks the drone and brings it back around to dock with the Extractor Module.

She pulls the Extractor Module out of the cargo bay and moves it up to dock with the Converter Module.

She then undocks the drone and brings it around to dock at its usual storage location.

There are now four cargo stacks at Kerbin Station awaiting delivery to Minmus.

The crew can now relax and enjoy their post-mission dinner. Then they all settle in for the night.

After a good night's sleep, the crew of Independence is awakened by Mission Control. They say their goodbyes to Kerbin Station, then close the hatches and undock.

They burn for reentry, and soon are roaring through the atmosphere once again.

As they lose speed and altitude, Commander Koehler takes control once again and guides Independence in to a perfect landing.

So, Kerbin Station is reaching its capacity for storing modules destined for Minmus. However, one problem still remains: fuel.

[TheSaint]

Mission 510 - Hydrolox Tank

So now most of the hardware for Minmus base is in orbit. And most of the orbital tugs needed to carry that hardware to Minmus are on their way back to Kerbin Station. Only one piece of the puzzle remains: Fuel. As always, there is never enough to go around. In this case we have two separate issues: Fuel for the tugs as they arrive back at Kerbin Station, and fuel for the cargo lander as it is bringing the Minmus Base modules down to the surface of the moon. So the plan is this: The next spaceplane mission will bring up a hydrolox tank that will be ferried out to Minmus Station by the next available tug. This will ensure that the cargo lander operations will not be interrupted by a lack of fuel. Then the spaceplane mission after will bring up yet another tank to Kerbin Station to continue supplying fuel for the tugs returning from Minmus.

Normally Liberty would follow Independence in the flight rotation. However, because of the extensive teardown and testing which took place after the Mission 508 incident, Liberty is not yet ready to fly. So this mission will be flown by Freedom.

Her flight crew for this milk run is as follows:

Commander Dominic Kozak
Pilot Elaine Kohn
Flight Engineer Clayton Kilgore
Payload Specialist Judi Keith
Mission Specialist Phillip Kemper
Mission Specialist Irwin Kimmel

Freedom is rolled out to the runway, and the tugs head back to the hangar. Flight Engineer Kilgore runs through the pre-flight checklists, and once he reports, 'Go', Commander Kozak runs the throttles up to 100% and releases the brakes. Freedom rolls down the runway and takes flight!

Freedom soars through Mach 4 and transitions to closed cycle. Soon she is performing her orbital insertion burn and the crew is rigging her for orbital operations.

Then, after an hour of playing trivia games, Freedom reaches its first rendezvous burn. Soon, it is closing in for docking at Kerbin Station.

Once Freedom has docked and the hatches are opened, the crews make their greetings. Then they get down to work. Payload Specialist Keith releases the clamps holding the tank in the bay and then deploys it.

Then Assistant Pilot Koonce brings Cargo Drone 2 online and maneuvers it over to dock with the hydrolox tank.

Extracting the tank, he maneuvers it over to dock with an open port on the station docking complex.

Once the tank has been deposited, he undocks the drone and returns it to its normal parking spot.

Now that the mission objectives are complete, the crews can settle in to the traditional after-mission dinner. Once they have finished with the festivities, they all settle down to bed.

The next morning, the crew of Freedom awakens. They bid goodbye to Kerbin Station and close the hatches. Then they break away from the station and burn for reentry.

Freedom passes through the fire of reentry. After she has cleared the blackout and entered the lower atmosphere, Commander Kozak takes control and guides her in to another landing at KSC.

The next mission will be bringing another hydrolox tank to orbit, this time to ensure that there is a steady supply of fuel for the orbital tugs carrying equipment to Minmus.

[TheSaint]

Minmus Orbital Operations - Y1 D56-57

So while the ground crew is turning the spaceplanes around, things are happening out around Minmus.

Orbital Tug 1 arrives at Minmus, carrying Cargo Lander 2 and the Minmus Base core module.

The tug performs its orbital injection burn, entering its 100km parking orbit.

A couple of hours later the tug reaches its first rendezvous burn that will bring it to Minmus Station.

And then the tug burns to match velocities as it reaches Minmus Station.

Captain Kauffman, glad for any distraction other than playing with the survey rovers, takes control of the tug and guides it in to dock with the station on the night side of Minmus.

Once its cargo has been safely delivered, Kauffman undocks the tug and moves it over to dock with the stack of expended rover capsules that need to be returned to Kerbin.

Now that the tug is attached to its return cargo, the crew waits until the station approaches the return point a while later. Then XO Kimball undocks the tug and maneuvers it away from the station.

Then Mission Control takes over control of the tug and uploads its return flight plan. The tug then burns for Kerbin.

Early the next day, Orbital Tug 6 arrives at Minmus. And...oh...hello....

(Apparently I had already sent a hydrolox tank to Minmus Station. Past Me was smarter than I gave him credit for. I guess that's what you get when you go on vacation for two weeks. Oh well, if you wanted these things to run smoothly, you probably should have hired a professional. )

So, as Orbital Tug 6 approaches its periapsis it burns to inject into its parking orbit. It's first rendezvous burn is in almost three hours.

Well, now that we have a tank at Minmus Station and two tanks at Kerbin Station, we should have enough fuel for the foreseeable future. So the next steps would be to bring up the crew lander and crew for Minmus Base.

[TheSaint]

Mission 511 - Munar Lander Clavius

The next mission will be bringing up the first crew lander for Minmus, christened Clavius.

Liberty is back in the rotation, her first extended maintenance cycle has been completed and she is ready to fly her first mission after the incident. Team Liberty is also back in the saddle for this flight:

Commander Keith Kilpatrick
Pilot Charles Kern
Flight Engineer Clarice Kopp
Payload Specialist Selma Knotts
Mission Specialist Gary Knight
Mission Specialist Cleo Kiser

As Liberty waits on the tarmac, the crew runs through their checklists. Once everything is go, Kilpatrick runs the throttles up and takes Liberty into the air.

This time she transitions flawlessly to closed-cycle, and soon they are performing their circularization burn and rigging the ship for orbital operations.

After waiting for an hour in orbit, they perform their rendezvous burns, and then Pilot Kern guides Liberty in to dock with Kerbin Station once more.

Once docked, the crews open the hatches and exchange greetings and congratulations on returning Liberty to flight. Then they set about to accomplishing their tasks. Payload Specialist Knotts deploys Clavius in Liberty's cargo bay.

Then Captain Koontz brings Cargo Drone 2 around and extracts Clavius from the cargo bay and deposits it on the station's docking complex.

Once Clavius is in place, Koontz brings the drone around and places it back in its usual parking spot.

That was easy. So now they can all settle in and enjoy each other's company over dinner.

Meanwhile, out at Minmus, Orbital Tug 6 has reached its rendezvous burns.

Once it reaches the vicinity of Minmus Station, Mission Control hands over control of the tug to XO Kimball and she guides it in to dock with the station.

Then, a couple hours later, after Liberty's crew has gone to bed, Orbital Tug 3 arrives in its parking orbit around Kerbin. The first tug to return from Minmus!

Then, while Orbital Tug 3 is awaiting its rendezvous burns with Kerbin Station, Minmus Station arrives at the departure point for Orbital Tug 6 to return to Kerbin. So Captain Kauffman undocks the tug from the station and backs it away.

Then, once the tug is clear of the station, Mission Control takes over and instructs the tug to burn for Kerbin.

Then, before Orbital Tug 3 has a chance to reach its burn, Kerbin Station reaches Liberty's return point. So the crew closes the hatches and undocks, breaking away from the station and burning for reentry.

Liberty cruises through reentry and then Captain Kauffman brings her in to land at KSC to end her triumphant return!

Now that the lander is waiting at Kerbin Station, everything that needs to be brought to Minmus via a tug is waiting at Kerbin Station. The next mission will bring the first crew of Minmus Base to orbit, along with their ride.

[TheSaint]

Mission 512 - Minmus Base Crew & Orbital Transport Pisces

So the time has finally come to announce the first crew of Minmus Base. After much deliberation, management has selected the following group:

Captain Keith Kilpatrick
Executive Officer Charles Kern
Chief Engineer Clarice Kopp
Assistant Engineer Selma Knotts
Chief Scientist Gary Knight
Assistant Scientist Cleo Kiser

Their record 13 missions together as Team Liberty make them an excellent choice to become the first crew to run an interplanetary gas station. Their ride to Minmus will be the third orbital transport, christened Pisces. And all of them will be brought to orbit by Opportunity, flying her eleventh mission.

Opportunity's flight crew for this mission is as follows:

Commander Hannah Kinnard
Pilot Darryl Koehler
Flight Engineer Goldie Kennedy
Payload Specialist Stella Kunz
Mission Specialist Sydney Kirchner
Mission Specialist Bob Keen

The ground crew roll Opportunity out to the runway, and the crew board, eager to take on their next mission. Once they have completed their pre-flight checks, Commander Kinnard brings the throttles to 100% and releases the brakes. Opportunity surges down the runway and takes flight!

Passing through the atmosphere and into space, soon Opportunity's crew is soon taking her through her insertion burn and rigging her for orbital operations.

Because they won't be meeting up with Kerbin Station on this mission, there is no need to wait for a rendezvous window. The crew gives Opportunity a once over, and then when Mission Control gives the go they burn to raise her orbit to 400 kilometers.

Once they are at their operating altitude, the crew gets to work. Payload Specialist Kunz releases the clamps holding Pisces in the cargo bay and then raises the transport to its deployment position.

Once Pisces is deployed, the crew begins to bring her systems online, deploying her antennae and solar panels, and activating her RCS systems.

Once Pisces' systems check out, Pilot Koehler takes control. He undocks Pisces from her adapter in the cargo bay and maneuvers her over to dock with Opportunity's docking port.

Once the ships are docked and the hatches are open, the Minmus Base crew begin to move into Pisces' cabin. They take their seats on her bridge and double-check all of her systems. Once they are completely satisfied, they say their farewells to the crew of Opportunity and close the hatches. As Opportunity approaches the departure point for Minmus, Pisces undocks and her crew aligns her for their departure burn.

Then, Captain Kauffman ignites Pisces' main engine and they are off to Minmus!

Unfortunately for the crew of Opportunity, KSC has now passed the terminator into nighttime, so they will have to wait until tomorrow morning to reenter. As they settle into their couches for a night in orbit, other events are afoot in the Kerbin system.

Orbital Tug 3 reaches its rendezvous burn. Soon it is matching velocities with Kerbin Station, and Mission Control turns it over to local control.

Assistant Pilot Kearney takes control of the tug and guides it in to dock with the station. However, because it still holds its satellite bus payload, he docks it with Cargo Drone 1 on the station's zenith side. The bus will stay there until space is available to return it on a spaceplane flight.

Once Orbital Tug 3 has been refueled, Kearney brings it over to dock with its outgoing cargo stack, which consists of Minmus Base's habitation and reactor modules.

Then, when the station reaches the departure point for Minmus, Kearney undocks the tug and its stack.

Once the tug has cleared the station, he turns it back over to Mission Control. They upload the tug's flight plan, and it burns for Minmus.

The rest of the night is uneventful, as the various ships continue their travels around the Kerbin system. When dawn breaks at KSC, they call Opportunity to awaken the crew. Once they have had their breakfast, and their mission-critical coffee, they align the ship retrograde. And then when she reaches her reentry window, they burn for home.

Opportunity falls through the atmosphere, enduring the heat of reentry once again. Then, when she clears blackout and reaches the lower atmosphere, Commander Kinnard takes the yoke and guides her in to land at KSC.

So now everything required for the initial setup of Minmus Base is in orbit. At this point, in light of the Mission 508 Incident and the commission findings resulting thereof, KSP management will evaluate spaceplane operations in relation to the overall goals of the space program. We'll get back to you on that. In the meantime, the dance of the spheres goes on....

[Angelo Kerman]

Is there a new spaceplane waiting in the wings? Fun to see your progress, I like that you bring hardware back home as opposed to just deorbiting it.

[TheSaint]

22 minutes ago, Angel-125 said:

Is there a new spaceplane waiting in the wings? Fun to see your progress, I like that you bring hardware back home as opposed to just deorbiting it.

Oh, gosh no. Kongress is far too stingy for that. But as the infrastructure in the Kerbin system gets built out the operating tempo of the spaceplanes will grow even slower. At least for a while.

Edited August 29, 2022 by TheSaint

[jimmymcgoochie]

I was going to suggest a part manufacturing expansion to the Minmus base to ultimately build new vessels there and fuel them with ISRU, maybe using Sandcastle or Extraplanetary Launchpads, but maybe that's too big a leap after only just building the base. I'm intrigued to see what you come up with as an alternative to the spaceplanes though, they're much more cost-effective than conventional rockets.

Spoiler

(Also @TheSaint can you send me a craft file for that spaceplane, I'm in the market for a Mk4-based SSTO and my own attempts have been decidedly lacklustre.

[TheSaint]

8 hours ago, jimmymcgoochie said:

I was going to suggest a part manufacturing expansion to the Minmus base to ultimately build new vessels there and fuel them with ISRU, maybe using Sandcastle or Extraplanetary Launchpads, but maybe that's too big a leap after only just building the base. I'm intrigued to see what you come up with as an alternative to the spaceplanes though, they're much more cost-effective than conventional rockets.

  Reveal hidden contents

(Also @TheSaint can you send me a craft file for that spaceplane, I'm in the market for a Mk4-based SSTO and my own attempts have been decidedly lacklustre.

Oh, don't misconstrue, this thread is all about the spaceplane. We might see other launchers at some point, as we have before, but they will be guest stars only. That was the whole challenge: What can I accomplish with one-and-only-one lifter? And, so far, everything is on course. I am not going to quit until I put boots on Tekto.

That statement at the end of the last mission is just indicating that once Minmus base is completed and we start doing interplanetary missions, the rate at which spaceplanes get launched is going to become more episodic.  There will be a flurry of activity before a mission, and then the spaceplanes are going to just sit idle, except for crew changes and resupply missions for the stations and bases, which may just get mentioned after the first ones are shown. Although I do have some ideas for additional mission activity in the Kerbin system once Buffalo 2 is officially released....

I've debated Sandcastle or EL, but if I do go down that road it will only be in a limited role. I don't envision the Kerbals in this save getting to a level of tech where they're building entire spacecraft from scratch on The Mun or Minmus, but I could see them assembling certain spacecraft modules at Kerbin Station from buckets of RocketParts they lift from Kerbin. CKAI is, however, debating the economics of spent nuclear fuel reprocessing in high Minmus orbit....

Edited August 29, 2022 by TheSaint

[TheSaint]

Kerbin Orbit Operations - Y1 D59-60

So, because it was bound to happen at some point, we have two orbital tugs, Tug 2 and Tug 4, arriving at Kerbin Station only minutes apart. Let's see if we can keep all the plates spinning!

Tug 2 executes its first rendezvous burn.

And then only a few minutes later Tug 4 burns to intercept.

They should both be arriving in about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, there is a little housekeeping to take care of on Kerbin Station. The last tug left the pylon dispenser for Minmus Base orphaned on the docking complex, because its cargo stack was just a bit on the heavy side. So we will go ahead and move that over to the airlock/radiator stack, which is pretty light. Captain Koontz fires up Cargo Drone 2 and just knocks out the repositioning maneuver lickety-split.

Now things are all set for the arrival of the tugs.

But shortly thereafter, Pisces arrives at its mid-course correction point. Captain Kilpatrick fires up her main engine and makes a slight adjustment that will bring her in to her parking orbit around Minmus in about seven days.

Then the crew gets back to their week-long pinochle tournament.

Meanwhile, back at Kerbin Station, the tugs are finally arriving. Tug 4 shows up first and burns to match velocities with the station.

And then, about three minutes later, as the sun is just clearing the curve of Kerbin, Tug 2 arrives and burns to rendezvous.

The tugs arrive roughly 100 meters apart, just under 200 meters nadir of the station. Precision.

So now Mission Control turns over control of the tugs to Kerbin Station. Assistant Pilot Kearney takes control of Tug 4 and has it hold station. Captain Koontz takes control of Tug 2 and guides it in to dock with the pylon/airlock/radiator stack.

Once Tug 2 is secure, Kearney brings Tug 4 around to the other side of the station and docks it with the radiator/supply module stack.

Now the engineering team gets to work refueling the tugs. When the refueling operations are completed, one hydrolox tank is empty and the other is at just over 50%, which gives them enough hydrolox to refuel one more tug. But since at least two more tug trips will be required to move the refinery stack and the lander.... <sigh>

Once the refueling operations have been completed, the crew checks the guidance computers and...the Minmus departure window is in five minutes. No time to lose! Koontz quickly undocks Tug 2 with its cargo stack and backs it away from the station.

Once the tug is clear, she turns it over to Mission Control. They quickly upload the tug's flight plan, and soon it is on its way to Minmus!

Now Kerbin Station will have to wait until it comes around in its orbit again before releasing Tug 4 with its cargo for Minmus. In the meantime, Tug 3 has reached its mid-course correction, which Mission Control deftly executes.

Once the maneuver is completed the tug goes back onto its rotisserie spin. It is due to arrive at Minmus in about seven days as well.

Back at Kerbin Station, an hour has passed and it has arrived back at the Minmus departure window. XO Keegan has the watch now, and she undocks Tug 4 and its cargo from the station.

Once the tug is clear she turns it over to Mission Control, and soon it too is off to Minmus.

Well, it has been a busy couple of days in orbit. But daylight has now returned to Kerbal Space Center, so now we can look at another spaceplane flight to bring yet another hydrolox tank to Kerbin Station to fuel the transfer of hardware to Minmus. Hopefully this will be the last.

I'm sorry, what was that? The base site? Oh...um...yes...of course. We on the management team have been diligently working on selecting the site for Minmus Base. We expect to reach a decision very soon. No! Of course we haven't forgotten about it! That would be ridiculous! Now, if you'll excuse me I have some very important, totally unrelated work that I need to get to right away. If I could have all the interns meet me in my office in five minutes? Thanks.

[TheSaint]

Mission 513 - Hydrolox Tank

So the next spaceplane mission will be yet another fuel supply mission. But hopefully this will be the last one. This should provide enough fuel to bring all of the components for Minmus Base to the lesser moon, and once that base has been established we should be able to begin producing hydrolox on the surface of Minmus to supply the needs of the program.

Independence is up for this mission, her seventeenth flight.

Her flight crew for this jaunt is:

Commander Duane Kong
Pilot Arlene Koehler
Flight Engineer Justin Kennedy
Payload Specialist Dawn Kirkpatrick
Mission Specialist Marlin Ketchum
Mission Specialist Mattie Kearns

The ground crew rolls Independence out to the runway, and the crew take their seats on the flight deck.

Once the pre-flight checks are complete, Commander Kong runs the engines up to full throttle and releases the brakes. Independence takes flight!

She roars through her flight plan, transitioning to closed-cycle, and then reaches her main engine cutoff.

As Independence coasts to her apoapsis, Commander Kong brings the main engines back to life and burns to insert her into LKO.

Once in orbit, the crew rigs their ship for orbital operations. Then they sit back and wait. About an hour later, they reach their first rendezvous burn for Kerbin Station

While Independence is approaching Kerbin Station, Orbital Tug 5 returns to Kerbin orbit from Minmus. It burns to enter its 800km parking orbit.

Tug 5's first rendezvous burn for Kerbin Station is in just over two hours.

Meanwhile, Independence arrives at Kerbin Station and burns to match velocities.

Once they have roughly lined up with the station, Commander Kong turns the conn over to Pilot Koehler, who brings Independence in to dock with Kerbin Station.

While the crews on Kerbin Station are saying their hellos and sizing up their tasks, Orbital Tug 4 performs its mid-course correction burn under the guidance of Mission Control.

It is due to arrive at Minmus in about four days.

Back at Kerbin Station, the crews are settling down to task. Payload Specialist Kirkpatrick releases the clamps holding the hydrolox tank in place and then deploys it from the cargo bay.

Meanwhile, Assistant Pilot Kearney brings Cargo Drone 2 online, then undocks it and brings it over to pick up the hydrolox tank.

He extracts the tank from the cargo bay, then maneuvers it over to dock with the station docking complex.

Once the tank is secured, Kearney brings the drone back to its normal parking spot.

After the crews on Kerbin Station have celebrated the end of their mission and gone to bed, Orbital Tug 5 arrives at its first rendezvous burn.

Twenty minutes later, the tug arrives in the vicinity of Kerbin Station and Mission Control hands off control of the tug to the duty pilot on Kerbin Station, XO Keegan.

Keegan brings the tug around and docks it with Clavius in preparation for sending it to Minmus.

Once the tug is docked the engineers get to work refueling it.

However, in the course of docking the tug the thread author XO Keegan realized that this would be a perfect opportunity to return the satellite bus that has been hanging out on Cargo Drone 1 to Kerbin. So she fires up Cargo Drone 1 and brings it around to dock the satellite bus with the cargo erector in Independence's cargo bay.

Once the bus is secured, she undocks the drone and brings it back around to its spot on the supply module.

Then, when the crew of Indpendence awakens to start preparations for departure, Payload Specialist Kirkpatrick moves the erector into the stowed position for reentry.

The crews say farewell and close the hatches. Then Pilot Koehler undocks Independence from the station and backs it away.

Once Independence is clear, Commander Kong takes the controls and brings her around to retrograde. Then when she reaches the return point he burns for reentry.

Independence falls towards the planet and the crew rigs her for atmospheric operations. She plunges through the sky, leaving a trail of plasma in her wake.

Then as she slows, Kong swings her onto the flight path and brings her in for a landing at KSC.

Very shortly after Independence rolls to a stop, Kerbin Station reaches the departure point for Minmus. Assistant Pilot Koonce takes control of Orbital Tug 5 and undocks it from the station with the lander Clavius.

Once it is clear of the station, he turns it over to Mission Control once again, and the tug burns for Minmus.

Another successful mission is in the books. And KSP management is almost ready to make a big announcement concerning the future location of Minmus Base.

[TheSaint]

Mission 514 - Tank Stands & Monoprop Tank

So, first up, the moment we've all been waiting for: The location of Minmus Base. After careful consideration of the three finalist sites, the choice is: Candidate Site C! The hilly area near the south end of the Lesser Flat is an ideal site. It has a relatively large level area to build on, it has extensive water deposits to supply the fuel refinery, it is very close to the equator so it will not require large plane changes to get to and from Minmus Station, and it is not surrounded closely by mountains which would complicate landing procedures.

So now we are just waiting for the base hardware to show up at Minmus Station, and then we can start construction.

In the meantime, while we are waiting for the ground crew to turn around the next spaceplane mission, Orbital Tug 5 arrives at its mid-course correction burn.

With it's course now set, we'll get back to this tug when it arrives in Minmus SOI in about four days.

So now we can get down to the business of the day:

Have you ever walked to the other side of the house to do something, then done everything else on that side of the house, walked back, and realized that you never did what you originally went over there to do? Or gone on a camping trip and then arrived at the campsite, only to realize that you had forgotten some critical piece of equipment, like the camp stove, or the can opener?

So, I was looking over the list of equipment that had been sent to Minmus for the base, and I realized that I had been overlooking monopropellant. Not completely. There is a monoprop tank at Minmus Station already that was sent there to support the landings of the survey rovers. It's about 3/4 full, and by my estimation it should be enough to support the cargo drone during surface operations to construct the base. However, there is nowhere to put the tank on the surface. We could just land it and let it rest on the dirt ice lime sherbet surface, but that just seems wrong. So we need to send up a tank stand to hold the monoprop tank. The good news is that there are two more tugs that are scheduled to carry cargo to Minmus: one is carrying the refinery equipment, and the other is carrying two empty hydrolox tanks that will be used to ferry fuel from the base to the station. So we can just add the tank stand to the lighter of the two remaining stacks, which happens to be the tanks.

However, it seems silly to send an entire spaceplane mission to carry one 2-ton tank stand. And we know that when the base construction is complete the monopropellant tank at Minmus will almost certainly be depleted. So we'll use this opportunity to also lift another monoprop tank and stand that can be carried to Minmus at a later date, after the refinery is up and running and the tugs are returning.

So Freedom is up in the rotation for this cargo, flying her thirteenth mission. (Dominic! Get back here, you superstitious nut!)

The flight crew for this mission is:

Commander Elaine Kohn
Pilot Dominic Kozak
Flight Engineer Judi Keith
Payload Specialist Clayton Kilgore
Mission Specialist Irwin Kimmel
Mission Specialist Phillip Kemper

So after Freedom has been rolled out to the runway, and the pre-flights are completed, Commander Kohn brings the engines to life and Freedom takes to the air!

She soars through transition and soon is circularizing in LKO.

After an hour in orbit, they reach their rendezvous burns, and soon they're approaching Kerbin Station.

Then Pilot Kozak takes the conn and guides Freedom in to dock with Kerbin Station on the night side of Kerbin. Then, once the crews have greeted each other and gone over the mission briefing, Payload Specialist Kilgore deploys the tank stands in Freedom's cargo bay.

Then as the station comes back around to the day side, they start to move stuff around. Captain Koontz brings Cargo Drone 2 online and moves it over to dock with the monoprop tank/stand stack in Freedom's cargo bay.

She then brings that stack over to dock with the station docking complex, where it will await a tug sometime in the future.

She then undocks the drone and brings it over to dock with the free tank stand.

Extracting that stand from the bay, she brings it over to dock with the first of the empty hydrolox tanks.

Then, just to make things neat and tidy, she undocks the empty tank and brings this stack over to dock with the other empty tank, forming the full cargo stack bound for Minmus.

Now that all of the cargo moves are complete, she undocks Drone 2 and brings it back to its parking spot.

With their mission tasks complete, the crews relax and enjoy their after-mission dinner. Then they settle in to their racks for the night.

While the crews on Kerbin Station are asleep...absolutely nothing happens. Seems odd, but it's true. All of the tugs and vessels spinning around the Kerbin system just carry on their merry way with no intervention required, and everyone gets a good night's sleep for once.

In the morning, the crew of Freedom are awakened to prepare for their return. They fist bump the duty section on Kerbin Station, then they close the hatches and undock.

When they reach the return point they burn for reentry.

Freedom glides through reentry, and then Commander Kohn takes the yoke and guides her in to a perfect landing.

Take that triskaidekaphobia!

So, we have a location for Minmus Base selected, we have all of the hardware for Minmus Base in orbit, and almost all of said hardware that remains at Kerbin Station has tugs and fuel allocated to get it to Minmus. So next we can start working on Minmus Base in earnest. And I can start reviewing all of the vacation requests from the spaceplane crews that have been stacking up for the last month.

[TheSaint]

Kerbin System Operations - Y1 D64 - 66

So as the spaceplane crews take some well-deserved time off, and the spaceplanes get some well-deserved maintenance, we'll turn our attention to the activities taking place in orbit.

On Day 64, Orbital Tug 3 arrives at the edge of Minmus' SOI.

Tug 3 executes a brief burn to bring its inclination down. Then it plots its orbital insertion burn, which will take place in about 2 1/2 hours.

About an hour later, Pisces arrives in Minmus' SOI, and it too executes an inclination burn.

Shortly thereafter, Tug 3 arrives at its periapsis, and it performs its orbital insertion burn.

Once Tug 3 has entered its 100km parking orbit, it plots an intercept orbit for Minmus Station, which has its first burn in a couple of hours.

In the meantime, Orbital Tug 1 burns to insert into its 800km parking orbit around Kerbin.

It as well plots out a rendezvous course for Kerbin Station, with its first burn in a couple of hours as well.

Very soon after, Captain Kilpatrick fires up the engines of Pisces again and brings her into orbit around Minmus.

Pisces has just missed its last rendezvous opportunity for Minmus Station, so its next opportunity is over 2 1/2  hours away.

Tug 3 however has just arrived at its first rendezvous burn, and is due to arrive at Minmus Station in about an hour.

Then, Orbital Tug 2 arrives in Minmus SOI.

It performs a inclination adjustment burn and then lines up for its orbital injection burn in a couple of hours.

Next up. Orbital Tug 1 arrives at its first rendezvous burn.

It should be showing up in Kerbin Station's neighborhood in about twenty minutes or so.

Tug 3 then shows up at Minmus Station and burns to match velocities.

XO Jackie Kimball takes the handoff from Mission Control and guides Tug 3 in to dock with Minmus Station.

After that, Tug 1 arrives at Kerbin Station. After it performs its second rendezvous burn, Mission Control hands the tug over to Assistant Pilot Koonce, who brings it in to dock with the station docking complex.

Leaving the stack of used rover capsules there for eventual return to Kerbin, Koonce undocks the tug and brings it around to dock with the hydrolox tank stack that is destined for Minmus.

Once the tug is docked, the duty engineers get to work filling its hydrolox and monoprop tanks. Once that is complete, Kerbin Station is fast approaching the departure point for Minmus. So Koonce undocks the stack and backs it away from the station.

Once the tug is clear of the station, Koonce turns it back over to Mission Control, and the tug burns for Minmus.

Then, Orbital Tug 4 arrives at Minmus.

It too performs a small inclination burn and then preps for its insertion burn.

Then Pisces finally arrives at its first rendezvous burn.

It should arrive at Minmus Station in about an hour.

While Pisces is closing in on Minmus Station, Orbital Tug 2 arrives at its periapsis and performs its insertion burn.

It's first rendezvous burn is in an hour and a half.

Pisces then arrives at Minmus Station.

Captain Kilpatrick brings Pisces around and docks her with Minmus Station.

So now the first crew of Minmus Base has arrived at Minmus Station, and is awaiting the rest of their hardware.

We will get back to things tomorrow when the action starts up again.

[TheSaint]

Kerbin System Operations - Y1 D66 - 68

Continuing where we left off....

Tug 4 arrives at its periapsis around Minmus and performs its orbital injection burn.

Its first rendezvous burn is in a couple of hours.

A little while later, Tug 2 arrives at its first rendezvous burn.

About an hour later it is burning to match velocities with Minmus Station.

Mission Control hands over control of the tug to Captain Kauffman, who guides it in to dock with the station.

A few minutes later, Tug 4 reaches its rendezvous burns.

After an hour of catching up with Minmus Station, it performs its second burn.

Captain Kauffman takes control of this tug as well and guides it in to dock.

We are definitely beginning to accumulate hardware at Minmus Station.

Then Tug 5 arrives at the edge of Minmus' SOI carrying the lander, Clavius. It isn't able to make any meaningful inclination adjustments, so it aligns itself for its orbital injection burn and begins to coast towards periapsis.

Meanwhile back at the ranch back at Kerbin, Orbital Tug 6 has finally returned from Minmus, the last of the first wave of tugs that departed over two weeks ago.

It reaches its parking orbit and burns to circularize.

It plots a rendezvous with Kerbin Station and settles in to wait.

Back in orbit around Minmus, Tug 5 reaches its periapsis and burns.

Its first rendezvous burn for Minmus Station is in over 2 1/2 hours.

Tug 6 however reaches its first rendezvous burn on the night side of Kerbin.

Twenty minutes later it is pulling in to Kerbin Station.

XO Keegan takes over control of the tug and guides it in to dock with the refinery stack destined for Minmus.

Once it's docked, the duty engineers, Keenan and Killian, get to work refueling the tug. Then, as Kerbin Station comes around in its orbit once again, it reaches the departure point for Minmus. Keegan undocks Tug 6 with its cargo stack and backs it away from the station.

Once it is clear of the station, she turns it back over to Mission Control, and it burns for Minmus.

So another couple of days of operations are done. Everything we need to get Minmus Base operational is either at or on its way to the outer moon. Over the next couple of days we should be able to begin landing operations.

[TheSaint]

Kerbin System Operations - Y1 D68-70

As day 68 continues, Orbital Tug 6 reaches its mid-course correction burn, just skirting The Mun's SOI on its way to Minmus.

Back at Minmus, Orbital Tug 5 reaches its first rendezvous burn.

It arrives at Minmus Station about an hour later and burns to match velocities.

Then Captain Kauffman takes the handoff from Mission Control and guides the tug in to dock.

Now, the crews at Minmus Station begin preparations to land the first modules of Minmus Base. The first step will be to remove the docking adapters from the engines on the landers. First, Captain Kauffman brings Cargo Drone 6 online and maneuvers it over to dock with the supply module to clear a port on the docking complex.

On the other side of the station, XO Kimball undocks Tug 5 from Clavius and moves it over to dock with an unused port on the docking complex.

She then fires up Cargo Drone 5 and brings it over to dock with the docking adapter on Clavius.

Now Captain Kauffman brings Cargo Drone 6 down to dock with the docking adapter on Cargo Lander 2.

He removes the adapter from the lander's engine, freeing the engine and also clearing the docking port on the docking adapter.

Kimball likewise removes the docking adapter from Clavius' engine, then uses Drone 5 to bring it over to the other side of the station with Drone 6.

They dock the two adapters together, making them much easier to handle for the trip back to Kerbin.

Kimball then undocks Drone 5 and brings it back over to the other side of the station to dock.

And Kauffman brings Drone 6 up to dock with the supply module, starting the stack of hardware to return to Kerbin.

Now that the landers' engines are free, it's time to start stacking hardware for the surface. Captain Kauffman brings Cargo Lander 2 online, then undocks it from its cargo stack so that the docking adapter between it and the base core module can be removed.

Kimball takes over with Cargo Drone 6 and brings it down to dock with the docking adapter.

She then removes the docking adapter and brings it up to dock with the returning hardware stack.

Then Kauffman brings Cargo Lander 2 back in to dock with the core module.

Now the stack is almost ready to go. It will also be carrying down Cargo Drone 5, but they will wait until the lander undocks for its landing in order to mate the drone with the stack.

As Minmus Station comes around in its orbit again, dawn breaks over the base site, and everything is go for the first landing! Captain Kauffman undocks the lander and core module from the station.

Then, as the sun peeks over the horizon, XO Kimball undocks Cargo Drone 5 and brings it over to dock with the core module to hitch a ride down to the surface.

With the stack now complete, Kauffman brings the lander retrograde and fires its engine for deorbit.

The lander descends towards the surface. Then Kauffman ignites its engine for final descent.

And touchdown!

About a hundred meters from the intended base site.

Well, the good news is that this area is just as rich in water, and only slightly less flat. After a brief consultation with Mission Control and Management, it is decided to not attempt to correct, but to simply build the base at the location of the landing.

Kauffman brings Cargo Drone 5's main engines online and lifts the core module off of the lander.

He guides the drone to a spot about ten meters away from the lander and sets the module down and levels it.

The first module of Minmus Base is on site!

Back at Minmus Station there is some housekeeping to do before the cargo lander returns on the next orbit. Captain Kauffman would like to reshuffle the base modules at the station into the stacks they will be landing in.

First Captain Kauffman undocks Orbital Tug 3 with the base reactor module and backs it away from the station.

Then XO Kimball undocks Cargo Drone 6 and brings it over to dock with the docking adapter connected to the base habitation module.

She removes the docking adapter, then backs the cargo drone away from the station as well.

Then Captain Kilpatrick of Minmus Base lends a hand. He brings Orbital Tug 2 online and undocks it with the airlock module and pylon dispenser.

And then...uhh...where was I?

Oh yeah, right. Kilpatrick brings Tug 2 over and docks the airlock module with the habitation module.

Then Kimball brings the cargo drone over and docks it with the docking adapter on the reactor radiator module.

She then removes the docking adapter and uses the drone to bring both adapters up to the returning hardware stack.

Meanwhile, Kauffman brings Tug 3 over and docks the reactor module with its radiator module so they can be brought down in one stack.

He then undocks Tug 3 and moves it over to an unused port on the end of the hydrolox tank.

Minmus Base XO Kern wants to get into the action as well. He undocks Tug 4 with the refinery radiator tower and backs it away from the station.

Then Kilpatrick undocks Tug 2 with the pylon dispenser and brings it over to dock with the supply module.

He then undocks Tug 2 and brings it over to dock with an unused port on the docking complex.

Now Kern brings Tug 4 in and docks the refinery radiator with the pylon dispenser.

And now Kern undocks Tug 4 and brings it to rest on yet another unused docking port.

Now Kimball brings Drone 6 back around to pick up the last of the docking adapters.

First from the radiator module.

And then from the reactor module.

Then, just as the sun dips below the horizon, she brings the drone over and docks it to the increasingly large returning hardware stack.

So now the modules for the base have been sorted into three stacks for four landings:

• The refinery radiator module and pylon dispenser,
• The reactor module and reactor radiator module,
• The habitation module and airlock module, and,
• The supply module.

With all of the docking adapters and tugs moved out of the way. The music has stopped and everyone has a chair!

So the crews on Minmus Station take a well deserved rest while the station passes around the night side of Minmus. When they reach the day side again, it is time for Cargo Lander 2 to return to the station. XO Kimball will be doing the honors this time. As the station reaches the rendezvous point, she ignites the lander's engine and burns for orbit!

The lander reaches the station's altitude and burns to match velocities, coming to rest about two kilometers away. Nice job, Jackie!

She uses some gentle nudges from the lander's main engine to bring it closer to the station, then brings it in to dock with its RCS thrusters.

As we come to the close of this very exhaustive report, we are still awaiting the arrival of Tugs 1 and 6. But in the meantime we will continue to land hardware at the Minmus Base site as long as the monopropellant in Cargo Drone 5 holds out.

[TheSaint]

Kerbin System Operations - Y1 D70-72

As Minmus Base returns to daylight late on day 70, the crew of Minmus Station awakens and begins their operations for the day.  Captain Kauffman runs down his systems checks on Cargo Lander 2, then brings it online and undocks it with its latest cargo stack, the radiator tower module and pylon dispenser.

He sets his sights on landing near the base core module, then burns to deorbit.

The lander falls towards the surface and then, at just the right moment, Kauffman burns for landing.

And touchdown!

Fifty meters away this time. He's getting better. As he is safing the lander, XO Kimball brings Cargo Drone 5 online, lifts it off the core module, and brings it over to the lander.

She docks it with the pylon dispenser, and then lifts the entire stack off of the lander and deposits it about 25 meters west of the core module.

The radiator module will be the center of the refinery complex, so placing it here will place the refining equipment a comfortable distance away from the base living and working areas. The radiator will also act as the first leg of the chain of connections leading to the base reactor, which will be placed on the hillside to the west.

A little over an hour later, Minmus Base comes around in its orbit again, and Captain Kauffman lifts the cargo lander off to rendezvous.

When it reaches Minmus Station's 50km altitude, it burns to match velocities. Only 1.7km away, like he's getting the hang of this.

He closes the distance and then brings the lander in to dock with the next cargo stack on the station.

As the crew are waiting for their next landing opportunity at Minmus Base, Orbital Tug 1 arrives at the edge of Minmus SOI.

It can't make any meaningful plane adjustments, so it plots its orbital insertion burn, arriving at periapsis in a couple of hours.

Meanwhile, dawn has broken at Minmus Base once more. XO Kimball will be taking the reins this time, so she undocks Cargo Lander 2, burdened with the reactor module and its radiator tower.

Chief Scientist Klinger has helpfully scouted a good location west of the base site to place the reactor, so Kimball aims the lander at the rover's current location and deorbits.

She guides the cargo lander through its descent burn...

And touches down 20 meters away from the rover.

She takes a moment to do a little victory dance in front of Captain Kauffman, who is thoroughly unimpressed.

While these two are having a moment, Captain Kilpatrick of Minmus Base is taking the opportunity to get a little practice in with the cargo drone in surface mode. He fires up Cargo Drone 5 and lifts it off of the refinery radiator, and then guides it over the 170 meters to where the cargo lander had touched down.

He slows the drone as it approaches, and then deftly guides it in to dock with the cargo stack.

Then, he uses the drone to lift both the reactor and its radiator tower off of the lander. (This would have been difficult on The Mun, and impossible on Kerbin. Hooray for low gravity!)

He deposits the reactor about 150 meters from the refinery tower and levels it.

And then deposits the radiator tower about 25 meters closer than that and levels it as well.

Then he undocks the drone and flies it back to the refinery tower.

The layout of Minmus Base is beginning to take shape.

After the long flight and heavy lifting at the reactor site, the drone is at roughly 30% fuel load. Not too shabby, actually.

As Minmus Station comes back around in its orbit, Kimball takes the controls again and guides the cargo lander through its ascent back to the station.

She burns to circularize about 2.2 kilometers away from the station.

And then guides the lander in to dock with the hab module and airlock stack.

So now the crew must wait for the next Minmus day to conduct the next landing. Meanwhile, Tug 1 arrives at its periapsis and burns to enter its 100 kilometer parking orbit.

It's first rendezvous burn is in an hour. Which is before the next dawn at Minmus Base. So here it comes:

It's next burn to match velocities with Minmus Station is in an hour, which is still before daybreak.

As the station passes around to the night side of Minmus, Captain Kauffman takes control of the tug and guides it in to dock with the station.

They then wait until the station has passed into daylight to continue operations. Kauffman undocks the tug with the attached tank stand.

And guides it over to dock with the monoprop tank.

He then undocks the tug and moves it over to dock with an unused port to await refueling.

Then XO Kimball fires up Cargo Drone 6 and uses it to remove the docking adapter from the tank stand, clearing the way for the monoprop tank and stand to be landed at the base.

So, with two more landings we will have all of the hardware necessary to make Minmus Base habitable on the surface. However, it remains to be seen if Cargo Drone 5 will have enough fuel to complete the tasks remaining, or if we will need to insert a third landing in there to bring down the monoprop tank before the crew can come down and complete the base construction. However, at this point, it will be at most four more landings before Minmus Base is declared habitable.

Edited October 2, 2022 by TheSaint
Typo

[TheSaint]

Kerbin System Operations - Y1 D72-74

As Minmus spins around again, giving the crews on Minmus Station a chance to relax and reflect, XO Kern of Minmus Base is lying awake in his bag, mulling over landing schedules and mass limits. And he says, "I gots me an eye-deer." He gets up and pitches his idea to the duty controller in Mission Control. After a quick review by a crack team of junior engineers, accountants, and middle managers, his plan is approved.

When Minmus Station revolves around to the day side again, Kern brings Cargo Lander 2 online. He undocks it with the airlock module and backs it away from the station.

He then brings it over and docks it with the monoprop tank/tank stand combo.

Kern's plan is to split the hab/airlock stack, landing the airlock with the monoprop tank and the hab with the supply module. The habitation module, airlock, and supply module were all required to make Minmus Base habitable, and they were all planned to go down in the next two landings. But by splitting the habitation and airlock modules they can bring down the monoprop tank as well, ensuring that they will have enough monoprop on the surface to complete construction with only two landings instead of three. This will also land the supply module on top of the hab module, which is where it is supposed to end up anyway, saving a trip for the cargo drone on the surface. When upper management gets to the office at 9:00 the next morning, they make a note of Kern's initiative.

Meanwhile, Orbital Tug 6 has arrived at the edge of Minmus SOI.

The techs in Mission Control line up the tug for its inclination burn.

And then calculate its orbital insertion burn. It will be arriving at periapsis in about 2 1/2 hours.

2 1/2 hours later, Minmus Base is still covered in darkness. So Orbital Tug 6 burns to circularize into it's 100km parking orbit.

It's first rendezvous burn is in 4 1/2 hours. So. yeah.

An hour later, daylight has returned to Minmus Base. XO Kern does the honors of undocking the lander with its new stack.

As the lander clears the station, he brings it retrograde and burns to deorbit.

Then as it approaches the surface he burns for landing.

And then the lander touches down about sixty meters from the core module, on the other side of the radiator tower.

We really need to get this landing procedure nailed down.

Captain Kauffman fires up Cargo Drone 5 and brings it over to the cargo lander.

He aligns it with the docking port on the monoprop tank and brings it down to dock.

Once the drone is docked with the monoprop tank, Kauffman instructs it to refuel.

Then, when its tanks are full, he fires its engines up once more and lifts the tank and airlock off of the lander, leaving the airlock module's docking adapter on the lander. He guides the stack over towards the core module.

He aligns the airlock module with the core module, then sets it down on the surface and levels it.

He then undocks the tank stand from the airlock module and carries it over to a spot about fifteen meters to the southeast of the core module.

Once the tank is on the ground, the drone refuels again. And the monoprop tank is still just over half full!

So now almost all of the required modules for Minmus Base are on the ground. The only ones we are missing are the habitation module and the supply module, and they should be brought down by the next landing.

But now, about an hour later, as Minmus Station comes around in its orbit again, XO Kern fires up the engine of Cargo Lander 2 again and brings it back to orbit.

When it reaches 50km, it circularizes just about a kilometer and a half away from Minmus Station.

Once the lander has settled into orbit, Kern brings it around and docks it with Minmus Station. Because it still has the docking adapter from the airlock module attached, he brings it in to dock with the cargo drone already docked to the returning hardware stack. It will remain docked to the drone until the stack is ready to be returned to Kerbin Station.

Then, once the docking adapter has been deposited on the cargo drone, he undocks the lander and moves it over to the other side of the station and docks it with the base habitation module.

And then, once the habitation module is secured to the lander, Kern undocks the habitation module from the station and uses the lander to guide it over to dock with the supply module which is destined for Minmus Base.

So now the next stack is ready to be brought down by the cargo lander when the base site reenters daylight in about three hours.

In the meantime, Orbital Tug 6 has reached its first rendezvous burn.

The tug catches up with Minmus Station on the night side of Minmus, and XO Kimball takes the handoff and guides it in to dock with the station.

Once the tug has docked, the next task is to remove the docking adapters from its stack. Kimball undocks the tug with the extractor module and backs it away from the station.

Then Captain Kauffman brings Cargo Drone 6 back online and undocks it, bringing it around to dock with the docking adapter on the converter module.

He then removes the docking adapter and moves the cargo drone off to a safe distance.

Kimball then brings the orbital tug in to dock with the converter module. Once it is secured, she undocks the tug and brings it over to dock with an unused port on the station.

And then Kauffman brings the cargo drone back in, using it to remove the last docking adapter and bringing them both to the returning hardware stack.

And now we find ourselves coming to the close of our second day. All of the hardware for Minmus Base is now at Minmus, as are all six Orbital Tugs.

Hopefully we will be able to bring down the remaining two cargo stacks in the next couple of days, so that the crew of Minmus Base can make landfall and complete their construction tasks to bring the base to full operational status.

Edited October 8, 2022 by TheSaint

[TheSaint]

Kerbin System Operations - Y1 D74-77

As the next day dawns at Minmus Base, the next landing opportunity presents itself. Captain Kilpatrick takes the helm this time. He undocks the cargo lander with the supply and hab modules in tow.

He takes aim at Minmus Base proper, then burns to deorbit.

As the lander approaches the base, he fires the RCS thrusters to tweak its approach. Then he ignites the main engine for the final descent.

The lander is ponderous and top-heavy with the massive supply module attached. But Kilpatrick has a steady hand and brings it down to rest within 30 meters of the base. Excellent work!

Now XO Kern fires up Cargo Drone 5 and brings it over to the cargo lander.

Once it is docked with the supply module, he lifts the entire stack and carries it over to the base site. He places the hab module just east of the core module, then undocks the drone and moves it back over to the monoprop tank to refuel.

Meanwhile, the scientists have become bored. They take control of the survey rover and drive it about a kilometer to the west to examine a particularly interesting boulder jutting out of the hillside.

An hour later, Minmus Station comes around in its orbit again and Captain Kilpatrick launches the cargo lander to rendezvous with the station...

...and burns to enter orbit just 700 meters away from the station! I think we're starting to get the hang of this!

Kilpatrick guides the lander in to dock with its next cargo stack, which consists of the fuel refinery modules. Once the lander is docked the engineers set about to refueling it. And the hydrolox tank is still more than half full!

However, before the next landing opportunity, management announces that the next step is to bring the crew of Minmus Base down to the surface and bring the base online. They want to have all of the systems up and running and have personnel on the ground to supervise the landing of the refinery equipment. Managers are weird that way.

So as the next landing opportunity approaches, the crew of Minmus Base say their farewells and climb into their seats on Clavius. They close the hatches and pull away from the station, and then Captain Kilpatrick burns to deorbit the lander.

With the same expert precision he showed on the cargo lander, he guides Clavius through the landing procedure and sets it down just about 15 meters away from the base. What a pro!

Kilpatrick climbs out of the lander and surveys his new command. He is soon joined by Chief Engineer Kopp and Assistant Engineer Knotts, and together they discuss the plan for connecting the base modules and bringing the base online.

Captain Kauffman is ready to assist from Minmus Station. He brings Cargo Drone 5 online and maneuvers it over to dock with the base core module.

Unfortunately, that wasn't exactly necessary, but whatever. Kopp and Knott set about to getting the base modules connected. First they connect the Mineshaft tubes between the airlock module and the core.

And then the tube between the hab module and the core.

Then Kopp connects the tank stand to the hab module.

While Knotts connects the refinery radiator tower to the core module.

Meanwhile, Kilpatrick has finally explained the plan to Kauffman, so Kauffman now lifts the cargo drone off of the core module and moves it over to the pylon dispenser situated on top of the radiator tower.

Once there, he releases the top of the pylon dispenser so that it can now, you know, dispense pylons.

He then starts off towards the reactor site to lay the pylons out to form the power line. Four pylons spaced roughly 25 meters apart should do the trick.

And as we place the last pylon...we're about 25 meters short. Um...what the...? <rolls back the tape and reviews previous mission footage> So, apparently what happened is that the pylon coverage distance was calculated from the base core module, but then when the reactor radiator tower was actually placed the distance was measured from the refinery radiator tower, not the core module, resulting in the reactor and its radiator tower being placed 25 meters too far away. <grumble grumble> I'm going to blame the interns for this.

In any case, Kilpatrick now has to drop the pylon dispenser and use the cargo drone to move both the reactor radiator tower and reactor 25 meters closer to the base site, wasting more expensive monopropellant fuel.

And now that the tower and reactor are placed and leveled where they should have been in the first place, he takes the drone back and picks up the pylon dispenser again.

He then returns the drone and dispenser to the top of the refinery radiator tower at the base site proper.

The remaining four pylons in the dispenser will be used for landing sites, so they can be deployed later. Now, Assistant Engineer Knotts makes the trek out to the reactor site to link up the power line.

After making the last connection to the reactor, she bounds her way back to the base in the low Minmus gravity.

The last assembly step is to connect Clavius to the base so that her systems can be placed in standby mode once she is taking on power from the base. Chief Engineer Kopp does the honors.

Now the rest of the crew exit Clavius. They spend some time milling around on the surface, enjoying the EVA and taking in the sights.

But then Captain Kilpatrick says it is time, and they make their way over to the airlock.

They enter the base and begin their tasks to bring the base systems online.

The engineers get started with the reactor systems first to get power. First they deploy the reactor radiator panels and start coolant flowing through the reactor core.

Then they bring the reactor critical and start the generators, and soon they have electricity flowing through the wires to the base. Their next step is to bring the base life support systems online. The base temperature control runs through the refinery radiator loop, so they deploy the radiator panels on the refinery radiator tower next.

Once the life support systems are online, fresh, cool air starts flowing from the vents, and everyone starts feeling much better. After a thorough checkout of all of the base systems, Captain Kilpatrick reports to Mission Control that Minmus Base is online and operational!

So at the next landing opportunity we'll be bringing down the refinery equipment and actually start fulfilling the base's purpose to generate fuel to support flight operations.

[TheSaint]

Kerbin System Operations - Y1 D77-79

So Minmus spins on its axis once more. The base and station crews wake up once again and get ready to put the finishing touches on Minmus Base.

Up at Minmus Station, Captain Kauffman brings the cargo lander's systems online, and as they approach the deorbit point he undocks it with the refinery modules.

He then sets its sights on a spot just north of Minmus Base and fires its engine to deorbit.

The lander coasts down towards the base, with Kauffman making small adjustments to its trajectory with the RCS thrusters along the way. Then it burns for landing.

And it comes to rest just over twenty meters away from the target point. Getting the hang of this, folks.

Captain Kilpatrick fires up Cargo Drone 5 and brings it over to the cargo lander.

He lifts both the extractor module and the converter module and carries them over to the other side of the radiator tower.

He deposits the extractor module about fifty meters south of the radiator tower, and the converter module about twenty-five meters closer than that.

Then he lifts the drone off and flies it back over to the pylon dispenser on top of the radiator tower again. Time to deploy those last four pylons so we can send the empty dispenser back to Minmus Station on the cargo lander.

He lifts the top half of the pylon dispenser off and flies just north of the tower.

He deposits two pylons here that will be connected to the refinery radiator tower. These will be used to connect cargo landers that will be ferrying fuel tanks back and forth to orbit.

He then heads over to deposit the last two pylons north of the base to connect crew landers.

However, there is a problem. The first pylon places fine, but the spot for the second pylon is currently occupied by Clavius. Kauffman parks the drone a distance away.

Then he sends XO Kern and Assistant Engineer Knotts out to fix the glitch.

Knotts pulls a connector out of the airlock module and drags it over to the pylon Kauffman just placed.

While Kern goes out and fires up Clavius in preparations for moving her.

When Clavius is warmed up and ready to go, Knotts disconnects her from the base and retreats to a safe distance. Then Kern gently fires up her main engine and hovers her over to a new location next to the new landing pylon.

Once Kern has safed the engines, Knotts comes out and connects Clavius to the landing pylon.

Now Kauffman is free to place the last landing pylon with the drone.

With the pylon dispenser now empty, Kauffman now brings it back to the radiator tower to re-mate it with its bottom half.

He then carries the complete pylon dispenser over and places it on the cargo lander for return to orbit.

And then returns the, now almost empty, cargo drone to the monoprop tank for refueling.

So now Knotts has a lot of work to do. She sets about connecting the remaining landing pylons to their respective base modules.

Then she moves over to the other side of the powerlines and connects the extractor and converter modules to the refinery radiator tower.

She's had a long day, been on the surface for almost an hour now! But her work is finally done, so she starts back towards the airlock.

So now we...hey...where's Kern? Kern? Are you still sitting out in Clavius? Get back in here! Quit daydreaming! You haven't made Captain yet...

So the next step is to perform an operational test of the refinery. Chief Engineer Kopp deploys the drills on the extractor module.

She then begins extracting water. So far so good.

Now she brings the converter module online. As it begins to heat up, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen begin to flow.

Um, wow. It works. Uh, I mean; See, it works! Just like we said it would!

With the operational test complete, Minmus Base is ready to begin producing fuel. But that means they need tanks to fill. So the cargo lander needs to start bringing them down. When Minmus Station comes back around in its orbit, Captain Kauffman takes control of Cargo Lander 2 and burns for orbit.

The lander executes its orbital insertion burn, and then Kauffman guides it in to dock.

He deposits the spent pylon dispenser on the returning hardware stack, and then moves the lander over to dock with the empty hydrolox tanks.

So now Minmus Base is fully operational! There are still a few housekeeping tasks to catch up with. After refueling, Cargo Drone 5 is almost at 100% fuel load, but the monoprop tank is completely dry. So we will need to bring up a new monoprop tank for the base, and one for Minmus Station as well.

Now that our outer space gas station is open for business, we are ready to move on to the next stage of our exploration program. What is that, you ask? Well, we will begin discussing that in our next report.

Edited October 8, 2022 by TheSaint

[Angelo Kerman]

Very cool! Your landing platforms are also inspirational; I designed my Minus Base's Landing Puck around your concept.

[TheSaint]

Now, after eighty days of operations under their mandate, the Kerbal Space Administration takes a moment to sit back and evaluate their accomplishments to date and establish new goals and tasks moving forward.

To date, the agency has accomplished the following milestones:

1. Designed and operated a safe, cost-effective SSTO spaceplane system to carry personnel and cargo to LKO.
   
    
2. Constructed a space station in LKO to carry out scientific research and act as a staging point for operations in the Kerbin system and beyond.
   
    
3. Constructed a Munar base to carry out scientific research on the surface of The Mun.
   
    
4. Constructed a space station in Minmus orbit to support Minmus surface operations and future spacecraft operations.
   
    
5. Constructed a base on the surface of Minmus to provide fuel to support continued operations in the Kerbin system and future interplanetary missions.
   

Now, with the initial infrastructure in the Kerbin system complete, it is time to start planning the future of the program. Obviously, the future of exploration is beyond the the Kerbin system. There are some minor missions which may be undertaken in Kerbin orbit and on the surface of The Mun and Minmus, but from here on out the major efforts of the program will be directed at the other planets of the Kerbol system.

The first steps of these interplanetary expeditions will be a series of unmanned probes. These probes will provide information about the other planets that has been impossible to obtain using remote observation, including detailed photographic maps of the surfaces of the planets and their moons. In addition to providing scientific knowledge to further Kerbalkind's knowledge of the universe, these maps and data will be invaluable when it comes to planning landing sites for future kerballed expeditions. Once these probes have returned their data, then the agency management will begin to authorize kerballed missions to the various planets as they feel confident to do so.

Because of the inflexible nature of orbital mechanics, these interplanetary missions will be inevitably tied to transfer windows. Ironically, the first available transfer window is to the planet that will probably be the target of the kerballed mission to be launched furthest in the future: Sarnus.

Mission 601 - Sarnus Explorer & Monoprop Tank

The first mission that this exciting new phase of the space program will carry aloft the Sarnus Explorer probe.

This probe has been constructed by Kerman Systems Group, a relatively new company founded by Bob Kerman after he retired from KSA. KSG constructed the survey rovers that were deployed on The Mun and Minmus, which were considered minor contracts. However, they beat out CKAI for the Outer System Probe contract, which was quite an upset, and everyone is eager to see what innovation this rivalry will produce in the future.

The OSP carries an array of scientific instruments and cameras designed to allow it to study Sarnus and its moons from orbit. Additionally, it also carries a pair of atmospheric probes: one that will be dropped into the upper atmosphere of Sarnus, and another that will be dropped to the surface of Tekto to study its atmosphere and oceans. An identical probe will be sent to Jool when its transfer window comes around in a couple of months.

Since the mission has excess space and mass capacity, it will also lift a monopropellant tank that will eventually be shipped out to Minmus Station.

The spaceplane fleet has been idle now for over two weeks. In that time, the maintenance crews have been working diligently. They have completed maintenance overhauls on all of the spaceplanes, and have implemented all of the engineering fixes recommended by the Mission 508 Incident Board. The spaceplane crews have all taken some much needed time off, and have also engaged in some training time. They are all ready to go!

This mission will be flown by Liberty, her fifteenth.

Since the previous Team Liberty was chosen to be the crew of Minmus Base, a team of new recruits will take the flight deck on this mission. They are:

Commander Dominick Kilgore
Pilot Clint Keane
Flight Engineer Glen Keel
Payload Specialist Ismael Keys
Mission Specialist Wendi Kang
Mission Specialist Robbie Kirchner

The ground crew tows Liberty out to the runway and gives the crew a wave as they drive the tugs back to the hangar.

Commander Kilgore waits patiently as Flight Engineer Keel goes through the pre-flight checklist. When everything is go, he runs the throttles up to 100% and releases the brakes.

Liberty soars through her open cycle phase, and then Kilgore transitions her to closed cycle and brings her to space.

When she reaches altitude, Kilgore performs the orbital insertion burn. The new Team Liberty has made orbit for the first time!

Once they are in orbit, they rig the ship for orbital operations. Then they have half an hour to enjoy the novelty of weightlessness before their first rendezvous burn.

After 30 minutes of spins and somersaults, everyone is a little woozy. So they strap back into their seats and burn for Kerbin Station.

They burn to match velocities as they approach the station.

Then Pilot Keane brings Liberty in to dock.

Once the hatches are open the crews exchange their greetings, and the new crew of Liberty gets a tour of Kerbin Station.

Then they get to the mission objectives. Payload Specialist Keys deploys the monoprop tank and the probe in its protective housing in Liberty's cargo bay.

Then Assistant Pilot Koonce undocks Cargo Drone 2 and maneuvers it over to dock with the monoprop tank.

He then extracts the tank from the cargo bay and brings it over to dock with the station docking complex.

Then he brings the cargo drone over and docks it with the probe.

Extracting the probe, he also brings it over to dock with the station docking complex.

He then moves the drone over and docks it with the stack of expended rover capsules.

Undocking the capsules, he moves them over into Liberty's cargo bay for return to Kerbin.

With all of the cargo movements completed, he brings the drone back over to its normal parking spot.

Then Payload Specialist Keys retracts the aft payload erector in Liberty's cargo bay to prepare the payload for reentry.

With the mission objectives complete, the crews gather in the wardroom for the post-mission dinner, and everyone raises a BAR to toast this exciting new phase of the program!

Meanwhile, out at Minmus Station, there is some cleanup on aisle 5. All of the docking adapters from the construction of Minmus Base have been gathered, so now it is time to send them back Kerbinward.

First, XO Kimball undocks Cargo Drone 6, then reverses it and brings it back around to dock. This is to get all of the adapters in one stack.

While the station is coming around in its orbit to the Kerbin return point, the engineers refuel Cargo Lander 2, Orbital Tug 1, and Orbital Tug 2 from the remaining fuel in the hydrolox tanks on the station. There's no sense in conserving fuel now, since the base construction is now complete and the only remaining landing task is to start bringing down tanks to be filled with fuel.

Then about fifteen minutes before the station reaches the return point, Captain Kauffman undocks Orbital Tug 1 and backs it away from the station.

Then XO Kimball undocks the cargo drone with the (quite unwieldy) stack of adapters and backs it away as well.

Once the tug and drone are clear of the station, Kimball uses the drone to dock the adapter stack to the tug.

Then, before they get too far away, Kimball undocks the drone and brings it back to dock at the station again.

And then, when the tug reaches the return point, it burns for Kerbin.

It should reach Kerbin Station in about eight days.

Speaking of Kerbin Station, a couple of hours later it is time for Liberty to head home. The crews say farewell and close the hatches, then they undock and pull away from the station.

Commander Kilgore lines Liberty up for reentry, and then burns to deorbit.

As Liberty plunges towards the ground, her crew rigs her for atmospheric operations. She hits the atmosphere and rides a wave of plasma, losing speed and altitude.

As she drops below hypersonic speed, Commander Kilgore brings her onto the glide path to KSC.

And he guides her in to land on the KSC runway. An excellent first mission from the new Team Liberty!

So now that the Sarnus Explorer probe is in orbit, the next mission will bring up the means to start that probe on its journey.

 

[TheSaint]

Mission 602 - Interplanetary Tug 1

Now that the Sarnus Explorer probe is at Kerbin Station, we must bring up a booster that can send it on its way to Sarnus. That solution has been provided by CKAI in the form of the Interplanetary Tug, which is simply a version of their venerable Orbital Tug with the fuel tanks stretched to twice their capacity. This will give the Interplanetary Tug the legs it needs to boost the probe on its way to Sarnus and then brake itself back into orbit around Kerbin once the probe has been released.

Opportunity will be bringing the tug to Kerbin Station, on her twelfth mission. Her flight crew is:

Commander Darryl Koehler    
Pilot Hannah Kinnard    
Flight Engineer Stella Kunz    
Payload Specialist Goldie Kennedy    
Mission Specialist Bob Keen     
Mission Specialist Sydney Kirchner

Opportunity is rolled out to the runway on the morning of Day 82, which just so happens to be the peak day of the Sarnus transfer window.

Commander Koehler runs up the throttles and takes her aloft. She soars through the atmosphere to space.

Once in orbit, the crew performs the orbital insertion burn and rigs Opportunity for orbital operations.

Once that is finished, their first rendezvous burn is only five minutes away, so no time for shenanigans on this flight.

They bring Opportunity in alongside Kerbin Station, then guide her in to dock.

Once aboard, they say hello to their old friends on Kerbin Station.

While the crews on Kerbin Station are exchanging greetings, Orbital Tug 1 reaches the edge of Minmus SOI. Once it is outside of the grip of Minmus gravity, Mission Control instructs it to burn to reduce its inclination with Kerbin, out here where it is cheap.

Then they orient it for the long journey back to LKO.

Meanwhile, back at Kerbin Station, once the crews have finished exchanging back slaps and old jokes, they all get down to work. Payload Specialist Kennedy releases the clamps holding the tug in the cargo bay, then deploys the cargo erector.

Once the tug has been deployed, the crews activate its systems and perform diagnostic checks to ensure it is functioning correctly. Once everything checks out, they hand it off to Captain Koontz, who undocks it from Opportunity and brings it around to dock with Sarnus Explorer.

Once the tug has docked, it's only twenty minutes until the departure time for the probe. So once the system checks are complete, Captain Koontz undocks the probe and tug and backs them away from the station. Once it is clear, she hands it over to Mission Control to start its departure.

The first thing Mission Control instructs the tug to do is to orient itself retrograde and then jettison the probe's docking port and protective shroud. Because the probe is going to Sarnus, the tug will be operating at the very edge of its performance envelope, so every gram of mass they can shed before the transfer will help.

Then the controllers calculate the probe's departure trajectory and align the tug accordingly. When the window arrives, it's main engine ignites.

The burn takes almost four minutes. When it is complete, the tug has progressed to the dark side of Kerbin. The Sarnus Explorer decouples from the tug and continues on its way to the outer Kerbol system, while the tug uses its RCS to place some distance between itself and the probe.

Normally the program would be mandated to save the docking adapter/shroud that connected the probe to the tug. However, in this case, the tug is operating so close to the edge of its envelope that an exception has been granted. The adapter is discarded as the tug turns retrograde, flinging it out of the way of both the probe and the tug. Again, every gram of mass matters on this mission.

Then, when the tug has turned retrograde, it begins its braking burn. Because, while we want the probe to proceed to Sarnus, we would like the tug to remain here at Kerbin.

When the braking burn is completed, the mission has been successful. The Sarnus Explorer probe is on its way to Sarnus, and Interplanetary Tug 1 has settled in to a roughly 850 kilometer orbit around Kerbin. The tug's fuel tanks are almost completely empty. When it arrives at its next equatorial inclination node, it burns to reduce its inclination.

And now, its hydrolox tank is completely empty. Which is fine, we knew that was going to happen because of the extreme amount of delta-V required to send the probe to Sarnus. The tug can remain here in its parking orbit until we can send an orbital tug around at some point in the next couple of weeks to bring it back to Kerbin Station for reuse.

Meanwhile, Sarnus Explorer is on its way. It's due for a mid-course correction in about a year, and then it will arrive at Sarnus about three-and-a-half years after that.

Meanwhile, out at Minmus, the base has come back around into daylight. So Captain Kauffman is finally ready to bring an empty hydrolox tank down to the surface to be filled. He brings Cargo Lander 2 online and undocks it with the empty tank.

He then brings it around and burns to deorbit.

He guides the lander down towards the base, directing it towards the landing zone north of the base.

And, touchdown!

Perfect landing!

Now that the lander is on the ground and safed, Chief Engineer Kopp goes on EVA to hook it up to the landing pylon.

Once the lander has been connected. Kopp goes back in the airlock, and Assistant Engineer Knotts brings the extractor and converter modules online to begin filling the hydrolox tanks.

While the crew of Minmus Base is working on their first fuel fill, day breaks at Kerbin Station once more. The crew of Opportunity bids everyone farewell and closes the hatches, then undocks Opportunity from the station and prepares for reentry.

Once they are clear of the station, Commander Koehler aligns Opportunity for reentry and burns for home.

Opportunity plunges through the atmosphere.

As its speed and altitude drops, Commander Koehler takes control once again and starts to guide her onto the glide path back to KSC.

And then he brings her down for a beautiful landing on the KSC runway once again.

Shortly after Opportunity touched down. the cargo lander at Minmus Base is ready to lift off. Once Chief Engineer Kopp has disconnected the lander from the base, Captain Kauffman at Minmus Station takes control of the lander and ignites its main engine.

He guides it to orbital altitude and burns to match velocities with the station.

Once Kauffman has guided the lander in to dock with the station, the engineers begin transferring the fuel to fill the tanks on the orbital tugs docked at the station. The first tank of useful fuel has been delivered from the surface of Minmus!