The 5-Star Challenge - Levelling up a kerbal to 5 stars in one mission

[Goufalite]

(I asked reddit if such a challenge exists with no results, please provide me links if some of you already attempted this)

After 2000 hours of KSP I've never leveled up a kerbal to 5 stars, a few veterans had 4 stars after some Duna missions but the game is balanced so that only 3 stars are okay for everyday career stuff and since the tech tree is finished... But when starting a kerbalism science-only run, I ran into experiments needed for 5-star scientists.

I decided for the first time even since I started playing to level up a kerbal directly to 5 stars without going back to Kerbin. 

Contraints : Normal difficulty, Kerbal XP On, Progressive experience Off, Commnet On, no labs, a MM patch to prevent jetpack and EVA cylinder refuelling

And the winner is... Vince the scientist!

Spoiler

You need 64 experience points to have 5 stars. You gain them by getting closer and closer to celestial bodies. An experience table is available on the wiki (beware, those numbers are not cumulative and show the total points for each achievement).

Since Vince is a scientist he cannot SAS (Okto2 probes will help him), dismount or move stuff, and needs a Commnet connection to plot maneuvers. This is gonna be fun!

Full album

Launch and first Kerbin Moons

Actually "small" rocket for this mini-grand-tour, Clysadales, a Rhino stage, a NERV stage, an ION stage, some spare fuel and a spark/spider lander which will be refuelled

(Mandatory too high TWR upon launch)

Next stop : Mun

2000 hours and I still manage to forget to open the solar panels...

 

Refuelling the lander for the next mission

Next stop : Minmus

Adjusting inclination for later

Jetpack landing...

... thanks to the EVA cylinders

Brought another jetpack since I choose not to refuel magically jetpacks

Going "back" to Kerbin to use the Oberth effect and leaving Minmus when its position is equatorial relative to Kerbin

Next stop : Duna

(to be continued)

Edited September 16, 2023 by Goufalite
typo

[Goufalite]

Duna SoI

Now that Vince has done everything in Kerbin's SoI, time to plant flags elsewhere!

Aerobraking on Duna

Aerobraking was not sufficient...

I'm not curcularizing to directly go to Ike to save fuel, so I'm waiting for a transf-

All the planets Vince has visited had the bright side opposite of the main body, sorry for the view...

Final refuel

Attempting another aerobrake

Hey that worked well!

Powered landing

Thanks to the two side spiders I have enough TWR to leave Duna

Milking all the liquid fuel to the NERV stage

Purging the oxydizer

Next stop : Eve

(to be continued)

EVE SoI

With the lander ditched there is one remaining planet for Vince to explore, but he'll attempt a risky maneuver for more style points

Yup, an Eve aerobrake

Check that Pe (bottom-left)...

Okay nothing happened so Vince depletes the NERV stage to switch to the ION

Next stop : Gilly

Jetpack landing to save 60m/s of fuel

(thanks physics warp!)

Gotta love Gilly orbital mechanics with a jetpack

Next stop : Kerbin

(to be continued)

Edited September 16, 2023 by Goufalite
typo

[Goufalite]

Back to Kerbin

Thanks to the ION stage, a lot of spare fuel makes the return very easy. Another planet could have been reached but Vince wanted to stretch his legs...

Slowing down

No experience granted but well... also where do all these flags come from?

Congrats on all the experience Vince and welcome back!

Thanks to the Eve aerobraking we have experience points for "flying on Eve". Sorry Bob maybe next time.

All flags

Thanks for following this challenge!

Good luck if you want to try it yourself with another route or another speciality or constraint!