Get to Duna and back... without maneuver nodes!

[notoccamsrazor]

This is a rather difficult challenge, in my opinion. The rules are simple: without any mods (stock), land a Kerbal on Duna, plant a flag, and get all Kerbals involved back home, safely, all without maneuver nodes. 

It's just a challenge idea that I came up with when a friend of mine introduced me to KSP. He told me that maneuver nodes were 'essential' to any sort of space flight, so I wanted to prove him wrong. I have since landed (but not returned) on Duna without any maneuver modules, so it should be possible. 

It's not a sort of competition; I just think that it would be cool to see all the different ways that everyone has of doing this. Even so, I think that the quicker you complete the challenge, the harder it is. Don't take use of bugs or glitches to get an infinite delta-V - you don't have to. Just persevere. 

Good luck, you'll probably need it. 

[QF9E]

I've gone to Duna and back without leaving the (stock) cockpit, which means you cannot use maneuver nodes.

 

It is also possible to go to Duna without doing any steering, see https://imgur.com/a/Y9QpQsg  I did use a maneuver node there, but I think it should be possible to do without.

Edited September 22, 2023 by QF9E

[notoccamsrazor]

41 minutes ago, QF9E said:

I've gone to Duna and back without leaving the (stock) cockpit, which means you cannot use maneuver nodes.

 

It is also possible to go to Duna without doing any steering, see https://imgur.com/a/Y9QpQsg  I did use a maneuver node there, but I think it should be possible to do without.

Nice one! I'm glad that you did the extra challenge as well, because that shows me that it's possible. You see, I'm in the process of attempting this challenge as well, but I only started playing KSP properly a few weeks ago. 

Anyway, thanks for sharing!

[king of nowhere]

On 9/19/2023 at 8:33 PM, notoccamsrazor said:

It's just a challenge idea that I came up with when a friend of mine introduced me to KSP. He told me that maneuver nodes were 'essential' to any sort of space flight, so I wanted to prove him wrong. I have since landed (but not returned) on Duna without any maneuver modules, so it should be possible.

for the sake of the argument with your friend, I made a full jool 5 without maneuver nodes (and I landed on Bop and Pol without maneuvers and without reloading games).

however, while you can go everywhere without maneuver nodes, i would still call them essentials, because using them is an entirely different matter

Edited September 29, 2023 by king of nowhere

[notoccamsrazor]

23 hours ago, king of nowhere said:

for the sake of the argument with your friend, I made a full jool 5 without maneuver nodes (and I landed on Bop and Pol without maneuvers and without reloading games).

however, while you can go everywhere without maneuver nodes, i would still call them essentials, because using them is an entirely different matter

That's cool! A full Jool 5 without maneuver nodes sounds rather tricky, so congratulations!