A DIRECT Transition - If Jupiter DIRECT Took to the Skies

[Toaster355]

July 14th, 2015

Ares 16 | Crewed Lunar Landing

____________________

Payload:

Crew Exploration Vehicle CEV-6 Altair

____________________

 

The fourth Jupiter-246 ever built lifts off of historic launchpad LC-39A, carrying 4 brave explorers that will soon become the first to walk on the Moon since Apollo 20 in 1973.

Altair and her EDS sojourn in low Earth orbit for a few orbits ahead of leaving for the Moon.

Altair jettisons it's EDS in the wake of a successful TLI.

 

____________________

 

Altair approaches the Moon.

 

_____________________

 

She slows into orbit, in the dark Lunar night.

Altair's orbit around Luna is 60 x 60 km; 40 km higher than Aquila's. This higher orbit, which will be gradually lowered to ensure a safe and slow relative speed as the two spacecraft get close, gives Altair a much slower speed relative to it's target, so Aquila will catch up with the crew within a few hours of orbiting.

This rendezvous orbit is higher than the target's, rather than lower than it which rendezvous in low Earth orbit is usually performed with, as it would be a waste of propellant to enter a low orbit around the Moon only to raise it again.

 

____________________

The 2 eagles approach each other, ahead of docking.

A successful hard capture is executed.

____________________

 

Aquila, ready with the crew for the historic descent to the surface, prepares to undock from Altair.

Now undocked, the crew descend in Aquila towards their landing site: Mare Nubium; the Sea of Clouds.

____________________

 

Aquila descends to the Lunar surface.

Large boulders are scattered across the surface beneath the crew. Carrying much propellant to spare, Valentina flies the LSAM eastward to a much smoother spot.

Moments before the historic touchdown.

Bill:
""Aaaaand... contact!

Valentina:

"Alright, main engines off."

Jebediah:
"Control, Cloud base here."
"The Aquila has landed."

____________________

 

The Commander of Ares 16 exits Aquila's airlock.

Jebediah Kerman has served in the space program since the very beginning. Holding the title of a fantastic test pilot, the first Kerbal to leave the atmosphere and enter space, one of the first to leave low Earth orbit, the third and last to walk on the Moon, and the first to command a space shuttle flight made the crew choose him to be the first of them to step onto the surface.

He presses a boot to the surface of the Moon.
For the first time since 1973.

"We Kerbals return to the Moon. This time, to stay."
"And may we continue pushing further into space, in the name of science and exploration, for all Kerbalkind."

____________________

 

Upon speaking his historic words, the crew follows Jeb down the ladder.

____________________

 

An American flag is planted.

____________________

 

After 4 hours of science, exploring, and just taking it all in, the 4 brave Kerbonauts say goodbye and start up the ladder, back into Aquila.

 

Ready for launch as Altair zooms past the surface right overhead, the LSAM's airlock detaches just before launch.

 

____________________

 

After less than one orbit, Aquila and Altair approach each other.

Altair's soft capture ring is extended, prepared for the two spacecraft to unite for the final time.

The spacecraft dock as Lunar night begins.

____________________

 

The crew, surface samples, and other supplies transferred back into Altair, Aquila prepares to detach.

"Goodbye, Aquila. Thank you for allowing us to make history again."

Altair departs LLO and heads back home.

"Goodbye, Luna. May this not be the final time."

____________________
 

Drawing close to home, Altair ditches her service module and prepares for reentry.

____________________

____________________

____________________

 

Thank you for reading, everyone.

If the forums do shut down, I want to thank you all again for supporting and enjoying this passion project of mine. But as I told @Mr. Kerbin: as long is there is still a forum, I will continue this labor of love as well!

Edited August 9 by Toaster355
What's that I see? A fourth page!

[Kerbalsaurus]

3 hours ago, Toaster355 said:

Jebediah Kerman has served in the space program since the very beginning. Holding the title of the first Kerbal to

Awesome to see one of my favorite mission reports return! However, one question, what is Jeb the first Kerbal to?

[Toaster355]

25 minutes ago, Kerbalsaurus said:

Awesome to see one of my favorite mission reports return! However, one question, what is Jeb the first Kerbal to?

Whoops! Was really tired last night writing this and forgot about it today when I resumed writing. Thanks for catching my embarrassing mistake!

[B0lt]

On 7/22/2024 at 7:02 PM, Toaster355 said:

July 14th, 2015

Ares 16 | Crewed Lunar Landing

____________________

Payload:

Crew Exploration Vehicle CEV-6 Altair
____________________

Crew:

Commander Jebediah Kerman
Pilot Valentina Kelly
Science Specialist Bob Koch
Mission Specialist Bill Kirk

____________________

 

The fourth Jupiter-246 ever built lifts off of historic launchpad LC-39A, carrying 4 brave explorers that will soon become the first to walk on the Moon since Apollo 20 in 1973.

Altair and her EDS sojourn in low Earth orbit for a few orbits ahead of leaving for the Moon.

Altair jettisons it's EDS in the wake of a successful TLI.

 

____________________

 

Altair approaches the Moon.

 

_____________________

 

She slows into orbit, in the dark Lunar night.

Altair's orbit around Luna is 60 x 60 km; 40 km higher than Aquila's. This higher orbit, which will be gradually lowered to ensure a safe and slow relative speed as the two spacecraft get close, gives Altair a much slower speed relative to it's target, so Aquila will catch up with the crew within a few hours of orbiting.

This rendezvous orbit is higher than the target's, rather than lower than it which rendezvous in low Earth orbit is usually performed with, as it would be a waste of propellant to enter a low orbit around the Moon only to raise it again.

 

____________________

The 2 eagles approach each other, ahead of docking.

A successful hard capture is executed.

____________________

 

Aquila, ready with the crew for the historic descent to the surface, prepares to undock from Altair.

Now undocked, the crew descend in Aquila towards their landing site: Mare Nubium; the Sea of Clouds.

____________________

 

Aquila descends to the Lunar surface.

Large boulders are scattered across the surface beneath the crew. Carrying much propellant to spare, Valentina flies the LSAM eastward to a much smoother spot.

Moments before the historic touchdown.

Bill:
""Aaaaand... contact!

Valentina:

"Alright, main engines off."

Jebediah:
"Control, Cloud base here."
"The Aquila has landed."

____________________

 

The Commander of Ares 16 exits Aquila's airlock.

Jebediah Kerman has served in the space program since the very beginning. Holding the title of a fantastic test pilot, the first Kerbal to leave the atmosphere and enter space, one of the first to leave low Earth orbit, the third and last to walk on the Moon, and the first to command a space shuttle flight made the crew choose him to be the first of them to step onto the surface.

He presses a boot to the surface of the Moon.
For the first time since 1973.

"We Kerbals return to the Moon. This time, to stay."
"And may we continue pushing further into space, in the name of science and exploration, for all Kerbalkind."

____________________

 

Upon speaking his historic words, the crew follows Jeb down the ladder.

____________________

 

An American flag is planted.

____________________

 

After 4 hours of science, exploring, and just taking it all in, the 4 brave Kerbonauts say goodbye and start up the ladder, back into Aquila.

 

Ready for launch as Altair zooms past the surface right overhead, the LSAM's airlock detaches just before launch.

 

____________________

 

After less than one orbit, Aquila and Altair approach each other.

Altair's soft capture ring is extended, prepared for the two spacecraft to unite for the final time.

The spacecraft dock as Lunar night begins.

____________________

 

The crew, surface samples, and other supplies transferred back into Altair, Aquila prepares to detach.

"Goodbye, Aquila. Thank you for allowing us to make history again."

Altair departs LLO and heads back home.

"Goodbye, Luna. May this not be the final time."

____________________
 

Drawing close to home, Altair ditches her service module and prepares for reentry.

____________________

____________________

____________________

 

Thank you for reading, everyone.

If the forums do shut down, I want to thank you all again for supporting and enjoying this passion project of mine. But as I told @Mr. Kerbin: as long is there is still a forum, I will continue this labor of love as well!

I just wanted to say I'm a fan of your posting style and reading this thread has been really fun but there are no pictures on this post I'm not sure if its intentional or not?

[Toaster355]

On 8/3/2024 at 11:47 PM, B0lt said:

I just wanted to say I'm a fan of your posting style and reading this thread has been really fun but there are no pictures on this post I'm not sure if its intentional or not?

Thanks man!

Strange, on my end I can see them. Do you mind sending me a screenie of what the post looks like for you?

 

Also a new post is hopefully coming very soon!

Edited August 5 by Toaster355

[B0lt]

1 hour ago, Toaster355 said:

Thanks man!

Strange, on my end I can see them. Do you mind sending me a screenie of what the post looks like for you?

 

Also a new post is hopefully coming very soon!

So after scrolling back through the entire forum I found random instances of this happening but for your most recent post everything seems to be in order (glorious pictures btw). Unfortunately I am new to the forums and dont know how to upload pictures from a screenshot but instead of the actual screenshot loading it instead displays a link for example png.104. I do believe it is a problem on my end (I am on a slow phone using slow wifi) so dont sweat it too much but I did hear on another post that posting to imgur instead helps with loading the images. 

[Toaster355]

On 8/5/2024 at 1:56 PM, B0lt said:

So after scrolling back through the entire forum I found random instances of this happening but for your most recent post everything seems to be in order (glorious pictures btw). Unfortunately I am new to the forums and dont know how to upload pictures from a screenshot but instead of the actual screenshot loading it instead displays a link for example png.104. I do believe it is a problem on my end (I am on a slow phone using slow wifi) so dont sweat it too much but I did hear on another post that posting to imgur instead helps with loading the images. 

(Thanks again!)

Ah okay. It's probably not related to what happened to Discord and Imgur images and is probably just a connection issue; I've had it happen too.

 

Next post is still in development, and I promise it will be worth the wait. Changes, bonuses, 2 missions, and an important announcement about a completely new thread I have HEAVILY considering starting will be included!

[B0lt]

8 hours ago, Toaster355 said:

(Thanks again!)

Ah okay. It's probably not related to what happened to Discord and Imgur images and is probably just a connection issue; I've had it happen too.

 

Next post is still in development, and I promise it will be worth the wait. Changes, bonuses, 2 missions, and an important announcement about a completely new thread I have HEAVILY considering starting will be included!

Most likely yeah i'll keep you posted incase I see it again also very exited for the next post!!

[Toaster355]

I'm sorry for the wait!! My KSRSS install broke a little while ago, so I spent weeks attempting to repair it but to no avail. I was forced to completely reinstall the game along with my hundreds of mods, and I still can't get my volumetric clouds to work. 

However, repairs are nearly finished and the next post should hopefully come very soon (if the entire game doesn't decide to collapse again).