Kerpollo 11 - A Kerbal imitation of Apollo (Lots of pictures!)

[Felsmak]

On the pad

It's a warm and sunny day in May and the Jool V rocket is standing on the launch pad, ready to carry three fearless Kerbals to the Mun. It is the latest in a long line of experimental rockets that were all successful teaching Kerbal scientists how their catastrophic destruction could have been avoided.

Liftoff!

The ten second countdown finishes and the five engines of the Finnish-built first stage ignite. Countless liters of its bizarre mixture of vodka and water vapour are forced through the nozzles every second, generating the brazillion pounds of force required to give this huge tower of metal the initial kick it needs to reach orbit.

Staging

The first stage has fallen and the second stage takes over, proceeding towards its goal of accomplishing the normally moronic act of throwing something towards the ground and missing.

Mun transfer

The stack is now in orbit and the second stage is no longer needed. It's left at the mercy of the Kessler syndrome while the third stage is being prepared to launch the brave but not necessarily willing Kerbals towards the Mun.

Transposition and lander extraction

Next, it was CSM pilot Ribsy's time to dock with the lander and pull it off of the third stage. He was very nervous because his performance in the simulators had been comparable to that of a man picking up slices of ham while wearing boxing gloves, but it went unexpectedly well to his great delight. Little did he know that mission control was actually controlling the whole procedure by remote to prevent him from causing any accidents.

In transit

In order to endure the hours of boredom that would follow, the crew decided to play some of the board games packed on the ship. Unfortunately, the mission nearly had to be aborted due to hardware damage sustained during an intense fight caused by a bad game of Monopoly.

In Munar orbit

Following the potentially mission-ending incident, all kinds of competitive activities were prohibited on board, which left the Kerbals playing 20 questions all the way to Munar orbit. Interestingly, prolonged exposure to this game appears to erode Kerbals' ability to think of words that don't begin with the letter K.

Landing

Mission commander Lemgas and lander pilot Huddun climb into the lander and begin their descent towards the Munar surface. On the way down, Lemgas goes through the checklist for things they need in the lander while Huddun is focusing all of his attention on the control panel. He's determined not to repeat the embarrassing failure of Kerpollo 10, where the pilot mistook the staging button for the engine button.

Surface activity

Lemgas Kerman took his first steps on the surface and became the first Kerbal on the Mun. He planted the flag with the memorial plaque that would forever commemorate this great day, and he did so in awkward silence after joking with Huddun about his space diaper before uttering what was supposed to be his historical line, not realizing that his microphone was already on.

Liftoff and reunion

After hours of hard work on the surface, the tired astronauts climb back into the lander. The ascent stage fires its engine and begins its journey back to the command module. Unfortunately though, it only carries enough fuel for a suborbital flight, so it has to rely on RCS fuel in order not to crash. This detail was, however, not released to the public, because it's basically equivalent to an ocean liner propelling itself by wagging its rudder from side to side, which looks really silly and is really embarrassing for the owners.

Lander jettison and departure

The time has come to return home and the now useless lander has to go, but first everyone searches it for forgotten belongings to make sure no one has to tell his wife that he left his wedding ring in Munar orbit. Once Ribsy has spent a few minutes playing in its seats while imagining what it would've been like to land himself, the ascent stage is abandoned. The CSM is all that remains and it prepares itself to go home.

Homecoming

The CSM leaves the Mun behind and begins the long fall back towards Kerbin. Later on, the service module is jettisoned and the only remaining part of the huge tower of metal they started with reenters the atmosphere. They land during the night, surprisingly close to the KSC, and after much boredom they're home at last.

The next day, they all pose for a picture next to their capsule and everyone is happy except for Lemgas, because he forgot his wedding ring.

Edited May 25, 2013 by Felsmak

[Wayfare]

There are few things as satisfying in KSP as pulling off an Apollo-style Mun landing. Well done sir! Someone ought to go back for that wedding ring though...

[Felsmak]

Thank you! Yes, it feels so... professional.

Too expensive. He just has to deal with it and buy a new one. Poor Lemgas.

[Aknar]

Very nice mission. Pics and descriptions are nice as well.

Edited May 29, 2013 by Aknar

[Rocketscience101]

For most of kerbalkind. I find that funny. I also want to know who you are leaving out. Is it the purple Kerbals from the south.

[Felsmak]

Thanks!

I wasn't really thinking about anything in particular when I wrote that. I just thought it sounded funny.