Stockpollo III - Back to Basics

[SpaceSylvester]

Greetings all! I had several posts here before the great forum disaster back in April, and now I'm trying to rebuild what I'd lost. Normally when I launch, I use mechjeb, as I feel in a real space program that anything as dangerous as flying astronauts requires a degree of precision and a good navigation program. But I was thinking back to the days when I could barely throw a rocket into orbit, and I decided to do a launch the old fashioned way - all stock parts, and no autopilot (I admit that I did use mechjeb's orbit statistics feature to see what my current apoapsis and periapsis were without having to switch back and forth to the map during liftoff). I manually created maneuver nodes and adjusted them independent of any mechjeb calculations. And after some tweaking and two failed previous designs (hence the "III"), I present to you my Stockpollo.

Stockpollo III is broken up into four stages. The first stage consists of four Mainsail engines attached to four Jumbomax fuel tanks mounted radially to a central fuel tank. Shortly after noon, it was these four engines that took Stockpollo skyward.

As the launch progresses, steely eyed Jeb has his hand firmly on the control stick. Meanwhile, Bob is looking out the window and sweating bullets as Kerbin's surface starts to fade away.

The first stage dries up, and several hydraulic detachment manifolds blow the empty tanks and engines away from the center stage, another Mainsail engine, which now ignites to push the ship into the upper stages of Kerbin's atmosphere.

Now some 45 kilometers up, the second stage exhausts its propellant, giving way to the third stage, which consists of a medium thrust Skipper engine. This engine pushes Stockpollo into orbit and provides the needed boost for its insertion burn to the Mun.

Enroute to the mun, Jeb adjusts the ship's periapsis so it will just clip the surface, then initiates seperation of the command/service module from the insertion stage. Another small course correction raises the periapsis to approximately 25 kilometers. The Kerbal Space Agency is committed low space junk program, and this maneuver ensures that the near empty third stage will impact the mun. Several hours later, after the whimpers of Bob and Bill have subsided, Jeb sets the CSM up for its braking burn to establish orbit.

As they circle the moon, the crew extends the two small solar arrays mounted to the service module to check their function before beginning their landing burn. The panels are retracted shortly before the burn.

Two hours later, Jeb taps the throttle and slows Stockpollo from approximately 500 m/s to 100 m/s, setting up its descent into Armstrong crater. Stockpollo nears the surface, and the landing legs are deployed. Stockpollo will soon be on the Mun, but it will be up to Jeb to determine if they will ever leave it again....

....and thanks to Jeb's nerves of steel, they will. Stockpollo makes a textbook landing near the southern rim of Armstrong crater. After completing their post landing checks and planting a flag at Kelley Memorial Station (Named for an old doctor friend of Jeb's), the crew poses for a picture during their EVA after finally getting the camera's time delay to work.

After spending two days on the Mun, and concluding once and for all that it wasn't made of Kheese, Stockpollo III lifted off and began its return journey to Earth. After several small course corrections, the ship was set up for a splashdown in the middle of the Kacific.

The service module was jettisoned at this point - all that remained was re-entry and a hopefully successful chute deployment.

The command module streaked into the atmosphere, enveloped by a sheath of superheated atmosphere. Bill's question of "is it hot in here, or is it just me?" was not well received by the rest of the crew.

Luckily for all involved, the command module (and its parachutes), survived the heat of re-entry. As the ship descended through 3000 meters, the chutes were deployed and were fully open by 500 meters. At this point, the ship was descending at a docile 6.5 m/s.

With a slight jolt, splashdown occured. After several minutes of confirming that they were, indeed, still alive, they radioed in to the approaching ships and awaited pickup. Stockpollo III was home.

~~~~~~~~~

I hope you've all enjoyed this little narative of mine. Here is the craft file for anyone who wishes to use it:

http://www./download/8obifx3u2vfisot/Stockpollo_III.craft"]http://www./download/8obifx3u2vfisot/Stockpollo_III.craft]http://www./download/8obifx3u2vfisot/Stockpollo_III.craft

This baby should be good for missions to minmus as well - the insertion (3rd) stage should have the gas to get you there. With perhaps an extra fuel tank for that module, a Duna mission would be possible as well (though not to land - the CSM would only have enough thrust to establish orbit via aerobraking and return to Kerbin).

Comments are welcome!

[Finnerty]

Nice job. I haven't tried any landings yet. This looks like the design, or something similar, that I'd use to try my first landing attempt.