Mun Training (pic heavy)

[koshelenkovv]

According to KASA rules, to get rank of First Pilot, one must pass a trial on the Mun which includes solo landing and return to orbit.

Below the story of Billy-Bobny Kerman's attestation.

For this task a usual light rocket with asparagus staging was selected. Nothing extraordinary, like jet-powered ascent stage or spaceplane.

The payload consists of a lander and experimental devices which must be tested in low-gravity environment.

Examiner was the legendary Jebediah Kerman himself.

Liftoff.

Ascent to orbit undergoes almost normal.

Now time to go straight to the Mun!

All the way Jeb told stories about early years of space exploration and establishing of KSC. He and two his friends - Bill and Bob, space enthusiasts like him, built a rockets essentially from junk, launched to orbit and landed on the Mun to prove that space travel is possible.

It was very hard and dangerous back then.

Now, when Jeb's company becomes profitable thanks to all these satellites launches, many other companies came into the market. Rockomax with its huge parts, Probodobodyne and Ionic Protonic with remotely controllable equipment, á7 and Kerlington with their plane components.

Jebs' Junkyard and Space Parts Co even made an incredibly effective LV-N engine, using the finest radioactive waste one can find.

Todays astronauts spoiled with all this variety of flying instrumentation, high safety and excellent controllability of modern rockets!

There is first discovered Mun Arch, which now being studied by horde of scientists.

Practice exam started and Jebediah handed to Billy-Bobny mission taskbook.

First task was to skycrane the experimental rover and then land near it.

B-B boarded the landing can and detached from orbital module.

Looking at Kerbin beauty, hoping it's not last time.

Preparing to drop rover..

And success! First task accomplished just perfectly!

Second task was to test Equilibrium-M, experimental model of rover. It just a cheap and reliable unmanned Equilibrium rover, fitted with a seat for a Kerbal.

There was first problem - stack separator stuck in and failed to separate.

Anyway, rover is drivable with separator enclosing a seat.

Billy-Bobny perched on a rover and started drive across a crater toward Mun canyon.

Placing a 50 kg seat and 94 kg Kerbal on a top of 150 kg rover was a really terrible idea.

While unmanned version have hot problem with keeping balance, with Kerbal on top center of mass shifted so much, that driving required constant manual pitch correction and was not in any mean easy.

Halfway across a crater on a slope rover tripped the land and unexpectedly spontaneously disassembled itself.

It was in 18 km away of a lander. Walking this will take too much time, much more than oxygen supply in spacesuit lasts.

Billy-Bobny called a mission control, reported that rover was a total crap, sat in a survived seat and pretended he driving the Mun.

Rotate faster! FASTER, you stupid regolith clump!

Edited June 8, 2013 by koshelenkovv

[koshelenkovv]

Meanwhile, Jeb from LMO takes control over lander, which have a pretty lot of spare delta-v: over 700 m/s

Flying to rescue stranded astronaut.

Landed nearby

Planting the flag

Billy-Bobny boarded Landing Can and decided to sleep until next morning.

It's pretty good lander - it still have near 200 m/s dV left.

Next morning came time to complete third and last task - to practice return to low orbit on ERD

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Which means...

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Emergency Rescue Donut

Its... just... ridiculous!

Drifting towards home

See ya, cookie muncher!

See you too, canned herring.

Finally!

Descending to Kerbin

Burning last fuel

Attestation passed! Billy-Bobny is First Pilot now.

Edited June 8, 2013 by koshelenkovv

[Wayfare]

That rescue donut... I want one

[DMagic]

Rescue donut, brilliant!!

[Markotiks]

Yea, I'm with you guys. Love the rescue donut!

[Margaul]

I must sing the song of our people and say "ERMAHGERD!!! RESKUE DERNUT!!!" I need this. We must have the precious.

[koshelenkovv]

Here ERD is, with and without Kerbal Engineer.

It have 1000 m/s dV manned and 1400 unmanned.

Control from probe core if you want Navball directions be not offseted 90 deg.

Pilot sitting right on Ant engine, so please do not turn afterburner on!