Yakitori Aerospace Missions [Pic-Heavy] | Mission 16: Tasting Duna

[The Fog]

Background:

Yakitori Grilled Chicken Restaurant was very famous across Kerbin, and was the official meal supplier for DLA (Dragons & Lions Aerospace) Kerbonauts.

With the recent bankruptcy of DLA caused by a rather unfortunate "rendezvous" of space debris, Shinji Kerman, the Chef and owner of Yakitori, lost his biggest customer.

Looking for a new source of income, Shinji decided to start a aerospace company of his own. He hired all of the former DLA personnels, and began to explore the culinary potential of other planetary objects.

This thread will document the various missions of Yakitori.

Onwards! Tonight we'll dine in SPACE!

Yakitori Aerospace's Flag

*Replica of the original banner hung outside Yakitori Grilled Chicken Restaurant

Missions List:

Chapter 1: Dawn of a new era

Mission 01: Spaceplane Test Flight

Mission 02a: Extending Tebasaki's Range

Mission 02b: Tebasaki To The Mun!

Mission 03: Testing Passenger Flight to Mun

Mission 04: Rescue Tebasaki!

Chapter 2: Mokutan Fuel Station Construction

Mission 05: Launching Mokutan LKO Fuel Station

Mission 06: Launching Mokutan Kethane Converter Module

Mission 07: Launching Mokutan Fuel Storage Module

Mission 08: Mun Kethane Mining for Mokutan

Chapter 3: Lay the tables, shall we?

Mission 09: Testing new technology: KAS

Mission 10: Launching Yakitori Mun Core

Mission 11: Yakitori Mun Construction Begins

Mission 12: Yakitori Mun Amenities Package

Mission 13: Topple Landing Kawa Mk II

Mission 14: Yakitori Mun Kitchen Module & Crew Transfer

Chapter 4: Culinary Duna

Mission 15: Duna, the Planet of Spicy Powder?!

Mission 16: Tasting Duna

Edited July 22, 2013 by The Fog

[The Fog]

Misson 01: Spaceplane Test Flight

Objective:

Demonstrate that SSTO (Single Stage To Orbit) is possible using existing technologies.

Background:

Former DLA employees surely possesses the technologies required to launch stuff into space. Afterall, DLA had launched missions after missions to explore anomalies on Mun and Minmus.

And they were so reckless in launching stuff into space, that after all those missions the 100m parking orbit is now full of debris. (And one of which caused the "unfortunate rendezvous", which in turn caused DLA's bankruptcy)

So, the Kerbal government has placed a permanent ban on leaving any debris in stable orbit lower than Kerbin Geosync Orbit.

Shinji, unsure if Yakitori Aerospace could meet this newly established space protocol, sent his chief engineer Knova Kerman onto designing something that could lift Kerbals into space without polluting the orbit.

Knova, so bored of launching stuff vertically, developed a spacecraft that is completely new to the whole Kerbin: A spaceplane!

"Behold! The Spaceplane!", announced Knova, "This can take a Kerbal to orbit using one single stage. No debris!"

Shinji took a look at the spaceplane and was shocked by its beauty. Then he decided to name it TEBASAKI after the first signature dish he created for Yakitori Grilled Chicken Restaurant.

Vehicle:

Tebasaki

Pilot:

Gileny Kerman

Misson Log:

"Tebasaki, you're cleared for takeoff." That's Kanna Kerman's voice. She's the KSC Misson Control Communications Specialist.

"Roger that Kerston. Firing jet engines." Gileny said.

P.S.: It's a common misunderstanding that KSC stands for "Kerbal Space Centre". Actually it's common knowledge that Kerbin has two space centres. The Eastern one on the Manley Island is called Manley Space Centre, MSC for short. And the Western one on Kerston is the KSC. So, KSC actually stands for "Kerston Space Centre". So, don't say "Kerbal Space Centre" anymore or any Kerbal living near Kerston area will laugh at you.

Ascent Profile: 45 degrees due East.

Transition to rocket engine as late as air intake allows.

Level off (w.r.t. Kerbin Sea Level) when AP reaches 55km. Continue burning till AP reaches 100km then circularize as usual.

"Kerston, this is Tebasaki. Orbit established. Repeat. Orbit established." Said Gileny.

"Oh my God! Is this real?!" Knova exclaimed. It's a mystery on why the Chief Engineer would be in doubt of his own creation.

Tebasaki in space:

"Control to Tebasaki. Mission accomplished. Well, Gileny that was fun and I'm sure you want to hang out there for another day or two, but it's time for you to come back." Kanna said.

"Yes Madam. MechJeb, show KSC on the map. I'll handle the maneuver planning myself." Gileny said. Gileny, as well as anyone else in Yakitori, knows what NOT to hands-off to MechJeb.

Gileny intentionally plotted a course overshooting KSC to give him some headroom if in case anything goes wrong.

Tebasaki turning to face prograde. Re-entry imminent.

Gileny is a seasoned Kerbalnaut, but re-entry still gets to his nerves.

After some fumbling with MechJeb Controls, Gileny got MechJeb to align Tebasaki to KSC runway. A feat that no Kerbal had achieved manually, yet.

"Ouch! Thanks for the seat cushion... Kerston, Tebasaki landed safe. Repeat. Land safe."

Test pilot Gileny Kerman, landed safely, posing for Kerbin Times:

And now, a safe, reliable, and efficient techology of transporting Kerbal onto orbit is discovered!

[Pipcard]

Nice spaceplane.

[The Fog]

Thanks

It's actually fly-able without MechJeb. Put ASAS on and its heading is rock solid.

Just that I don't have super nimble fingers to put it on a strict 90 degree heading

[Werwolf]

nice work man, i fail horribly at planes, space planes, shuttle designs, lol.... sigh

[The Fog]

Mission 02a: Extending Tebasaki's Range

Objective:

Provide logistics support such that Tebasaki could reach Mun orbit.

Background:

Tebasaki's first flight was a huge success. Kerbals all over Kerbin were thrilled with Yakitori Aerospace with hope that it could make space travel affordable to ordinary civilians.

However, Tebasaki's fuel only allowed it to barely reach a 100x100km orbit, which is pretty dull for an average tourist.

Shinji wanted to make space travel a bit more interesting. He asked Knova to make Tebasaki reach Mun orbit, so future tourists could go out there and do some Mun walking.

Knova of course delivered. The idea is simple: By refueling Tebasaki in orbit, it could easily reach Mun and come back, at least in theory.

This is going to be a long mission.

Vehicles:

Spaceplane Tebasaki Mk II

Refueling Craft Maki

Pilot:

Tebasaki Mk II: Gileny Kerman

Maki: Dilgan Kerman, Rodwin Kerman, Calald Kerman

Misson Log:

"Tebasaki Mk II, you're cleared for takeoff." Kanna Kerman said.

"Gileny, Mk II is equipped with docking ports so it could be refueled in orbit. And the cockpit was reworked with some ergonomics designs. Hope you like it." Knova said, with Tebasaki Mk II on the KSC Runway ready for launch.

"Yes Knova I like it. Very comfy. Anyway, Tebaski Mk II, let's go!" The jet engines roared after Gileny's reply.

Tebasaki Mk II leveling off at AP 55km, same ascent profile as Mk I:

"Ah... night sky, always so beautiful!" Gileny said, from the very very comfy cockpit.

Tebasaki Mk II reaching stable orbit:

"Orbital Refueling Craft Maki, prepare to launch. In 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Launch!" Kanna performed the countdown for Maki.

"A walk in the park." Rodwin Kerman, captain of Maki, flew countless space rocket missions. A rocket launch to orbit for him is just another day in office, especially with MechJeb taking care of most of the actual flying.

As long as MechJeb works, being a rocket pilot is an easy, sometimes boring, job.

"Sigh... so this is where MechJeb don't work..." Rodwin grumbled, reluctantly grabbed the manual controls and guided Maki to rendezvous with Tebasaki Mk II, until the docking port is easily visible.

"That's close enough. Calald, get MechJeb to dock us to that." Rodwin said to the newbie pilot, then retreated to the captain's resting quarters.

"Aye aye captain" Calald gladly complied.

"What?! Damnit Rodwin! You let the noob do the docking?!" Gileny looked at Maki in horror from his cockpit

"Hm... why is MechJeb holding at 0ms towards the docking port?" Newbie pilot Calald looked at the instruments panel, puzzled, "Well alright, we're aligned... I guess I can take it manually here."

"Wow wait... slow down Calald! The ports are not aligned!" Co-pilot, more experienced, Dilgan Kerman yelled when he saw the target docking port coming in too fast, and at a slightly uncomfortable angle, "Aw ****! Brace!!!!"

Maki slammed into Tebasaki's docking port at 5ms. Both craft wobbled violently as the docking ports' magnetic force trying to unite themselves.

"Easy folks, I've seen worse. Just hands off the controls and let the magnetic force work its magic." Captain Rodwin said calmly from his quarters.

Just as Rodwin said, the wobbling gradually ceased and the crafts were docked finally.

"Maki to Tebasaki, commencing fuel transfer. Dilgan, get out there and do a visual check. Newbie, don't try anything funny." Rodwin said, and after Calald's demonstration of capabilities, he had to return to his seat.

"Dilgan to Maki, visual check AOK." Dilgan said while performing EVA.

"Gileny, don't just stare at the panels, look up, look outside.... BOO! Ha ha gotcha!" Dilgan trying to make fun amidst the boredom of fuel transfer.

"Did we really use that much fuel to get here?" Rodwin murmured when he saw the central tank empty. To fully refuel Tebasaki, he had to use Maki's reserve fuel on the radial tanks, and manually re-balance across the three.

"Alright, Maki to Tebasaki. Refueling complete. We're outta here. Good Luck." Rodwin fired the RCS to break away from Tebasaki after saying goodbye to Gileny. And of course, Dilgan is back on board.

"This is mission control. Tebasaki Mk II, hold your position until Maki returns to KSC. Maki, please proceed to landing." Kanna's voice was loud and clean on Maki's comms.

"Plan for landing... re-entry... Just another day in office. What could possibly go wrong? Rodwin thought.

"Cap... I... er... don't have a good feeling about this." Newbie pilot Calald said to Rodwin.

"Your feelings serve you well Calald, but don't let them cloud your judgement." Rodwin said calmly, before deploying the chutes.

"Cap, why are we facing sideways?" Calald said in a worried voice.

"Because something went wrong. Nothing to worry about. Business as usual." Rodwin said, still calmly.

He proceeded to cut the auxiliary parachutes in attempt to re-balance the drag such that Maki could point skywards, but despite the effort, Maki remained rock solid facing sideways.

"Sigh, Kerston, please send in rescue team." Rodwin sighed as the craft is about to crash to the ground, "And newbie, enjoy the fireworks."

One of the radial tanks smashed into the ground first, making a somewhat underwhelming explosion, followed by a number of structural failures and similarly unsatisfying explosions.

The craft broke apart almost immediately, but fortunately the command pod was intact.

The crew, although unharmed in the process, was unable to leave the craft because the hatch decided to face the ground after the impact and all the explosions.

So, there they were, sitting there a few hundred meters from KSC, awaiting rescue team to come.

"This brings back so much memories." Dilgan said while looking out of the window. Rodwin agreed. The newbie puzzled.

Coming up next: Mission 02b: Tebasaki to the Mun!

[The Fog]

(Continue from where Mission 02a ended)

Tebasaki Mk II was in orbit. Its pilot Gileny Kerman finished his meal of grilled chicken fillet just in time for the next part of mission.

"Tebasaki Mk II, please proceed to Mun intercept." Kanna, now promoted as Head of Mission Control, gave the instruction.

"Yes Madam." Plotting Mun intercept course is just a piece of cake for an expert Kerbonaut like Gileny.

Easily, Tebasaki Mk II is on its way to Mun.

Several moments later, after circular orbit was established around Mun. The following maneuver plan came up on KSC Mission Control monitors:

"Tebasaki Mk II, are you sure you want to land?!" Kanna's voice was a bit worried.

"Don't do that Gileny! That's crazy! Landing a spaceplane without atmosphere is extremely difficult!" Chief Engineer Knova dropped his jaw at the kerbonaut's reckless decision. Of course he was worried about Gileny's safety, but he was also worried that Tebasaki, his precious creation, would be destroyed in the process.

"Crazy it is," Gileny said. " but how could a true Kerbonaut resist doing something crazy?"

"Computer simulation failed 100 out of 100 times of simulated landings. That's just not possible!" Knova said.

"I'll be the 101st trial then." Gileny refused to stop, and switched to manual control for landing.

Unusual spacecraft comes with unusual landing methods. Just the Kerbonauts flying it being as crazy (or Kerbal) as usual.

Gileny is planning to land the craft backwards, using the main engine to slow it down.

Tebasaki's vertical velocity was a bit too high. Gileny toggled the RCS to translate upwards, only to find that there's no RCS thrusters on the nose.

Simply put, RCS was useless.

"When I come back, Knova, remind me to ask you why bother putting RCS on this craft for it to do absolutely nothing." Gileny wasn't pleased.

So instead, he put the throttle on half and used the pitch controls to carefully balance the change in both horizontal and vertical velocity.

It was quite tricky to land like this.

Knova's computer simulation showed that if Gileny messed up with only one adjustment, or if the timing was off by one second, the craft will land with high enough velocity to destroy itself.

Tricky it was, but Gileny was an expert Kerbonaut, adjustment after adjustment he did it perfectly. After 50 seconds which seemed like forever, Tebasaki finally came to a stop on Mun surface, intact.

Cheering and clapping sounds roared like thunder in KSC Mission Control, for Gileny has achieved a feat that no Kerbal has even dreamt of.

"Tebasaki Mk II, this is KSC Mission Controls. Please plant a flag out there to mark this truly sensational moment. And Gileny, write your name on the plaque, you've earned it." Kanna's voice lost its usual calmness in this moment of exciting achievement.

"Of course Madam!" Gileny gladly complied.

After everyone calmed down, it's time to go home.

Gileny performed a visual check on the spaceplane before taking off. When he was on top Tebasaki he stopped for a moment.

"Hm... this could be a good spot for external seats... Passengers maybe?" He made a mental note to suggest this to Knova.

The journey back to LKO (Low Kerbin Orbit) went as smooth as silk. The aerobraking was so effective that a 2nd pass was not necessary.

Everyone were confident that this mission would end in a huge success. However, while the celebration feast was being prepared, Knova noticed something wrong on the monitors.

The spacecraft was wobbling. It began as a very small, barely noticeable vibration, then grew to some significant scale that Gileny couldn't ignore as re-entry shock.

"Kerston, I think we have a problem." Gileny's voice from the comms confirmed Knova's worries, "I can't hold a stable heading. Whoaaa!!!!"

Gileny switched ASAS on just in time to prevent Tebasaki spinning out of control.

"The plane is now wobbling like a piece of jelly!" Gileny was baffled by the sudden turn of events.

Knova checked the sensor logs. 10 seconds before Tebasaki was stable as a mountain, then all out of a sudden, it began to wobble violently. That only means one thing.

"It's PhysX!!!" Knova almost shouted in despair

"What?! What the hell is that?" Gileny was even more baffled. Although the plane was still wobbling like a piece of jelly, it's more or less on a stable gliding path thanks to ASAS.

"It's a rare phenomenon that strikes spacecrafts, that all out of a sudden all laws of physics seems to go haywire." Knova tried to explain in layman terms, "Sometimes it can be resolved by rebooting the on-board systems to adapt to the PhysX impact..."

"But I'm on suborbital trajectory!" Gileny clearly knows that rebooting on-board system, while being this close to the ground, is suicide.

"Well... that can only mean one thing: Abort Mission! Repeat, abort mission! Gileny, try to land anywhere. Just come back in one piece!" Kanna made the only decision that could save the Kerbonaut.

"Gileny, it may seem counter-intuitive, but with PhysX striking it's better zero your thrust and let it drop to the ground. Landing should be within range of Tebasaki's impact tolerance." Knova said after running a number of computer simulations.

"OK... Here it comes... BRACE!!!!" Gileny said to himself as he watch the ground draw closer and closer, and braced himself on impact.

KSC Mission Control watched in horror as Tebasaki bumped into Kerbin surface at an alarming speed. But miraculously, after several rebounds and bumps Tebasaki came to a wobbling stop.

Gileny then quickly performed a full system reboot, and just as Knova said, the wobbling is gone. Tebasaki just sat there, as if nothing unusual happened.

"Control, this is Gileny, I'm alive. Please send in rescue team." Gileny reported back to base once the comms were back online. And he couldn't wait to get out for some fresh air to calm himself down from the near-death experience.

Kanna shook her head. Although neither Maki's nor Tebasaki's mission ended properly, the objectives were completed, and no Kerbal was killed.

"Well well... any landing is a good landing, as long as you can walk away from it." She recited the Kerbal Landing Mantra to comfort herself.

=== End of Mission 02 ===

[Odo]

Space plane to mun and back? Impressive! Almost as impressive as my solid booster only rocket to mun and back

[The Fog]

Space plane to mun and back? Impressive! Almost as impressive as my solid booster only rocket to mun and back

Wow that was amazing! How could you land that on the Mun?!

[Odo]

Wow that was amazing! How could you land that on the Mun?!

Not easily. I had to use a series of those tiny little rocket boosters.

[Pipcard]

Awesome mission.

[numerobis]

Transition to rocket engine as late as air intake allows.

You can transition much later if you click that "prevent jet flameout" button!

[The Fog]

You can transition much later if you click that "prevent jet flameout" button!

Oh really?! How does it work?

I usually fire up the rocket engine when air intake is around 1, then shutoff the jets when it reaches somewhere around 0.3 - 0.4.

[The Fog]

Objective:

Demonstrate the ability to run a passenger flight between Kerbin and Mun

Background:

Following the successful missions of Tebasaki Mk II and Maki, Shinji thought it's about time to open a new line of business. He wanted to run a airline, or spaceline, between Kerbin and Mun.

While long ago DLA has landed quite a few Kerbonauts on Mun, ordinary Kerbals can only hope for such a chance.

Afterall there're not much Kerbals who could afford building and flying those things.

So, once again Knova was tasked with building such a spacecraft. That could take at least 2 passengers to Mun.

Originally he was inclined to use Gileny's idea of putting external seat atop Mk II, but this idea was rejected by Shinji.

"How could we strap our customers like that?!" he exclaimed, rejecting the idea.

And it turned out, that flying a mere 2 passengers to orbit was way harder than expected. A massive scale up was required.

After spending days and nights designing, and after countless failed designs, Knova finally arrived at Tebasaki Mk III.

Of course, a mission was immediately launched to pilot-run the spaceline between Kerbin and Mun.

Vechicles:

Spaceplane Tebasaki Mk III

Orbital Refueling Craft Maki Mk II

Pilot:

Tebasaki Mk III: Gileny Kerman

Maki II: Dilgan Kerman, Luke Kerman, Calald Kerman

Passengers:

Rodwin Kerman, Richwig Kerman

* Yes they're Kerbonauts, and very experienced Kerbonauts, but they'll pretend to be passengers for this mission.

Mission Log:

"Tebasaki Mk III, you're cleared for take off." that's of course Kanna's voice.

"This is your captain Gileny Kerman speaking, please fasten your seatbelts and... well you know all about flying in space so I'll cut the speech. Anyway, let's go." Gileny said, with the two "customers" resting comfortably in the passenger cabin.

Mk III is a much heavier craft with different aerodynamics profile, so the ascent angle (35 degrees) has to be carefully maneuvered this time:

Usual transition to rocket engines was, well, usual:

Different ascent profile, Mk III is to be heading 15 degrees when AP reaches 55km and continue burning till AP reaches a safe altitude of 75km:

"And we've arrived at the parking orbit. We'll wait for refueling craft here. In the meantime, please enjoy the Yakitori signature dinner course.... Ah well I guess you all know about that so I'll cut the intro..." Gileny said, as the robotic cabin crew served food and drinks to the passengers.

Meanwhile, Maki Mk II, with proper parachute arrangements, took off to refuel Tebasaki Mk III.

Usual rendezvous and usual docking maneuver, was again very usual. Except that Luke Kerman didn't have the patience to let MechJeb do the docking.

Instead, he asked Tebasaki to turn its docking port towards him, switched on Smart A.S.S. and did the docking semi-manually.

"It's much quicker that way." He said.

Usual fuel transfer was not so usual this time.

"Maki to Tebasaki, we do not have enough fuel to top you up. I could only refuel your core tanks." Luke said disappointedly. Seems Knova forgot that Tebasaki Mk III had a much larger fuel requirement when he designed Maki Mk II.

At this point, the mission was going so smooth that nobody thought it would cause any trouble. Until much much later....

Dilgan performing the usual "peek-a-boo" maneuver:

Confident with mission coordination, Kanna planned to send Tebasaki Mk III on Mun intercept first. Then Maki would land during the wait for SOI change.

The crafts then separated nicely, and Gileny didn't forget to close the docking port.

Tebasaki Mk III burning for Mun intercept. If at this point anyone cared to check the remaining delta-v, then the mission might not have resulted in such a mess.

With Tebasaki Mk III on Mun intercept, it's time to land Maki.

"Cap... I... er... don't have a good feeling about this." Newbie pilot Calald said to Luke, the new Maki captain.

"Don't worry Calald, the chutes are done properly this time. See? We're upright!" Luke said confidently, "Now deploy those landing struts will you?"

"But... cap... there're no landing legs." Calald said in a frightened voice.

"Ah I see Knova forgot the landing legs again. Nothing to worry about, business as usual." Luke, with so much space mission experience, was not scared by such a minor issue.

Dilgan, the co-pilot, fired the main engines. And in a cloud of white nuclear smoke, Maki touched down gently and rested firmly on it's 3 LVNs.

"Landing legs? Who needs landing legs?" He said.

And the two experts grabbed the newbie outside for a group photo:

Back in Tebasaki Mk III, they've established Mun low orbit. But when Gileny is planning the landing, he finally discovered the disaster they're facing: They're dangerously low on fuel.

"Er Kerston, we have a problem here." Gileny reported to KSC.

"Yes I know. Sorry that nobody looked at the delta-v monitor before." Knova said. He realized that even with a full tank Tebasaki Mk III could not make it to Mun landing by itself.

"Mission Control to Tebasaki Mk III, abort mission. Repeat, abort mission. Please do what you can to come back." Kanna said, obviously disappointed.

With just 656m/s delta-v left, landing is of course out of the question. The problem was, could they make it back to Kerbin?

Escaping Mun gravity took 201 m/s:

Lowering to aerobraking altitude took another 456 m/s:

And they were left with a mere 40 m/s and the RCS fuel to make the landing.

Just as the situation turned from bad to worse, Knova announced the dire fact he found: Tebasaki could not land.

With the fuel tanks empty, the center of gravity shifted all the way to the tail of the craft such that the center of lift now became too forward. The result is that Tebasaki Mk III simply could not operate in atmosphere without spinning out of control.

"Ah crap! so what do we do?!" Gileny, despaired by this, said frustratedly.

"You'll need to get back to stable orbit!" Knova said.

"But we're already on intersection course!" Gileny said.

"No you aren't. PIT 80 degrees and the wings lift will bounce you back to space." Knova said.

Bounced back to space it went. And using all the RCS fuel and whatever little oxidizer that was remaining, Gileny just barely managed to keep the PE above 70km.

And now, the 3 Kerbonauts are stranded in low orbit, awaiting rescue.

"At least we're safe." Gileny sighed in relief.

"Don't worry Gileny, we'll come for you. Just hang in there... and by the way, I guess there's quite a surplus of food and drink onboard? Please help yourself." Kanna said.

"Thanks Mission Control, very moralizing..." Gileny said, and had no choice but to begin his long wait for rescue.

[The Fog]

Objective:

Refuel Tebasaki Mk III such that it could come back safely

Background:

Tebasaki Mk III ran out of fuel and the 3 Kerbonauts aboard were stranded in low orbit.

Although the three enjoyed the quiet time in space with the luxurious itinerary package, we still needed to bring them back.

The plan is to refuel Tebasaki Mk III in orbit, then it would proceed to land on its own.

Vehicles:

Spaceplane Tebasaki Mk III

Orbital Refueling Craft Maki Mk III

Pilot:

Tebasaki Mk III: Gileny Kerman

Maki III: Dilgan Kerman, Luke Kerman, Calald Kerman

Passengers: (Onboard Tebasaki Mk III)

Rodwin Kerman, Richwig Kerman

Mission Log:

"Maki Mk III, launching in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Launching." Kanna performed the countdown. And Maki Mk III, now packing more than enough fuel, launched to rescue Tebasaki.

With veteran Kerbonaut Luke and Dilgan onboard, Maki Mk III rushed towards Tebasaki.

"Ah there you are finally!" Gileny said, aboard Tebasaki Mk III. He put down the half-empty bottle of sake and turned the docking port towards Maki.

Kerbals are not afraid of spending extended period of time in space, and the variety of menu selections managed to keep the morale high. Afterall, Shinji made sure Yakitori's food and drinks are of the finest quality.

Without missing a beat, Maki proceeded to dock. Maki Mk III was a much heavier craft so Luke opted to let MechJeb doing it nice and slow.

"OK folks. We're getting you filled to the brim this time!" Luke said while fuel is being pumped to Tebasaki.

"Come on. Don't look so glum. Look here!" Gileny, seeing that the 3 pilots on Maki looking so stressed, decided to liven things up a little.

Dilgan smiled when he saw Gileny outside performing the classic peek-a-boo maneuver.

"Maki to Tebasaki, refueling complete. Good luck. We'll see you back in KSC." Luke said, and preparing to undock from Tebasaki.

Note the change in the pilots' mood, obviously cheered up by Gileny.

Kanna decided to let Maki come back first, such that in case anything goes wrong again, another rescue team could be sent.

So, Maki proceeded to landing at KSC.

"Parachute deployment... Check! Landing struts deployment... Check! But er... cap, I still don't have a good feeling about this." Newbie Kerbonaut Calald said, looking worried.

"Yes I know. Dilgan, you know what to do." Luke sighed, and said calmly.

And again after the white cloud of nuclear smoke cleared out, Maki landed on the LVNs securely.

"Knova, just forget about landing legs." Dilgan said.

Meanwhile, Tebasaki Mk III began the landing planning. According to Knova, computer simulation showed that although Tebasaki's fully refueled, it was still going to handle very differently than when it was launched.

The reason was unknown but it seems that the craft would spin out of control whenever it's pitched up. So, the plan is to do a steep descent to minimize the time Tebasaki would spend in atmosphere.

The steep descent produced glorious re-entry glow. Note that veteran Kerbonaut Richwig Kerman was obviously thrilled by the display while the other two looked a bit nervous.

Knova has concluded that there's zero possibility of letting auto-pilot landing Tebasaki in this unstable state.

And in fact, the craft was so unstable that every Smart A.S.S. maneuver had to be done in 5 degree increments.

Gileny worked hard in this harsh condition, and attempted to align Tebasaki with KSC runway.

But he failed. Permission was obviously granted to Tebasaki to land anywhere, as long as the 3 Kerbals aboard make it back in one piece.

Tebasaki's vertical velocity was a bit too high for everyone's comfort. Unable to pitch up, Gileny fired the vertical engines originally designed for Mun landing.

The landing was gentle. The spacecraft was level during touchdown, but for some reason some wing sections still broke off.

"Whew! I can't believe we've made it!" Gileny said after the spacecraft came to a complete stop.

The three once stranded Kerbonauts posing proudly for media, once again proving the Kerbal Landing Mantra:

[The Fog]

Objective:

Launch the core of Mokutan LKO Fuel Station

Background:

Learning from the Tebasaki missions, Shinji as well as the entire Yakitori knew that flying Kerbals to and from Mun like that wasn't very efficient afterall.

The refuelling in orbit required another rocket launch (Maki), which means an entire 4500ms delta-v worth of fuel would be lost to Kerbin gravity and atmosphere whenever a flight was flown.

Knova, bored with launching fuel into orbit, decided to do something similar to what DLA previously did: Build an orbital refueling station.

DLA had already built the KFS (Kerbin Fuel Station) in orbit between Mun and Minmus, and it was supplied by Kethane miner drone on Minmus.

By doing the same, but instead using Kethane deposit on Mun, the new orbital fuel station could be completely independent. It could support the orbital refueling requirement of future Tebasaki missions and eliminating the need for separate launches.

Since Corming Kerman was the only Kerbal who have decided to live forever in zero-G environment (currently aboard KFS), the entire Mokutan station is designed to operate un-Kerballed.

That said, a luxurious cabin was still put in place in case Corming Kerman wanted to visit this new space station.

Vechicles:

LKO Fuel Station Mokutan (Core + Orbital Refueling Drone)

Pilot:

Nil

Mission Log:

"Mokutan launch. In 5, 4, 3.... Sigh just launch this thing already." Kanna was not quite interested in un-Kerballed missions.

"Aye aye madam." Knova said, without forgetting to lock the gimbals on the outer engines.

DLA had previously launched countless stuff into space, so KSC Mission Control had no problem bringing this large piece of space station core into space.

The only challenge was NOT to leave any piece of debris in stable orbit. Additionally, Shinji had ordered that any spent stages are to be recycled as far as possible.

So, Knova attached parachutes to the boosters so they could be later retrieved:

MechJeb wasn't very good at handling gravity turn of some less maneuverable rockets, so Knova did the mid-ascent manually.

After a series of tweaking and rocket burning, Mokutan is on its way to the designated 500km equatorial orbit.

Massive solar panels unfolding when Mokutan is in place:

And Mokutan Fuel Station core is in place, ready for the addition of Kethane converter and fuel depot.

Edited July 6, 2013 by The Fog

[The Fog]

Objective:

Add Kethane converter to Mokutan Fuel Station

Background:

The fuel station core was in place. To fulfill future fuel requirement, Mokutan would need Kethane processing capability.

Vechicles:

LKO Fuel Station Mokutan (Core + Orbital Refueling Drone)

Mokutan Kethane Converter Module

Pilot:

Nil

Mission Log:

Mokutan Kethane Converter Module sitting on the launchpad, awaiting takeoff.

Burning to intercept Mokutan Fuel Station:

A Mun eclipse was observed:

Mokutan Drone moving to another docking port, such that the Kethane Converter module could use the "down" port:

Maneuver completed:

Time to dock the Kethane Converter Module:

Another Mun eclipse was observed:

Fuel transfer to top up the fuel station, the tug didn't need that much fuel coming back anyway:

Landing, the parachutes opened a bit too early. Recovery's gonna take some time:

[The Fog]

Objective:

Add Fuel Storage Module to Mokutan Fuel Station

Background:

Mokutan is almost fully functional. The Fuel Storage Module would be the last addition required.

Vechicles:

LKO Fuel Station Mokutan

Mokutan Fuel Storage Module

Pilot:

Nil

Mission Log:

Mokutan Fuel Storage sitting on the launchpad. Note that fuel crossfeed on one of the docking ports had to be disabled, otherwise the central tank of the tug will be drained during takeoff.

A closer look at the fuel transfer system, designed to empty the Fuel Storage Module ASAP after takeoff:

Upwards! To Space!

Everyone, including Knova, was terrified in KSC Mission Control when they saw this happening during the last stage separation.

Luckily though, the main craft was not damaged:

The debris cloud created by the previous explosion. Fortunately all of them are on re-entry trajectory, otherwise Shinji would have to have a long long explanation to do to the Kerbal government.

The Fuel Storage Module was so heavy and unwieldy, that even with MechJeb's help, Knova had to fully concentrate in maneuvering it towards Mokutan Station.

Docking was done manually (remotely) by Knova. Using MechJeb to auto-dock simply took way way too long.

After the tug finished its usual fuel surplus dump, it was time for it to come back.

Maneuvering the tug without the payload was 1000 times easier, according to Knova.

Vigorous re-entry and supersonic effects:

Knova improved his landing precision, after being nagged for days by the recovery team following the last mission.

*P.S.: Yes the solar panel structure on Mokutan was changed. Thanks to the "End Flight" button that I had to re-launch the entire thing again. Knova took that chance to change the solar panel mounting from girders to structural fuselage. The reason was to avoid the unpredictable spontaneous "wobble-till-it-break-apart" phenomenon.

[Cashen]

Nice work! I actually just finished assembling a kethane conversion station in my own mission logs. That's a pretty big spaceplane you have, too. Looks good!

[The Fog]

Objective:

Gather some fuel for Mokutan Fuel Station

Background:

Mokutan Fuel Station was completed. It was time to go mining on Mun in order to refuel the station.

Knova have created a kind of heavy (128 ton dry) miner rig capable of lifting 48000 litre of Kethane off the surface of Mun. Afterall, if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing.

Even former DLA hadn't tried launching something that heavy into space. This mission will be a good demonstration that Yakitori's technologies had surpassed the former space agency.

Vehicle:

Mun Kethane Miner Kawa

Pilot:

Nil

Misson Log:

The monstrously sized Kawa launch vehicle on launchpad. KSC computers are struggling to manage the spacecraft, even when it's not launched yet.

Spectacular view of Mun and Minmus, especially with all those engine flames:

Permissions were granted to NOT use additional parts for recycling. Reasons being KSC computers would be unable to keep up with part counts that large.

Fortunately, despite all the lags, KSC computers managed to launch this vehicle:

And in no time, Knova put it into Mun intercept course:

After some waiting and yawning, Kawa has arrived on Mun:

Mining time! And Kawa had an on-board converter to refuel itself for the journey back to LKO.

A Kerbin eclipse! However, it meant that the mining operation had to be paused:

After even more waiting and yawning, the mining operation resumed and eventually Kawa was fully filled up.

For reasons unknown, Kawa wobbled quite a bit during re-takeoff but later stabilized:

Mid-flight Kethane conversion. It was expected that Kawa would not have enough juice to make it back to LKO using fuel alone. So the conversion was expected.

Kawa on rendezvous course to Mokutan:

This was where the KSC computers almost fried themselves trying to manage both spacecraft at once.

The lag was so extreme that for one moment KSC almost decided to abort mission.

Kawa was low on MonoProp, but Knova didn't want to waste Kethane further.

So, he used MechJeb to roughly align the ports, then proceeded to do it manually. Even so, docking was quite tricky under such heavy lag.

As soon as Kawa docked to Mokutan, the four gigantic converters on Mokutan roared into action, converting Kethane into useful MonoProp, Liquid Fuel and LOX.

Mission success. A few more (painfully laggy) mining trips to Mun will fill up this fuel station.

[The Fog]

Objective:

1. Test new KAS technology

2. Semi-manual alignment of KSC runway for Tebasaki landing

Background:

Now that Mokutan Fuel Station was complete. Travelling to Mun using Tebasaki was no longer a dream for ordinary Kerbals.

However, landing on Mun using Tebasaki Mk III still proved to be a tricky business given fuel contraints, let alone landing on precise locations. Therefore, to play safe, Yakitori only offered Mun low orbit fly-by tours.

Those tours were a huge success, at the beginning, until the Kerbals were bored with only orbiting Mun.

And so did Shinji.

He had always dreamt of opening a new branch of Yakitori Restaurant on Mun, on a suitable spot with Kerbin in the sky, and of course with all the culinary pleasure he could come up with for customers to enjoy.

Kanna, sharing Shinji's vision, wanted to take that idea further. She envisioned a luxurious resort being operated on Mun, with all sorts of amenities that could entertain Kerbals in the planetary object that was so familiar, yet so distant, from everyone on Kerbin.

On one day, during a leisure time looking at some leisure magazines, she came across a new form of sport around Kerbin known as KAS wake-boarding.

It worked by attaching a Kerbal with a very strong hose to a very fast moving machine. It seemed that Kerbals everywhere were enjoying being dragged along, be it on land or at the sea.

She knew something could be done with this piece of technology, so she showed it to Knova, who quickly realized the great potential it held for opening a restaurant, a resort, or whatever on foreign planets.

K.A.S. Manufacturing, inventor of the KAS system, was very generous to provide Yakitori with this technology for free. Returning the favor, Shinji offered life-long eat-and-drink-all-you-can tickets to K.A.S. Manufacturing personnels for all Yakitori establishments.

Knova wasted no time in studying the KAS System. Overwhelmed by its beauty in simplicity, he decided to see it in action before dealing with the real construction of a Munar restaurant, or resort, or whatever.

Vehicles:

Spaceplane Tebasaki Mk IV

Orbital Refueling Craft Maki Mk III-B

Pilot:

Tebasaki Mk IV: Gileny Kerman

Maki III-B: Dilgan Kerman, Luke Kerman, Calald Kerman

Passengers: (Onboard Tebasaki Mk IV)

Rodwin Kerman, Richwig Kerman

Misson Log:

"Tebasaki to mission control. Why are we taking passengers with this test?" Gileny asked.

"Apart from spacecraft tests, Shinji wanted to experiment with different dishes and arrangement styles for an ideal space course. They have their own test procedures. Anyway, please take off when ready." Kanna said.

"Hm... New dishes... new dishes... I wish I could taste them too." Gileny thought to himself, suppressed his desire for culinary delights, and proceed to takeoff:

Mk IV had a significant rework of aerodynamics such that the Centre of Lift was quite a bit behind the Centre of Mass when fuel was full.

And KSC runway had nowhere near the required length for it to liftoff properly, so obviously the vertical drop at the end of the runway was exploited for takeoff.

A slight bounce off the grassland at the end of the KSC Runway sent Tebasaki right on course to ascent:

Transition to rocket engines as usual.

45 degree ascent, level off at AP 55-60km. Somehow Knova wondered if there were more efficient ascent profile than this.

And with Tebasaki Mk IV safely in orbit. It's time to launch the main testing vechicle Maki Mk III-B.

Basically it was the same as Maki Mk III, but with the docking port replaced with KAS mechanisms. And of course, with better landing legs.

Veteran Kerbonaut Luke and Dilgan, together with the not-so-newbie pilot Calald, had no trouble getting it into orbit and rendezvous with Tebasaki.

"Newbie, get out there and test the KAS systems." Maki Captain Luke ordered.

"Tebasaki to Maki. Are you sure you want the newbie to do this?" Gileny was a bit worried when he heard that on the comms.

"Trust Gileny. Trust." Luke said in a confident voice, "Someday, you and I will be getting old. And then, both you and I will be relying on what we call 'Newbies' today, to fly us around."

"Whatever you say cap." Gileny showed respect for the veteran's words.

Afterall, there were old Kerbonauts, there were bold Kerbonauts. And there were no old-and-bold Kerbonauts.

To everyone's surprise, newbie pilot Calald was extremely nimble on EVA jetpack controls.

Before anyone realized, he already put the KAS connector in place aboard Tebasaki.

And before Luke could come up with a proper word to praise the young guy, Calald had already docked the two spacecraft via KAS, and was back on-board Maki before anyone could say anything.

"OMG OMG OMG Cap! It was so cold and dark outside!!!" Calald said while the airlock was being shut tight behind his back. Apparently, he was still frightened by what he just experienced.

"That's a great EVA. Good job newbie!" Dilgan said, while wasting no time to activate fuel transfer.

"Newbie... Sorry... Calald. Congratulations on a job well done." Luke, being a veteran, quickly recognized Calald's potential after seeing his EVA maneuvers.

Fuel was being pumped to Tebasaki at full rate.

"Newbie... Er... I mean Calald, please do it again." Co-Pilot Dilgan asked Calald to remove the KAS parts once the fuel transfer was complete.

"Aye aye Sir!" Calald was overjoyed with the compliments.

It seemed that the KAS Connector could be unplugged remotely. But it floated in space after being unplugged.

Calald quickly grabbed the KAS Mountable Connector Port aboard Tebasaki, returned it to Maki, then quickly grabbed the floating KAS Connector floating around.

These flawless EVA maneuvers deeply impressed the more-experienced pilots, who unambiguously agreed that Calald was a newbie no more.

"Alright Tebasaki, we had fun and it's time to go home. See you back there." Luke said, while engaging the RCS to back away from Tebasaki.

Return trip for Maki Mk III-B to Kerbin was mostly uneventful. Mostly.

"Cap... For some reason I know this is not gonna end perfectly, but I don't have a bad feeling about this." Now-Not-Newbie Calald said galdly in his seat.

"That's the spirit son. That's the spirit. Enjoy the fireworks, Co-Pilot Calald Kerman." Captain Luke said with approval.

In order to celebrate for the promotion of Calald Kerman from Newbie Pilot to Co-Pilot, Dilgan did not fire the main engines during landing.

It was unfortunate that the (underwhelming) explosions weren't caught on camera, but Calald was satisfied with four LVNs exploding at once, leaving them sitting safely on the landing struts.

Meanwhile, after some testing on-board Tebasaki Mk IV, it was time for it to land too.

The aerodynamics worked a lot better on Mk IV, that Gileny was able to pull up and reduce its vertical velocity during approach. He even managed to align to KSC Runway semi-manually.

However, despite the effort, some wing sections still decided to break off during landing. But who cares? Kerbal Landing Mantra.

There they were sitting on the tarmac safely.

Mission success!

[The Fog]

Awesome mission.

Thanks Pipcard. I was actually inspired by your KASDA Missions that I started the Yakitori Missions.

BTW, sorry that I didn't reply to this earlier but you know KSP is a major timesink.

[The Fog]

Nice work! I actually just finished assembling a kethane conversion station in my own mission logs. That's a pretty big spaceplane you have, too. Looks good!

Thanks.

Kethane and space station construction was the easy part. Esp if you do it with Minmus.

However, Tebasaki was the real deal which made me sleepless at nights. It was so hard to fly just a few Kerbals into orbit using SSTO.

I wanted to make it smaller (less part count), but lacking Mathematical proficiency, I just couldn't make it smaller.

[The Fog]

Objective:

Lay the foundation for a Mun Based Yakitori Restaurant

Background:

With the newly tested KAS Systems, Shinji's dream of opening a Mun based restaurant was no longer a dream.

And thus Yakitori soon proceed to launch the core of Yakitori Mun: A lamppost of course. What kind of restaurant could operate without one afterall?

Vehicle:

Yakitori Core

Pilot:

Nil

Misson Log:

Knova remotely controlled the launch from his comfy seat in KSC:

And Mun orbit in no time:

This landing spot was chosen to be the construction site (and of course future site) of Yakitori Grill Chicken Restaurant - Mun Branch (or Yakitori Mun for short).

It had a perfect view on Kerbin, and a large patch of Kethane nearby for all it's energy requirement.

The actual landing was uneventful. But the best part, according to Knova, was to blow-up the now-useless skycrane:

Moment before impact:

According to Knova's calculations, the impact should have utterly obliterate the skycrane. However, one bit stubbornly refused destruction:

Then here it was, Yakitori Mun core sitting proudly on Mun surface, awaiting more modules to come in

[The Fog]

Objective:

Land construction vehicle Momo and begin construction of Yakitori Mun

Field test various Yakitori Mun dishes

Background:

Standard DLA planetary surface base construction generally went like landing individual modules on the planetary object in question. Then using attached wheels, the modules would make its way and dock to the core module.

Shinji was not satisified with this technique.

While a restaurant on wheels was not uncommon, in fact a lot of ramen (noodle) shops did so, Shinji did not want Yakitori Mun to be felt like any of those almost fast-food like restaurants. He wanted to make Yakitori Mun a luxurious dining destination, sitting firmly on the ground, or the next best thing, landing struts.

Familiarized with the latest KAS Technology, Knova quickly came up with a solution that solved the problem of balancing between style and locomotion.

And in the process, he probably introduced a new form of entertainment for Yakitori Mun.

For everyone's information, the structural elements (aka struts) were placed on pylons so when the module arrived on Mun, it would be clean of leftovers.

Vehicle:

Launch Vehicle Yakitori Mun C&C

Construction Crane Momo

Yakitori Mun Crew Quarters

Pilot:

Luke Kerman, Dilgan Kerman, Calald Kerman

Misson Log:

"Cap, there're so much food and drinks in here! Can't wait till we get to Mun!" Calald could barely contain his joy from the Crew Quarter underneath the Mk II Lander-can, " And look! A food heater with fire! Yay! no more microwaved meals!"

"Yes Co-Pilot Calald Kerman. For your information, Mr. Shinji Kerman had programmed those heaters too for maximum deliciousness, all you have to do is to fill in the tasting report." Kanna said in her usual calm voice, "but let's leave that for now, as it's time for you to launch. Captain Luke Kerman?"

"Yes madam." Luke said casually, while pressing the launch button, also quite casually. Everyone onboard was focused on the mission, the second objective that was.

A bit of fuel left on the booster stage. But in order NOT to leave it in orbit, it had to be dumped before the circularization burn.

The mouth-watered Kerbonauts soon achieved Mun intercept.

Note that under the motivation of culinary pleasures they put the trajectory onto Kerbin escape, such that the debris would be out of Kerbin SOI when they ditch the spent stages and struts.

Co-pilot Dilgan Kerman took a look at his captain. Somehow he didn't understand why the helmet stripes were bright red outside, yet always grey inside the Mk II Lander-Can.

Captain Luke Kerman switched the staging order and decoupled themselves from the now-useless transfer stage and structural elements. Leaving behind themselves a cloud of debris that would be speeding outside Kerbin SOI.

However, as soon as he did that, the Crew Quarters began to wobble heavily because it was held to the skycrane from only one KAS cable.

"Captain, we'd better do something." Co-Pilot Dilgan Kerman said, in his usual cool voice, to his captain.

"Yes. And Calald, you heard the man. Get out there and do something." Luke commanded.

"Aye sir." Calald, anticipating the luxurious meal awaiting on Mun, boldly stepped outside the airlock into the cold and dark space outside.

The motive was strong, Calald proceed fearlessly towards the heavily-wobbling Crew Quarters.

Whack!

"Calald?! You alright? Please respond." Luke immediately shouted into the comms after the impact.

"Cap... I'm fine. But I can't get close to that thing while it's wobbling that heavily!" Calald said to his comms while trying to stabilize his position frantically.

"Understood son. Stand-by" Luke knew, of course, that executing a time-warp could immediately kill the wobbling, but however with Mun Periapsis that close and a personnel EVAing, that option was a bit too risky.

So instead, he extended the landing legs, hoping that extra angular inertia would reduce the wobbling.

And he succeeded.

Calald immediated proceeded to plug in the KAS connectors, further reducing the wobble to a comfortably manageable scale.

"Cap... That was... that was.... fun!" Calald exclaimed while the airlock was shut tight behind him.

"That gave me so much old memories. Oh getting out there to whack some solar panels... Ah the good old days... Anyway, I'm hungry now. Onward to ze Mun!" Luke said. With the vehicle reaching Mun Periapsis, he proceeded to warping to the circularization burn.

All these debris will be leaving Kerbin SOI. Forever out of reach by any Kerbal... or would they?

The Yakitori Mun base was in sight.

"Bi-ru!!!(Beer)" Calald murmured, anticipating the feast upon mission completion.

"Sake!!!(Rice-Wine)" Co-Pilot Dilgan murmured in response.

"Sho-chu-!!!(Distilled Spirit)" Captain Luke exclaimed, while letting MechJeb fire the engines for final descent.

"Yay we got this!" Calald was overjoyed while the vehicle came to a complete stop on Mun surface.

"Easy Calald. Let's finish the business before we get drunk." Co-pilot Dilgan said. Munar landing for former DLA Kerbonauts were like everyday business, so he was obviously not thrilled by the event.

Knova, back in KSC Mission Control, directed the skycrane to decouple and fly around 3km from the landing site. So it would be outside the drawing-distance of Yakitori Mun base.

Just in case the construction crane Momo becomes toppled, then it could come back and tow it back upright.

Calald proceeded outside to grab the KAS connector from Yakitori Mun Core. Then hopped to the spot of the ideal Crew Quarter spot, giving the other two pilots a visual cue.

Momo was maneuvered very carefully in fear of toppling in Mun's reduced gravity.

After a long drive, Luke and Dilgan proceeded to drop the Crew Quarter in front of Calald (who was a bit scared).

With its landing legs retracted, the Crew Quarters landed on its belly such that Calald could plug in the KAS connector.

After some towing, the Crew Quarter rested securely on its four landing struts. That's part 1 of the mission completed.

Having found an alternate use of Momo, Luke jumped out from Momo's command seat and landed perfectly with skillful EVA maneuver.

"OK. Gentlemen. Before we got drunk. I know you want to do this." Luke said, "Hook up!"

He then secured one of the KAS connector to his back. EVA RCS controls safely in his hands.

The other two pilots gladly followed.

"Ready....." Luke said eagerly.

"In 3, 2, 1, Go!" Luke commanded, and all three pilots swung into motion.

"Wheeeeeee~~"

The pilots surely had fun out there.

"Alright that was fun gentlemen. Please proceed to objective two. Repeat, objective two." Kanna reminded that those Kerbonauts had a even more enjoyable "objective" to fulfill out there.

"Of course madam. Of course!" Luke said, while releasing himself from the KAS connectors.

As the three hopped back towards the Crew Quarters,

"Sasami (Chicken Breast)!" Calald shouted with anticipation.

"Seseri! (Chicken Neck)" Dilgan said while smiling.

Captain Luke paused a while for the pleasure to build up, then all three pilots shouted in unison: "TEBASAKI (Chicken Wings)!!!!"

And the feast continued days and nights with the three brave Kerbonauts tasting through menu after menu of Shinji's selection of the finest culinary delights.

Mission success!