Doing it Apollo style

[Xeldrak]

The challenge is to get a Kerbal to the Mün and back. But not just in any way - we are doing it Apollo style!

Your Mün-mission hast to fullfill the following criteria:

-Everything has to be started with a single rocket (no building ships in orbit or refueling in orbit)

-You have to fly a LOR mission (you need a Command Module [CM] and a specialized Münar Module [MM])

-No mods! All stock, no Mechjeb. (Did Neil and Buzz land by auto pilot?)

-BYOR (Bring your own rocket) - The rocket must be your own design

Just for fullfilling theese criteria you will get thirty points. (+30)

You can get (or loose) point by achiving the following design or mission-goals

Goals

- 3-man Mission +10

- 2-man Lander +10

- 2-stage Lander (leave the decent-engine on the mün) +20

- Main rocked aspargus'd? -10 (Wernher von Kerman does not like aspargus!)

- Escape tower? +10

- Lander stored behind the CM during ascent +20

- Lander tucked away behind some fairing? +5

- Free return trajectory to the mün +10

- Flawless landing (no parts broke off, Neil Armstrong is watching you!) +10

- Got a Munar Roving Vehicle (MRV) on board? +15

- After succesfull Mün landing docked CM and MM in Orbit (no swapping ships without docking them first) +10

- MM disposed by crashing it into the Mün (remove Kerbal first!) +5

- Plant flag on the Mün (no cumulative, i.e. two flags don't get you 6 points) +3

- Spashing down on Kerbin (land on water) +5

- Kerbal dies -20

Awesome new goals:

- Deploy münar sub-satellite before returning to Kerbin +10 Points

Landing accuracy (not cumulative)

- Land within 3 km of Neil Armstong Memorial (NAM) +5 Points

- Land within 1 km of NAM +10 Points

- Land within 100 meters of the NAM +15

I was roving on the Moon one day... (not cumulative)

- Test drive - drive beyond 100 meters of you lander +2 Points

- Proper shakedown -5 points - Drive beyond 2.5 km of the lander

- Gone drivin' - 10 points - Drive beyond 5km of the lander

- Are we there yet? - 15 points - Drive beyond 10km of the lander

MSEP - Mün Surface Experimental Package (not cumulative)

MSEP must have power, probecore and at least one science-thingy

- Minimalistic - 3 points - Deploy one experimental package at landing site

- That'll do - 5 points - Deploy two experimental packages at the landing site

- For science! - 10 points - Deploy two experimental packages 2.5km from the landing site (and at least 2.5km from eachother)

- Science extravaganza! - 15 points - Deploy four experimental packages 2.5km from the landing site (and at least 2.5km from eachother)

Top Whatever:

1. SkyRender - 218 points
   
2. ameseree - 218 points
   
3. kookoo_gr - 218 points(2nd)
   
4. John FX - 218 points
   
5. NoMrBond - 218 points
   
6. BootDisc - 218 points
   
7. Astilious - 218 points
   
8. Akec - 218 points
   
9. Tigrou - 218 points
   
10. JonSpace_CEO - 218 points
    
11. lewisd - 218 points
    
12. Mike the Mechanic - 218 points
    
13. Johnno - 213 points (2nd)
    
14. Kappa73 - 213 points (2nd)
    
15. Alfondoo - 213 points
    
16. Rhomphaia - 213 points
    
17. Tigrou -208 points
    
18. Death Engineering - 203
    
19. njd80 - 203 points
    
20. panzerknoef - 198 points
    
21. Mulbin - 193 points
    
22. BrokenPhysics - 193 points
    
23. capi3101 - 188 points
    
24. Kylekov - 180 points
    
25. mootavic - 178 points
    
26. zarakon - 165 points
    
27. vidboi - 163 points
    
28. Johnno - 158 points (1st)
    
29. programagor - 158 points
    
30. sal_vager - 150 points
    
31. kookoo_gr - 150 points(1st)
    
32. Tw1 - 143 points
    
33. nerdboy64 - 143 points
    
34. Oderus - 143 points
    
35. KevinTMC - 143 points
    
36. esinohio - 140 points
    
37. WafflesToo - 140 points
    
38. inigma - 128 points
    
39. mojobojo - 123 points
    
40. Death Engineering - 123 points (2nd, albeit Gemini-Style)
    
41. pa1983 - 120 points
    
42. Kappa73 - 108 points (1st)
    
43. Ziv - 108 points
    
44. Romain_le_clampin - 102 points
    
45. Bobnova - 98 points
    
46. Xenoclave - 93 points
    
47. Synapse - 50 points
    

Honorary mention for comedic value: Xenonclave

Please be so kind and document everything that is point-relevant with screenshots.

(F1 for KSP-made-screenshots, F12 for Steam-made-screenshots)

Also: Please, calculate you point yourself! I'm too absentminded to do this for all of you with any accuracy.

---

My own try:

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30 Base

+10 3-man mission

-10 aspargus

+20 MM stored behind CM during ascend

+5 MM has a fairing

+10 Free return trajectory

+10 Flawles landing

+10 docked in münar orbit

+5 MM disposed by crashing it into the Mün

+3 Flag planted

+5 splashed down

-------------

98 Points

Of course I don't take part in my own challenge

Edited March 25, 2014 by Xeldrak

[sal_vager]

Ooh I can do this, in fact I have already, I'll see if I can find my old pics and I'll try a new flight to get some more points

Apollo Munar flights are a fave of mine.

[Xaiier]

-No mods! All stock, no Mechjeb. (Did Neil and Buzz land by auto pilot?)

Well...kinda...

[Xeldrak]

Well...kinda...

sssshhh! This is about being oldschool

Also - don't destroy the pictures in my head of my childhood-heroes.

[firerider521]

I have an Apollo-style rocket, it's in my sig, but I didn't make a launcher(and I used Mechjeb... a little bit, not for the landing...)

[Whirligig Girl]

Did Neil and Buzz land by auto pilot?

Yes, until the autopilot put them in a boulderfield, and they altered course by hand. The other missions used an autopilot virtually all the way.

[Whirligig Girl]

How is splashing down on Minmus +5? Going to the Mun and Minmus is pretty big!

[Xenonclave]

I'm going to assume they meant to splash down on Kerbin. I don't recall Neil, Buzz and Collins ending Apollo 11 by landing on a random icy moon.

Anyway, I'm off to do this. I've never actually done an Apollo-style Mun mission, only to Duna.

[Xaiier]

Yes, until the autopilot put them in a boulderfield, and they altered course by hand. The other missions used an autopilot virtually all the way.

Yes, but they still did have features like Mechjeb's "Kill Rot"

[Xeldrak]

Seriously guys - the point is to do it all by hand. Even IF the LM had an autopilot AND all Neil had to do was type "match planes with target"->"hohmann transfer"->"land somewhere"->"ascend guidance"->"return from mün"

[Gojira]

Mulbin wins. No question.

[Johnno]

I'll be doing this challenge, here's from my pre 0.20 Mün landing if anyone wants inspiration, will build a brand spanking new one for this tho.

[jjwb22101]

Seriously guys - the point is to do it all by hand. Even IF the LM had an autopilot AND all Neil had to do was type "match planes with target"->"hohmann transfer"->"land somewhere"->"ascend guidance"->"return from mün"

Not quite. Remember, this was in the early days of computing. Most pocket calculators have more computing power than the LM, and the entire spacecraft's computer system is outpaced by a modern smartphone.

[Johnno]

To be honest the LM would be easier to land than anything we can build in KSP. Not because of the 'autopilot', but mainly because of the throttle control. On Apollo they could increase or decrease the rate of descent rather than actual thrust, the computer took care of holding the descent/ascent rate even while the LM's mass/direction changed. The LM also had a horizontal velocity meter display where the astronauts could tell exactly what direction they were drifting and by how much.

[Kosmo-not]

Mulbin wins. No question.

I was just about to recommend the Munbug VIII.

[Xeldrak]

I was just about to recommend the Munbug VIII.

It's a design and flight challenge, therefore: BYOR (Bring your own rocket)

Also, after seeing Johnno's pics, I added +15 points for a Munar Roving Vehicle

[inigma]

Ive got 118 points, Kerbollo 12 in the mission reports. I posted a craft file too in exchange. Wiki KSP Campaign. You should add points for not using Mulbin's MunBug or subtract points for using it and not coming up with your own design, and add points for splashdown near KSC:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/38461-Kerbal-Space-Program-Wiki-Campaigns?p=502841&viewfull=1#post502841

30 Base

- 3-man Mission +10

- 2-man Lander +10

- Main rocked aspargus'd? -10 (Wernher von Kerman does not like aspargus!)

- Lander stored behind the CM during ascent +20

- Free return trajectory to the mün +10

- Flawless landing (no parts broke off, Neil Armstrong is watching you!) +10

- Got a Munar Roving Vehicle (MRV) on board? +15

- After succesfull Mün landing docked CM and MM in Orbit (no swapping ships without docking them first) +10

- MM disposed by crashing it into the Mün (remove Kerbal first!) +5

- Plant flag on the Mün (no cumulative, i.e. two flags don't get you 6 points) +3

- Spashing down on Kerbin +5

118 points

Edited July 10, 2013 by inigma

[pa1983]

I did a similar challenge before the forum wipe in 0.18 all stock parts no mods.

Staging is identical to the real thing even the design and it has a rover to.

http://youtu.be/QK-79I5HPEs

I also did a N1 replica but it lags alot with 2000 parts to get the right number of engines and the proper look.

[Xeldrak]

@inigma Allright, we've got our first entry. Actually it was intended that you have to design your own rocket - I added this to the "required"-list

@pa1983 be so kind and calculate your own points - I've been awake for 23h by now and don't have the nerve to watch 19 minutes of footage with a checklist

[pa1983]

Yea its 7 in the morning here so why do you think I didn't calculate them ;-)

Joke aside here are the numbers and they are from my memories but I went for authenticity with in the limits of 0.18 at the time.

- 3-man Mission +10

- 2-man Lander +10

- 2-stage Lander (leave the decent-engine on the mün) +20

- Lander stored behind the CM during ascent +20

- Tucked away behind some fairing? +5 (the howl carft do not have fairing but 95% do so dont know if thats enough, still has most of the right look tough)

- Flawless landing (no parts broke off, Neil Armstrong is watching you!) +10

- Got a Munar Roving Vehicle (MRV) on board? +15

- After succesfull Mün landing docked CM and MM in Orbit (no swapping ships without docking them first) +10

- Spashing down on Kerbin (land on water) +5

- Escape tower? +10

115 points I think that is.

I got a escape tower to that must be bonus points ;-)

Edited July 10, 2013 by pa1983

[Giggleplex777]

Can we do an Apollo 8 style mission? I don't feel like landing on the Mun today (or tomorrow).

10 points for me it will be!

Edited July 10, 2013 by Giggleplex777

[Xeldrak]

Hm...well, if you insist, you can go Apollo 8. But dont expect to get many points

Still: pics or it didn't happen

Edited July 10, 2013 by Xeldrak

[Giggleplex777]

I'm going to do it with a N1!

[pa1983]

Here is a working N1 replica if any one wants to play with it. Should work its from 0.18.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27196441/n1.zip

But what ever you do DONT gravturn before drooping first stage! Will just tip over if you try that. Also its a CPU killer with 2000 parts so but it has the right staging and engine configuration.

Frame rate will pick up a lot after the first stage has dropped away from the craft so its mostly a pain in the start.

See if I can find the time to take it for a spin again. Maybe update it a bit.

[inigma]

You should also figure out dishing points for using the least number of parts to accomplish the mission. There was no ASAS on those landers if I recall. Only some type of basic SAS.

Everyone knows Mulbin's monstrous design fits this challenge perfectly, but if you add in a reduced part count point gradient, it would even the playing field (no offense Mulbin).