[stock] Apollo 11 Anniversary (pics)

[mellojoe]

In honor of the brave men who first and finally discovered, sadly, that the Moon is most definitely not made of cheese, the Kerbal Science Team of Jebediah, Bill and Bob have decided to send their own lander to the Mun. This was an all new mission using a never before tested launch craft. What follows is their journey in memory of that first giant leap for mankind.

We knew that this mission was to be unique. As such, we wanted a new craft. One with a more iconic design and not the traditional (and costly) asparagus staging. It was soon discovered that the core lifter needed some more thrust. Side boosters were added very late in development. It hinders the view of the craft on the launch pad, but it also serves to highlight the differences in this flight vs any of our previous missions.

The lander will hold all three of our brave Kerbalnauts. This mission is not going to be a simple recreation of the Apollo 11 lander. Jebediah, Bill and Bob will all three get the opportunity to walk on the Mun, and all three were excited about the journey. We have liftoff!

Iconic image number 1. Booster Stage Seperation. Like peeling away wrapping paper at holiday time, we drop the outer shell to reveal our rocket.

And here she is! The 44th Anniversary Rocket was built to evoke the memory of the original while using its own modern spin. She is gorgeous in her own right but a true reflection of what the original meant to us. One of the most stable crafts we have ever had the privilege to pilot. She flew straight and true, and turned with precision that was unexpected. The specialness of this craft cannot be overstated, as this is her maiden and only flight. She is a tribute and will be immediately retired after this trip.

And here we begin our 3rd leg of the journey, and where we encounter our first problem. Our intermediary pusher stage for this trip was supposed to get us out of Kerbin orbit and on our way to the Mun before seperating. However, Jeb's design philosophy of "launch it first, discover the problems later" has proven to not be as sound as we originally thought. Using the poodle engine as a pusher stage has proven to be too weak. We fixed this easily by firing up the lander's engines. Jeb was more than pleased with the in-flight fix. Bill and Bob are starting to show signs of concern.

And on our way! The Mun rises above Kerbin. The sun is at our back. It is a beautiful day to fly rockets.

Finally on escape path headed for the Mun. Bill and Bob specifically named this flight. This is not the Apollo 11. This is only a Tribute.

We have seperated again, and we are now piloting our lander stage. The next design flaw has been discovered. This one is a big one. JEB FORGOT THE FUEL LINES!! Oops. So, Bill and Bob are now at this point regulated to manually transferring fuel out of the main tank into the smaller side tanks, as there is no crossfeed between the two. This is a major problem that is going to potentially jepordize this historic mission. Our brave Kerbalnauts had an opportunity to ditch the mission and return to Kerbin, but with the deadlines vast approaching, they knew this might be their only shot. They took it. They have stayed the course, and are rewarded with one of the most majestic approaches to the Mun we have ever seen.

This is the point where a major decision had to be made. With the fuel lines causing major troubles, Jeb Bill and Bob have done the calculations and realized they might not have as much fuel as originally intended. The initial transfer stage using the wrong engine has left them with a major problem.

Originally this flight was intended to land near the memorial, as perfect a fitting tribute. However, with the fuel situation unknown, we didn't know if we would be able to make the appropriate plane change. Did I mention Jeb and Bill completely forgot to do so while in transit? Yep. Bob reminded the team just as we were approaching oribt. Except that orbit was way out of inclination with the memorial landing site. Would we have enough fuel to make the plane change? At this point we didn't want to risk it. The executive decision was made, as we are skipping the memorial. We will find our own landing site.

Another minor flaw was discovered as our intrepid team began decent to the Munar surface. The SAS decision was left to Bill. He went with the asthetic decision to use the avionics package instead of the traditional ASAS. This worked fine. For a while. It does not have very good correction, so its ability to hold a heading is very lackluster. The landing pod would move slightly in every direction even with SAS turned to the on position. This required much more manual input from our pilots than previously intended.

Success!

This trip was planned to be unique in that all three pilots decended from the same lander to the surface. All three got the experience of dancing, hopping, and just plain galavanting on the surface of the Mun. This was a celebration trip. The science took a backseat today. Today was about doing this simply for the sake of doing it. To land on the Mun only because it is there. To fly a rocket across the sky simply because we can.

And now our return. This trip home was all manually flown by Bob. In his first fully manual flight, he nailed it. Return trip with KSC in the background. (sidenote: this is the first time I've ever gotten an approach to KSC without having to reload saves a thousand times. I think I finally learned something. I cannot tell you how proud I was to watch KSC load as pixels in the background.) We pointed our heatshields retrograde, and held on for the ride. Bob and Bill were correct in outvoting Jeb earlier in the mission. Our fuel ran out just as we made our final decent burn. We literally ran out of fuel just as Bob was pointing north in order to better line up with KSC. Jeb was ecstatic. Bob was a bit concerned because he was hoping to squeeze a bit more out of it. Their faces tell the story.

Not quite a perfect landing, but damn close. Jeb Bill and Bob piloted an amazing mission. Development time was at an all time low. This was a brand new craft, never before tested, and it flew brilliantly. Some major decision making on the part of our experienced crew was the deciding factor in this mission suceeding versus failing. At multiple points this tribute mission could have been nothing but wasted time and money, but Jeb Bill and Bob proved their talent and training paid off yet again. Great work, boys.

And then Jeb shouted, "I am a Space Cowboy! Ride 'em home!" and did this:

Champagne all around.

((edit))

All stock except for Crew Manifest. I wanted to ensure that the original 3 were on this trip. I brought them out of retirement specifically for it.

Edited July 18, 2013 by mellojoe

[Death Engineering]

Great idea to do a tribute! Haha riding the capsule down Maj. 'King' Kong-style (Dr. Strangelove)

[The Jedi Master]

Awesome! I'm doing my next Apollo-style landing attempt on the 20th, when the Apollo 11 actually landed. It's going to be a bit of a holiday for my Kerbals. I officially call it Armstrong Day.

[mellojoe]

our Kerbal team will all be on holiday as well.

My wife and I are celebrating an anniversary, and we are also travelling to a good friend's wedding. So no computers for me this weekend. I'll be lucky if I can get anything done tonight. I might load up this mission, make the tweaks to correct the problems in this one, and relaunch it. (FUEL LINES, JEB! DAMN YOU, FUEL LINES!)

However, between packing and loading the car, I may not have the time.

[The Jedi Master]

our Kerbal team will all be on holiday as well.

My wife and I are celebrating an anniversary, and we are also travelling to a good friend's wedding. So no computers for me this weekend. I'll be lucky if I can get anything done tonight. I might load up this mission, make the tweaks to correct the problems in this one, and relaunch it. (FUEL LINES, JEB! DAMN YOU, FUEL LINES!)

However, between packing and loading the car, I may not have the time.

Well, maybe Jeb can be the best man!