Tales of the Kerbal: Operation Minmus [Pic-Heavy]

[SuperWeegee4000]

The following is a dramatized retelling of SuperWeegee4000's attempt at a .21 Minmus landing.

Following the eight-year rebuilding of the Kerbal Space Center, at the dawn of the decade 021, the KSP began its next great project: Landing a Kerbal on Minmus. Of the twelve candidates who applied, Commander Jebediah Kerman was selected for the mission. And so, in mid-July, the Minmush I (properly the Minmush I.V) was launched from the equator to begin its momentous task.

The rocket took off fast, and reached orbit with around half of the second stage's fuel reserves.

It then completed a Minmus transfer burn with still enough fuel to capture itself into orbit.

During the orbit, Jeb turned on a webcam and communicated with a lucky first-grade classroom back on Kerbin.

[Jeb: Hey, kids. Do you know where I am?]

[student: Orbiting Minmus?]

[Jeb: Yes, I'm orbiting Minmus right now.]

[Other Student: Are you going to land there?]

[Jeb: {chuckles} Yes, I am. Good job. Here's an interesting fact....]

Mission Control was tense, as this was the most dangerous part of the mission. Jeb used the last of the fuel in the second stage to bring himself down into a suborbital trajectory, then detached the stage, which would crash into Minmus, eliminating debris.

As he got closer down, he extended the landing legs and burned into a slow drop almost straight down.

He was soon within a few hundred meters.

http://postimg.org/image/c6ifaqoqt/ (Same to you, Postimage.)

Finally, as he slowed his descent one more time, with the surplus fuel he had, the legs made contact. The lander slid a little and... touchdown!

Jeb climbed down the ladder, and as he stepped off, he famously said "That's one small step for a Kerbal, and one giant cupboard of snacks for said Kerbal." Mission Control CAPCOM responded with the words "Dream on."

While he was there, Jeb tested the suit's RCS pack in a low-gravity environment.

After performing some science on the icy surface, it was time to return to his capsule and take off. He did so. Somewhat reluctantly.

Jeb took off, only taking a few seconds and a few dozen meters per second of Delta-v to reach orbit around Minmus.

The rocket then burned to escape Minmus and entered HKO.

That's when something went wrong.

All of a sudden, Jeb lost all torque control. He could still fire the engines, but there was no way he'd be able to hit the exact maneuver trajectory. Some faulty wiring and lack of proper equipment in the command pod had left it powerless.

Both Jeb and the KSC knew full well that if they didn't think of something fast, Jeb would be stranded in orbit forever.

Jeb decided to take a risk. Fortunately, he was aligned in such a way that he could burn directly to a Kerbin periapsis of around 130,000 meters. But there would be no aerobraking and no circularization burn. Jeb was instructed to fire his engines until he lost the PE marker. Jeb would be flying into Kerbin's atmosphere at orbital speeds. Knowing (and thoroughly enjoying) the risks, he set his spacecraft on a curved collision course with Kerbin.

As soon as he entered the atmosphere, he decoupled his capsule and deployed the parachute. At that point, the atmosphere and the chute would be slowing him down to 90 m/s from over a thousand. The second the re-entry communications blackout ended, CAPCOM began transmitting test calls to Jeb, hoping to mother Kerbin he was still alive.

[CAPCOM: Minmush, this is CAPCOM, do you read?]

[Jeb: {static}]

[CAPCOM: Minmush, this is CAPCOM, do you read??]

[Jeb: {static} ......................... ...Copy that, CAPCOM, I read you. What a ride!]

Everyone at Mission Control let out a collective cheer. Commander Jebediah Kerman, the first Kerbal on Minmus, was safe and sound on a slow splashdown trajectory.

At 500 meters, the parachute deployed fully.

And at last, splashdown. Jeb climbed out of his capsule and opened his suit safety vents for a refreshing swim, home at last.

Since Jeb had landed off target, he had to sit in his capsule for almost half a day awaiting rescue. And despite CAPCOM's earlier words, Jeb got a huge box of snacks upon returning to the KSC.

[SuperWeegee4000]

Any thoughts?

[The Jedi Master]

I like it. MOAR! *smashes cup*

[Kerbal01]

I like it too.

[Scotius]

Just...next time do not forget about a battery and at least two flat solar panels or RTG. It might be the difference between life and death for brave pilot.

[BostLabs]

Nice! Excellent recovery!