UKSSDA Mission 1: To Orbit! [IMAGE HEAVY]

[Ali_J_101]

UKSSDA: United Kerbalian Space Systems Development Agency.

This combined organisation was formed after the great Disaster of 0.21 wiped out the entirety of the fleets of both "Spacecraft Development Agency" and "Kerbalian Space Systems". UKSSDA shall go (and hopefully come back from) where no Kerbal has gone before. Eventually.

First, they must re-accomplish what has been done before.

To orbit, they must send a Kerbal. And bring him back alive.

UKSSDA Mission 1: To Orbit!

Orbiter 1 is a carefully constructed craft ( ). However, the design wasn't so careful (I messed up an asparagus and didn't realise until I staged). The daring Jebediah Kerman managed to survive the process, although nothing else of the craft did.

Orbiter 1.1 has some modifications, including some optimistic landing legs, and re-arranged staging, to reduce explosions.

It sits on the launch pad, Jebediah at the controls for this second attempt.

MISSION CONTROL: Control to Orbiter 1.1. Jeb? Are you ready to fly?

JEBEDIAH: Yup. It shouldn't explode this time.

Jebediah punches the launch button.

It launches, without exploding.

Letting the computer control the rotation, Jeb watches the fuel gauges.

The first boosters drain their fuel, and are dropped away.

JEBEDIAH: YAHOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Mission Control is understandably worried...

MISSION CONTROL: Has anything exploded, Jeb?

JEBEDIAH: Nope. Just the feeling of launch is AWESOME!!!

Half a minute later, Jeb makes his gravity turn at 10,000m.

The second boosters fuel burns away, and the engines are loosed.

Soon, Jebediah is in the process of circularisation, a process he did countless times before the great 0.21 Disaster.

But the stage runs out of fuel, and he uses the correction and de-orbit engine to complete circularisation.

After a couple of orbits, and some tiny burns, Jebediah has achieved a near-perfect circular orbit, the first since 0.21.

He celebrates this achievement with a Kerb-Bar.

MISSION CONTROL: Control to Orbiter 1.1. Very nice orbit, Jeb.

JEBEDIAH: -Muffled chewing-

MISSION CONTROL: Jeb?

JEBEDIAH: -Loud swallow- Thanks, Control.

MISSION CONTROL: How did you manage to get a snack aboard that capsule? There's barely enough room for the equipment!

JEBEDIAH: Skill.

MISSION CONTROL: Never mind.

Jeb is floating around a bit in the capsule, while he wizzes round on the 105km orbit, when he recognises the Kerbal Space Centre ahead of him.

He ponders trying to land there. This thing has landing legs after all...

Slamming the craft to full throttle, he powers into a de-orbit burn, trying to kill his orbital velocity before KSC passes by below him. He fails, and passes over at 99km. He keeps burning retrograde, trying to get as close as posssible, but after he drains the fuel, he decouples the engine, and re-enters the atmosphere.

He shoots through the atmosphere, and pulls the parachute at 1000m. He looks out the window at a loud splash coming from below, but is too late to see anything. He thinks it was the engine splashing down hard, but it could have been a jumping whale. The chute fully opens at 500m above the ocean. A gentle splashdown, and Jeb is home safe.

We'll pick him up.

Eventually.