The Apollo K Project (a "Doing it Apollo Style" challenge mission) [IMAGES]

[KevinTMC]

CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. Apollo Pre-K Program

3. Apollo K Launch

4. Orbit and TMI

5. Cismunar Flight

6. Munar Landing

7. Roving

8. Departure

9. Return

The Apollo K-R Mission (an epilogue)

1. Epilogue I

2. Epilogue II

3. Epilogue III

4. Epilogue IV

The Apollo K-X Mission (for the "Duna Apollo Style" challenge)

Mission Report

INTRODUCTION

This is the story of the "Apollo K" project, mounted in response to the "Doing it Apollo Style" challenge on the KSP forums. I am telling the story here on a separate forum thread so as not to clutter the challenge thread with narrative and screenshots...and because the brave kerbonauts deserve to have their story properly told.

First, a note about mission parameters. In order to participate in "Doing it Apollo Style" and qualify for the 30 base points, a mission must meet 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

Compliance with three of these conditions should be obvious enough; but some explanation is necessary regarding the "no mods" rule.

As the challenge thread rolled along, it was determined that VAB mods were okay for use, so long as they were for convenience only, did not do anything in flight, and did not allow the construction of craft that would be unbuildable without mods or cheats. Therefore, I used the following mods to construct craft for this challenge, under certain restrictions as specified:

* Subassembly Manager (all subassemblies used were constructed from scratch expressly for this challenge, as were the craft they were attached to)

* RCS Build Aid

* Engineer Redux (for calculating Delta-V and TWR only; the Engineer part was not left on ship for launch)

* Editor Extensions (non-standard symmetries were not used, nor were the radial attachment or part clipping features)

The craft file used for the primary mission can be found here, for anyone who might want to try flying it, or perhaps just check it out in more detail: Apollo K craft

No mods were used in flight. I even took out Chatterer and Kerbal Alarm Clock, just so there would be no confusion arising from mod icons showing up in screenshots.

I observed one additional condition that I didn't see spelled out anywhere, but seemed implied: I did not revert or reload the primary mission (or the lander probe mission for that matter), or make use of quicksaves except as insurance against application crashes (which thankfully never happened).

Finally, since this challenge came to my attention at about the same time that version 0.21.1 was released, I ran the "Apollo K" project in a newly-created profile save on a fresh install of the game. (I tend to start fresh with each new release of the game anyway.) This was my first attempt to land on the new rendition of the Mun; and of course none of my flags helpfully marking the various Munar anomalies were there anymore. This meant that some preparation for the primary mission was in order; around the Kerbal Space Center, this became known as the "Apollo Pre-K Program".

Edited September 27, 2013 by KevinTMC
Apollo K-X added

[KevinTMC]

APOLLO PRE-K PROGRAM

Ahead of the primary mission--and following a bunch of explodey simulations and unmanned tests--there were two manned, full-dress test flights. The first Apollo Pre-K flight was comparable to Apollo 9, involving Munar Module and docking tests in LKO; unlike Apollo 9, the test flight was conducted by the same crew that would attempt the Munar landing, namely Jebediah, Bill, and Bob Kerman.

The second Apollo Pre-K flight was similar to Apollo 8, except that the Munar Module, being ready, was brought along for the ride. The brave test crew who took the Apollo K craft out to the Munar sphere of influence for the first time, and then back home again on a free-return trajectory, was Ronely, Hanbin, and Dunvis Kerman.

Surprisingly late in the final preparations for the primary Apollo K mission, as the following objective was being reviewed:

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

one of the kerbonauts (which one is, unfortunately, lost to history) finally asked the question, "How are we supposed to find this 'Neil Armstrong Memorial'?"

Being met with embarrassed silence, he further asked, "Do we even know where it is?"

A map of sorts was eventually found. It was suggested that this map simply be tacked up somewhere inside the Munar Module, but this struck even Jeb as a little crazy; so the director of the Apollo K project was prevailed upon to order that a lander probe be sent to find this 'NAM'--whatever it was*--and serve as a beacon.

* The exact nature and meaning of the Munar artifact was even more of a mystery than its precise location. Clearly no Kerbal had placed it there; nor did anyone have any idea what an "Armstrong" might be. I'm not saying it was aliens...but it was aliens.

The first and second stages smoothly took the probe into LKO; the second stage also provided trans-munar injection without a hitch. It was almost as if someone at KSC had done this sort of thing before.

After establishing stable Munar orbit and taking a best guess as to which crater to shoot for, it was time for the lander to make its descent.

With plenty of fuel for maneuvering, it didn't matter that the NAM turned out to be one crater over from the selected target. This was spotted in time for descent to be slowed as the direction of horizontal velocity was flipped; and the lander was gently set down close to the monument. Less than 100 meters away, in fact, which would surely be close enough...if, that is, someone at KSC didn't have a touch of OCD.

So the lander was fired back up for a short hop or two, to bring it closer to the target.

There. That would probably be close enough. Now "Apollo K" had a target to shoot for.

[KevinTMC]

APOLLO K LAUNCH

With tests completed, the target marked, and last-minute changes to the launch vehicle made, the primary Apollo K mission was set to go. The spacecraft was on the pad and ready in the wee hours, counting down to launch at dawn.

Prior to launch, it can already be seen that the craft design has earned the following points according to the challenge goals:

Goals

- 3-man Mission +10

- Escape tower? +10

and the following penalty has been avoided:

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

Adding the bonuses to the 30 base points, that puts the mission at 50 points at launch, out of a possible 218. More points will be tallied as the evidence for them is shown.

PAO: "We are Go with Apollo K. 30 seconds and counting. Kerbonauts report, 'It feels good'."

PAO: "...6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, zero..."

Um...

Oh. The throttle. Launches are much more launchy when someone remembers to throttle up the main engines. Let's try that again.

There we go.

PAO: "Liftoff on Apollo K. Tower cleared."

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: "Tower? What tower?"

PAO: "What? Shut up. There used to be one. It's just something we say. Shut up. And get off this channel!"

[KevinTMC]

ORBIT AND TMI

The craft flew straight and was rock solid up to the start of the gravity turn at 12km altitude. At that point, the escape tower started wobbling around a good bit; but it would soon be jettisoned anyway, along with the spent first stage.

The second stage lifted the craft into low Kerbin orbit at roughly 74km.

(There's been talk of awarding bonus points for having quincunx engine configurations on each of the first two stages. I'm in favor of it.)

A final circularization burn was completed at just over T plus 8 minutes.

This brought the mission to a point of considerable uncertainty, with two rather different trans-munar injection sequences having been penciled in at this part of the mission profile. It's the sort of thing that happens when there were significant, untested changes to the final launch vehicle at the last minute.

On the last test flight, there had not been enough fuel left in the second stage to put Ronely, Hanbin, and Dunvis into the free return trajectory around the Mun, and so they had had to stage and then complete the burn with the Command Module engine. This posed two problems. First, having less fuel available than expected for the munar and return phases of the mission is quite obviously a bad thing.

Second--as will soon be seen--this particular staging creates quite a lot of debris due to the fairings, debris which would remain in a highly elliptical orbit around Kerbin forever. Whether or not bonus points are tacked on in future for returning all debris to the atmosphere or crashing it into the Mun (the suggestion has been raised in the challenge thread), I like to run a tidy operation, and this just wouldn't do.

So the decision was made to shed weight by removing some of the fairing. On the version of the rocket used in the Apollo Pre-K program, the fairing around the junction between the second stage and the upper stages was more elaborate, and the fairing that can be seen between the fuel tanks on the second stage had been extended all the way down the first stage as well. Removal of these extra panels saved a good bit of weight.

At the same time, some weight had to be added to the top when engineers realized they had forgotten to add the munar sub-satellite called for in one of the bonus goals.

So, Apollo K was launched with the hope--but not the certainty--that the second stage would have enough fuel to put the craft on its free return trajectory. If not, the backup plan was to split the transfer into two burns, an orbit apart. The first burn would nearly exhaust the second stage, leaving just enough fuel for it to be tipped back into a low-atmosphere return. Said tipping would be done at apokee; then, after staging and related maneuvers, the Command Module engine would restore an orbital trajectory; finally, back around perikee, the CM would complete the transfer. (Hopefully, the Mun wouldn't have moved far enough in the interim to require costly course corrections...mission control's best guess was that the extra delta-v expenditure would be minimal.)

So, with two sets of checklists in front of everyone, and with a careful watch being kept on fuel, the trans-munar injection burn was started...

CAPCOM: "Apollo K, we have confirmed munar intercept and free-return trajectory. Prepare for staging."

...and there was enough fuel after all, as the transfer was completed with a whopping 1.5% fuel remaining in the second stage. Relief all around. (Though it might be fun to try it the other way sometime, just for kicks.)

This achievement adds 10 points to the mission score:

Goals

- Free return trajectory to the mün +10

The second stage having accomplished its job, it was time to stage, and bring the rest of the Apollo K spacecraft out from behind its fairings.

(I couldn't resist taking several pictures.)

It can now be seen that the craft design earns another 50 points:

- 2-man Lander +10

- Lander stored behind the CM during ascent +20

- Lander tucked away behind some fairing? +5

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

bringing the mission up to a total of 110 points, out of a possible 218.

[KevinTMC]

CISMUNAR FLIGHT

It was then time for post-staging maneuvers, which called for Munar Module Pilot Bill Kerman to EVA to his Munar Module.

(In truth, Bill could have easily controlled the Munar Module remotely at this stage, using the built-in Probobodyne unit...but he needed some time away from his spacecraft Commander Jebediah Kerman. As soon as a free-return trajectory had been confirmed, Jeb had exclaimed, "What's that smell?" To confused and worried looks, he continued, "I know! It's because we're FRTing in here!" He found the joke so funny he repeated it about every three minutes.)

It was a simple matter to separate the Command Module, flip it around, then dock nose-to-nose with the Munar Module.

The picture shows why EVAs are necessary to transfer between modules on this craft, even once they are turned nose-to-nose (and even if internal transfer of crew were currently implemented in the game). On the Command Module side, the munar sub-satellite was mounted between the crew capsule and the docking port (it was added late enough in the design process that this was the only good place to put it); while on the Munar Module side, a fuel tank was mounted between the lander can and the docking port (both to provide more fuel, and in the hopes that it would provide more elbow room for any kerbonauts electing to use the deck chairs...except that leftover bits of radial decouplers, mysteriously suspended in space, appear to have spoiled that latter bit).

Also of interest is the fact that the Command Module's engine, which started the flight attached to the Munar Module's docking port, seems to have left behind its fairing. Let's pretend that that was intentional, to better protect the sub-satellite during cismunar flight, okay?

To Command Module Pilot Bob Kerman's joy and relief, Jeb decided to EVA and join Bill in the Munar Module immediately after the docking maneuver, rather than wait until later. A small correction burn was made after all the mucking about, and at approximately 45 minutes MET, Apollo K was set for the Mun, with Munar encounter to occur in approximately 10 hours.

10 hours in the loneliness of cismunar space, with only a debris field for company.

(Just look at all those lovely trajectories. All the debris from staging did wind up either on a free return to low Kerbin atmosphere, or smacking into the Mun while trying to make the turn. I do love a clean flight.)

And each other for company, of course.

"Hey, Bill! What's that smell?"

"I'm going to leave you behind on the Mun, Jeb..."

"I know! It's because we're FRTing in here!"

"...if you live that long."

Yes, 10 short hours to Munar encounter.

[KevinTMC]

MUNAR LANDING

Apollo K managed to enter the Mun's SOI without the game crashing, or any kerbonauts being strangled on the way. A circular orbit was established at 55km.

It was then noticed that the sun had set on the Neil Armstrong Memorial. Thankfully there were snacks on board, as this would mean a good 20 hours of orbiting the Mun, waiting for the light to change.

Finally, landing conditions were within mission parameters (and/or the guys ran out of snacks). The Munar Module detached and made its descent burn, targeting the NAM.

Jeb felt badly for his friend left behind in orbit (more so, in truth, than risk-averse Bob felt badly for himself), so as he and Bill undocked and pulled away, he announced that the lander was being named in honor of the poor Command Module Pilot who had flown all that way but wouldn't get to walk on the Mun.

Munar Module Bob

Even though the lander had only ever been tested in orbit--never in anything resembling a landing situation--engineers were confident that the main engine had plenty of power for the task, so the descent path was fairly aggressive, and the MM was allowed to coast for about half the trip down.

This proved to be a serious miscalculation. Once the descent engine was fired, it quickly became evident that, even with the engine at full throttle, there would not be enough power to eliminate both horizontal and vertical velocity in time to land at the NAM.

The engine was stopped just long enough to activate the radial-mounted Rockomax 24-77s, which had been intended for use as ascent engines only. All three engines were then brought to full throttle, and even the RCS thrusters were added to the mix. This was clearly going to burn much more fuel than intended; but the sole consideration at this point was landing safely. The question of re-ascent could wait.

The extra thrust was still not enough, however. Munar Module Bob was not slowing quickly enough to avoid disaster.

All efforts to target the landing site were abandoned, and the craft was brought back to a vertical orientation, so that all energy could be directed towards simply stopping the fall in time. Mere meters from the surface, this was achieved, and the lander started climbing.

This provided some breathing room, some time for the craft to be rotated a full 90 degrees in an effort to cancel out the still-significant horizontal velocity. By the time the lander started descending again, lateral motion was under control; the full complement of engines was now quite enough to ensure a steady, safe remaining descent...

...and a good, even gentle, landing.

JEBEDIAH KERMAN: "Tranquility Base here. Bob has landed."

CAPCOM: "We copy you on the ground. You've got a bunch of guys who turned blue several minutes ago, but we're finally breathing again."

JEBEDIAH KERMAN: "Just one small step for me...but for Kerbal-kind, giant steps are what we take, walking on the Mun."

Bill climbed down the ladder after Jeb, the Munar Rover was detached and moved out from under the lander, a flag was planted, and lights from the rover helped illuminate a picture that was beamed all over Kerbin.

In the end, MM Bob landed 13.9km away from its target. Let's check the mission objectives:

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

That would be nul points for accuracy. But other points can be awarded:

Goals

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

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

bringing the total for the mission up to 123 points, out of a possible 218.

[KevinTMC]

ROVING

It was now time for Jeb to take the Munar Rover out for a spin. (Bill wasn't sure whether he was more disappointed or relieved that a second seat hadn't been installed for the Munar Module Pilot.)

For the first few kilometers, it was a smooth ride over fairly level terrain. The first of four science modules was detached from the rover at the prescribed distance; the force of the decoupler flipped it over, but Jeb got out and helped right it again.

Then Jeb crested a small hill...and the ground fell out from underneath him and his rover. They were descending into a crater much deeper, and with much steeper walls, than anything that had been programmed into the simulators back at Kerbal Space Center. (He seemed to remember having heard engineers mutter something about "zero point twenty-one" and "procedural craters", but he hadn't had any clue what they might have been talking about. Until now.)

Jeb held on tight. Whenever it seemed likely that wheels were still in contact with the surface, he tapped on the brakes. The rest of the time, he screamed happily, enjoying the sensation of free fall. At one point he heard a loud bang behind him.

Well, that science module just got a bit less sciencey.

The Munar Rover drove/slid/fell, at reckless but not quite tire-popping speed, to the bottom of the crater. Miraculously, it avoided flipping over (or perhaps that was just a result of having no fewer than four reaction-wheel-containing parts still attached). Driving across the bottom of the crater was smooth and easy, and Jeb released a second science module there.

It was a struggle to climb back up the opposite side of the crater. The rover kept wanting to tip backwards, and it got stalled here and there in steep spots. (Although it drove fine over other, equally steep bits...the getting-stuck moments were difficult to either predict or explain.) But Jeb finally wrestled it up to the top.

Then there was another crater to descend into. This time the rover did flip, as it approached the bottom of the crater at unsafe speed. One of the remaining science modules was prematurely detached, and both modules and rover found themselves largely denuded of parts following a series of tumbles and explosions.

The eagle-eyed observer will notice a few subtle differences between the rover as it appears in this picture, and as it appeared in the picture at the top of the post.

Thus ended the science portion of the rover mission. The only thing remaining that could still be accomplished (presuming enough parts remained attached) was to drive the Munar Rover the rest of the way to the NAM.

Once again, climbing back out of the crater proved tricky. Slowly, agonizingly, Jeb maneuvered the rover up the hill. Frequent stops were required because little power generation capacity remained; it was a two-steps-forward, one-step-back endeavor at best. Finally, Jeb had very nearly reached the top...but then the rover flipped, and Jeb was ejected from the Munar Rover.

And then the Munar surface itself flipped, and Jeb was ejected from it.

Jeb was far below ground, falling towards the center of the Mun. Switching back to the rover as active vessel arrested the fall. Presumably that was helpful.

It seemed there was nothing to be done, except to carry on towards the objective with the now-driverless rover. The Munar Rover finally did limp its way there, and was parked for a well-earned rest.

But what to do about Jeb? Mission Control started experimenting with switches of focus--to Jeb, away from Jeb, back towards Jeb--and discovered something useful. However far he had fallen while he was the active "craft", when the focus was switched away from him and then back, Jeb reverted to being just below the Munar surface...and it took a fraction of a second for him to start falling again. Maybe if Jeb were alerted to the switch, and jumped at the exact right moment...

Bingo!

CAPCOM: Okay, Jeb...we're reading your altitude as above surface level again. To be honest with you, we still don't understand where you were, how you got there, or how you got out. Let's just get you back to the Munar Module as quickly as we can, okay? Did your jet pack come out of...whatever that was...in good order?

JEBEDIAH KERMAN: Roger. Flying back to Bob now.

Jeb managed to make a clean landing back at MM Bob, without falling back through the Munar surface or anything.

The reader may recall it being said, in the previous post, that "the question of re-ascent could wait". Not any longer. With Jeb and Bill back on board, it was time to deal with some rather unpleasant facts.

But first, let's check the mission objectives for surface exploration:

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

Jeb disappeared beneath the surface between the 5km and 10km marks, but the objectives don't actually specify that the rover has to be manned the whole way (or even at all, come to think of it). I'm going to claim the full 15 points here.

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)

Two packages were deployed before science-thingies and solar panels started blowing up and getting detached from their probecores; and each of these packages was at least 2.5km from the landing site and 2.5km from the other one. (When I first read the challenge, I thought the packages had to all be exactly 2.5km from the landing site, but on second thought that seemed a bit unreasonable.) 10 more points.

This brings the mission up to 148 points, out of a possible 218. Looking pretty good...if Jeb and Bill can get home.

[KevinTMC]

DEPARTURE

CAPCOM: We're going to continue to look into possible solutions down here. Just sit tight, fellas.

BILL KERMAN: Roger. Understood.

JEBEDIAH KERMAN: Talk to you later. I may go back outside to see if I spot any rocks that look particularly flammable. Bob out.

Munar Module Bob was desperately short on fuel.

Ordinarily, this is the point where I would start to mount a rescue mission. But this is an Apollo-style challenge, and there was no such thing as an Apollo rescue mission to the Moon; and so in the challenge thread, it was quite reasonably determined that kerbonauts stranded on the Mun in this challenge would have to be counted as dead.

Desperately short on fuel or not, then, there seemed no point in just staying put. Especially with Jebediah Kerman involved.

"Jeb, shouldn't we just keep waiting for them to think it over down there?"

"What solution could they possibly come up with? Have us open the hatch and stand in the doorway with our jetpacks hanging out, so we can add thrust from our EVA suits? Actually, that sounds kind of fun..."

"Just lifting off isn't a solution either. We're at 5% fuel, Jeb."

"We've got the RCS too. In the simulator, I've gotten back into orbit using mostly RCS. We'd just need to get a big enough kick from the engines to get us started. I'll probably be too busy flying to stand in the hatch firing my jetpack, you'll have to do that by yourself...or maybe we should both go out and do this sitting in the deck chairs topside..."

"Were those the same sims that showed it would be nice and flat around the Neil Armstrong Monument? Oh, and you'll notice we're down to 35% monopropellant."

"That'll last longer than you might expect."

"Do you really believe you can get us back into orbit?"

"Do you really want to just sit here until you run out of air?"

Jeb and Bill fell silent.

As they stared outside, the munar surface on the other side of the window suddenly disappeared, and was replaced by a giant kerbonaut's helmet.

A gloved hand reached up to the helmet and lifted the visor. Inside the helmet, Jeb and Bill saw a face. A huge, alien face, with a strange round shape and peculiar features. The eyes were small, and set into the face instead of sitting on top; there was a funny-looking protuberance set between and a little below the eyes; and the skin was a bizarre, non-green color.

The kerbonauts heard a voice inside their helmets, as if someone were radioing them. Only it didn't sound like the radio--there was no static, no compression of the sound, no beeps--and the voice was an alien one.

"Hello. Looks like you guys are in a bit of a jam."

Jeb wanted to speak but couldn't. (Bill also couldn't speak...but was content not to.)

"I'm Neil Armstrong. You visited my monument back there...or at least your rover did."

After a few seconds, Jeb managed to find his tongue. "So you're what an armstrong looks like."

"Suppose so. But I think what you really mean is that I'm what a human looks like."

"A human. So it's really the 'Neil Armstrong Human Memorial'?"

"What? No, 'human' isn't my last name, it's...never mind, we don't have time for that now."

There was so much Jeb wanted to ask this alien visitor. "How did your monument wind up on our Mun anyhow?"

"Sorry, we don't have time for that either. I'm here to ask you what you plan to do."

"Well, I plan to get this thing into orbit so we can go home. My friend here has other ideas, which seem to mostly involve sitting here until we pass out and die."

"I like your plan better. Except maybe for the not-enough-fuel part."

Jeb sighed. "You can tell from there, can you? You don't happen to have any we could borrow, do you?"

"No. Wish I did."

"So..."

"So what's the point of this conversation? Glad you asked. I've been sent here to reassure you."

"Fuel would be reassuring."

"Sorry. No, I'm here to assure you that, whether your story ends today or tomorrow or next year..."

"...or fifty years from now?" Jeb interjected, hopefully.

"Jeb, I've seen you fly. Anyhow, whenever it ends, it'll be all right so long as you go out as heroes. Because there's a special Valhalla just for space heroes, and it's where you two belong. There are a lot of great guys and gals up here, and we run missions you wouldn't believe. Jeb, there's a friend of mine named Pete--he's getting a ship ready for a mission to fly into the heart of a black hole. He's promised me that when you get here, whenever that this, you can be his co-pilot.

"As for you, Bill, I'll take you along with me on my next mission, if you like. It's just an everyday asteroid-lassoing kind of mission, but I think you'd find it fun, and maybe they'd let you command the next one after that.

"All right, I'm out of time and have to go now. Take heart, good luck, and Godspeed."

The alien apparition faded, and Jeb and Bill once again saw the surface of the Mun outside their spacecraft. They sat in silence for a few minutes.

JEBEDIAH KERMAN: This is Bob. You guys got anything for us down there?

CAPCOM: We've...been working on it. We have. The best minds down here are racking their brains...uh...afraid I don't have anything for you just yet though. I...

JEBEDIAH KERMAN: That's okay. We understand. We're going to try something on our end. Bob out.

The twin Rockomax 24-77s fired for a precious few seconds before their fuel ran out, giving MM Bob a little bit of altitude and time to work with, but not much. The craft was pointed towards the horizon, RCS thrusting for all it was worth; velocity was gained steadily, but ever so slowly. Soon the Munar Module started falling back towards the Mun, still nowhere near orbital velocity. Jeb pitched it back to vertical to try to stop, or at least slow, the descent, but the RCS wasn't powerful enough for that. So Jeb pointed the craft retrograde instead, and kept the thrusters burning (there was still fuel); and he and Bill braced for impact.

Debris flying away from the crash site. Maybe they should have tried riding it out on those deck chairs.

Points added and subtracted:

Goals

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

- Kerbal dies -20

Please note that the lander instructions were followed quite literally.

20 points added; 40 points subtracted. The mission has now earned 128 points, out of a possible 218.

The following points are no longer possible; they are noted here for the sake of completeness:

- 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

[KevinTMC]

RETURN

Command Module Pilot Bob Kerman was orbiting almost directly overhead when contact with the Munar Module was lost. He thought he saw a flash...but it could also have been his imagination.

Bob would not be needing the docking port anymore. He released the sub-satellite and prepared to burn for home.

Oh, yes. The docking port. Oops. One piece of orbital debris left behind then. Almost a clean flight.

Bob then flew home alone.

With lots of fuel left in the Command Module, the transfer was easy. Even though he didn't have to, Bob used aerobraking followed by an apokee burn to establish a stable orbit before final reentry--to help gather reentry data for future missions, and also to help better target his own landing.

Finally, a burn for gradual reentry, targeting the ocean east of Kerbal Space Center. There was an extra burn directly above KSC, to use up leftover fuel and make the return even gentler.

A water landing, as prescribed.

Splashdown at MET 2d 0h 54m.

Points earned:

Goals

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

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

The final challenge score for this mission is 143 points, out of a possible 218.

By way of recap, this is how the 75 points were lost:

-15 for completely missing the landing site
 -5 for losing half the science packages
 -5 for not removing kerbonauts first before crashing MM
-40 for losing two crew
-10 for not being able to redock in munar orbit

Many thanks to Xeldrak, the creator of this challenge. Even though it came to a sombre end, the Apollo K mission was among the most engaging and enjoyable and enriching that I've flown since I started playing KSP fourteen months ago. And I got a bit of a story out of it too.

Thank you for reading that story; I hope you found it worthwhile.

[KevinTMC]

EPILOGUE I

Apollo K was not going to be the end of kerballed space exploration. Everyone at Kerbal Space Center knew in their hearts that this was what they were created to do, and to keep on doing, whether it brought success or catastrophe or some mixture of both.

The Apollo Pre-K test crew of Dunvis, Hanbin, and Ronely Kerman was particularly eager to get back into space and complete the mission. Before they could do so, an important question had to be addressed: was the Apollo K lander capable of making a precision landing on the Mun and then returning to orbit, or was it fatally underpowered? Most were inclined to believe the latter. (Jeb and Bill had fired up all three engines and still barely made it down safely, after all.)

Spacecraft engineers were able to save some weight when they realized that including an old-style ASAS module on the lander was excessive (it was especially preposterous in the descent phase, seeing as no fewer than five reaction-wheel-containing parts were already attached to the rover). They also got rid of the deck chairs, since not even Jeb had been crazy enough to use them. Even so, as simulations got underway it still seemed a stiff challenge to land the Munar Module using only the single Rockomax 48-7S.

But Commander Dunvis Kerman and Munar Module Pilot Hanbin Kerman kept at it, enduring simulated crash after simulated crash until they started to feel their way towards a solution. By starting from a lower, 20km orbit, angling the burn carefully so as to not let vertical velocity get too high (about 20-25m/s seemed right until horizontal velocity was canceled), and coasting very little if at all during any phase of the descent, Dunvis and Hanbin were eventually able to simulate a safe landing using just the descent engine. Prospects for ascent looked fine as well, as leaving the less-efficient radial engines off during descent helped the fuel situation considerably.

And so, after having considered more radical changes, spacecraft engineers made only modest tweaks to the Apollo K craft in the end. Along with the changes to the Munar Module, a better place for the sub-satellite was found (under the Munar Module, instead of on top of the Command Module), a proper stack separator was added between the Command Module engine and the Munar Module, and the weight of the escape tower was reduced a little.

The Apollo K, Revised spacecraft (or Apollo K-R) was ready to fly.

Dunvis, Hanbin, and Ronely launched at dawn, and reached orbit safely...

...but the second stage had less fuel remaining than would be needed to complete the transfer burn. This time, the two-burn transfer plan would be required.

The second stage burned towards munar intercept until its fuel was nearly exhausted; the craft then coasted out to its new, very high apokee.

Remaining second-stage fuel was spent to tip the perikee back down into the low atmosphere, for debris control purposes; staging was then executed...

...and went very wrong, with the top two-thirds of the Command Module cut loose from the rest of the spacecraft. The crew suddenly found themselves separated from all engines; and while RCS thrusters were still on board, RCS fuel was not. To say they were thankful for being on a return trajectory would be a vast understatement.

(Remember kids: debris control isn't just cool, it saves lives!)

[KevinTMC]

EPILOGUE II

After returning safely home, Dunvis, Hanbin, and Ronely huddled with Kerbal Space Center engineers to try to determine what had gone wrong. The explanation they settled on was that the craft had twisted itself apart at stage separation because: a) SAS and RCS had both been left on at separation, and someone had forgotten to turn the Munar Module's RCS thrusters off at launch (Action Group 0, for those keeping score at home).

No changes were made to the Apollo K-R spacecraft after this failure, then; an identical craft was simply cued up for another dawn launch (with additional, more emphatic sticky notes added to the dashboard).

Separation of first stage. Staging was altered for the Apollo K-R so that the escape tower no longer separated with the first stage. Instead, the escape engines were triggered after the activation of the second stage...and the tower was left attached for most of the escape-engine burn, in the hopes of squeezing some tiny bit of delta-v out of the tiny SRBs.

This time, ascent to orbit was more efficient, and the second stage was able to achieve a free return trajectory with fuel to spare.

Since a non-trivial amount of fuel remained, and since more precise debris control would be possible closer to the Mun, and since it seemed agreeable to most everyone involved to put off the next, nerve-wracking staging for a while yet, the second stage was brought along all the way to the munar sphere of influence.

The second stage engines gave Apollo K-R a good start on its munar insertion burn, and altered course so that all debris would smack squarely into the Mun. Then, after double-checking the checklist (and quintuple-checking that RCS was turned off), breaths were held for staging.

It went without a hitch; and the debris field was perfectly set up for bombing the Mun.

After crew transfer, undocking, and redocking, a brief burn from the Command Module's engines pulled the craft out of an impact trajectory. Orbit was established at 20km; thanks to the design revisions, the munar sub-satellite could then be promptly released.

As had been the case with Apollo K, the kerbonauts arrived in orbit to find the Neil Armstrong Monment in darkness; but this time, they only had to wait six hours until there was enough light to attempt a landing.

Recalling the decision Jeb had made to name his Munar Module after his Command Module Pilot, the crew of Apollo K-R chose to name their lander after the other two members of the Apollo K crew.

Munar Module Jebill

Hanbin and Dunvis carefully followed the descent plan that they had so painstakingly worked out by trial and error, and things went even more smoothly than in the simulator. About a hundred meters from the surface, they were a bit farther from the target than desired; a quick check of the fuel situation showed that they had plenty of time to maneuver, and so they did, finally setting the craft down gently just inside the 100m target range.

The flag for this mission was an empty outline of a space capsule, chosen in memory of the two seats that had remained empty inside the Apollo K Command Module as it made its lonely way home.

[KevinTMC]

EPILOGUE III

Dunvis took the rover out to deliver the Munar Surface Experiment Package modules. He was under strict instructions to follow a relatively level path that had been plotted out across the surface, avoiding all craters.

MSEP #1

MSEP #2

MSEP #3

MSEP #4

By the time the fourth MSEP module was deployed, the rover had flipped over a couple of times--thankfully, without triggering any explosions or spontaneous disassembly--and had just started to climb a fairly steep hill, as Dunvis was drifting ever further from strict observance of his instructions, and had thoughts of doing some fun exploring once the science modules were off his hands.

But without any remaining MSEPs (and their reaction-wheel-containing probe cores), and attempting to climb further up that significant hill, the rover quickly became uncontrollable. Dunvis grew tired of the slow and erratic movement and continual flipping, and abandoned the rover (upside down again, for about the ninth time) less than 400 meters from where he had deployed the last module.

A look back across the rugged munar landscape

The return trip via jetpack was quick and easy. As Dunvis approached MM Jebill, he noticed that the flag that had been planted earlier had been eaten by the space Kraken (or perhaps by Hanbin). So he planted a new one atop the monument.

And then it was time to catch a ride back to Kerbin.

Less than half an orbit was required for rendezvous and docking. The crew was transferred back to the Command Module on the night side of the Mun...

...and then it was time for MM Jebill's final journey, back to the munar surface.

[KevinTMC]

EPILOGUE IV

After one last flyby of the landing site,

Apollo K-R burned for home. It re-entered the atmosphere for some aerobraking.

A parking orbit was established, as plenty of fuel remained; the crew then picked a spot in the ocean west of the big crater on Kerbin, and came in steeply but smoothly for a water landing as the sun disappeared over the horizon.

Splashdown was at MET 2d 10h 20m.

This time, all point-scoring objectives for the challenge mission were met. The slight modifications to the original Apollo K craft did not affect the design objectives, and once again the mission was flown without the assistance of mods, so the 30 base points were earned:

-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

As were the following design goals:

Goals

- 3-man Mission +10

- 2-man Lander +10

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

- Escape tower? +10

- Lander stored behind the CM during ascent +20

- Lander tucked away behind some fairing? +5

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

As were the following flight goals and bonuses:

- Free return trajectory to the mün +10

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

- 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

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

Landing accuracy (not cumulative)

- Land within 100 meters of the NAM +15

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

- 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

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

While the following penalties were avoided:

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

- Kerbal dies -20

(And I don't believe any other penalties would apply for the first, abortive flight, since all kerbonauts returned safely.)

That would be the full 218 points possible...if it all counts.

There are three reasons that it might not count:

1) This second attempt at the challenge is essentially a repeat/redo/refly, as it uses basically the same craft and mission profile as before. I'm not sure if that's within the spirit of the challenge, or if a second attempt is expected to be more different in nature.

2) I wound up reloading from a quicksave, once, as a result of a staging glitch. This happened when I detached the Munar Module for landing and attempted to start the descent burn. I hit the space bar to trigger the next stage, which should have activated the descent engine--but the engine was jettisoned instead. I reloaded to try it again...and this time I decided to not chance the staging system, activating the descent engine via the right-click menu on the part instead.

3) The solar panel providing power to the last of the MSEP modules was in a broken state on delivery. Due to the current state of the game's features and glitches, this was not fixable by my kerbonaut...but after I left the scene and came back again, the solar panel was good as new and the module operated perfectly. I'm not sure if this means the module still qualified as having "power, probecore and at least one science-thingy" or not; if not, then I only successfully deployed three modules, reducing my MSEP score (and final score) by 5 points.

I mention these details, not to be a pain in the neck, but because I want everything to be proper and correct if I am going to be awarded a second, higher score. I won't be terribly bothered any which way, though; the reason I revisited this challenge with the new Apollo K-R mission was not to score points or impress people, but because the challenge was simply so compelling that I wanted to keep at it until I got it right.

Many thanks, again, to Xeldrak for inspiring all this fun.

[KevinTMC]

Presenting Apollo K-Extended, a continuation of the Apollo K project undertaken for the "Duna Apollo Style" challenge.

In the spirit of this new challenge, I adapted my Apollo K-R design to create the Apollo K-X, reusing large chunks of the previous spacecraft, and avoiding unnecessary changes. The bottom two stages, in fact, are completely unchanged from the Apollo K-R mission. Here's what has changed:

* A new third stage has been added. (More delta-v was needed of course, but the craft now also adheres more closely to the requested mission profile for this challenge, and to the real-world Apollo design: unlike the earlier Apollo K missions, Apollo K-X is three stages to orbit.)

* In the payload, the single, engineless Apollo K subsatellite has become a pair of subsatellites powered by LV-1s, and they are mounted on the Command Module instead of below the Munar (now Dunar) Module.

* To better accommodate the subsatellites, the Command Module's monopropellant tanks have been tucked inside the Advanced SAS module; also, a pair of FL-T100 fuel tanks have been slipped inside the decoupler, to provide additional delta-v for interplanetary return. (It does not require part clipping or any other sort of sorcery to place things inside SAS and decoupler rings in the VAB...just a careful and patient hand.)

* The Apollo K rover has been radically redesigned for greater stability...and also for better durability on those occasions when stability fails. A pair of them are packed for the journey instead of just one; and they do not remain mounted below the Dunar Module for landing, as the single rover did before, but are instead remounted radially in-flight.

* The change in rover mounting led to the bottom of the Dunar Module being rebuilt, and to the shifting of some side-attached parts to accommodate new docking ports; but the biggest change to the lander is the addition of parachutes. Lots of parachutes. (And with them, more weight...so the central ascent engine has been changed from a 48-7S to an LV-909.)

* A new module, the polar probe, has been built from scratch. It is designed to separate from the main mission upon entering Duna SOI, collect a sample from the icecap, and then return to Kerbin independently.

* Finally, most of the structural panels in the fairing have been replaced with wing connectors, to help compensate for the heavier payload. (I think this also brought the part count down slightly...and every little bit helps, as the twin rovers add up to a lot of parts.)

Construction and testing took place in my main installation of KSP 0.21.1, where I've installed various mods--but no modded parts were used on the final craft, nor were mods used to build anything that couldn't also be built in an unmodded game (if a bit more laboriously), nor was part clipping turned on.

Space programs interested in examining the Apollo K-X more closely, and perhaps taking it for a spin themselves, can find the craft file here.

For flying the mission I used a new, unmodded installation of KSP 0.21.1, into which the required save file and my completed craft were copied. There was one reload from a quicksave, as detailed over in the challenge thread; no actual flight maneuvers were ever repeated, however, nor were the debug console or debug/cheat menu opened at any point.

This time, the mission report has been assembled into two annotated Imgur albums.

PART I:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

PART II:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

This mission achieved all goals set for the challenge, earning the theoretical maximum of 283 points, plus 3 points for a second rover, plus 34 points for arrival on Day 95...for a grand total of 320 points.

Many thanks to Death Engineering for this wonderful challenge--I've had ever so much fun, and there's a real sense of achievement in completing a challenge like this too. (Thanks once again to Xeldrak as well, for creating the original challenge that led to this one.)

And now I think I'm going to take a break from playing until 0.22 comes out. Whew.