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Space Mail: Chapter 1

Moencino

By Moencino
in KSP Fan Works

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Moencino

Moencino

Posted
Posted (edited)

(begin transmission)

Hey Mum and Dad, I'm writing from the Mun.

You’d have been so proud of me last night. Should’a died, but here I am, safe n’ sound with a cool rover and a dose of crippling solitude to look forward to. Uncle Dansby got lost driving to the launch pad again (mumbled something about iPhone maps), so I had to take his place. Everyone always says he’s braver than me, but times like this, I think he might be a little dumber, too. Anyway, tell him to feed my hedgehog while I’m away please.

So the launch went well, despite having to scold the maintenance crew AGAIN about topping off propellant tanks by candlelight. “But I like the romantic atmosphere,” said the Preflight Yard Refueling Officer. He just doesn’t understand how easily the wind can blow out a candle, so I gave him a flare and headed to the ship.

01_zps7d33bde5.png~original

The launch made me a little airsick, but as I bent forward to grab a sickbag, my improbably high forehead bumped a big button with “RCS” painted on it. I’m guessing it means “Relieves Car Sickness”, and one of those clever engineers repurposed it for the mission. I’ll have to send him a thank you letter, cuz I felt so much better after that.

I was very careful to throttle down before my last big fuel tanks were empty, so they’d have enough fuel left for a deorbiting burn after I jettisoned them. I know I never kept my room very clean, but you’d be proud that I do a much better job keeping space neat n’ tidy. So, next time you look up and see a glowing streak flash across the sky, just know it’s probably one of my booster rockets making its fiery return home. Well, there’s also a good chance it’s actually me inside a poorly-conceived launch vehicle that failed to make entry, and I’m pressed against the tiny cockpit window screaming my last words through an inch of silica glass as a plume of plasma violently chews its way through my spacecraft and roasts me alive. Either way, close your eyes and make a wish.

 

 

02_zpscead974b.png~original

At this point, I pulled out my calculator and started doing some calculations for getting into Munar orbit. I couldn’t help but peek out the window now and then, through which I could just catch a glimpse of the drill rig my command pod was attached to. I’d practiced for SO long at landing horizontally with the 4-thruster twin-pod configuration they’d dreamed up, and I knew it would be even easier in low gravity. I didn’t know then just how pointless all that training had been.

03_zpsdec3f18e.png~original

 

After a little snooze, I woke up just in time to do a perfect burn and place myself in Munar orbit. So exciting! Next up: spacewalk! Gotta’ tell ya’, I was pretty nervous, but my jetpack training back on Kerbal really paid off (which reminds me, I still have those crutches I borrowed. Sorry.) While my little heart certainly got pumping when I inadvertently strayed a little too far away from the ship, I managed to do a thorough external inspection of the lander, then gently drift over and into the remote command chair of the drilling rig.

 

04_zps5d284b26.png~original

05_zps1cba6e0a.png~original

 

Enjoying a MUCH better view than the command pod, I transferred most of the remaining propellant and fuel into the nacelles flanking the landing stage, leaving just enough for a deorbit burn. I could have just jettisoned them and done the short deorbit burn with the 4 radial thrusters, but again, I wasn’t going to leave any junk in space! My plan was to burn for 10 seconds, do a quick fuel transfer of anything that remained, then jettison the big empty propellant tank, the command pod, and the two spent thruster/tank assemblies.

But as gramps used to say, Kerbals plan, and…I don’t remember what he said, but basically planning is stupid and best avoided.

So I did the deorbit burn, and reached for the big red ‘decouple’ button – but something stopped my hand. A little voice inside my head told me not to press it. This is remarkable on two levels: one, it’s amazing how our subconscious knows stuff we don’t, and two, how did I hear it over all the other voices in my head? Either way, I’m one lucky Kerbal.

Then it hit me: the gimbal wouldn’t work if I switched from horizontal to vertical landing. Those silly engineers failed to put a guidance unit oriented the same direction as the landing engines, so the ball would be 90 degrees off while I tried to use it for my descent. Ok, I should fess up here and say they failed to TELL me they did. Not having much to do since arriving, I read the drill rig’s manual, and it seems all I had to do was flip a switch on the Clamp-O-Tron they’d mounted in the back…but nobody told me that!

So back to my panic. The ground was coming fast, so I frantically transferred all the nacelle fuel back into the rear thrusters, jabbed the Relieves Car Sickness button, and lit the fires. By that I mean engines – I don’t play with fire anymore after that flare-in-gramma’s-wig incident. I was slammed back in my seat, and thankful the engineers back home had oriented the rover this way, or I’d have had to watch as the ground came hurtling toward me.

06_zps607a56e7.png~original

Knowing this was do or die horribly, I focused so hard that even the voices in my head held their collective breaths – all that mattered was that gimbal and my velocity. My eyes darted to the altimeter – which I knew was wrong as soon as I jettisoned the last redundant parts of my ship: the big empty propellant tank, command pod, and adjoining empty fuel tank all tumbled into the Munar surface, their parting gift to me a reference point for altitude: their wreckage scattered on the surface at about 550m.

Making little rocking motions back and forth, I helped slow the ship down (a clever use, I thought, of the same principle that makes go-karts go faster when you’re a kid), as my eyes bored a hole into the gimbal. I mean that as a metaphor – despite my reputation for drilling holes in things, I didn’t really drill anything this time, as I was already in a bit of a scrape, and pressed for time. Which reminds me, is Shelby’s leg ok? Tell him I’m thinking of him, and SO happy I became a Kerbanaut instead of a surgeon.

So I was slowing down, pitching up, and HUGE craters were all around me! This is certainly not an ideal landing place, one of the voices in my head commented earnestly, and I nodded in agreement. But I stayed focused, Mum n’ Dad. I did, just like you taught me when I failed my driving test cuz’ I kept calling, “Punch buggy!” (Mr. Dax, my instructor, would be happy to know I’m the only buggy on the entire Mun, so he’d be safe. I can’t believe he punched me back every time. SO not cool).

Finally I could see my shadow on the surface, closing in on me…altitude, check….gimbal, check…velocity, a little high…just a little more throttle…ease it in….have….to…just…then I glanced at the fuel gauges – my main engines were well fed, but the only thing keeping me in control in this orientation was my Relieves Car Sickness thingy, and it uses propellant. I had less than 1% left.

07_zpsd41d5050.png~original

I was maybe 10m off the surface, and I slammed the lever beside the RCS button forward , pitching the ship forward just enough so that the RCS system died just as I softly touched down at a 45 degree angle, and the whole ship settled gently to the surface in the orientation that was intended. I blinked…I’m…alive?

08_zps4ce38d34.png~original

I realized I’d been holding my breath for much of the descent (which I know is silly given the curiously unlimited supply of air in my suit), and finally relaxed. I was here! I just had one thing left to do: I engaged the last stage of my flight plan, which fired a decoupling ring below the rover, freeing me from the nacelles. With a little back-and-forth action, plus clever use of my drilling stabilization legs, I nudged the rover clear. I locked the wheels, engaged the descent ladder, then for the first time stepped onto the Mun!

10_zps11757bbc.png~original

I was suddenly very happy that Dansby got lost, and feeling lucky to be stranded on the Mun alone. I might not be as brave as he, but I’m proud of what I did.

09_zps27ca1b2e.png~original

I hopped back in the rover to have a test ride, and realized the lack of propellant onboard was a serious problem; at the top of the drilling mast are a set of thrusters to help right it if (when) it tips over. No fuel meant one mistake would have me walking wherever I needed to go. So, VERY gently, I started exploring. The engineers aren’t very bright, I’d say, cuz’ this is the freakin’ MUN, and this thing is incredibly top-heavy and unstable. Where did they think they sent me, Eve? I spent as much time on 2 wheels as 4, and pulled off so many last-minute Dukes of Kazard moves to stay upright that I just KNOW my luck will run out.

11_zpsc43a6f87.png~original

I’m going to ask the KSP engineers if they can send up a probe with some fuel for me. That and maybe a Mun base where I can relax. And maybe some company? I’ve only been here a day and I’m kinda’ lonely.

12_zps7dfc9c08.png~original

An outhouse would be welcome, too. I have to pee pretty badly.

Love and hugs to all back home. See you soon! I hope…
Jeb

(end transmission)

Edited by Moencino
Punctuation was garbled
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KSK

KSK

Posted
Posted (edited)

Beautifully done! You had hooked after the second paragraph - 'so I handed him a flare instead' :D Oh - and that was an awesome contraption that Jeb was riding there.

Looking forward to the next part.

Edited by KSK
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