Poll: Did your first Mun landing need a rescue ship to come rescue the Kerbals?

[FITorion]

1. Why come back... I go to stay.

2. Yes

[Scotius]

My first munar lander was so overengineered, it probably could've returned from Duna on its own . I was so afraid of stranding my Kerbals i packed way too much fuel, and almost crashed because lander was still very heavy several meters above surface. It was hair raising, but i made it somehow without crashing.

[Moar Boosters]

They broke their landing legs, so yes they needed a rescue crew.

The rescue crew crashed about 20km from them.

The kraken got that save. On my next save they sucessfully landed and returned on their own.

[Zaryulenko]

None of the above options are for my case:

Moving at 457 m/s while at about 50m from the ground and decaying must be painfull to death (This time literally) I learned to Land for the bad Way of trial and error (And lots of kerbals smashed on mun).

[CosmicScientist]

First Münar landing, Jeb and I think Bill crashed into the Mün's surface because I thought I'd be able to slow down faster. Then whichever was left in the orbiting rocket, Bob or Bill, flew back to Kerbin.

My second Münar landing however had three seperate Kerbals, Ronvis and two others, I wish I could get Ronvis in my current game, he was the first Kerbal I had to walk on the Mün.

So I didn't have enough fuel to get back up to the rocket to get back to Kerbin, so after playing around and crashing one Kerbal into the Mün's surface because I didn't realise how much they like to go poof at high speed, I decided to send a rescue craft, 'twas Jeb being the sole pilot.

Then the second Kerbal I got on the Mün, damn it, how can I forget their name, died when I tried to use the lander on its low fuel to get to the other lander and crashed into the surface with that...

And according to my screenshots, the rescue vehicle then needed a secondary rescue vehicle, this time piloted by Bill and so Jeb was the first Kerbal I had to crash, die, successfully land, walk and return alive from the Mün. Bill didn't leave the landing craft as I feared I'd wind up killing him in the process, again.

All that and neither a quicksave nor quickload, I didn't know they existed in the game and I've still never needed them.

[stupid_chris]

There's an other answer missing too. "No, there was nothing left to rescue". Cause that kinda applies to me

[Specialist290]

There's an other answer missing too. "No, there was nothing left to rescue". Cause that kinda applies to me

Seconded. There was a nice little debris cloud, but the capsule wasn't part of it.

[SkyRender]

My first Mun landing predated persistence, let alone EVAs (

). So no, technically I did not need a rescue ship, because there was no such thing in 0.12. Though I'm sure Bill, Bob, and Jeb would have appreciated it since my first Mun landing was also done on fumes and I had no possible way of returning them to Kerbin. Maneuver nodes would have made things much, much easier back then... Hell, even patched conics would have helped...

[Puolivalmiste]

When I did my fist Munlanding I was pretty sure it will go well as I had just earlier made unmanned landing with almost identical craft. But I did not go as it should have and even tho landing was soft I didn't have fuel for return trip so Jeb, Bob and Bill were stranded there till Munmon Kerman (+2 others) took all glory with perfect landing and being first to return. Next mission was a rescue craft that made first "accurate landing" and after 2km jetpack walk I went up and made successful return to Kerbin. Later I visited site to replace a flag with one that has more positive name and text as unlike I thought that site didn't end up as their grave.

[TheHockeyPlayer]

Before I first landed on the Mun, I watched some 2 hours worth of Mun landing videos on YouTube, just so that I wouldn't mess up. I was able to make it there and back on my first attempt, so I'd call it successful.

[spacetortoise1]

I remember using winglets as landing legs for my first landing back in 0.16, I was so proud of myself for a landing and return trip.

[Captain Sierra]

My first Mun landing actually made it back to Kerbin. At least, Kerbin orbit. It ran out of fuel on a highly eliptical and slightly inclined orbit. I said f*** it and EVA'd Jeb at periapsis. I quicksaved, then did an EVA re-entry. He only lived because he is Jeb. In hindsight, I had planned for a rendezvous and recovery mission after a quickload if he did not survive. of course, bulletproof helmets work too. XD

[Eric S]

There's an other answer missing too. "No, there was nothing left to rescue". Cause that kinda applies to me

I landed quite nicely, thank you. And proceeded to hit the space bar, separating the capsule from the rest of the craft when it came time to launch.

Now, the first and second rescue missions, of those there was nothing left. Somehow I lucked into my first landing, it obviously wasn't my piloting ability.

[Kerbol Prime]

On my first landing, there was not enough fuel, so I killed the three kerbals by using the remaining fuel to crash them into the surface.

It's not cruel, its saving money...okay maybe it is a liiittttllle bit unethical.

[bobcook]

Many probes were sacrificed to perfect the Mun landing system before any Kerbal was allowed near a rocket ship. That crazy Jeb was trying to catch a ride on each and every probe launch but fortunately he was always distracted by test driving a rover design around KSP. Once the technology was well proven (plus a judicious use of F5) the Kerbals set off on an epic adventure landing and returning safely to Kerbin. After a successful splashdown Jeb was overheard complaining about the lack of thrill to the whole thing. Sheesh.

[Bilfr3d]

The first one 'sort of' answers it. I sent up their a collection of four ships. Three of them basically fell apart upon landing, so then I just moved the kerbals onto an empty habitation module I had on the ship that survived, and came home

[Gojira]

No, because it was waaaaaaaaay back when 0.12 was in experimentals (I never bothered upgrading from 0.12 x5 back then ). Because of this I crashed and burned and lithobroke and killed Kerbals and restarted flights several times until I finally landed and returned from the Mun. And now I'm assembling a mothership, destined for Munar orbit and base establishment, in Kerbin orbit. I've really come a long way.

Edited August 27, 2013 by Gojira

[Dangerous_Beans]

My first lander fell over and crashed. No one died.

A rescue ship was sent, and Bill fell asleep at the controls, and the ship crashed. No one died.

My third attempt was unmanned, and succeeded in landing a 8 Kerbal house for them all to live in.

Before I lost the save, the Munar disaster memorial base had a permanent population of 6.

[phidauex]

(First post!)

This weekend I finally rescued my first Munar mission. The funny thing is that they didn't even get close to the Mun, and my overly ambitious group of three Kerbals (Captained by Mitmal) was stuck in an interplanetary escape orbit, with no fuel, no RCS, no batteries, and no power. I almost terminated the mission, but then decided to just let it roll.

About 1 Kerbin year and many successful Mun missions later, the space program was doing much better, and finally decided to rescue poor Mitmal and his crew. I built a lander system with a crew capsule and a lander capsule, docking systems, parachutes, solar panels, and enough fuel to land back on Kerbin under rocket power (or chutes). After a test flight determined it fit for landing, I sent it out (Piloted by a solo Jeb, naturally) on a NERVA engine to collect Mitmal and team.

After many days, it finally made rendezvous with the drifting capsule, and I transferred everyone over by EVA. One last push from the NERVA engine sent the now-empty capsule tumbling off into the dark.

PROBLEM. I don't have enough delta-v to get back to Kerbin. Maybe I could have waited a few years for things to align again, but instead I decided to try to gravity boost off of Eve. Realized too late that I didn't have enough fuel for THAT, but was already headed toward Eve. I adjusted to an aerobraking altitude of 72km, and made 3 aerobraking passes to get into a stable orbit at 1,000km x 120km. The "rescue" was a partial success - I had brought Mitmal and crew out of their tumbling coffin of death, and into a functioning spaceship. It only had 900 d/v, not enough to get home, but still enough to move around a bit. It also has power, some extra crew space, solar panels, and a proper docking system. So still stranded, but like, less stranded.

Then I built the second recovery ship - an unmanned recovery tug, powered by two nuclear engines, and with 9000 d/v available from LKO. It even has fore and aft docking clamps, docking assist lights, spare monopropellant to refill the payload vessel, and cool spiderweb struts. Finally got it into orbit, and got it into Eve orbit. Burned way more d/v than I had expected in order to plane match, but finally made connection to the original rescue ship, docked it, and started hauling home. After a few 20 min burns I was back in a Kerbin transfer orbit. Directed into a 42km aerobraking orbit, and made 4 aerobraking passes to slow the ship down. Disconnected, leaving the tug in orbit for later (with 800 d/v to spare), and dropped in for smooth landing next to KSC. The poor dudes were happy to be home, but of course Mitmal is signed up for the next manned mission!

Novapunch and Mechjeb were used, though I mostly used Mechjeb for informational panels and some transfer planning.

-Sam

[RodentCyclone]

I actually had way more fuel than I needed to get off the Mun (made it harder than I needed) and was able to transfer some back into the CM of my Apollo-style mission.

[bracknellexile]

Mine was a classic get-out-and-push mission. The initial lander made it back off the munar surface but didn't have enough fuel to do anything more than get into an elongated munar orbit. The rescue craft should have been able to pick up Bob no problem but at that point I had virtually no experience with rendezvous manoeuvres and blew most of the rescue craft's fuel trying to get close to Bob's craft.

There were, of course, no docking ports on the lander so Bob had to EVA over to the rescue ship. The pittance of fuel left in the rescue craft was enough to break munar orbit but not enough for a Kerbin encounter so we ditched everything bar the command pod and the parachutes and got out and pushed. Eventually the periapsis dropped just enough to skim the atmosphere and after several orbits of aerobraking, finally made it back home intact.

That was the day I learned that I would be spending many, many more hours than planned on KSP cos I'm too proud/stubborn/perfectionist (delete as appropriate) to leave any Kerbal behind.

[Spyritdragon]

That was the day I learned that I would be spending many, many more hours than planned on KSP cos I'm too proud/stubborn/perfectionist (delete as appropriate) to leave any Kerbal behind.

Most of us are. One gets attached to his Kerbalnauts eventually (provided you keep one for longer than half a mission).

I only terminate/end flights when they're either on the surface of Kerbin or when they have turned into pieces of junk that i won't ever need anymore, so i delete them just to prevent too much chaos.

[Jettuh]

Nah, everyone died at the first attempt, no need for a rescue ship :-)

[Ferrit]

Technically the first landing was less a landing and more a crash (too much horizontal velocity plus unexpected mountain equals bad day) which resulted in everyone being dead, but the second lander (same design, better piloting) made it there and back with no trouble. I can't honestly say that Mün landing has become routine, each is filled with a sense of accomplishment and often wonder. There have not been any serious accidents since that first disaster and only one rescue mission. Hopefully the first Kerballed landing on a extra-Kerbin-ial planet will go just as well!

[Wallace]

Many things went wrong with my first Mun landing, starting with the engine of the return stage dropping off at launch, and culminating in a heroic docking to an unpowered drifting fuel tank, with a capsule that had no RCS, but Jeb made it back successfully with no assistance needed.