Disaster in space - all hands lost (lots of pics).

[Krupski]

OK, I built a pretty nice CSM and LM, got them into orbit, docked and at the last minute decided to fly to Minimus instead of the Mun. So (I'm a cheater) I setup MechJeb to do a transfer from Kerbin orbit to Minimus.

As my usually bad luck would have it, my flight path took me right through the Mun's gravitational influence. The result was that MechJeb got confused and demanded an over 4000 m/s delta-V. So (once again) I cheated and turned on infinite fuel to see if I could make it past.

(edit): My mistake. MechJeb wasn't confused... I was. I had "control from here" set to the LM instead of the CSM. Therefore, the guidance was coming from the LM but the propulsion from the CSM (i.e. backwards). My ship was trying to do a super retrograde burn to REVERSE it's orbit and then add MORE to do the Hohmann transfer to Minimus. In the process of the Kerbin orbital velocity going down, through zero(!!!) and then back up the other way, gravity did it's thing and that's why we crashed.

All looked fine until I realized that my new orbital path (the Hohmann transfer orbit to Minimus) passed THROUGH Kerbin! There was nothing left to do except notify the families of the three brave Kerbonauts and await the inevitable.

Here's how it went.......

Jettisoned the third stage - Yippee!!!! We're in orbit!

Extended the landing gear. Purty ship - sorta looks like an Apollo LM and CSM

The TMI (Trans Minimus Injection) Burn - Glow of the atmosphere... Mun in the background - beautiful!

Uh-oh this doesn't look good......

Not good at all....

Look at the velocity going down, altitude going down and required delta-V going up!!!!!!!! We WERE at 200Km - Doomed!

I knew it would end this way.

There goes the service module...

Not much to say here except "goodbye". Why is Jeb SMILING at a time like this??? And where did he come from?? He wasn't on the crew!

At least it was quick......

...and painless.

I didn't even think to quicksave it.

Edited November 11, 2013 by Krupski

[boomerdog2000]

Always double check the computer results. It appears the game was controlling the ship from the lander so all the navball indicators were backwards, which messed up mechjeb. It was burning prograde from its point of view.

[Krupski]

Always double check the computer results. It appears the game was controlling the ship from the lander so all the navball indicators were backwards, which messed up mechjeb. It was burning prograde from its point of view.

Come to think of it... you're right. It's obvious now in screenshot #3... the thrust vector is more or less pointed AT the Mun when it should have been more or less 180 the other way.

I thought "OK, service module engine is firing... we're going the right way". Then when I saw the Mun encounter on the map, I thought the problem was a computational confusion due to the gravity influence the Mun would have when I passed by.

I guess that's why NASA didn't hire me......

[wasmic]

Was there no parachute on the CSM?

[Krupski]

Was there no parachute on the CSM?

Yes actually there was. I didn't post the pic because it wasn't all that great.

Unfortunately, the chute deployed itself before I could wait until a low enough altitude and velocity and it tore off. The CM hit the ground pretty hard and blew up.

All three crew were in the CM, the LM was SUPPOSED to be empty, but somehow Jebediah stowed away (which would have made the Minimus landing mission a bit complicated).

Oh well... crash and learn.

[Traches]

OP, see if you can get to the mun without having mechjeb plan your maneuvers for you. It's more fun, and not difficult at all. I promise!

[Krupski]

Long before I ever heard of MechJeb, I've flown missions to the Mun, landed and returned all manually. I've also played with the Apollo style "free return" flightpath and purposely skipped the Mun orbital insertion burn and flipped back home (albeit with a small TCM required) just to see if ti would work.

As far as using MechJeb, I don't have the one with the module integrated into the command pods... I use the "stick on" version (the "AR202"). That way, I can use it or not at will, and on any command pod (stock or add-on).

[Kerbart]

When you look at the first image you can see the "next" arrow right next to the crew cam. That's a hint that there's a camera view #4.

Now, how did you get there? If I were a betting man (and I can be very wrong, which is why I don't bet) I'd say that the lander can was your primary vehicle (and thus populated). You went to crew roster and fixed that problem. And then you saved before take-off, causing the "primary" seats to be filled automatically (I really hate hate hate hate that behavior).

[Krupski]

When you look at the first image you can see the "next" arrow right next to the crew cam. That's a hint that there's a camera view #4.

Now, how did you get there? If I were a betting man (and I can be very wrong, which is why I don't bet) I'd say that the lander can was your primary vehicle (and thus populated). You went to crew roster and fixed that problem. And then you saved before take-off, causing the "primary" seats to be filled automatically (I really hate hate hate hate that behavior).

You know, that sounds exactly what I did. I've looked into the "persistent.sfs" file and found an option called something like "missing crew respawn" with a "true" or "false" attribute (set to "true").

Maybe editing it to "false" would work? I'll try it and post my findings.

-- Roger

[aeTIos]

Why did you decouple the 2 ships? I'm pretty sure you could've saved the mission by parachuteing the whole thing down.