Eagle 15 (Apollo style Mun mission)

[Scarecrow88]

I know we have had Apollo style vehicles before but this one was designed for a competition on another forum and proved quite popular, so I thought I would share it here. It's also quite easy to fly, with all staging done in sequence without needing to juggle stages around after some of the docking procedures.

Typical flight profile should be as follows:

Launch to LKO. I start my gravity turn just short of 10km, and aim for LKO around 85km. The launch vehicle doesn't have an over abundance of fuel, so don't waste it.

The jumbo tanks will all be jettisoned whilst still sub-orbital

Once in LKO, stage again to release the CM & SM so that it can turn around and dock with the LM.

When docked, stage again to jettison the last bit of the lifting stage and to lose the shrouds around the lander. A final stage at this point will jettison the shroud around the Munar vehicle engine, making it ready for Munar insertion. You can deploy the solar panels at this point. (Action group key 2)

Fly your insertion to the Mun and establish a Munar orbit. I tend to go for around 25km. Transfer your crew over to the lander, undock, and your good for a Mun landing.

For returning to orbit and docking with the command and service module, you have two choices. If you haven't wasted lots of fuel landing, the complete lander has enough to return as it is. Just perform a normal take off and rendezvous. However, the lander is a 2-stage vehicle so can be flown as per the Apollo missions if desired.

To do this, deactivate the lander engine (action group key 9 is set up to do this), throttle up to about 2/3 and press the staging key. I recommend only 2/3 throttle as the ascent module is quite small and can be quite lively until you get used to it.

Once rendezvoused with the command module and docked, the crew can be transferred back, the lunar module ditched, and a course set for home.

Hope you enjoy it.

Eagle 15 craft file

Summary:

Launch to LKO

Stage to release CM and SM for docking with LM

When docked, stage to prepare craft for Munar insertion

Deploy solar panels

Establish orbit at Mun

Transfer crew and undock

Land on Mun

Launch entire vehicle back to orbit OR deactivate lander engine, throttle up and stage

Rendezvous with command module and dock

Transfer crew and ditch Munar module

Fly back to Kerbin

Action group keys:

1 Toggle lander ladders

2 Toggle solar panels

9 Deactivate lander engine

Edited November 21, 2013 by Scarecrow88

[Majorjim!]

Thats a nice little lander you got there. I like single Kerbal landers. And Apollo craft.

And I like the option to fly the whole lander up.

Kudos!

MJ

[Scarecrow88]

Thank you. I quite like the lander too and will probably use it with other ships.

[Overfloater]

That lander looks great! It's nice conducting an Apollo mission every now and then... xP

[Scarecrow88]

I've just realised that the lander in the save file differs slightly from the lander in the pictures in that the saved one isn't fitted with the antenna or the science instruments - thermometer, barometer etc.

[John FX]

That really is a sweet lander.

[Wrench Head]

Darn fine Job!!!!!!!

[Scarecrow88]

Thanks guys. The lander flies well too, with plenty of fuel to spare in the descent stage. Enough that if you fly a standard descent that doesn't waste fuel, you can bring the whole thing back up in to Munar orbit. It was specifically designed to be 2-stage though, and the ascent stage on it's own is perfectly capable of getting back in to orbit, but it isn't very forgiving of pilots who mess about wasting fuel trying to make a rendezvous with the command module.

I did consider making the lander available as a sub-assembly, but figured if anyone wants to use it like that, they can download the entire craft and make their own sub-assembly.