Most kerbals to the Mun and back

[matskuman5]

How many kerbals can you land on the Mun and bring safely back to Kerbin in one mission?

Rules:

1. You MUST have pictures of launch,

surface of the Mun, and back at Kerbin.

2. No debug cheats.

3. No mechjeb or any other mods.

Leaderboard

1. Smidge204, 104 kerbals

2. matskuman5, 58 kerbals

3. Tied - British_Rover and Mazlem, both 35 kerbals

Here's my (old) try:

13 Kerbals.

Let's see your try.

Edited December 8, 2013 by matskuman5

[Lions]

Single launch? or can you dock and stuffs

Point system? or just max kerbals

I might take like 40 kerbals in one go .... only joking

[panzerknoef]

I got 21 in one go, but since they are living in a base now, i have no intention to bring them back. So that's not really valid i guess.

[TimMartland]

I once did a 20-kerbal there an back, but I had kethane and they stayed a while. Plus it was 0.19 and no screenshots

[GuzWaatensen]

I think you could use something like this:

Maybe call it the full thrill ride experience...

[matskuman5]

Single launch? or can you dock and stuffs

Point system? or just max kerbals

I might take like 40 kerbals in one go .... only joking

Single launch, no docking.

Just as many kerbals as you can.

[Monkeh]

Just as a warning...lol, this challenge may bring on a Kraken attack!

So inspired by the posts above I thought I'd shove a load of full hitchhiker tanks in a row, EVA out all the Kerbals and then shove them on a load of command chairs of another ship...

I got to about 15 or so stood on the pad when it struck. Had to restart and when I returned the 'ship' was moving at over 10,000 m/s away from Kerbin and the poor guys who were stood minding their own business, waiting for their trip to the Mun, were close behind at 4,700 m/s...

Ye 'ave been warned yer flabber fleshed land lubber yer!

[frizzank]

How much do kerbals weigh when in command chairs?

[I_Killed_Jeb]

0.09t

10char

[Liowen]

I built a ship to do this challenge and thought I had loaded with 18 Kirbals, sadly I did the whole mission and realized I only had 2 aboard (it even made it back to the surface intact too). To make it worse I cannot seem to get the rhythm back to land the craft again. I may try again in a few minutes or so, maybe then I will have better luck.

[Dr. RichMoneyBucks]

I have a story for this challenge.

So one day, the administrator was sitting in his office looking at the Mk 1 Command module memorial, when one of the assistant kernels came in. "Sir, there's been a problem." This didn't come as a surprise to the administrator, there were always problems. They had one every other day. "The government has cut funding to the mun program. We only have funding for one mission." That didn't seem like a problem. It was probably better for the kerbonauts in the long run if they never got into one of our rockets anyway. Eyeing the memorial again, he said "Well, whats the catch? doesn't seem like a problem to me." The Assistant straightened his tie, which was never a good sign. "Well, sir, we had a contract with all the other kerbonauts on track to go to the moon. We have to send them all in one go." The administrator promptly dropped dead on the spot. They always did.

Hope it was good!

[Scarecrow88]

I managed 20 without resorting to the command chair. Think the same craft might do 23 if you substitute a 3 man capsule at the top in place of the command pod, battery and SAS control.

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[Pds314]

I have a FAR+B9 SSTO spaceplane that can get 500 m/s dv in orbit with 146 kerbals. If I replicate the concept in stock and add boosters or drop-tanks, I'm sure I could do pretty well at this. Obviously, SABRE engines wouldn't be available, but I think it could still be done.

[Liowen]

I managed 20 without resorting to the command chair. Think the same craft might do 23 if you substitute a 3 man capsule at the top in place of the command pod, battery and SAS control.

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Oddly I am 2 shy of 20 myself yet use less of a lifter to get into orbit. I could add on some SRB's and maybe a few more solo MK-1 pods to get even more into orbit and onto Mun. I will try in a bit again to see if I can get the full crew there and back again. I just threw one together not thinking it would work, and it worked better than I thought! Here is the second attempt I tried last night at the pad before liftoff. (Also No RCS on this bucket either ><)

[matskuman5]

Testing a design with >50 kerbals.

Not going very well...

[Scarecrow88]

Oddly I am 2 shy of 20 myself yet use less of a lifter to get into orbit. I could add on some SRB's and maybe a few more solo MK-1 pods to get even more into orbit and onto Mun. I will try in a bit again to see if I can get the full crew there and back again. I just threw one together not thinking it would work, and it worked better than I thought! Here is the second attempt I tried last night at the pad before liftoff. (Also No RCS on this bucket either ><)

It looks as if you have at least 14 jumbo tanks on there, whereas I am only using 13, so how is yours less, unless you are counting the second stage I have on mine?

[Liowen]

It looks as if you have at least 14 jumbo tanks on there, whereas I am only using 13, so how is yours less, unless you are counting the second stage I have on mine?

Yeah I thought for some reason those were double stacked hehe. Sorry

[Liowen]

While I started with 22 in this ship the Kraken blew up 2 of my Kerbals, so while I believe I lost them due to no fault of my design I will claim only 20 on the surface and home.

Launch pad photo:

Mun landing:

Reading of the plaque and group shot (one is covered by the message but he is there.

Slash down (points for it looking like a lighthouse??? hehe)

I actually had to get more Kerbals on my test save in order to do this as I originally only had 5 on there. I believe I could have done more, but the Kraken may have eaten more than two if I had.

[matskuman5]

Added leaderboard.

[Liowen]

Added leaderboard.

I will attempt one more tonight to see if I can make it even higher using this same basic design, I am right now thinking an engine change might be in order to do it right and get nearly 30 on Mun.

[Liowen]

Ok I tried my best to hit 30, but I missed the mark by 4 . I got 26 to Mun and home (31.1km from the KSC) safe and sound....since learning I do not need to go back to the space center every time to do another eva .

Launch pad

Mun landing party of 26.....your table is ready.

Ah I can see my space center from here.....sort of!

I could honestly do more with chairs on the outside, but to me that is not being honest as they would die in them. All stock no mods or cheats used in completing this challenge. I think this is my limit though, however now I am curious if this would make it to Minmus and back! Maybe in the future I will try, but for now this was a good test of both building and flying for me.

Edited December 4, 2013 by Liowen

[British_Rover]

I did this last night but ran into a parachute problem. The chutes were not spread out even enough so they ripped my lander apart. Burning to slow down before the main chutes deployed meant I didn't have enough fuel to slow final descent and I smacked the water too hard.

Will try again tonight.

[matskuman5]

58 kerbals

The vessel in it's entire glory:

Kerbin orbit:

Approaching the Mun:

Landed!

Back at the space center:

The main chutes ripped off, but I managed to land with the engines, as they had plenty of fuel left.

[Liowen]

58 kerbals

Landed!

Wait I thought you had to take all the Kerbals out for a group shot? Awesome design! I would have use the square radials on the sides of the hitchhikers though, in case of the main chutes failure it is best to have a back up set for emergencies.

[matskuman5]

Wait I thought you had to take all the Kerbals out for a group shot?.

No, just a picture with the ship landed.

+ It would have been a pain to EVA 58 kerbals