From First Flight to Fourteenth Flag *With Missions 3 & 4 Finally!*

[Captain Sierra]

Table of contents:

Mission 1

Mission 2

Missions 3 & 4 (same post)

---

The following is a chronicling of the brave kerbals of the space program, from the first sub-orbital flight, to the fourteenth and final flag of a grand tour.

The universe is probably littered with the one-planet graves of cultures which made the sensible economic decision that there's no good reason to go into space--each discovered, studied, and remembered by the ones who made the irrational decision.

Mission 1: Sub-Orbital

---

The flag whipped in the swift and cool Autumn wind. Thomfrid laid on his back, sweating bullets. Two feet below him sat a thousand gallons of rocket fuel.

"Control, Thomfrid, come in," control rattled in his headset.

"Thomfrid, control, I read."

"We're undergoing final launch preparations; sit tight and buckle up."

Thomfrid was even more worried. He was sitting on top of a controlled explosion. He wasn't afraid of danger, but something about the fact that one tiny crack in the tank could instantly vaporize him made him fret.

"Control, you are sure this thing is safe . . . right?" he said, voice full of concern.

"It's equipped with our latest rapid egress system. If anything goes wrong up there, you'll be shot clear of the explosion in no time!" exclaimed the operator.

"That's comforting," Thomfrid said sarcastically.

Thomfrid heard some indistinguishable garble on the loudspeaker,and then something he recognized.

"T minus 5 . . .

. . . 4 . . .

. . . 3 . . .

. . . 2 . . .

. . . 1 . . .

Main engine start!"

He felt the rocket ignite. The jolt sent chills down his back. Then he started moving. The launch clamps disengaged and the rocket lurched skyward.

As soon as he cleared the pad, the automated launch sequence brought the engine up to full power. Thomfrid was pressed into the back of his seat.

He caught himself audibly yelling out of terror.

Faster and faster the rocket raced, clawing at the sky above. He could feel the acceleration increasing as fuel was consumed. It became almost too much and he began to get tunnel vision.

The ascent program dropped throttle down and Thomfrid breathed a small sigh of relief. While still powering towards the heavens, at least the ride could be comfortable now. he looked out the tiny window he had and could see nothing. Clever as he was, he pulled out a pocket mirror and looked around through the mirror. To his surprise, the Mun was there to greet him.

"Control, I can see the Mun from here!" He said giddily, "Do you think a kerbal will ever go there?"

"We have no doubt Thomfrid, no doubt at all . . ." control said as if reasurringly.

In the exitement of it all, he hadn't watched the fuel indicator. The rocket cut out with a pop.

"Thomfrid, we're reading engine out; stand by for separation." control instructed him as the ascent program triggered the explosives, decoupling the capsule from both the ejection ring and the rocket below.

"Roger that control," Thomfrid said anxiously, still wanting to get away from the now silent rocket motor.

With a metallic clang and a jolt, Thomfrid both felt and heard the separation.

The capsule slowly drifted up out of the sky, now mostly below it.

"Control, I wish you could see this," Thomfrid said in peaceful awe, "Space is beautiful."

"Well, you'll have to bring a camera next time," the operator chuckled over the com.

"Thomfrid, scanners are showing you've escaped the atmosphere; you are go for EVA."

"You want me to . . . to get out? It's beautiful, but space is not for kerbals. I like my oxygen thank you!" Thomfrid stated, panicked and defiant.

"You have an EVA suit and the capsule has the air to pressurize itself again; you'll be fine, you only have enough time for a few minutes anyways," control tried to reassure him.

He dutifully donned his helmet and bled the air out of the capsule, and swung the hatch open.

He climbed out into the inky blackness and closed the hatch gently below him. He finally exhaled when he checked that it did not lock.

Shoving fear aside, he took a leap of faith, and let go of the ladder. he drifted back for a moment and then turned on his EVA pack. he scooted around his craft once, looking and chuckling to himself, "space is so vast, yet I dare enter with with such a tiny refuge."

For a full 7 minutes, he remained silent, drifting in blissful admiration of the cosmos.

"Control, Thomfrid, come in," this time stated with a mild urgency which Thomfrid picked up on.

"Go control."

"You're coming up on time to reboard the craft; You'll hit the atmosphere soon and you need to be inside."

"Roger that control, heading back now."

Thomrfrid grabbed the ladder and spun himself back around the right way. He pulled open the hatch and slid in feet first. He locked the hatch shut and then opened the air tank valve to repressurize the cabin.

he remembered that he had to hit the lower atmosphere backwards, something about heat and the shape of the capsule. So he rotated the capsule around with the reaction wheels and pointed that way. He began to hear faint winds as the capsule entered the upper atmosphere. He disabled the reaction wheels and allowed the capsule to hold it's own. As he got deeper in, he began to see flames in the window. AS they grew more intense he began to worry again. Was it going to explode? Had space flight yet another way to vaporize him? He continued to fret as the heating outside grew more intense.

Eventually, it began to subside, and the capsule slowed down to more reasonable speeds. He armed the parachute for deployment.

The parachute fired, slowing his fall. As he approached the ground, he felt it deploy fully and he laid back to enjoy the peaceful drift down to terra firma.

He sat up as he felt a sudden thud. He was landed. He had gone to space, to the kraken's mouth, and returned safely.

"Control, I'm touched down safely," Thomfrid said, looking forward to seeing other kerbals and getting out of his space suit.

"We copy you Thomfrid; we're on our way."

Thomfrid Ketman, the first kerbal in space.

---

Opinions are welcome. I'd like to get enough interest so that doing this all the way to the fourteenth and final flag of a grand tour is rewarding for both me and you.

Edited February 9, 2014 by Captain Sierra

[FlamingPotatoes]

This story is much more engaging than some of the others I've read, I'm glad you've set a goal.

[Raptor831]

I like this style. And it's nice to have a clear direction/goal. So who's going to orbit?

[Captain Sierra]

After the first sub-orbital flight, it was decided that more crew were needed for rotation. Thomfrid Ketman couldn't do everything.

Thomfrid's brother, Jefrod, was hired along with an old friend of Jebidiah, Chadory Krebet, and his brother Shepory. Chadory was a legendary test pilot from the KerBull air races. Rumor had it that in his second race, he had to eject a mere 40 meters from the ground, falling fast and upside down.

Jebidiah was eager to go for a ride testing out a new solid fueled booster he had been perfecting, and such a test would be here for sure. Jeb would have his day.

The sky is the limit only for those who are afraid to fly.

Mission 2: Orbit

---

Only one day to launch. Two pairs of brothers sat around a coffee table in the astronaut complex talking passively. Jerford, Thomfrid, Chadory, and Shepory all talked, pondering the next mission, their futures, and who had the best poker hand, as Thomfrid threw down another twenty kerbits worth of chips.

"Call, and raise you ten," he said with a smirk on his face.

The others took turns sounding off "call", intermittently spaced by clattering of chips.

"So, who do you think is up next on the launch roster?" inquired Jerford.

"Where have you been? They posted the mission brief this morning," Thomfrid responded, "You and Shepory are next up for a two man flight to orbit!"

"Really?" he exclaimed giddily.

"Yes we are," chimed Shepory, "We get to live up to our brothers, and I get to take your money."

he threw down a straight and began raking the pot.

"Now hold on," demanded his brother Chadory as he threw down a full house, "I'll take that thank you!"

Jerford just gave in and tossed his two pair onto the table.

"Gimmie that you two!" answered Thomfrid, who dropped four of a kind onto the table and began organizing his bounty, "You need to work on your poker face little brother."

"I know, I know; I don't think going to space will help a lousy poker game."

"That's alright, don't forget to enjoy zero-G while you're up there," Thomfrid said to Jerford, "Shepory, you take care of him now."

"I will Thomfrid, it's the least I can do," he answered.

One day later . . .

---

Jerford and Shepory laid in their seats, ready to be blasted off to space to become the first kerbals to orbit the planet.

"You think this rocket is any safer than the last?" asked Jerford.

"Absolutely, KSC got their hands on some new cryogenic fuels," Shepory answered, "While they can boil off, wasting fuel, they're much more stable."

"That's good, and what about this new launch escape tower we have?"

"My friend Jeb designed it himself," Chadory called over the radio, "It's designed to handle the unique shape and increased mass of your capsule."

Again the loudspeaker blared out the countdown,

"T minus Five . . .

. . . Four . . .

. . . Three . . .

. . . Two . . .

. . . One . . .

Main engine start, we have liftoff!"

The rocket shuddered as the new fuel started exploding violently, throwing itself out the exhaust nozzles. Ice fell from the tanks as the clamps released and the rocket slowly lumbered up to the heavens.

Chadory and Thomfrid watched as their brothers were carried away on the power of chemistry, bound for the stars and for greatness.

Thomfrid took a moment and spoke into the radio, "Be safe you two."

As fuel drained, the acceleration built. Jerford tightned his legs to as his brother advised to prevent blacking out, but the newer rocket wasn't quite as fast, so it became unnecessary.

Shepory checked the fuel gauges.

"We're halfway though the first stage; acceleration looking good," he said to Jerford, "I'm engaging the gravity turn program now."

They felt the rocket begin to lean over slightly. The lean got progressively more until they felt their trajectory begin to catch up to the direction of ascent.

"25 degrees and still pitching slowly," Thomfrid said, reading off the gauges, "Are you sure that's enough to make orbit?"

"I'm gonna trust the smeg-heads back on the ground that they got this right; If they didn't . . . well, it wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen."

Caught up in the moment, the fuel gauges got away from them and they suddenly were hit with weightlessness as the first stage cut out.

"I'll start the pumps, you double check the igniters," called Shepory as he flipped the toggles to safely shut down the main engines. Thomfrid flipped some switches and primed the interstage ignition system while Shepory hit the turbopump switches and lifted the safety cover on the staging controls. He hit the button and the rocket lurched forward yet again as the heavy lower stage was dropped and the upper stage motor roared to life, boosting them higher and higher towards orbit.

As they climbed further into space, Shepory suddenly shouted, "Look!"

Jerford squinted and saw the Mun, straight ahead, in all it's cratery goodness.

"How badly do you want to see that up close?" he asked Shepory.

"Very much so, landing looks pretty tough though with all those craters."

"I'll bet."

The engine cut off. The craft drifted through space silently.

"So what now, are we in orbit?" asked Jerford.

"No, we have to make a burn at our apoapis, the high point, to complete the orbit," answered Shepory, "If we don't we'll fall back down to Kerbin like your brother's flight did."

"You sure know a lot about this stuff," Jerford noted.

"I was studying astrophysics before I applied as an astronaut."

Shepory once again hit some different toggle switches and reached for the staging button.

"What are you doing, you said yourself we need the engine for later!" yelled Jerford.

"I'm jettisoning the LES tower; We wait until the circularization burn and it will end up in orbit with us, and we don't want debris in space," he answered as he hit the button.

This time Jerford didn't notice any change on the pod, but rather saw the tower whiz away from them off into the distance.

Once again the engines kicked on, started by the ascent program, and burned for orbit.

"So what happens to the big rocket when we're done with it?" Asked Jerford.

"The brainiacs below slapped some retros on it and assured us that it would be enough for de-orbit, to make it fall back down and burn up in the atmosphere."

"Burn up? What about us!?" Jerford said, panicked.

"We have a heat shield and a parachute; we'll be just fine," Shepory said reassuringly.

The engine cut off and Shepory started at the toggles again.

"Wait, I wanna drop this stage," said Jerford.

"Go for it," Shepory answered, backing his hand away from the staging controls.

Jerford punched the button and the upper stage blasted away from them with a satisfying 'thud'.

Jerford looked to Shepory and asked, "You wanna go on a spacewalk first?"

"I'll stay in the safety of the capsule thank you," Shepory said uneasily, "I like being in space, but i also like staying where I know I'm secure."

"Suit yourself!" Jerford said as he began to bled the air out of the capsule.

Jerford squeezed past Shepory to pull the hatch open. He climbed out into the inky blackness and nudged himself away from the pod.

"Come on Shep, you don't know what you're missing!" he called over radio.

"First, please don't call me that," replied Shepory, "and second, it's policy that one of us stays in the capsule at all times."

"If we did everything according to policy, you're friend Jeb would be out of a job!" Jerford joked back.

Shepory chuckled at the remark, "Too true, too true."

He climbed out of the hatch to join his friend.

After a quick spacewalk, Shepory retreated back to the capsule, while Jerford continued to fly circles around the ship.

"you're gonna burn out your EVA pack fuel!" Shepory called to him.

After checking the gauge, sure enough he had used almost three quarters of the tanks. He scooted back over to the capsule, where he had more waiting. After popping back inside, he replenished the pack's fuel and then repressurized the cabin. Just then, KSC called to check in.

"Shepory, it's your brother; how is it up there?"

"It's fantastic Chad, I wish you were here."

"Me too; now we got good news and bad news, which do you want first?" said Chadory.

"Give us the good news," asked Jerford.

"Okay, the good news is your batteries are holding strong; you'll have enough power for almost three hours, that's at least five orbits, not including the one your almost through with."

"And the bad news?" asked Shepory.

"Bad news is you'll have to make your de-orbit burn in about ten minutes if you want to come down near KSC in daylight, which means you won't have completed a full orbit; If you don't you'll have to choose between coming down at night, making the recovery take longer, or you can come down on the far side, also making recovery take longer."

"Well that sucks," Jerford said to Shepory.

"What do you want to do Jerford. I personally vote re-enter now."

"Eh, what the heck; first kerbals in a stable orbit is good enough for me," Jerford told Shepory.

The two then radioed KSC, "KSC, we're burning for de-orbit now; see you in twenty," and they fired the engine.

They drifted in space a while longer, waiting for the pressure meter to indicate atmospheric contact. Suddenly, the needle started moving to the right. They had hit the exosphere.

Jerford had finally figured out the right toggles and jettisoned the engine and heat shield shroud.

They continued to watch the needle as Shepory disengaged the stability augmentation system, or SAS.

"We're entering the stratosphere now; we should be seeing heating soon," Jerford said, going off his brother's experience.

To his surprise there was no heating at first.

"We're coming in faster, but on a much more shallow entry trajectory; we must not be hitting the atmosphere fast enough to generate that amount of heat," Shepory said as only a few flames kissed the capsule.

Jerford checked the radar projections. "Darnit, we're gonna be just off the coastline," he said.

"Okay, water landing; That worries me, this capsule is pretty back-heavy. The hatch might be underwater until the recovery crew arrives," Shepory pointed out.

"That'll suck," Jerford noted as he primed the mortars and fired the chute.

After full deployment, they drifted steadily towards the now audible waves. They both silently wondered if the capsule would float correctly.

They splashed down and true to the prediction, the capsule remained oriented nose up and the hatch was underwater. The two now sat and waited for the rescue divers to come and get them. The kerbals were now heroes, the first kerbals ever to orbit Kerbin.

---

[4th wall]

So I'm curious as to opinions. Right now I only have two. This is definitely fun, yet time consuming. I hope my authorship skills are not going to waste.

Also, I'm considering a 3 man orbiter, a Munar flyby, and a landing on one of the moons. I have not yet decided the exact order of that so suggestions, comments, and constructive criticism are all appreciated greatly. This is one of those projects where I am motivated by the satisfaction of having regular viewers enjoying the series. The more you let me know that, the more I'll push out and the faster I'll produce it.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the read.

-Sierra

[/4th wall]

Edited February 3, 2014 by Captain Sierra
fixed an image

[aeTIos]

I like the story! Keep it up!

[Raptor831]

Do those missions in the order you stated. 3-man orbit (maybe longer duration), Mun flyby, and Mun landing. It makes the most sense from an in-universe view.

[Orionkermin]

^^^ I agree, it's a logical progression. If you feel the need to mix things up, you could always flyby one moon, then land on the other.

[Captain Sierra]

Author's note!:

So I'll be delivering Mission 3 and 4 tomorrow, together, mainly because they will both be really too short to be standalone and because I'm still working on the mission for mission 3. Technical difficulties with getting a working escape tower (I want something more professional than the one I built with octagonal struts in Mission 2, but the only one I have is the KSPX one which is too big). FASA one doesn't have the thrust. If anyone knows a good 0.625m escape tower, let me know.

Jeb, Bill, and Bob will make their first official appearance in the next set as well. I'm also theorizing about how to deal with the intended interlude period which is planned for after some moon landings and before the official grand tour attempt starts.

I'm considering doing a few probe mission launches and trying to stagger them in such a way that things work without burning too much time on my game clock and without making the missions speed through (probe missions would be long interplanetarys).

All in all, I can realistically only commit to guarantee one new post a week, but I will certainly try to do better than that if time permits.

Hope everyone reading is enjoying this so far. Comments are always welcome, I am listening and you may see subtle changes in response to what people say. The more you comment, the more motivated I am to pound out more missions!

[KSK]

Count me in as another reader who's enjoying the ride so far and looking forward to seeing that 14th flag raised on whichever planet you have mind!

[Captain Sierra]

Count me in as another reader who's enjoying the ride so far and looking forward to seeing that 14th flag raised on whichever planet you have mind!

I've already thought that far ahead and I think people will be quite amused as to how I end the grand tour.

Mission 4 is currently finished, but Mission 3 is still struggling due to not having the proper parts.

[Raptor831]

For the "interlude" just continue with some interplanetary stuff. Maybe a Duna landing, or base even. A Grand Tour would be an impressive feat, so taking "baby steps" seems a good idea.

Looking forward to the next missions!

[wasmic]

Looking for escape towers? There are some good ones here: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/37138-Wolf-Aerospace-Perfectrons-L-E-S-Pack

Both in 1.25m and 0.625m. Alternatively, the NovaPunch escape tower can be used (there's also a 0.625m version), but it doesn't look as good.

[Fleskhjerta14577]

I have a quick and simple question about the cryogenic effects-

How do you do them?

I really want those but no idea what mod they're in. Care to give a little noob some guidance?

[Orionkermin]

I think it's from a mod called cool rockets or something like that.

Also how's everything going capt. did you get mission 3 working?

[Fleskhjerta14577]

Cool Rockets? Do you mean HotRockets? If so, I have that mod and it just creates better engine exhaust effects. If it does anything else then I probably haven't found that. But I really do want ignition effects like that, would make launches look soooo much cooler.

[Orionkermin]

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/68196-CoolRockets!-Cryo-and-Launch-Particle-FX

Nope cool rockets

[Fleskhjerta14577]

Oh, I was looking on Spaceport. Does it work with all engines, mod and stock? Or just stock..

Will test that. Edit: Turns out I have to manually add them. Will wait for someone else to do that.

Back on topic now- the missions look great so far:)

[Captain Sierra]

For the "interlude" just continue with some interplanetary stuff. Maybe a Duna landing, or base even. A Grand Tour would be an impressive feat, so taking "baby steps" seems a good idea.

Looking forward to the next missions!

There is some modeling after real world space programs, I think that can be seen so far. I think you'll find how I handle it to be interesting. I've begun to develop a plan for that.

Oh, I was looking on Spaceport. Does it work with all engines, mod and stock? Or just stock..

Will test that. Edit: Turns out I have to manually add them. Will wait for someone else to do that.

Back on topic now- the missions look great so far:)

I believe the plugin automatically tags the effects to parts based on the part modules in the config file, which means it will tag regardless of mods. Don't quote me on that.

---

So, the next missions are here (FINALLY!). Now, I have to add a bit of a disclaimer.

There is a tiny bit of coarse language in mission 3 but given the situation, I think it's reasonable. I reserve the right to do that on the basis of creative license however, I do so on these conditions/promises. I keep it to only the most dire of circumstances and I keep it light. I will always warn the reader ahead of time.

Given that, feel free to enjoy. A little bit of reader discretion is advised for mission 3.

The future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented.

Mission 3: Engine Testing

---

Jebidiah ran up the ramp to the rocket he had built, grinning like a madman.

"Jeb you crazy *******!" Bill cracked over Jeb's headset, "You'll kill yourself!"

"I know what I'm doing, I built this myself," he snarked back.

"That's what concerns me," chimed in Bob.

For the past week after being hired by the space program, Jeb had been hard at work designing a test vehicle for the latest creation out of his junkyard, a solid fuel rocket. The motor was, according to everyone else, a "trash bin full o' boom." Jeb remained confident it would work. On the off-chance it didn't, he had also designed an extra powerful escape tower to blast the capsule clear. Now he was giddy as a schoolboy as he climbed the ladder into the manned missile.

Chadory, Thomfrid, Bill, and Bob all piled into the control center, each muttering a prayer, swearing under their breath, or conducting some personal ritual by which to wish Jeb luck or condemn his near-suicidal nature. Thomfrid grabbed a pair of binoculars to track him as he flew while Chadory read off the telemetries on the craft.

"Jeb you better be sure about this . . ." called Thomfrid, who was recalling memories of himself sitting on top of an equally deadly bomb.

Jeb fired the rocket and was nearly knocked out by the G-spike of the launch.

"Jeb that was six gees; are you okay?!" called Chadory.

"I'm good!" He replied, his voice audibly excited from the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

The rocket raced higher and faster, reaching near hypersonic speeds. Chadory watched closely as the engine heat buildup rose dangerously.

"Jeb, your getting dangerous heat buildup on the engine; you may need to abort."

Jeb, being Jeb, didn't dream of it. He wanted to ride that thing to the bitter end, his mouth gaping open half from excitement, half from the g-loading. But the heat was building faster then the fuel was burning. It would overheat and reach critical ignition temperatures.

"Jeb, heat is critical; punch out!" screamed Bill into the mic.

Just then, alarm bells started ringing. Finally, Jeb accepted the gravity of the situation and went to eject. He reached up and grabbed the red eject handle and yanked down hard. The capsule decoupler fired and the escape tower engines ignited, spiking the acceleration once more.

I thought that I had hit F2 for this. Evidently not. Please try to ignore the obtrusive HUD in the image. Sorry about that.

The SRB exploded, filling the sky with a huge ball of fire and smoke. A half a second later, the shock of the explosion hit the KSC and nearly knocked the wind out of Bob. In the carnage, Thomfrid lost sight of Jeb in the capsule.

"Jeb . . . Jeb! . . . Jeb, answer me!" Chadory yelled in despairation, his heart racing, "Jeb, answer me God dammi . . ."

"I see him!" Thomfrid yelled, cutting off Chadory mid-expletive, "I don't see a chute . . . no chute, no chute!"

The capsule plunged from the sky, Jeb still inside.

"Why isn't he answering!" Chadory yelled, the terror on his face now evident.

Bill, with an equally mortified expression, answered "He said something about LES TWR and weight cutting, so he but the batteries and transceiver in the decoupler ring."

Chadory, trying unsuccessfully to mask shear panic with frustration, slammed his fist into the console, toppling Bob's koffee onto the floor. He looked back to Thomfrid, still tracking Jet, hoping fro better news.

"Still no chute, 6000 meters!" Thomfrid yelled, the fear now present in his voice as well.

Inside the capsule, Jeb was yanking hard at the manual parachute deployment lever. The capsule's batteries lasted less than he intended during the freefall and automatic deployment was not working. He tugged with all his might, while still keeping a watchful eye on the altimeter. Jeb did not fear danger, he lived in it. His whole existence came down to moments like this, where Jeb would be the only person to have a smile on his face while looking death in the eye.

Not only would Jeb look death in the eye, he'd punch death square in the mouth when it least expected it. As the radar altimeter began spinning quickly, he finally felt the lever give and he sat forward, and gave one last heave. The lever came back and the chute mortars fired. He felt, rather than heard, the deployment right as the radar altimeter ticked past 2000 meters.

On the ground, Thomfrid yelled, "Good chute, good chute!"

There was an audible sigh from everyone in the room. Thomfid collapsed down, seating himself on the window sill and wiping the sweat from his forehead. Bob and Bill collectively shook their heads, not one bit surprised by the day's course of action yet still scared to bits by it. Chadory lowered his head and propped himself up against the control console, panting. Thomfrid looked up and said, "You alright there?"

"If you can call nearly having a coronary 'alright'," Chadory answered.

Thomfrid turned back and looked out the window, watching Jeb descend. The parachute had fully deployed and now he fell peacefully and safely to the ground below.

After Jeb had safely landed off to the north of KSC, he stepped out and waved back to the guys at KSC, even though they were nearly a kilometer away. Thomfrid saw and made the others aware.

Jeb finally got his helmet mic working again and called back, "I told you I knew what I was doing!"

The others were not amused, to a point where Bob replied back, "I hope you know you're walking back."

Jeb chuckled, not yet aware that they were serious.

---

Anyone who sits on top of the largest hydrogen-oxygen fueled system in the world, knowing they’re going to light the bottom, and doesn’t get a little worried, does not fully understand the situation.

Mission 4: Orbiter

---

Jeb, Bill, and Bob sat in the capsule, backs pressed to their seats by gravity. Jeb had been unhappily demoted to navigator after his stunt the other day. Neither of his brothers wanted him in control of the orbiter.

The now-uneventful countdown blared outside. None of them paid much notice, until the engines kicked in. The larger engine cluster fired and the heavy rocket reached for the stars.

They climbed up and up, racing through the stratosphere, grasping at space above. The fuel-hungry lower stage cut out, considerably earlier than they all had expected from watching previous launches. Undaunted, Bill jettisoned the lower stage and off they raced on the upper stage, burning for orbital altitude.

They flew farther and faster for another minute until the engines cut out. Bob took the time to pitch the craft down some for the orbital insertion burn they'd do in a short while and then ejected the LES tower on a course to burn up in the atmosphere. Moments later, after drifting in space, they fired the upper stage again to establish an orbit. The stage ran out of fuel well before orbit was achieved and the crew began to question the ground crew's choice to put retro motors on the upper stage.

"Them boys and their bedsheet coats need to recheck their math next time," Jeb grumbled, still unhappy about being stuck in the bottom navigator seat, without a view and without control.

They burned for orbit, now on the orbiter's fuel. The burn took a decent amount of time with the weaker LV909 as the orbital engine. Once again, Jeb questioned the engineers, cursing them for choosing efficiency and precision over raw unbridled power.

After safely getting an orbit, they drifted around for nearly a half orbit to make some orbital corrections. They burned to reduce the eccentricity and to fix the inclination, which KSC seemed still unable to launch a rocket which did not achieve a good 1-2 degree inclination.

After all that, Bill held the craft in a nice northern orientation and decided now was a good time for a spacewalk. He closed the bottom half and finally gave control of the craft systems to Jeb, who passed up such an opportunity for his few precious moments in control of the spacecraft. Though he'd never admit it, his biggest fear was not being strapped to a rocket and blasted to space, but being blasted to space with no control. He was utterly terrified of the idea of being aboard such a lethal machine with zero control over it. The fear was only eased by knowing his brothers were in control of it.

Bill depressurized the upper cabin and opened the hatch, slipping out and drifting in space.

Bob looked out his window and to his astonishment, there was his brother waving at him. "I wanna come out there, hold up!" he called on headset.

Bob popped out the hatch and was hit with terror. He was paralyzed by the idea of drifting off into space to die, cold and alone.

"It's okay, you have the RCS pack; you'll be fine," Bill called to him, "Just come over here with me and admire the Mun."

Bob nervously did as he was told. he let go and jetted his way over to Bob on jets of nitrogen.

After a while sitting there, the two returned to the safety of the craft. This time, Jeb demanded he get to do the de-orbit burn.

"Nothing crazy now," Bill said.

Jeb was mildly annoyed. He was addicted to danger, but he wasn't dumb. He knew about reentry heating and that a surface dive doesn't work out well.

He drew out the trajectory on his display, oriented the craft, and fired the engine. Under the pressure of golden hot plasma plumes of exhaust, the craft slowed itself, slowly falling back to Kerbin. The plotted trajectory would take them down just to the west of KSC.

When they hit the atmosphere, they jettisoned the service module and let it drift away, it's destruction imminent. The capsule fell, held in it's orientation by the air which began to scorch it. The heating was nothing intense, but it was enough to make the engineers later think twice about their decision to use basic thermal shielding rather than a dedicated heat shield. The parachute fired and the three were all mildly concerned. Jeb hated it when the things he counted on for when his crazy schemes went wrong didn't work. The chute was new, designed for the larger capsule, but that came with higher structural stresses and less strength against sudden inflation.

Aleviating the tension in the capsule air, the chute deployed safely and they drifted to the ground. Even though it was night, it wasn't long before the ground crews were able to get to them and bring them back safely.

[4th wall]Sorry this took so frickin long. Real life and my motivation taking a vacation on me really slowed this. Next mission will probably give us our first ever SoI changeover. As consolation for the delay, I MIGHT try and do a double moon flyby for yall tomorrow.[/4th wall]

[FlamingPotatoes]

I cant wait for the mun flyby!

[Captain Sierra]

I cant wait for the mun flyby!

I'm glad people are enjoying this. These things take me about 30-40 minutes to run the actual mission and then about 2 hours to write. It's not easy.

I'm actually prepping the Mun and Minmus rockets now. I'd also like to start a little minigame here. I have yet to decide on a prize, BUUUUUT, I'll try to think of something for those who can guess which launch vehicles I have replicated so far.

[Raptor831]

I'm glad people are enjoying this. These things take me about 30-40 minutes to run the actual mission and then about 2 hours to write. It's not easy.

I'm actually prepping the Mun and Minmus rockets now. I'd also like to start a little minigame here. I have yet to decide on a prize, BUUUUUT, I'll try to think of something for those who can guess which launch vehicles I have replicated so far.

Mission 3 looks like a Little Joe.

Nice chapters as well.