Stranded on the dark side of the mun

[muskeg]

T + 15:36:39 - First Incident report.

After collision with the munar surface, damage to the fuel reservoir rendered the ship\'s propulsion system unusable, leaving our best commander stranded on the dark side of the mun. Using both the space plane and its survival pod\'s oxygen reservoirs, our commander should be able to survive for 24h (T + 24:00:00). Can you save him?

This is a rescue mission.

To complete this challenge you have to:

• 
  [li]Land the closest to the crash site as possible (like...really close!)[/li]
  [li]Land before T +24:00:00[/li]
  [li]Land a working ship (meaning that remaining fuel is not important, but it must be able to move after landing)[/li]
  [li]NOT use 'instant orbiting' parts (post screenshot of the ship on the launchpad)[/li]
  

To help you in your task, here is a map indicating the crash site:

It is fairly hard to pinpoint a precise location on a map and land there so there is no real parts restrictions besides the 'instant-anything' parts. Just show us pictures of that rescue ship.

Good luck.

[Monkthespy]

Damn, this is a hard challenge, but sense I suck so much at good ways to get to the Mun, I can\'t do this.

[Drakomis]

The Anagonian Kerbonaut Space Program shall launch a rescue mission.....whew...tough one though...

[Drakomis]

AKSP Manned Munar Rescue Mission One

Mission Objective

To save our fellow Non-AKSP stranded Kerbonaut on the far side of the moon.

Vessel

Mei Long Saturn V.

This rocket was utilized in the first AKSP Manned Munar Expedition.

Outcome

Success. The Commander was saved. The landing was a few yards off, however the extra oxygen supplies supplemented the long walk. The total time to the moon was nine hours and some odd minutes. The return was even shorter.

Screenshots

[muskeg]

Outcome

Success.

For successful extraction of our test pilot, NorthWood corporation is proud to offer you the medal of courage and valor, that you are free to wear or not (in a signature or something else), at your fitting:

To insert on the forums:

[url=http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/ze_raph/courage_medal.jpg][img=http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/ze_raph/courage_medal_mini.png][/url]

NorthWood is forever grateful so enclosed with the medal, you will find payment information for a transfer of 300,000 kerbal space credits. We hope this will help you with your future projects.

Seriously, nice job. I thought that 24h might be too long of a limit, but I didn\'t expect it to be THAT too long. An efficient ship is nothing without a good pilot. Well done.

[Drakomis]

For successful extraction of our test pilot, NorthWood corporation is proud to offer you the medal of courage and valor, that you are free to wear or not (in a signature or something else), at your fitting:

To insert on the forums:

[url=http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/ze_raph/courage_medal.jpg][img=http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/ze_raph/courage_medal_mini.png][/url]

NorthWood is forever grateful so enclosed with the medal, you will find payment information for a transfer of 300,000 kerbal space credits. We hope this will help you with your future projects.

Seriously, nice job. I thought that 24h might be too long of a limit, but I didn\'t expect it to be THAT too long. An efficient ship is nothing without a good pilot. Well done.

Thank you sir! I shall wear it with pride.

Honestly though, I did three attempts. The first one exceeded the 24 hour limit. The second one I crashed into the Mun (lol). That third and final run? Yeah, that\'s when I made it. Oh boy was it hairy. I almost crashed into the surface again!

Great challenge man! If you have anymore challenges, let me know! I enjoyed this!

Your friendly neighborhood bag of bones,

-Drakomis

[PD]

EDIT:

Commander: 'Ok guys Operation Fallen Eagle is the most important one yet. We have landed on the Mun many times, but this calls for precision in landing site and landing cargo. We have a man up there, with 24 hours till he dies in the shadow of a moon few will ever understand. Where there are no Kerbals and no sunshine to warm his dying day.

So let us make this not his last sunset! Let us fly forth and rescue our fallen hero, and return him here to Kerbin where he belongs. Indeed, let us be bold and swift and...'

Pilot: 'Uh boss, about being swift... can we light the fires yet?'

Commander: 'Oh.. yes.. fire away!'

On the pad, but not for long!!

Commentator: 'We have... Liftoff!' What you see before you is the Mk 1 Munar rescue rocket, this baby carries two vessels capable of returning from the surface of the Mun. She has never been tested before, but in the capable hands of our Kerbanaughts, we expect her to bring home the famous Kerbal pilot currently stuck, on the far side of the Mun!

From top to bottom we have the Command Module, fitted with fuel and engines capable of returning to Kerbin, she\'s mounted above a shroud, which hides the Munar Landing legs and Rescue vessel which is also capable of returning home, and will house two of the rescue crew and the Kerbal they\'re saving.

Below that, we\'re talking pure fuel and engine, enough to carry these two vessels all the 11 million kilometres to the Mun\'s darkened surface.

The flight plan has been released as a quick single orbit around Kerbin before shooting for the Mun. Once there, they will burn to slow down, and land right where the Commander lost his ship. This is precision on the finest scale and will push even these skilled pilots to the limit. Even worse, they have to land without crashing... twice!'

Commander: 'Ok, easy does it boys. We\'re nearly with him, plenty of time in the bag. We\'re on T+ 10:08:27'.

Commander: 'Easy does it, I have control. We\'re 2,000m from the surface.. or something. Spare third guy who hasn\'t spoken yet. You and him had better transfer to the Rescue module whilst I fly this bad boy.'

Pilot: 'Hey it\'s kinda dark, will he be able to see the ground?'

Other guy: 'That\'s what makes this fun!'

Pilot 'I have no idea if we\'re in the right place, I brought the map for the VAB internal corridors instead of the Mun by accident'

Commander: 'Ok, I\'ve landed ... mostly safely, we were done with that RCS tank anyway. Let\'s get this cheeky chappy home in time for the latest episode of \'It\'s Hardly Rocket Science\'!'

Commander: 'I\'ll race-ya! Yeeeeeeehaaaaaaaw!'

Commentator: 'We\'re told that soon they will build something called a Tracking station, to make waiting for the return of our heroes less tense. For now though we must assume that everything has gone exactly as expected, and it is a failure. May our heroes rest in peace.'

...

'or.. of course... we might get one of them back. But probably not.'

Commentator: 'Wait, I think I see something in the sky.. a huge fire-ball. Is it the sun? No... Is it our heroes? Probably not. It\'s debris!'

[PD]

Post-script: I did actually land safely, but I was landing on rockets without a parachute and was so scared of failure that I didn\'t take any screenshots. We miraculously landed on like a plateau near some mountains. Also, of course that Lunar lander pictured above I\'m unable to fly. If does honestly have fuel on-board, almost certainly enough to burn for a free return back to Kerbin, so I consider this mission a success on both counts. I hope you enjoyed the story, it\'s a bit childish but.. hey. What\'cha gonna do?

Many thanks,

PD

//(sorry this didn\'t allow a post this long and I wanted to finish the story for you).

[muskeg]

I did actually land safely, but I was landing on rockets without a parachute and was so scared of failure that I didn\'t take any screenshots. We miraculously landed on like a plateau near some mountains. Also, of course that Lunar lander pictured above I\'m unable to fly. If does honestly have fuel on-board, almost certainly enough to burn for a free return back to Kerbin, so I consider this mission a success on both counts.

Nice job. Bringing and leaving an operable lander on the crash site gives extra credits. The kerbanaut commander was definitely successfully rescued. You can of course also wear our medal of courage if you feel like it

[url=http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/ze_raph/courage_medal.jpg][img=http://i374.photobucket.com/albums/oo189/ze_raph/courage_medal_mini.png][/url]

Thanks for playing. The 'drop-off' gave me ideas for other challenges.

Again, well done!

[sal_vager]

Hi muskeg

I thought I\'d have a go with some direct ascent craft I\'m working on, as soon as I think up some decent names for them I\'ll put them in their own thread.

I managed the rescue quite fast, but I can\'t be sure how close I was to the stranded Kerbalnauts.

Imgur gallery here: https://imgur.com/a/Tz0Br#0

Edit:

There\'s no way I can top Boolybooly\'s attempt, my pc won\'t handle a ship that big, well done to that man.

[boolybooly]

Mission Report: successful rescue, emergency speed, all stock parts.

Kerbal Space Center CB radio set received a distress call from the Mun at 00.00 local time. Fortunately Bob had just finished work on an extended moonlander prototype and the decision was made to launch immediately.

Bill consulted the back of his favourite envelope and using a piece of string and some chewing gum he calculated the quickest intercept would be achieved by a direct ascent and overburn to escape Kerbin followed by a retroburn manoevure at some point close to the Munar sphere of influence.

In this way intercept with the Mun SOI was achieved in approximately 2 hours 6 mins, the retro burn was delayed in favour of a perpendicular burn to adjust the periapsis of the Munar approach to avoid wasting time on a slow approach since speed is of the essence when rescuing stranded space Kerbals who are running out of air.

The close Munar pass was finally made at speeds in excess of 1590m/s at less than 1000m and it was only then that the retro burn was applied and the rescue vehicle slowed to make a ballistic drop onto the landing zone. Here it hovered for several minutes and on exhausting the forward drop tanks performed the famous Jebediah spin-drop manoevure which has to be done in free fall to safely eject the forward drop tanks without damaging the aft drop tanks and their fuel pipes and associated landing gear (fins) essential to the rescue.

After one aborted landing attempt due to an incline, the crew found the flat floor of a valley still partially illuminated by Kerbol due to the short mission elapsed time, as they passed overhead they spotted the wreckage of the space plane and after making radio contact and landing nearby (MET : 2:47:15) were able to retrieve the crew very swiftly.

Liftoff was minutes later and Jeb set out for Kerbin orbital insertion. The orbit was achieved and PE adjusted to facillitate aerobraking. It just so happens that by a fluke of the incredible luck which seems to follow Jeb Kerman around like a faithful terrier, the PE was precisely over KSC on entering the atmosphere for the aerobraking manoevure, so Jeb decided to abort the orbit and go for reentry instead by pointing the ship downwards and lighting the engine. After the ship overshot KSC by a few thousand meters he decided to showboat a little by making a ballistic hop over the KSC using up the remaining fuel and detached the command module directly over the landing pad to achieve touchdown and all parties returned safely to KSC cafeteria for a coffee and donut in a time of 10:48:48.

Mission accomplished!