Maiden/Test flight of KSS-13, Intrepid

[Vanamonde]

So I'm revising my re-useable interplanetary ship designs to take advantage of ARM parts. This is the new long-range version, the M111 Migration class, on the launchpad. (Note the Kerbal, for scale.)

Now named KSS-13 Intrepid, I flew the ship to orbit,

refueled it with a couple of robotanker flights,

loaded it up with a test payload,

and set out for Eeloo.

Once in orbit,

the ship deployed 4 science/mapping satellites,

two automated rovers,

and then the crewed lander.

The lander then returned to the ship, and was left in orbit for future use (or would have been, except I forgot to install a probe core, so it's a ghost ship now), and Intrepid set out for Kerbin.

After a couple of aerobraking passes,

the ship settled into a parking orbit. But the mission wasn't over yet, because the most important step was last, and that was the return of the new M113 SPaRM, Science Processing and Recovery Module.

Throughout the voyage, the science points generated by the instruments and lander had been collected

and stored in the SPaRM. When it landed,

all the science was recovered for a result of 3370.3 science points.

Intrepid waits in orbit to be refueled and sent out once more.

[Scotius]

How was the performance with such big ship? I have yet to build something so enormous

[Vanamonde]

In-game? Big ships steer slowly, but there's rarely a need to hurry outside of launches and landings.

As a game? It was 359 parts with the full cargo embarked, and was a little slow but not jerky on my mid-range PC. I'm quite happy about the optimization they've been doing in the last couple of versions.