Sandbox moon trainer rocket for new pilots.

[Vanamonde]

This is the Mk59i Moon Visitor from Yeahletstrythatdyne

On the pad

This ship is designed for new pilots who want to learn how to reach Kerbin's moons. It is not meant to be efficient, and is larger and has more delta-V than is strictly necessary for such a flight. Instead, the Moon Visitor is meant to be reliable, easy to fly, and to have enough of an error margin built-in that a new pilot can make some mistakes and still get there and back. If you do not yet know how to fly to the moons, I have made an illustrated walkthrough guide, which can be flown with this ship design.

Launch the ship and leave the throttle at 100%, as the ship is balanced to stay near optimal ascent speed as it rises through the atmosphere. The solid boosters will soon exhaust themselves, and you should eject them. The launch stage will continue to burn until you have nearly reached orbit,

at which time you should eject it and ignite the transit stage to finalize Kerbin orbit. The transit stage will bring the ship to orbit around either moon, and do most of the pre-landing braking for you before it runs out of fuel.

Then eject the transit stage and bring the lander stage down to the surface. If you have trouble adjusting your descent speed, the Mk59i lander is equipped with RCS thrusters which fire straight up with the H key.

Once landed, extend the ladder, EVA the kerbals, run around and have fun exploring in the low gravity.

On the return leg of the journey, the lander can transit directly to a Kerbin aerobrake-to-splashdown, but if your piloting goes well, it should also have enough delta-V to park itself in Kerbin orbit before choosing a landing site. You may or may not need to discard the moon landing stage along the way, but either way, the Mk59 does give you the option.

If you should happen to run entirely out of fuel before achieving a re-entry trajectory, the final flight core stage can use any remaining RCS fuel as emergency propulsion.

But once you have chosen (or desperately managed) a landing trajectory, eject the flight core and allow the capsule to splashdown with its parachutes.

Additional features:

The Mk59i illuminates itself on the launchpad,

and once it has landed on the moon of your choice.

Although intended as a sandbox trainer, the ship does carry scientific instruments, and can transmit their results from the surface of the moons if flown in the later stages of a career campaign.

The Mk59i also comes with an emergency abort system. If the launch should go wrong for some reason, hit the 'abort' action button to detach the crew capsule from the ship and move it to a safe distance with its escape rocket.

(Sorry for the poor screenshot framing, but this happens extremely quickly and the camera sluggishly moves to the new center of mass.)

Action group 1 subsequently opens the capsule's parachutes and detaches the escape rocket,

allowing the capsule to descend calmly while you enjoy the spectacle of the rest of your ship exploding.

However, if the launch goes well (which it really always should), you can hit action group 2 at any time to fire and eject the unneeded escape rocket.

(You have no idea how hard it was to snap a pic of that thing as it zips away almost instantaneously.)

And that is the Mk59i Moon Visitor, from Yeahletstrythatdyne.

Craft file: OBSOLETE

Versions of my newbie moon rockets have been downloaded more than 8000 times. I hope they continue to fly well and be helpful to new players.

Edited April 28, 2015 by Vanamonde

[Rainbowtrout]

Excellent craft, been waiting for a new edition for some time. Good adaptation with the .23.5 parts, I'll try it out when I get the chance!

[benzman]

Excellent ship! With the previous version I was, eventually, able to land on the Mun and return. With the new ship I was able to land on the Mun at the first attempt, fly back to Kerbin and with one aerobrake pass was able to get a circular orbit at 85K, then choose a splashdown point, discard all the excess stages and safely splash down. Either your ship is easier to fly or I am slowly getting better at this game!

[guz667]

Great ship and great post!