First orbit attempt on hard difficulty....

[Thrombo]

Sooo, booted up a game on hard (the money situation really makes things...interesting). I had been only accepting ground contracts (or ones that are relatively risk free) for some time. I previously had attempted to orbit without a gimballing engine (using FAR) and had to abort after an in-flight ...equipment malfunction, costing the program a great deal of its wealth and yielding very little.

This time would be different, with the newly researched LV-T45.

So, the engineers strung a couple fuel tanks on top, big 'ol booster below, some winglets for stability, and we were off to the races.

Lift-off. Large SRB lifts the vehicle up ~1km before Jeb turns at a very slight angle to start some semblance of a gravity turn. Staging event. As the booster sails away, the vehicle loses a great deal of stability without the stabilizing winglets. Jeb finds himself tumbling through the atmosphere. Fortunately the vehicle was in thin-enough atmosphere not to fail catastrophically. Jeb regains control after some time.

The decision is made that the fuel losses are acceptable, and the mission will proceed.

Near apo, Jeb fires up the engine again for orbital insertion. And then it happens. The tanks are dry. But wait - a quick check reveals we may indeed be in orbit - even if Jeb is doomed. No. Periapsis of 69900. Jeb is furious. KSC is a flurry of activity as Gene yells for the Kerbal engineers to come up with a solution. They come back quickly.

Jeb's EVA suit is loaded with monoprop.

All eyes are on the sky as Jeb orients the craft prograde, dons his suit, and maneuvers to the rear of the vehicle. One hand on the rocket bell, the other on controls, Jeb activates his suit. Thirty seconds later, the craft Periapsis is checked - 72km. He's done it.

Several experiments are done for a variety of manufacturers - the last being the firing of the experimental sepratron engines. The mission plan called for them to be fired after achieving orbit, but the lack of fuel necessitated their thrust be used to try to bring Jeb home. The sepratrons bring the Periapsis in to 56km. Jeb doesn't want to wait for the several-pass aerobrake, and gets out and pushes some more.

The mission ends in a wild and resounding success, and Jeb returns home to Kerbin a hero.