Getting Home-when you don't have a transfer stage from Duna

[waterlubber]

Yesterday, I tried my first manned and return IP mission. It all went extremely well-until it came time to dock with the return transfer stage.

The entire ship, before departure from LKO, had 10k deltav, 8k in the transfer stage and about 2k in the lander. The transfer stage was WAY overbuilt for a Duna mission, I'd thought I'd use it to refuel the lander off its drop tanks and then head off to Dres.

(waning: spoilers are very high resolution!)

This was

The entire craft looked like so:

and broken apart:

Here's how the mission would work:

1. The lander would be launched into orbit
   
2. The IP stage would launch, rendezvous, and dock with the lander's small port attached to the engine.
   
3. The IP stage would push the lander to a duna encounter
   
4. Circularize, aerobrake, etc. here
   
5. The lander would undock, rotate 90 degrees, and decouple the bottom docking assembly. It would then deorbit and land with it's top parachute.
   
6. Once landed, the parachute would be decoupled for extra deltav. (Important later on)
   
7. The lander would ascend and rendezvous with the transfer stage.
   
8. The transfer stage would dock with the lander's TOP port.
   
9. The assembly would return home. The lander will be refueled with leftover fuel and would dock with my space station.
   
10. Jeb would live on the space station, then return home.
    OR
    
11. Jeb would dock with a parachute module, and return home.
    However, there was a problem. The IP transfer stage's second docking port-was on backwards. So, the lander had to return home on it's small scrapings of fuel. It is currently waiting in LKO with 64 m/s of DeltaV for rescue.
    

Imgur album:

Javascript is disabled. View full album

[waterlubber]

...and then after launching the rescue vehicle you realize...it's in a retrograde orbit.

[xtoro]

Haha hate it when stuff like that happens. I did actually notice the backwards docking port on the exploded view, so I knew where this was going:D

[waterlubber]

Haha hate it when stuff like that happens. I did actually notice the backwards docking port on the exploded view, so I knew where this was going:D

Seems like Avalon took a better course than this.

By the way, that is amazing work, I gave you some rep for it.

[sal_vager]

Congrats on getting back, these kind of flights are the most fun, and the most fraught

[waterlubber]

Congrats on getting back, these kind of flights are the most fun, and the most fraught

Thanks. Reminds me of Apollo 13...also, when I saw you replied before clicking, I was slightly worried.

Do you get that a lot? People being scared because a mod replied to a post? XD

[xtoro]

Seems like Avalon took a better course than this.

By the way, that is amazing work, I gave you some rep for it.

I saw that, thanks a lot

I did lots and lots of test runs and made my fair share of mistakes before getting it all right