A first Successfull Docking procedure... (Pics and short movie)

[ColKlonk]

After trial and error, I finally have a rocket that can make it to Mun and back.

The previous crew died on Re-entry... a sad day for space exploration, but we must forge ahead.

Press Release: Technical difficulties developed on re-entry and the crew were unable to control it.. (Pilot Error )

Real Story: We forgot to put solar panels on the return module so they ran out of power, thus had no control of the pod.

Developed and nice 3 stage section that could get about a 30 ton payload into orbit, with gas to spare..

.. and set course for Mun (I should have put struts between the two modules - had some serious oscillations and had to throttle down)

Command and Landing module separation went off without a hitch (actually took me a few times to work it out - transferring.. unlocking for better control..etc)

Landing went well first time..

An interesting thing to note was that the small pod legs I used couldn't support the weight in this soil, and the module actually sunk into the ground up to the engine cones.

On liftoff the module was 'stuck in the mud' and required 1/4 throttle to get it loose... a nice feature!!

Lift off and setup for docking

This the first time 'the crew' have done this and 'they' have had zero training for this.

What they worked out was to:

1) launch when the command module was overhead, lining up the orbit

2) Set a lower orbit so the Lunar module can catch up.

3) Minute orbit adjustments, until the modules were in close proximity. The final orbit adjustment coming just before docking.

This took the crew a very long time (that silly 'full throttle' key next to the Zero throttle caused ground control to abort many attempts).. and in all it took a clean run of some 20+ orbits to finally get to this..

Docking for the first time..

https://www.dropbox.com/s/d7qeaiq9k06yx80/Docking_1.mp4?dl=0 (25MB)

The crew had a problem here that they had to dock during daylight as no lights were put on the modules.. !! and it had to be done on this orbit as the command module would have passed the Lunar module in the dark.. and a whole new procedure started again. They had about 5 minutes to do the docking... a good job done by the Kerbalnauts.

There will be a press release when the crew return, we do not expect any problems on this return trip !!

:cool:

Edited February 10, 2015 by ColKlonk

[Randazzo]

Very Cool!

[MoridinUK]

Very nice... where did you get the audio from? Or have I missed the coolness by having only dared dock drone piloted parts so far?

[ColKlonk]

.. where did you get the audio from?

I think it came with the Chatterer mod..

[Vanamonde]

Exciting, isn't it?

[Lohan2008]

/Applause !