"I'm bringing 'er in, son." - The Munar Orbiter

[Kieve]

Seems like all my best adventures happen around the Mun for some reason...

The Munar Orbiter was, quite frankly, overkill.

Everyone in the Center knew it. The contract they'd picked up to build a Munar orbital station wasn't worth half the funds they were pouring into the Orbiter's construction. But Command refused to be satisfied with the rickety collection of struts and girders that had been the initial (and cost-effective) design. They wanted something with longevity and purpose, and Ker help anyone who tried to say otherwise.

Jeb, for his part, was pleased. He still remembered the first Orbiter, which had been little more than a span of solar panels above a spine of empty docking ports. The others had taken to calling it "the Jellyfish." He'd spent several months in it, bored out of his mind. This new Orbiter gave him tingles though - certainly Command would not sink half a million into a station only to see it rot.

Gene Kerman was no accountant, but he did have plans for the Munar Orbiter. Despite the considerable expenses of sending the station skyward, he felt confident it would earn its keep. Three new contractors had come forward during its construction, requesting survey and exploration data. He intended to kill several birds with one rocket. Well, one rocket with a number of much smaller ones attached. Beneath the station's long solar arrays hung three sophisticated satellite pods, and a trio of Cricket rovers. Scientific instruments and other equipment lay secured in the storage lockers at the end of each pylon, easily attached to either satellite or rover as needed. By the time the Orbiter launched, that half-million had already balanced itself out on the ledger - provided its crew could make good.

---

Gerbus rode in the jump-seat of the Orbiter's "Lander Can" module, just below the pilot's cupola. Bill Kerman sat to his right, where the controls would have been if the Can was expected to do any Landing. Instead, the veteran kerbonaut poked at monitor controls, keeping a wary eye on the payloads docked above. The satellites and Crickets were holding now, but who knew how much those little Clamp-O-Tron Jr's could hold? The engineers had never used them until now. Hard to put stock in stuff ain't been field-tested. Gerbus himself was an engineer of the most practical sort. Unless he'd used it, worked with it, and tinkered on it personally, it couldn't be trusted.

The assignment ahead made him very nervous indeed.

Shortly after the Orbiter had reached its destination and stabilized itself, the engineers found a flaw in the Crickets' design. Though they had ample fuel reserves for deorbit, Mun-roving, and return to the Orbiter, they lacked a key element for the rendezvous: RCS controls. No RCS thrusters or monoprop had been included, making docking a nightmare for the pilots. A secondary module for the Orbiter's lower half was already in the works, though its primary function was to carry karbonite-scanning satellites out for survey purposes. The engineers quickly scrapped together a lightweight RCS tug-drone with a grappling claw, but the module would take another day to reach the Munar Orbiter.

If there was one thing Gerbus disliked more than untested gear, it was waiting. Moments later, he was suited up and sitting in one of the Crickets' command seats.

Powered by a tiny-but-efficient Atlas low-profile engine, the Cricket packed nearly 3,000 d/V into its tiny frame. With conservative maneuvering, Gerbus felt certain he could align the craft with the contracted survey points. Passing over them at orbital speed wasn't ideal, but both contractors had requested readings several thousand kilometers above the Mun's surface. On Kerbin, that would've meant a small Recon flyer. In airless space, it meant keeping periapsis above surface level.

The next few hours were a nerve-wracking blur of wait - burn! - wait - reading - wait - burn! - reading!!! - wait... that threatened to drive him insane. The little lander was amazingly nimble, and several times he wasted fuel correcting a burn that went a few seconds too long, but as he passed over the last of the gravity-scan sites, he realized he still had plenty of fuel to tackle some of the other regions near the northern pole. When the Cricket finally began running low, only one point remained. It'll have to wait. Not getting stranded out here.

---

"Stranded," was the immediate concern of both the Orbiter's remaining crew, and Command back at KSC. They determined there was still enough fuel for rendezvous and matching orbit, but without RCS it looked like Gerbus would have to abandon the Cricket. Some suggested he could use his EVA pack and push the lander back into its dock, but that ran the risk of bumping it into (and through) the Orbiter's solar panels or damaging other key components. The better option was to simply leave the Cricket adrift, EVA back to the Orbiter, and let the RCS grappler pick it up when it arrived in a few hours.

Gerbus wasn't having it, however.

Less than 200 d/V remained in the tank as he began his slow drift towards the station. Jeb's voice crackled over his headset, urging him to drop the rover. "The Orbiter doesn't have a tenth the impact tolerance of that skiff, Ker damn you! Leave it, the tug will be here in less than two hours!"

"And who's going to make sure it doesn't hit the station, if no one's piloting? I'm bringing 'er in, son."

Jeb snorted, not because he was related to Gerbus in any way, but because it sounded exactly like something he would do. Still, it was very risky. The Cricket could easily whack into one of the station's pods, the solar panels, or accidentally detonate the fuel-laden satellite in the dock beside its target. "You've got an OCTO sitting right behind your head. It'll operate remotely just fine."

"Never trust those newfangled probe cores. Now cut the chatter, need to focus here."

With a heavier rocket, it would've been madness to even try. The lightweight little lander practically danced under Gerbus' hands, however, sliding neatly along the Orbiter's spine as he lined it up with the empty Clamp-O-Tron Jr. He felt a sudden jerk as the magnetic field took hold, pulling the Cricket solidly into place.

As much of a joy as it had been to pilot, Gerbus was still very eager to get back inside where there was air pressure. He felt the pumps cycling under the deck as he climbed back into the Orbiter. Filling a Cricket barely put a dent in the reserves the Orbiter had in her tank.

Bill twisted around in his seat as Gerbus strapped himself in. "You alright there, Ger? You look a bit dazed."

Gerbus shrugged. "First time I've ever docked," he said vacantly. "RCS really spoils you kids."

---

...So yeah, I sent up a whole beautiful station, then forgot to put RCS on the rovers. Derp.

When Gerbus finally made it back to the station, tracking said the Satellite module with the grappler would hit Mun SOI in another hour-thirty (and my latest contract satellite was due for a burn in about an hour). He spent way more time spinning around that grey ball than I realized.

Had I been a little smarter, I could've lined up his orbits better and taken all the readings, but ah well. Gives other crew something to do. Initially I was just going to match orbit with the station and wait for the tug, but after piloting it for about an hour (IRL time), I figured it might be maneuverable enough I could coax it in even without monoprop, as long as I was careful on the throttle.

Fortunately, nothing exploded! ...this time.

http://imgur.com/a/6gkQB

Sadly, I have no pics of the actual orbital paths as he worked his way through the readings, but that's the dull part anyway. Set up a node, wait / time-lapse, burn, and wait / time-lapse again.