Retriever 3 blasts off from Cape Kerman, on top of a Jool Rocket!
Once in orbit, the newly re-designed second stage maneuvers to rendezvous with the asteroid IIF-441, which previous Retriever Missions have worked to bring closer and closer!
The “Rhino” Second Stage orbital/Rendezvous engine fires!
Until it finally connects with the asteroid!
Retriever 2 and the orbital stage are ejected… but the connection is tenuous at best! The asteroid keeps ‘wobbling’ around!
“I think we’re gonna need a new design for ‘Retriever!'”
Aurora 23 launches from Cape Kerman, carrying Mitster, Chrisnic, and Kimmy!
Once in out of the atmosphere, the protective fairing deploys, and the spacecraft starts burning to rendezvous with DSV-3 Horizon!
“There it is! Slowing us down to stationkeeping….” -Mitster
Once Aurora 23 has matched speeds exactly with Horizon, Mitster heads over to the Slate Lander!
“I’m outside the lander… it looks in good shape! So does the relay satellite we’ll be leaving in a wide orbit of Slate!” -Mitster
As the sun sets, Mitster climbs into the lander, detaches from Aurora 23, and moves closer to Horizon’s docking bay!
“This is going to be almost entirely by instruments… it’s dark in space!” -Mitster
Thankfully, Mitster is able to dock with Horizon… just as the sun comes up!
Shortly after that, Mission Control remotely pilots the Relay Satellite over to the nose of Horizon!
“OK —- powering up the basic systems… things seem good over here! I think you guys can come over to Horizon now!” -Mitster
First, Mitster EVA’s over…
…then Kimmy!
“Oh wow! Horizon is looking good! I can’t wait to wake up and be in orbit of Sarnus!” -Kimmy
Chrisnic does a full survey of Horizon to make sure every single component of the mission is ship-shape!
“OK – Horizon is OK to go! Powering up reactor…. Radiator systems are functioning… Main Engine is showing full power available! We’re good Mitster…. light that candle!” -Chrisnic
With that, Horizon’s massive engine fires, in a burn that lasts for several minutes, propelling the crew to Sarnus in just three years!
“Hold on tight everyone… once the burn is done, we’ll head to the cryo-section for a little space nap… and before you know it, we’ll be at Sarnus!” -Kimmy
The mission patch for Horizon Crew Mission 1 is announced, and it looks like Mitster, Chrisnic, and Kimmy will be the lucky FIRST Kerbals to visit the Sarnus system!
Because of Horizon’s launch to high orbit (800k) – the next Aurora Rocket, Aurora 23) originally destined for Mun, will be used to launch the crew! This will also allow the delivery of a modified Mun Lander, with increased fuel and power systems, to land on Slate! The stack will also include a relay satellite that will be left in a high equatorial orbit of Slate, to assist the polar-orbit survey/relay satellite that is already at the moon.
The massive Nova-1 Rocket is rolled out to the launchpad, carrying the most expensive, and most capable spacecraft KSEA has ever built – DSV-3 Horizon!
Horizon has been under construction for much longer than anticipated, as engineers and scientists kept adding new technologies and features to the spacecraft, slowing down it’s completion!
“Well – it’s finally done! Let’s see how it flies!” -Gene
The plume from the rockets almost reach the space center!
Slowly, the Nova-1 carries Horizon higher and higher…
Eventually escaping Kerbin’s atmosphere!
Next, the 6 solid rockets eject!
“Solid rocket ejection is complete – rockets are clear of the spacecraft!” -Sean, at Mission Control
The core of the Nova-1 carries Horizon to it’s 800k orbit, running out of fuel in the orbital stage just in time!
Finally, the fairing deploys, and Horizon is free!
“All instruments show Horizon is intact… systems slowly coming online… main antenna dish has deployed successfully!” -Kimmy, at Mission Control
Horizon sits in orbit, waiting for it’s crew!
“Good job everyone! Let’s get our crew together!” -Gene
KSEA is excited to announce the final design for Horizon! Building upon the successes of DSV-2 Discovery, the Horizon is the largest, most advanced spacecraft ever – and will be launched on a new rocket designed just for it, the Nova Rocket… The largest rocket ever launched!
The most striking new feature of Horizon is the massive cargo bay allowing a variety of payloads to travel with the spacecraft!
Construction will be completed soon, and even more exciting, should be done in time for the launch window to Sarnus!
The crew will be announced soon, as will the mission specifics!
Construction of the next Deep Space Vehicle, Horizon, is nearly 90% complete! Progress has been slower than expected however, as new features and upgrades continue to be devised and then incorporated into the design.
These features keep creeping in, and slowing down development of the spacecraft!
“We’ve gotta stop adding stuff and get this thing built!
–Gene
While Horizon shares the same basic construction of Discovery, the most notable new feature is a massive cargo bay, designed to allow Horizon to carry a Lander or other payloads to its destination!
KSEA promises that blueprints will be available soon!
There is no word yet on the destination of Horizon… With the window for Sarnus closing soon, many Kerbals speculate Moho will be the likely target!
Retriever 2 launches to a 400k orbit! It’s mission is to bring the asteroid Retriever 1 captured into an orbit close enough that an Aurora Crew Vehicle can intercept, and Kerbals can investigate it!
“We should really redesign that second stage! There’s way too much power there!” -Gene
After many attempted plots, an intercept with the asteroid is finally resolved!
Finally, Retriever 2 arrives at the Asteroid and docks!
It’s decided to let Retriever 1 go, so as not imbalance the asteroid for movement!
The asteroid mover pushes and pushes until it runs out of fuel! The asteroid’s orbit is still inclined, but not as severely! Another Retriever will be built, and hopefully finish the job!
KSEA announces that Malcolm, Dunwin, and Shepely have been selected as the crew for Explorer 7! Explorer 7 itself is rolled out to the launchpad, and the crew will board tomorrow! In the meantime, everyone’s talking about how colorful the new patches are!
Malcolm and Shepely have never been to Duna, however Dunwin, the mission engineer, is a veteran!
The Advanced Duna Lander is already in orbit, and will leave a day after Explorer 7!
The Explorer 7 Duna Mission will make use of the Advanced Duna Lander’s capabilities to target landing sites that were out of range of previous missions. Additionally, many of the new surface experiments deployed and tested on Mun by the Aurora 18, 19, 20, and 21 crews will be deployed on Duna!
Kerbal States | Kerbin Space Exploration Administration 