Construction starts on Aurora 15, which will scout for a location for KSEA’s next big adventure… MunBase Alpha! This Munar Outpost will be the first attempt at long term habitation of another world! This is the first of hopefully many Deep Space Colonies!
KSEA hopes that lessons learned from MunBase Alpha will help develop new technologies to make future colonization possible. This also provides a great excuse for some great new Mission Patches!
This is the day! Mitster triple checks the calculations, and Orlas does the same.
“Looks good! Let’s light this candle!”
-Mitster
Explorer fires what’s left of the orbital stage to get a little extra ‘kick’ to Eve! Then….
The protective fairings on the nuclear engines fire!
Explorer soars out of Kerbin’s orbit… 
and heads to Eve! If calculations are correct, and they better be, Explorer will arrive at Eve in 120 days… on Year 4, Day 33!
The engines stop firing, glowing red from the heat! Orlas activates the primary communication antenna as well!
“Wow… those engines sure get hot!”
-Chrisnic
After the engines are done firing, the crew moves to the habitat section and get comfy… 120 days is the longest mission ever attempted by Kerbals!
The crew for Explorer 1 is announced… the brave crew of Aurora 13 are chosen for the first interplanetary journey! Mitster, Orlas, and Chrisnic excitedly put on their new Mission Patches, and head out to the waiting Crew Shuttle Adventure! 
Mitster pilots Adventure into orbit… the plan is to dock with Explorer, then the crew will be on their way!
Edan lines up with Explorer, in a 80k orbit of Kerbin…
Once in position, Endeavor undocks from its mission cargo (the atmospheric probe and LARC), and spins around, very slowly, until its lined up with the Crew Shuttle.
Edan then uses the RCS thrusters to dock with the huge space craft!
Mitster, Chrisnic, and Orlas all rush over to Endeavor. Orlas gets serious, and starts going over all the mission parameters and scientific systems. Mitster runs through the piloting systems, while Chrisnic does a survey of the ship (and checks out the great new Habitat section, that will make the journey to Eve much more comfortable!
“Good luck guys!
-Edan
The crew get comfortable and begin getting Explorer’s systems running! It’s a long mission to Eve… so its important to make sure that everything on the new ship is in good working order before departure!
Meanwhile, Edan takes Adventure back to the surface!
Mitster dives Adventure, toward the Space Center, after cooling off from reentry!
Uh oh! A little too much speed… Adventure flies by the Space Center….
Thankfully all Crew Shuttles have enough fuel for manuevering in just this kind of situtation… Edan pilots the Shuttle around, and heads back for a good approach!
Ok… I’m in the pipe, five by five…
-Mitster
Perfect landing! Good job Edan!
Aurora 14 returns to Kerbin! 
Val, Kimmy, and Bill hold on tight as the Aurora Command Vehicle soars through the atmosphere!
Eventually the pod sets down just south of the Space Center, and the crew are rescued. Now that the “Explorer Six” are back… everyone on Kerbin awaits to find out who’ll crew Explorer!
Frontier 6 departs Kerbin, headed for Duna! Scientists think it will arrive at Duna in less than a year…. on Year 4, Day 133.
Aurora 14 leaves Kerbin’s sphere of gravitational influence!
Everyone is eager to get out and experience “SPACE!” Val goes first…
Followed by Kimmy!
Finally, Bill has his turn.
“Very cool! Let’s head back home!”
-Bill
The Frontier probe to Duna, Frontier 6, launches! The probe will sit in a parking orbit for about a month until the launch window to Duna opens up!
Frontier 5’s computer is instructed to commence its burn to Jool! The probe will reach Jool around Year 6, Day 200, after a journey of 2 years and 370 days!
If calculations are right, specifically encounter Jool’s innermost moon, Laythe! After the Laythe flyby, an attempt will be made to circularize orbit in the Joolian system. Having never attempted such a thing, no one knows how it will go down!
Aurora 14’s crew is selected! Val, Kimmy, and Bill will take the next Aurora Spacecraft to Mun! This completes the “Explorer Six”, the pool of 6 astronauts that are in training to crew “Explorer” and the mission to Eve!
The Aurora Spacecraft has had a slight adjustment made to its cargo bay, allowing more food and supplies to prevent a repeat of the near disaster that Aurora 13 very nearly became!
KSEA has decided to remove the on board power generator, and replace it with more supplies, as the solar panels have proven themselves for many missions as being a reliable source of energy for missions in the Kerbin sphere of influence. 
The first priority is to take the crew beyond Kerbin’s sphere of influence, and into ‘solar space.’ The mission will also be slightly less fuel efficient, demanding greater speeds of the spacecraft in order to maximize onboard crew resources. After reaching solar space, Aurora 14 will return to Kerbin’s SOI, and attempt a landing on Minmus, before returning to Kerbin. It will be the most complicated mission attempted since Aurora 13! 
Val performs the docking and transposition maneuver, then ejects the orbital/insertion stage. The protective cover over the Aurora Spacecraft’s engine is also ejected, and Aurora 14 rides the momentum out of Kerbin’s SOI!
Frontier 5 launches! Several of the Frontier Probes have now launched out of ‘order’ – however the numbers of the Frontier Probe missions match with construction, not launch date. Frontier 5’s mission to Jool will start in just 4 days!
Kerbal States | Kerbin Space Exploration Administration 