Year 17, Day 170 (Endurance Lands at Laythe’s Peaks and Makes Important Discovery!)

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Mission Control OK’s the next landing, at Laythe’s peaks, along the equator! As the Laythe missions progress, a few things are already clear: solar panels do NOT work well this far out, and the Deep Space Relay Network needs significant improvements around Laythe! In fact, once the Endurance lands, all communications is lost with Kerbin! A new X-10 is under construction, that will launch to Jool at the next window to supplement operations and provide a backup!

Jeb, Bill, and Bob fly through the alien atmosphere, until they spot the landing site!

“That’s the spot! “
-Jeb

The X-10’s dual mode RAPIER engines allow very specific landing selection, something that can be tricky on atmospheric planets! Jeb pilots Endurance until it’s right on top of the target!

“Chute deployed – airbreakes deployed… VTOL bays open, firing vertical aerospikes!”
-Jeb

Endurance slowly decends to the surface!

“Hey, I see Vall back there!”
-Bob

“Huh? Val’s back on Kerbin!”
-Bill

“No silly! Vall with two ‘L’s’! The moon!”
-Bob

Endurance lands safely, and after getting all that sorted out, Jeb leaves to inspect the landing site!

“Hey! I just noticed, the indicator on the suit says the air here is close to Kerbin! I’m gonna take my helmet off!”
-Jeb

“You don’t know if it’s safe!”
-Bob

Jeb takes his helmet off and takes a few breaths…

“Seems fine!”
-Jeb

Bill and Bob climb out! Bill repacks the parachute, and checks on the X-10, while Bob starts taking samples!

“Remarkable! The air here seems very close to Kerbin! We might even be able to set up a sustainable colony here!”
-Bob

Jeb, Bill, and Bob excitedly discuss the possibilities opened up by the discovery that Laythe has a breathable atmosphere!

Year 7, Day 163 (Aurora 20 Crew Continue Exploration!)

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Luly wants to check out an “island” near the landing site, so Val rockets the lander over to the little hill!

“I’m going to get a sample of that green sandstone!”
-Luly

“Huh… it’s looking more and more like Minmus once had several liquid oceans… but it’s too small, and it’s too cold…. how mysterious! We better get this sample back to Kerbin!”
-Luly

Explorations continue on the island, where an even bigger rock is found!

“This one’s even rockier and even greener!”
-Luly

After a continued examination, Luly and Val determine it’s time to return to the ACV!

Eventually, the lander returns to orbit!

“Mission Control, this is Aurora 20 – we’re headin’ home!”
-Val

Later, the ACV command module splashes down, west of the space center.

“Welcome home! Let’s get those samples to the lab! I wonder if they’re edible…”
-Gene

Year 17, Day 158 (Exploration Begins on Laythe!)

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Jeb climbs out of Endurance to set foot on Laythe!

“Looks just like the deserts back on Kerbin – except for the big Jool in the sky!”
-Jeb

Next, Bill squeezes his way out from the Science Bay into the cockpit, so he can get outside!

“That science bay has a seat, but that’s about it! It’s good to stretch my legs! Time to get this parachute repacked… easier here than up in orbit!”
-Bill

Bob decides to walk around the landing site to see what’s nearby!

“There seems to be a lot of … stuff!… on the surface…”
-Bob

“Oh hey – it’s a rock!”
-Bob

Bob does a thorough examination of the strange Laythe rock… but mostly plays ‘king of the hill’ and tries to plant a flag on top!

“Bah! The stone is too strong! I can probably chip away some sample bits though!”
-Bob

“Hey – speaking of flags, we need to plant one here!

Jeb plants the flag of the Kerbal States on Laythe, and everyone poses for their landing portrait!

“Once we get communications back with Kerbin, they’re gonna flip!”
-Jeb

Indeed – communication from the surface appears impossible, at least with the equipment Endurance brought along!

After a full survey of the landing site, the crew heads back up!

“Ok – future missions will be longer, but the mission plan is a quick down and back! Opening VTOL bays… activating Verticle Lift Aerospikes!”
-Jeb

“Fuel flow looks good!”
-Bill

Endurance slices through the sky, until the friction heats up the spaceplane!

Once the atmosphere is thin enough, Endurance’s RAPIER engines switch to orbital mode, and power the rest of the flight, to circularize the orbit around Laythe!

“OK… RAPIER engines switched to off… orbital maneuvering for Laythe Spaceport!”
-Jeb

Endurance reaches the spaceport, with just enough fuel to do so!

“That was a close call! We only had about 30 d/v left! We’re going to need to be careful and not stray too far from equatorial targets!”
-Bob

Jeb docks Endurance at the spaceport, and the crew warms up some snacks!

Year 17, Day 158 (Laythe Spaceplane ‘Endurance’ Lands on Laythe!)

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After years of designing, preparation, and waiting, the day is finally here… the Discovery crew will leave the Spaceport and take their Spaceplane ‘Endurance‘ to land on Laythe!

Even the mission profile has been carefully planned, as no spaceplane has ever landed on another planet!

“OK – ‘Endurance’ is undocked from the Spaceport… using maneuvering thrusters to reach safe distance to activate engines!”
-Jeb

Endurance’s solar panels deploy to soak up as much energy as possible, while the orbital maneuvering engine fires to drop the craft out of orbit!

“So far so good!”
-Bill

Airbrakes deploy to create more drag, slowing the re-entry of the spaceplane! From inside the cramped science bay, Bob is growing concerned:

“What’s going on!? It’s getting hot! I can’t see anything from this seat!!”
-Bob

“Everything’s fine! We’re through the worst of the heat now – on course for a chain of islands near the equator!”
-Jeb

“Switching RAPIER engines to ‘air-breathing‘ – looks like a lot of flat desert down there, setting down shouldn’t be so bad!”
-Jeb

“Slowing our speed, deploying Air Brakes… starting landing procedures. Hold on everyone!”
-Jeb

Endurance needs to be going as slow as possible before it deploys it’s landing parachute. On Kerbin this parachute wouldn’t do a very good job of slowing an X-10, however on Laythe (combined with the VTOL engines) it should do the job just fine!

The Air Brakes retract, and the parachute deploys! The aircraft pulls up until it starts to even out…

“Ahhhhhh!”
-Bob

“Hang on back there! We’re almost down!”
-Bill

The VTOL bays open, and the aerospike rockets fire to slow the spacecraft! The housing of the chambers is thermally lined to protect the rest of the spacecraft, nonetheless, the rockets aren’t meant to be fired for anything but short bursts!

“Just about there! VTOL is slowing us down to about 5 m/s…. we’re in the pipe, five by five!”
-Jeb

“Why do all the pilots say that before they land!?!”
-Bill

Endurance sets down on Laythe!

“Finally! What a rough ride! Opening science bays… deploying ladders… antennas and solar panels deploying!”
-Bob

The crew will do tests for a short time before heading out to the surface!

Year 17, Day 154 (Aurora 20 Lands on Minmus!)

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The Aurora 20 lander heads down to the surface of Minmus!

Val and Luly detach from the Aurora 20 command module, and head down to Minmus!

The lander touches down, right at sunrise!

“Oooo! Pretty! “
-Luly

“Ejecting rover!”
-Val

The RCS system lifts the rover off the lander…

… and sets down perfectly near the lander!

The Rover-Deployer ejects, and the two Kerbals start exploring!

“As I suspected, this rover doesn’t handle very well – one sharp turn and the rover might get destroyed! As long as we keep it slow we’ll be OK though!”
-Luly

The pair find a variety of green Minmus Sandstones, and take various samples of the Lesser Flats.

“Time to set up the science equipment!”
-Luly

Luly and Val head back to the lander!

“There we go, all set up! This should start transmitting science back to Kerbin anytime now – and we remembered to bring all the parts this time!”
-Luly

The Aurora 20 crew will remain on Minmus for a few more days to make sure all the scientific equipment is functioning properly!

Year 17, Day (Desert Facility Upgrades!)

sayburstuff Year 17

Certain facilities are missing from the Desert Launch site – notably towers to supervise the site! To correct this KSEA and KOAA have teamed up to build a combination tower that increases radio coverage in the area, provides command and control functions over the facility, and even has a flag pole!

Robart, a science specialist, is picked to command the new facility – which will need to be driven to it’s final destination!

“Wow! This thing does NOT drive well!”
-Robart

There are a few close calls, but eventually the tower is driven to it’s final position, overseeing the rocket launch site!

“Ok… I’m climbing to the top! This sure is a tall tower!”
-Robart

“What a view though! I have a good angle on the launch site and the facility down below! Let’s launch some rockets!”
-Robart

Work begins on a similar tower to oversee aircraft at the nearby landing strip!

Year 17, Day 138 (Laythe Spaceplane Rendezvouses With Laythe Spaceport!)

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With Discovery now docked at Laythe Spaceport, the X-10 is remotely piloted to Rendezvous! With it’s transfer stage still attached the spacecraft is very unwieldy – but it’s important to use every bit of fuel – refills are hard to come by in the Jool system!

Endeavor arrives at the Spaceport!

“This is going to be a tricky docking… I better EVA over and do it manually!”
-Jeb

“OK – I have stepped outside the hatch… rocket packs on… heading toward the X-10!”
-Jeb

“Oh wow guys! Are you seeing this!?”
-Jeb

“…roger that Jeb – we see you!”
-Bill

“This thing is a lot bigger in person!“
-Jeb

Jeb detaches the X-10 from it’s transfer stage, and pilots it to the station! The inline docking port makes the procedure a little more challenging than normal!

“We read a solid connection – good job!”
-Bob

With that, all the components of the Laythe Mission are in place! The crew will start checking systems, and prepare for their first landing!