Endeavor’s nuclear engine fires, and the spacecraft begins moving out of Kerbin orbit!
“All systems nominal. Power levels holding ..”
-Kerlorf
“The cryo tanks are ready once we’re away!”
-Robart
“Endeavor is on course! Preparing ship for automatic mode!”
-Val
As Endeavor heads to Laythe, KSEA prepares to launch another Spaceplane to follow the crew!
The Aqua-1 Probe bound for Mun is ready at the White Mesa Facility…
…and launches!
While the re-usable first stage returns to Kerbin, the probe itself continues into orbit around Kerbin!
“Roger that, we’re showing orbit achieved – you are go for the burn to Mun!”
-Gene
After the burn, Aqua-1 continues it’s voyage to Mun…
Until it arrives, and prepares to burn into a polar orbit!
“Telemetry says Aqua-1 is in position – Glenica, you’re good to start the experiment!”
-Gene, at Mission Control
“OK – deploy arm… extend antenna … activate sensors!”
-Glenica
The antenna arm extends, and folds over 90 degrees, allowing the water sensors to start scanning unobstructed!
“200k altitude looks to be ideal. We should hopefully have some data back soon!”
-Samner, at Mission Control
Crew Vehicle 2 blasts off from White Mesa, carrying Jeb, Robart, and Kerlorf! Robart and Kerlorf will be joining Val as the crew for DSV-4 Discovery’s journey to Laythe! Jeb will be taking over as station commander at Spacedock!
The Crew Vehicle reaches it’s 200k apogee, and separates from the Nebula Rocket! The Nebula Rocket turns itself around and performs it’s burn toward KSC to be recovered!
Eventually, CV2 performs it’s final rendevous with Spacedock!
“There’s Endeavor – it’s huge!”
-Robart
The crew board Endeavor… and undock!
“Turning Endeavor to match direction of travel…. transit to Jool will be in 4 days!”
-Val
The Endeavor crew get ready for their journey!
Val, Robart, and Kerlorf have been selected for DSV-4 Endeavor’s upcoming mission to Laythe Spaceport!
The crew will pilot the Laythe Spaceplane Endurance to the surface and continue scouting the planet for future colonies. KSEA is also hoping to launch an additional Laythe Spaceplane in time for the mission!
“Oh wow! I can’t wait!”
-Kerlorf
Robart, already at White Mesa, starts packing his bags for the trip!
“I can’t wait to blast off! This desert assignment has been pretty dull!”
-Robart
A key to any long term colony site is finding an ideal location that has ample supplies of water. To this end, KSEA and KOAA (the Kerbin Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration) have worked together to develop the Aqua Scanner Mk1.
Launched on a Nebula Rocket, the spacecraft will travel to Mun orbit and start scanning for ideal landing sites! Once sites have been selected, Kerbals will scout them out, and then the development of an actual colony can commence!
Mission Control gives the plan to relocate the old Kerbin Spaceport to Mun a name: Operation Moving Day! The audacious plan will move the old Kerbin Spaceport… to Mun orbit!
One of the already built “Asteroid Movers” is modified with a docking port that should connect to the Spaceport, and launches on a Sarnus Va rocket!
The Station-Mover rendezvouses with Kerbin Spaceport…
…and docks!
“Remote sensors indicate a good lock! Nice work!“
-Gene
Bill, KSEA’s senior engineer will fly up in a Crew Vehicle to oversee the entire process! Edan will be the mission commander, and Gilian will be going up for her engineering expertise!
Crew Vehicle 6 carrying Edan, Bill, and Gilian blasts off from White Mesa!
“There it is – Old Kerbin Spaceport!”
-Edan
“Soon to be Mun Spaceport!”
-Gilian
“Hey – that’s catchy!”
-Bill
Crew Vehicle 6 docks!
Bill, Gilian, and Edan board the station and check things out!
Very slow control
With no time to waste, Mirphe and Tamre fly to White Mesa and board Crew Vehicle 4, already waiting at the launch pad!
“Seely is already getting Discovery ready to go, as soon as we’re up there we’re taking off!”
-Mirphe
Crew Vehicle 4 blasts off on it’s Nebula Rocket!
Once the spacecraft reaches it’s 200k apogee, the Crew Vehicle detaches and uses it’s RCS thrusters to move clear of the first stage Nebula Rocket!
The Nebula Rocket uses it’s own RCS thrusters to invert itself, and fire it’s main engine, to perform a propulsive landing at KSC!
“We’re clear to rendevous to Spacedock!”
-Mirphe
The Crew Vehicle arrives at Spacedock!
“Welcome to Spacedock CV4! Discovery is fueled up and ready to go!”
-Val
The Crew Vehicle docks! Mirphe and Tamre rush to help Seely get the lander out!
“Hey – why are all the doors open on CV1!?”
-Tamre
“They got stuck open! It shouldn’t have any impact on the return, just annoying!”
-Val
Mirphe, Seely, and Tamre board Discovery… and undock!
“RCS thrusters firing in reverse… moving clear of Spacedock! Let’s get the reactor powered up to maximum!”
-Mirphe
Discovery turns from Spacedock as the entire spacecraft shudders from the engines and reactor powering up!
“Reactor showing 100%! We’re good to power up engines!”
-Seely
“Good luck Discovery!”
-Val
Discovery’s three nuclear engines fire, and it slowly builds up speed!
4 minutes into the burn, alarms sound!
“What’s that!?”
-Mirphe
“Looks like the rear engine housing is giving us trouble again! It’s heating up from the engines and not transferring enough heat to the Radiators!”
-Tamre
“If we reduce thrust to 50 percent we should be fine… the burn will just take longer!”
-Seely
With the overheating problem out of the way, Discovery completes it’s burn for Duna, and soars out of the system!
“Wow – we are moving fast! We should reach Duna in less than 70 days! Once we enter orbit and dock we’re not going to have much fuel left!”
-Tamre
“That’s the idea! The return to Kerbin from Duna using the correct launch window is much less demanding – we’ll be fine! Let’s get ready to enter Cryo-sleep!”
-Mirphe
With the disappointing missed time window of Explorer 8, the Astronauts sat around Mission Control scratching their heads trying to figure out a way to get a crew back to the red planet without waiting a whole year for the next launch window!
“What if we… you know… just go REALLY fast!”
-Jeb
“That’d never work – the Explorer spacecraft doesn’t have that kind of fuel supply!”
-Mirphe
“No… but one of the DSVs should! Can we take one!?”
-Tamre
After some debate (and a mission simulation or three) Gene gives the green light! Tamre will be the scientist, Seely the mission Engineer, and Mirphe will command the mission!
“We barely had time to get these Mission Patches sewn! Get on a Crew Vehicle asap and get up to Spacedock!”
-Gene
The next Lithium Refueling mission launches for Kerbin Spacedock on a Jool Heavy rocket!
After an automatic Rendevous maneuver, Mission Control hands over remote control to Val!
“This is Commander Spacedock… we have the Lithium Vehicle, bringing it in to dock…”
-Val
Val slowly navigates the spacecraft into docking position! This will be the final (for now) fuel launch to Spacedock, bringing the station to a “max” fuel level for the DSV fleet!
“Docking complete! Spacedock is now fully fueled – good work team!”
-Val
Meanwhile, crews at Spacedock work on fueling up Discovery and Endeavor for their next mission!
KSEA is disappointed to announce that the upcoming Explorer 8 launch to Duna has been delayed! The next window to Duna won’t be for another year, which has many astronauts upset!
The delay is due to construction time for the spacecraft, which took longer than planned!
“I know it’s disappointing everyone, but we’ve got to keep our eyes on the prize! We’re investigating other options for Duna Missions in the meantime!”
-Gene
Kerbal States | Kerbin Space Exploration Administration 