Having completed their mission at the Munar Arch, Tamre, Malcolm, and Dunwin take off!
They dock with the Aurora 21 Command Module, in orbit, and Malcolm returns the spacecraft to Kerbin orbit!
“Mission Control wants us to do more precise landings near the space center to recycle parts! That means we need to use up the extra fuel for entering orbit, THEN doing our descent burn!”
-Malcolm
Success! Aurora 21 splashes down in the waters right next to the airstrip!
The X-10 Wanderer is done, and having passed basic safety tests is ready for a test flight! Val, Glenica, and Dunwin prepare to take the plane on a test flight – first to test basic landing systems, then to test a water landing! This will also be a good training flight for future crew to Laythe!
The VTOL Aerospikes work well enough on Kerbin to provide vertical thrust, however the plane can only maintain vertical flight for a short time!
“Let’s head over to the pyramids, that should be an interesting place to land!”
-Val
Val sets Wanderer down right next to the pyramids! Unlike Endurance, Wanderer has much bigger parachutes to deal with the higher gravity of Kerbin!
Val, Dunwin, and Glenica all get out…
…and have a good look around the pyramids!
“Wow, these are right near the Desert Site! Hey, we should call it the ‘Pyramid’ Launch Complex!”
-Glenica
After everyone has a good look around, Wanderer takes off!
“Everyone keep hold of your life preservers! We should set down slow enough, but I have no idea if Wanderer is going to even float!”
-Val
All horizontal thrust is cut, and Wanderer slowly drifts down to the water!
With a loud “kursplursh!” the X-10 sets down in the water!
“Oh wow! I can’t believe it worked! If the X-10 sets down slow enough, it’s just fine!”
-Dunwin
Indeed – Val gets out and confirms the space, er, watercraft, is just fine!
After a little VTOL blast to get out of the water, Wanderer heads back to the Desert Site… now called the Pyramid Launch Complex!
“Pyramid Launch Complex… I’m in the pipe, five by five!”
-Val
Wanderer touches down, right where it took off! KSEA relays the information back to Laythe, however engineers are divided on actually trying this stunt on Laythe!
After fully cataloging the findings at the Great Face on Duna, Mitster and Kimmy blast off, returning to the Duna Spaceport!
“Wow, that face is huge! You can see it all the way from here!”
-Mitster
The explorers dock at the Spaceport and rest after a long mission!
“That mission really pushed our fuel reserves – we barely had enough to rendezvous with the station! Some brainy Kerbals back at KSC should probably get to work on a second generation lander… a Super Duna Lander!”
-Mitster
A new research mission to study Kerbin is launched. The X-5 will be taken out by Mitster and Orlas – recently returned from Eve! A Gravity Sensor is installed in the cargo bay. 
“Here we go! Reaching optimal altitude for the X-5… 9000km!”
-Mitster
The X-5 flies over X5RM01-A – and Orlas notices something!
Looks like we made a mapping error – woops! The X-5 has already explored this canyon, and the Monolith that’s down there!
-Orlas
We better keep moving anyway… that looks like it would be a tricky landing!
-Mitster
X5RM01-B isn’t very far away, and Mitster takes the X-5 down for a landing. Orlas hops out, and checks the scientific instruments… then the jet takes off again!
Hey – will you look at that! One of the ground stations for communications – cool!
-Orlas
Mitster takes the X-5 down to X5RM01-C!
Certainly there’s some staff at that communications station that could have done this survey? Ah well. The X-5 takes off… heading north!
Better turn on the cabin heaters… it’s getting chilly!
-Mitster
“Ok – this is the site where orbital sensors indicated a strange anomaly. I’m going out to check it out!”
-Orlas
Oh wow! Mitster, get out and check this out!
-Orlas
Orlas runs toward what looks like a crashed … saucer of some kind!
Mitster puts on the parking brake and climbs out….
Then runs to meet up with Orlas at the crashed saucer!
“Wow! They’ll never believe this back at KSC! We better take lots of pictures and samples!”
-Orlas
It’s starting to get pretty late… so Mitster and Orlas take off, and head back to KSC.
Thankfully, there’s justenough fuel to reach the Space Center!
Orlas and Mitster hop out of the X-5 and rush to tell the others about their exciting discoveries! The X-5 is brought in to be refurbished.
After an 8 day journey, Aurora 12 heads for re-entry!
Splashdown! Orlas, Chrisnic, and Edan all return safely! Scientists eagerly look at the data gathered from the strange monument found on Mun!
Aurora 12 arrives at Mun! This mission is to investigate the strange anomaly detected by Aurora 11 at the southern end of the Northwest Crater, and also as crew training for the rookie crew!
“You know, we should think about making a space station out here! At the very least a fuel depot might be handy!”
-Orlas
Edan and Orlas head down in the lander! As they get closer, they spot something strange.
“What on Kerbin could that be!”
-Edan
It looks like some kind of ancient structure – astonishing! Edan sets the lander down…and Orlas hops out at once to investigate! 
“It’s too far away to make on foot, I’ll have to use my EVA jets!”
-Orlas
Arriving at the base of the massive structure, Orlas is shocked… the object looks to be a giant monument… perhaps made out of Mun rock itself?
Get over here Edan! You have to see this yourself!
-Orlas
Edan hurries over, and the two gaze at the huge, cubical structure… then they head up to investigate!
“Oh wow… astonishing!”
-Orlas
“It looks like a lander… not that different from our own designs! This flag is the same as the one on the side of the Oger space probe – it was the basis for the flag of the Kerbal States!”
-Orlas
The two look at every nook and cranny on what they agree is some kind of monument!
“I’m going to check the other side out that’s being eclipsed… ”
-Edan
Edan and Orlas are speechless. The two stare in wonder at the mysterious monument on Mun and wonder what kind of entities could construct such a massive object here!
After taking lots of samples, Orlas and Edan launch back to the Aurora 12 Spacecraft…
And head back to Kerbin! Scientists are eager to do analysis of the materials gathered at the monument, and to examine the hundreds of images the astronauts took of the unusual anomaly!
The newly launched Kerbin Surveyor begins scans of Kerbin – right away several anomalies are detected! The X-5 is sent to investigate! Mitster and Bill fly there…. quite fast!
Sadly… they can’t find anything at the site indicated!
“We’re gonna need some more precise readings if we hope to find anything here! It might help to put a sensor package on the X-5 itself! ”
-Bill
Mitster returns the X-5 to base for refurbishment and the crew for refreshments!
Meanwhile, construction begins on two new crew shuttles – the Endeavor and the Intrepid! Along with Adventure this will raise the number of crew shuttles to three!
The X-5 blasts off, carrying Mitster and Robart to the next anomaly detected by the overhead satellites.
“Huh – readings indicate it’s down in that mountainous valley – this landing will be tricky!”
-Mitster
“Whew! Close one!”
-Mitster
“Huh. Look at that!”
-Bob
The two head back to KSC to share their findings – some Kerbals want to build research centers around the planet to study these strange anomalies!
The X5 takes off, heading west to the mountains to investigate the anomaly that satellites detected… the previous attempt to explore this region ended in disaster, when the X4 crashed! 
Val pilots the X-5 past the X-4 crash site, attempting to approach from a different direction!
Success! Val sets the X-5 down in a relatively flat area, about 1000m from the Anomaly!
“The air sure is thin up here… better put on my helmet! ”
-Robart
Wow! It’s pretty up here!
-Robart
“I found it! Wow! What could these things be? What could they mean? ”
-Robart
The two explorers head back to the KSC to share their findings!
Mitster and Robart take off in the X-5, heading west!
The X-5 seems to perform best at an altitude of about 6,000-15,000 – so Mitster keeps it in that range on the flight west. Tje X-5 maintains speeds of around 850 m/s, and even reaches a new aircraft speed record of 920 m/s!
“Ok – coming up on the coordinates… wow! Look at that, you can see the structures from up here!”
-Robart
“Let’s do a pass, then circle around for a landing!”
-Mitster
Robart hops out, as Mitster watches from the cockpit.
Eventually the two scout the pyramid site – how strange! No doubt pre-ogre Kerbal Civilization built these ages ago! Robart is able to translate some of the strange writing, and ancient form of Kerbalese:
“My name is Tut-Un Jeb-Ahn, king of kings: Look on my works, ye MIghty, and despair!”
-Ancient Pyramid Inscription
Confused, the two take several pictures and some samples, before heading back.
“What an odd place – further study is certainly needed!”
-Robart
The X-5 returns to the Space Center, having performed it’s mission perfectly! Once back, the existing X-5 is refurbished, and construction starts on a second!
Kerbal States | Kerbin Space Exploration Administration 