Aurora 12

Year 3, Day 156 (Aurora 12 Arrival At Mun)

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screenshot163.pngAurora 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

screenshot165.pngEdan and Orlas head down in the lander! As they get closer, they spot something strange.

“What on Kerbin could that be!”
-Edan

screenshot167.pngIt looks like some kind of ancient structure – astonishing!  Edan sets the lander down…and Orlas hops out at once to investigate!  screenshot171.png

“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

screenshot178.pngEdan hurries over, and the two gaze at the huge, cubical structure… then they head up to investigate!

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“Oh wow… astonishing!”
-Orlas

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“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

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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!

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After taking lots of samples, Orlas and Edan launch back to the Aurora 12 Spacecraft…

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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!

 

Year 3, Day 142 (Changes To Explorer Program, Aurora 12 Construction)

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512x64-7.pnghe next Aurora Mission, Aurora 12, is nearly complete.  Orlas is very excited to be chosen as the scientist for the mission – it will be his first trip beyond Kerbin!  Chrisnic will be the crew engineer (who will be staying on the Command Vehicle), and the Mission Commander will be Edan (the commander of Aurora 3, Minmus.) he Mission Commander,

In other news, Initial plans for Explorer had been to launch a test craft, however administrators have decided to move ahead with a crewed mission they’re confident that if any systems fail on the transit burn a rescue will still be possible.  The mission will be quite dangerous though… however many eager Kerbals have been clamoring to get a chance for the first crewed mission to another world!!  The final crew roster hasn’t been released yet, but KSEA is working hard to get as many Kerbals trained as possible!

Year 3, Day 139 (Explorer Spacecraft Development)

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Development begins on Explorer  (not to be confused with the Explorer Space Probe.) Explorer is the prototype vehicle for a future Eve mission!  While the actual mission to Eve will likely be several components, Explorer’s first mission will consist of just the main spacecraft.

Explorer will be launched without a crew, which will arrive via a Crew Shuttle!  This is necessary given the new design.

Once the crew arrives, the vehicle will leave Kerbin’s orbit, entering interplanetary space, in orbit of the Sun, then return.

If all goes well Explorer will be the basis for future crewed planetary missions!  A full working mockup of the Explorer’s Habitat Section will be launched soon as an upgrade to the KSS – this should allow ‘real world’ testing of the crew module.

Additionally, construction begins on the next Aurora Mission, Aurora 12!