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 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!
Aurora 20 arrives at Minmus!
Val circularizes the orbit, while Seely and Luly prepare for the next stage of the mission – landing!
Aurora 20 blasts off, carriyng Val, Luly, and Seely to Minmus!
The Sarnus Va rocket goes higher and higher…
.. until it eventually circularizes it’s orbit, then transfers for Minmus!
The spacecraft will arrive in just under 8 days!
The crew for Aurora 20 is chosen! Val, Luly, and Seely prepare for a launch… this time, to Minmus!
“It’ll be interesting to see how that Rover performs on Minmus!”
-Val
“My calculations say… not well!”
-Luly
Concurrently, a Mk2 Planetary Scanner is being prepared at the Desert Launch Site!
After undocking with the lander, Aurora 19 powers up it’s engines and heads home!
“Now we wait!“
-Malcolm
The Aurora 19 Command Module burns through the atmosphere…
…until the parachutes can safely deploy!
Moments later, the Aurora Command Module splashes down! Rescue teams are dispatched, and towels and refreshments are prepared for the brave Kerbals of Aurora 19!
The Aurora Rocket launches from KSC carrying the lander and other supplies!
Before long, remote systems guide the craft to Mun!
The lander sets down slowly… then runs out of fuel! Aurora 18’s support lander barely had fuel to travel from Kerbin and land on Mun… sadly Aurora 19’s second lander didn’t go well either!
“It’s pretty close – I’ll EVA over and see if anything’s salvagable!”
-Malcolm
Malcolm finds the lander… mostly intact!
“The damage isn’t so bad! Looks like the Communication’s dish is intact though! I’ll head back and we can get it installed!”
-Malcolm
Malcolm EVA’s across the Mun’s surface back to the lander!
“Well… this wasn’t a perfect mission, but we did get a lot of science data!”
-Luly
“We did! And next time we’ll have the right tools, and nothing will have to explode!”
-Malcolm
The lander blasts off from the surface…
… and docks with the Aurora Crew Vehicle!
While exploring the surface time got away from them, and Luly and Malcolm’s rover ran out of power! Thankfully, they were both able to get back to the lander in time.
“That was a close one!”
-Malcolm
With a new lander and science equipment on the way, the crew waits patiently on Mun’s surface!
Malcolm, Seely, and Luly are chosen to be the crew for the next Mun mission! For the first time, they’ll attempt a landing at the Mun’s north pole! The lander has been specially outfitted with a fuel cell to provide power in the uneven polar regions.
Aurora 19 blasts off!
The Sarnus Va carries the spacecraft higher and higher…
Until the Orbital/TMI stage fires, circularizing the craft!
“Everything checks out – let’s head to Mun!”
-Malcolm
Aurora 19 will be the first polar landing at Mun – a somewhat more difficult task given the inclination, and the availability of solar power at the poles.
Aurora 19 arrives at Mun! Malcolm and Luly EVA to the lander, and head down!
“Looks pretty hilly up here, but I think we have a good landing site selection…”
-Malcolm
The Aurora 19 lander touches down!
“Time to test the new and improved Rover Deployment System!”
-Malcolm
The Rover Assembly system powers up, detaches from the lander, and gently lifts up, then off to the side of the lander!
The Rover deploys successfully!
After deployment, the drone flies off until it runs out of fuel!
“Shame that things has to go crashing down! Hey! We should use the crash from the next one of those drones to test our seismic equipment!”
-Luly
Malcolm watches as Luly plants a flag at the North Pole crater!
Then, Luly gets to business planting all the science equipment, before heading off in the rover with Malcolm!
“One little problem Mission Control! We didn’t bring a communication system! We need to start double checking our science payloads before these launches!! “
-Luly
Engineers at KSEA begin work to see if they can throw together a replacement system quickly!
“We launched one lander for Aurora 18, we should probably be able to send another one just like it! We’ll get to work asap!”
-Gene
While Mission Control explores solutions to the science equipment at Aurora 19’s polar landing, Malcolm and Luly take off in the Mun Rover!
KSEA announces that construction has begun on 3 more Sarnus V Mun rockets! Aurora 19, 20, and 21! They are almost identical to Aurora 18, with the exception of the Rover Deployment system – Aurora 19 will test the latest iteration of this system.
“Hopefully it deploys better than the last one – what a mess!”
-Mitster
“It should! The new top-mounted lifter should be much more stable!”
-Glenica
Kerbal States | Kerbin Space Exploration Administration 