After the successful test of the Adventure crew shuttle, KSEA has begun construction of a brand new, duplicate Crew Shuttle… named CTS-2 Pioneer!
A larger variant of the crew shuttle is also under development, however no plans are ready to be released yet! The craft is tentatively called the Heavy Crew Shuttle!
Research and development is nearing completion for a new Duna lander as well. If KSEA is to have a permanent habitation on the surface of the red planet, a reusable lander is needed… The existing Advanced Duna Lander has not performed as well as hoped, providing barely enough DeltaV, and a landing process that has been described as “consistently unreliable” by pilots!
Finally, mission planners are almost ready to announce DSV-5 Intrepid’s first mission! Intrepid was launched in mid Year 21, and cleared orbital tests later that year. Mission planners keep insisting they didn’t just forget about it!
After an extended stay on the surface of Duna, the crew of Discovery blast off!
“You know the drill everybody – hold on tight until we’re weightless!” -Mirphe
The crew reach orbit, and barely enough fuel to complete the rendevous!
“I’m starting to think this lander design isn’t perfect! By these calculations, we’ll have less than 100 d/v worth of fuel remaining once we dock! -Tamre
Mirphe completes the docking maneuver with Duna Spaceport, then taps on the fuel gauge…
“Huh. 20 d/v remaining! That was a close one!” -Mirphe
After the close call, planners back at the spaceport start working on the next Duna Lander!
After a considerable time aboard Duna Spaceport, Mirphe, Tamre, and Seely head down to the surface!
“Hold on to something everybody… these landers are pretty rough on the way down!” -Mirphe
The rear airbrakes deploy, and the lander heads nose-first into the Duna atmosphere!
“We’re going so fast! I hope we decelerate with enough time to deploy the chutes!” -Seely
“Chutes deployed! And just in time too!” -Mirphe
The lander sets down on the surface of Duna! Back on Kerbin, looking over the landing metrics, Gene frowns!
“That wasn’t just a close one – that was really close! The parachutes barely had enough time to deploy! I think we need to start looking at a next generation lander for Duna!” -Gene
Engineers start looking at prototype designs… meanwhile the crew gets ready to explore the surface of Duna!
As Explorer 7 speeds towards it’s intercept with Kerbin, the automated systems thaw the frozen crew!
“Brr! I could use a hot chocolate!”
-Dunwin
“Me too! Waking from cryo-sleep is always so chilly!”
-Shepely
“Well, don’t worry! It’s about to get a whole lot warmer!”
-Malcolm
One by one, the crew suit up, and transfer over to the Command Module!
Once inside, everyone straps in for the re-entry!
Explorer 7 heats up, but Duna-bound spacecraft are well shielded for these fast reentries!
“Hold on! Hold on! Almost there!”
-Malcolm
The chute deploys once the spacecraft is slow enough to be safe!
“Looks like a good deploy!”
-Dunwin
Explorer 7 sets down in the grassy fields west of the Space Center! Rescue craft are dispatched to recover the three Kerbals and the trove of data recovered from Duna!
After a remarkably fast voyage, DSV-2 Discovery arrives at Duna, using the planet’s moon, Ike, to assist in slowing down the approach! The Crew is automatically revived from Cryo-Sleep!
“Rise and shine everybody! We have some exploring to do!” -Mirphe
“Reactor is powered up – we’re good for firing main engines!” -Seely
The three mighty nuclear engines on Discovery fire, slowing the spacecraft down and entering orbit, slowly, of Duna!
“By my calculations, we’ll have 5200 d/v remaining after we reach the Spaceport… not bad!” -Tamre
Discovery achieves high orbit! Mirphe begins to rendevous with Duna Spaceport!
“Just a few more maneuvers and we’ll be docked! I can see the Spaceport out the front window!” -Mirphe
Discovery slows down, matching speeds with Duna Spaceport…
…then slowly reorients for the final docking maneuver!
“Alright – we’re in the pipe, five by five… approaching the docking port at 1 m/s…. nice and slow….” -Mirphe
With a ‘thunk’ and the whir of motors, Discovery docks with Duna Spaceport! The mighty spacecraft is nearly twice as long as the station!
“Life support looks good on the station… it’ll take a little time to equalize between Discovery and the Spaceport… but I think we have a good connection!“ -Tamre
The crew prepares to transfer over to the habitat sections of the station, and get ready for the next Duna Landing!
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
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!”
After two successful Duna landings it’s time for the Explorer 7 crew to return home! Malcolm performs an EVA to give Duna Spaceport, the Advanced Duna Lander, and the Explorer spacecraft a final inspection before departing!
“Everything looks good out here! This view never gets boring!” -Malcolm
After boarding Explorer 7, Malcolm detaches the spacecraft…
… and Explorer 7 slowly drifts away from Duna Spaceport!
“There’s only enough fuel reserves for one more landing from the Spaceport! The next mission will need to have a reserve fuel supply or KSEA needs to send another refueling mission out!” -Dunwin
“Well if you ask me how we get here isn’t as important as getting here! The scientific data we’ve acquired this mission should keep us busy for years!” -Shepely
As Explorer 7 drifts further and further the departure window is met, and Malcolm fires the spacecraft’s engine!
“All systems are nominal… engine burn to Kerbin nearly complete!” -Malcolm
As Explorer 7 leaves the Duna system, the crew prepares for their EVA to the Cryonic section to hibernate for the trip home! At KSEA, mission planners are debating how to do the next mission – is it time to send the DSV’s to Duna, or continue with the Explorer program?
Malcolm, Dunwin and Shepely head down for the second landing! Since this will be a landing at the Highlands, the Advanced Duna Lander has to expend a good deal of fuel to slow down before entering the atmosphere!
Kerbal States | Kerbin Space Exploration Administration 