Explorer, still on its long journey to Eve, is 120 days into its mission! Chrisnic, Mitster, and Orlas have gotten to know each other’s annoying habits really well – but have also grown to be very close friends. Good thing too – their mission still has a long way to go! They’re all very eager to be the first Kerbals to see Eve … close up! 
This is the day! Mitster triple checks the calculations, and Orlas does the same.
“Looks good! Let’s light this candle!”
-Mitster
Explorer fires what’s left of the orbital stage to get a little extra ‘kick’ to Eve! Then….
The protective fairings on the nuclear engines fire!
Explorer soars out of Kerbin’s orbit… 
and heads to Eve! If calculations are correct, and they better be, Explorer will arrive at Eve in 120 days… on Year 4, Day 33!
The engines stop firing, glowing red from the heat! Orlas activates the primary communication antenna as well!
“Wow… those engines sure get hot!”
-Chrisnic
After the engines are done firing, the crew moves to the habitat section and get comfy… 120 days is the longest mission ever attempted by Kerbals!
The crew for Explorer 1 is announced… the brave crew of Aurora 13 are chosen for the first interplanetary journey! Mitster, Orlas, and Chrisnic excitedly put on their new Mission Patches, and head out to the waiting Crew Shuttle Adventure! 
Mitster pilots Adventure into orbit… the plan is to dock with Explorer, then the crew will be on their way!
Edan lines up with Explorer, in a 80k orbit of Kerbin…
Once in position, Endeavor undocks from its mission cargo (the atmospheric probe and LARC), and spins around, very slowly, until its lined up with the Crew Shuttle.
Edan then uses the RCS thrusters to dock with the huge space craft!
Mitster, Chrisnic, and Orlas all rush over to Endeavor. Orlas gets serious, and starts going over all the mission parameters and scientific systems. Mitster runs through the piloting systems, while Chrisnic does a survey of the ship (and checks out the great new Habitat section, that will make the journey to Eve much more comfortable!
“Good luck guys!
-Edan
The crew get comfortable and begin getting Explorer’s systems running! It’s a long mission to Eve… so its important to make sure that everything on the new ship is in good working order before departure!
Meanwhile, Edan takes Adventure back to the surface!
Mitster dives Adventure, toward the Space Center, after cooling off from reentry!
Uh oh! A little too much speed… Adventure flies by the Space Center….
Thankfully all Crew Shuttles have enough fuel for manuevering in just this kind of situtation… Edan pilots the Shuttle around, and heads back for a good approach!
Ok… I’m in the pipe, five by five…
-Mitster
Perfect landing! Good job Edan!
Kerbal States | Kerbin Space Exploration Administration 