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!
Malcolm, Luly, and Seely blast off in an Aurora Crew Vehicle to supplement the crew on Kerbin Spaceport (and to get the newest kerbalnauts trained!)
Malcolm docks the ACV, and the crew makes themselves comfortable!
Meanwhile, another Aurora Payload Vehicle launches, carrying a new science payload to the station!
It’s been 100 days since Cryolab was put into orbit, and Mirphe pilots Intrepid launches to check on the crew! Bill is along for the mission to see how the lab (and crew!) have held up. 
Docking complete! Go see if our guys are OK Bill!
-Mirphe
Luly, Shepely, and Bob all thaw from their cryogenic sleep!
“Wow – feels like I just fell asleep!”
-Bob
Bill checks the crew and the Cryo equipment out…
Everybody and everything seem to check out! I think we’re good to head back to the Space Center!
-Bill
I’m in the pipe – five by five!
-Mirphe
An (almost) perfect landing! One of the dorsal airbrakes took some damage, but repairs shouldn’t be a problem. The Cryo-crew is taken directly to the medlab!
Bob, Shepely, and Luly have all been selected from the volunteers to try long term cryogenic suspension in space! The Crew Cryogenic Research Lab, more commonly known as the CryoLab. CryoLab will hopefully pave the way toward much longer range missions for Kerbals, as the only life support and food stuffs needed by the crew will be that needed at the endpoint, not for the entire voyage!
Mirphe blasts off in the Resolute, and the crew holds on tight!
“Don’t worry back there… I’ve done this lots of times!”
-Mirphe
Mirphe pilots Resolute to the planned orbit of 140km.
The Cargo Bay Doors open, and Luly, Shepely, and Bob climb into the Cronic Freezing Chamber!
“CryoLab is away!”
-Mirphe
“Well… here it goes! See you all in a few minutes!”
-Bob
Minutes to the science team perhaps, but 100 days to everyone back on Kerbin! The solar arrays extend, and Bob, Shepely, and Luly are frozen!
“Switching Resolute to Landing Configuration!”
-Mirphe
Resolute rockets through the clouds toward the space center!
“Ok… I’m in the pipe – five by five!”
-Mirphe
Mirphe sets Resolute down for a perfect landing! Crews start working on refurbishing the Shuttle for its next launch!
After a very long mission, Aurora 20 arrives back at Kerbin!
The Command Pod ejects the rest of the Aurora Crew Vehicle, which burns up on reentry!
The parachute deploys, and Luly, Seely, and Kerlorf gently glide down to an oceanic splashdown!
Mission Success! Rescue crews from Meridian Island are flown out to rescue the astronauts!
The Aurora 20 Mission to Unity Space Station (finally) comes to an end! The Research Mission was intended to gather significant data on Mun and to study long-duration of spaceflight on Kerbal physiology. KSEA administrators stress that the length of the mission definitely did not mean that Mission Control forgot about the mission!
Luly, Seely, and Kerlorf climb into the Aurora Command Pod and leave the station!
“All those exciting missions to Duna doesn’t mean Mun doesn’t have something to offer you know!”
Luly, lead scientist of Aurora 20 mission!
The return of the Aurora 20 mission will leave Unity Space Station uninhabited until the next crew arrives!
Kerbal States | Kerbin Space Exploration Administration 