Year 18, Day 272 (Malcolm, Dunwin, and Shepely Selected for Explorer 7 Duna Mission!)

August 31, 2020August 31, 2020 sayburstuff Year 18 Blueprints, Duna, Duna Spaceport, Dunwin, Malcolm, Mission Patches, Shepely

KSEA announces that Malcolm, Dunwin, and Shepely have been selected as the crew for Explorer 7! Explorer 7 itself is rolled out to the launchpad, and the crew will board tomorrow! In the meantime, everyone’s talking about how colorful the new patches are!

Malcolm and Shepely have never been to Duna, however Dunwin, the mission engineer, is a veteran!

The Advanced Duna Lander is already in orbit, and will leave a day after Explorer 7!

The Explorer 7 Duna Mission will make use of the Advanced Duna Lander’s capabilities to target landing sites that were out of range of previous missions. Additionally, many of the new surface experiments deployed and tested on Mun by the Aurora 18, 19, 20, and 21 crews will be deployed on Duna!

Year 13, Day 402 (Explorer 5 Readied For Second Mission)

May 11, 2020May 11, 2020 sayburstuff Year 13 DSV-2 Discovery, Duna, Explorer 5, Explorer Program, Gillian, Kerbin Spaceport, Seely, Shepely

As an experiment, KSEA decides to test the capabilities of the Explorer 5 spacecraft. Having returned from Duna, is it capable of entering Duna orbit again, and returning safely to Kerbin orbit? If so it would provide a much more cost effective means of transporting Kerbals to and from the red planet.

Explorer 5 docked at Kerbin Spaceport. Discovery can be seen docked in the background.

The new Discovery-class spacecraft design is certainly capable of the trip, however it is overkill to the extreme – DSV-2 Discovery could travel to Duna, return to Kerbin, and repeat the trip without ever needing to refuel!

Gillian, Shepely, and Seely (the current crew on Kerbin Spaceport) start work refuelling Explorer 5 for it’s next mission!

Year 13, Day 158 (Intrepid Returns Crews to Kerbin from Kerbin Spaceport!)

February 22, 2020February 22, 2020 sayburstuff Year 13 Bill, CTS-3 Intrepid, DSV-2 Discovery, Edan, Gilian, Glenica, Kerbin Spaceport, Orlas, Sean, Seely, Shepely

With the return of Explorer 5 and the test flight of Discovery the Kerbin Spaceport has gotten very crowded! Edan, Bill, Orlas, Glenica, and Sean all board CTS-3 Intrepid!

“Have a good flight – you soon!”
-Gene

Edan undocks from the Spaceport, and uses RCS thrusters to reach a safe distance from the station! Gilian, Shepely, and Seely remain on the station, conducting the vitally important scientific research that must certainly occur there.

“Come back soon! Bring more snacks! “
-Shepely

Intrepid fires its engines to de-orbit… then detaches the service pod that holds cargo (and provides for solar power!)

“Hold on everyone! Things are about to get pretty hot!”
-Edan

Intrepid soars through the atmosphere, occasionally usings its airbrake system to slow its decent.

Once past the mountains west of the Space Center, Edan makes the final manuevers to line up for a landing!

“Edan to Mission Control… Intrepid is in the pipe, five by five!”
-Edan

Intrepid touches down on the runway!

A perfect landing! The tired Kerbals exit the Crew Shuttle to rest up for their next mission – Intrepid is recovered and undergoes minor repairs and the standard recovery process to get it ready for its next flight!

Year 9, Day 277 (Science Mission for Kerbin Spaceport Launches!)

October 24, 2018October 24, 2018 sayburstuff Year 9 Cargo Payload Vehicle, Kerbin Spaceport, Orlas, Shepely

The Cargo Payload Vehicle (CPV) launches!

The CPV was designed as a re-usable unmanned cargo pod that can deliver science payloads to Kerbin Spaceport and then return them to Kerbin for study.

The CPV rendezvouses with Kerbin Spaceport!

Docking is a success!

Looks like a good connection! Once the rest of the science crew gets here we should be able to see what this Cyclotron can do!

-Shepely (on board Kerbin Spaceport)

Indeed, the science crew has already been selected! Orlas, recently back from Duna will be the lead scientist, with Shepely and Kimmy joining the team!

Year 9, Day 219 (Mk7 ACV heads to Mun!)

October 20, 2018 sayburstuff Year 9 Aurora Crew Vehicle, Kerbin Spaceport, Malcolm, Mun, Shepely

Gillian and Shepely stay onboard Kerbin Spaceport, while Malcom takes the ACV and undocks! Malcolm will be testing the ACV’s ability to reach Mun and Minmus on this mission, so to reduce risk he’ll be piloting the craft alone!

Year 9, Day 218 (Aurora Crew Vehicle Mk7 First Launch to Kerbin Spaceport!)

October 19, 2018 sayburstuff Year 9 Aurora Crew Vehicle, Gillian, Malcolm, Shepely

Malcolm, Gillian, and Shepely launch in the upgraded Mk7 Aurora Crew Vehicle, heading to the Kerbin Spaceport!

The new crew will be the first to crew the massive new Kerbin Spaceport – itself destined for an expansion in mere weeks!

Alright, climbing to a 178km orbit! That should make a rendezvous a little faster!

-Malcolm

After the service bay doors open, the solar panels safely deploy!

Launching to a higher orbit, then starting the rendezvous seemed to payoff! In no time at all the ACV has arrived at Kerbin Spaceport!

Malcolm carefully maneuvers the ACV closer and closer to the station…

Success! Crew has arrived for the first time at Kerbin Spaceport!

Year 8, Day 63 (CryoLab Update!)

September 21, 2018September 21, 2018 sayburstuff Year 8 Bill, Bob, CryoLab, CTS-3 Intrepid, Luly, Mirphe, Shepely

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!

Year 7, Day 389 (Resolute Launches, Carrying CryoLab To Orbit!)

June 19, 2018June 19, 2018 sayburstuff Year 7 Bob, CryoLab, Luly, Mirphe, Resolute, Shepely

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!