Year 13: Mun Rescue and Minmus Expansion
Let's Tidy Up some of those Pending Contracts
It's time to clear out some of our lingering contracts. We have a Mun
orbit rescue to take care of, and maybe we can do something about the
missing science Lab on the Minmus base at the same time.
Our current booster stack has a lot of extra delta-V when doing near-Kerbin
projects, which is why we are combining the missions. It does make for
wobbly launches though (yes, that's a load-bearing probe core):
First stop: Munar orbit to rescue a shipwrecked Kerbal. Not one of mine
for once. I wonder who else is launching clandestine space missions.
*Of course* this guy is in a retrograde orbit which I figure out *after*
we are already in a nice prograde orbit.
We'll dispatch our friend Daphty to go handle this one herself.
Eventually she gets close to Herely. He looks a little gloomy there sitting
in his space cylinder all alone.
He had to EVA over but they linked up and made it back to Kerbin! Let's
try landing at the north pole, for variety's sake.
And there's not much science here at *all*. I guess we must have crossed
some sort of threshold on what Kerbin science is worth. It was interesting
getting Daphty back inside without a ladder, we somehow made Herely transfer
to the top through that open cargo bay so she could squeeze in the
lander can.
Meanwhile the probe core is taking the science lab to Minmus.
You might recall that the last time we tried to get this expansion contract
we forgot the science lab. Well here it comes now.
This was made way difficult because I forgot to put SAS or RCS on this stage.
It's not possible to land upside down when you have landing gear on *all sides*.
Having wheels works much better than skidding across the surface too.
No more docking rings, not a problem when you have *the claw*. I'm not
convinced it really is going to work, but we have to try.
*RAMMING SPEED*
Here's your science lab! Contract complete!
They're awfully happy about being crashed into by a giant robotic claw
monster. I brought up some new science instruments and while the seismometer
seemed worth it, I somehow didn't realize the atmosphere probe wouldn't
work if there was no atmosphere. Oops. I also don't understand how
data feeds into the science labs, I guess I should go find the manual
somewhere.
Next
Back to Kerbal pictures