Year 18: Asteroid to Minmus
Also, the return of Jeb!
Well, Valentina, the contract says Class-C to Minmus, so lets do this thing.
We've been sitting on this contract for years so it will be nice to check
it off.
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The asteroid is always trying to spin off axis on us, so it's a lot of
tedious 30s burns followed by slowly SASing back on course. We did
get an intercept though:
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Valentina got out to get a surface sample and is transmitting the data
to off-in-the-distance Kerbin.
She seems unconcerned that the antenna is pointing in completely the wrong
direction.
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Burning for Minmus orbital insertion:
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We made it to Minmus! Contract complete! You might notice that our
asteroid is a lot smaller than it was after we apparently converted about
half of it into liquid fuel.
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Now that we're here we need to figure out what to do with our asteroid
capture infrastructure. Also if/how we're ever going to get Valentina
home. Worries for another day.
Meanwhile, Jeb's long mission is coming to an end...
♪ I heard they had a space program, when you sing you can't hear
there's no air ♪
Kschhh Jeb, Jeb, do you read us? After 10 years adrift we think your
short-range antenna might finally be in range for communication.
We had some extra fuel so we entered orbit and decided to go for a
precision landing. Here's Jeb ditching his nuclear rockets somewhere
that is hopefully uninhabited.
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There it is! After 10 years! A trip to Duna, ejected by Ike, lost in space,
one failed rescue mission (that ended up getting stranded on Eve),
and one long ride on the outside of a ship.
And there's the KSC!
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Well Jeb you didn't manage to land on top of the VAB, but you did
land on the beach within walking distance. Good job! You're now
a level 3 pilot.
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