Kerbal Space Program Mission #4, part 2

Explorer 4, part 2: Just passing through

Day 8

Active project: Project Explorer

Active mission: Explorer 4

Selected vehicle: Thunder Road 3

Assigned crew: Nick Kerman

"Mün orbits at a distance of 11 thousand kilometers! That's the same length as over 12 million basset hounds!"

Another day passes until Nick Kerman encounters Kerbin's primary satellite, named by science as the 'Mün'. You can't just call it 'the moon' when there's two of them, after all. Did I mention Kerbin has a second moon?

No, because I'm trying to focus on one thing at a time here. We can explore there too after the Mün mission or when people express interest.

It floats! A WITCH!!

Having already examined material experiments in zero-gravity over Kerbin, the next tests will be conducted in space near the Mün itself.

Nick approaches the closest distance of the Münar flyby and begins transmitting his reports.

Is this hail damage covered by our moon insurance?

The surface does in fact look a bit unforgiving. With such uneroded landscape the flattest sites will be in the craters themselves.

Ask me about the awkward complication on this EVA that nearly got Nick killed.

The Explorer 4 passes within 500km. A perfect opportunity to perform an EVA spacewalk and grab another photo.

Finally, a reading is taken from the second canister as the Explorer 4 flies further away. Another tank of fuel and this rocket could probably inserted itself into a low orbit, but Nick still needs what little remains to get back home.  

A couple more hours pass as the Explorer 4 is flung further out past the Mün's orbit before it arcs back toward Kerbin.

The lowest point in this new elliptical orbit is still 1,000 kilometers above the atmosphere. To get out of this orbit, the answer is of course retro-burning at the apoapsis.

Success! Nick's rocket is now on a direct course back to the surface. As long as we can trust the parachutes to perform their part, by this time tomorrow we'll have another astronaut returning safely. Not very dramatic, is it?

That's why the next mission is going all out, to the extent It will be a whole new Space Center project: Landing a Kerbal on the Mün and returning with a surface sample.

We have already developed two crucial new components through the previous Explorer mission that will allow for this mission: deploy-able landing legs and the tiny but efficient LV-909 engine.

Going to the moon in an egg cooker? Brilliant!

This Münar Lander prototype will be delivered into orbit of the Mün on a rocket much like the Thunder Road's primary orbital stage. From there its engine and fuel must be light and efficient enough to land under its own power and accelerate again to escape velocity (+807m/s) so it can fall back to Kerbin.

We're past the napkin doodle phase but clearly not yet at the blueprint phase.

The launch vehicle that will send all this to the Mün, currently in the planning phase under the name Lighting, is going to be huge. 

Hopefully we should have something ready to go once Nick returns, but there's a lot of untested things going into this new mission; so much of it could go wrong. At least we already have a brave pilot selected. (Thanks, Josh!).

Next Project: Munar Lander Project
Next mission: Munar Lander 1

Selected vehicle: Lightning 1

Assigned crew: Josh Kerman