Munar Lander 2: What happened to #1?
Day 11
Active project: Munar Lander Project
Active mission: Munar Lander 2
Selected vehicle: Lightning 1
Assigned crew: Josh Kerman
Finally, the Lighting 1 launch vehicle is ready to send astronaut Josh Kerman to the moon. Topping it off is the new mission patch, which shall serve as the flag at the first Münar landing site.
Yes, I am counting the lander prototype test flight as mission #1. The fake moon landing was real; the real flight will thus be #2.
Anyhow, let's get his beast in the air and out of the atmosphere.
 |
| 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Ignition! |
The completed Lightning 1 consists of the Munar Lander, a single-engine second stage (much like an extended version of the Thunder Road) meant to transfer the lander from Kerbin orbit to the Mün's orbit, and a triple bundle three-engine first stage flanked by a trio of the new extended solid rocket boosters.
The boosters will burn considerably longer and push stage 1 closer to the upper atmosphere, where it can accelerate quicker with less air resistance.
 |
| Our biggest lawn dart yet. |
The Lightning is proving itself to be a far superior launch platform, although it does cost almost twice as much to build as the previous rocket.
 |
| We actually don't have a working means to recover spent stages at this point. No joke. |
Josh is almost in orbit before stage 1 is finally spent. All that needs to be done next is accelerate to orbital speed.
 |
| How majestic. |
This will actually be a short mission entry, the trip to the Mün will again take one standard Kerbin day and give me time to prepare the log for the landing approach itself.
 |
| You may want to take more than a couple days off your day job for this trip, josh. |
Not to spoil anything, but it's going to be challenging surprise.
No comments:
Post a Comment