Kerbal Space Program Mission #7, part 3

Munar Lander 4, part three: Need a lift?

Day 17

Active project: Munar Lander Project

Active mission: Munar Lander 4
Selected vehicle: Lightning 3

Assigned crew: Thong Kerman

'Sup.

The two moon landing site of Thong and Josh Kerman (no relation?) are separated by a 'mere' three kilometers.

No, that's not a mirage. Fly to it, Josh! Fly to freedom!

While this could be traversed by foot, possibly in under an hour, it would be more efficient for Josh to fire up the rocket pack and boost over there within a couple minutes.

Rocket maaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!

Considering the rocket pack can't even lift a Kerbal off the ground on their home planet, it provides a considerable amount of lift in the Mün's 1/6th gravity.

So close...

Not to mention a hefty amount of fuel built in. Josh could have easily covered two or three times that distance if needed. Something to keep in mind for later missions.

They stare awkwardly for several minutes.

Finally, Josh is brought face-to-face with Thong. Say 'thank you', Josh!

"You don't want to know what my space suit smells like after six days..."

 Or just board the lander, whatever.

"Dang it, Josh..."

At this point the Munar Lander 2 mission is now officially complete, all that's left is to send Munar Lander 4 home.

Pre-flight checklist? Check.

Our crew reviews their collected data, including two rock samples and an extra EVA report (which can be transmitted back to Space Command for its full scientific value). We don't want them to forget to have performed all possible experiments while here, who knows when we'll convince them to come back?

After that has been settled and confirmed, the two kerbals lift off from the barren landscape. I send them on the direction retrograde to the satellite's orbit: this will clear them away from the Mün's gravity well and set the craft on its own orbit around Kerbin. Hopefully there's enough remaining fuel to dip that orbit into the planet's atmosphere for a landing.

Say goodbye to your home for the past week, Josh.

Since there's no air on the Mün the only minimum altitude to be cleared to achieve orbit (or escape velocity in our case) is that of the surrounding hills.

Long story short, they ran out of fuel before they could escape the Mün's gravity.

Whoops!

It was discovered that fuel was running dangerously low well before the Lightning lander would reach escape velocity (over 800 meters per second). I made the call to spend the remainder on circularizing the orbit, rather than watch it smack back into the moonscape.

We have traded one astronaut stranded on Kerbin's moon to two astronauts stuck orbiting it. That's less of a fuel requirement but still a predicament.

There are however two pieces of good news here:

Houston, we're in a bit of a pickle.

First, I noticed that the unmanned Munar Lander 3 rocket has in fact started catching sunlight! Yes this is very helpful, bear with me here.

Number Five is alive! No disassemble!

It had built up enough electric power to allow me to rotate one solar panel into full view and recharge a proper reserve. This rocket still has all the fuel it would have spent on landing.

Need input! IN-PUT!

Since that mission is is no longer relevant, there's plenty of fuel to make orbital course corrections or return home.

Second, by apparent coincidence the craft is already passing relatively close to Thong and Josh's vessel on the next pass. It takes a very minor course correction to ensure it will come within 400 meters, which can be even further refined later in the approach. 

Next time call for a ride home six hours in advance.

It should be possible for one astronaut to use his rocket pack to space walk and match velocity with the Lightning 2 as it passes by. The other could be picked up using another Lightning 2, in as little as a couple hours later depending on how quickly Munar Lander 5 can be launched.

Unless someone has another idea to formulate, I think we have the most expedient plan to see our active missions to completion.

But which Kerbal should be picked up first? On one hand, Josh has been stranded for longer so it's only fair, but taking Thong home first would be funnier. Hrmmm...