Tuesday 3 December 2013

Old Kerbal Diaries: Saving Private Kerman

Jeb was stranded on Minmus.

I can't stand for that, so I decided to make a better lander that fixes the design flaws in the B1 Munlander. Known as the B2 Minlander, it has a few modifications.


As you can see, it has a wider base, solar panels, and a probe core which allows it to be piloted without crew.
The engines are also LV-T45 engines, which make it less impossible to control.

The launch to orbit and rendezvous with Minmus go off without a hitch. My apoapsis is slightly higher than I would have liked, but it'll do.

Getting my orbit over Minmus to pass Jebediah's landing site was a challenge. I was able to get this, which goes almost directly over where Jebediah landed.

Landing is tense, but successful. You can see the downed corpse of the Munlander, where Jebediah is.

Jebediah walks over to the Minlander, and jumps inside the command pod. He's positively quaking with excitement.

However, after entering orbit around Minmus, I realised that I don't have enough fuel to get back to Kerbin. That means that I'll need another rescue mission, to rendezvous with the lander in orbit and finally return Jebediah.