The
Discovery, my interplanetary exploration vessel, just returned from it's maiden voyage to Duna. The ship has a maximum crew capacity of 7 (though this is expandable via dockable modules), but has an on-board AI system that is completely capable of operating the vessel on it's own. This AI has so far proven reliable. Among other things, it likes to play chess with the crew and has a tiny bug - sometimes it gives false positives on main antenna diagnostics, then when the crew EVA's to check, it refuses to open the airlock doors to let them back in. Other than that it functions perfectly, and this small issue is expected to be resolved in the upcoming K.A.L. 9000 1.01 patch. The vessel's first mission was to deliver a 6 man science crew to Duna, and return them safely back home. Here's how it all went down, along with the obligatory bandwidth-gang-rape-array-of-images.
The ship was constructed in my shipyard, orbiting Kerbin at a 300km altitude. It was constructed from two main segments, the engine section and the command section.
Once complete, the Discovery undocked on it's own and transfered itself to a 400km parking orbit, where it was refueled, crewed with a 6 man Duna team, and equipped with two landers, Odyssey-1 and Odyssey-2.
Once ready, with Duna in the correct position for an optimal transfer, the ship made it's Duna transfer burn. Approximately two months later, it found itself in Duna's orbit; all systems have so far performed as expected.
With orbital insertion complete, the crew transferred to the landers, and began their descent to the previously chosen location on the surface, where a surface habitat has been delivered by an earlier, unmanned mission.
The crew of Odyssey-1 about the board their new home for the upcoming year.
View from the observation / command module of the Duna habitat. The crew now had a lot of time to mess around in the sand.. erm, do science. And stuff. With them safely on the surface, the Discovery went on to rendezvous and dock with the Duna Orbital, a drone carrier now designated a station.
Having spent 324 days on the surface, Duna was once again close to being in optimal position for a return to Kerbin, so it was time to depart.
Both landers docked with the Duna Orbital, to which the Discovery was also docked at the time. The station had more than enough fuel remaining to refuel both landers more than once, so one of the landers was to proceed to a short mission to Ike and return to Duna orbit to return the crew to the Discovery for Kerbin departure. After both landers returned to orbit, it would seem the crew of the Odyssey-1 won the honor of going to Ike, by being slightly more fuel efficient. The crew of Odyssey-2 would leave their lander docked to the Duna orbital and wait aboard the Discovery.
Odyssey-1 on a free return trajectory to Ike.
The crew of the Odyssey-1 landed safely on Ike, and spent just over a day there. Their scientific appraisal of the place was "it's awesome, low grav is fun!"
"Just a bit further to the left and we're back on Duna.."
Docked back at the Duna Orbital - all ready for a return trip.
Waving goodbye...
Returning home via Ike gravity assist. This was the first mission where I actually planned for and did an intentional gravity assist
Some 54 days later, the Discovery found itself back in Kerbin orbit. The aerocapture maneuver was successful, putting it's apoapsis just above geostationary orbit altitude. I should probably mention that I haven't done this mission in one go - it's been at least some two weeks since I launched it, and I did a lot of other stuff in the mean time. One of them was constructing a new refueling orbital station in Kerbin geostationary orbit. The Discovery wasn't to return to the shipyard, but instead to this new station, called "Waypoint Station". This is basically a drydock/refueling station where the ship will be when not on a mission. Thanks to Ike gravity assist and the fact I left both landers in Duna's orbit, docked to the Duna Orbital (with chutes repacked and completely refueled, they're perfectly capable of being reused), the return cost me very little in terms of fuel.
The Discovery on approach to Waypoint station, in geostationary orbit.
Docking large ships is all about taking it slow.. these things have a lot of inertia and it takes a while for the thrusters to do corrections. So with a bit of concentration and taking the slow and methodical approach, the docking actually isn't that hard.
View of home through the Discovery's starboard window - a view this crew hasn't seen in over a year.
With the Discovery back, all that was left to do was to send a shuttle to return the crew safely home.
Kerbin is larger than the Mun, and the shuttle is larger than both!
On approach to Waypoint Station.
..and we're docked.
View of the docked Discovery through the station's small control tower.
Transferring the crew to the shuttle...
..and going home. Based on previous experiences, while doing a deorbit burn straight from Waypoint, setting a periapsis at some 34.6km should bring the shuttle back over the KSC.
Here's a postcard shot of the 6 brave Kerbonauts that just came back. The three on the right have also been to Ike. The Discovery spent about 58% of it's fuel on this mission and has since replenished to 100% at Waypoint station, so it's ready for it's next mission.
