A "Rescue" on Ike
Well there's no real financial reason to do it, but we might as well
see if we can rescue the crew stuck on Ike. We didn't accumulate
enough science to get any amazing new techs, but we did fix up
our previous ship to have a much better lander and maybe some extra
delta-V.
Key features are two empty seats for the rescue, and new pilot
Frednard is at the controls.
We managed to make it back to Ike orbit,
slightly more efficiently than last time. Less fuel left than one could hope.
Maybe six-engines was overkill. I'd like to say there were firm engineering
reasons behind that, but in reality the symmetry mode was stuck and wouldn't
let us do four and I was too lazy to do anything about it.
And Frednard managed to pull off a Corbin Maneuver. At least we have
some fuel left and no engines were damaged.
A bit further away than our last rescue attempt. Corbin has gotten out
to find that Bob has already made a (very slow) walk for it. "Haha" he
thinks, "Unlike Bob, I have a full complement of EVA fuel left."
About this time Bob remembers that he can return the the crew capsule and
re-up his EVA suit. Here he is climbing into the upside-down capsule.
In the end due to slightly more efficient low-surface flying (and skidding)
Bob actually beat Corbin there by a few minutes.
So let's rendezvous with the station! Uh-oh taking off from your side
is harder than it looks.
They eventually managed orbit, but not enough fuel left to dock.
Is it worth another rescue attempt?
We did pull together enough science that we can now build Mainsail engines.
Maybe that will be enough to get a ship with sufficient delta-V into
the Duna system.
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