Kerbal Space Program - Apollo Style - Reddit Challenge

OK I've done Apollo style missions in the past, but the challenge added a rover, and to balance the mass of the rover I added an emergency Munar EScape System (MESS) that can return the crew to orbit in the event of an engine failure.
You can download the launch vehicle here:
kerbalspaceport...
/ weekly_challenge_apoll...

[@toddfromwork8931]

No Kerbal has ever landed on the Mun. This video was filmed in a studio by Stanley Kerb-rick.

[@scottmanley]

i.imgur.com/looRY5v.gif

[@toddfromwork8931]

Scott Manley Hahaha, that made my day sir!

[@DrCallistoTesla]

This was all a propaganda to damage and bankrupt the Kerbol Union, KSR!

[@rogeranderson4051]

Scott Manley ROFL, thank you for that, I quite literally laughed out loud

[@russellshutes8437]

It looks like it was filmed on Duna! It's impossible to get to the Mun, but Duna is totally feasible.

[@ThirdWarfleetOfTheKrthaags]

"Who needs a free return trajectory?" Apollo 13, Scott. Apollo 13 needs a Free Return Trajectory,

[@Cnupoc]

+boba8710 hahahahahah

[@LiberalTears]

He calculates everything ahead of time. 90% of us just pull Bill O'Reilly's mentality. "Fuck it we'll do it live!"

[@lukealwine8717]

by god thats hilarious

[@asymsolutions]

You don't know how true this has been for me at times. "Let's build a 100+ kerbal space station!" "How do you build in spacer in this?" "I dunno" *45 minutes later, about 30 rockomax engines strapped to large orange fuel tanks and 36 crew pods in a 3x3x4 square configuration is launching straight into orbit by the pure virtue of if there is enough thrust and fuel, we can make it fly.

[@AggieKong92]

Joffrey: "How ya holding up out there Jeb?" Jebediah: "aeiou" Joffrey: "Excuse me?" Jebediah: "John Madden! John Madden!"

[@M1stersupersonic8]

+Daniel Koss erbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbrbr

[@battleb0ng420]

LOL

[@gabrielbhain5644]

celbitosasdkaskdaskdaksld BR HUE

[@gabrielbhain5644]

BR HUE

[@ghost_ship_supreme]

Taaaake me out to the baaaaall gaaaaame... john madden!

[@JeffACornell]

18:12 "So apparently I'm trying to dock with a rotating target, which is fun". "No, it's necessary".

[@1995TheDude]

Where is T.A.R.S. when you need him?

[@muffinman3052]

Just rewatched that movie and was emotionally devestated for an entire week lmao

[@liamdoyle9128]

I tried this but it all went Apollo 13

[@TommoWommo]

*Liam Doyle* And not a single Kerbal was killed that day.

[@CrackedSilence]

Thomas Holt not yet

[@TommoWommo]

What. Are they STILL out on in space? or did you manage to rescue them

[@kenetickups6146]

so your oxygen tank exploded?

[@JasonSmith-zu6ih]

+John Carver by a faulty wiring system that stayed on after a pre flight test was completed 5 to 7 days before the launch which when the cryo tanks were stirred caused the over heated wiring system to put a spark in the oxygen tank causing a major explosion and a devastating blow out in which case the astronauts luckily survived by a thread

[@aethermodaddict]

I once decided to put myself into a 600 meter flyby of the moon when performing a slingshot. Guess how well that ended.

[@scottmanley]

I guess you found out that close approach attitudes are measured relative to the lowest point on the body?

[@aethermodaddict]

I already knew that, but I did find out that the Mün has mountain higher than 600 m. I also found out that a poodle engine does not save you from that.

[@bluegill5192]

aethermodaddict well after all it is called a 'poodle'

[@AhabHyde]

aethermodaddict Ahahahahaahah :D

[@soapegg]

Horrible. Did i get it right?

[@SandwichRobot]

"The only time you have too much fuel is when your on fire" 🔥🚀

[@Dewon2301]

roflcopters270 so true

[@juniperburnhamclark]

Or when your thrust to weight is under 1

[@zumbinisgm]

Funny, but true!

[@stall_]

HULLOW ITS SCWOTT MANLY HERE

[@stall_]

***** its how he speaks :>

[@billybobjoe4006]

stallingblock2 It's an awesome way to speak! And that's coming from an American!

[@CarlosRios1]

SCOWTT MANLEY *HEAR

[@haroldinho9930]

HWHEELS

[@Composer1992]

I've heard of but never seen gameplay of Kerbal Space Program before. I've been getting interested in space stuff from hearing about SpaceX. This game looks pretty cool! Nice video :)

[@navalporcupine2426]

There should be an Apollo 13 style mission to explode one side of the ship and then to get it back safely!

[@kaleproctor3337]

I was thinking the same thing

[@JiggleboneJones]

If I did this challenge it would be Apollo 13 style

[@gato815]

Mine would be the N1.

[@nottherealpaulsmith]

Mine would be Challenger style, or if I got off the pad, Columbia style.

[@yardenanahari346]

Paul Smith challnger got off the launch pad. You mean orbit

[@scottmanley]

To dock, you have to match velocities, so they'll be in the same orbit.

[@tTRITUS]

the same orbit and in the same place*. easy mistake to make when rendezvousing to match orbits with the target craft while it is 100s of kilometers away,

[@TheMinecraftyoshi321]

That's nothing, you should see what i launch on KSP ! The moon is litterally crippelled with c̶r̶a̶s̶h̶e̶d̶ perfectly landed rovers of mine

[@TinyFoxTom]

Legends say the Mun was a perfectly smooth sphere before the Kerbal Space Center was built.

[@StefanBerreth70]

who is this „moon“ you are talking about?

[@KsymekPL]

Jebediah is the best

[@TheEventHorizon909]

YEA he's a fuckin badass

[@paistinlasta1805]

Jeb is overrated....

[@iainmaclean4872]

Paistin Lasta Nay sayer! Burn him!

[@Diraphe]

Iain MacLean Burn him with rocket exhaust!

[@rlrsk8r1]

Ksymek I'm partial to Bob myself.

[@scottmanley]

They planned for that and then never used it.

[@WheatleyOS]

I like how Scott always does "harder-er" mode for Reddit challenges :D

[@evedoingthingsaaaaa]

Funny how this is considered a challenge when it's easy these days to build an Apollo style rocket, and Saturn V replicas are common. It's required even to use an Apollo style lander if you plan on going interplanetary. Plus, the rover isn't too hard to include with the making history expansion. Cool to see KSP expand so much over the years.

[@jwestonmoss]

you forgot to stir the tanks. houston tells you to stir the tanks, you stir the tanks!

[@whiplash7400]

but if you stir the tanks then you will have a problem

[@whiplash7400]

and you will lose the mun too

[@justanotherintrovert1012]

Houston, weve had a problem

[@scottmanley]

This rotation is exactly why I pointed the docking port along the pole, so that the rotation would be along the axis of the port keeping the port in the same location.

[@dkaylmno1460]

Scott, i got a Challenge for you: "Make a Space plane that lands on Laythe. that can turn into a base. but you can turn it into a plane again and fly back to Kerbin" Like so he can se it! :) (Mods "not" Allowed, but if it is Imposible then use mods) ps. Sorry for my Bad English

[@thenerd4269]

Saw a video where someone did that exact thing, it was pretty awesome.

[@thenerd4269]

it was a hybrid it had jets and rockets. Look for it

[@raritythefabulous]

+TheRniz I know this comment is 2 years old, but... just out of curiosity, have you learned what a spaceplane is in the mean time?

[@atraxr603]

Rizniz still ignorant...

[@BlackStoneMoviesMinecraft]

DKay LMNO Matt lowne has a video on that

[@scottmanley]

I record live, and then I add post commentary where I need to speed things up, so there's a lot of edits in there that you can hear because the tone of my voice changes from one line to the next.

[@togmeister8604]

You should make tiny cars that act like a space station where you can join them together to make a really big car. Like some sort of driving runway.

[@justanotherintrovert1012]

ive made a driving runway, it makes it a lot easier to land planes if you can choose where the thing the land on is

[@Hiperruimteindustriee]

So, road going trains then? 'Cause that would be cool. :)

[@jebediahgentry7029]

I didn't know that I went to the moon. Good example of a parrelell universe

[@paistinlasta1805]

THIS is the video that got me into Kerbal Space Program!

[@paschalconneely2374]

Paistin Lasta it was his orbital rendezvous and docking video that did it for me.

[@scottmanley]

In an orbit which would be unstable if it were anything like the real mun.

[@io6741]

"Fly safe" That, or you could stick a really huge thruster to a command pod&launch it whit inf fuel.

[@TheTrueMichael]

My entire KSP career in a nutshell.

[@felixrowan3740]

I had never thought to use the node t- to estimate the rotational orientation of Kerbin. What an excellent idea!

[@aval1998]

Joefry Kerman face during the firing to begin the kerbin to mun transition looks like he is saying "OMG I cannot believe i am doing a mission with Jebediah Kerman!"

[@centralintelligenceagency9003]

The lunar landing plan I just filed with the space agency lists me, my men, Joefry here but only one of you. First one to talk gets to stay on my lunar lander.

[@mesoth5848]

7:36 Small fall for kerbal, big step for the kerbalkind

[@ThatGuy-nv2wo]

Should be a kerbal

[@nathreyz7536]

mesoth mesoth i

[@scottmanley]

Oh darn you caught me, because I was so desperate for the flair ;)

[@Seawolf159]

Dude.. I havent even got enough fuel get to the moon and you even return...

[@scottmanley]

None of those were requirements, but I did all those previously in another video, where I spent more time working on the design. The real goal here was an apollo style lander with with the rover, and because of the scale bringing a rover is messy.

[@anddyyxx]

love your videos man! i hate watching 'lets play' style videos but i love that you have knowledge on the topic I have learned quite a bit. about to buy this game but I feel like I dont know nearly enough about physics or space travel although its always been an interest lol.keep up the great work!

[@jb111082]

anddyyxx Buy the game. Scott has some great tutorials for the novice rocket pilots that includes building and flying rockets. Check them out.

[@tuomaskristola8441]

Get it, you won't regret it. The in-game tutorials are way easy to follow, and the physics of it is rather intuitive. Of course in-depth knowledge like Scott's makes these difficult challenge missions possible, but it's not at all necessary in order to enjoy the game.

[@DonnyDealer]

Tuomas Kristola For sure. I flew and landed my first plane in KSP today. The centre of mass was a little far back so it created a lot of drag when I tried to pitch up. Nevertheless I managed to land it on the runway without any explosions so I'm rather proud of myself. The physics are pretty intuitive, I agree. And I've learned a lot from watching Scott's videos. I remember the first time I watched him I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. Retrograde this, thrust vector that. I've inevitably come to learn what a lot of these terms mean. Mostly because my Kerbals very lives depended on it. But I learned them none the less. This game is super cool and has some wicked awesome features as of the 1.0 update. I highly recommend it to anybody interested in orbital mechanics, rocketry and the like.

[@scottmanley]

The gravity field of the moon is non-spherical, some orbits are stable (27º, 50º, 76º, and 86º inclinations) others are unstable - a satellite in an 11 degree inclination orbit crashed after 35 days.

[@perrywinklefinn3029]

it explodes because the parts on the rover are physics-less parts

[@chasarr]

+Perrywinkle Finn probably

[@toreibjo]

+Perrywinkle Finn Like non-Newtonian fluids? :)

[@OgeiDennepeL]

+toreibjo no,it means that they're so small/unimportant that the physics doesn't apply on them in the game,if i'm not mistaken it's all translated to the center of mass of the main object they're attached to.

[@toreibjo]

I was just joking, but ok :)

[@freshmanjeff]

damn I can't wait til I have a 'too much fuel' problem in this game lol

[@Kadmilos3310]

Do u think u could redoo this challange again in 2017 ? Reconstructiong the apollo mission even better.

[@sir_wheat_thins]

Kadmilos Especially with KW Rocketry

[@FederationStarShip]

11:10 The concept of that mini launch vehicle is absolutely terrifying.

[@TheBeresford7]

How did the Kerbal survive the Van Allen belts ?

[@scottmanley]

+TheBeresford7 by traveling through them quickly, just the same way that dozens of astronauts survived. Also, math for people who want more detail. spacemath.gsfc.nasa.gov/earth/3Page7.pdf

[@Thebuilderofthings1]

NASA plotted a course through the thinnest part of the Van Allen Belt for the Apollo missions reducing the amount of exposure to that of a dental x-ray.

[@CanyonF]

because the earth is flat and the illiuminati turned all nasa people and astronauts into lizards

[@tim_m22]

Canyon F loving the comment above, so funny

[@DoctorORBiT]

The Van Allen belt is a region in which solar radiation is "collected" by the earth. Radiation does not kill you instantly. Radiation kills you based on dosage + time.

[@scottmanley]

They didn't deorbit them always, Apollo 11 and Apollo 16 LEM's were left in lunar orbit and their orbits eventually decayed.

[@Fireheart318]

If you wanted no evidence, why'd you plant a flag and bring rovers without self destruct?

[@v3foo]

Fireheart318 self destruct results in no evidence?

[@Fireheart318]

Well it's better than a flag. If you self destructed, it would probably be interpreted as an incredibly sad botched landing in which a brave kerbonaut died

[@scottmanley]

Yep the Saturn V 1st stage used 5 F-1 engines fuels by RP-1/LOX - 2nd Stage used 5 J-2 engines burning LH2/LOX and the final stage also used LH2/LOX and a single J-2 engine.

[@Arkloyd]

I'd love to see a video explaining how you built this.

[@dannykong944]

Fun fact the flag on the moon is actually waving because there is no atmosphere to dampen the waving and there was a slight oscillation when they stuck it on the moon so if you were to visit the moon now, it would still be slightly oscillating because the friction in the pole wouldn't be enough to stop it for many years.

[@johnroby6524]

Danny Kong No.

[@doorstopper674]

@@johnroby6524 and the earth is flat too? (Sarcasm)

[@docnathan3959]

*laughs in 1.9 Making History*

[@chrisbolland5634]

*laughs in kerbalism making history with missing history and principia*

[@JumpCatmonkey]

Random thing I discovered the other day Scott, useful with Rovers. If you switch to docking mode before driving it, it's more stable (in staging more its still treating it like a probe and when you turn it's also thinking you mean to rotate, but in docking it behaves much more like a car)

[@willasproth]

Actually the oxidizer in the fuel tank would make the fuel explode.

[@samovarmaker9673]

This is true if a) They come into contact and they are hypergolic b) They come into contact and they are heatedd

[@hakaandavor2789]

R/english

[@scottmanley]

I connected it to something other than an orange tank. It's the orange tanks that cause the overheating.

[@bobbygamez7229]

Hey scott u passed my first jun landing site unfortantly it was in a crater so my ship is on it's side waiting for a rescue craft.

[@bobbygamez7229]

i meant first mun landing. auto correct.

[@reactorfour1682]

Watching this in 2020 for nostalgia of the old days of KSP

[@medicinalfriedchicken6542]

you should redo this with the 1.0.5 parts

[@felipelincoln7823]

This is surely the best video I ever seen on youtube!

[@MasterSn0w]

get the fasa mod and do this again with the real Apollo 11 craft

[@scottmanley]

Truth is, I just really wanted a 2 stage lander that could deploy the rover, below that I didn't care for the rocket design.

[@ianbicknell5667]

i havent even got to the mun in ksp lol

[@haroldinho9930]

Ian Bicknell I can crash on the Mün

[@junkermunker2]

Scott I can say hands down your videos are the best quality for ksp. Keep up the good work.

[@quicksavecrew]

I feel sorry for these guys... dying only to be resurrected to die yet again in the name of science. meh.

[@ohhi.4933]

Well, you cant spell "guilty conscience" without "science".

[@lildogedoge6625]

Mission control: ALRIGHTY GUYS, TIME FOR SOME MORE SCIENTIFIC GENOCIDE!!! Jeb: aww man, i hate dying.

[@MrJibblesGaming]

Tip that helped me: Get into an orbit that is smaller (if the target is ahead) or bigger (if the target is behind) than the target, then once you are in that orbit, wait until you are slightly behind the target and then make maneuver nodes to match up your little arrows until you are at least "0.5" meters away from the other vessel.

[@ProfessionalSpectre]

10:03 That's what she said.

[@scottmanley]

The moon's gravitational field is non-spherical, there are mass concentrations that mess with some orbits.

[@scottmanley]

I will endeavor to improve on this.

[@Blakearmin]

Watching your videos always gets me pumped to play.

[@notatoy3756]

Extra Points for the Lunar Escape System! Nicely done as always.

[@spacej0e]

The Service Module is a vital component, the upper part of the LEM was discarded in lunar orbit, the film canister and experiments were in the experiment bay on the side of the CSM

[@AN-xq7tw]

The non atmospheric moon is the reason the flag waved. No atmosphere = no air resistance meaning that if the flag was hit nothing would be able to stop it.

[@Draax17]

Key rule for orbits: lower isn't slower. If your target is behind you increase your height to slow down, if its in front go lower to catch up. Use rcs when less than 400m.

[@vvallent]

This was one of your best videos. Very interesting. Good job!

[@scottmanley]

Yes they said they wanted lots of green stuff.

[@James-mg6lr]

I really appreciate the videos you've posted on all these things. Very entertaining and informative. Not to mention, I do enjoy the accent as it differs from my own American one.

[@Tails_the_Gamer]

Those are some very cool designs. Especially the little rover with the low center of mass. Nice video!

[@TzuCraft]

Great vid as always! I've been having trouble getting the rover,lander and cmd mod all launched at once but your solution worked alot better!

[@Draxis32]

It can yes make fire on vacuum, and indeed the boosters that lifted the lunar module did fired it up. You have to understand that both the fuel and oxidizer are presents in the mixture, so it burns same as it burns in our atmosphere.

[@scottmanley]

It doesn't have a docking adapter they need to EVA across.

[@aggonzalezdc]

Holy Crap! Without the docking system its completely impossible! It allows you to control the ship only with RCS thrusters and allows you to do translation maneuvers like raising or lower the entire ship without rotating it at all. Totally vital. Its no wonder you havent been able to do it!

[@scottmanley]

Very nice, but yeah, it has its own problems, the amount of fine tuning available in KSP is insufficient to satisfy everyone's needs for an apollo mission, it doesn't help that the munar landing/launch uses so little fuel that it's hard to justify the docking in orbit. Really I should just break out Orbiter and to the Apollo missions using that if we want realism.

[@KASASpace]

When I docked for the first time, and landed on the mun for the first time, I was proud, and docking, I discovered, had very few good tutorials. Scott has his own in fact.

[@TheBelrick]

You made that look easy Scott but the majority of your viewers are well aware of how difficult everyone of the elements required in this mission was. Nice.

[@TheSkyRender]

Amusingly, we had an Apollo-style challenge in the KSP forums a little over a month back that was more intensive still than that. I was the first to get all of the points available for that challenge. Good times.

[@scottmanley]

I never said the kerbals were good at this kind of subterfuge. I mean remember the pilot who sent his friends a postcard from his secret mission?

[@JonathanM-JMart]

Scott you make very professional designs. They're amazing.

[@superhakujin]

Not sure if anyone else has mentioned it, but the Free Return trajectory *does* take care of disposing of the transfer stage if you drop it before entering Munar orbit. One less thing to worry about.

[@123bekie123]

It's altering of the centre position of the control surfaces. So if your plane is nose heavy you can hold Alt + S on your key pad and the position the control surfaces will return to will be pitched up more.

[@SgmScraps]

Sound waves are waves of pressure/compressed air, much like ripples on a ponds surface after a stone is thrown in. The stone displaces water and forces it outwards. Sound is similar with sound sources pushing the air outwards or pulling it inwards. When there is no air to compress or displace there is no sound

[@ComradeCatastrophe]

I'll be so glad when Kerbal Crew Manifest gets entirely integrated into the vanilla game. Having to EVA every crew member into the conjoining command pod is so silly.

[@scottmanley]

Also I was having problems with chairs making my rover explode.

[@somedudeyoudontknow5289]

One small step for kerbal...one giant leap for kerbalkind

[@generic_tylenol]

I landed on the Mun in the demo the other day. It was pretty amazing. I created no space junk, I returned to Kerbin, and nobody died. Without Scott, it probably would've been a disaster.

[@Tulio509]

A launch escape system. If anything went wrong, that tower had separatrons to pull the capsule away to safety. Search for "Prilla Launch Escape System" on the KerbalSpacePort and you'll get it.

[@PedroGarcia-ws3my]

Kudos for Sam Romano and Ferenc Pavlics, the two engineers that developed the lunar rovers. Without their ingenuity we could never have had so much fun in KSP.!

[@TimothyRE99]

sound waves are vibrations of the air, or whatever medium of travel they are in. Therefore, since there are no particles in space that can be vibrated, there will be no sound.

[@Domjnyke]

Amazing. Im really fascinated how good you are at this game!

[@000pava]

Directly from the italian page of Apollo Mission. "The rover was also stowed in the base of the lunar module descent, folded on a pallet. Thanks to a system of springs and pulleys was deployed and made ready for use."

[@flamingtoaster9937]

Thank you so much Scott, i just got my first Kerbal on the Mun finally, and the main reason was your excellently designed lander and service module and stuff. Although I suppose i should really be thanking NASA :D

[@scottmanley]

As opposed to landing on the land.

[@duhastasas]

You're awesome man don't stop making videos :)

[@poniesjoo7410]

Great job! This is very much like the real Apollo mission

[@kerog6]

I'm not Scott Manley, but I can give at least a partial answer. The Moon (the real one) has mass concentrations below its surface, which are areas of higher-than-average density and, thus, gravity. Coupled with gravitational interference (or perturbation) due to the Moon's proximity and tidal lock with Earth, this causes most lunar orbits to be unstable. The experiments Scott mentioned were done to determine if any orbits were stable, and if so then which ones.

[@truetoinnerself]

i just wanted to say thank you for making these videos.