The third episode of the GopherCraft Great Space Race opens with 12 science in the bank and a VAB list that runs up to Basket 12. Basket has some new ideas to try: a viewer pointed out that the gravity turn was going the less efficient way, and watching Scoti Garbidis gave Basket a few more. By the end, two flights and a short hop on the pad have pushed the science to 48, and Basket spends 45 of it on Science Tech.
Lemgas Kerman lost on the pad
Basket 12 now has a decoupler on the bottom, an idea Basket says came from Scoti Garbidis, to keep it from tipping. It does not survive liftoff. The Flight Results read "Catastrophic Failure!": the stack decoupler was damaged by engine exhaust, the parts hit the launch pad, and Lemgas Kerman was killed three seconds into the flight. "I apologize." Basket takes the bottom piece off and tries again.
Basket 12 tries the gravity turn
The new pilot is Hanvan Kerman. "I apparently automatically hired somebody else." This time Basket turns toward 90 degrees on the way up, and the altimeter passes 18,000 meters before the rocket runs dry and falls back. Basket observes the goo ("The Goo jiggles and wobbles as the craft flies"), files a crew report, and lets the parachute come down slowly at night. "Too nervous to speed up." The pod lands in the water, Hanvan does an EVA report, and the summary pays 7.6 science, for 19 in all.
Basket 13 and the first dirt
Basket 13 keeps the same stack and adds four big solid boosters on decouplers, plus a pair of fins. "Lucky thirteen." The boosters burn out fast and then hang on. "Why are these guys still attached?" With all that weight the rocket won't turn, so Basket drops them, but by then it is already on the way down. It comes down on land this time. After a detour into the cockpit view, Hanvan walks out onto Kerbin's Grasslands and takes a surface sample: "Yep. Looks like dirt." The sample is worth 9 science, and the flight pays 16, for 35.
A science run on the launch pad
Then Basket tries "a quick little science grabbing mission" seen in Scoti Garbidis's game: a lone command pod named ScienceCheat, never launched. On the launch pad Hanvan files a crew report, takes a surface sample and an EVA report, and the recovery pays 12.9 science, for 48.
Where it ends
In Research and Development Basket buys Science Tech for 45 science, which brings the SC-9001 Science Jr., and looks over Electrics, Space Exploration and Landing for later. Science 3 is left. The end card wishes Gopherboy, Scoti Garbidis, Pikerize and Sayulily good luck.