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Great Space Race, Season 1, Episode 15: Kerbal Space Program

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Episode 15 of the GopherCraft Great Space Race picks up right where Episode 14 stopped, with Orbit IX and Anton Kerman about to burn for the Mun. The first try misses, a second node fixes it, and by the end Orbit IX is in orbit around the Mun with very little fuel left. No landing yet.

The burn, and a miss

The video opens on the burn Episode 14 set up. "Oh wow, that's not a very long burn at all." When the engines stop, the map shows a much bigger orbit around Kerbin, but no meeting with the Mun. "I think I was lied to."

Basket drags out a fresh maneuver node about an hour ahead. This time the planned path shows a Mun encounter, followed by a Mun escape. It is a 10 second burn. Basket warps toward it ("Come on, Anton, you can do it. I have faith"), fires, and cuts the engines when the blue marker moves.

Map view of Orbit IX around Kerbin with a new maneuver node, its dotted planned path dropping away from the orbit and a label reading Mun Periapsis: 906,504m

Into the Mun's pull

The trip out takes a while. On the map Basket spots another craft still circling: "Who's that poor guy, Orbit 5, or whatever it is that's stuck over there?" Then the path changes as Orbit IX enters the Mun's gravitational pull, and a Flight Results window reads "On escape trajectory out of the Mun."

Basket wants more than a flyby. "Maybe we can orbit the Mun." A new node plans a 13 second burn about 50 minutes ahead, and Basket hides the interface for a screenshot.

Orbit IX, a bundle of long fuel tanks, drifting through space with the gray Mun to the left and a small Kerbin in the distance, the game interface hidden

Science on the way in

While waiting, Basket runs the experiments. The Mystery Goo shows "+30.0 Science" for recovery high over the Mun, and Basket keeps it. A crew report goes home by radio. The Materials Study would be inoperable after transmitting, so it stays aboard. Anton climbs out for an EVA report and boards again.

Orbit

"Ten seconds for a short burn. Five seconds, and go!" The engines fire, the count runs down, and Basket kills them. "We have an orbiter on the Mun. Oh yeah!" The map agrees: a closed orbit around the Mun. The fuel is another story. "We have a tiny bit of fuel left. So this guy might be stuck."

Orbit IX firing three engines near the Mun, the edge of the Mun in the top right corner, the navball below and Anton Kerman's portrait in the corner

The Mobile Processing Lab finishes its analysis of the goo, and the game raises its transmission value to 45%. Basket sends more of the data, keeps the Materials Study aboard in case the craft makes it home, and transmits an EVA report.

Map view labeled Focus: Orbit IX, showing a closed green orbit looping around the Mun, with Kerbin small in the background

Where it ends

Basket ends on a shot of Orbit IX in front of the Mun. "I finally figured out how to orbit both the Mun and Kerbin." The next job is "a modified design to actually land on the Mun and take off again." Anton Kerman stays in orbit around the Mun, low on fuel, and the end card follows over the Space Center.