This Season 2 stream on GopherCraft's multiplayer server puts the Mainsail engine to work. Basket unlocks it in the research tree, bolts Mainsails onto The Success 2009 XLT, a lab ship lined with batteries and solar panels, and flies it to Minmus. From orbit the lab sends home two big loads of science. Then the ship lands on Minmus a little too fast and ends up on its side, with the crew alive and no antenna left to call home with.
Repairs and research
The stream opens on Jebediah Kerman, sitting in a capsule on a flat gray surface, going nowhere. "Jeb lives but now he's stranded there and now I have to try and like get him back." That rescue has to wait. Back at the Space Center, the Research and Development building reads "Status: Out of Service," with a button to repair it for 256,000. The commentary takes the blame: "I blew it up with all my debris that fell." One click on Repair and the building is back.
In the research tree, the RE-M3 "Mainsail" Liquid Fuel Engine costs 160 science, and there is plenty to spend. "I want the mainsails please thank you." Basket also looks over the nuclear motor, bigger batteries and better solar panels, but saves the rest of the science for later. The real question is simpler: "I want to see if my mainsails will make my ship actually launch right away."
Mainsails on the pad
In the Vehicle Assembly Building the old main engines come off and Mainsails go on. The name field reads The Success 2009 XLT. After a stop at the Astronaut Complex to hire a scientist, the crew list puts Raysy Kerman in the Mk1 Command Pod, with Seemin Kerman (Scientist) and Wehrdorf Kerman (Engineer) in the Mobile Processing Lab MPL-LG-2.
The engines light and the rocket goes up right away. "Aha! Main sails! They work." Basket climbs mostly straight up, drops the outer stacks ("Oh wow, they actually left properly, amazing.") and settles into orbit around Kerbin with fuel left in the big tanks.
On to Minmus
The next target is Minmus, "the next one right over." Its orbit is tilted, so a first burn lines the ship up with it, and a second one gives an encounter. A viewer suggests burning early because the big engines are low on fuel, so Basket starts the capture burn 30 seconds ahead of the node. "But there we go, now we're in orbit." A crew report reads "high over Minmus."
The empty outer stacks are dropped next, a nervous moment. "I don't want everything to blow up when I eject these guys." They drift off, and the smaller engine takes over.
The lab earns its keep
The Mystery Goo, the materials bay, the thermometer and the barometer all feed the lab, and time warp does the rest. Then the transmissions go through, and the screen confirms it: "Received science lab research data from The Success 2009 XLT. 500 Science added." A second round adds 433 more. "Yeah this is super overpowered, this is awesome."
Down to the surface
With the science sent, Basket heads down. A burn on the dark side lowers the orbit, a second one aims for a flat-looking patch, and the big stage is dropped on the way so the small engine can handle the landing. The legs come out.
The touchdown is "just a hair too fast." A message about the LT-1 Landing Struts flashes up in a cloud of smoke, and the ship ends up lying on its side at 0.0 m/s. "We're fine, everybody's alive." The lab starts analyzing samples from Minmus's Midlands, but there is a new problem: "No antenna!" Nothing more can be sent home from here. "The antenna used to be here."
Where it ends
Raysy climbs out for an EVA report and a surface sample and plants a flag named "The Success Minmus Landing." On a slope and on its side, the ship is not going anywhere. "I will not be returning with this." The commentary says it will "have to be a rescue mission, not today." The stream stops with the ship lying on Minmus and the game paused, and with two crews now waiting for a ride: Jebediah on the gray surface from the start, and Raysy, Seemin and Wehrdorf on Minmus.
