This Season 2 stream on GopherCraft's multiplayer server opens on the ship that tipped over in The Success Crater last time, with Magvy and Aldberry still in the portraits. "Our mission today is not actually science." The job is a rescue ship big enough to carry the kerbals stranded on the Mun, and it gets a name before it gets a single part: the Space Bus. It takes three versions. The first never leaves the launch pad, the second turns back, and the third, Space Bus 3, lands upright on the Mun with Tatiana Kerman at the controls.
A bus for six
The Space Center science counter reads 3952.1 at the start, and most of it goes on the tech tree: bigger fuel tanks, electronics, wheels, "some sort of cool generator thing." By the time the shopping is done the counter is down to 157.1.
In the Vehicle Assembly Building the count is six kerbals to bring back, so the design starts with a command pod and a Hitchhiker container for passengers, plus "a gigantic parachute" on top. A big lower stage holds wide fuel tanks with four engines and landing legs, and the commentary turns the bottom section so the ladders line up. The first test is Space Bus 1, with Jenrod Kerman (Pilot) aboard. On the launch pad the throttle goes up and the ship stays put. "So will not take off from Kerbin." The legs did not buckle, at least. After the vessel is recovered, the game drops back to the main menu and has to reconnect to the server.
Space Bus 2 turns back
The fix is more of everything. "Fuel tanks that are silly big" go on, with a Kerbodyne KR-2L+ "Rhino" Liquid Fuel Engine under them and more huge tanks on decouplers around the sides, "because we have no budget." Batteries and solar panels follow, then a ladder when a viewer suggests one, and plenty of struts. "I'm not even predicting any science stuff, that's how serious I am about this rescue."
Space Bus 2 flies with Dotty Kerman (Engineer). It sits on the pad burning fuel before it finally lifts, but it climbs without spinning out, reaches orbit and starts the burn for the Mun. Partway through, the fuel looks too thin for the trip. "The dude's still alive, so that's kind of why I killed it." Space Bus 2 stays out in space with Dotty aboard, and the commentary says it might come back to it later.
Boosters for Space Bus 3
A viewer suggests solid fuel boosters to help the liquid engines off the ground, so a ring of them goes around the bottom, with nose cones and more struts. The crew is one kerbal, Tatiana Kerman (Scientist). "Welcome to Space Bus 3. We have five passengers that you need to pick up. They have their tickets ready, they're in Success Crater on the Mun." The commentary admits the pick was about the name: "Can I pronounce the name?"
This time it leaves the pad right away. The boosters burn out and drop, the big tanks follow, and the ship reaches orbit with fuel left over and heads for the Mun. The encounter does not line up the way the commentary expects ("I'm going to intersect"), so it takes a long burn to keep from running into the Mun, then a correction to settle into orbit over the crater.
Waiting for the shadow
The landing is slow and nervous. "Everybody get ready to see this thing crash." The plan is to brake hard once the ship's shadow shows on the ground, but the gray surface gives no sense of height. "Where are you, shadow?" The engines kill the speed easily, and at one point the ship is going back up. Then it settles onto its legs and stays standing.
"I'm so good at this game." A marker in the distance reads The Success Crater XLT, 6.2 km away. The commentary puts the stranded kerbals about six, seven and ten kilometers off, with the Space Bus in the middle, and thinks there is enough fuel left to take off again. "This is actually a success. The first success in Success Crater."
Where it ends
The stream ends with Space Bus 3 parked on the Mun and Tatiana aboard. Nobody has walked over yet, and the commentary says the rescue will not be finished on this stream. Space Bus 2 and Dotty are still out in space.