Season 5 is a modded single-player game in Science mode, and one goal of the season is that no kerbal dies. This stream opens on Day 221 with Bob Kerman still in orbit on SolarBat1 and 200 science in the bank. That science buys a capsule with room for three, and most of the stream goes into designing a new science ship around it, Eureka1. Its uncrewed test flight comes down on its side in the dark, and the fixes for Eureka2 go in before the stream ends.
Bob's science pays off
SolarBat1 is still circling Kerbin, 142 days into the mission, with Bob working in the lab. The research is slow: "he has a lot more process, but it was taking a long time." Some results were sent home, "so now we have science back there we can use," and the Space Center shows 200. Bob stays up to keep researching.
In the tech tree, Command Modules costs 160. It brings the Mk1-3 Command Pod, which seats three, and leaves 40. Since the only scientist is in orbit, two more are hired at the Astronaut Complex: Ludlie Kerman and Leatrey Kerman, both Scientists.
Doors and ladders
The new ship starts from the Mk1-3 pod and two labs. The Mobile Processing Lab handles the regular science. The TH-NKR Research Lab, which holds four, is the one that "produces eurekas," which an experiment module can spend on plant growth. "This is the one where they'll be able to ponder stuff." The ship is named Eureka1.
A short version goes to the pad with Jebediah Kerman aboard to test the way between the parts. Crew transfer will not pass through a heat shield, so that comes off. The lab is turned so its hatch faces the ladder, but the first climb down finds no ladder at the top. "Oh, don't die." One more ladder fixes it, and the next EVA climbs down and boards without trouble.
![A short gray test craft on the launch pad, a small kerbal in a white helmet with red trim holding its ladder beside the prompts [Space]: Let go and [B]: Board, green fields and a light tower behind](https://www.basketmc.com/images/6799/conversions/a-short-gray-test-craft-on-the-launch-pad-a-small-kerbal-in--ab01c20d-content-image.webp)
Building Eureka1
The full ship takes most of the stream. A Science Jr. fits inside a service bay ("Fits so well"), thermometers go outside, and two Mystery Goo units, an antenna and a heat shield go on. Parachutes go on in two sets, and when a viewer suggests three at the top instead of two, a third goes on. Then come life support food, stacks of batteries and every solar panel that fits. Under it all sits a Skipper engine, "mostly just like a little fine tuning up in space," inside a ring of fuel tanks on radial decouplers and a second ring outside that, tied together with struts, fins and fuel lines.
Too heavy to leave
The first flight is uncrewed. "S.A.S. on. Throttle up. Go!" Nothing moves. The engines burn on the pad until the tanks are about half empty, and only then does Eureka1 lift off. "It's heavy, heavy stuff." Once moving it steers well, and with the science section lower down and engines on its sides, the commentary notes "less wobbling as we get up."
The climb tops out near 61 km. "This probably wouldn't be good for the moon." The engines and fuel rings are dropped, and the loose stages drift close. "Don't swing into that thing." The core turns retrograde and drops back in, wrapped in flames for a while.
Down on its side
It is night on that side of Kerbin when the parachutes open. The core comes down on land with no landing legs and tips over. "Oh, it just fell over." The batteries along its sides keep it from rolling. The spot is new, Kerbin's Shores, so the experiments run: a Materials Study, a Mystery Goo Observation, pressure and temperature. The way it landed would have trapped a crew, though: "If I actually had people on here, I wouldn't be able to EVA."
The core is recovered, and science goes from 40 to 57.8, too little to buy anything wanted.
Where it ends
The changes go in before the stream stops: less fuel on the outer ring, struts inside the core, the fins put back where they came loose, and landing legs. The craft is renamed Eureka2. The plan is a short uncrewed takeoff check next time, then a flight with kerbals aboard to try out the eurekas in orbit around Kerbin.
The stream ends in the VAB with Eureka2 built and not yet flown. Bob is still in orbit on SolarBat1 with the lab running, two new scientists wait at the Space Center, science stands at 57.8, and no kerbal has been lost.