Kerbal Space Program: Moho Rescue

Mission: Rescue the Kerbals stranded on Moho.

Unmanned Pancake 3 lander approaching the surface of Dres.

Moho had proven to be a very a challenging target for operations. The closest planet to Kerbol had been avoided for quite some time because of its high orbital velocity and steep orbital inclination made encounters very challenging. When Gerlo Kerman, rogue Kerbalnaut, commandeered the Dreollo 1 landing craft and guided the it to Moho, mission control knew the poor Kerbal would be stranded on the unwelcoming planet for many decades.

There was one rescue attempt, before developing the Pancake 3 rocket, which had failed miserably and was purged from records. With the invention of the Pancake 3, there was renewed hope in rescuing the Kerbals from Moho. However, one problem was that the Pancake had room only one Kerbalnaut, and mission control needed to rescue three. The solution was simple; two chairs were strapped to the outside of the spacecraft and the unlucky Kerbals would have to ride outside the craft for the duration of the voyage.

With this plan, an unmanned Pancake 3 spacecraft was launched to Moho!

Two Kerbalnauts enjoying the view outside.

The Pancake 3 arrived at Moho and performed insertion burns as it done for many similar missions. The landing location was spotted and mission control guided the spacecraft to within a few kilometers of Gerlo Kerman. The stranded Kerbals EVA'd over to the Pancake and boarded their ride home, with Gerlo Kerman forcibly claiming the comfortable seat on the inside.

The return trip to Kerbin was uneventful. The landing, however, was quite terrifying. The parachutes failed during the last kilometer of descent and the engines needed to be fired to be soften the imminent explosion. The two kerbals unfortunate enough to be on the outside of the spacecraft ejected at the last minute to prevent their bodies from being destroyed by the exploding Pancake. Their bodies were thrown down the side of a mountain and battered tremendously.

Fortunately, everyone survived and the kerbals had made it back from Moho in a manageable number of pieces!

Surviving the parachute failure!