To the moon Alice!

Ok, not the Mun, but instead Minmus. Why? Because Mr. Wizard just did and it seemed like a good idea.

So, first we build a probe, stick it on top of a ridiculously overpowered rocket (this is the same one I use to launch space station parts) and point it to space.

Now I plot and burn a couple times to aim at the green rocket we call Minmus, which is a bit of a challenge since it is both elliptical and not on Kerbin's equatorial plane.

Once in orbit I plot a nice large flat area to land on...

Now for few pretty pictures while I descend...

Since I brought a ridiculous amount of fuel with I still had the interstage with me to descend to the surface. I cut it loose at about 600m above the surface and battled with the throttle on the way down (the gravity is almost non-existent here)

I failed to fit the legs right so I am teetering on the engine nozzle. Eh, details.

Now to pull off the probe using the RCS unit on top. 

Then I just disconnect the RS unit and drive out from under it (which was a bit stressful as I almost dumped the rover over doing it because it was caught in the decoupler ring)

A quick drive around, then I park to recharge until I go for a drive during a later session. The gravity makes this a very dangerous to drive here. Even deploying the solar panels almost flipped the rover over. 

Ta Da!

Station rearranging...

... is not a very exciting blog entry, sorry.

So here is the deal. Both solar arrays are effectively backwards (I want to reduce the polar moment...  basically I want as much of the mass in the center of the craft and not at the ends). To do this I need to flip the array towers around, but they both have their booster motors. Since I am going to dump them, I opt to dump the booster on the original habitation module as well.

So, here we go...

These are the three boosters that I had to cut free. Unfortunately I realize now that I was so busy trying to time the de-orbit/re-orbit that I forgot to take screenshots. (grumble).

So I use that big motor from the orange tank to deorbit the entire station from its 110kmx110km orbit and then I cut free all three of the circled boosters (I did pull in the solar panels for this 'just in case') I then had to re-orbit the ship in to a final orbit (which is more like 109.km x 111km right now, but the thing is so wobbly I don't think I'll do this kind of thing again.)

Pro-tip: When your station is wobbling like mad, don't count on the RCS or ASUS to dampen out the oscillations  just turn them both off and let it settle.

Anyhow, I began putting the station back in to orbit:

Using a mayflower engine for orbital adjustments is like pulling a tooth with a locomotive.

Anyhow, we are back in orbit, so now I need to flip the two solar beams around:

Now the other side:

Ta Da! It is all flipped around. 

Ok, fuel pod one is up...

... This is the first of (hopefully) several large orange fuel tanks to get in to orbit for the purpose of making this a fuel station. Launch (hitting V to can the camera to 'orbital' can make some cool shots)

So I built this ship with plenty of RCS and a a plan to nudge it all in to orbit with the orange tank. 

Again, some tweaking to get in to position.

But I got docked up with a nice wobbly orange tank to store fuel in. 

I think tomorrow I am going to deorbit some junk and unneeded parts. The screenshots will be lower quality while I switch to a laptop for the weekend. 

Ok, today is gonna be a great day...

... well, at least I can say I added to the space station. I've opted to call it Frylab... I haven't told Jeb about it yet, he is just too happy. As you can see in this shot, Jeb is almost orgasmic to finally get in to a docking position with the station.

The trick to docking is to address each axis one at a time. If you try to shortcut it you'll spend more time screwing around. Also, 'chase mode' (the V key) is your friend, use it.

Since I have both RCS and ASAS on this habitat module, I was pressing the 'F' key often to steady the ship. I brought a ton (literally) of RCS fuel with me, i wasn't going to worry about using it. 

Almost there... 

Just a peckin' on the surface (Why were their so many Texan pilots in Star Wars?)

Docked, in the dark, but I waited until the sun was out to take a good picture (and wait for the SAS/ASAS units to dampen the wobbling).

So, now that I have a 2-place capsule on Frylab1, I can a total of 4 Kerbals in space in a station that can hold a total of 14.

I really need to get a tractor up here to rearrange parts and some fuel tanks for later missions. I also still need  to deorbit the extra boosters off the station. Work, work. Zug, zug. Daboo.

So, tonight, it is...

... put crap in orbit that I might recover someday.

I started with a failed chain of fuel tank launches for the station (last post) only to say 'ARGH!' and try to just launch a couple Kerbals in an habitat expansion. I totally screwed up the rendezvous twice, so I'm going to go do something else for a while.

Starting to get messy out there.

Watch this one Fat Friar!

YOICKS AND AWAY!

Yoikcs and Away!

yoicks and...

away...

yeah...

hmmm...

Oh wait I got in to orbit with a half tank!

But I forgot a power source, so I can't communicate with it. So, at this point I have a half-sized large tank in an elliptical orbit that I might go recover some day and a ton of debris scattered around the launch  pad (but the locals are used to that by now).

Oh, and it you got this far and you don't get the commentary... here...

Daffy Duck Robin Hood

-Lego