Mission Commander was Wehrdard Kerman, the first time a mission would be lead by a scientist. Pilot Thompwin Kerman would remote control the landing craft and Judith Kerman went along for any repairs if they would be needed.
The Delta 10 took off KSC main pad, was it the 15th Thor launch? Gene had lost count, but manned flights always kept him on his toes, even with such a reliable launcher.
After reaching orbit the craft flipped around and docked with its payload. Eagle 03. The renewed docking module could now dock with both size0 and size1 docking ports, very handy. Where Judith checked out the lander, Thompwin layed in the course for the Mun.
After a standard 1 day flight, they rendezvoused with Gateway 01 but released the lander just before docking with the station. After docking, they powered up the consoles and started tracking the Eagle that was starting its automated landing procedure.
The program initiated one short burn and one long burn to bleed off most speed, then a series of small burns based on the radar data were initiated.
The Eagle soft-landed, 10 minutes into the landing sequence at the rim of the farside crater. Despite a dense Nuntius network, it would lose connection every now and then, so KSC decided to take off only when the Gateway would be overhead. The remaining 768 m/s seemed like little to make an automated meet and greet with Gateway.
It would take a full day of maneuvres and liberal use of the RCS system to bring the craft back into alignment with the station. The culprit being a sticky key on the ascent. With 65 m/s left the lander docked to the station.
Wehrdard grabbed the science from the lander and from the station for good measure and brought it back to the Delta return vehicle. The boys in the lab would no doubt make interesting revelations based on this unique data.
After 2 more days, Delta 10 disengaged from the station and started heading home. The eagle would be left docked to the station, perhaps for reuse or other purposes. It would need a refill though. KSC was contemplating lowering the stations’ orbit to make landings cheaper in terms of fuel usage.
Re-entry was right on the mark and Delta 10 landed within 3 km of KSC. Making recovery a breeze. All in all a great dress rehearsal and KSC started planning the real thing.
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