Charon’s demise

C017D Charon Heavy 06 was a regular crew rotation launch. Onboard were pilot Scott Kerman, though there was a significant push from KOS to run these flights automated, KSC still wanted a pilot on board, engineer Sampond Kerman and scientists: Finni and Erilorf Kerman. Together with 100 days of supplies, they launched to the UKSS01 and the booster made a normal landing.

After docking and handover of command, Kirus and Dobal entered Charon 05 but Dr. Erlorf climbed into the newly constructed cryo lab as Finni and Fjallar started the freezing operation. In secondes, the glass of the chamber turned white as Dr. Erlorf was suspended in a deep permafrost layer. Next would be a 100-day freeze to check the effects. The team of Charon 05 said their goodbyes and undocked from the station.

A large explosion followed. Peering from the window of the Charon Judith Kerman saw that the main solar array was missing from the UKSS. Something with the hinges had gone terribly wrong. “It’s the Kraken,” Kirus said, Dobal, Arlan and Melly looked at each other with fear. It was as if they knew what was happing down at Kerbin, exactly below them in the large crater at exactly that same time. Kirus quickly started the deorbit burn but the craft started spinning. Once the craft came to a halt from its spin, Judith would leave the capsule and noted that airbrakes were floating a couple of meters away. “that will be a problem,” she thought.

Decisive as she was, she opted to demount the entire service module. Without a heatshield, it would be a risk, but with the module attached, the craft would shift orientation and crash like a bullet. The 15 seconds of re-entry plasma blackout was intense at KSC, but the craft emerged, without oxygen, food, water, electricity or any other resource at the other end. Parachutes deployed automatically and they all landed safely back at Kerbin, but the Charon Heavy was grounded for now and KSC had to figure out how to bolster power production at UKSS.