This is another space program set in the Whirligig World mod for Kerbal Space Program, set on the planet Mesbin.

Children of Destiny, Part 1b: First leaps, Mesbin

A red flag with an orange oblong in the top right, circled by concentric rings.
The flag of Mesbin's space program, depicting Mesbin and a range of satellites.
Mesbin and its moons, with Mesbin barely visible as a disk in the center. It is surrounded by orbits- dim gray Graymun, blue Kerbmun and brown Troymin, the white of Derbin, and dim green Dermun.
We of the planet Mesbin know well our history. Since before our parents' parents embarked on their journey and found their way to this remote and forbidding world, we have been told about the drive to explore. The desire deep within everyone's heart, the fire that pushes us onward- ever farther, ever deeper.
A close-up of Mesbin and its inner moons. Mesbin's rugged gray surface is visible in its light and dark shades, a southern continent prominent near its center. You can just about see its oblateness, with practice. A few volcanoes are visible, glowing red. The red orbit line of Statmun is visible close to the surface, as are the grey-brown and grey ones of Thresomin and Graymun.
We are here as descendants of dreams- the dream of the people of Kerbin, to seek a new life on a new world; the dream of those who survived the crash that was our arrival on this world (kindly: alternate destination) to survive and thrive despite it all.
A close-up of Derbin and its moons. Derbin is swaddled in white-cream-grey clouds, but Derminmus and Dermun are only visible by their brown and brown-green orbit lines respectively.
We are not alone- the world of Derbin, hidden behind layers of rock, chatters in the sky. We must set ourselves a mission, then, despite objections:
A view of Kerbmun's orbit around Mesbin. Brown Troymin's marker is visible at the bottom left. Kerbmun is in the center, mostly occluded by its marker- but its clouds and oceans are visible.
We will beat the children of the F.S. Deepsky Meandering to Kerbmun, and set foot upon its surface; and we will do it soon.
An octagonal spacecraft with symmetrical scientific instruments, stacked atop a tower three strutted-together solid rocket boosters (one a cylinder as wide as the spacecraft, one spherical, and one spherical and small) takes off from the pad on the gray world Mesbin, with slightly oblate but very Moonlike Graymun above.
The Mesbinite response to Satellite One is, admittedly, much less sleek.
The cylindrical booster has been discarded, and now the spherical one is firing. Its nozzle glows bright red, and it strains against its conical mounting bracket.
It flies on a much less sophisticated rocket than Satellite One did...
The spacecraft after the booster's finished firing, oblique with the red metal asteroid Statmun visible. On the spacecraft's side is a half-hexagon of four small antennae.
One composed of only solid rocket boosters, with very little control over the spacecraft's final orbit.
The final tiny solid rocket booster firing, pushing the larger octagonal spacecraft by its circular mounting bracket.
However...
The spacecraft in orbit near Statmun, here seen in rusty red-oranges and metal greys. Kerbmun is visible too, wreathed in cloud. Text on the top of the spacecraft gives its name as Outreach I, with the Mesbinite flag below it.
Outreach 1 is much more sophisticated than Virga G as a satellite. Its scientific equipment is more advanced, it has a theoretically replenishable power supply, and its antenna is a small static array designed for two-way communication rather than the "telemetry beeper" of Virga G.
A smaller space probe, looking like a Sputnik with a skirt- atop a similarly non-sleek stack of a tiny cylindrical rocket, a bundle of four spherical red solid rocket motors, and a bundle of four long cylindrical solid rocket motors (all strutted together) lifts off. The cylindrical motors have small fuel tanks on top, feeding the RCS thrusters that pitch the little spacecraft over.
Outreach 2, though, seeks to outdo the Derbinites.
The spherical solid rocket motors firing to push the spacecraft and its little rocket towards orbit, a gray landscape of hills and craters behind.
While still relying on solid rocket motors to aim for orbit...
The bundled motors have been discarded, their nozzles still glowing orange, as the tiny engine of the rocket stage fires. The four antennae on the probe's skirt are especially evident.
It also has a tiny engine pack to take it further.
The antennae on the skirt are fully extended as the little rocket burns. The shield batteries and fuel tanks between the skirt and the spacecraft are visible, and the landscape around is gray with a lighter, browner 'continental' rise with mountains coming into view.
The probe points towards the camera, showing off the tiny thrusters for adjusting direction and the name Outreach II on its skirt. Statmun is small but visible, as is the orange star Gememma.
Outreach 2 flies outward....
The rocket pack fires again to speed the probe into orbit around the asteroid moon Statmun, which takes up most of the image. Statmun is all reds, browns, oranges, and purple-greys, a rusty metal moonlet with oddly-shaped craters on its surface.
To the furthest-in moon of Mesbin, Statmun!
Four little thrusters, angled on the outer skirt, fire to adjust Outreach 2's orbit around Statmun.
It takes a little adjustment and stationkeeping to do it...
A look at the shielded science equipment and mounting bracket of Outreach 2, with an odd shortened view of Statmun taking up the center of the image. Mesbin dominates the rest, a wall of grays and gray-browns covered in mountains and ridges.
but Outreach 2 orbits the metallic moon, a tiny star in Mesbin's sky.
A further-out view of Outreach 2, in a 'pose' like Sputnik flying, with Statmun potato-shaped in the center. Mesbin's ridges are visible on the left, and on the right is a wide crescent Kerbmun- its blue oceans and white clouds both prominent.
A rocket- cylindrical first stage, a bundle of smaller solid rocket boosters, and a long but thin solid rocket booster in between with a small octagonal satellite on top, veers off-course towards the gray ground north of the space centre.
Outreach 3 only manages to plow into Mesbin's surface, going off-course due to a faulty wire in the guidance system.
A little octagonal spacecraft with solar panels, atop a rocket like that of Outreach 3- a thin solid rocket booster flanked by a bundle of shorter rocket boosters with RCS thrusters, then stacked on top of a wider but still short booster- lifts off from the pad on Mesbin in full sunlight.
Outreach 4, then, will be a repeat.
The four outer solid rocket boosters firing, blowing the lower stage away in a bright plume of flame. The Mesbinite flag is visible on the side of the center booster.
It goes significantly better than its ill-fated conspecific, headed for orbit rather than the ground....
In orbit, the center booster fires. The outer boosters can be seen falling away even in the low-light conditions of orbital night, and moonlike Graymun is visible in the background.
The target? Thresomin.
The spacecraft, high above Mesbin. Its four antennae are extended to give it a bit of a cometary appearance, and its long magnetometer boom is extended with them. Mesbin, below, is partly obscured- several gray-brown 'continents' and 'islands' in the dark grey 'ocean' are visible, and the day-night line crosses in the vicinity of a vast canyon in the middle of one continent.
The little ship flies ever-higher, Mesbin dwindling towards extents previously only seen in radiofacsimiles of photographs taken by Derbinite observatories- and carefully-preserved photographs from the U.S.C. Magnificent Desolation and F.S. Deepsky Meandering.
The Outreach 4 spacecraft speeding by a reddish asteroid, with darker lowlands and lighter highlands- Thresomin. The surface below is rugged, and through the depression made by a very large crater on the limb it's possible to see a bit of Mesbin peeking out.
The encounter with Thresomin is exceedingly brief, lasting mere seconds- and all the more tantalizing for it. Already theories of Thresomin's formation are being proposed....
A full view of Mesbin, oval and slightly pointed at the ends. Graymun, very moonlike, is visible on the left side; dwarfed by its parent planet. Three of Mesbin's light grey-brown continents are visible, ridged with mountains- one with a volcano, glowing orange- and many smaller mountainous islands, too. Mesbin's solid basalt ocean, in dark grey, is pockmarked with craters and run through with ridges and rifts of varying size. The two largest craters, one on the left in the north and one on the equator on the right, have bright rays emanating from them showing ejecta from relatively recent impacts. The largest midocean rift forks, circling the planet in the north before bending south and splitting into an equatorial segment and a long doubled rift that proceeds to the south pole. Statmun is barely visible, as is its shadow.
Outreach 4 spins around Mesbin repeatedly, waiting for an opportunity.
A look at the bottom of the spacecraft, a circular bracket with four tiny fuel tanks inside, as the spacecraft's thrusters adjust its orbit. Kerbmun can be seen in the distance.
Soon enough, its little thrusters fire to place it on the path of a second flyby.
The spacecraft high above Mesbin, blue Kerbmun and gray Graymun seeming about the same size and nearly overlapping on the far left. Thresomin is visible as an expanding speck on the left side of the image, and Mesbin fills the top half of the right side- twisty continents, equatorial islands, and even a volcano are visible. Barely noticeable even where they overlap with Mesbin are some of its rings, which make themselves apparent this far from the planet.
The spacecraft heads towards Thresomin...
Looking the other way- the rings in their full glory, a greenish band with varying gaps like a vinyl disc. The two suns Kaywell and Limnel shine, and a tiny crescent Derbin is visible.
Getting what, if it had a real camera instead of a photopolarimeter, would be fantastic views.
A zoomed-in view like the image before the last, individual craters and landmasses visible on Graymun and Kerbmun respectively. Thresomin is growing larger, its lighter highlands and darker lowlands visible among its overall reddish-grey terrain.
Graymun and Kerbmun are more widely-separated now, and a couple volcanoes on Mesbin are visible. Thresomin looms ever-closer, ridges and craters on the little asteroid coming into view.
The speed of the spacecraft means not much data can be gathered, making each flyby essential.
An oblique view of Thresomin as it rushes by. Most of it is in darkness, highlighting the rugged terrain around the one visible crater. Mesbin's rings are visible as a thin line.
It's nearly too fast to take screenshots!
Thresomin at a distance, with Mesbin on the left and Gememma shining on.
Outreach IV will occasionally come relatively close to Thresomin again, but never another true flyby.
An octagonal spacecraft similar to the original Outreach 1 vehicle atop a rocket consisting of a bundle of four solid rocket motors, a squat wide solid rocket motor, one long solid rocket motor, and four small boosters takes off from the pad. A gibbous Kerbmun can be seen in the background.
Outreach 5 is a considerably larger spacecraft than Outreach 4, based off of the Outreach 1 vehicle.
An oblique view from the bottom as the second stage burns, Mesbin to the left side and a crescent Derbin far on the right.
It's still aimed for Thresomin- it's just a much heavier vehicle.
The spacecraft, small solar panels and little antennae spread, with the bundled and RCS-equipped third stage behind it. The spacecraft is named Outreach V, and the Mesbinite flag is visible on it.
It has moving solar panels to track Kaywell in the sky, allowing it to operate longer than any other spacecraft launched so far.
Outreach 5 flying over Mesbin's smaller rilles, with glowing lava visible on the tube floor.
The bundled boosters firing, a gout of orange flame coming from their nozzles.
It uses a bundle of boosters to aim for Thresomin...
The spacecraft alone over a relatively distant Mesbin. A huge crater can be seen on Mesbin's surface, a stretched cometary tail of ejecta running along much of Mesbin's surface. Above its left limb is blue Kerbmun, and over its right is Graymun.
...but much of the fuel, intended to be used for arranging consecutive Thresomin flybys, is wasted correcting a major overshoot.
Outreach V over Thresomin, the pinkish highlands of the tiny moon visible directly below and darker lowlands in craters.
The flyby the spacecraft does get, however, is very informative.
Mesbin and tiny Statmun on the right side, Graymun overlapping Kerbmun near the left.
Soon enough, though, the decision is made...
An oblique view, with Mesbin's greenish rings on display. A crescent Derbin is lost in them, and on either side are the stars and Mesbin.
Outreach 5 high over Mesbin, with Graymun's huge shadow covering a continent-sized area.
Most of the remaining fuel will be used to arrange an encounter with Graymun, as initally planned for Outreach VI!
The spacecraft's thrusters burning, tiny white spouts visible over Mesbin's many volcanoes.
A direct look at Outreach 5 over Mesbin. Beneath is the expanse of Mesbin's ocean, filled with continents and a peppering of small islands.
Outwards and upwards...
A backlit view of Mesbin's rings, the spacecraft barely lit. They cross a backlit Kerbmun near the suns, and Derbin is visible off to the side.
Graymun at a near distance, the spacecraft flying over. Graymun's basalt-floored ocean, speckled with many craters, is especially prominent.
To a flyby of Graymun.
Graymun far away, its unique pattern of ocean and crater on display.
There's enough fuel to arrange a second flyby, one closer to Graymun's surface.
Another approach to Graymun, a rumpled-fabric terrain of craters. Kerbmun is setting behind a mountain on the edge of a crater.
The spacecraft draws ever-closer to Graymun on its second flyby- perhaps too close, as the craters north of Irgaster crater loom.
The mountain at the edge of the crater blotting out the sky, Outreach 5's thrusters desperately burning as the mission comes to an explosive close.
REGARDING THE RECENT MESBINITE ADVANCES:

This is only natural. The Mesbinites understand that they can reach space easier than us- of course they would reach for their moons first, to show off some easy victories. Our analysis of their spacecraft, as presented in radiofacsimile, suggests their rocket technology remains decidedly inferior to ours- with only solid rocket motors and simple hypergolic fuels in comparison to our considerably more advanced liquid fuel rockets. Mesbin's moons are easier to reach than Derbin's, and there is evidence that Outreach 5's collision with Graymun was unintentional. This committee recommends the design and launch of a mission that plays to our strengths- namely, Derbin's atmosphere.

The Derbin side of things...

Continued: Ups and Downs

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