What we don't want to have to tell the public is that we've had a disaster, and one of their beloved astronauts has been turned to paste, ashes, or a fine red mist. So we perform the occasional test of the equipment to ensure that the disaster never happens. Although sometimes, our accountants disagree that we've avoided disaster.

Our engineers have been feverishly working to design and build the Kerbasus-Kermes rocket, that will one day carry a Kerbal to the distant planet Duna. But it turns out that the launch window won't open for several months, and storage fees on a rocket this size are insane, so it's time for some destructive testing.

Above is an image of the Kerbasus-Kermes test vehicle lifting off the pad. Let me tell you, the thunder of those 18 massive engines lifting that monster off the pad was amazing.

The purpose of this launch was to verify that the abort systems were capable of getting the capsule safely away from the rocket, even shortly after launch with the rocket at full thrust.

The result sure was pretty, though.  And the capsule even made it down to the ground intact.  More or less.

Fortunately our engineers are nothing if not persistent, so they cranked out another test article in record time, and this time they strapped several small solid rocket engines to the capsule to be activated in a launch abort scenario.  More boosters is almost always better.

This test was a complete success, and our test capsule landed safely on the grass just outside the KSC cafeteria.  And the large smoking hole in the Keryoming badlands where the rest of the rocket landed has apparently become quite the tourist attraction.

It was nice to have a successful test, but apparently the production crew still hadn't gotten the word that the launch window isn't open, and we had another rocket available.  With the abort system working, it was decided that we'd just go ahead and use this rocket for the next Mun mission.

Jenfen Kerman and the Kerbasus-Kermes I above the KSC on a pillar of fire.

Jenfen Kerman reported that it was quite the ride.  He maintained a nice flight profile through SRB separation and then first stage separation.

As he fired up stage four to circularize his parking orbit above Kerbin, Jenfen reported that things "didn't feel quite right."

Apparently the protective shroud on the nuclear engines need free space on all sides during staging, and having three of them clustered around each other is a bad idea.  The flash when stage four exploded was visible over much of North Kerberica, and replacing all the electronic devices destroyed by the EMP will keep the manufacting and retail sectors happy for several quarters.  Jenfen insisted that he was fine, and that he had plenty of fuel available to continue on with his Mun mission, but mission command told him he'd better come home so he could be present at the parliamentary hearing.

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