The second kerbed mission would see Commander Valentina become the second kerbal to venture up into space. Lessons learned both from Specialists Bill’s flight and the more recent unkerbed Mk1 mission were applied to the mission planning to make this the most on-target ascent to date for the Ascension Mk1. In the weeks leading up to the launch Val and her backup crew member Captain Jebediah trained together for the mission and in the days leading up to the launch they both were sequestered inside the Astronaut Complex as per the quarantine protocol that was established with the first kerbed mission. This once again helped to ensure the astronauts remained healthy, allowed medical doctors to draw baseline observations and gave both crew some much-needed downtime. Come launch day, both were refreshed and ready. Jeb remained suited up on standby while Val boarded the capsule and was ultimately not required to replace her for the mission as pre-launch operations proceeded smoothly.
The Flight
The scheduled launch at 13:10 local time was met with a good ignition of the K2-X lifter engine, producing 125kN of thrust to push the rocket gently off the pad at 1.2 TWR, taking 3 seconds to rise up and clear the service towers before throttling up to near full thrust to hold a TWR of 1.65 for a comfortable ascent. At this time also the guidance routine kicked in to roll the rocket on a heading of 54° while beginning to pitch over and head downrange. Aboard, Val was dutifully calling out regular readings from her instruments so ground controllers could ensure that everything was operating correctly.
