Juno: My swingin' on a star submission

[Orion]

Let's start with my spacecraft and my Europa lander:
My spacecraft is similar to my mars mission, but with bigger fuel tanks. I made it as realistic as possible, designed to support 6 astronauts on an 8 year journey. It includes the reentry and LEO Insertion module, at the front, which will slow the craft down at the end of the journey into LEO, then deorbit the craft. Next is the gravity ring, which will keep the astronauts healthy and strong during their long duration voyage, and has all essentials like food, water, and radiation shielding. the astronauts will also stay in a coma during transit to prevent psychological issues, a la Project Hail Mary. Next up, we have the service module, which contains the life support and backup navigation system, and a lot of redundant, independent systems just in case.

I had a few ideas to increase the efficiency like aerobraking in Jupiter, but quickly learned any Dv I got from the maneuver was outweighed by the risk of burning up and the Dv lost by transporting a heat shield. The lander is the same one I used for my Apollo recreations, which let me take a rover.

Now for assembly. Here are all the respective components with their launch vehicles:

And on the launchpad:

I know those fuel tanks aren't the most aerodynamic, but they weren't well designed for attaching fairings.
Now, launched and attached in order from right to left:

That module I forgot to mention, that's the docking module. I added that because I was going to launch a crewed mission on my Dream Catcher replica, but didn't.

That was tricky to dock without RCS thrusters, but I was able to use the main engine.

I'll add an update in a minute for the mission itself.

 

[Orion]

Juno Mission Part I:
VEEGA: The Gateway to the Universe
VEEGA Alignment:

Transferred to Venus, set course for Earth:

Note: this trajectory was already adjusted for an encounter with Earth
Trajectory to Earth (For first encounter):

Earth Encounter 1:

Earth Encounter 2:

Part II: Exploring the Universe:
Jupiter Encounter:

Jupiter Orbital insertion burn, with a lot more fuel than planned thanks to VEEGA:

Fuel tank jettison at periapsis (After Trans-Europa Injection):

Low Europa Injection:

Now the exciting part: Landing on Europa!
Lander detach:

Lander deorbit/descent:

Landed on Europa: Humankind's first steps on the moon of another planet.

Took the rover out for a spin:

Ascent module detached, rendezvoused with Juno:

Part II complete! Will Post Part III next.

 

[Orion]

To return my crew to earth, I burned to an escape trajectory in the direction of Europa's travel, then to an escape trajectory from Jupiter's SOI in the opposite direction of Jupiter's orbit. This way, my trajectory through the solar system could be efficiently lowered to match earth. Here is my final trajectory:

After 3 orbits, I encountered earth and used my extra fuel to lower my eccentricity to <1.000, then detached the forward stage (CM) and used the more powerful engines to lower my eccentricity faster, then deorbit. After that, everyone can understand what I did.

Ahhh, that beautiful glow. Until you disintegrate.

I couldn't find the mission log, it hasn't been appearing for me. That's why I take a lot of screenshots.
Anyway, I took screenshots of everything that showed up after I landed.

That's it! Thanks for reading, if you have any tips for future missions, please let me know!

 

[Lemniscate Biscuit]

It looks good! Altaïr Mooncrasher give them the badge.

 

[Altaïr]

A very good missions with a good use of advanced maneuvers to save fuel. I appreciate
Badge granted, congratulations

 

[Orion]

A very good missions with a good use of advanced maneuvers to save fuel. I appreciate
Badge granted, congratulations

Thanks!

 

[Lemniscate Biscuit]

Thanks!

Bravo!