Eight kerbals are in orbit around another planet. The program has never been this far from a rescue.
HESTIA departed Kerbin orbit on mission AWAY, marking the first interplanetary departure in MSC history. The vehicle carries eight crew: Commander Valentina Kerman, helmsman Guillermo Kerman, engineer Huddin Kerman, mission specialist Melody Kerman (also assigned to VESTA), medical officer Gwenford Kerman, scientist Katdorf Kerman, and crew members Samsey Kerman and Dosos Kerman. The transit to Duna was projected at 58 days. HESTIA has completed the transit and is now in Duna orbit. The first crewed interplanetary arrival in program history.
The departure was preceded by a sequence of missions that this newspaper must list in order, because the order is the story. TRANSMISSION decommissioned L-HABSCI-1 and the crew aborted safely. FALSE HORIZON attempted retrieval and failed due to an LOS pod fault. ENCORE saw KOEING volunteer an R-SLS3+ for a retrieval attempt; the vehicle turned back safely. THRESHOLD succeeded - the LOS functioned, and the LSI 2 crew came home. ANCHOR launched HESTIA and VESTA to LKO uncrewed. OVERTURE was the Unity maiden flight; the vehicle was lost in the largest explosion in program history. REPRISE flew Unity 2 and stood down for crew. HANDOFF, CASCADE, and AEGIS were BelugaX failures - stage separation, engine cascade, heatshield decouple. METEOR was BelugaX-4's full success and ocean recovery. HEARTH was OTS-2: the first crewed HESTIA boarding, via Confidence. OFFERING was OTS-3: Huddin Kerman performed an EVA into a falling shuttle cargo bay.
The Herald pauses here to note: that EVA has not been adequately reported. An engineer stepped into a cargo bay that was descending through atmosphere. We have requested footage. We have received a PDF.
TENDING was HESTIA Crew Launch 1 - R-SLS5+, carrying Valentina, Dosos, Huddin, and Gwenford. MUSTER was HESTIA Crew Launch 2 - OTS-5, bringing the remaining four aboard. All eight kerbals are now in Duna orbit. LSI 2, with its eight crew, serves as the HESTIA communications relay. Sixteen kerbals are now involved in this mission. Eight are beyond any rescue window the program can currently achieve.
HESTIA's propulsion system remains classified. The Herald has reported on KIA interest in the design, on an Aurora working file, and on allegations regarding a programme designated X-9 AURORA. NASA has not confirmed or denied any of these. We publish what we can verify. What we can verify is this: eight kerbals are in Duna orbit. They arrived after a 58-day transit.