Another launch, another — no, not really failure, much less debacle. Yes, SR-2 did not make it back, and valuable scientific and engineering data was lost. But SR-2 did fly, it did reach space, and it almost made it safely back to Kerbin. That gave the society the confidence to not only try another SR-2 launch in almost the same configuration, but to accept another challenge by the Experimental Engineering Group: Fly a vessel to space and recover it safely. After all, they had almost done it before.
The only difference to the first SR-2 mission was a slightly steeper launch angle, because telemetry from the earlier flight indicated that the time spent outside the atmosphere had been a bit too short to complete the materials experiment on board SR-2. Hopefully, the steeper launch angle would ensure enough time in space.
So, ten days after the first SR-2 flight, another SR-2 has been rolled out to the launch pad:
Ignition! Launch clamps free! We have liftoff!
It almost starts to seem like routine...
But alas, about thirty seconds into the flight:
Telemetry, Flight: We read unusual thrust values.
Flight, Trajectory: Are we still on course?
Trajectory, Flight: Slight deviation, still within error margins.
Flight, all: We are still go for the mission.
and some seconds later:
Telemetry, Flight: We read zero thrust, repeat zero thrust!
Visual Observation, Flight: We see an explosion!
Telemetry, Flight: We still have contact to SR-2
Flight, all: Mission abort, repeat, mission abort!
Flight, all: But let's try to recover the probe core if possible.
Almost two minutes later, SR-2 safely touched down not far from KSC.
Another failure! But at least not without a silver lining: At least the flight data and engineering experiments for the early flight phase had been recovered. And after a quick inspection, the Eaglet actually proved out still flight worthy. This made it possible to quickly mount it onto another booster, and attempt another launch on the same day!
Not without sacrifices, of course. Lunch, first and foremost — there was barely time to grab some snacks on the run as the whole society scrambled to mount the recovered probe on another booster and roll it out to the pad again.
But early in the afternoon, the re-built SR-2 is ready for launch again.
Ignition! Launch clamps free! We have liftoff!
This time, everything went smoothly. Booster burnout at T+00:59. Payload separation at T+01:43 (as before, the flight plan demanded to hold onto the spent booster after burnout for the added stability provided by the fins).
Apoapsis at T+03:07 and 97708 m — another first! Nothing kerbalmade ever went farther from Kerbin!
As on the first flight, the Eaglet probe acquired a slight rotation in the flight plane, which changed to moderate oscillations around the retrograde direction on reentry. These dampened out quickly after deployment of the parachutes in drogue configuration at T+06:10, and were negligible when the parachute deployed fully at T+06:41
And finally, at T+07:13, on 001/26 10:17:59 on the spot, the Eaglet probe safely splashed down into the sea, roughly halfway between the mainland coast and Welcome Back Island.
Finally. Success at last. The undeniable proof that it was possible to reach space in a rocket, and safely come back to Kerbin again (and another big prize from the EEG, which certainly helped to further the societies' goals).