sneakeypete

Well, that's likely to be it for a while. They'll have to get someone up there to physically reconnect the cables, so they'd have to empty the rocket etc, pretty time consuming process

You might want to check up on the orbits of those navigation satellites. So apart from the Proton rocket launches, does any other launcher use this transfer method? As the Wikipedia article points out, you've got to have enough battery/solar power to power the upper stage during the wait on your orbits, so i'd imagine that some current rockets simply couldn't do this without some modification. edit: for reference, I was refering to the supersynchronous transfer orbit in particular, not just a Geostationary Orbit.

One would presume that this isn't regularly done due to the inherent risks involved with a second (or third) stage engine restart?

I've landed (just) landed a fully fueled SSTO spaceplane on Laythe. I just put more wings onto my regular Kerbin SSTO. However, it turns out i really should have put even more wings on, even with the 80% lower gravity, as it was very, very tricky to land with its full load of fuel. It was, however, much nicer to get back into orbit.

Doesn't anyone realize that the reason we have patched conics is so that we can have orbital projections? At least, that's the officially stated reason

Its also worth mentioning that for real world proposed designs where fuel is transferred during launch, such as the falcon heavy, the rate of fuel transfer is also a major issue. There's a lot of fuel that you need to move between tanks in a short time, which requires heavy pumps.

unfortunately I didn't bring enough wings to land.

2000ft for injuries is way, way, way to much to be an acceptable risk.

From what i've heard its been confirmed the second stage not restarting with the secondary payload was due to decisions, not a second stage failure, which is good. As for the rocket suffering failures on 2 engines and continuing on, I may be wrong, but i seem to recall hearing that the second failure cannot be on the same side as the first. Although maybe they take account of that in their operation modes, and presuming the altitude is high enough and a second engine fails a 3rd and 4th will be shut down on purpose to balance the rocket, as the remaining 5 may be enough keep the thrust to weight ratio up.

Money is just money. Despite what they may say, the physical money you give them isn't really being piped to a specific program. Not unless you're buying rockets for them and giving them the rocket etc.

Heh, I knew I should have checked that.

This is exactly the sort of reason why the dev's don't want people releasing screenshots of things like the test versions. people use mod parts, other people see it, think its part of the release and expect it.

Not at all, is the answer i'd pick, to be honest.