Atkara

I remember that one, yeah.

Haven't used wheels like that to be honest. Back when I was still doing modular bases, I'd just drive the modules in. But hey, it's ksp so, everything is correct

Blame your wheels orientation

Okay, here's my take: You've got a situation with a vessel/surface installation, currently resting (somehow) on a really high inclination. It seems that in order to reach the said target, your only solution is to cross that inclination on the perpendicular direction, so you're going to use the NERVs to keep the rover wheels from sliding down the slope. Judging by the docking module and what seems to me like crew modules, you're taking Kerbals off that vessel/installation and back to orbit using the NERVs, once you've gotten rid of the rover wheels. Looks like a rescue mission to me.

In addition to what has been posted so far, maxing dampers gets rid of the bouncing in most (if not all) cases.

Assuming I understood the question correctly, when you accept the rescue contract, the to-be-rescued Kerbonaut does show up in your astronaut complex as assigned, even though it's not part of your roster yet. No need to open the save file for that. Check the 'assigned' tab -you'll find them there.

Yeah. At some point I thought of using Minmus itself as a 'fuel dump' of sorts -basically fueling up interplanetary vessels in orbit around Minmus before sending them out. Problem is that ejecting so far out of Kerbin, means you're doing it without all the energy you'd otherwise have from it's gravity well. But what if you came back down for a close "fly-by" (technically, you haven't left the system yet) got back all that energy (plus the amount you converted to potential energy by going to Minmus in the first place) and performed the ejection burn down there? In theory, you'd have exchanged 150-170 dV for the comfort of performing fueling operations in Minmus' low gravity conditions, while saving ~800 of your vessel's total dV budget (since you're coming down from Minmus fully fueled). Haven't tried it myself yet, but I understand it makes calculating transfer windows more complicated than usual and frankly, I don't know if it really works as well as I think it does. So, seeing you mentioning Minmus, my mind went straight there and I was one step from asking how well it works for you. Then I said to myself "he propably doesn't mean anything of the sort" so, I waited

Gradually gathering funds on my new career, ferrying tourists, placing sats, rescuing kerbals and training crews. Not going after the science this time around -I'll just park one orbital lab around Mun and Minmus respectively, grab some science on the surface and get the rest from them. During one of these early training flights, I took my time to look back at Kerbin, something I rarely do anymore: Something to be said about the simple things, right?

Since most of my interplanetary craft launch empty of fuel and get prepped in orbit, I launch them without crew on board. Kerbonauts only go up when the craft is ready and the transfer window is about to open. I also don't leave crews on a body's surface, without some basic amenities. This means something that qualifies as an outpost and some means to explore (a rover) And I never send them on a one-way trip. Crew rotations are scheduled, with means and methods that will reliably take them on and off the surface -alive. This requires further infrastructure -hence why my careers always grow to the extent they do, leaving me looking at the RAM usage go up and up, in horror Never thought of any of this as roleplay to be honest. I just do what feels right.

I could've easily derailed the thread, when Pecan's mention of Minmus picked my curiosity. Choosing to wait for once, it turns out that he was talking about the simple case of bringing fuel back to LKO, instead of what I had in mind. Anyway, I don't think you can talk about SSTO planes without having their uses in mind (unless you make them just to look at them, like Tyko said earlier) and their quirks. And while it can be argued that further details maybe better to be left for later (or another thread entirely) I believe certain things have to be said, so that you won't break your plane on the way out and/or back.

I use SSTO spaceplanes in LKO mostly, for a variety of tasks: Carry crews and passengers to/from stations and vessels. Carry equipment to and from LKO, including recovered parts from rescue missions. Carry fuel/ore to LKO to be picked up and distributed by drones. Given the extent of the career they operate in, I fly them frequently and thus, I know my planes. Landing is always something to be careful at, but a less than 5 m/s descent rate on touchdown ensures you won't break the craft -make it less than 3 m/s to ensure you won't bounce off the tarmac. Is it worth it? Well, it's harder than launching rockets, I can tell you that. But once you get right and as you accumulate flight hours, you become better (like all things we practice on) and in the end, yeah, it becomes more than worth it. Should you get into that kind of action? I suppose it depends on what do you want to accomplish in the game, but in the end, only you can answer that.

Obviously I didn't mean you in particular called anyone, anything. That would also have been silly.

Heh... nowadays you're branded an elitist, just by not using the thing. And don't dare to even imply you don't need it. Sometimes I wonder who really hates whom

I think it's just a joke, as the phrase can have 3 possible meanings: Grade-A spacecraft program Grade-a-spacecraft program and Grade a spacecraft program.

No, not necessary. I wouldn't ask you to do something like that, either way.