Willtor

Oh, I'm not trying to refocus on my spacecraft. Merely, I'd like the view that has my orbit, periapsis/apoapsis/etc. along with the staging view of my craft. When I'm landing, I'd like an external view and an internal view. Re: SuperWeegee4000: Okay, thanks.

Multiple monitors (even for laptops) is increasingly common, even for laptops. It would be nice if I could open two windows while I play and, e.g., have one set to planet-view and the other to ship-view. Right now, especially during launch and descent, I switch back-and-forth between them frequently. Squad can say whether this kind of feature, as a plugin, would likely conflict with other plugins and so would be better implemented as a core feature.

Those ships are epic! Are you going to land on Eve and try to return, or just orbit?

It was a hot, muggy day at Kerbal Space Center when the Interplanetary Ferry launched carrying Cmdr. Raydrin and Navigator Bob. Bob arranged for a rendezvous with space dock at 75km to refuel and take on the lander carrying the experienced researcher, Jebediah. Jebediah had been in space for months, using the Mun to practice his landing technique. Raydrin said, "I have heard good things about Jebediah, but I understand the extended time in space has taken a toll on him, psychologically." "He's a professional," said Bob, "and I have no doubt he'll come through when it counts." After a quick refuel and connection with the tiny lander, Raydrin made formal introductions. Wily old Jebediah introduced himself as the king of cheese, causing his crewmates to chuckle, nervously. Bob made calculations to leave Kerbin using a series of burns at periapsis, to conserve fuel. After a few burns, apoapsis extended beyond the Mun. It took a full day before the next burn could be performed. Trying to break the ice, Raydrin asked, "So, Jebediah, I understand you're a noted geologist. What are you expecting to find on Ike?" Jebediah giggled, and said, "Styrofoam peanuts." Again, his crewmates gave one another a look and chuckled, nervously. Another burn and the Interplanetary Ferry was destined for the space between the orbits of Kerbin and Duna. Bob made further calculations for a burn to encounter Duna, some two months later. The time went quickly. Raydrin and Bob talked about science and philosophy and religion. They invented zero-G games with items around the pod. They watched movies and TV shows that were beamed to them from Kerbin. Jebediah played with his hands. Eventually, the burn came. Over the next few months, tiny course corrections were made to ensure a good trajectory and encounter with Duna. Bob arranged to put the Interplanetary Ferry inside the atmosphere to use the drag to slow the ship and turn the encounter into an orbit without using very much fuel. This had never been attempted, but Bob had watched a number of YouTube videos that assured him it would work. Bob and Raydrin held their collective breath as the red glow of the surface engulfed the ship, which began to shake with the friction. Over the comm, Jebediah sang, Daisy over and over again, each verse faster and higher pitched than the last. The ship achieved orbit with Duna, however, and a second aerobraking maneuver was performed to bring down the apoapsis. This second maneuver also created an encounter with Ike. "Just like I planned it," said Bob, confidently. Presently, the Interplanetary Ferry was in orbit of Duna's moon at 20km. "Time to earn your pay," said Raydrin through the headset. "Godspeed." The lander detached and made an impressively graceful descent. The legs were extended and the lights came on, illuminating the ground below. Jebediah gently set down on the light side of the terminator, extended the ladder, and exited his vehicle. Raydrin and Bob strained to hear of Jebediah's progress over the intercom. Jebediah was repeating a song: Oh, I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves Everybody's nerves Everybody's nerves Oh, I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves And this is how it goes Nevertheless, the song was punctuated with grunts and sighs that caused Raydrin and Bob to believe that he was, indeed, collecting samples. After a time, the lander lifted off and made its way to the ship. Bob had seen for easy docking and rotated the ship till the artificial horizon faced the pole. Jebediah then did the work that connected the two pieces. Raydrin said, "Professor Jebediah, did you get the samples you wanted?" Jebediah, for once, sounded dejected, "There were no Styrofoam peanuts." Raydrin and Bob exchanged a look and decided to leave well enough alone. Within a few minutes, Jebediah was expounding upon the improvements in DDR3 RAM over DDR2, and the other two crewmembers assumed the best. The Interplanetary Ferry completed a second orbit of Ike and set its course to escape Duna, using a close periapsis to optimize fuel consumption. On the other side of Duna, the crew took a last wistful look at the red planet. "Goodnight, Duna," said Bob. "Fare thee well," added Raydrin. The two smiled. "The iron beast! She is going away!" shouted Jebediah over the comm. Again, it was months before Bob's scheduled burn to return the ship to Kerbin. The day was hotly anticipated, and when it came, a great sense of achievement reached the crew. A few more adjustments, and Bob got a periapsis in his encounter with Kerbin inside the atmosphere at about 42km. The first look at the living planet was breathtaking. As before, the mood was tense as the ship entered the atmosphere to perform an aerobraking maneuver. The maneuver brought the ship into an extremely elongated elliptical orbit. The ship came around a second time. A third pass brought apoapsis under 300km. "I'd like to make a fourth pass, Commander," said Bob, enthusiastically. "My nerves can handle it," said Raydrin, "but we're pretty close to the edge." Bob nodded, emphatically, "I've calculated that we lose about 170m/s delta-v with each pass. Even with 200m/s, apoapsis is well above the atmosphere." Raydrin agreed and the ship came around again. Unfortunately, by this time, periapsis had slipped below 38km, and the orbit decayed rapidly. "Full throttle!" shouted Raydrin, "We're losing the orbit!" A single tear fell from Bob's eye as he manned the controls. The orbit continued to decay and the ship reached 36km. KSC's operator came over the intercom, "Your apoapsis is under 75km!" Bob said, "Ground control, this is Major Bob. Tell my wife I love her!" "She knows!" shouted the operator. Jebediah's voice burst in, "Wheeeee!" Apoapsis stabilized at 70km, and slowly began to climb. "We're making it!" said Raydrin, "We're pulling out!" As the enormous ship emerged from the atmosphere, Bob arranged for a rendezvous with space dock. "Well done, crew! I'm recommending you all for special honors," said Raydrin. "And taffy," said Jebediah, "Lots of taffy." Raydrin laughed, "Okay, and lots of taffy." "But not the rootbeer kind," said Jebediah, as space dock came into view, "I hate that flavor."

Forward: I wrote the following story of my first lander mission in early May (2013) in an email to my brother, who had bought me KSP as a birthday present. I hope you will find it entertaining, though I apologize for the lack of pictures as it hadn't occurred to me to take screenshots. Mission to Minimus: As my first landing mission, I decided I'd put some Kerbals on Minimus because it was smaller than the Mun. I designed a ferry that could transport a lander to and from Minimus, launched it, and docked it at my space dock. Then I designed a lander that could safely deposit Kerbals on Minimus, allow them to walk (hop) around on the surface for a while, and take them back to the ferry. This part was difficult because I didn't know exactly how to plan -- how much fuel to carry? How much thrust was required to escape Minimus? Meh -- too much effort to check the Wiki. I made my best guess and launched the lander to rendezvous with the ferry. Jebediah and Bob Kerman were geared up to be the first Kerbals ever to set foot on another world! The ferry/lander made the trip out to Minimus where it entered a tight orbit at ~40km altitude. I separated the lander and picked a fairly flat landing area and began my decent. As the lander approached the surface, I realized the decent was too shallow, but I was so close to the surface I needed to extend the landing legs and try to reduce speed. It was then that I realized the landing legs came up short with respect to the height of the rocket. But it was close, so I thought maybe I could still make a good landing. Wrong. The craft tumbled a few times, finally coming to rest on its side. But in the tubling process, the docking clamp came off. I had not anticipated this. The lander was supposed to be reusable, so I hadn't put any parachutes on it, and the rocket (which was _way_ overpowered for Minimus) was totally underpowered for landing on Kerbin. "Oh, well. We've made this whole journey," I thought. "Jebediah can do a Minimus-walk." Jebediah stepped out of the lander can and hopped around on the surface for a while (hops were a full 10m!). He collected a few samples for Kerbal scientists, and then it was time to go back. Given the extreme lack of gravity (and lack of atmosphere), I figured I could get a little bit of acceleration along the ground and turn the lander upright where it would begin its ascent. Once in space, I would send another rocket to rendezvous (but not dock, obviously), and my Kerbals would EVA and rocket themselves to the other ship. My plans were foiled when I discovered that Jebediah couldn't get back into the lander can! It was turned too far to the ground! I then managed to get Jebediah wedged under the lander. So I took control of Bob and attempted to _gently_ twist the lander so as to free Jebediah and expose the portal. My slightest touch was magnified 10-fold, and the lander went spinning and lost one of its legs, nearly crushing Jebediah in the process. But it didn't crush him, and he was able to get back into the lander. At this point, I took stock and realized that there was actually a fair amount of lander debris lying around the site. But I thought I was still good to get back into orbit. I throttled up... and immediately exploded, sending debris all across the area. Miraculously, the lander can was still intact and upright. But the Kerbals were not getting home under their own power. Thus, I planned out a rescue mission. I designed a second lander that didn't require legs -- it had 3 small rockets that it could use to land safely. It was not intended to be reusable, which also greatly simplified the design. There was a small pod at the top and an empty can underneath, which the stranded Kerbals could enter. Finally, I attached 3 parachutes to the pod, figuring this would be sufficient to slow my decent back to Kerbin at the end of the mission. The rescue lander was then launched and met the ferry at space dock. The journey back to Minimus was filled with trepidation. Not only had I never successfully placed a lander on a moon, rightside-up, but I also had never tried to land at so specific a target. Even a tiny body like Minimus could still be pretty big when it came to precision landings. When the new ferry/lander combo arrived at Minimus and assumed (a much higher) orbit, I separated the lander and planned a steep decent that I thought I could control, better. Bill looked terrified, of course. Probably, he had seen my earlier "landing" on the news. Amazingly, I managed to land his craft quite gently and upright... ~12.4 km away from the other landing site. Remembering my previous maneuvering attempts, I decided to call it good enough and make Jebediah and Bob come to the second lander. Bob was first to EVA. He was all smiles as he exited the lander can (the only remaining part of the first lander intact, remember), and he immediately set about to hopping towards the rescue craft. Hop, hop, hop! Good old Bob, making time with his giant hops. After a couple of minutes, I gauged the distance to the second lander... ~12.3 km. Being that it was already 1:00am for me, I decided Bob would like to make use of his rocket pack... and make use of it, he did. With a massive boost forwards, he skimmed along the surface at an altitude of 4m, at speeds that would give Mario Andretti pause. But who could complain, with the distance to the second lander rapidly decreasing? Ah, but terrain. At 4 meters altitude, the ground came up to meet Bob without warning, and he suddenly disappeared in a puff of irresponsible smoke. Okay. Need to be more careful with Jeb. I still decided to use the rocket pack, but to maintain a higher altitude (~14m) and travel at lower speeds. Jeb used most of his fuel, but he actually made it to the second lander and entered the can. Television audiences on Kerbis breathed a sigh of relief as the rescue craft launched from the surface. I had plenty of fuel to get back to Kerbin without the ferry (hard to get away from a planet, easy to get back to it), so I sent the rescue lander straight home. It entered the atmosphere of Kerbin a couple of days later and began its decent. I jettisoned the engines and the remaining fuel (there was quite a lot, actually) that I thought might keep the parachutes from slowing the decent, sufficiently. As I approached 500m, I deployed the parachutes. At that moment, it occurred to me that attaching a couple of them to the giant can rather than the tiny pod might have been wise. Too late, now. The pod slowed to about 6m/s, and the rest of the lander did not. KABOOM! Bill landed safely on Kerbin.