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  1. I got these awesome views of kerbin from the mun!
  2. Hello! Welcome To The Second of Many What I've Done So Far in Career Mode, where I share with you what ive done so far in my new career mode! If you haven't looked at the last one I made about the career mode, I suggest you read that post first before reading this one, so you will know what has previously happened. So, this is what happened this time I played my new career mode. First, Ikicked off space tourism by doing my first tourist contract from the tourist plus contract pack, as seen in the images below (everything went well!) Next, after successful minmus flyby and orbiter missions, I did the first landing on the minmus and safetly returned back to kerbin! (Though I ran out of fuel so I had to push the craft most of the way back) The next few images show the actual landing, which was easy due to minmus having low gravity (only 2nd to gilly's, im pretty sure) After landing, I planted a flag and did some science for a contract. (Tell me who's on the flag, in the 3rd image below) So after that I took off and headed back to kerbin. Expect that I ran out of fuel and had to do this for about 20 real life minutes just to get back... Now, the spacecraft is approaching kerbin, and had a successful landing in a grassy area of land. And so that brings the end of the 70, almost 71 day long mission to land on minmus and get back. But I have one more mission to share with you, Luna 2. So yeah for another historical progression mission, this time I did Luna 2 (AKA Lunik 2), which impacted the moon. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_2 And that brings and end to the second post of this, I hope you see the next one!
  3. Hello! Welcome To The First What I've Done So Far in Career Mode, where I share with you what ive done so far in my new career mode! If you haven't looked at the previous 2 posts I made about the career mode, I suggest you read those posts first before reading this one, so you will know what has previously happened. Post 1: Post 2: Ok, so now that you have read those 2 previous posts or have already read them, lets get started! So, starting this off, the first thing I did after completing the minmus flyby, was doing a mission to orbit it (for some more science), as seen in the pictures below! The orbit I was in was roughly 18,000 m by 20,500 m so I could get more low science data and do EVA reports as I flew over different biomes I also got this awesome image of kerbin and the mun rising over minmus from orbit. After doing a few orbits and collecting lots of science, I did a burn to leave minmus and head back for a landing on kerbin. (Notice the mun orbiting around kerbin in the background as it changes position.) After reentering kerbin's atmosphere, I landed this time (not splashed down) near some mountains and planted my first flag, as seen below: After collecting lots of science from the minmus orbiter mission and spending it on better parts in the tech tree, since I have the historical progression contract pack installed, I decided to recreate the Soviet Luna 1 mission next, which was the first spacecraft to flyby the moon. (More about it at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_1) After a successful launch and burn into orbit, I did another burn to put the spacecraft on a munar flyby trajectory to put it into a solar orbit (like the real life mission). After entering the mun's SOI, I took a screenshot with kerbin setting in the background in 2nd/3rd image (you can call it kerbinset, since its the opposite of earthrise). So after ejecting the other stage from the spacecraft it changed the periapsis to just about 4,800m (which is dangerously close). Luckily the spacecraft survived the close approach to the surface and I got a good view of some rocks on the surface and later a kerbinrise (similar to earthrise). After that the mission was complete and I got the contract complete screen (as you can see below it shows what the acutal mission did, pretty similar to mine, but not as close) And so that brings an end to the first of many to come What I've done so far in career mode posts! I can't wait to share what I've done next tomorrow!
  4. I am relatively new to the game, and after logging in about 40 hours, I have finally managed to land on the mun! It was especially hard because it was a dark side landing and I only had 6 lights to keep me for destroying all my (un-quicksaved) work. And without further ado, here are some of the screenshots that I took. I would also like to see any first mun landing post that you may have
  5. So, I'm building up a mining colony at Minmus, but I'm trying to make it as efficient as possible. I am using Kerbal Attachment System mod, just for reference. Would it be more efficient for me to process minerals on minmus and then ship it to orbit, or to ship minerals to orbit and process it there?
  6. I think I found an American landing site on the mun. It's a large obliesk with an American flag with a small lander. Anyone know the history of it, why its there? Thanks in advance :) Also to confirm finding it was an accident. I've never heard about it before, and happened to stumble across it on my second mun landing
  7. Hi, I class myself as an advanced ksp player who has gone to most reaches, but I have hit a problem with my current ideas of where I want to go. My game is modded but causally using stock ideas. My problem is: I have a landing craft that I want to land on the mun from Kerbin. It has a landing structure that surrounds the launching device that contains stuff I want to leave intact on the mun. The entire craft needs to land, then detatch the surrounding doughnut-like structure completely as it was built (but maybe without fuel). I cant return and re-assemble the part with docking ports at a later date (that would be too easy). Please I need help as I really get annoyed with this. If I find a way to do it this will really unlock a lot of techniques for ship designs to use. I am open to all ideas.
  8. In this thread, you can post your first ever Mun landing, your proudest Mun landing or any landing of that type. RULES: - It has to be a manned vessel. - You have to have an image. - It has to be YOUR photo and landing Listen, this thread was not made for me as no matter how hard I try, I either crash on the Mun or do not have enough fuel to return... I wish I could land on the Mun, and maybe someday I'll be able to, but for now, this thread is for the amazing Kerbal Kommunity and not me. Some people might know about my tries, such as @Orb8Ter , @Monkey Taylor and @Eveeloo , two of which have left the forums. Hope you all enjoy!
  9. Ok so here’s the deal (very small font to fit a lot of words) What you need to do is design a mun lander that can go to the mun and back to kerbin. (optional) You need to have the following: ”Terrier” engine FT-400 fuel tank (OX and LF) Mk1 command pod Inline reaction wheel Extra external fuel tanks etc. you get the idea You also need a rocket that can get into a 75,000 meter orbit around kerbin that carries the lander The rest you can do on your own! Thanks for reading!
  10. I was bringing new kerbals to my Mun base. But when I came too close to the base, the base, rovers and landers around it exploded. After that I reloaded my save and looked carefully at the base by zooming out. I saw That the base was in the ground. and now (also when I swithed to the base) when I come too close it explodes every time How can I fix this?
  11. Hi, I hadn't played KSP for more than a year before I decided to pick it up again yesterday. Today I decided to send a very small lander to the Mun. I managed to land it very smoothly (at like 1 m/s). As soon as I landed, the landing legs compressed and then extended like a spring. Since then, the lander keeps bouncing, reaching less than one metre in the air and then falling back down. As it touches the ground, there is an instant in which it is basically still, allowing me to time warp. However, as soon as I go back to real time, the bouncing continues. If I exit the game and reload the craft, it shoots up a lot higher and then goes back to bouncing. Does anyone know how I can solve this issue? Thank you very much! Edit: here's a gif of the issue: https://imgur.com/a/XETJPJX (I am struggling to embed it into this post, sorry)
  12. I've just landed a Mobile Processing Lab on the Mun and I've just realized that I forgot to put any antennae on it, I did remember to put a relay satellite in orbit at least. Is there a way for me to add an antenna to the Lab if there are no docking ports?
  13. A Kerbal Apollo - An individual take on manned Apollo missions Since the Apollo program is my favorite part of historical manned space exploration, I have decided to play some Apollo missions on KSP (You might be aware of this if you have been following the What did you do on KSP today thread, but I am redoing this, this time with pictures and somewhat more detailed descriptions). I only intend on playing the manned missions, so flight tests like Apollo 6 will not be included (This means that I will begin with Apollo 7) and also, these missions will not be exact recreations, albeit I will do their rough objectives. (Apollo 8 for example will still be a Munar orbit mission) I also consider to include some of the cancelled missions (Perhaps Apollo 18 and 19, which means some additional Mun exploration), so this will not be just a purely historical recreation of the Apollo missions. The Skylab and ASTP missions will also be included, since I consider them parts of the core Apollo program as well, due to their use of Apollo hardware. Meet the Apollo Kerbonaut Group 1: - Pilots: Jebediah Kerman, Herfrid Kerman, Dooddon Kerman, Theoler Kerman, Buremy Kerman, Rocan Kerman, Melney Kerman, Geofcal Kerman, Samsel Kerman - Engineers: Bill Kerman, Haldos Kerman, Ludbree Kerman, Sigble Kerman, Jensey Kerman, Rodous Kerman, Mind Kerman, Jenlock Kerman, Newdan Kerman, Harmon Kerman - Scientists: Bob Kerman, Gilely Kerman, Ribley Kerman, Harlong Kerman, Bartgel Kerman, Hanton Kerman, Duwig Kerman, Aldrick Kerman, Macdon Kerman Mods used in this savegame: Bluedog Design Bureau (For the Apollo, Skylab and Saturn parts) Kerbal Attachment System (For the containers to carry mission equipment) Kerbal Inventory System (For the inventory inside the LEM containing equipment) Surface Experiment Pack (For the surface experiments used on the Munar surface) Tantares (For the Soyuz parts used in ASTP) USI Exploration Pack (For the rover) DMagic's Modlets (For several minor modlets) Modular Launch Pads (For the Saturn IB/Saturn V launch towers) Final Frontier (For the ribbons for the Kerbonauts) Feedback is welcome
  14. here it is my little rovy ready to explore https://imgur.com/a/6bD9l1i
  15. **Before I start, a little about me; I've played KSP for a long time, I can't remember exactly which version, and I got into it thanks to Robbaz' YouTube series. I've restarted several playthroughs and been a part time lurker on these forums, but now that's changing. With this career I've decided to become more active, particularly with the Mission Reports and general conversations, I might even take on a few challenges within my career. In my entire time with this game I haven't left Kerbin's SOI, but again, I'd like to change that. My mission reports may be inconsistent in their formatting and style, but one thing I'll try to keep throughout is a track of the money earned from each mission (space exploration is a business, after all), and the science earned from each mission. Without further ado, here is the first instalment, landing on the Mun.** Mission Report: Year One, Day 16. ** OPERATION MUNSTRIDER ** After the successes of the Space Program thus far, the Kerbin World-Firsts Record-Keeping Society has allocated funding for the next milestone; to land on the Mun.The recent flybys and sightseeing launches have piqued interest in the planet's closest natural satellite, and it's time we landed on it and returned safely. Mission Objectives: PRIMARY - Land 3 Kerbals on Mun's surface and return them to Kerbin safely. - Gather scientific data by performing every available experiment we have currently developed; Materials Bay, Mystery Goo, Barometer, Thermometer, Surface Samples, Crew Report and EVA Report. SECONDARY -Proof of concept and test run of a reusable lander, able to land on the surface and return to orbit capable of docking with another craft for refuelling. -Plant flag for FLOOYD Dynamic Research Labs. We've been allocated a 70,560 advance in funding to develop and construct the lander and launch vehicle. The launch vehicle and lander came in a a total of 54,353. *Mission Updates* - Launch went off without a hitch, and Bob, Bill and Val settled into an 85km orbit, before burning out towards Mun. - An uneventful transfer between Kerbin and Mun, tensions began growing as Mun grew bigger. - Orbital insertion burn to Mun was nominal, and the ship settled into a 20km orbit. - Landing Sequence began, targeting the western edge of the East Farside Crater. - Bill reported concerns regarding fuel levels, we ran the numbers and there was cause for concern. - Touchdown on Mun! - Bob took samples from the crater, performed an EVA report and planted the flag as per the mission objectives. Bill inspected the craft for damages and areas of concern. Val's mental state deteriorated, Bill's concerns over the fuel pushed her into a state of panic, she refused to leave the cockpit for fear of being stranded. However, she did manage to fill out a crew report of the situation. - Bob decided to go sightseeing, being a surfer in his spare time he decided to visit a wave-like formation at the edge of the crater. Flight Control was not impressed. He retrieved a surface sample and returned to the ship, spectacularly wiping out on the way, proving the resilience of Kerbalkind and the spacesuits. **CRITICAL MISSION UPDATE** Low fuel levels, insufficient for return. Develop refuelling drone to perform orbital rendezvous in Munar orbit. Kerbin World-Firsts Record-Keeping Society provided additional contract and funding to bring the mission home. PRIMARY OBJECTIVE - Rendezvous and dock in Munar orbit, then return to Kerbin. - Val managed to get the ship into a stable 8km orbit, Flight assured them that they had a solution for their fuel shortage, and that this was part of the secondary objective, and they could use this time to gather more data from orbit. - Refuelling drone launched into orbit with no issues, sitting at 90km before launching towards Mun. - Bob performed several EVA's in orbit, setting a new record. - Refuelling drone docked with Munstrider with no issues, a testament to the capabilities of our probe technology. - Refuelling drone undocked and launched itself into the surface of Mun. **END OF CRITICAL UPDATES** - Val brought the crew home, touching down on the deserts of Kerbin. *Mission Summary* Primary Objectives. Moderate Success. Further development of lander needed, fuel issues need solving before further Mun Landings. Science returns outstanding, can use returned info to develop technologies further. Secondary Objectives. Docking capabilities adequate. Current model is unfit for re-use, development required. Flag planted for FLOOYD Dynamic Research Labs. Space Program reputation increased, public opinion tracking at a record high, funding will be more readily available, providing we can continue to push, to innovate, and inspire. **Funding Breakdown** - Initial Contract - Kerbin World-Firsts Record-Keeping Society 70,560 - Advance 332,640 - Reward -54,353 - Cost --------------------------------------------- 348,847 - Total Earned -Additional Contracts -FLOOYD Dynamic Research Labs 69,000 - Advance 191,400 - Reward ------------------------------------------------- 260,400 - Total Earned 609,247 - Running Total -Kerbin World-Firsts Record-Keeping Society 124,992 - Advance 589,248 - Reward -24,985 - Cost ========================= 1,298,502 - Total Earned Official Images:
  16. While playing KSP, I wanted to know how far is the Mün from kerbin... ...Do any of you know?
  17. My First Space Station, and Misadventures Related Thereto PART 1 In which mistakes are made I was waiting for various maneuver nodes to come up on my first manned trip to Minmus, initiated almost at the same time as the consummation of my first unmanned trip to Minmus (my first mining-refining vessel, on the Mun, decided to have some mission creep). In the meantime, I decided to accept a bunch of contracts regarding putting a space station into orbit, which I had never done before intentionally. (There was an early-game derelict spacecraft—a crossfeed error made it run out of fuel unexpectedly and I had to rescue the pilot via EVA—but other than that I had never put any kerbal carriers into permanent orbit.) There was one for Kerbin (10 kerbal capacity, research station) and one for the Mun (5 kerbal capacity). Additionally, I already had a contract for docking two vessels on or around the Mun, but it turns out that a lander returning to an orbiting mothership doesn't qualify. (Perhaps it was that the vessels had to be launched separately.) I thought I could kill three birds with one stone if I launched a space station with a shiny newly unlocked Clampy Senior, and then launched a lander-miner-refiner Mk.II capable of pushing it to the Mun. I decided to give the station a dedicated lander (capable of potentially ferrying tourists to and from the Mun) and a couple of escape pods (partly for fun, and partly because of an "orbit Kerbin" contract that I didn't feel like carrying to the Mun). Soon I was launching Alpha Space Station into orbit. It clocks in at almost exactly 50 tons, counting 27 tons of fuel and monopropellant reserves, and seems to have more than enough battery to last through a night-side orbit while still researching. [edit: TinyPic is dead; long live Flickr. Original link for insanity posterity: http://i63.tinypic.com/2a8jlnk.jpg ] Moving and re-docking the lander proved conclusively that I am genuinely bad at complex RCS maneuvering. I can sort of handle translating in the cardinal directions, and pitch/roll/yaw aren't too different from doing it with reaction wheels, but any attempts to control any two impulses at once degenerate quickly into hopeless, hilarious failure. Nevertheless, I managed it. I noticed that I forgot to put any solar panels on the lander, so my tourists had better not dawdle on the surface before coming back up. 150 electricity should be enough for the command pod reaction wheel on a trip like that, right? Just gotta remember to turn off the SAS when I'm not using it, like after landing. [ http://i68.tinypic.com/90y5fp.jpg ] Recovering the second stage brought the total launch cost down to 59k. Not great by some standards, I'm sure, but not too bad for something I hope will see lots of future use. Next up, launching the propulsion vehicle. It's a spiffed-up version of my previous mining vessel. Since the last one is still in the field with all its onboard science, I didn't have enough to unlock everything on my wish list (large ore tank), but this is still a big improvement, largely because of the 2.5m-1.25m quad adapter and better thermal dissipation. It also has its own research facility and houses a crew of 4 (using the 2-man can to fit a Clampy Senior on top). Four-way symmetry should help my RCS control a little compared to the Mk.I's three-way. I think I'll call it Prospecting Unit/Lifter/Lander. Kind of a mouthful, but it does a lot of stuff, I hope! The team slapped on a PPD-10 to add a few last-minute Mun tourists to the itinerary, and a small manned probe hopefully capable of making polar orbit, and then blasted off! No second stage lifter needed here—the package to be delivered can do its own work after the initial boost. If I need extra fuel to get to the Mun I can borrow from the station. Cost of lifter: 46k (69k less 23k recovered) for putting 70 tons of craft in orbit (less perhaps 5 tons of fuel I used from the nukes to get to the rendezvous). Without further ado, mission A.S.S.-P.U.L.L. was a go! About 115 tons put in orbit between station and miner/tugboat for a slightly smaller number of kilocredits. PART 2 In which Bob thinks he can pilot a ship, but is wrong. It didn't take too long for Mission Control to realize they had put a scientist in a ship with no probe. Well, I guess old Bob could use the practice. Also, I put the tourist who only signed up for Kerbin orbit into an escape pod with Valentina (so I could have at least one kerbonaut holding down the fort at home; I cleaned out the place for these launches) and pulled the trigger. Up until now there had been thirteen (13) kerbals aboard the A.S.S.-P.U.L.L. mission, which is by far the most I've had at once. To be fair, I've never combined two launches into a single mission before. Meanwhile, it turns out that the lander attached to my A.S.S. is throwing off the balance—the reaction wheels aren't able to compensate enough to keep the ship straight at full thrust. Perhaps if I emptied out the fuel? But I only have spare tankage for the liquid, not the oxidizer. My A.S.S. is still just too fat. I could nurse the thing along at half throttle, but it's already a long burn. In doing so, I might even briefly drop out of space mid-burn, not that it's dangerous to be at 69km or whatever, but to heck with that! I have tons of monopropellant and even if this isn't what RCS is meant for, it's sure good enough to do the job! [ http://i68.tinypic.com/209j0ic.jpg ] And after repeating the same ridiculous scheme at the Mun capture burn, I'll be ready to land and rejuvenate all this stuff I've been burning. But first, what about Bob? He has the opposite problem: too much control. His unsteady hands are capable of doing a full rotation when only a modest adjustment is needed. After locking the engine gimbals and setting wheel authority to 50%, though, he's starting to feel like a real pilot. Now let's get some polar orbital contracts/science! Literally eleven minutes (game time) before entering the Mun's SOI, I get a contract offer to "return or transmit scientific data from space around the Mun". Well, I'm not going to say no to that! Speaking of our Mun burn, the fuel is running lower than I expected, but fortunately I lifted off with full ore tanks to refine more fuel with en route, which I've been converting to liquid fuel. And a little extra monopropellant, which I was shocked to find in danger of actually running out. But, after all, it was just for convenience, not a mission requirement, although I'm resolving to hang on to some for "real" usage. After a routine circularization burn, other than continued RCS abuse, I detached the miner-lander and proceeded to a landing that was completely ordinary, including my continued ability to pick a landing zone that is too steep for comfort but not quite steep enough to prevent landing. [ http://i65.tinypic.com/2589y8k.jpg ] The miner comes back up to dock. I'm a bit worried that I STILL won't get credit for the docking because even though this includes hardware from two different launches it came to the Mun in one piece. Additionally, I left one piece that was originally part of the lander with the station when it detached. Will this count? Or is the contract's secret requirement that two vessels dock FOR THE FIRST TIME in the Mun's orbit? Nope, this doesn't count either. But I haven't given up all hope yet; I can still detach the PPD-10, land with the Mun tourists, and come back up to dock two vessels that don't have any pieces of each other in them yet. The miner/refiner refuels the station but the modest ore hold isn't enough to completely refill both the liquid in the station's LFO tanks and the prodigious amount of monopropellant that we burned. Oh, gee whiz, what a tragedy to have to land back on the Mun for some more. As it happens, when I finish refining my ore I'm very close to an equatorial Canyons biome passing underneath. Sounds good to me! I quickly detach and kill most of my orbital velocity, lining up my remaining path with the canyon. ... it turns out that canyon floors look really nice and smooth, and they are smooth, but not flat. Had to burn a lot of fuel changing landing zones twice to achieve a mere 15 degree tilt, which I think is my steepest yet with these disconcertingly tall landers. [ http://i64.tinypic.com/2ijl0xy.jpg ] When I undocked, the name changes gave me hope that this time the contract will work. The station got its old launcher name back, and hilariously the lander got bequeathed the station icon and name. So yes, KSP says I have a space station landed on the Mun. OH COME ON The docking was an exercise in frustration; after the second bounce I went in with a perfect plan, only to have the docking ports stabilize without completing the docking. Why do you hate me? A short expenditure of RCS later (by the station, since it's lopsided and probably lighter anyway) and I'm finally docked, and yes, the contract finally completed. What replaced it? Well, turns out I need to get "scientific data from the surface of the Mun." Does it count scientific data I've already collected even if I'm no longer on the surface? Yes. And now, time to go home. It turns out I did not sufficiently think that part through. It was easy enough to carry over a dozen kerbals to the Mun with this space station, but bringing them back without bringing the space station back is trickier. In the end, the two scientists volunteered to man the station's lab, and the ship left while the engineer was admiring the view from the station's cupola. My Mk.II miner was a modest success, and maybe it's the sunk-cost fallacy but I don't quite feel like deorbiting the thing, so I slapped together a 10-kerbal SSTO ferry (8 returning from the Mun, 1 pilot, and 1 LKO rescue) and took off, after sending it back from the launch pad for a last second addition of a stored-science-retrieval kit. I had to research the Klaw for this vessel as tourists cannot EVA. That solution seemed easier than designing the ferry to include a Clampy Senior. This thing really jumped off the pad, so Valentina decided to try a much shallower ascent path than usual to minimize gravity losses; we hit 70km apoapsis just as the speed was threatening to fry the solar panels so she coasted up and circularized. [ http://i64.tinypic.com/p0emc.jpg ] As the Mun tourists returned to Kerbin, Mission Control didn't want the ship to go too deep into the atmosphere for fear of breaking the satellite dishes, and gentle airbraking was way too boring, so the NERV engines were put to good use again doing most of the work. The miner sidled up to the waiting Klaw ship and the tourists and data transferred over. KSC was drawing near, and there was a fair amount of fuel remaining, so a hasty deorbit put us reasonably close (by my lax standards). No sooner had we landed than new contracts came in asking us to use our brand new Klaw, to rescue kerbals and objects around the Mun, no less! Looks like the engines on my P.U.L.L.er will barely have time to cool off. END OF MISSION
  18. (A.K.A. BILL AND JEB'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE) TL;DR: TODAY I LEARNED THAT "CHECK YO' STAGIN'" APPLIES TO DOCKING PORTS. I am new to Kerbal Space Program and going through career mode. After the crew of my second Mun landing returned to Kerbin with 1,859.6 science on board, I decided to get ... ambitious greedy. I started by unlocking Very Heavy Rocketry, its associated fueling needs, the long-awaited NERV, and Composites. Initially I just wanted to use the NERV as any upper stage, since it was so efficient. But there was a contract for mining ore, and I already wanted to land, so why not try to make a refueling lander? It turned out to be a lot heavier than expected, so I went with 3x engine symmetry (2 would have been enough power but 3 made better symmetry and I was used to high munar TWR from my first two landings), and packed a bunch of the baby airplane fuel cylinders next to the engines since they have the best fuel-to-weight ratio of all the liquid tanks—which also gave me a place to mount landing gear that could actually reach the ground, and a better place to mount drills than some very sneaky girders. Then, since I had the power, I upgraded the converter since the small one's ore-to-fuel ratio is garbage. I didn't have the Gigantor solar panels unlocked yet, but looking at the energy requirements I decided to use the last of my science to do so. I wanted to do a bunch of contracts. I had several around the Mun, for which I needed a rover and a satellite, and I wanted to mount them both on the nose. Hmm. I decided to put clamp-o-trons on the rover and nose, then put the satellite in the middle. I added RCS to the rover so I could, in theory, detach in spaceflight, launch the satellite, and then reattach to the lander. I've never docked anything before, but how hard can it be? (Backup plan: carry the satellite down, drop the rover, launch satellite after takeoff.) [edit: TinyPic is dead; long live Flickr. Original link for insanity posterity: http://i68.tinypic.com/2pqqj3a.jpg ] Speaking of docking, on this mission I plan to try it for the first time again—ship to ship this time. My middle stage should make Mun orbit, and if the lander refinery works as well as hoped, I can potentially come back up, dock, donate a little fuel (I put modest L+O tankage on the nuke with this hope—contents donated to the middle stage, of course—plus I could refine more ore after docking), then transfer crews, land again, collect science and fuel again, and did I mention both crews still need a Mun landing under their belt? Now all I had to do was figure out how the heck to lift all this junk. Fortunately I had just unlocked the Mammoth. Even so, I still needed to attach some Kickbacks to give me what I consider decent launchpad thrust. For the middle stage, a Skipper might be adequate to the task, but I thought, "Hey, the Rhino gets better ISP anyway, right? And it will keep my burns short. Let's try this sucker out." Plus it let me keep my rocket fatter; this thing is much taller than any rocket I've made before. Looking at what I'd done in the VAB—what I'd done to the VAB?—I named it the Abomination. The fairing covered 45% of the rocket. It's over 100 tons heavier than my previously biggest rocket, which was almost 100 tons heavier than my previously biggest rocket. And it's not too far shy of double the cost, though a lot of this is tied up in stuff meant to be recovered. [ http://i66.tinypic.com/2m7vkg1.jpg ] I had just accepted a contract to test the aerospace decoupler at 51-55km while going 1110-1890m/s, which put some constraints on my flight profile, but it actually worked pretty well with a reasonable gravity turn. It took me a couple of tries to get it right, but I don't feel too guilty about reverting for that sort of thing. They aren't terrible fins—or at least they looked the part. The Rhino performed beautifully, too. It started up well in the upper atmosphere, so I'm sure it was at least as efficient as any other upper stage could have been, and the extra power let me carry more fuel that the main lifter would have otherwise been using (at less effiency). The downside is that if the Mammoth was allowed to use that fuel I was confident of recovery; this way, I didn't even try for this mission, though I may if I find myself with a similar lower stage in the future. On the last Mun landing, I caught a Minmus intercept completely by accident while planning the trip home, but didn't have the fuel to do it. Not this time, my crew thinks. Not this time. As it turns out, the main difficulty of reattaching the rover—other than that I'm terrible at docking—was that it really wasn't designed with docking in mind. First, the lines of sight were very bad, and second, I didn't realize I'd offset the docking port so that a little bit of it was blocked by a girder. The magnetism seems to be holding it in place for now, so hopefully that will hold up until I land. If it falls off upon landing that will just save me the trouble. [ http://i66.tinypic.com/2hrhm6t.jpg ] The satellite was then on its merry way after reaching the correct altitude to turn on its engine to fulfill a contract. I was careful of where the main ship was, after having read many horror stories about inattentive launch collisions! It has tons of delta-V, which is good because it needs to fulfill two orbital requirements; it may have enough to spare to do something useful. Even if it doesn't, three contracts on one small satellite that at worst will be a half-decent Mun relay antenna isn't bad. The orbiter (the Rhino) is another story. By my calculations at the time, it did have enough to get into my preferred capture orbit but it's tighter than I thought back in the VAB when I was doing gross estimation instead of precise engineering. I hoped I would be able to get into my subsequent planned lower orbit. (To make a rendezvous with the mining ship easier—the refueling might be more than a novelty now.) Alternatively I could have just bailed out and tried for Kerbin immediately after the capture, but I wanted to stick to the mission plan. Apparently, magnetism gets weaker during time warp. I wanted to orient my vessel in a certain direction to ensure the orbiter didn't get in the way of the lander's maneuver. I knew that the maneuver node could sometimes move around a bit on you, but I was totally unprepared for one that meandered across a 45° swath of the navball! I can't help but imagine the loosely attached rover had something to do with it, but even so, that was ridiculous. Every time I thought I was close, it dashed back in the direction I came from, sort of like the way SAS autocorrects. Speaking of misbehaving maneuver nodes, apparently the satellite was small enough, and the antenna big enough, that the engine was significantly offset from the center of mass. At least, that was the hypothesis I formed as the thing bucked like a bronco for the nearly two minute burn despite the fact that I was only packing a Spark. Or perhaps too much of the weight was in the back? I will keep this in mind for more important future missions. The rover, in the meantime, had gotten loose again. Fortunately I cought it before it had gone more than a couple meters. I was becoming concerned. I wondered how it would behave under deceleration. At least, I reasoned, it would be only compressive forces, not pulling the clamps apart, but it's off center—that's the whole problem. But although the clamps are off center, the center of mass (as I eyeballed it) looked like it should be right over the center of the rocket, so maybe it would be fine. I had plenty of monopropellant, even without being able to transfer any from the ship. As long as it waits until landing—or perhaps even the final approach—to wobble off the ship, I'm golden. But, a pessimistic voice whispered, if it's not docked then you can't undock it. what if it sticks through the landing and doesn't want to go? Will the monopropellant be enough to push it loose? Almost certainly yes, I thought. I was glad I thought of the possibility, but I was sure it was not a true concern. After another repetition of the rover escape and a couple more times it seemed to be threatening to, I think I've figured out the behavior. Whenever "normal activity" is suspended, either from time warp or from leaving the area (to adjust my satellite's orbit) the half-on, half-off docking port starts to freak out. Possibly the game is trying to make it fit correctly, but running into a conflict with the girder that's in the way. It wasn't a problem when it was built that way but it looks like detaching it was a one-way trip, at least for this particular rover. There seem to be one of two "resting states": one where the clamps are together but offset as in the picture above, and one where the clamps are perfectly aligned but being held apart by the girder. If I leave the area when it's in the first position the rover wants to go to the second position, but if I leave the area when it's in the second position then it wants to lose the connection and drift away. Anyway, I lined up the target on the ground, giving it a little lead for rotation and overshooting a bit on purpose because I usually end up short of the planned line. In this case I had to stick to the plan more than usual once I got close to the finish line because if I turned the ship too fast the rover would definitely lose its connection, and I didn't want to do that too far from the actual landing zone. [ http://i65.tinypic.com/vz9652.jpg ] After what is by far the most fuel-wasteful deorbit I have ever done (possibly partially because of the unusually steep orbit I'm coming down from), I was slowly decelerating into the landing zone, and I noticed I was drifting a little bit. As said before, any sudden course corrections would cause the rover to get squirrely, which is a complication I didn't need, so I quickly switched to it at a couple dozen meters up, mashed the RCS, and just let it fall to the ground, where it bounced very nicely without exploding even a little. I eased myself down in the most cowardly possible way, RCS blasting, secure in the knowledge that as long as I made it to the ground intact I would be taking off with full tanks. [ http://i65.tinypic.com/289kfi9.jpg ] I'd like to say Jebediah had a fine old time roaming around the countryside on the rover, but it turns out Bill neglected to install any seats. Not that that little detail would stop Jeb, but unfortunately his crewmates managed it. OKTO sighed a little sigh and dutifully went off alone in search of temperature readings, and maybe love. [ http://i64.tinypic.com/zufbwh.jpg ] Well, like many would-be lovers, OKTO forgot which way was forward and went 20 kilometers in the wrong direction. But the detour didn't cost much more time than it took for the mining and refining to finish completely. Then I just burned for orbit, trying to get one that was easy to match to the orbiter (I went polar because of the landing zone, so rotation was a factor.) Getting into AN obit wasn't so bad; getting into a MATCHING orbit was a little more of a chore. But that, I think, is a mission report for another day. TO BE CONTINUED...
  19. So I'm pretty new to Kerbal Space Program (haven't even really left the kerbal system yet even though a probably could, because I just love mun/minmus missions), and for a while I've been messing around with stock Apollo replicas, and just general stock replicas of real life missions. Making an apollo lander in stock KSP, without any of that fancy DLC is naturally a pretty big challenge, but I'm really proud of this one and felt like sharing It houses 2 brave kerbals, and although the video below was made very lazily using cheats, I can guarantee its ability to land on the mun and then rendezvous with a CSM in any mun orbit (Even at the edge of it's SOI) with a bunch of fuel to spare. One of the things I really dislike about this craft is how easy it is to break the landing legs unless you're going <0.2m/s on a flat surface, but cutting the fuel down enough would change that problem (a better player than me could probably land and return with the ascent stage alone, which quite literally has surplus fuel to the moon and back). If anyone wants the .craft file, let me know. I haven't posted it here because A. I'm not entirely sure how to do so and B. I've heard some people are protective of these files and I can't quite figure out why, or if any of these reasons may apply to me. Crappy "Showcase" video made with OBS, Movie Maker, and a whole bunch of debug menu. Yes, I know that in real life the CSM and LEM docked while still attached to the lunar injection stage. Image Album Thanks for looking
  20. I have a mun station all setup on the moon, but whenever i try to aproach it with a rover that i made, it keeps randomly shaking and ripping it self apart. It also happens when i just land with a lander next to it, It isn't happening directly when i land, I happens like 30 seconds / 1 minute later. I dont know if this is a bug, i use a modded install but before, i didn't have this poblem and i didn't install any mods after it. I use Windows 10 64 bit and use a modded installation of KSP
  21. For me honestly the first Kerbal Space Program Easter Egg I found was the Monolith near the KSC (smaller and floating in 0.18.3). Here's an image of it: What was your first Easter Egg you found and what was the date?
  22. So I was just looking at the Changes for The Mun on the KSP Wiki and it says "Removed the KSC on the Mun (don't ask)" for v0.14.3 (https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Mun#Changes). This means it must have been added in v0.14.2 which is also the version The Mun's terrain was overhauled and changed from looking like this: To This If you have any images or know anything else about the KSC on the Mun, please tell me. (https://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Version_history#v0.14.3)
  23. So I'm in career mode and I've sent a couple of missions to the Mun. Only one probe was able to soft-land due to a bug I've had with my landers. For some reason they want to bounce back up, usually flipping over in the process. I have had this issue with both the smallest and the medium sized legs. I've also played a bit with the leg springs and dampeners. I lowered their tweakable settings. During that landing, the craft sank into the surface of the Mun and one of the legs exploded, requiring a revert. Mods in use: CKAN, Science Checklist, several flag mods, Contract Configurator with all of the Contract Packs, Kerbal Alarm Clock, EVE, Landing AIM, Modular Flight Integrator, Module Manager, TriggerAu's Flags, and Waypoint manager. This issue has only occurred since 1.4.1 and hasn't happened previously. I do own Making History. I'd love some help with this one, since I have several contracts that require soft landing!
  24. So Explore the Mun seems to be broken. I can't seem to complete it. I have orbited at all heights. Looked at the mission requirements and attempted orbits from other directions. Is this a bug or is this user error?
  25. Comrades, it's time to join the space race. The N1 stands ready. Let's land on the Mun and show all of Kerbin what we can achieve. https://www.dropbox.com/s/udod72znlzzcgbc/Mission-N1-L3 Mun Landing.zip?dl=0 Admittedly, this is my first mission, so I tried to keep it as simple as possible to avoid mishaps. I hope it will be enjoyable.
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