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Your challenge is as follows: 1. Select a historical spacecraft to replicate from the list below (but don't forget to Kerbalize it!) Sputnik 1 (LKO) Hubble Space Telescope (LKO) JWST (HKO around Minmus's orbit) ISS (LKO) Apollo 15 (Mun) Apollo 11 (Mun) Curiosity (Duna) Juno (Jool) Voyager (flyby of Jool to Kerbolar escape) Viking (Duna) Venera 11 (Eve) Luna 16 (Mun) 2. Land one of the following on its target body. 3. Submit your ship! Required screenshots: 3-A. Your ship in the VAB, with part count and mass. 3-B. Your ship on the launchpad. 3-C. Your payload in the target orbit. (For lander: Your ship in orbit of the body to be landed on) 3-D. Your lander(if used) on the target body. Badge (any completed mission) Featherweight Badge (any mission below 10 tons) Above and Beyond Badge (exceeding requirements, i.e. realistic launcher, realistic orbit, etc.) Please note: Every time you do a mission, you get a badge. MODS ALLOWED DLCs are, of course, allowed. MechJeb and other autopilot mods are allowed. Ask before you use a part mod. Mods that actually add any of the ships above are NOT allowed! That is classed as cheating. A major part of this challenge is the creativity needed to create these replicas. LEADERBOARD Unmodded @Akagi -Juno mission. 250,350 funds, 66 parts. 850.198 tons. STOCK. Done without NERVs or ions. Accurate orbit, semi-accurate launch vehicle. Above and Beyond! @QF9E - Apollo to Tylo. 220,959 funds, 212 parts. 561.069 tons. STOCK + DLC. Above and Beyond! Awesome down to the ULLAGE MOTORS! @Akagi - Sputnik 1. 20,034 funds, 93 parts. 17.316 tons. STOCK. This one and Juno are the only two ones I'm going to do. @Kerb24 - Sputnik 1. 29,572 funds, 48 parts. 55.678 tons. STOCK. Using accurate engines for once... @Falcon 09 Andy - Sputnik 1. STOCK. @QF9E - Luna 16. 32,797 funds, 74 parts. 75.134 tons. Above and Beyond! A spectacular lander, a not-so-spectacular launcher... @4D4850 - Venera 11. funds, parts. tons. Inaccurate launch vehicle, but no parachutes! *unfinished* @QF9E - Venera 11. funds, parts. tons. Accurate launch vehicle, no parachutes! *unfinished* @Kerb24 - Literally the ENTIRE ISS. Above and Beyond! Modded @Scarecrow71 - Sputnik 1. Stock + DLC. 19,459 funds, 23 parts. 43.420 tons. Above and Beyond for accurate orbit and launch vehicle! @BuranAce - Juno. BDB for Atlas V and solar panels. funds, parts. 0.00 tons *unfinished*

Lately, I haven't been able to think of anything to do in Kerbal 2. I can fly to Eve and Duna and everywhere in-between. I've found some discoverables too. I've tried docking, but haven't really been able to pull it off efficiently. But enough moping! You guys want to know where I'm going with this. I would like some suggestions and I'm sure other people would like this too. So, lets hear your best ideas! (or craziest)

Hello, its my debute in this community! When i started playing KSP (1.3.1) I found some strange thing. Mk-1 Cockpit have a Gyrodine but we need to unlock it before launching any Sattelite. This means that we need to launch human in space in order to get science to unlock it before your "Sputnik" Which is seems stupid. That CAN be solved by modifications of the game but its boring yeah? When first playing i made this challenge to myself and couldn't do it because of some problems I didn't know about LV-T45 "Swivel" But in Official Missions for Making History I found myself in the same trap and when i attached RCI I thought why not to offer this Challenge for you? I think you are capable enough of this! Rules: Pardon for any mistakes i make - English isn't my first launguage Have Fun!

My fellow space enthusiasts, aerospace engineers, and demolition experts, I've been ushering our dear Kerbonauts around the Kerbolar System since version 1.1. It's been quite the ride, as all of you well know from your own experiences. I did things a little differently from some - I learned gravity turns, docking, landing, planetary transfers, etc. on my own without the help of YouTube or any other materials. For the most part, it was only myself, my patience, and the in-game tutorials that got me to where I am today. In the beginning when I realized what this game was, and how it was everything I wanted in a space game, I just couldn't let myself spoil the journey of learning orbital mechanics and building up a space program from scratch. All the while not even initially knowing what it actually takes to get a rocket off the ground. I wanted to learn from the game while pulling from my own background in physics, my interest in aerospace, and through trial and error. It made for the most rewarding game experience I've ever had. I went from rockets' pointy ends being where the flamey end is supposed to be, and gravity turns consisting of going straight up until leaving the atmosphere and burning horizontally like crazy, to incrementally becoming more and more efficient in all aspects of the various standard missions that can be done, to the eventual successful landings on all 13 of the other terrestrial bodies. I'm mentioning all of this because now with Kerbal Space Program 2 closing in, I'm worried there are things that perhaps I've missed out on in the original game. While I will state my own accomplishments and playstyles, I'd like to hear from the KSP community about what we think are the essential items that should be on everyone's bucket list before the sequel arrives. Whether it's accomplishments that can be done in the stock game, like seeing the Mohole or an SSTO on Laythe, or things entirely different that are only achievable in a modded save like exploring some of the Kopernicus planet packs. For me, I'm mostly a stock player, and there are some experiences I want to save for KSP2. So I don't really need suggestions like extraplanetary launchpads or near-future/far-future/interstellar missions - although you can certainly still list them for other people that tune in here. I've personally never done an Eve-return vehicle, nor a Jool V or grand tour mission. So those are on my list for sure. I've done plenty of crewed surface bases and ISRU refueling stations. I've also done USI-LS and OPM. What else am I missing out on though? I feel like there's a lot of KSP out there to be played that I just haven't taken the time to experience, whether it's exploring new worlds or ultra-realism or whatever else may be out there. Please, feel free to give your recommendations.

The challenge: Make an aircraft carrier out of stock parts (Visual mods and Airplane Plus allowed). Difficulty Levels: Easy: Aircraft Carrier with one plane that can take off and land. Medium: Aircraft Carrier with multiple planes that can take off and land. Hard: FLYING Aircraft Carrier with one or more plane(s) that can takeoff and land on the FLYING carrier. Rules: I need screen shots for proof. No other mods than the ones listed above (unless upon request). Here is the Badge: Here is the Badge if you manage to make a working flying carrier (made by @ColdJ). Here are some photos of my carrier: It can takeoff and land a single micro fighter. And then rearm it for more flight (it uses parachutes for landing). Vessel mover is ok for floating carriers only! The flying carrier must take off on its own. Go be creative and have fun!

official poster A SOLAR TRAVEL By Kerbal Enthusiasm Challenges What’s the main task? Create a unique rocket with 2-4 spacecrafts which will land in all bodies in the Kerbol System (excluding comets, asteroids, Jool (and other planetary bodies by mods). Who can join? Anyone WITHOUT the Breaking Ground or the Making History DLC, or both. If you have the two DLCs, you cannot join since the prize is one DLC pack. FULL INSTRUCTIONS Firstly, try to dock 2-4 spacecrafts with at least 3 Kerbals (one pilot, one scientist, one engineer) with a communications device and science stuff for you to conduct science. Since there are a total of 16 planetary bodies in the Kerbol System, you will land on 14 of it. Here are those: · Moho · Eve · Gilly · Mun · Minmus · Duna · Ike · Dres · Pol · Laythe · Bop · Tylo · Vall · Eeloo So, each spacecraft could land on either 4 or 5 of these. Plan first your destinations, your cargo, and stuff. You could refuel in asteroids, or in space stations, or anything. Then, build a rocket and dock your spacecrafts in a way that it would be brought together once leaving the SOI of Kerbin. As you land on these planetary bodies, you can refuel too or get some precious science. After doing these, you MUST redock them all in one piece and return safely to Kerbin. Tough job? Documentary (how you will show your work) You will document this in a recording. Record it in a video, and it’s your choice if you will edit it or not. Limit it to 15 minutes of video time. And your mods should be seen. No using of HyperEdit or you are disqualified. You could add some music, or some effects. The editing is yours to do! You can add anything you want in the video! But remember, be fair! Don’t use cheats! How can I send it? You can send it to my E-mail which is [email protected] or you could send a Google Drive link or any link with the video on it and send it on me via PM on the KSP Forums. What's the prize? So good of you that you asked. You could win a DLC pack! Either the Making History expansion or the Breaking Ground expansion! Your choice! How can I win? You can win in 2 ways: 1. Accuracy of the Gameplay The gameplay is accurate and you landed on all said bodies in the best way depending on the criteria. 2. Editing Skill The editing is great and has effort inserted into it. It is consistent, and many more depending on the criteria. How will I be judged? Here’s the criteria: ACCURACY OF THE GAMEPLAY Rocket and Spacecraft – 30% Maneuvers, Gravity Assists, Etcetera – 25% Arrival at Destination – 25% Restoration of Spacecraft – 20% ------- 100% Editing Skill Consistency – 45% Visual Effects – 25% Auditory Effects – 15% Submission – 15% (subtracts each day of late) ------ 100% When is the deadline of submission? The deadline is at Jan. 11, 2021, 10 AM GMT. Submit it either at my Gmail account ([email protected]) or via PM at the Forums (link of your video). How many will win? 2 for the Accuracy of the Gameplay category, and 2 for the Editing Skill category. How will we know if we won or not? Winners will be posted at the Forums. Check my wall before New Year. Can we use mods? You cannot use mods. Let's make it a challenge! (except for camera/visual/audio mods.) Remember, record your video and edit it if you want! Limit to 15 minutes only! Good luck to all of you! Winners of this contest will receive their custom circular badge for their posts! (sorry it's not as great :<)

Hello Kerbals! Apparently, sport makes you healthy and strong, increases your life expectancy and all that. Well, seeing as your life will probably end in a dubious construction before you die of old age, it probably won't be much use to you. Sport does seem fun: however, physical exertion is boring. Our R&D team has spent lots of time and a mediocre amount of effort in finding the solution - slap on some giant robot parts! For this challenge, you must build a contraption that gets a Kerbal from one end of the KSC airstrip to the other 0. The start is considered where the contraption spawns at launch, the end is the end of the airstrip. 1. You may use NO rockets for propulsion, as this is sports after all. Instead, you must use the Breaking Ground robotic parts (e.g. rotor, servo, hydraulic piston) to somehow get the contraption across. If you somehow manage to find a way without the Breaking Ground DLC, go ahead! 2. RCS can be used, but only for rotation and not as a means of propulsion. 3. The contraption must cross the finish line along with the Kerbal. 4. Propellers aren't allowed either, rotors are though. 5. Structural blocks and all other non-propulsion blocks are OK. 6. No motorised wheels. You can use non motorised ones, or custom (rotor) ones, but no powered stock wheels. 7. No mods please! 8. I don't care how you go cross the line as long as you comply with the above rules. Bouncer? Wheels? Exoskeleton? The only thing that doesn't count is making the construct so tall that you only need to fall towards the finish line to cross it, or gaining an advantage that way. Post your submissions below as a video with your supposed time next to it, I'm excited to see what you all make!

It's the start

I've started a challenge, and I want to make a badge, but I don't know what sizes badges usually are. It would really help if I got some approximate dimensions.

Hello and welcome. I'm Stephen, this is a challenge for good spacecrafts. Vote "It's good" if your craft works and perfect, If you vote "I don't know", then you don't know whether it is good or bad. Vote "It was bad" if your craft feels something bad or crashes (e.g wobbling, mistakes, engine not attached to fuel tank, etc.)

I created this challenge yesterday: And I just managed to complete it. I didn't score all the possible points, but I did successfully complete my main goal, which was propulsively landing all three booster cores within the same save. It's very challenging. The trick is to use a highly lofted initial burn, followed by a flat boostback on the first booster, an even-more-lofted boostback on the second booster, and a high-apogee downrange loft on the core. If timed properly, each booster can be landed before the following booster drops out. I suppose it doesn't look very Tesla-esque, but oh well. It can do about 50 mph, so we'll just chalk that up to it being a little on the old side. Corners ridiculously well, though, thanks to the low center of gravity. It survived this jump, surprisingly, though I believe it lost a headlight. Then came time to mate to the rocket! It's a big rocket. I could have made it smaller with Tweakscale, but didn't want to use mods. The Roadster takes its rightful place. The three cores are virtually identical, except for the fairings up top. Not shown: nine Vectors, thrust-limited to 92% (because Falcon Heavy will launch Elon's Tesla at 92% of its max thrust), with 100% gimbal on the core engine and 75% gimbal on the circle of engines. Time to head to the pad! Sitting pretty. Ignition before clamp release. Each of the 12 landing legs are an aligned pair of landing struts covered by elevons (with control authority turned off), keyed to the gear action group. "Check ignition "And may God's love be with you..." Starting a very, very mild turn at 100 m/s. Going to have a very lofted trajectory. At around Mach 1, I used an action group to cut thrust on all but the core's center engine. It's not perfect; the real Falcon Heavy will throttle all nine engines down to the minimum throttle together, but I couldn't be QUITE that perfect. Up, up, and away! I would have liked to use a reskin but oh well. Cutting all engine thrust to around 65% at 500 m/s to help loft the trajectory a bit more. Coming up on staging. The goal will be to separate and flip the first booster for boostback as soon as possible after apoapsis exceeds 70 km; that's when I know I'll be able to switch back and forth without problems. Am I correct that the navball automatically switches from Surface to Orbit as soon as your apogee exceeds 70 km? I suppose I'll have to test that another time. Anyway, it was the indicator I used. MECO and stage sep! Action groups are your friend. Leaving the core engine firing until I clear the two side boosters. I would have liked to have a single RCS thruster set to "fore by throttle" connected to a single monoprop tank, just to aid in separation, but there's no good way to do it. The core engine will fire until I am 2.5 km out of range, which should give me a bit of a loft. Using the engines to help with the flip on the first booster. The trick here is to get as flat a boostback as possible, but still keep my apoapse over 70 km so I'll be able to switch to the other booster in the brief window of time that I'm officially out of the atmosphere. All right, this boostback is almost done. Waiting to be able to switch back to the other booster... This one takes a much more lofted boostback burn, because I need a bit of hang time. I will only have a few seconds after I land the first booster before the second one would unload. Lofted boostback on the second booster, complete. Rapidly switched back to the core; I'd already crossed apoapse so I really have to gun these engines to get back onto a good trajectory. After getting my core to the desired trajectory, it was back to the first booster...with just seconds to spare. Already dropping like a rock. Used action groups to turn off the ring of outside engines but manually reactivated two of them for the three-engine burns to come. The first booster has a very gentle entry and doesn't need an entry burn. Landing burn starts pretty high, though. These engines are still limited to 92% thrust. I would have liked to come down closer to the beach, but I'll take what I can get. Booster is transonic. I'd toyed with using the airbrakes for control, but it never really worked right so I just made them fixed. Made sure to switch to radial-out at the right time; otherwise you end up going haywire at landing. Opening up those elevons and lowering the legs. Legs down; final approach. Throttling for landing. Dropping throttle lower. This will be a perfect hoverslam. And down! Still wobbly, but safe. And again, with seconds to spare, I switch to the next booster core. This time I'm already in re-entry while I'm switching my engines back on. Despite a higher-energy entry (given the more lofted boostback), I didn't need an entry burn on this one either. Starting the landing burn at roughly the same altitude; drag is the great equalizer here. Subsonic. Should have good fuel reserves. Still firing full-throttle. Legs down early this time...not really possible in real life, due to drag on the legs, but the drag from my airbrakes is so much higher than leg drag here that it doesn't matter. Less slam, more hover. I had enough fuel to counter gravity losses; my real concern was getting down fast enough to get back to the core before it hit the atmosphere. Made it! Couldn't resist a glamour shot with this core here and the other one in the distance. I really should have used Tweakscale to bump up the authority on the RCS thrusters, but I wanted to do it pure-stock. Uh oh; the core (and upper stage) have already dropped out of the atmosphere. This is going to be REALLY tight. Glad I didn't blow that fairing earlier. Boosting the upper stage free as soon as possible. I'm going to let the upper stage burn on its own while I switch back to the core. The engine will continue to fire until there is 2.5 km between the two vehicles; then the engine firing sequence is unloaded even though the vehicle persists on its trajectory. With luck, this will be just enough to get out of the atmosphere, but not so much that I waste all my fuel. Back to the core, switching to my three recovery engines. On this one, I'm DEFINITELY going to need an entry burn. (Spoiler: I tried without one, and most of the engines survive but all the airbrakes burn up.) "This is Ground Control to Major Tom "You've really made the grade" Thankfully it doesn't take a very long entry burn, though. Coming down in a mountainous region is going to be REALLY tricky. Deploying legs early to help me slow down, even though again this is NOT SpaceX kosher. Missed most of the landing burn, but here's the very last bit. A good deal of hovering and translation here to find a flat enough landing spot. Yikes! ....but I made it, didn't I. Now to see what happened to the upper stage! Hah! Still in the atmosphere, but with an exoatmospheric apoapsis. I'll go ahead and blow the fairing, though there's not much to see on the dark side. Should be a piece of cake from here on out. Getting ready to circularize. Stable orbit achieved! There she is! Roadster perched atop the upper stage. Now for the exit burn. POW. Five gees is a bit much for the real-life Tesla, but autostrut is our friend here. Pushing out of the system. And there we go! Hohmann transfer above Dunian orbit! Finally, the money shot. "Can you hear me, Major Tom? Can you hear me, Major Tom?" "Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles "I'm feeling very still "And I think my spaceship knows which way to go"

a challange for the heaviest vtol ever, must be stock, no cheats, and must be able to stay afloat for 30 in game seconds or longer. Would've done a minute, but when 1 in game second takes two minutes, you get really board. Mine was 3 kilotons, game didn't like that. good luck LeaderBoard: 1:

I would like some challenges in KSP, as I have gotten a bit bored of things in KSP. Can someone suggest some challenges?

In much the same spirit of @Bottle Rocketeer 500's rather-popular "Doing It Orion Style" challenge, I decided to put together a similar challenge featuring sequential missions, building up from the launch of the Falcon 1 through the present and beyond. But, since Elon also owns Tesla, some steps in the challenge will include building all-electric vehicles to match the Model X, the Model S, and the Model 3. To add variety to the challenge, I'm also going to include planned-but-never-flown configurations like Falcon 1e and Falcon 5. For each mission, I'll do my best to provide a set of mission requirements which are specific enough to make it interesting and challenging but not so specific as to make it arbitrary or time-consuming. Missions are optional; you can choose a single one, skip around, or do them all one by one in sequence. Possible missions (I won't do all these but it's a sampling of possibilities based on demand): Falcon 1 Falcon 1e Tesla Roadster Falcon 5 Falcon 5R Falcon Air Tesla Model S Falcon 9v1.0 Dragon 1 Falcon 9v1.0 Dragon 1 + comsat, engine-out Falcon 9v1.1 Cargo (polar, soft splashdown) Falcon 9v1.1 Cargo to KTO Falcon 9R Dragon (soft splashdown) Falcon 9R Cargo to Kerbin Escape (soft splashdown) Tesla Model X Dragon 2 launch abort test Falcon 9R Dragon (ASDS attempt) Falcon 9 FT Cargo (RTLS landing) Falcon 9 FT Cargo GTO (ASDS attempt) Falcon 9 FT Dragon (ASDS landing) Falcon 9 FT expendable (fairing recovery) Falcon 9 FT with X-47B Tesla Model 3 Falcon Heavy Demo Falcon 9 Block 5 with Dragon 2 Dragon 2 max-Q abort Falcon Heavy Constellation Falcon 9 Crew Falcon Heavy: Grey Dragon Falcon Heavy: Red Dragon If there's some interest, I'll get started on the requirements for the first few missions! General rules: Tweakscale is allowed Readout mods are allowed Piloting mods are not allowed Unbreakable Joints and No Crash Damage are allowed for propulsive landing attempts Part mods which alter tankage ratios or engine performance are not allowed No reaction control wheels are allowed You must use the same engine for all first stages, so plan accordingly. The engine you choose will start with low thrust and be uprated over time. Scoring is based on lowest LV dry mass. EDIT: Missions below!

So @Nucleartaxi created a novel challenge: get Jeb to Eve and back, using only Oscar-B fuel tanks! Of course, given the high part counts when you're trying to build something with the tiniest propellant tanks in the game, only the lander itself needed to be restricted to Oscar-Bs, though there are higher levels for making the transfer stage and/or lifter with Oscar-Bs only. I decided to just do the transfer stage and the lander with Oscar-Bs. In doing so, I think I inadvertently created one of the smallest fully-stock no-hacks Eve Ascent Vehicles ever...certainly smaller than I've ever seen on the forums: It's just 13.98 tonnes and it keeps our intrepid Evestronaut safely ensconced in a fairing until he's through the bulk of the atmosphere. With no further ado, here's the mission! Ascent and Eve Transfer: Eve Arrival and Descent: Sample Collection, Ascent, and Return: Not bad for my first mission to Eve.

Can you get a surface sample from Minmus, with a command pod, with a launch vehicle less than 10 tons, shorter than 6 meters, with less than 13 parts, and cheaper than 10,000 credits? I daresay I can. Done for this challenge: I present: the Magnificent Micro Minmus Munchmobile! Weighing in at only...wait for it...5.815 tonnes! No part clipping (although the ROUND-8 tanks place very closely, which helped). As you'll see, I didn't use any decouplers; this saved me weight, part count, cost, and height. I plan to use explosive decoupling to get rid of the booster, and hopefully I can blow off the tanks on a re-entry just steep enough to overheat them but not so steep that the pod can't survive. All the ROUND-8 tanks, as well as the Mk0 LF tank, are full. I drained the command pod of monoprop, and I only filled the lower FL-T100 about half full of oxidizer to give myself a bit more LF right before the RAPIER loses its airbreathing thrust. Speaking of which, I disabled manual mode switching and programmed an action group to close the intake when I switch modes, to cut drag. I toyed with drop tanks, but the part count, cost, and drag losses were prohibitive. Lifting off! I'm monitoring a lot throughout the flight so I locked a bunch of the windows open. This takes a very specific pitch curve. It'll make orbit without trouble, thanks to plenty of thrust on the Spark, but making orbit with enough dV is the tricky bit. I'm keeping an eye on the RAPIER's thrust as well as the lower fuel tank. It's set to drain after the Mk0 tank so I'll know when I'm almost out of LF. This ascent was tough, because if I did the gravity turn early, I burned through all my LF waaaay too low in the atmosphere; if I did the gravity turn late, I would be going too fast to turn efficiently. I didn't want to throttle down, though. So I tipped my nose over early and then pitched up hard, so that once I needed to turn I could just drop from SAS-hold to prograde and take off. Supersonic and rolling over. This places the differential drag from the intake on the top of the craft, helping me to keep my nose up during the early acceleration phase. Starting to drain LF from the FL-T100, so I don't have much airbreathing time left. As planned, excess LF is bingo just as the RAPIER thrust starts to drop precipitously. Now, things start happening FAST. I can tell I'm almost out of fuel on my booster. Explosive decoupling is always hairy... And I'm starting to lose fuel in my top tank (see top left), so it's time to blow the fairing and ignite the Spark to decouple! Bam. There goes the booster. Jenton looks appropriately horrified. Thankfully, I've already got a good ascent. I tried doing this with the Ant, but the thrust just isn't enough, and the isp losses make it barely worthwhile anyway. Not at full thrust...I don't want to push my Ap too high. The numbers on that resource tab are awfully low! It'll take about half a minute to circularize. Almost there.... And I made orbit! With quite a bit of dV. Is it enough to go as far as I need to go? Well, we'll see. To save propellant on the Minmus injection burn, I'm going to take a loop around the Mun. Gotta wait for it to line up, though. Ignore all the tracked objects on the left; this is my challenges save that I'm also using for the Orion Style challenge. Setting up the slingshot. And here's my slingshot into Minmus's SOI! This burn is going to use almost all of my fuel. And there you have it! Looks like I'll need to make a correction burn during the Mun swingby. Set up the swingby. Burning gingerly. I'll take that! Coming up on Minmus... Uh oh. Did I really send an engineer on this mission? Crumbs. Oh well, gotta wing it. Capture burn. That'll do it! So...it looks like I have enough fuel to get home, but not enough to make the landing on Minmus. What to do? Well, I'll just lower my apoapsis to around 240 km... ...and hop out! Just a tiny, miniscule RCS puff to lower my periapse below the Minmusian mountaintops. Warping down. This will be touch-and-go. Starting the RCS braking burn. Still braking hard. Timing has to be perfect. If I'm right, I think I can hit the surface with quite a bit of residual velocity and let friction bleed it off. Not this much velocity, though. Steady as she goes... I think 20 m/s is just about the cutoff. Ouch! But hey, I made it! Nommmmmmmmmmmmmmm! No time to waste. Without the ability to set nodes (or even thrust prograde, really), I have to use the ship's velocity vector as my guide. Can't afford to wait for another orbit, either, because I'll be out of the path. Set up the target. Liftoff! Burning up and forward. I just wanna barely clear these mountains. Aiming to have my Ap just reach the ship's Pe. Really disorienting when I reach "orbit" and it switches targeting modes. Closing as carefully as I can. And there's my orbit! I didn't expect to get a rendezvous on my first go-round, but at least I got a nice coelliptic orbit. Figuring out exactly how much of a burn I'll need to line up for an intercept. Fuel is going to be very, very close. Made the burn...I have less than 1 unit of monoprop remaining for the rendezvous. Matched speed! Looks like a good intercept. And here we go! Of course, I managed to come in on the wrong side and had to swing around. Aaaaaand I got the ladder! With 0.04 units of monoprop remaining. You better believe I've got that surface sample added. Burning at Pe would send me out of Kerbin's SOI, so I'm swinging around to Ap. Escape reached! Will I have enough prop to lower my Pe into Kerbin's atmosphere? Once-more-around and finding out. If I have to, I can use a Mun assist to get back home. Nah! Here we go! No turning back now. Here's where things get REALLY dicey. If I come in too hot, I'll burn up the engine, the tanks, AND the capsule. Too cool, and the tanks and engine will survive. Which will throw off my CoL/CoM balance and turn me into a lawn dart, making my chute useless. Getting an overheat indicator; that's good. Transferring fuel to my lowest tank in an attempt to keep my CoM forward. Definitely past the point of no return now. Overheat indicator dropping. I'm a little worried. Going to burn retrograde to make my entry steeper. That should be enough! This'll be hotter. Aaaand there's the tumble! Perfect! The tumble ripped off the engine and tanks. How's that for cheap decoupling? Capture complete. On my way home! Made it through re-entry. Down to chute-safe speed, so I'll waste no time. Away goes the chute! It's opened up fully now. Aaaaand... Splashdown! We made it.

Done in pursuit of Doing It Orion Style: My three intrepid explorers, preparing for the first crewed launch of the glorious SLS! Pad view. Since this is the first crewed test, I'm starting with a little pad abort... All clear so far... Fairing and LES jettison. Drogues out... Popped the mains. Success! Reverted to the pad. SSME ignition! SRBs ignited; up, up and away. Nearing Max-Q, and... Whoops, aborting again! Couldn't resist doing a max-Q abort. Dropping nicely. Nominal splashdown. All right, for real this time. Majestic to be sure! Quite a clip. Heating up and leaning over. SRB jettison! High enough now to get rid of the LES. If you look closely, you'll see that I used a three-segment fairing. Burning very gingerly now. As usual, the SLS can make LKO easily on the core. EUS separation and ignition! Fairing jettison. Only a tiny burn to get up into LKO. Circularized! Orion's SM has solar array deployment. Now, here's where it gets messy. The current NASA plan calls for the EUS to place the entire stack -- DSG component & Orion + SM -- in a high Earth orbit with a period of approximately 24 hours. After this orbit, Orion will separate from the stack and enter its own free-return trajectory, while the EUS places the DSG component in a lunar flyby. I had to plot a couple of orbits ahead to get the timing right. Burning to raise Ap. Done! You can see that the second node appears, after this orbit. Set up for a free-return. Hanging out at apoapse! Orion separates on the way back in. Lost the old maneuvering node, but that's okay. Putting Orion where it needs to go. Extending solar arrays on the Power & Propulsion Module as I swing around the dark side of Kerbin. Setting up the escape-trajectory flyby for EUS disposal. First clear shot of the Deep Space Gateway Power & Propulsion module. Note docking port for refueling, hexagonal probe core, and "airlock" up top for experiment storage, as desired. Orion flying free with the EUS in the background. Finally back at Pe, and burning for the flyby! Switched over to Orion; burning for the free-return. Free-return complete! Separation from the EUS. The EUS will continue to a munar flyby and escape. Testing the engines on the DSG. In reality, the four smaller ion engines will be on special gimbal arms, but KSP doesn't have that capability. Here's what the current disposal trajectory looks like. Firming up the flyby. In reality, the DSG will be assembled in a halo orbit around L2, but since there are no Lagrange points in KSP, a polar Mun orbit will have to do. The Kermans are excited for their flyby! Setting up my node for munar capture. Thanks to the scaled-up ion thruster, I can do the capture burn easily. Orion is inside the Mun's SOI. Nearing Munar Pe; starting to throttle up. Full capture burn! Capture complete. Closest approach on free return. Goodbye, Mun! Set up a node to fix inclination. Inclination fixed! Getting ready to lower Munar Pe. What a beautiful shot! Reached my terminal orbit. Meanwhile, Orion is coming back in toward Kerbin. Service Module jettison. Starting to get entry heating; SM visible in the background. Took quite a long time, really. Through re-entry; drogues popped. Jettisoned heatshield. Mains popped, drogues cut! Splashdown! That's a wrap.

As a followup to this mission report and satisfaction of Mission III in this challenge, I submit: Laythe Clipper! Phase 1: Design, Construction, and Launch The trickiest thing, other than packing all the correct components onto the spacecraft, was getting it all to fit inside the 3.5-meter fairing. But I managed! Exploration Upper Stage, powered by four LV-T45s and using two separate tanks inside a fairing to match the design of the EUS. A peek under the hood at Europa Clipper itself. Looks pretty cluttered, I know. It has its own propulsion and RCS, two survey scanners, a large relay antenna, assorted instruments, tweakscaled solar panels, four RTGs, heat management, four ion-powered cubesat probes, a large bipropellant-powered atmosphere-skimming probe, and a lander. Yes, I know the current Europa Skipper does not include plans for a lander, but I went with one of the earlier plans. Majestic on the pad. SSME ignition. Liftoff! Nice shot under the engines. Not the most efficient ascent, but I have fuel for days. Europa Clipper and the EUS, though large, are small enough that I could get into orbit on the boosters+core alone. At least it's nice to have a ton of control authority on the engines. Booster separation! Way steeper an ascent than I'd like, so I'm going to nose over quickly and then jettison my fairing. Fairing away! Second star to the right, and straight on till morning. MECO while my periapsis is still low enough for booster disposal. Safe periapsis for disposal! Separation and firing up the EUS. Orbit achieved! That was easy. Honestly I probably could have done this with the ICPS. Shot of the core post-separation -- note the support column for the EUS. Silhouettes are always nice. Back on the daylit side, verifying systems. Closeup of the EUS; note the octagonal thrust structure. All systems go, ready for Jool departure!

Hello again, and thank you so much for helping me on my last dilemma. My next issue is the observation challenge. Is there anyway to add navigation markers on the ball like in the tutorials, or build some sort of flight plan to follow? (Or do they appear on the map when you accept the mission?) Im just not sure how to find these locations and get above them for observation. I didn't want to accept it before I knew what was up. -Thanks again!

Hey all since i just landed my first asteroid in ksp i decided to make a challenge out of it, like with ssto's is a challenge not many people had taken and since it isn't rewarded by the game it would be worth to cheer up players who made it here on the forum. (Also most of this challenges topics are pretty old or outdated so why not making a definitive one?) Already landed an asteroid? Try the extra challenges down below! Rules No gameplay mods or cheats (Informative and visual mods are ok) You should tell what mods you used in your post All parts must be stock duh! You must provide proof you captured an asteroid and landed it, either videos or screenshots containing important events like launch, maneuvers, burns, reentry and landing. For a bit of glory you can land a asteroid you already captured, but you will not be recognized for it in this topic (hurrah for personal achievement! You can use any number of vessels you need Rules (Moded clients) No cheat or autopiloting mods You should tell what mods you used in your post Do something worthy for the mods you're using (Ex: if your mods have powerful engines, land your asteroid far away from you got it, or use mod with bigger distances between planets etc) You must provide proof you captured an asteroid and landed it, either videos or screenshots containing important events like launch, maneuvers, burns, reentry and landing. For a bit of glory you can land a asteroid you already captured, but you will not be recognized for it in this post (hurrah for personal achievement!) You can use any number of vessels you need Awards: All awards will have a prefix letter for the class of your asteroid! Asteroid lander: Land an asteroid on kerbin KSC Asteroid lander: Land an asteroid near ksc ( must be landed on the shore where ksc is, planes can't win this award) Amateur Asteroid lander: Land an asteroid on the mun or minmus Expert Asteroid Lander: Land an asteoid on another planet or moon Runway Asteoid lander: Using a plane land your asteroid on the runway and then land your plane (not chutes allowed on the plane, you can use them in the asteroid) Asteroid collector: Land 2 or more asteroid at ksc (Prefix all the letters of your landed asteroids) Simple rockman: Land your asteroid using a single vessel SSTO rockman: Land your asteroid using a SSTO (no refueling) Extra challenges and Awards: This extras will get you to special metions Fat starman: Land the asteroid while riding it infrom an external command pod (Scream YEEEHAAAAW! while doing it) Armageddon: Destroy a ksc building or a big ship while landing your asteroid (without destroying the asteoid too) My rock, my house: Land your asteroid along with a surface oupost (Must have a crew capsule or laboratory, an atenna and must generate power) +Bigger house: Expand the outpost and make studies about your asteroid in your science lab Return to sender: Re-launch your asteroid from it's current planet and send it back to it's original SOI (Sphere of influence) you can use any asteroid already landed at any place and send it to any original SOI. Bunny hop: make your asteroid bounce 2 or more times ( high enough to be noticeable on pics or video) when landing it, any method you use is valid. Duoble the rocks: Land 2 asteroids at almost the same time. + Amateur on any place where you can use chutes +Expert in places with thin or no atmosphere Triple the rocks: Land 3 asteroids at almost the same time + Amateur on any place where you can use chutes +Expert in places with thin or no atmosphere Multiply the rocks: Land 4 asteroids at almost the same time + Amateur on any place where you can use chutes +Expert in places with thin or no atmosphere Stone skipping: make your asteroid touch water before landing it Ready for transport: Land a rover carrying your asteroid and move it form the landing point. Unique Awards: This awards will get you to hall of fame Heavy duty: Land the most massive possible asteroid you can find Lightweighted: Land the lightest asteroid possible (protip: use drills to get rid of its mass) Far away: Land you asteroid to the farstest place you can from it's current position (you can move an asteroid to increase distance between places before sending it to your destiny) Ant: Land your asteroid with lightest ship possible you can build Elephant: Land your asteroid with Heaviest: ship possible you can build When completing the challenge be sure to pick up your shiny medal! Made by @Evanitis, thanks a lot for the desing! Asteroid landers: @Speeding Mullet Class A asteroid lander, and simple rockman, honorable mention for trying to get fat starman, and a runway landing, rip patcan kerman. Class C asteroid lander, and simple rockman for his second asteroid. @purpleivan Class A expert asteroid lander ,and simple rockman for landing his potatoroid on duna. Special mentions: @Speeding Mullet Landed a surface oupost on kerbin and awarded my rock my house! @purpleivan Landed an asteroid surface outpost on duna and awarded my rock my house! Hall of fame: @Speeding Mullet Lightweighted with a class a asteroid (0.22484t when landed) , Elephant With a ship having a mass of 1560.48t (671 parts and 73.5m height) and Heavy Duty with a class C asteroid (mass of 85.10606t when landed) @purpleivan Far away for landing his asteroid on duna after capturing it on kerbin. I hope you enjoy landing an asteroid for the first time, or completing the extra challenges. See ya later!

After being incredibly busy uploading new videos and pushing myself on youtube, I have finally decided to come back and be active on the ksp forums! To start off I will be attempting an extremely hard challenge. I will be calling it Jupiter 5. The mission will be in RSS and I will have to fly to Jupiter, land on 4 moons (only has four moons at the momment, I am counting Jupiter as part of the 5 :P), and return. While I attempt this I will be uploading other videos on my youtube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmP0rv_z2IOe0V6GaYQLe4w Don't forget to check out my 1 tank to Vall challenge too!

OK, so here is the breakdown: A new (heavily) modded Career Save with the goal of accomplishing a few of the Challenges that I am interested in. The primary Challenges at the moment are the Doing It Apollo Style - Redux, The Ultimate Jool 5 Challenge, and the Interstellar Rendez-vous idea. I am sure there will be some more that I come across as I play through this save, but those are the ones for now. This Career will use the SETI Unmanned Before Manned Contracts and Tech Tree. Other major mods include all of Near Future Technologies, KSPI-E, Kerbin Shuttle Orbiter System, TAC Life Support - because why not make an already difficult challenge even harder?, SCANsat, DMagic Orbital Science, Kerbal Construction Time (Dev Version), and a whole host of others - the number may change based upon how many times I break my computer For the Jool 5 challenge: -No barred mods will be used for the challenge ship's construction, orbital assembly/refuelling, or the vessel itself. I'll post as many screenshots/videos (if I can figure that out - tech neophyte here) as I can. That Challenge may even involve 2 missions, one for the Jebediah's Level (stock science experiments) and one for non-stock experiments - we'll see how ambitious I get. For the Insterstellar Rendez-vous Idea: -The following changes have been made to the Extrasolar solar system mod pack (Valentine red dwarf star): (changes courtesy of @AndrewDrawsPrettyPictures) This will move Valentine 4 lightyears or so away from Kerbol. For a general "thing": -Kerbin Environmental Institute will not be used until after I have done at least 1 or 2 launches.... (I find it kind of cheaty right at the start) Without further ado here are the important bits: KSP 1.2.2 build (not sure - will add later) Gamedata folder: Mod list: We'll have to see how this goes, I haven't run this many mods before! Updates and reports to come!

Junkers Juno Tournaments This Season: (seasons end when we don't have a new winner for 1 month, then we assume no one wants to play, or that the best craft that will be submitted, has been.) Build a aircraft powered by 1, 2, or 4 juno engines. PLEASE HAVE A PILOT The objective is to build a aircraft capable of the old Kerman specifications for a single, and double engine jet fighter, or bomber, as well as 4 engine bombers. Here are the specifications, and point systems. Single Engine Fighter: -Top Speed of 250 m/s. -25 second turn time or less. -Climb to 7000m in less than 6 minutes. -150 units of fuel. Twin engine fighter: -Top Speed of 260 m/s. -30 second turn time or less. -Climb to 7000m in less than 5 minutes. -400 units of fuel. Twin engine bomber: -Top Speed of 220 m/s. -40 second turn time or less. -Climb to 8000m in 10 minutes or less. -Bomb load of 4 fully loaded small ore tanks. -600 units of fuel. Quad+ engine bomber: (Don't use over 8 engines) -Top Speed of 200 m/s. -60 second turn time or less. -Climb to 8000m in 10 minutes or less. -Bomb load of 6 fully loaded small ore tanks. (Radial ones) -1200 units of fuel. POINT SYSTEM: Whoever has the best stats according to the specifications above has the best aircraft, so don't JUST do the specifications, try to exceed them. LEADERBOARD: (TOP 3) Single engine fighter: 1.) @swjr-swis 2.) @Cunjo Carl 3.) @He_162 4.) @qzgy 5.) @hempa2 Twin engine fighter: 1.) @swjr-swis 2.) @MiniMatt 3.) @qzgy Twin engine bomber: 1.) Quad engine bomber: 1.) @He_162 2.) @DoctorDavinci 3.) Allowed Mods: (Suggest one if you want it on the list) B9 Aerospace Pack Procedural Parts BDarmory SXT (Stock Extension) Any Mod That Doesn't change game mechanics or modify the Juno engine (not including texture). Heinkel's Attempts: La-174: http://imgur.com/a/iDJY3 Junkers 4: http://imgur.com/a/Jbhrp

REQUIRES: Kopernicus Every couple of days I will set a new challenge that requires a tailor made mod (downloadable from Spacedock) to do. Download current version (1.0) for current challenge (Challenge 1) from Spacedock: http://spacedock.info/mod/752/imkSushi's Modded Challenges Rules: 1. You are allowed to use any mod that does not affect the gameplay (e.g. Mechjeb, Kerbal Engineer Redux, EVE, etc.) 2. You are not allowed to use any mod that affects the gameplay by letting you do something that would not otherwise be possible in stock ksp (e.g. Hyperedit, OPM, KW Rocketry, etc.) 3. You must use the tailor made mod (downloadable above) for the challenge 4. Don't use the cheat menu 5. Don't cheat 6. Don't lie about cheating 7. Be honest Note: If you are in doubt about whether or not you can use a particular mod, ask on this thread. Until you get the go ahead, assume 'no'. When you have done it, post which challenge you have done, which challenge levels have you done, which mod you used, and a couple of screenshots proof. Challenge 1 (07/06/16): MIT License

Space Fighter Superiority Championship 1 Are you an engineer? You like Fighting? Is space your thing? If yes, do this challenge. All fighters will be tested in air, in high Kerbin orbit, and on the Mun. There will be separate rankings for each category. This will be a 1v1 fight only. BD Autopilot will be used to steer the craft. Rules: BD Armory must be installed. Each craft must have a weapons manager and an AI pilot. The craft must have at least 500m/s of delta-v when in orbit. Must be able to dock with 1.25m docking ports. Must have at least 1/6TWR. NO TURRETS. Period. Mods allowed: BD Armory is mandatory. KAS/KIS InfernalRobotics Star Wars mod (by @KSP Bros KS) Points: A round won +100pt A round lost +25pt Parts lost (does not include missiles) -10pt/part Weapon -5pt/weapon SSTO capability +100pt Atmospheric champion +500pt Orbital champion +500pt Mun champion +500pt Overall champion +1000pt Atmospheric Championship: Just a standard 1v1 dogfight in atmosphere. All contestants will be tested here. Every spacecraft must be space capable. Orbital Championship: The two contestants will start 100m from each other, with their engines off, and RCS on. First to destroy the other's AI or Weapons Manager wins. All contestants will be tested here. Mun championship: Engines and RCS active, engines only at 25% thrust limit, unless the craft is only able to lift off from the Mun. All contestants will be tested here. Final championship: The two craft will be on the almost same orbit going in opposite directions. Physics load range will be set to 22km. Once in range, contestants can fire away. It will be a 2v2 fight. Two of one kind, going in the same direction, and the other two finalists against them. Only 2 people will get the badge above, the final winner will get a special one.