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After completing a pretty successful (So far, we'll see how the return goes :/) interplanetary mission with USI Life Support and UKS, (Partially based on SpaceX's Interplanetary Transport System) I decided to post a few things that are in my mind pretty much essential for a successful mission. Lower the consumption rate. This one is not completely necessary, but it's a good idea if it's you first time or, you've had trouble in the past. I did it, and my justification for it is that by default a Kerbal consumes 16.2 kg of supplies per day, whereas a human consumes about 3 kg of food and water per day. That seems a bit excessive. I know that they include water for bathing, and other things, but I think they would be able to clean the water and re-purpose it if they were sending Kerbals into space. This can be done by going into the USI Life Support Settings.cfg and changing SupplyAmount (and WasteAmount respectively). I changed it to 0.0025, but it's up to you. Also, if you are using UKS then you need to do this in USI-LS.cfg. On that note: Use UKS. Believe me, this is a game changer. Using UKS, you have access to inflatable modules, which means you don't have to launch all these crazy shaped structures and land them, just to have a semi good looking base. Other than that, it will give so many more features to your base, allowing you to eventually turn it into a whole colony. Plan ahead. This is a big one, and it's straightforward. This can vary from an intricate spreadsheet, to just making sure in the VAB that you're sending enough supplies. On top of Supplies, make sure that you're vessels can do everything that you need them to do. Multiple launches. This may be annoying, but sometimes it's the only way to go. My mission had 4 vehicles that landed on the surface before the crew even got into space: A habitation module, A greenhouse/storage module, a huge lander with a crap ton of supplies, and an ore processor to make fuel. Make it pretty. This is not necessary, but it will make your base more awesome. If you do these things than you might have something like (or probably better) than this: