explosion in reentry and lost my first kerbonaut

[Scarredclown]

I launch a rocket that climb 100 km up, i was very glad, got 4 contracts in one shot. But my capsule exploded in reentry, i was going at about 2100 km/h . I even put a heat shield Under the capsule but it all goes up in a big bang.... What have i done wrong ? My first guess is that i must keep some fuel to brake before reentry ? What is the acceptable speed ?

Also sorry for my English...

[Windspren]

My guess is that you were coming in too steep. 2100 m/s at a steep angle can be deadly. Next time, burn more horizontally so that you have a orbit with the Pe around 30 km. And don't worry, the Kerbals respawn after a day or so.

[Gaarst]

First, speeds are in m/s not in km/h (just a detail)

Second, normally, a capsule, even without a heatshield shouldn't blow up during LKO reentry. Your speed was more than acceptable and you don't need fuel to slow down for such a reentry.

To be able to help you, some information is needed (to get the cause of the explosion):

- what was your reentry profile ? ie: how steep did you reenter, what was the height of your periapsis before reentring.

- what did the "crash" menu (don't know its exact name, it's the one that appears when you hit F3 or when your ship is destroyed) said about the explosion ? was it because the pod overheated ?

- at what height did you explode ?

- was there a service bay in your ship ? (they make excellent Kraken baits)

- and anything else I forgot to mention, the more info there is, the easier it is to get the cause of the explosion.

Try to recreate the flight and explosion to get this information if you don't have it yet, and, if possible, post a screenshot or video. With this, we might be able to determine the cause of the explosion.

EDIT: also, this kind of post should go in the "Gameplay Questions and Tutorials" section of the forum

[Xyphos]

Straight up = Straight down == too steep, not enough angle === burn up ==== kaboom!

- - - Updated - - -

[Scotius]

Yep. No more slamming into atmo at steep angle with speed exceeding 3000 meters per second, while returning from Minmus. Now we really have to aerobrake - slowly bleeding off speed in upper layers of atmosphere.

[Scarredclown]

yep thanks for your answer...

First, sorry next time i'll post in the right forum.

second from all your explications, my angle was really to steep. it was a vertical launch followed by a vertical descent... lol

[sal_vager]

It's okay I'll just move this for you