I can't beleive it took me this long to get this...

[leftler]

Three facts I already knew:

1. The Mk 1-2 Command Pod seats 3 people but only requires 1 person to operate.

2. The mobile processing lab requires two people to operate but can not control the ship.

3. You can remove science and put it in the command pod as long as you don't put to of the same research in it.

This is what just clicked in my brain:

Put one of each type of science on your ship with a Mk 1-2 command pod and a mobile processing lab with 1 in the pod and 2 in the lab. Launch doing a large out of Kerbin SOI mission moving the science back in to the command pod and cleaning out the experiments as you finish so you can re-use them. When returning to Kerbin move the two from the lab in to the pod and land. Profit from all the retrieved science.

It never clicked in my head to combine the re-useability of experiments of the mobile processing lab and the removal of experiments in to the command pod. So long 8 Science Jr Lander, you have been replaced!

[Robbii6]

Errrr... what did you used to think happened?

[leftler]

Errrr... what did you used to think happened?

I just never put 2 + 2 together that you don't need to take all those extra non-reuseable science experiments and the fact that the Mk 1-2 pod is the perfect pairing to use with the science lab.

[Robbii6]

ah right i see

[Sirrobert]

You just pulled a perfect Kerbal than

They knew about electricity, but didn't think about combining it with rockets

[Twreed87]

Isn't that basically the only use for a Mobile Lab? I never used the Mobile Lab at all until I realized that's how it worked. Using it to process data for extra transmission is pretty pointless, since you've gotta bring your Kerbals home with it anyways, why wouldn't you just bring them back with the data?

[cantab]

You can save weight on launch by simply using a one-man pod or even a probe core and sending the ship up with the processing lab crewed. The minus is they're a lot more fragile than the 3-man pod so aren't a good choice if you expect to make a rough landing.

[GoatRider]

The science lab can also take more than one of the same kind of experiment from the same biome, which is useful since some experiments (goo, mats, and soil) take 4 times to get full credit. But then you have to land the lab, like cantab said.