Claw

Hmm. If nobody knows, perhaps you can set up and try your own experiment? Maybe hold one with a launch stability enhancer (launch clamp). Then drop a plate (with a torque module) onto it from above. Then you can twist it back and forth with the torque and eyeball the angles.

They must align pretty closely for all of them to connect. If they all connect, the connection will be more sturdy than a single connection of the same port type. Alignment is pretty critical though. One trick is to get it as close as you can and if it grabs incorrectly, undock the docked port. You can refine the alignment, then quick save and quickload. That will reset the ports and they will try to reconnect.

Oh, thanks for the extra info! I'm actually surprised your guy didn't disappear. This seems to be slightly different, as the game is listing him on a suborbital trajectory (instead of landed). When I get a chance, I will add this to the main post. Thanks again!

Confirm that you repacked the chutes on the rover too? (I see you said you did the lander.)

There is lots of good info here. But you guys know that the OP is 10 months old right? My guess us that the OP got it figured out by now. Plus some things have changed since then.

Well then it's certainly cheating to rip off a Frigate. Friends don't let friends rip off Frigates. CHEATER!

This challenge hasn't been active for 11 months. I think Capt Sierra is still around, but stops by much less frequently. You might be able to revive this thread, or perhaps start up a new version.

It's cheating to misspell cheating, you dirty cheating cheater!

The OP is 14 months old, and this thread was last necro'd 6 months ago. We probably don't need to dredge it up just to point out discussions about cheating.

Sounds like you're getting plenty of good help for this. However, I'd like to point out that I am NOT scary. (Well, maybe it depends on who you ask...)

Well, it's hard to directly calculate how much more you need. What's also very significant for planes (in addition to fuel load) is the Thrust to Weight, intake to engine, and the Lift to Mass ratios. Everything sort of needs to scale up. Unless you already overbuilt the plane to start with, adding 50% payload (or 20% depending on the point of view)after the fact is a bit difficult. You'll usually get better results if you start out with the payload and mission tasks as the focus of designing, then make a craft capable of that. So you want to start out making the craft capable of carrying 20t of payload, and designing to that capability. To be honest, it sounds like you are carrying a lot of rocket fuel to start off with. Does it take all 60t to get into orbit?

Have you checked the ion SSTO glider thread? It seems there is a pretty limited set of configurations that work for getting off of Kerbin. I'm not sure if that same basic config will get you off of Eve, but it might be a place to start looking for refinements for your ion plane.

Here is one example of the usefulness of some of those parts. Although this particular example probably doesn't help with the early game.

You have to put the .jpg on the end, not that I know how that beats asteroid kraken... By the way.

I often recommend people start out with the PE around 5 to 6km. It gives a bit more time to get oriented and get practice burning. As you get more experience, you can lower the PE down. I think Scott's technique is still valid with a lower PE, it's just that things happen a little faster. It might not be the most efficient, but if a newbie's alternative is crashing, then it's infinitely more efficient. Hopefully you never feel forced into this. Do it if it makes you more comfortable and have more fun. But don't feel like you MUST do it...

Assuming we are all that mature is cheating, Cheater!

Still one of my favorites. Sunrise on my Phoenix Station. The black speck on the top edge of the sun is a kerbal on EVA.

Good luck!

I think I agree with the level of censorship on the profanity side of things. As soon as it's allowed a little, some people feel obliged to show how crude they can be, simply for the sake of being crude. It really isn't about the one or two things that might pop up, but about the endless stream that might follow. Afterall, if we're "all grown ups here," the why is it so hard to get along without it?

In the stock game RCS is either on or off. Even if you use the single way linear port, it may still get used for rotation depending on where they are. There are some mods that will do what you want. I believe MechJeb has this setting. I'm not sure if the RCS Build Aid has this option or not.

Old thread is old (like over a year old). Friends don't let friends necro threads. Plus it contains outdated info and should probably be locked.

Well, this sounds a bit different than usual. Please make sure you have the most recent version of KSP (0.23.5.464). You might also need to post your broken kerbal's vessel structure from your save file (looks like the section in the op). For kerbals in orbit, they should still be "type = EVA" but the situation should be "sit = ORBITING". Also, if you scroll further down to where it says KerbalEVA, the state should be "state = Idle (Floating)" Other than that, I'll need to see your kerbal's save file structure.