Kryxal

Nobody seems to have suggested this, but why not create a different control point? That would at least help with the resonance problem, though it may create some awkwardness in the staging if you're not careful. Also, you might want a bit higher TWR, as this thing looks to be around 1.1 at launch. Maybe 2 or 4 SRBs to get you to 1.4 or so for the first few thousand meters off the pad. I'd tell you to just start your gravity turn then let the rocket follow prograde, but I don't know if you have the TWR for it, and you were losing control a bit too soon anyway.

My usual passes are at 38-40 km and scrub off a few hundred delta-v each time, facing retrograde. If I want to adjust my next pass, I can face prograde and pitch up or down (pitching DOWN past periapsis actually raises your periapsis for the next pass, if you can manage it, but before periapsis you need to pitch UP).

I'd say launch east, then drop a node to plan the burn ... if you don't care to do that, make your burn prograde at about 60 degrees on to the near side.

A combination of radial and pro/retrograde is a good way to adjust your arrival time ... but there's no need to wait till the midpoint, do it as soon as possible. For that matter, adjusting your ejection direction from your original orbit does the same thing effectively. Mind you, if you need to make a plane-change maneuver, that's probably going to be a good time to combine everything into one burn...

Or if you want to have fun, send LFO tanks WITH oxidizer and use some LF tanks in an earlier stage with fuel ducts to use that oxidizer.

I watched a service bay try to eat Bob ... forgot to screenshot it, so I did it AGAIN! For SCIENCE! (or just a good laugh)

Might this be mod-related? I think I saw something similar when I added a mod in 1.0.2 (might have been that texture manager in an attempt to save memory).

Also note that staging off SAS modules once they're overkill is perfectly valid.

As for how it all works, energy is energy ... potential energy is defined as zero at an infinite distance, and negative as you get closer (U = -GMm/(r^2)). Kinetic energy is .5*mv^2. Given GM, and any three of initial r, initial v, final r, and final v, it's easy enough to find the final term. Note that your mass doesn't matter unless you're approaching the size of the other body in the equations.

As long as they're off stationary by the SAME amount, it's not going to be a big deal, is it?

You'd be better off trying either a gravity assist off Laythe/Tylo or aerobraking at Laythe ... Jool is just insane now.

The only way not to use RCS under SAS is to turn off RCS ... maybe they'll give us the option one day, but it hasn't happened yet. Does Mechjeb do anything like that using SmartASS?

It's also useful for rotational control outside of SAS use ... some craft are TOO responsive to rotation controls (because you either have almost nothing or ten times as much).

Probably better than adjusting seperatron thrust is to adjust the fuel levels ... apply the force as fast as you can, but only as much as you need.

Also note that once your tracking station and the building you get contracts from are upgraded, you can just drop a maneuver node on your apoapsis for a pretty good circularization burn. They're also useful for planning your transfer burns.

Changing conics draw mode changes how the Mun portion looks from Kerbin, but you'll ALWAYS see the fly-by right while looking at the Mun. Also, I don't like to use left-shift-tab, too many mishaps with thrust. Backspace and tab out again.

The funny thing is, I'm seeing considerable lift off the pods for a tourist rocket, a capsule and two inline cockpits. Launching suborbital with a lesser gravity turn, I pick up a fair bit of horizontal speed, then the thing actually GLIDES pretty well at about 25 km altitude while slowing down (angled maybe 15 degrees above the horizon). So long as you have torque to spare, you can generate a LOT of induced drag...

More precisely, between the VAB and the runway.

I'd be tempted to lose the engines on the first asparagus stacks that you'll be dropping ... your launch TWR is entirely too high. Alternatively, replace the center LV-30 with an LV-909 and have it kick in when you drop the first pair (and this will give you better delta-v besides!)

Alt-x is the "reset trim" command, I believe. My first thought was part clipping, but that's a neat trick with just a capsule and maybe some chutes. Is it using battery charge to make you spin (or monoprop as the case may be) or is it just happening without resource use?

Also, don't forget that not all the SRBs need to have the same thrust settings. If you have four burning at 75%, see what happens if you set two to 80% and two to 70% (and toss the pair that burn out first, when they burn out). Alternatively, if you have a cluster of 5, have the center one at full thrust and the others at a lesser setting.

It's only a few hundred extra delta-v to return the stations and avoid clutter ... the issue would be landing them.

This sounds like a measure to help with in-flight stability as tanks drain...

Go to the Tracking Station, select them from the list on the left, click on "Terminate Flight" in the lower-left corner.

My suborbital tourist design is a capsule and two inline cockpits, it works well enough with a small chute and a pair of radials ... BUT I need to apply torque so as not to face prograde when nearing sea level or I don't slow enough. Actually, I usually point to the horizon when I hit the top of my arc (75 km with a standard rocket and 5 of the -200 tanks, detached with a bit left over)