Kryxal

Yes, but you're going to spend a LOT more delta-v doing it that way ... a good gravity turn will let you launch straight to a northerly heading.

I could see hitting Laythe to aerocapture into Jool orbit, then returning for another pass.

I don't have a problem with parachutes deploying between .3 and .4 ... though I tend to try to come down engines-first. As low as .2, maybe .15 should be fine (though that tends to be the time for drogue chutes if any).

This sort of thing makes sense, really ... after all, induced drag is drag caused by generating lift (doing work) while parasitic drag doesn't really give somewhere for the energy to go except for heat...

I'm getting sick of having to kick a kerbal (usually Jeb, you know how he is, never wants to let anybody else fly...) out of the capsule every time I go to send up a rescue mission. Would it be reasonable to have a flag somewhere basically saying "don't put kerbals in this craft/part!" or the like? It would be handy for vessels made to go up unmanned...

I was thinking it was KSP's version of the Red Ring of Death...

I have a single-Kerbal Mun lander for about 30k, and a 5-Kerbal tourist lander for 75k ... it does really depend. Just remember not to trim your delta-v budgets until you know you can get the job done, I had to send a rescue mission when I didn't allot QUITE enough fuel for the last stage...

Getting an orange tank up is actually fairly easy ... under it, put two orange tanks on a Mainsail, then four orange tanks around that with Skippers in asparagus configuration, some fins (you don't need control surfaces, you have enough with the gimbal of the Mainsail), a few struts and you're there. I'd suggest locking the gimbals on the Skippers. I tossed together a quick design for 93k, yours may be a bit more or less, and TWR is 1.3 or greater the whole way up. Actually, for a craft like that, MechJeb can do a good job on the ascent. Start your gravity turn at just over 1 km up, turn coefficient of .5, limit AoA to 5 degrees and acceleration to 20 m/s, and you're pretty much there.

That seems fairly FUBAR ... maybe use the search in Windows instead and look at the Last Modified dates.

I'd just do a search for "persistent.sfs", probably of your C: drive ... I've installed this a few places (I'm the only one that uses them), and one installation had me thinking "how did it end up THERE?"

No, more like letting you know your apoapsis is off, or your periapsis, or inclination, in the contract conditions area.

It would be nice if contracts gave you some idea of just WHAT was off about your orbit, wouldn't it?

Put together a rocket with maybe 5k delta-v and launch directly to something close to the proper inclination. This will require that you launch when about to pass under the orbit, go fairly close to due north/south, and pay attention to the direction of the orbit on the map view when you do.

The LV-909 takes another 55 science (or 20 science and a bit of luck with contracts). I'd strongly suggest unlocking at least the next-larger tank and the LV-909. Oops, missed that this was a multiple necro...

Another possibility is getting into a matching orbit, but retrograde ... it's not going to be the most efficient, but you'll overfly the asteroid at some point pretty far out, and it won't take much of a radial burn to establish something like a 40-50 km periapsis and just reduce the orbit that way.

With AP/PE around 4 million, both options would have taken less than 2k fuel by a fair bit...

If you want to avoid over-controlling, use some of the non-control fins ... honestly, I'd consider dropping the side stacks to one orange tank and a skipper each, and using pairwise asparagus.

You seem to be going pretty fast there ... 300+ m/s at low levels?

Just take a ship with a known payload that reaches orbit, and pull the stuff that isn't to-orbit payload and drop THAT in as the subassembly.

It's either needing a FREE port, or the asteroid ... if it's the latter, you MIGHT be able to fix it by undocking the claw+asteroid, then docking again with control on the claw side of things at the moment of contact.

I'd think the problem only arises on Kerbin, Eve, and Laythe ... and on Eve, you have enough of a problem anyway! It seems like there's a fairly good consensus on Kerbin ascent by this time. About all you can do, in the end, is say "this is what people who know what they're doing are getting".

The 1-2 command pod makes for a good re-entry craft when you return to Kerbin, a couple of radial chutes and you're in good shape with it. I'll usually put a standard docking port on it, then whatever you want to dock can go on top of that. These days, everything gets a probe core...

That's a simple OR function, and it should work well enough.

Maybe attach batteries in tri-fold symmetry, so you can see if orientation is correct.

There's a reason for drogue chutes ... but aerobraking should get your speed well down before your chutes start opening.