Reactordrone

Youtube link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-op5kqeoEc

Here's the Sesame Street version,

It's a relatively small payload and not too far above minimum orbit. Providing it has a reasonable TWR on the first stage about 4000m/s vacuum on the launch pad should be more than enough. A simple 2.5m launcher with a twin boar first stage and a poodle+8 tonne tank second stage will do it with good margins.

Leg goes up...slowly. Not as high tech as I was expecting.

Used to be easier with manual only lenses. You could just crank them all the way over and they'd be focused to infinity. Auto focus lenses have overruns so the motors don't hit a hard stop so it can be better to pre-focus them, switch the lens to manual focus and try not to touch them when you use them

Ramjet engines do exist that just have the air going through a narrowing intake to compress the air before reaching the combustion chamber. The disadvantage is that they need high speed intake air in order to be efficient so they're not great for take off.

Backyard shot about half an hour before the middle of the eclipse. And Moon and Mars

Decouplers might help. Carting around empty SRBs really doesn't help with re entry.

I've built an entirely monoprop fueled, two stage Munar lander for fun in sandbox but I've never found a reason to use the puff in a career game.

You could use a Vzor periscope. When you've got it pointed straight down you get even lights around the periphery of the scope then you can track a feature on the ground to determine your heading relative to where your ship is pointed.

There are three Russian vehicles docked. The two things in space below the station look like the ends of solar arrays.

Seems logical.

Even from New Zealand they're getting highly inclined orbits.

One of them is a boy, so the chances of the other one also being a boy is zero otherwise two of them would be boys :p

For fine control of the manoeuvre nodes try mousing over the handle and slowly using the scroll wheel on the mouse . Once you have an initial encounter click on the target planet and select focus to see where your path is in that sphere of influence. You can then click on the manoeuvre node again to embiggen it and do fine scroll adjustments. Duna's usually not too bad to do from Kerbin orbit but with planets at different inclinations you might be better off with a mid course correction.

Meringue surface (optional). http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/hitchhikers/gallery/guide/magrathea.shtml

You used to be able to lock the suspension but I don't think there's an option for that in the current stock game.

Think of the gravity assists you could get from it.

Moderately good seeing last night but then my DSLR dewed up.

A 180 deg inclination means it's a retrograde orbit. When you mouse over the AN or DN do they read 0° or 180° ? They should read 0° since they're relative to the target orbit.

Light from a bushfire illuminating clouds from a few years ago.

It can be more effective to ditch the jet engines for early tech spaceplanes. Use the mass saved by leaving out the jet engine and intakes and throw in more rocket fuel. The amount of speed and altitude you get from early jet engines is often not worth the mass penalty.

Rescue mission then. Those are always fun and it gives you a chance to practice precision landings. You could modify the same type of ship to add a probe core and send it unmanned or send a multi crewed ship up with a spare seat. The purely robotic mission has the advantage of not stranding anyone else during the rescue attempts.

Half an hour to go, assuming no more delays. http://www.rocketlabusa.com/live-stream

It's been a little cloudy here but I managed a quick look at Jupiter. (composite image to include the moons) ISO 800 1/40s exposure.