GregE

Started working on my first Shuttle design. It's gone about as well as expected.

Launched my first mission to Dres. I'm still taking my first baby steps into inter-planetary space, so I'm testing methods and designs that I've never used before. For this, I'm launching two unmanned probes. One is an Ion powered orbiter complete with SCANsat equipment. The other will be a traditional liquid fuelled lander, but with a SRB transfer stage. I soon realized that I had made a significant error in my DeltaV calculations. Although I did use a transfer calculator, it appears that the transfer window that Kerbal Alarm Clock gave me requires more DeltaV than the calculator I used. Or (more likely), I just suck at planning transfer burns. Let's just go with I suck at transfer planning. Both will likely end up as fly-by missions, as I don't think either one has enough DeltaV to insert themselves into orbit.

Spent most of the evening trying to get my orbiting science ship/station + lander into the sky. Once I FINALLY got that thing on orbit, I sent up its supplies.

Got my scanning probe stuck in too low an orbit with not enough inclination (with no fuel to correct) I think we're gonna be here a while, chief.

Used this funny looking thing... To put this thing on the Mun. Managed to hit two biomes before having to return to Kerbin due to fuel concerns. I had designed it to hop into three biomes, but my piloting skills leave much to be desired.

Restarted my save a few days ago, (after taking a bit of a break following 0.25 dropping) so I'm still mucking about in Kerbin's SOI. Launched my first Kerbin mapping satellite; Eagle 1. This mission was a bit of a SNAFU. I got the satellite in a nearly circular, polar orbit using a one stage rocket. Because I'm so early in the tech tree, I have to use a decoupler to deploy the payload. I forgot that decouplers have ejection force, so now the satellite is in an elliptical orbit, with no way to correct it. To make matters worse, the retro-rockets on the delivery vehicle failed to put the spent stage into the atmosphere (its periapsis is a frustrating 70,103m), so it will never de-orbit. The debris and the satellite make a dangerously close approach every few orbits. Next I tested a new launch vehicle for my planned trips to the Mun. Didn't go well, but Jeb survived. Only managed to grab a single shot. There are 3 other engine segments that flew out of frame... Jeb was happier with the new version. Now to design a service module and lander for it.

I've only been to Mun and Minmus so far, but I voted Mun. As returning from it is tougher than returning from Minmus, on account of the Mun's higher gravity.

Launched MULARV 8, the final trip to the Mun. MULARV 1-4 all used this basic design, and had a %100 mission success rate. MULARV 5-7 were an attempt at an 'Apollo' style lander/orbiter, they were all met with failures of varying degrees, so I figured I'd go back to my successful design for the last mission. This thing has way more Delta-V than I actually need, as a result of my over-compensating for very poor piloting skills at the beginning of the program. Now that I'm a better flyer, I may make an attempt at trimming this down a bit, but I do like having the extra wiggle room in case I need to change landing sites. But for now, one last look from the Mun. Minmus beckons..

Mun's North Pole. Love how the planets line up so nicely.

Current mission set/program name: MULARV. MUnar Landing And Return Vehicle MULARV 7 just splashed down after exploring the Farside crater. MULARV 8 will likely be my final mission to the Mun. Then the MINLARV program will begin.

A whole lot of fail today. Built a new ship for going from my LKO Station to the Mun. It's a two-stager, with the lander designed to undock, land, return to orbit, and redock with the transfer stage. Transfer works very well, with plenty of Delta-V to get to the Mun and back. But the small radial engines I used for the lander don't seem to have enough thrust to efficiently land. On it's maiden voyage, I miscalculated my descent trajectory, and burned a whole bunch of fuel only to slam into the Mun's surface at 140 m/s. (R.I.P. Bill, my first Kerbal death). I'm going to have to redesign the lander with more powerful engines, which means more weight. Hopefully won't have to rework the transfer stage too. During my initial test flight (from KSC to Station), I discovered that I had placed the telescoping docking port on backwards. With no way to Revert the flight, and no way to land back on Kerbin, I had to EVA my test pilot to the Station, and then deorbit the ship. Which gave me this neat picture:

I repurposed my "Orbital Jumper" craft (for shuttling crew to my Station) with a Klaw instead of a docking port, and spent about two hours catching up to debris, grabbing it, and deorbiting it. I think I cleared about 20-25 pieces of debris that mission. Was able to keep going since I'd often find debris that still had fuel in it, so I could top up my Jumper craft as I went. Only ended the mission when I ran out of RCS fuel (which made manoeuvring tiresome).

I've put plenty of things into Kerbol orbit... didn't MEAN to put them there, but I did. So I guess that means Kerbol is my favourite?

Launched a new mapping probe (SCANsat), to replace the one I already have around Mun. (Screwed up the original transfer, and put it into a basically equatorial orbit... which is useless for mapping). Seemed I vastly overestimated how much Delta-V I would need (or underestimated the power of my launch craft). And was able to get the probe into a nearly polar Mun orbit with about 1500 Delta-V left. Decided to head to Minmus and map it. Transferred successfully and began mapping in a 200x200 orbit around the poles. Once the map was complete, I suddenly remembered that I can get Science by analysing the completed SCANsat maps and transmitting them back to KSC. It was then that I realized that I forgot to put transmitters on the probe.

Delivered Bill, Doodop, and Kirbart to Domus Station in LKO. They'll hang out while I send up the rest of the modules. I have two large sections planned, including a "lifeboat", as well as a dedicated Mun/Minmus lander that will use Station as its base of operations (it won't be able to return to Kerbin). However, I won't be sending up the lander until I get my mapping satellites in orbit around the moons.

Completed three missions today. Sent Bill to the Mun - had him coming in on a very shallow approach, realized (at the last second!) he was going to smack into a mountain long before he was slow enough to land. Burned a lot of fuel to get him safely over the mountain, and then down again. Eventually landed him. Did some science'y things. Started the return trip. Quickly realized that there was no way he had enough DeltaV to make it back. Back down he goes. Sent up an unmanned rescue mission - which was the first time I actually attempted to aim for a specific landing site. Touched down softly only 200m from lonely Bill. Return trip was uneventful. Finally, sent Bob on a return trip to the Mun's North Polar region. Nothing exciting, except I did snap my new background image. I consider it a successful day. I'm getting better at landing, and I was gradually improving the design of my ships with each mission.

First post! Successfully landed, Science'd, and returned to Kerbin from the Mun today. I had been practising landing a probe for days before finally working up the guts to send Jeb up there. Although I'm looking forward to the day where Munshots and successful landings are routine for me, I'm unashamed to say I felt pretty darn proud of myself when my command pod splashed down at the end of the mission. Now planning a larger scale mission to Mun, with 3 Kerbalnauts and a rover. Still a lot of science to be had.