Many great tips here, thanks to all. Especially, thank god for that alt F5 option. That was not on the key bindings cheat sheet i downloaded. I don't have the rep for my posts to go up before checked by a moderator, so i muddled until i got it and didn't check this until now. Yes, i had discarded the previous stage and not pressed the spacebar again to activate the new one. But next time, in consideration of these tips, i'll try to create a tighter, circular obit before activating the autopilot. And eventually i'll try it myself, after watching MechJeb a few times. I really find watching it go through a near ideal execution of something is helpful in learning to do it properly yourself. I think the 1.0 version should really comes with it or something like it. Some of us need time in order to fully nerd out. My batteries have indeed now run dry because i forgot to fold away the landing gear after takeoff and one of the legs is blocking sunlight from reaching the solar panel. Now this is the kind of detail i really find trying. Hereafter i will save named files, and this will not be a big dea, but sheez, there is a lot of stuff you have to figure out by repeatedly screwing up. All the same... KSP is great.