PnDB

All of your previous flights in the career log have ended with "Recover" or "Die". Does Jeb need to return to KSC ("Recover") to get credit for all the things he's done in and around Jool?

Here you go. This is the image gallery for GOES-16: https://www.nesdis.noaa.gov/content/goes-16-image-gallery They're pretty spectacular at full resolution... even at reduced resolution, they're still amazing and beautiful. These images were taken on January 15, 2017.

I went to IPS's own forums today and their forum doesn't show any vertical text issues. Does that mean a new release has come out? Topics are still vertical here for me.

Mün has become a busy place as of late. Four tourists in various stages of arrival/orbit/departure, and one satellite positioned with a second in process. Kerbal alarm clock really helps with managing that many vessels in flight.

Mac user here, a little behind on the OS (Mavericks)... couldn't complete the survey. The Windows OS question is required, even though I'm not playing on a Windows box. In any case... very stable with only a rare crash or lockup every couple of days, though my activities are rather simple. All VAB, simple rockets currently. Haven't docked, haven't used wheels. I do have the SPH floor texture issue, where the lines on the floor are replaced by seemingly random (and rapidly changing) black and white patterns.

If you have the SCANSat mod and look closely at the boundaries between biomes, you often will find tiny (single "pixel") regions of some other biome right on the border. This is due to the way the biome maps were generated/stored in the game. It's why there is a patch of tundra just west of KSC, even though it's almost on Kerbin's equator. If you land close enough, you can take advantage of those micro-biomes to pick up extra science without having to hop very far.

Hope this helps a bit... very simple and straightforward for getting into orbit, transferring to either of Kerbin's moons, landing, and returning. DOH! Just noticed I didn't re-add the drogue chutes! Put two of them on the Mk1 pod or the OKTO! And definitely listen to folks like @Snark and @5thHorseman. Their assistance has put many an inexperienced player into space.

My cheap (about 30k funds) Mun/Minmus tourist/scientist/engineer orbit/landing ships use a single Mk1 command pod and an OKTO probe core as the main part of the payload. You should be able to build a cheap orbiter/lander using something similar, given your tech tree. I'm guessing your early orbit/suborbit flights had only one tourist aboard... start that way again for Mun/Minmus, and you'll soon be taking a dozen tourists along for the ride. Here's what's on my single-passenger ship from 1.0.5... it should still work reasonably well in 1.1.2. I took my science gathering, biome hopper ship and ripped out all the science... more refinement could be done to make this lighter and cheaper. Re-entry stage: Mk16 parachute OKTO probe core Mk1 command pod with no monopropellant 2x drogue chutes 1.25m heat shield with 40 units of ablator Transfer, orbit, land, launch, orbit, return stage: TR-18A decoupler Service bay with X200 battery and small inline reaction wheel 1.25m to 2.5m rockomax adapter with 4x OX STAT XL panels (don't need this much solar at all) Rockomax X200-16 tank with 4x LT-1 landing struts attached Poodle engine Lift stage: Rockomax decoupler X200-32 tank Skipper engine 4x AV R8 winglets Boosters: 2x TT-38K radial decouplers, each with a BACC Thumper attached Gives 1.6 TWR at launch, and about 6650 vacuum dV. Costs about 30k funds 34 parts About 68 tons total edit: Interesting... seems like the "insert code" option color-codes bits of my text. Ignore the colors.

I put 40 units of ablator on my 1.25m heat shield for returns from Mun or Minmus and aim for around 30 km periapsis. I end up with 3 to 5 units of ablator left. I'll have to give OhioBob's recommendation of 23 km a try, and see how the ablator fares.

KSP the novelty exploding wheels (kids love this one)!

Not just Macbook users... also iMac users, like me.

Every single kerbal tourist I have ends up with the same progression of facial expressions on reentry from LKO: Smiling during weightlessness in orbit. Smiling during initial reentry, prior to the flames. Smiling even more while flames engulf the craft. Immediate transition to complete terror as soon as the flames subside and are replaced with supersonic shockwave effects. Terror during almost vertical descent, prior to chutes opening. Chutes open... instantly content and/or smiling again. It's bizarre. It doesn't matter whether they have high courage and high stupidity, low courage and low stupidity, or anywhere in between. It's always the same.

BS Physics, BS Mathematics, BS "Mathematics and Computer Science" (they didn't have a full CS degree), Hampden-Sydney College, 1993 MS Applied Physics / Optics, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 1996 Currently pursuing a MS degree in Data Analytics from George Mason University

Antennas on probes and proper staging are my main "forgets".

@steuben has the right idea. If you look at a diagram of the A-10 engine, the exhaust direction is angled slightly upward, pointing the thrust vector pretty much straight through the plane's center of gravity. Radio control planes with pusher-props mounted above the fuselage do this as well. From Wikimedia -- trace a line down the center of the engine exhaust tube and see where it passes through the plane:

I have found -- at least in the earlier part of the game -- that it is challenging to get a good TWR at launch without starting to get really hot during ascent. For example, starting with a TWR of 1.4 and using a decent gravity turn, I usually end up as a red glowing streak around 20-25km. I don't get so hot that I explode, but sometimes it does get a bit toasty on the way to space. Is it common practice to throttle back during the ascent to maintain the TWR one had at launch, or do folks usually just set the throttle to a single level and ride the fire all the way up?

@Geschosskopf I noticed exactly this issue yesterday. My lander can's electricity reserves would deplete much more quickly if I set SAS to hold retrograde versus hold heading. Turned out the hold retrograde setting was applying lots of little corrections, using up the precious little electricity I had left at an alarming rate (was down to just the lander can, a heat shield, and a parachute... no solar panels left on the craft). As I wasn't in a situation where retrograde was changing quickly, I just set SAS to hold heading instead. Finally ended up shutting everything down and just coasting instead to conserve power for when it was needed.

I usually start a career by going to Minmus first, and sent Bob on his way there in the name of SCIENCE. However, Jeb decided that he wanted to be the first to step onto another world, and headed for the Mün. First time ever landing on the Mün! Landed in the East Crater, a little southwest of an anomaly that was detected by an orbital mapper. Jeb decided to check it out during his ascent to orbit. Turned out it was a Münar arch... the first time I've ever seen one in the wild! Of course, in taking this slight detour, Jeb ran himself out of fuel for the return home, leaving him in a horrible >10Mm Ap, 300km Pe orbit. If the Mün came around again, it would have flung him who knows where. So... time to get out and push. Got the Pe down to 37km, ditched the lower section of the craft, and settled in for the slow fall Kerbinward. Had a near perfect skip reentry, dropping to about 36.5km before going back up to about 68km and then back down for a final descent. Ended up landing on the southern tip of the KSC continent... not bad for accuracy when getting out and pushing. Chute deployed as expected, and almost landed in a tree. 643 science!

Just gathering science... that's not lens flare below and to the left of Kerbol... it's Kerbin's atmosphere outlining the planet.

Check back in 19 days.

Since installing this on January 13 KSP has not crashed once, including a several-hour long session with multiple switching back-and-forth between the VAB and on-orbit craft. Kudos Alpha 188!

I was able to quote your post and then delete it by clicking twice in the header portion of the quote (where it says "quasarrgames said:") and then pressing the delete key. Hope that helps!

Is that what you were doing? I think everyone was distracted by your legs in the last photo.

From http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Scientist Scientist is a specialization assigned to Kerbonauts. As of 1.0.5, scientists do not boost the amount of science gained from recovering experiments. They also provide no bonus from transmitting data, although the green text makes it look like they do. They can, however, increase the amount of science generated per day in the Mobile Processing Lab MPL-LG-2. As of 1.0, scientists are able to restore inoperable experiment modules while on EVA.

Agreed... it's most likely just dumb un-luck. With even odds for pilot/engineer/scientist, it's about an 8.7% chance of getting exactly one pilot in ten rescues. Given the number of people playing the game and rescuing Kerbals, it's highly likely that someone will experience this. Since getting 1 pilot out of ten rescues feels like something out of the ordinary, it's highly likely that someone experiencing this will post about it.