VincentMcConnell

I think you might have just not seen the parachutes deploy. They open up at around 600 meters. If you were launching straight up, my best guess is that you passed out of eye shot with them.

Advanced SAS, I have found, is about a thousand times more stable than regular SAS. In fact, I avoid SAS altogether because it pitches me around, as you are having problems with. Test your stages and modules one at a time. I like to build a service module, launch it aboard another booster and do Earth orbit tests of all my spacecraft before launching them to the moon. It\'s fun.

If you need to properly control your spacecraft, use RCS thrusters and pitch slowly and carefully. Most of the launch phase is a somewhat carefully orchestrated series of maneuvers, but not so much as serious as a lunar landing. During the Lunar landing, that is probably the most fine controlled thing you can do. You have not just vertical velocity to kill, but lateral and the body is drifting away from you as you land, so you are constantly killing velocity. You also have mountains to worry about, so you have to pick a landing site off of your normal trajectory about 30% of the time. I remember being frustrated when I had trouble with orbits and Mun flights, but you will eventually get it. Practice and give it time and you will realize that it isn\'t as hard as you think.

I can make equatorial and circular orbits without a calculator... It\'s extremely easy... I launch straight up, pitch towards the East at ~6500 meters and then slowly pitch my rocket towards the East more and more until my Apokee is 100KM. With a wide trajectory, I then wait until I reach my Apokee and burn at full throttle until my Perikee levels out. People can still Rendezvous. I was able to do it. It\'s not that hard if you know how to do it. You shouldn\'t need an orbital calculator for any of this. I have personally never used one. If I want to calculate something in orbital mechanics in KSP, I do it on graph paper with a pen...

You can go to the Mun now, too.

It was. And then the Gemini would separate from the rocket once the entire craft made orbit. I updated it to be two stages before the capsule, though.

Yes, this is extremely easy. I do this some times. Put the parachutes on top of the booster and have them activate at the same stage as the decoupler. When you separate from them, the chutes open.

It\'s easy. Just keep trying. My first landing was absolutely PERFECT. I came down in a good landing site with plenty of fuel and then ascended from the surface and made a nominal return and reentry.

It\'s not docking. GoDamnit (before he left) made the Kerpollo pack with upside down dummy command pods, even upside down working engines. This allows you to fly in the Apollo config and still land on the Moon.

In transit to the moon. Ok, Kuston, Scooby is on the plain at Mare Instability.

LOL!!! Holy crap! Using one solid rocket booster (thrust of 1200) and a CM on the top with no SAS... Look at my velocity. The entire time I was boosting I was pushing 15G. In other news, with three of these boosters, I break the sound barrier only 2 seconds after launch hahahahahahha

Here\'s a video of it Kerbal Space Program - Reentering the Atmosphere (Heatshield addon)

Flames surrounding my capsule during reentry. For the win!

Just remember. The easiest return home (at least for me) is to get into a 100KM lunar orbit heading East to West and burn at Kerbin rise. It never misses for me.

I like it! I\'m updating my rocket to be two stage (I didn\'t know the Titan II had two stages and then a Gemini Capsule). Good work.

Yeah, surprisingly it did! The twin bertha was able to launch my rocket into orbit. After having some trouble maintaining a stable apogee after launch, I did mod the engine -- but only slightly -- to give it about an extra 50 of thrust and about 3/4 the burn rate. I like the NovaPunch parts, but to be honest, I\'m unimpressed with how much they wobble. They seem very unstable at times. Just constructive criticism. Hopefully Nova won\'t take offense to my observations.

This is my Titan and Gemini Capsule in orbit just after separation.

Easy as hell. Free return trajectories are simple with an Apoapsis of 14,000KM. Mun sling shots you back... I might try this, but I\'m having a lot of fun with Earth orbit missions right now.

This is a REALLY fun rocket to fly!! Thanks to Tosh for the Gemini Mod and NovaPunch for the NovaPunch parts pack.

In Yosemite in February of 2011. Seven days of camping outside in total snow conditions that were about 15 degrees. My gear was not so hot, either... Looking back on it, I don\'t even know how my camera survived in those conditions...

Kosmo-naut. Except for the wine part, we pretty much have the same standard operating procedure. I\'ve been doing less and less Mun landings lately and more Kerbin Orbit with the Gemini capsule. I ended up calculating the duration of a single 100KM orbit around Kerbin and was only off by a factor of .04. To orbit Kerbin at 100KM, it takes ~33 Minutes. I used an average orbital velocity by adding and then dividing my AP and PE, so it was a LITTLE bit off. Eventually, the OP will get the whole orbital mechanics thing. About 4 months ago, I couldn\'t do ANY of this. It just takes a little practice. He\'ll be building Mun bases within 2 weeks. That\'s my prediction.

I don\'t think it\'d be that hard. Launch into an orbit just lower than what you want to rendezvous with, wait until you meet up -- since you\'ll be traveling slightly faster than the target vehicle-- and then perform a low-to-high transfer and viola. Rendezvous from the surface of the Mun.

A word to the wise: Always go into Munar orbit first, especially if you\'re a beginner. Munar orbital velocity is only 500m/s and that\'s really easy to kill. The lower you are in orbit, the shorter your powered descent burn will be, therefore, less fuel consumption. To return home, it\'s very simple. Easier than launching from Kerbin. What I do is: Launch and pitch quickly towards the East horizon. Get into a Munar Orbit of 100KM. Now sit in Munar orbit until the Kerbin rises over your horizon and then point pro-grade and burn 100%. Watch your orbital map. When you reach an Apoapsis -- it will be pointing way to the left -- of about 15,000KM, shut your engine down. The Mun will rotate around Kerbin, putting your trajectory on a direct path towards the planet when you enter its sphere of influence (gravitational pull).

In the words of Charlie Duke, 'Rog.'

Saw this on your blog. http://kerbal.blogspot.com/2012/03/kerbal-shield-password-is-1-2-3-4-5.html By the way, thanks for the tutorial on Geostationary orbit. I just made my first geostationary orbit about 4 minutes ago and recognized that picture and realized YOU wrote the blog!