The D Train

"Star Citizen development has been cancelled."

I feel for ya! Sounds to me like Jeb is always getting stuck somewhere. Valentina was the first into a sloppy orbit but died during re-entry bbqing. Jeb made it into a more stable orbit but with no fuel to deorbit. :/

Hello and welcome, Magic! Jeb actually does and can stay dead for long... if you edit your save file to not allow "lost" Kerbs to respawn. I do this to add to the realism In my world, when they're dead, they're dead. No reincarnation allowed

Question, you're using 80x 80x to denote what? I have an idea but, I want to make sure. Thanks!

Well, then that answers the question I always had. "I wonder if anyone else has thought to use RCS to try and slow down this free fall". I've had two occasions where I've had to do that. Once over land, he lived. And once over the ocean, he lived as well. Not realistic but hey! It saved him. I BBQ'd Valentina during re-entry. Traj was too shallow and fast and the ship toasted for too long. I knew she was a goner once I realized all of those variables when it was already too late. I still catch Jeb weeping over it. When he thinks nobody's watching. Poor guy.

I will look into Nertea and Necrobones. Thanks for the tip and information on Mechjeb! I can understand the desire to preserve the challenge by not using tools that create full automation. After all, many people that use simulations like this, want to simulate the entire experience of having to do things manually or "by hand" and work their way up to easier days. Just like we did with NASA. That's why I love simulations. Especially ones that strive for realism and immersion. It gives you a unique perspective on what it was or is like when you can't actually be there yourself. I've launched and failed so many times that, I imagine what it must have been like in NASA's early days. The Astronauts routinely risking their lives for the Adventure of the Century. The "New Frontier" of spaceflight. My experiences also taught me how complicated the process really is. Why attention to detail is needed. The need for the creation of checklists, contingency procedures etc... One thing that has stuck out in my mind is how at least in KSP we can slap on SAS and test some things out without having a Kerbal on board, risking his little digital life. Astronauts like John Glenn, Ed White and Alan Shepard weren't that lucky. And in Ed White's case, unfortunately we didn't have automation to test things out even during ground testing. All that being said, I will still try out Mechjeb at some point. After I learn to do things the hard way and manually I hate the fact that I don't have a joystick to use. Makes things even tougher for me. Thanks for the information you provided! Snark, I'm sorry for the confusion. I probably just used the term incorrectly. What I meant was, when I lost the Orbiter's main engine due to the lack of oxidizer, I lost thrust on that side of the vehicle when before that happened, I had the thrust from the two SRB's plus the Orbiter engine. So, it was a bit more equal. Once the Orbiter's engines seized up, the whole vehicle pitched over. I'm assuming from the sudden loss of thrust from one side. If there is a word used to describe the placement of engines in order to create an equal amount of thrust, then that is what I mean. Again, sorry for the confusion

Thank you very much for the overview of various engines. I noticed you said "stock". I'm guessing there have been many addon engines and rockets developed since KSP launched. Any addon recommendations? I also noticed that the most popular addon from I can tell is this "MechJeb". A tool to help streamline and perfect vehicle functions I assume? Worth getting?

So, with help from two kind people from the community "Vanamonde and DeMatt" (Thanks to you both) I solved the problem of securing the SRB's to the side the Orbiter with the use of struts as instructed. However, it turns out there was a much bigger problem causing the in flight break up. The first thing I noticed was that the anomalous events would take place at a definitive moment during the vehicle climb out. Somewhere around 15k. The anomalies being, a strange snap/click/buckling sound coming from the vehicle, after which the entire vehicle would pitch steeply and the break up would occur. I noticed that when this strange snap or clicking sound would take place, there was a marked deceleration and the engines seemed to get quieter. I started to wonder if for some reason the main Orbiter engines were the issue. Perhaps the engines were running out of fuel. However, while watching the fuel gauges on left by the stage display, the main engines still showed fuel to be burned. I checked the fuel window that shows all the fuels on board and their status's and saw again that there was still fuel left to burn. Then I noticed the Oxidizer. 0/2750. I ran the launch again and watched the Oxidizer drain to 0 and all of the anomalous events once again took place. There was fuel enough left to burn alright but, it couldn't burn anymore. No Oxidizer. Which I learned after looking up rocket engines and SRB's and learning what I could about fuel/propellant mixtures and how Oxidizer is required. I thought Oxidizer was only needed in space where there's no atmosphere or oxygen to be had. Apparently it's needed on the ground as well. After all of these findings I concluded that, the Oxidizer was running out, the main Orbiter engines could no longer produce thrust, symmetry was gone, the SRB's thrust took over, overwhelming the SAS stability control and the sudden pitch of the vehicle caused the in-flight break up. Next task? Figure out the solution to the loss of Oxidizer. If there is any other solution other than merely carrying more Oxidizer. If anyone after reading this sees that my logic or understanding of how these things work is flawed, please let me know what I'm missing. I'm eager to learn more if I can. My hope is that this might help someone else avoid this mistake during their KSP travels. Thanks!

Thank you, Vanamonde. Very helpful! I'll look into those parts and methods and make changes accordingly. I appreciate it, DeMatt! - - - Updated - - - DeMatt, I'm actually unsure how or what is happening, I'll have a better idea when I run the launch again. At some point I'll hear either a snapping or buckling and within 10 seconds of that, the SRB's will turn inward and the rest of the vehicle breaks up. It should be noted that this happens before SRB sep is supposed to take place so, the decouplers have not yet been deliberately fired at this point in the launch. Nothing major can be visually seen when I hear this peculiar noise, until the SRB's twist and the break up occurs. Whole thing reminds me of an NTSB investigation. Lol Although I'm sure space agencies like NASA have their own accident review boards.

I have two questions everyone! First off, when disaster strikes and your vehicles are destroyed but more specifically your Kerbs are killed, you get some type of AAR After Action Report that lists what happened and the time stamps for events. Is there any way to get this even if you manage to save the Kerbals? I have a launch vehicle and orbiter that keeps breaking up for some reason. This usually happens around 15k, I haven't noticed my speed at break up but, I'll look out for it next time. I might have an idea what's happening which leads to question number 2.... I have 2 SRB's attached by 4 decouplers. 2 decouplers per SRB, mounted Vertically. It seems like only the first pair of decouplers will physically attach to the SRB's and the bottom two don't make the connection. If I'm right, the top decouplers are buckling under the strain and the SRB's are turning inward, breaking up the whole launch vehicle. Is there any way to fix this connection problem?

Main Flag Tribute to Spock

Hey everyone! I've been creating monsters all night and I have an issue. I'm trying to attach a spaceplane a made to a rocket I created in the VAB. I haven't figured how to do this yet. I've tried importing or merging both from either the VAB or the SPH and they just will not attach. I've tried using sub assemblies as well. Perhaps I'm just using subs incorrectly. Anyone have instructions on how to do this? Thanks