Clipperride

I'm not sure that there's a way to get the cash cows tourists to appear in the sandbox (unless they are cats! Ha ha) but can I urge you to give career mode one more try? I was a committed Science Mode player until I watched a couple of tutorial videos by Marcus House (YouTube) giving tips on speeding through the early career game. Since then my Science saves have been left untouched and I've enjoyed doing things that Ive never gotten around to trying before (landed on Duna and captured an astroid). Of course, there is no "right" way to play KSP (one of the reasons I love it so much) but I now have the enthusiasm of a convert towards the career game!

Thank you both for your answers. I thought my method was a little on the rubbish side - lots of ∆v and roughly 1½ episodes of Red Dwarf to get the pesky node to give me an encounter within 1km. It was lucky I tested the waters with a Class A astroid. At least it didn't take much of a burn to put it into Kerbin orbit!

Did my first astroid capture last night. It took a couple of "bumps" with the Claw before it attached, so don't panic if it doesn't engage first time around.

Thank you @bewing - for another easy to follow and informative answer

I seem to have a few questions since I actually got into playing Career Mode I've just done my very first astroid redirect contract (a little class A number) but found setting up the maneuvere node to reach the astroid a little tricky. Basically I just played with the node handles until the one I was tweaking stopped reducing the distance and then moved on to the next. What's the best way to set a maneuvere node from LKO to intercept an astroid in Kerbins SOI?

Thanks Guys. Of course, now I've asked the question, KSP is making me out to be a liar by offering me a new rescue mission*! But could you please explain (or link to) the "cheaty"** option just in case I get bored before the next one appears? Thanks. * Probably as a result quite a bit of time warping - taking passengers to Minmus and visiting Duna for the first time (yey me!) ** My personal definition of cheating, when it comes to KSP, is doing something that removes the fun and challenge of the game. I can easily justify tinkering in the debug window by imagining I sent out a few Kerbal suits to drum up business from wherever it is that launches all those doomed missions. I hate to work for whoever it is, as they seem to have a horrific safety record!

Cheers, I will have a look for Columbia - Her Missions and Crew. You're right about it being a pity that Springer Praxis books are excellent for text but quite poor when it comes to images. My favourite book for images (and because I am a real Apollo geek at heart) is Apollo: The Panoramas by Mike Constantine. Sadly it's rather really expensive, but you may find it in a well stocked library. (I was lucky enough to get a free copy) The website (see link) has some of the images and gives a flavour of the book. I don't know too much about the the USSR space missions after they cancelled their attempt to get a Cosmonaut to the Moon. I really should read up on the Buran project.

Very nicely done! Looks stunning. I'd recommend the book "Into The Black" by Rowland White, which covers the development and first flight of the STS. There's some fascinating stuff about the NROs use of spy satellites, which photographed Columbias heatshield after Young and Crippen noticed an area of missing tiles. The details of which had to be kept secret until the story was (comparatively recently) declassified. Great read for any fan of the Shuttle.

A while back I turned down a couple of rescue missions, but now I find I need to increase my astronaut numbers, but I haven't had a rescue contract in ages. Is there any way to get the game to produce more reaches at Mission Control?

Further to my previous report, my second set of Duna communication satellites fared better than the first. By using a higher periapsis and firing the engines for longer, the main satellite and all three of the mini-relays survived in tact. There are now six communication relays in orbit around Duna, giving good coverage for the uncrewed landers. The second set of probes are at an inclined orbit (relative to Dunas equator) which gives at least some coverage to the polar regions and also the result of an encounter with Ike on the way into the Duna system. Once the communications were sorted, the first of two autonomous landers went into orbit, followed by a largely successful descent and landing (my first touch down on a body outside the Kerbin system - yey!). A slip of the finger sent the lander back up into the air and the bounce caused one of the landing legs to break under the strain. It didn't cause too many problems as the science lander came to rest on its engine bell. With the lander safely on at rest on the Lowlands, a full set of science was returned to KSP and snacks and medals were handed out to all involved. The second lander will arrive in another 6 days and (hopefully) biome hop, using all 4 sets of experiments (apart from the single Material Bay) on the ground. A great Sunday of KSP! EDIT - Did a small hop in the above lander to get a couple of science results from the Highlands. I actually managed a better landing the second time sans parachutes! In other news, I upgraded 2 of the engines of my Mk1 space plane from Panthers to Whiplash's. Boy, does that make a difference!?!

I completed a personal first in KSP today. I finally decided to go and visit Duna and the first of my communication relay probes arrived today after 135 days travel time. I made one error in my forward planning. The probe carries 3 smaller relays that I planned to space evenly in an equatorial orbit. In a moment of madness and in an attempt to save a little money and weight, I opted for the solar panels that can only be deployed once. Having deployed them on the trip to Duna, they fared rather badly during aerobraking! Luckily the main vehicle (also fitted with relay antennas) has retractable panels and one of the little releasable probe kept hold of one of its solar arrays. I also have an identical probe arriving in 1 days time, so will hopefully end up with four relays around the planet. - In Orbit Around Duna - A Personal First

Experimentation continues into Mk1 - 1.25m SSTOs (usually I build space planes with drop tanks, so I don't get to use this acronym often!) It's easier now I have unlocked the Dart engine, but without the large circular battery, power remains an issue during re-entry. (Although the thought has suddenly occurred to me I could pack batteries away in a small service bay Doh!). However, the fact the Dart One (must work on my name's!!) runs out of power quite soon into its re-entry profile has been a bit of a boon. Sure she tumbles like an autumn leaf on a gusty day, but at least that stops the cockpit from overheating and exploding. And, I usually still have enough time to regain control before meeting the ground (usually). I also "discovered" that hitting the EVA rather than View button at 1,500m/s is bad for the effected Kerbal-dude. Live and learn....

But we're these two events linked?

It was time to work on a contract from Maxo Construction Toys to place a lab and habitation facility on the surface of Minmus. They had already paid an upfront fee of 320,000 roots with another 809,000 (plus change) on completion. Deciding against the subtle approach, this behemoth was built. Consisting of the launch / atmospheric ascent stage with additional boosters at the bottom A small, Poodle (the engine, not the dog!) powered transfer and de-orbit section With the actual base, landing system and crew return vessel at the very top. The contract required the services of three pilots (Jeb wasn't happy - the Maxo lawyers cited Jebs' Badas$ attitude towards hardware and crew safety) to ensure the bases safe delivery. Despite being a touch squirrely during the ascent through the atmosphere, a safe parking orbit was achieved and the ship was made ready for the transfer to Minmus burn Heading for the Greater Flats, de-orbit, descent and landing were all flown by Jeb alone, after he locked himself in the Cupola and physically removed the links to the MK1 Capsule with a pair of standard issue toenail clippers. The base was landed on its legs..... ... before dropping down briefly onto the wheels that were specified in the original contract. The lawyers at Maxo were somewhat annoyed when they realised that they had demanded motorised wheels, but said nothing about its ability to do anything other than spin on the spot! And so, they were forced to pay up in full as soon as the returning crew had been recovered back to KSC - Suckers!! Have fun Clipper

I built myself a little Mk1 sized space plane this evening. Powered by 2 Panthers and 1 Reliant engines. I was quite impressed with its ability to get into a 75 km x 75 km orbit, but I was much less impressed by the Mk1 cockpits "ability" to withstand the heat of reentry. Part of the problem was only 50 units of electricity and no way to generate more with the engines off. After blowing the thing to pieces (luckily they were all simulations) I finally managed to get it down by reentering backwards, letting the engines deal with the heat. It just left me with an interesting piece of acrobatics, trying to turn round and pull out of the dive. But it landed safely so tea, snacks and medals all round.

Finally managed to complete a tricky contract to retrieve a Mk1 cockpit from low Mun orbit. They weren't joking when they said "low"! At just a shade over 10,000m, I'm guessing the rest of the craft is splattered over a mountain side somewhere. It made for some tricky rendezvous maneuveres as, when dropping back down to intercept it's orbit my trajectory became distinctly sub-orbital. A quick burn to match velocity and the Klaw simply needed a little RCS to close in on its target. Grabbing the cockpit from the rear and returning to Kerbin, there were brief concerns over the parachute arrangement. But dropping the heat shield reduced the sink rate to a non-leathal level. The funds received have already been earmarked for the Minmus Biome Hopper mission...

Thanks for the answers. Now you mention it @bigcalm it's obvious that launch windows will open up fairly regularly, as their apparent motion is so slow. I've not really spent much time outside the Kerbin SOI so far in my KSP adventures. I did have a very close approach with Moho a couple of versions ago (ok, the probe smashed into the planet at great speed - but it did finish sending back its science data, with at least 3 seconds to spare before impact!), so I'm looking to change that now I've finally fallen in love with Career Mode.

Having just reached Year 1 Day 260 in my Career Mode game, I sent off a small flotilla of craft to explore this new (to me) territory. It would be really handy to have a list of the launch windows as they open up, rather than fast forwarding when I want to go somewhere specific. Does such a list exist? Starting at Year 1 Day1 and listing the transfer windows in date order for the first few years? If so, please add a link. Otherwise I may have to start work on one Cheers

I've been playing through my first Career Mode game (I've never got further than landing on the Mun in Career Mode before) for a week or so and have reached- Year 1 - Day 260. Transfer Window to Duna. I had hoped to have more time to test my Duna bound vessels, but a satellite contract around Minmus ate up a load of time when I was really paying full attention! Despite that oversight, there are now four ships on their way to a Duna encounter. Rather than sending four different craft, the lack of time led to a change of plans, with two of each of the two tested ships each launched 90 minutes apart. The first two are each carrying 4 communication satellites a piece to be placed around Duna and Ike. The next two Interplanetary craft have a small automated lander each, to return some science and test out the technology for a crewed trip the next time the Duna window opens up.

Here's a link to the first in a series of career mode YouTube tutorials by Marcus House. I found them useful when I first started playing career mode. Once you have unlocked the first few tech tree nodes, you should be well on your way to the Mun and Minmus. It might also be worth having a look at the Biome maps for the Mun and Minmus.

Not so much a question as a public service announcement for anyone else that, like me (unless I'm the only one), missed a blindingly obvious part of the GUi that makes life a lot easier. I can't believe that I only (accidentally) discovered yesterday that a simple right click on any of the markers that appear on orbits on the map screen (eg periapsis, ascending node etc) and the value remain visible. Previously I've been scooting back and forth between the marker and maneuvere node I'm adjusting.

I imagine that the 70° angle provides the most energy throughout a Lunar day based on the missions planned longitude. I agree the piece is light on technical details, but I enjoyed the video.

Today, I made a discovery and saw something I had never seen in KSP before! I t's always frustrated me slightly that, when you are using a maneuvere node, you have to keep moving the mouse over the resulting orbit to find out if you've got the numbers you wanted. Except, of course, you don't have to do that. When did that become a thing? Right clicking on, for example, the apoapsis of your orbit, the number remains on screen when you move the mouse away. I kinda hope it's a new addition, otherwise I've wasted countless hours over the last year moving the cursor back and forth when I didn't need to.

Here's some information and video of the Au x Hakuto Moon rover for their attempt to win the Google X-Prize. Link to article & video It's amazing to think that private enterprise is aiming for the Moon.

Once above 20,000m (with about 30°-45° tilt to the East, depending on TWR) I fly the rest of the ascent in Map view. You want to tilt over as much as you can whilst still seeing the time to Apo slowly increasing, or at least remaining constan. I don't like to let the time to Apo drop much below about 1 minute. You'll see the time to Apo start to increase quickly, by which time you should be horizontal. As soon as the Apo reaches the desired height, cut the engines and coast up to 70,000m. Depending on how low in the atmosphere you were at engine cut off, you may need a short burn to put your Apo back to the desired altitude (and with practice you'll get the hang of how much extra altitude you need to compensate for the drag). As soon as you are out of the atmosphere, you can set a maneuvere node on the Apo marker and pull the prograde symbol until your orbit is circular. Automated Mods may be able to fly an ascent more efficiently, but the above should at least give you a nice even orbit EDIT - one other thing to remember, use the thrust tweakables on your engines to make the final adjustments more accurate.