Malich

Hard to tell without the screenshot. It could just be a bug that isn't recognising the item in play. I'm assuming you actually moved satellite and it's in the right place. I've seen it a few times where ticks for other contracts remain visible even though i've not done anything for that specific contract. Try switching to another craft, or the space centre, then going back to it to see if it de-bugs. If it's bugged then Mod F12 will let you complete the contract through the debug menu.

A quick click of F3 would identify any failures if that was the case.

As Snark said... in that it could be anything. At guess its some artefact of the design. I would suspect somewhere in that pile of tanks you have some parts with crossfeed enabled that is allowing them to feed fuel so the tanks empty top to bottom s per the KSP standard. In other I suspect is is disabled which means it's only feeding from the first tank in the stack. With a combination of these you'll have some stacks where it's feeding top to bottom, others where it's only feeding from the bottom tanks and some where, just to be awkward, the engine is using fuel directly from the bottom tank but the top tank is being depleted to refill a tank lower down the stack somewhere. What re you lunching that needs lifter like that? it is possible to launch 3-400 ton payload for a much less complex design that the one you've got there? Edit - Remember, fuel ducts feed in the direction they were attached, so from the first tank you click on to the second, not specifically outside in or top to bottom.

I'm pretty much with most of the above. I need a craft that can do the job and most of the rest is secondary. I have a few rules I impose on myself such as "Each Kerbal on a craft going out for more than 24 days needs at least 2 seats worth of space". Generally i don't find cost restrictions to be a major factor after the early stages of a career game though early on I never launch a mission unless I can get at least 150% of the launch costs back from completion fees. This often leads to craft that are anything less than optimal. I often launch ships with huge amounts of reserve crew space as I plan to detour into orbit on the way out / back to collect a gaggle of Kerbanauts who've managed to get themselves stranded or with unnecessary parts (docking ports usually) added on because i have a station or part test mission do do that will let me gain some extra funds for the mission I would not have gotten funded otherwise. Recovering 3 Kerbals from orbit and landing a new "station" on Minmus will usually cover the launch costs for a slightly over engineered ship that will complete the missions and gather me a bucket load of science rather than having to launch 3 1-Kerbal recover vessels as each contract appears and a 4th craft for the station / science part.

I have some repeating designs. For example, every planet I put a station in orbit of gets a 3 person "rescue cutter" for Krbal rescue missions. Recently though I've started building re-usable interplanetary parts. I have a pair of designs for what I call Transit Modules. They are probe core equipped nuclear drive units with their own power generation and storage sections with a 2.5m docking port on the front end. Each one provides a Delta V of about 8000 empty. This lets me launch small, usage specific modules for mission which can be docked to the front end, transited to the place they are needed, dropped and then the drive module can return. Currently I am waiting on 3 of these returning from Duna so I can refuel and re-equip them to send them to Eve.

The sound of crushing realisation when i realise i forgot to parachutes on my Crew Return Module.... again. Or a transmitter on my station.

As the above poster said. You need to launch a craft (plane or rocket) that takes the passengers above 70,000m without orbiting them. (You can orbit but it's a waste of fuel and effort unless you need to do so for another contract as well) Once they're above 70k you'll get a "parameter complete" message in your contract window and you'll get a "Contract complete" once they are safely back on the surface. The landing point can be anywhere. Splashed down is anywhere in one of kerbin's lakes, rivers or oceans.

Several mods add cargo bays. Modular Rocket Systems for one.

I have 7 on the go right now. They tail off a bit later in most of my careers, replaced with recover XYZ part and crew. So not sure why the RNG is not giving them to you.

I really enjoy career mode for most of the reasons stated above. Hacking together three semi-similar contracts to find what I actually want to do is half the challenge. All my Minmus and Mun exploration came from tourism or research missions. Rescue contracts gained me all my kerbals, station missions were combined with satellite launches, rescue missions and goodness knows what else. Each of my stations includes a small shuttle for collecting lost Kerbals which means I can gather them up as they appear and then just do a single return mission, usually backed onto a science or passenger run. A seven Kerbal craft is not much more expensive than a 3 Kerbal craft and can easily swing past a Munar / Minmusian station on it's way. By the time I was ready for Duna I had funds of about 6m just sitting about which let me launch missions to Dres (2 launches, 8 kerbals and about 2.5m spent), Duna (3 launches 8 kerbals and about 3.2m spent), Eve and Eeloo (1 launch each, no kerbals but a small 3 kerbal station and shuttle craft to support any manned missions I might send later). These all included a return ship and a large, nuclear engined "Transfer Tug" which is basically a 3.5m unit with a 2.5m docking port at one end, nuclear power at the other and fuel sandwiched in between. New launches to these planets now will be lighter as they will shuttle between there and Kerbin to just pick up any 2.5m modules I feel those missions require. Making every launch count for multiple missions helps, add in the ability to reuse parts of a mission that would otherwise be discarded and you can get even more out of them. Yes, I accept it might make the missions slightly more expensive to launch initially but the payback comes in time when each follow on launch is cheaper. Also make sure you have the strategy that gives you cash for reputation is running in the Admin block. This will help a lot early on when rep is dropping into your lap just for being awesome and Kerbal. I have never felt like i was struggling for money except right at the start to do the initial expansion of my facilities. After that it just came rolling in.

A 2.5m rocket with bi, tri or quad adaptor is my usual choice. With a fairing over them if they're a bit too delicate or draggy to survive in the open.

Ah, I may have to do the same then. I've been struggling with CoL recently. it felt like the cockpit sections were the only things generating any lift!

I'm had a fun launch last night where my radial parachutes acted like rockets dragging my pod down into the ground. I was more amused than outraged. plan to spend some time today diagnosing this. Hardly worth getting emotional about though.