FullMetalMachinist

Unfortunately that sort of connection is impossible in KSP. The craft structure must follow a "tree" pattern, where each part can have one, and only one, parent part. This means that closed loops (like you're trying to do here) simply don't work. The only exception to this is strut connectors and fuel lines. They can go from any part to any part. Everything else is bound by the "tree" logic. For your rocket I would suggest not using the bottom radial decouplers and use a few well placed struts instead.

One small thing to add, is make sure that you not only launch north/south in the correct direction, but also east/west. Most contract orbits are prograde to Kerbin's rotation, so you would launch to the east like normal. But more than a few have been caught off guard by a retrograde orbit. This means not only that you need to launch to the west, but also pack a few hundred extra dV, because you not only lose the boost that the planet's rotation gives you, you actually have to fight against it.

Closing a fairing in that way (which is usually called an interstage fairing) is notoriously iffy in KSP. I'm afraid that there's not much to do but play with the last connection to get it to close. When the editor finally decides that your fairing is in a good spot the top line of text (shown brown in your second pic) will turn blue and will close on the nose cone. Taking a closer look at your second screenshot, I think what it's trying to do is close the fairing in a point (the way that they are usually used), but it's trying to do it inside of the nose cone, so it won't let you. No idea why it won't instead make an interstage connection to the outside of the nose cone. Best advice I can give is to play with the camera angle and zoom, and hope for the best. Maybe someone else has a better trick.

Or instead of doing it manually (the hard way) you could install the Throttle Controlled Avionics mod.

For those interested, I was searching the Suggestions & Development forum to validate my earlier claim that this issue had come up there before. That thread is here for those that wish to see. The reason I'm saying anything is because one of the people there suggested the mod haystack. It looks to be pretty useful (especially for @Snark, who apparently plays this game just to torture himself ). If you're not adverse to installing mods, this may be an option until something better is available in the stock game. Also, Very good point, thanks for that.

Not just surface and EVA results, but any science experiment. Command pods can hold unlimited science results from all the instruments, as long as they are not the exact same result (e.g. temp from highlands and temp from crater). All you have to do is EVA a kerbal and get close to the instrument. Then right click on the instrument and in the menu that opens click on "take result". Then simply enter or right click on the pod and select "store results". You can repeat this for as many unique results you want. The kerbals themselves act in the same way, so you can run around the whole ship and collect all the science from one biome in one go, then get in the pod and hop to the next. Please note that the Science jr materials bay and the goo experiment will become inoperable after the result is removed and require a scientist kerbal to reset them. Do this from the same right click menu while on EVA. Edit: ninja'd

I agree wholeheartedly, that method is simply an annoying workaround. I also think your idea would be a perfect solution. In fact, I think I remember seeing it mentioned in the Suggestions forum, so hopefully Squad is aware and with 1.1 and all the re-written map code we will see something like that soon.

See my (edited in) second paragraph.

When you're in map view, put your mouse cursor to the top of the screen. A small hidden menu will pull down. This is a filter for the ships/probes/bases/debris that are currently in your game. You can click on the base icon (or ship or probe) to hide that type of vessel. In your case, hide the bases, and then your flag will be all alone, waiting for you to make it a target. Also, some people don't know that you can change not just the vessel name, but also the vessel type. To do this be either in the map view or in the tracking station and click on a vessel. On the right side it will list the details of that vessel. You can click on the name to change it, and also choose what type of vessel it is. So, for instance, if you have two ships close together and want to select one but keep getting the wrong one, change the vessel type of the wrong one to, say, a probe. Then you can hide all probes as described above, and select the ship you want.

Well that contract type is news to me, guess you learn something every day. Bummer about your stranded Kerbals, though.

I'm unfamiliar with any contracts that ask you to measure anything (temperature, seismic activity, etc.) without giving you a list of the locations that you have to go to. Usually it gives a general location like "Area C-L4" and then lists "Area C-L4 Alpha", "C-L4 Beta", etc, etc. If you open the contracts window while in control of a vessel or look at the contract in Mission Control it should list all the locations that you're supposed to go to. Hope this helps, and if not, a screen shot of the contract parameters (with all the little "+" lines open) from Mission Control could help to track the issue down. Also, if you have any contract mods that could be a question for that mod's thread.

Yes, that bug is listed as fixed in the cangelog in the OP for KJR for KSP v1.0.5

In that case, might I suggest the Kerbal Joint Reinforcement mod? Honestly, since they changed the areo model in 1.0 the drag from struts can be murderous. I really think they are doing you more harm than good.

Also, I notice that you have what looks like struts going from stage-to-stage. Ever since the great joint strengthening of 0.25* that sort of thing isn't really necessary, except for extremely large and wobbly rockets. All those struts are adding a ton of drag, while not contributing a whole lot to your stability. * I think, might have been 0.23

As I understand it, once you get higher than 10km, the atmospheric pressure drops dramatically, as diomedea says. What that means is that even though you might see flaming effects on ascent, it doesn't necessarily mean that you've gone past terminal velocity, just that things are getting hot. The general rule of thumb that I've seen around the forums is to limit your speed (not acceleration) to less than mach 1 until you get above 10km. After that drag reduces drastically, and you can pretty much go as fast as possible. This is also the reason that a too-high periapsis when you're reentering can be bad, because there's not much drag to slow you down, but there is enough air present to cause you to heat up. I tend to design my launch stages with a pad TWR of 1.2-1.4, which usually keeps me under mach 1 until about 12km. After that it's off to the races. This does roughly correspond to real life launches. According to the Wikipedia page on Max Q the space shuttle main engines were throttled back until it was at max Q at 11km. After that point the dynamic pressure dropped off as the atmosphere thinned and the shuttle was able to accelerate more rapidly.

IIRC the top line says something like "[LMB] Place segment". Middle line "[RMB] remove segment". Bottom line I can't remember for sure, might be [ESC] to cancel. Basically press the left mouse button to build a section of the fairing, but the top line of text must be green. If it's not it won't let you build it. Keep going as desired, then to close it just bring it to the center, and the top line of text will change to (I think) blue and say "close fairing". You can also close on part of the rocket to make an interstage fairing, but getting it to work right can be a little tricky. As always, if you're having a specific problem, pictures of your rocket in the VAB while you're trying to build your fairings will help.

Not sure if sarcasm or not, but in case you really wanted to know, Windows phone is Microsoft's half-hearted attempt to compete with Android and iOS.

Thanks to all for the warm welcome! While the validity of 'best' community may be hard to prove, there's no doubt that it's one of the friendliest.

Been playing KSP for a couple years now, and have been browsing the forums for a few months. Finally decided to join everyone here, mainly because this is the best online community around. Can't wait to share knowledge and experience with everyone here!

Sorry to butt in, but I had some input on this comment: I believe that this thread is what you were hoping for. As I'm just a newbie, I don't presume to know anything that Snark doesn't, so I'll just assume that he missed that small aside. But several of the 'hidden' features of KSP that were mentioned are visible on that map. Hope this helps!