Godot

Well, with this argument we could also ask: "Why aren´t we able to toggle gravity?" or "Why aren´t we able to toggle atmospheric drag?" I am sure both, gravity and atmospheric drag are frustrating for many players as well ... maybe even more than they would be frustrated by reentry heat

I haven´t made any practical experiments with it, but normally (at least for the standard 100km orbit) I prefer a rather steep ascent ... with a gravity turn to ~20° at 10km and another to ~40-45° at 20-25km (and additional turns at higher altitudes as i see fit). My reasoning is that a high vertical speed component ensures, that I quickly pass the lower atmospheric regions and therefore minimize losses due to drag

That´s normal with version 0.20 in contrast to previous versions, in version 0.20 the first command module that is classified as "has crew" will be manned with kerbals, even if you selected a probe module as your first module. The only way to get an unmanned mission in 0.20 is, to not have any command module that contain Kerbals at all in your design

I assume that heat during takeoff will definitely lie below the thermal tolerance for the parts of the rocket, considering the fact that speed during takeoff (while you are still within the denser layers of the atmosphere) normally doesn´t exceed 1 km/s

That´s my standard was of putting lander and spaceship together ... lander behind spaceship As for your design ... rather hard considering the length of your rocket ... doesn´t seem to be enough place to put a lander on it (which in your case normally should be put above the nose, I think)

I don´t think that you will be able to get into earth orbit ... Kerbol and its planets are in another universe than earth and AFAIK Kerbal technology isn´t developed enough to cross the boundaries between the universes

AFAIK the heat protection tiles of the RL space shuttle were rather lightweight (as well as fragile, which was why they could be damaged so easily ... something that caused the columbia desaster)

Different parts have different temperature tolerance ... so I assume that there are parts that have to be specifically protected and others who don´t ... not to forget that everything probably also is dependant on the angle of reentry (with other words, with a bad angle even those parts that are heat tolerant up to 3.6k °C will go bang)

Might be difficult if it is a mission to a planet with an atmosphere ... like Duna, Laythe or Eve

In my game the escape tower definitely has saved the life of countless Kerbals (in contrast to the RL escape tower). It is definitely the piece of equipment that goes into all of my spacecraft

The seat is really practical ... I made a truely miniature rover that replaced the 5th poodle engine, I had below my middle fuel tank. Here the link to a small gallery with the tiny rover attached below the lander and being in action: http://imgur.com/ySVOwFd,YAtcI2X,FFJTkUr#0 I have done a new version however that uses the new middle sized wheels (that are supposed to have a better grip to the surface in low grav environments) and is currently undergoing testing ... maybe it might allow higher speed before being in danger of toppling. Unfortunately I had to replace the round battery with a big square battery pack and 2 small packs in order for the wheels to fit (I am working with extreme size contraints in order for the rover to fit under ther lander, therefore I couldn´t afford the rover to get wider ) but fortunately, after my experiences with Rover 1, thanks to the hilly munar landscape I spend more time braking than accelerating while driving on Mun

Not to forget that we had to reach Mun without the help of preplanning our orbits via maneuver nodes And I agree ... the hurdle of reentry-heat will be rather childplay considering the hurdles we had to overcome only 1 year ago, just to get to Mun and I am definitely looking forward to rentry heat (hope it comes with 0.21 )

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/30917-Whack-A-Kerbal

But does the Starbucks have a Starbucks in it? So that Starbuck doesn´t have to leave Starbucks if she wanted to go to another Starbucks?

Totally new Space Program as well. I would normally think about transferring individual crafts from my old save to the new, but seems like I´ll better start everything anew. One significant change I already made is, to add a small rover to my Mun-Lander Spacecraft. Thnks to the single seat they can be made small enough to fit under the belly of the lander

Looks good ... definitely similar to the system I have in mind (well, exception is that I will never ever have a flag for missions to Eve as I will only create flags for missions in which flags can be planted (which rules out Eve, as I only do manned landings to planets where return is possible [alway shied away from designing a returning Eve Lander]))

I cannot remember ever having mnore than maybe 25 stages

When planting flags on the Mun I saw, that you can change the flag to be planted ... unfortunately I didn´t check at this time if this menu changes the flag that I currently want to plant, or if it changes the global flag (that we have to choose whern starting a new game), thereby changing all flags, even those already planted. Has anyone already tested this out? If it just changes the flag that I want to plant, it opens up a wide range of possibilities, For example giving every mission its own flag (which would be somehow extreme of course ... but after all every Apollo mission had its own patch) or having its own flag for every mission to the same celestial body (less extreme and something I would implement ... with a flag showing (among others) Kerbin and the Target planet/moon) or even doing some kind of roleplay by attaching every mission to a certain Kerbal nation (and its flag) and thereby making some kind of space race

Did you use Mods?

You made an interstellar probe? To which star did you want to send it?

2 at the moment from my first Mun-Landing ... the first one at Mare quietatis where the lander touched down and the second in Travellers crater, which was the farthest point that Jeb travelled away from the ship (7.5 km ... unfortunately the way back was more uphill, so that Jeb, despite still having 60% fuel in his backpack, was forced to land 2.5 km away from the ship and travel the rest of the way on foot ... shouldn´t happen with my next mission ... thanks to the new single seat I was able to make a manned rover that is small enough to be attached to the underside of my landers )

ISA Mapsat ... maybe due to the introduction of the database ... which probably changed the way in which anonaly informations are accessed programmatically

Same here, no problems ... maybe many/most of the people who are complaining tried it with their 0.19.1-Save instead of starting a new game (and maybe used lots of mods in their old save)

Definitely nice ... you shouldn´t try it with deserted landers in Munar orbit however ... it created a huge mess of spacecraft debris when I finally hit it (which took several shots)

Normal, if you choose a probe core as first (command) module I would expect any additional command module to be not populated. At least IIRC this has been the case in previous versions If you choose a crewed command module as your first command module then yes, it would always be populated.