Yeah, i got the same issue last night, no part broken but cant recover the vessel. The mk1-3 command Pod released the unusual little rcs flame. That was happened when i docking the mun Lander to mk1-3 pod for reentry to kerbin. Are u using mk1-3 pod? And science world? if yes, change the mk1-3 command Pod to another command Pod before launch the vessel. Hope it's help. Thanks from Indonesia.