Vanamonde

KSP isn't IN the box yet. Give it time.

I cover how to reach Minmus in my walkthrough: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/25029-A-moon-rocket-for-newbies

It takes around 2000m/s to get from the pad to orbit, but after that, a small change in speed will make a big difference in orbit. The difference between a low orbit and a high one is just a few dozen m/s, so a common new pilot mistake is to simply keep burning hard a little too long. Watch on map view, and as you get close to orbit, simply throttle back so that you don't overshoot.

This is a duplicate thread. Moderators: how about merging it with the gentleman's other thread?

480 thrust is PLENTY for a Mun landing, even though that lander is bigger than it needs to be for the job. It is top-heavy as well, what with the big RCS tank sitting up high. But you should still be able to land it by simply shedding more of your horizontal speed while landing. Either brake harder high up, or point your nose below the retrograde marker on your approach burn, which will increase the fraction of thrust being applied against your horizontal speed. But just as a suggestion, a low, wide lander will be much more stable and resistant to flipping. As an example, here is my standard Mun lander that I've been using for many versions now.

All in a day's work.

Using multiple smaller engines is a common KSP practice, and the weight tradeoff depends on the particular engines involved. Remember, though, that mounting multiple engines will require additional parts and their mass, such as this tricoupler arrangement.

Make some of the control surfaces smaller, and/or distribute some of the mass out to the sides for more rotational inertia.

Shortly after you submit your 5th post, the forum software will give you permission to customize your profile.

Here's one I made for Mun/Minmus: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/25029-A-moon-rocket-for-newbies

I believe everything needs to have a battery right now to be controllable as well. Even if you have a power source, it has to go through a battery.

This ship here has now made trips to Tylo, Eeloo, and Moho while delivering ~50 tons of cargo, and then returned to Kerbin to be refuelled and sent out again. So I guess you could say that it can "go anywhere." It's driven by 12 LV-Ns. I don't put it in low orbits, though, because the mission-specific subships can make the trip from high orbit to orbit or landing fairly easily, once the mothership has delivered them to the destination planetary system, and it would cost oceans of additional fuel to put the whole ship down low and lift it up again for the return trip.

I was watching my satellite orbit Jool, because the game is pretty enough that just watching sky and terrain roll by is entertaining, when I noticed this nifty little conjunction of the three major moons. So I hopped to my station orbiting Tylo and took the reverse-angle shot.

Interesting question. Put the gravity meter sensor on your plane and watching the readings as you gain altitude and speed.

Well, I had a good day. I didn't think my ship could make a Moho roundtrip, but since nothing's going to carry over to 21, I had nothing to lose by trying. So I loaded up my standard test payload of a station, 2 small rovers, and 2 satellites, and set out. The mid-course plane-change manuever cost about 2/3rds as much delta-V as the transit burn, but I did achieve an intercept. I deployed the station, an equatorial and a polar rover, and two mapping satellites, but was then unnervingly low on fuel. But I gave it a shot, and what do you know, brought the ship home! But look at that fuel state! I achieved an eccentric orbit and can reach the ship with refuelling tankers, but couldn't circularize the orbit. But I brought the boys home, and now know that there are no worlds in the game I can not reach with fully re-useable ships.

Nope, that's not normal, it's Eeloo. One runs into all kinds of odd bugs there.

This is a moon rocket you can download, and instructions for getting to Mun/Minmus. I hope they are helpful.

That sounds like what I'm trying to do, Hoy, but I'm using the 3-man capsule because I want it for crew rotations in orbit.

Thanks numerobis, I think that answers my question; past a certain atlitude, everything becomes a rocket in effect even if it does have wings, so it should be possible to dispense with the wings. (And I'm planning to land it with chutes, so that shouldn't be a problem.) 　 　 Edited: HoY, I'm not using the jet-as-rocket-stage approach because of the difficulty of generating any real speed with the fuel-efficient jets before you pass through their effectual altitude. Hence, the plane-like ascent but without wings.

H2 (formerly History International) runs Universe, which is semi-informative, but they won't talk about any astronomical phenomenon without contriving some way to explain how IT COULD WIPE OUT ALL LIFE ON EARTH!!! That gets really old. But the thing that broke my heart, and I can barely stand to watch it since, is the time they made some poor astronomer explain the relative sizes of things in terms of monster trucks. Yes, monster trucks. 　 　 (Amy Mainzer is pretty hot, though.)

Guys, I'm not asking whether it meets the definition of "spaceplane." I'm wondering how much wing lift contributes to a craft that is already going 1000+ m/s at 20k+ altitude, and whether you really need wings at all to transition from there to orbit. HoY, that is helpful advice, and K^2, I tried something almost identical and couldn't get it to orbit either, which suggests that it may indeed be my piloting that is the problem. And thanks ecat, but the fact that "wingless jet SSTOs become trivial" with mods is one of the reasons I don't like to use mods.

If you don't want to use mods, just watch for sparkles that look like graphic flaws, but stay in the same spot on the surface. After you know where to look, some are visible from 1000km away.

If you're interested, here are some examples of low-and-wide, RTG powered, flip-resistant (but not -proof) landers. http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/35916-Small-Medium-and-Large-moon-rovers-from-Yeahletstrythatdyne They come with delivery vehicles good for Mun/Minmus.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. I'm trying to fly it much like a classic spaceplane, but without wings. Vertical launch, but then more or less level build-to-speed at 20k+, firing the rocket (it's a Skipper, 650 thurst) just before the jets flame out. I don't see how I could remove any parts because it does need all 6 jets just to get off of the pad, and hits the ground like a brick without the 12 parachutes I've got crowded on there now. And actually, it's at leat failing in the same way all my stupid winged efforts do; I lose too much speed while trying to pitch up from level jet flight to a steep rocket climb. Yeah, I know it's kind of a monstrosity, but I'm curious to see if it can be done.

What's it look like? Low and wide is more stable, and a couple of RTGs will avoid the problem of charging solar panels entirely.