Wayfare

"Simple" he says... I've picked this thing completely apart and the amount of ingenuity in the design is staggering. Every stage has something that makes you go "well that's clever!" and the whole CSM/MM assembly (including the fairing) just takes the cake. Even if you can't handle flying it this rocket is a real playground in the VAB.

Put the finishing touches on my Munshine family and made them available for download:

I'm your Huckleberry: Three launchers in the Munshine family, rated for 22, 55 and 75 tons to 100x100km orbits, serially staged without any boosters or fuel lines whatsoever.

Banner by drummerguy103 Awesome rockets for awesome people! Introduction As part of the celebration of the 1,000th download of the Munshine V Apollo-style Mun craft, Wayfare AE&KA is proud to release the current Munshine family of launchers. While the Munshine V remains our dependable, middle-range launcher of choice, the MOMS Program has given us cause to develop both a lighter and a heavier variant. Still, all these launchers retain the elegance of the Munshine V with their sleek lines, serial staging and pretty nosecones. Dowload launchers here: (Right-click and "save as") Munshine V 55-ton payload, 76-part launcher. Munshine VI 22-ton payload, 28-part launcher. Munshine VII 75-ton payload, 128-part launcher. All three launchers in one handy ZIP-file. Important Notes - Payload tonnage is rated by the amount of mass a Munshine launcher is able to bring to a 100x100km orbit around Kerbin. - Larger payloads may be carried if they are able to finish circularization by themselves, tested up to 10% additional payload mass. - Subassembly Manager friendly: just copy the .craft files into your Subassembly Manager's folder and they'll load with perfect struts. Manual - Action Group 0 locks gimbal on the outer engines of the launch stages. - Gravity Turn starts at 5,000 meters to 10 degrees off vertical. - Continue turning gently until reaching 500m/s at 45 degrees, and aim to be horizontal once between 1100 and 1400m/s. These launchers are currently serving us very well and we hope they'll to the same for you! They're reliable, rugged, simple and light on parts. Enjoy responsibly.

There we have it folks - 1,000 downloads and counting! You people are awesome!

Awesome, looking forward to it

The Munproof mission of the MOdular Mission System (MOMS) was a success. I've developed all the modules and lifters necessary for the next phase of development: a full-featured mission to Duna. This will be the final phase before initial release. Once we have a fully functional system in place, we can start development of more mission modules to take on more specific tasks. Today I put the finishing touches on the Munshine VII 75-ton launcher and used it in two flights to assemble Dunproof 1 which will carry a surface base and rover to Duna in advance of Dunproof 2, which will be the manned component. Full coverage of the Dunproof mission will be provided in the Mission Reports forum soon.

The Munproof mission was a success. I've developed all the modules and lifters necessary for the next phase of development: a full-featured mission to Duna. This will be the final phase before initial release. Once we have a fully functional system in place, we can start development of more mission modules to take on more specific tasks. Today I put the finishing touches on the Munshine VII 75-ton launcher and used it in two flights to assemble Dunproof 1 which will carry a surface base and rover to Duna in advance of Dunproof 2, which will be the manned component. Full coverage of the Dunproof mission will be provided in the Mission Reports forum soon.

As requested, some pictures that didn't quite make the cut for the report (the rest was just under-lit garbage):

Very nice design! I'm working on my own modular system but taking the more conventional "pusher" approach, ie. propulsion and fuel in the back, payload in the front. I love the way you built the nuclear engines in pairs like that.

Yeah, I do like to be aggressive on my gravity turns I tend to start tipping over a little bit at 4500 meters and then go by speed, reaching 45 degrees around 500m/s and horizontal around 1200m/s. It makes the most of the high thrust-to-weight ratio of these launch stages, especially when they start running low on fuel. In this flight, the fuel saved by this launch profile allowed me to recover from some pretty hefty wobble deviations. Once I was stable on the third stage I knew I was good to go to the Mun.

OK grab your popcorn - I had a blast flying this rocket! I'm sure a good part of it was unintentional but this thing really put my piloting skills to the test and I loved it. Plus, I made it - there and back again. I took so many pics I had to do some serious culling. Even so I came to a 30-something pic report... Popcorn ready? Good Jeb: Check it out! New rocket! Bill: Shotgun! Bob: I have some reserv... Jeb: Yee-haw! Bill: Bit wobbly. Bob: ... Bill: Left! LEFT! THE OTHER LEFT! Jeb: Switch SCE to AUX! Bill: WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? Bob: YEEEEAAAAAAAARGH! Bill: ABORT! Bill: Whew. Jeb: Race you to the shore? Bob: Meep. Jeb: Let's try that again! Bill: Are we... Bending? Bob: Mission control, this is CMP. Is my will up to date? Jeb: LAUNCH! Jeb: Hey, at least we kept our suits dry this time. Bob: You maybe. Jeb: Again! Yee-haw! Jeb: I got this! I got this! I got this! Bill: ... Bob: YEEEEAAAARGH! Jeb: Orbit! Boom - done. Bill: Time to eject the launch escape tower. Bob: Do we have to? Jeb: The staging confuses me. Bill: Me too. Bob: Maybe we should... Jeb: NOBODY TOUCH ANYTHING! Jeb: Wake up. We're here. Man that's pretty. Jeb: Tochdown! Boom - done. Bill: Smile you crazy bastard! *CLUNK* Jeb: What was that? Bill: Fuel pump. Jeb: Pump broken? Bill: Yeah, it breaks when it tries to pump vacuum. Jeb: Oh snap. Switching to RCS. Bill: Isn't that supposed to be the backup? Jeb: Does it seem like we need a backup right now? Bill: Touché. Bill: Well that was hairy. Jeb: IT WAS AWESOME! I WANT TO GO AGAI... Bob: I'm burning back to Kerbin RIGHT NOW! Jeb: Is he...? Bill: He's kissing the ground. Jeb: I can't watch.

Yup, loads fine now! Going to take her for a spin.

Well, snap

I guess the more appropriate measure would be to suggest improvements so those parts become useful instead. I quite like the white radial engines as far as looks go and would love to see their performance brought on par with the LV-909, for example. The avionics nosecone could be repurposed as a pretty sweet probe core. Aerodynamic nosecones won't do much until aerodynamics get overhauled, but in the interim they could do with having their mass and drag values lowered to the lowest possible value.

Having successfully conducted the proof-of-concept mission to the Mun, all that remains is to bring the crew back to Kerbin. Even in spite of its hugely inefficient landing profile and a lot of fuel burnt trying to hover over to the Munophant, the shuttle had plenty of delta-v left for ascent and rendezvous with the MOMS. The MOMS brought the boys back to Kerbin orbit. All six transferred over to the shuttle to perform the final test - could the shuttle land under chutes without ripping itself apart? Well, turns out it could. Everyone's home safe and the final design notes are in. Next up - packaging everything nicely in a fresh save and performing a final proving mission to Duna!

Having successfully conducted the proof-of-concept mission to the Mun, all that remains is to bring the crew back to Kerbin. Even in spite of its hugely inefficient landing profile and a lot of fuel burnt trying to hover over to the Munophant, the shuttle had plenty of delta-v left for ascent and rendezvous with the MOMS. The MOMS brought the boys back to Kerbin orbit. All six transferred over to the shuttle to perform the final test - could the shuttle land under chutes without ripping itself apart? Well, turns out it could. Everyone's home safe and the final design notes are in. Next up - packaging everything nicely in a fresh save and performing a final proving mission to Duna!

Thanks! That's a sleek-looking lander, very nice. And yeah the Mun is a good proving ground for landers. If it can land there it can manage any non-atmospheric body except Tylo and Moho, and you generally only need to add some chutes to tackle Laythe and Duna.

I was talking about the final improved rocket

Thing is, the Apollo mission profile is not the most efficient way to get to other bodies in KSP. Given the high fraction of mass that is in engines and dry tanks you're usually better off bringing less engines and more fuel than the other way around. Consider that a three-man capsule with a half-sized Rockomax tank and a Poodle engine can land on the Mun and return to Kerbin. It can be launched from Kerbin and make TMI with, say, a Skipper-powered orange tank and some liquid boosters. You could probably build it under fifty parts. The "Lite" edition of my Munshine V comes in at 156 parts and that's pretty far on the light end of the scale. Mulbin's magnificent Munbug has something like 800. All this is fine when we're going to the Mun or Minmus, but the higher delta-v requirements of interplanetary travel can quickly cause an Apollo profile to balloon out of control. A more basic mothership/lander combination (preferably assembled in orbit) or even a single-craft direct profile (possibly with drop tanks) remains much more manageable.

I know it's corny to quote myself but this thread seems to be well alive today so I figured I'd see if there are any takers

Also, part count. In your example the improved rocket has twice as many parts as the original one. This is fine with small craft but when you're building interplanetary cruisers in the hundred ton range, those parts will add up very quickly. I often find myself replacing certain assemblies with simpler, albeit less efficient ones to spare my CPU.

Although the craft files are long lost to the violence of the 0.21 update, I did land probes and rovers on all of Jool's moons except Tylo a while back with the Kodak Missions (Part 1 and Part 2). Feel free to check out those reports for inspiration! As for my current landers, of course there's the Munshine V Apollo-style two-stager: And currently being tested as part of the MOdular Mission System (MOMS) is this yet unnamed surface shuttle, capable of ferrying six Kerbals to and from all solid bodies except Tylo and Eve (where it can land, but can't get back):

Nice ship, Gregrox! The launcher reminds me of the Earth V, a design which inspired the Munshine V as the Munshine V has now inspired yours. I love the sharing of ideas that goes on in the Spacecraft Exchange I have to ask - why no orange tanks? I'll probably take your rocket for a spin when I need a break from my current project. When I do I'll be sure to post some pics.

Came home early and figured I'd put some more work into MOMS. With the Munproof 2 mission a success, it was time to move on to Munproof 3 - sending a crew to the Mun and back in a lander we could actually re-use. Oh, and picking up Bill and Bob who had gotten themselves stuck out there. The MOMS had returned to Kerbin and was refitted with a crew habitat and a lander shuttle. Both payloads and the Orbital Assistance Module (OAM) which maneuvered them around were launched on a single Munshine V. Once the payload was joined to the MOMS, it just needed crew and fuel. The experimental Crew Transfer Vehicle (CTV) sent up four Kerbonauts, among them the invincible Jebediah (having just miraculously recovered from stowing away on a doomed Munophant prototype) and a fella by the name of Chuck who just has "maverick test pilot" written all over him. Once the crew was aboard, MOMS was refueled by an unmanned tanker and then set off for the Mun. During the long coast over there, Jeb never tired of boring Chuck to tears over just how many times he'd been killed in inventive ways. Meanwhile, Jack piloted the CTV back down to Kerbin. It de-orbited fine and deployed three good chutes. Jack has yet to explain how he came to land only the command pod, but Wayfare engineers are clamoring for more struts. MOMS made it to the Mun just fine. Once there, Jeb and Chuck transferred to the shuttle and picked up Bill from the Munproof base. Jeb and Bill's reuniting was heartwarming until mission control told them to stop shouting "Duuuuude!" over the comms. Time to get Bob out of the Munophant. With all the crew back together, the shuttle will come back to MOMS and she will take them back to Kerbin. Meanwhile, Jack will be debriefed and Wayfare AE&KA will develop a CTV that will actually land a full crew safe(ish)ly back on terra firma.