Amoral

Were your feelings so hurt you felt you had to jump in there and issue a double-extra warning? Have some respect for what it means to be a mod, or no one will have any respect for you.

Go for stage separation while they still have a tiny bit of fuel, and are still burning. That should push them up and away from your center stage.

Yep, very possible. Check out: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=12837.0

It\'s alive!!!!

In the Mun landing thread jellycubes posted his ultralight lander. It is the new record holder for lowest initial cost. $1600 - 1 command pod $422 - 1 parachute $975 - decoupler $680 - 1 tri-coupler $4950 - 9 x LFT $3400 - 4 x LFE $1500 - 3 x struts ---------------- $13527 ($3972 recovered)

The costs in NovaPunch are not balanced, and so it seems to only make sense to use the very largest fuel tanks. I used this Lifter deign to get 17.7% (11 of 62 pixels) of a FL-T3000 tank to Mun. That\'s 1770 units of fuel delivered for a cost of 8400 ($4.75 each please). Pictures Uploaded with ImageShack.us Budget Final Stage $500 - 1m Nosecone $300 - M38 Unoccupied Guidance System $1200 - KC-130 Adapter $800 - FL-T3000 Fuel Tank $1000 - 4X-800 Engine Lift Stage $1200 - RS-501 Stack Decoupler $2400 - 3x FL-T3000 Fuel Tanks $1000 - 4X-800 Engine ----- $8400 Lifter I rocket Edit After scrapping useless junk like nose coses, and switching to a smaller engine for the second stage, I was able to deliver 3226 units of fuel for $6700 ($2.08 / unit).

Can I leave it in Orbit, or does it need to be landed?

Doesn\'t the end misison log say that 'Foo crashed into the ground' if it was destroyed, and says nothing at all if it survived? That\'s what I have noticed anyways.

Using a Gamma III rocket with 6 strapped on boosters, I was able to land on Mun and return safely to Kerbin for $41,134 ($14,904 of which was recovered). Ominivore has the record for lowest total cost at $31,854 ($26,004 recovered). Jellycubes has the record for initial costs $13527 ($3972 recovered). The challenge is to beat one of those records. I want to acknowledge Szyzyg\'s tutorial for my mission plan, and Trydyingtolive\'s tutorial for influence on my lander design. They are both great videos, I urge you to check them out and give them a like. Mission Notes After ignition, the rocket wants to spin and tilt off vertical. I needed\' to make constant corrections. The winglets give lots of control, so I kept caps lock on. I burned straight up at 100% throttle until 9 of the 15 1st stage tanks were exhausted. After that I began a very slow rollover, letting off the throttle to keep at 200m/s. I time my roll over so that I am at 45degrees when Stage 1 is exhausted. It takes 3/4 of Stage 2 fuel to get into a 100km orbit, and then boost up to 3000 m/s to get my apogee up to 12,000km. I wait for Mun to capture me. My periapsis is already inside Mun, so I wait until he is 100km away, and then do a steady retrograde burn until my orbital path hits Mun roughly perpendicular. During the descent from 100km down to 5km I kept my speed at 400ms, retroburning when needed. At 10 kms I burned hard to slow my rate of descent. Stage 2 is exhausted and jettisoned. I was over dark terrain which is usually smooth, so I killed off lateral velocity. Touchdown 9h and 45 mins into the mission. To return to Kernin I blasted off at 45 degrees and boosted until my apoapsis was a long way from Mun, about 1/4 of the way back to Kerbin. Then I waited. As I waited My apoapsis stayed the same distance away from Mun, but swung slowly around so that it no longer pointed back at Kerbin. Not knowing quite what to do, I waited some more. I climbed away from Mun, and just about at apoapsis, Kerbin recaptured me. This left me in an Orbit with a perigee around 12,000km, and an apogee in deep space. Not wanting to risk my limited fuel, I waited some more. Mun and I completed our orbits in about the same time, and he briefly recaptured me again. This time He flung me more directly at Kerbin. When Kerbin recaptured me again It was a simple matter of retroburning until my perigee was inside the atmosphere. I jettisoned the final stage at about 40 km with 10% fuel remaining. Budget Lunar Stage $422 Mk16 Parachute $1600 Command Pod Mk 1 $975 TR-18A Stack Decoupler $550 1 FLT-2500 Fueltanks $950 LV-T45 Liquid Fuel Engine $3825 3 x TT-38K Radial Decoupler $1500 3x AV-R8 Winglet ---- $9822 Stage 2 ---- $975 TR-18A Stack Decoupler $2200 4x FLT-2500 Fueltanks $850 LV-T30 Liquid Fuel Engine --- $4025 ($2022 recovered) Stage 1 ---- $975 TR-18A Stack Decoupler $680 TVR-1180C Mk1 Stack Tri-coupler $8250 15 x FLT-2500 Fueltanks $2550 3x LV-T30 Liquid Fuel Engine $750 3x EAS-4 Strut Connector $1500 3x AV-R8 Winglet ---- $14405 =$28252 Gamma III Rocket Boosters ---- $2532 6 x Mk16 Parachute $2700 6 x RT-10 Boosters $7650 6 x TT-38K Radial Decoupler ---- $12882 (recovered)

Year 1: Balance: 10000 Mission 1 An Alpha rocket lifts the command pod up to 78km before returning safely to earth. The command pod and Parachute are recovered. Goals met: Reach 40km Leave Kerbin\'s Atmosphere Mission Budget - $2925 $422 Mk16 Parachute $1600 Command Pod Mk 1 $975 TR-18A Stack Decoupler $1100 2x FLT-2500 Fueltanks $850 LV-t30 Liquid Fuel Engine ---- $4947 Alpha Rocket $2022 Recovered Materials ---- $2925 Mission Cost $7075 Remaining Balance Mission 2 A Beta Rocket carries the command pod into orbit. The initial burn gets an Apokee of 80km. A second burn at apokee circularizes the orbit. After some time warp a retrograde burn deorbits the vehicle. Separation of the command pod occurs in the upper atmosphere. The command pod and parachute are recovered. Mission Budget $4025 $422 Mk16 Parachute $1600 Command Pod $975 TR-18A Stack Decoupler $2200 2x FLT-2500 Fueltanks $850 LV-t30 Liquid Fuel Engine ---- $6047 Beta Rocket $2022 Recovered Materials ---- $4025 Mission Cost $3050 Remaining Balance Goals Met: Enter Orbit Enter Circular Orbit 4 goals met, New Budget: $12155 Year 2 Year 2 Opening Balance: 15205 Research - $9000 SRB Radial Decoupler AV-R8 Winglet Mission 3 A Beta II rocket carries 3 Kerbals to within 1km of the moon. Ground control is concerned that not enough fuel remains to enter orbit and return safely, and so the mission is aborted. The Kerbals slingshot past the moon, and get a free return right into Kearth\'s atmosphere. The command pod has enough spead to plow through the atmosphere and make one more orbit, but the second time it hits the atmosphere it comes back to Kearth. This is my first unsucessful mission. Mision Budget - $4025 ---- $422 Mk16 Parachute $1600 Command Pod $975 TR-18A Stack Decoupler $2200 2x FLT-2500 Fueltanks $850 LV-t30 Liquid Fuel Engine $3825 3x TT-38K Radial Decoupler $1350 3x RT-10 Solid Rocket Booster $1266 3x Mk16 Parachute ---- $12488 Beta II Rocket $8463 Recovered Costs ---- $4025 Mission Costs $2180 - Remaining Balance 1 Unsuccessful Mission. New budget $11547 Year 3 Year 3 Opening Balance: $14011 And so on...

The link to the satellite file seems to be broken. Can someone post a replacement?