capi3101

Going to direct you to DocMoriarty's guide; it's in the process of being updated for 0.25 but the principles remain sound. Vanamonde is right, though; it sounds like your CoM is shifting aft as you burn fuel and it's going far enough that your final CoM is behind your CoL, which makes your craft unstable. I had a craft like that circa 0.23; ultimately I redesigned it to include a "ballast" system using one quad of full RCS cylinders aft and one empty set up at the nose. Upon reaching orbit, I'd shift the fuel forward. Did the trick but boy was it a pain. Alternatively you can set all your fuel tanks parallel to one another; that should make it where the CoM doesn't shift as much but building the craft may become problematic depending on its size. I might also recommend installing RCS Build Aid. It will show you a "dry center of mass", i.e. where the CoM will be when your tanks are dry. It's handy for spaceplane construction for that very reason.

Got the Moneymaker 7 - a probe - into the proper orbit for the conclusion of a FinePrint contract to put it in an equatorial orbit outside the orbit of the Mun. Realized only when I didn't get credit for it that the design called for the inclusion of an antenna. I use KAS, so plans for the repair mission are already in the works...I'm thinking of hauling the Auk IV (my 0.23 K-prize entry) out of mothballs for the job. Obviously the ship will need some re-design work, but that's not a challenge I'm adverse to. Landed a five-Kerbal Mun base module, also for a FinePrint contract. That one got credited - made some good science there. Finally I tweaked my Sparrowhawk (the replica of Cirocco's Sparrow spaceplane) design by taking out the probe core (I don't have that tech unlocked yet - main reason for the redesign), and replacing the half-dozen Reaction Wheels with two Inline Stabilizers (same amount of SAS, fewer parts). Went ahead and added a monoprop tank and some RCS thrusters. The new design is called the Chickenhawk 7, and I've got her deployed on a Kerbal rescue mission at the moment. I'm not sure the RCS capability was worth it just yet; she didn't want to hold her attitude very well during the ascent and I imagine that had to do with the monoprop tank. I'll have to let y'all know how the rescue mission plays out.

There are some good tutorials out there on station building. The wiki's got tutorials on how to build replicas of the Salyut stations - including Mir. The ISS tutorial on the wiki is lacking, though; you might be able to look at it for lifter designs. And then Tex_NL has a good tutorial for ring-shaped space stations in his signature. Something that looks like this... Honestly, for your first rodeo I'd suggest Salyut 1. It's functional and the design is simple.

At a glance, it looks a might light on the "number of wings" department...how well did the test flights go, out of curiosity? I had a plane do that - sounds like the old "shifting center of mass" issue. I'd recommend installing RCS Build Aid; it shows you where the CoM winds up when the tanks are dry, which is helpful when it comes to spaceplane construction. I wish I'd had it back in the olden days of yore...you know, this time last year......

Last night I conducted a FinePrint aerial survey of a couple of spots to the southeast of KSC. Designed myself a small craft - and made sure to include an emergency ejection system just in case something went awry. Hit the three points, was using NavUtilities to guide myself back to KSC 27 and touched down a little high and a little left of the center of the Runway. It was then that I goofed and hit the Backspace key instead of the B-key thinking that I'd hit the brakes. Nope. Backspace is the default abort button - and having set the ejection system up to the Abort action, the damn thing fired. I'm sure y'all can guess the rest. Luckily I had set my difficulties up to allow Jeb to respawn, so the only loss I suffered there was the part funds. Maybe next time I'll just use staging in case of an abort situation. Or just not put one in... Sent Bill to the Mun for science and did a parts test too. At this point I need just short of 3500 science to complete the tech tree (and I only need that much because I use KAS - 1000 of that is specifically to unlock the Electromagnet).

The mass of Small Gear Bays now counts as well; that's another change from 0.24 to 0.25 - and an important one, especially if you're used to building your plane, setting the center of lift where it needs to be, and then adding the wheels. The CoM from the wheels now counts instead of being something you can ignore. I got to say, I'm a might disappointed with the new spaceplane parts. I'd've thought that they could've added some that would make it to where you wouldn't have to toss twelve wings on your planes, or three intakes per engine. Hardly any improvement there at all...

Strike that; one popped up in my game last night. A couple of other folks have mentioned doing them too. So yeah, rock-catchin' is part of FinePrint. Good mod by the way, if any of y'all aren't using it already.

Scott Manley delivered an asteroid to the top of the R&D complex in the 0.25 preview. The R&D complex 'sploded. But the rock itself remained intact. I too have never seen a rock catchin' contract; it may be something they implement in the future (could also be part of FinePrint, which will become stock in 0.90; I haven't played with it enough yet to know for sure).

I'ma gonna point you to the aerobraking calculator - http://alterbaron.github.io/ksp_aerocalc/ It should get you to where you need to be. As a rule for Duna, 12.5 km is the general periapsis you need to shoot for if you're wanting to stay orbital. Much below that and you're going in; much above it and you won't slow down enough for orbit.

Took Jeb to the Mun for the first time with my career save. Between the science, the strategies and the basic Mun contract I came back with about 1600 science all told - not bad for a single Mun mission. Unlocked nukes and started unlocking some spaceplane parts. Next up I've got two FinePrint aerial surveys to conduct and three satellite deployment missions, two around Mun and one around Kerbin. I'm thinking of recycling my Constipation XIII design from the Duna Apollo-style challenge for the sats; that was designed to put a probe around Kerbol so I should certainly hope it would have enough delta-V to do those wonky-looking sat missions. As for the surveys, well...after spending the science I had on spaceplane parts, I realized I had forgotten to unlock Landing - and didn't have enough science to do that. So I'm either going to be surveying with a VTOL or finding a quick way to make 30 science. Probably the latter - it occurs to me I haven't dropped a sci bomb on the launchpad or runway just yet...

It hasn't happened again, not to that degree anyway. The mod has been slow to load occasionally but that's generally happened when things were going on in my box's background (like Windows updates - which are always annoying as hell). I can check to see if I do have any information from that event but it won't be until after I get home this evening (sometime around 00Z at the earliest).

As far as strapping boosters on the thing is concerned, here's a on the topic of shuttle construction. It's a bit dry but it does cover the basics of shuttle construction. I would suggest getting RCS Build Aid if you don't already have it; it does make the prospect of constructing a successful shuttle design a good deal easier. Basically you just add the boosters and external tanks with standard radial decouplers while you're still in the SPH and tilt it upright, running fuel ducts from the external tank to the orbiter to run the main engines. If you want to launch the shuttle from the launchpad, use one of methods Alshain and LethalDose have mentioned; the guy in the tutorial just launches the thing upright from the Runway, which is a completely valid way of doing it.

You're thinking of RCS Build Aid, a nifty little mod that, among other things, shows you your "dry center of mass" (i.e. where the CoM will be when your tanks are dry). As far as ballasting is concerned, you might consider sticking a Roundified RCS tanks up by the nose. The only tricky bit there is making sure that you've got sufficient thrust and lift with the new design. Might help a bit. The other thing I might suggest (assuming you have Advanced Flight Control, also on Tier 4 with Aerodynamics) is swapping out the Stayputnik with an OKTO probe core. It'll add an extra half-tonne forward. Other than that there's not much I can suggest; I haven't attempted to build a low-tech craft my own self. Probably oughta give it a go...

Looks like I arrived late; congrats on getting everything worked out. I'll go ahead and point you to DocMoriarty's guide; it has some good general pointers on how to build spaceplanes. It pretty much incorporates all the advice folks have already given you on this thread. I know that my big issue with spaceplanes has been design (knowing how many engines I need, how many wings I need, etc.) and this guide has helped me build craft that don't immediately fly into the drink. Only known changes so far for 0.25 - wheels have mass now, so ignore that bit, and the Small Control Surface has been replaced with Elevon 4.

Spent the weekend farting around with planes and getting used to NavUtilities. Made several attempts to land craft at the island runway; had maybe one successful landing and later decided that maybe I really should be going with a three degree glide slope for most of the designs I fly... Tried my hand at building a shuttle; those damn things are tricky. Had it worked, though, it would've had most of the same abilities as the real life STS (crew of 7, ability to carry small payloads, docking capabilities, etc.) I think I needed to limit the thrust a bit on the SRBs so that I wouldn't burn so damn much delta-V in the lower atmosphere. Needless to say my design didn't make orbit; closest was a 90km by -30 km orbit. So close, yet so far... The orbiter, incidentally, was one of the craft I tested by flying it out to the island runway. Only tore off one wing on landing, so there was that. Finished out the weekend with parts testing and getting ready to go to Mun for the first time. Did a high orbit sci pass over Kerbin. Ran out of time, otherwise I would've gone ahead with the mission. Hopefully that'll happen tonight with any kind of luck.

I'm not sure about the underlying mathematics of it, but for chutes there's always the KSP Parachute Calculator - http://ksp.freeiz.com/ I'm reasonably certain the guy who created the site can explain the principles on which it's based. As for other parts tests, as a rule it's pretty much trial and error. For engines, you can stick them on the sides of your ship with - if nothing else - a Modular Girder Segment, and set the thrust limiter to zero; you don't have to fuel the thing. It becomes payload dead mass at that point - handled easily through use of the Rocket Equation.

It's a fighter replica, right? Have you considered using drag chutes? It might look like drek, but a quad of radial chutes right there along the tail fired as you pass over the runway could help bring your speed down. Drogues might do the trick too in your case but they'd require more tweaking to your design.

So, I'm assuming the question is one of "how do I land this thing". For starters, going 210 m/s at a 65 degree angle into the ground is probably not how you're going to want to do it. Though that is excellent lithobraking technique. Sarcasm aside, I'll edit this post to give you some pointers when I get a chance. EDIT: Okay. Well...it's difficult to say with the UI missing from most of the shots, but it looks like you don't have much issues with alignment. So I'm going to go with your glide-slope is too steep. Lemme ask: what's the craft's take off speed? Here's what you want to do - if you're not using a landing assistance mod like NavUtilities, you can set a flag or a powered probe core right off the two ends of the runway (right where the terrain color changes to that darker shade of green). Line them up as best you can with the center of the runway. Once those two are in place, set another one exactly one kilometer to the one on the west side. You wind up with a primitive ILS that way. The three markers should help with alignment. For glide slope, you want to be looking occasionally at your distance to the one at the end of the runway you're approaching from (if you're landing on 09, you want the marker on the west end of the runway; you want the one on the east side if you're landing on 27). Take that distance and multiply it by 100, plus 100; the end result is what you want your altimeter to read, give or take. If your reading is higher, you're too high and need to increase your rate of descent. If your reading is lower, you're too low and need to decrease your rate of ascent. Your friend here is the rate of descent meter to the right side of your altimeter. Obviously you don't want to be flying full blast when you're touching down; throttle back as you make your final approach - real airplanes barely have any throttle at this point in their flight as it is. Once you're within about two kilometers or so, you don't want to be descending much faster than five meters per second or so. When you get over the runway, kill your throttle, bring your nose up (to no more than five degrees over the horizon - and watch this, because it'd be really easy to start ascending again if you overdo it) and hopefully you'll touch down gently. Horizontal speed? 60-80 is a good rule at touchdown, but by no means absolutely necessary.

I've had designs that utilized all three of the previous design philosophies. My debris slider is kept to 25 (out of memory considerations - I'm playing a game with a 2 GB rig, so believe me it is an issue). Most of the time I use the same approach as MK3424 - add a probe core (the RGUs work wonderfully for this), a couple of Z-100s, and a couple of roundified RCS tanks (drained halfway) and blocks on the booster if the final stage is pretty massive. If it turns out the booster can't get the payload into orbit, I use the payload's fuel for orbital insertion and assess whether it can still do the mission at that point. I tend to overfuel my payloads so usually everything's kosher. If not, that's when I revert.

Installed a new mod whose exact name I can't remember (Kerbal Nav Utilities or somesuch) which is damn unfortunate because it was pretty cool. Gives you glide slope instrumentation for landing spaceplanes. Used it to successfully bring down the second Lab Rat 7 on the runway (I knew the plane could land, I just didn't have any nav aids out when I did the first Rat and folded on final approach). Rescued a Kerbal; with the way I've got my strategies set up that one actually produced a fair chunk of science. Attempted to launch a parts testing high-orbit vehicle; had my staging set incorrectly so I reverted that flight. I'll be trying again tonight. Still haven't visited Mun in my new career save; I should probably get around to doing it - it's not like I don't have overly sufficient tech for the job at this point.

Here's a good tutorial on picking up science. It's a pretty good example of what you'll want to look for in a Mun/Minmus lander anyway - low and wide, so that the stupid thing doesn't tip over when you're finally reach the surface. I use about a dozen mods all told. Crucial ones I would consider are Kerbal Alarm Clock, Docking Port Alignment Indicator (once you start thinking about docking anyways), and a navigational assistance mod. The undisputed kings of the nav assistance mods are Mechjeb and Kerbal Engineer Redux. Both provide flight information not typically available in the stock game. Mechjeb also includes autopilots, which is why it's the source of some controversy on these forums; there are folks who consider it a cheat - I'm not one of thems. Myself, I use KER. Just got started using RCS Build Aid myself; that one's turned out to be helpful in, of all things, helping to design spaceplanes. It's good for rockets too. Whether or not it's crucial, I haven't used it enough yet to say one way or the other.

I'd say Duna. If you want an intermediate step, go for Ike - it's pretty much like landing on Mun, except you have to go interplanetary to get there. Give your craft enough delta-V and you can hit both in one setting. If you're going for science, I'd suggest a single lander with a lab-equipped mothership (for experiment storage). Eve is easier to reach than Duna. Landing there's easy too. Getting back up is, since it was created it back in 0.17, still probably the game's ultimate challenge. Gilly's a tough nut to intercept; think of it as Minmus on crack. It's SOI is ridiculously small and its inclination is killer. If you can get there, though, it's one of the easiest landings in the game - you don't really land on it as much as you dock with it. You can inadvertently shoot a Kerbal out of its SOI with its backpack.

Should be surface attachable, like Taki117 said. It's worth mentioning that a rover doesn't have to include Rovemates at all. For example... This is the Hellhound 7, my most successful rover design. Designed this puppy waaaaay back in 0.19 and it's still the one I go to for big jobs, despite the changes in part designs over the years (I only wish the 88-88 antenna was that small these days). At its core is a OKTO2 attached to a Reaction Wheel (it was called a SAS Module back then), with Structural plates below that. That's a key element of rover design IMHO - you got to encase the crucial bits in parts with high impact tolerances (panels and girders). If you don't, you risk having a catastrophic accident if (when) the rover flips over. Remember - build them low, build them wide, SAS on, drive in Docking Mode. Keep the critical bits encased.

I'd agree that for most parts, you want to test during the ascent. I was just saying that my experience with chutes usually goes the other way around.

Before you attempt your test, you have to make sure all the criteria are met. Generally, "in flight" and "Kerbin" will be met once you've lifted off. There should also be a range of altitudes and a range of speeds for the test; you have to be within these parameters. Then - and only then - do you hit the staging controls and activate the chute to fulfill the contract. In my experience, most of the time for chute contracts you'll want to do the test while you're coming back down, hopefully with a little bit of juice in your fuel tanks so that you have some control over speed; those altitude ranges can be pretty damn narrow, IMHO. Alternatively, if you have the parts, you might consider testing with a aeroplane. As for your avatar, I believe you have to have a minimum of ten posts on the forums before you can start using that feature.