KSK

Yeah - I've had problems with the forum search too. Not really sure what to do about it - I've changed my signature to include a link to this thread which might help a bit but doesn't really make it much more discoverable. The link from TV Tropes is much appreciated though! As an aside and out of curiosity I searched for 'ksp first flight' and 'kerbal space program first flight' on Google. This thread popped up as the third and fifth result respectively. Quite cheering, given that those are pretty generic keywords. Well generic for a relatively niche pursuit anyway.

There are links to the original information at the bottom of the Wikipedia article. Two of them look like fairly mainstream sources of information that wouldn't have been hard to get hold of. Also - the 60s aren't that far away I know at least one person on these forums (I suspect many more) who would have been watching the Moon landings in their mid-teens.

What Vanamonde said. Changing your conics mode makes midcourse correction burns vastly easier. With that said, doing everything with a single course correction can be fiddly unless you have a small enough engine on your probe (trying to change velocity by tenths of a metre per second with an LV909 gets old very fast!). I tend to do a 'good enough' mid course correction and then fine tune about 2 days out from the SOI, as per Alistone's advice.

Woah - take it easy Nats. As Blizzy pointed out, the Daily Kerbal has you covered. Also, unless I'm missing something, there's no need to get a Tumblr account to view the blog, although I'm guessing you do need one if you want to follow it. Off-topic - is that an Elite: Dangerous avatar I spy?

Not sure if bumping your own thread is a virtue either so you saved me from that. Anyway yes. Next update is going to be a wee bit longer yet but it should be a pretty chunky one when I finally do post it.

Couldn't agree more. Kodspeed Munar 4!

If you want something a little less beefy then this will get you to the Mun. It'll even land on it with care, although you're better off redesigning the upper stage a bit to make it less top heavy. The only part you might not have (not sure quite which level of the tech tree you mean) is the Stack Tricoupler. You won't have the FL-T800 fuel tank either but you can use two FL-T400s instead so that doesnt matter. edit: Ignore the ladders too - they're only required for landing and there's a ton of science you can get in Munar orbit first.

Busy - as in eight pages written rather than three. Also quite happy because after a bit of research it turns out that some of the things I'm foreshadowing in this chapter are appropriate to and possible with the level of kerbal technology that I'm picturing for the story. You beat me to it actually OrtwinS. Tonight should be free for writing and I was planning to post a short update on progress here as well.

I'm 39 and I've been playing since about May this year. First full version was 0.19 after a week or so of playing the demo to death.

I see what you did there. Nice writing too!

This. I don't think I'd use a Poodle on a transfer stage but I find it gives me a very nice ascent profile for the last 5-10km of atmosphere and then up to whichever Kerbin orbit I need. Good ISP, fits inline into a 2.5m stack - it's a nice easy if not necessarily the most efficient option. I almost always use a Poodle on my workhorse 2.5m boosters for lobbing 3-kerbal orbital taxis or space station components into LKO. Also it's cheaper than an LV-909, although admittedly that doesn't mean a great deal at the moment and may well be rebalanced in future. I have a sneaking suspicion that it might not be though - the low cost would offset it's weight and lowish performance nicely. One line summary - I like the Poodle.

Yup - sulfur won't do much but concentrated sulfuric acid is an oxidant. Also highly corrosive, hygroscopic and generally nasty to handle. Nitric oxide might be a more Kerbal-friendly choice - it's used in hybrid motors (think SpaceShipOne) here on Earth and also in amateur rocketry - apparently it burns well with polyethylene and other polymers, so I imagine it should go reasonably well with gasoline (or a heavier hydrocarbon fraction - that fuel looks a little too black and sticky to be refined gasoline). Plus there's something fairly Kerbal about using laughing gas as rocket fuel Sorry - chemist here! Whichever propellant you end up using, this is nice writing - your style has developed a lot. Looking forward to seeing what the Rocket Research Center does with their bigger budget!

Next chapter is (finally) rolling along. I knew where I wanted it to go, have known that for a while, but it took me some time to figure out how to get it started. It's shaping up to be quite a long one too - I'm about three pages in and not much has happened yet plot-wise.

Yup - loved the last part of this chapter and the epilogue just made me smile. Always a good way to start the day! Sounds like Jeb and Jedwig are going to be a little bit Kirk and Spock - not always a smooth partnership but a heck of a team. Bring on that Munbase!

To quote another work on this forum - Geepers... That was quite a chapter - hope Gene is OK. Jedwig - this is a team game - always has been. Each flight is as much a learning curve for the folks behind the consoles as the folks in the capsule. Help them do their thing, let them help you do your thing and then, when the Kraken does hit the grav-field, you'll have a whole lot of friends watching your back and busting a gut to bring you home.

Not sure how I managed to miss this thread but it's definitely subbed now! Looking forward to the effects tests!

Heh - a real tribute to the X games would have been powered by solar arrays (aka a solar power plant) and left on time acceleration overnight to get anywhere That is one sweet looking ship anyway!

Yup. Take it easy folks. That last chapter was like all the others in this fine story - a pretty big chunk of text. It takes time to even write those, never mind proofreading and revisions. Especially if you're doing it in your spare time.

Sure. Your story has only been up for a day though so don't worry if it hasn't picked up any comments yet (apart from this one ). It's had a decent number of views, so I'd just put the second part up and see what happens. One suggestion though if I may - put your characters' dialogue in speech marks. Like this: But meanwhile at the Space center back on Kerbin the atmosphere was tense! T-minus ten, nine, eight, ..., three two one ignition! "And we have a liftoff," the launch director yelled out. It would make the story a lot easier to read.

I don't imagine they're a great idea for detaching lateral boosters but they work just fine for inline staging. The Saturn V used retrorockets to assist with first stage separation.

Great idea! Picking up the pace a little I give you: Jebediah - by 'Ozzy' Kerman Finished with my first stage engines Left those suckers far behind People think I'm insane because I am grinning all the time All day long I dreamt of space But nothing seemed to satisfy Nearly lost my mind and then I found a rocket ship to fly Can you see me? Can you see me fly? Flying high... Woaah yeah! Built a rocket, went to test it Saw the fire in the sky Happiness is extra boosters Fit one more on if I try Now I gotta course correction Sent me swinging round the Mun Holy smokes thats one big crater Maybe gonna land there soon And so as you hear these words Remember now my smiling face I tell you to enjoy life I know I do but I'm in space!

Heh - rumbled. It does make it easy to find things in the flight list though.

First successful mission to Eve. Eve 1 is in a nice roughly equatorial orbit. Eve 2 didn't have enough fuel remaining for it's scheduled trip to Gilly and wasn't stable enough for a powered landing on Eve, so it got parked in orbit too. In a fit of pure creative naming, the Jool 1 is currently en route to ummmm Jool.

Ahhh - so that's what a caged booster system is. You build a cage. Out of boosters. And use it to capture Gilly.

And the flowers... are still standing! Too many good lines to mention in that film, although; "It just occurs to me - we've never had a completely successful test with any of this equipment." seems fairly KSP. Which reminds me. "Are you a God?"