FacticiusVir

Gravity confirmed my suspicion that George Clooney is the single greatest risk factor of any manned space mission.

Personally, my bugbear is that the parts feel like there's one "correct" rocket to build (which isn't surprising, as they're based off real designs). The four-rocket cluster is underpowered as a first stage engine (given the weight of the 3m fuel tanks, and certainly in comparison to the new single-nozzle, second-stage engine) and you /have/ to use the liquid booster engines to make up the TWR; plus the clusters can't be stacked, so you /have/ to use them as a first stage (in a stack, anyway). Okay, my other bugbear - where's my 3m docking port, battery & SAS? That said, I'm enjoying the new parts, because they let me simplify the weird multi-stack mainsail monsters I had before, and build something that actually scales like a proper Saturn V.

And in a comedy twist, I made it to the Mün and back after all. Still curious to see if/how it scales up to interplanetary.

Yeah, I've done a round-trip to Laythe using Ion engines; it's the extra weight of oxidiser & rocket-powered descent that gets me.

I'll be really interested to see if/how OP manages this; I've been stuck trying to get an SSTO to the Mün and back. I just can't find a balance of enough fuel/jets to fly into Kerbin orbit, and enough fuel/low enough mass to get back up off the Mün. FAR might change that though, as I'm playing without mods.

N bodies, where n is a number greater than 2. The N-body problem is that there is no equation for calculating the positions of more than 2 orbital bodies with interacting gravity, for any given point in time. We can only calculate the positions by iteratively updating in small steps from a given start point.

If you're having problems with seeing where you're landing, just timewarp for six hours till Jeb's on the day side.

Finished the proof-of-concept mission for a Soyuz challenge I'm working on:

Frickin' Eve, man. I don't have the patience to screw around with asparagus staging, and Eve is the only thing that necessitates it.

Did a similar challenge when the first screenshot came out: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/52043-The-Tech-Level-1-Orbital-Challenge Dude got to Duna and back (though not always intact). Crazy stuff.

I think I can see an award in that...

My mission log for this challenge (designs omitted as I can't find a Spoiler tag): The Kerbal-1: Hit 75km, ~1400m/s short of orbit. Turns out a single Mk16 parachute isn't enough to slow the whole rocket, but the empty fuel tanks make a passable aquabrake. Pilot survived the test. Kerbal-2: Mk16s on radial girder sections make an effective poor-man's radial parachute. Mounting several atop the central rocket stack tears the rocket in half when the 'chutes fully open - officially recorded as "Mk1 decoupler". Reaction wheels in Mk1 Pod unable to maintain rocket's pitch, burn aborted at 18km. Pilot survived the test. Kerbal-3: Very close, only 177m/s shy of stable LKO. Rocket splashes down at a safe 6.6m/s, but topples over and destroys top half of fuel stack. Pilot survived the test. Kerbal-4: Engine thrust insufficient to lift the rocket, rocket topples over and explodes. Pilot survived the test. Kerbal-5: Successfully achieves LKO of 73km with 1.5% of fuel to spare - successful reentry & rough landing of 7.8m/s. Side engines destroyed on impact, rocket topples over and explodes. Issue identified with electrical supply for continued use of reaction wheels - specific issue stated as "There isn't one." Rocket design team realises that no-one knows where electricity comes from, it's just there when the rocket launches, though it has been found leaking out of engines during burns. Further research required. Pilot survived the test.

In the latest KSP weekly, Squad have published a screenshot of the new tech tree, including the first available tech level: Using just those parts, build a rocket that will get at least one Kerbal into LKO, and (preferably) back again. The part list available (as best I can tell): Command Pod Mk1 LV-T30 Liquid Fuel Engine RT-10 Solid Fuel Booster FL-T200 Fuel Tank Modular Girder Segment Communotron 16 Mk16 Parachute Points awarded as follows: Achieve a stable Low Kerbin Orbit (Periapsis 70km+) with one Kerbal: +20 points Achieve a stable High Kerbin Orbit (Periapsis 100km+) with one Kerbal: +15 points Achieve either orbit with two or more Kerbals: +10 points Successful reentry to Kerbin atmosphere: +5 points Pilot(s) survives return journey: +10 points Rocket is completely undamaged after landing: +10 points Additional awards: Mk1 Decoupler (External Combustion Engine) - simulate staging by using an upper stage rocket to destroy a lower stage. Mk1 Decoupler (Inertial Dampers) - simulate staging by using the force of parachutes opening to forcibly detach the upper stage. Extra-Vehicular Propulsion - achieve orbit/reentry using the pilot's EVA thrusters. The BobNova Award for Gallantry in the face of Common Sense - leave Kerbin's SOI

ZOMG, I love that infographic. How did you make that?

Pug III, the current iteration of my Mün-Dres single-stage VTOL shuttle: And at launch, with the Münar transit stage:

Honestly, I'd stick it on 4x physical warp, go get a coffee and leave it for 20-30mins to run the burns. Also, I didn't realise that solar power is reduced out by Jool, so the Ion drives were running at one-third power on the way back.

I experimented with that, and the best I've found is around 90-100 degrees before prograde - which makes sense, because you're most of the way out of the SOI of Kerbin so you don't have to compensate as much. Unless I've missed something important, which would explain why my planning-stage deltaV calculations were too low.

A friend challenged me to build an SSTO that could fly to Laythe and back with no staging, refueling or otherwise; so here she is, the Archangel 2: Safely on Laythe: Setting off for home: The secret? F**ktons of Xenon.

Been trying the Mün-to-Dres mission; the mission's easy in execution, but working out the Delta-V you need for Mün to Dres Intercept (and vice versa) is much more complicated than I expected. Current estimation of the round-trip is about 8.5km/s, much more than my original 7km/s calculation. Will do a final run and put up pictures in a bit.

Fair, though [manoeuvre] ;-)

If Got Your Back & We have a Reservation are exclusive, I should only have 86 points. That makes more sense, actually.

You can focus on the manoeuvre node if you tab through focus in map mode.

I think you can use a docking port for this - if placed in the same way as a decoupler in the VAB stack, there is a right-click decouple option on the docking port, and I don't think it applies ejection force.

A serious (RL) issue with having your Kerbals cramped up in a small space for months at an end would be the physical impact - without regular & rigorous movement and exercise, your Kerbals with suffer serious muscle and bone atrophy. Sounds like the easiest "punishment" for not giving your Kerbals enough space is to prevent them from EVAing - so no flag planting if you don't take care of them.

@jrandom Awesome, you answered my question before I even asked it :-D I've run some experiments, and it seems the upper stage will stay stuck with fairings until you eject them, but can be decoupled if you only cover 2 of the 4 sides with fuselages. I'm not sure how helpful that is, but it may have use for re-entry shields and the like.