Scarecrow88

At the moment it's in LKO. The idea is to eventually have a Mun shuttle docked for transferring personnel to a similar station that I intend to set up around the Mun, so it will be used for fuelling the shuttles. May also use it to top up the tanks of anything leaving Kerbin for other planets. Have one more spot for another Jumbo 64, as the two spots underneath and out of sight have RCS tanks attached, 2 stacks of 3, giving a total of 6. Not sure what to use the empty node next to the communications tower for, but I guess something will come to me. ETA: Just realised this is in the wrong forum. If a mod sees this, could they move it to somewhere more appropriate. Thanks.

Below are a couple of shots in sequence of my flight to dock another Jumbo 64 on my fuelling station. I only have two mods installed - the protractor one that gives you the ejection angles for going to other planets, and the one I used here, camera docking. The approach and docking were all done manually, but using the read-outs on the camera docking window, I was able to do it without having to juggle the camera view around. I am confident that I could use this mod to dock when in darkness behind the planet. The only difficulty there is picking out the docking node you want to set as your target. I really should have put lights on the station. All docked and ready to detach the tug for de-orbit.

Can now add images for my first successful attempt to put a rover on the Mun. Have also realised that I didn't take a screenshot of my craft in orbit around Duna, so I guess I will have to do that one again. Also, with the release of .20 I have revamped my space station to use the larger docking clamps, so here's a pic of the new station.

A few hours for me, and a couple more to put a Kerbal on Minmus and back. Been playing a week now, and have a station orbiting Kerbin, have put a lander with rover on the Mun, and have a craft orbiting Duna but haven't landed there yet, and the orbiter doesn't have enough fuel to get back, so a re-think of design is needed on that one. What gave me the biggest headache was learning how to rendezvous in orbit, and I found docking tricky as I struggled with camera angles to make sure everything was lined up. The laser docking mod has helped with that. You still have to fly and dock manually, but it gives you indicators to show when all the angles are right, and how far you need to translate in any direction to get lined up.

The SAS is trying to correct the change in attitude of your ship that you are inducing with your manual inputs. When using RCS, I always hold down the 'F' key, which temporarily disables SAS until I am pointing the direction I want, and then release the 'F' key so that SAS kicks back in and holds my new heading.

The side with the triangle attaches to your craft. The side with the smaller, fatter black rectangle faces outwards and is the side that mates together.

I put mine underneath the LM, which sits on top of the launch vehicle but upside down, so the rover is actually at the very top. LM is attached to a command module which stays in orbit around the Mun and is used to get everyone back to Kerbin.

MadDog just because he makes me chuckle with his wild eyed expressions.

This was my first lander ever, built to go to the Mun, but found it had plenty to go to Minmus as well This one I went for a minimalistic rover carrier, as it was the first time trying to get a rover out there, and only did it today, so fresh off the drawing board. Just detached from the command module. Landed All using stock parts, as I have only just started playing and don't want to clog up my ancient PC if I don't need to.

Press F2 to make extra info disappear and re-appear.

And don't forget to fit a battery. I made that mistake just the other day and found I had no command over the vessel once the energy within the remote control died.

The jr docking clamp will fit the nose of the small capsule but, as far as I know, it will only dock with another jr port. If using a dock on the nose of a capsule, you can use a couple of side mounted parachutes instead of the one that usually goes on the nose.

That looks just the ticket. I'm surprised it's not a standard feature of the game.

I have just designed a small buggy/rover that will be suitable for use on the Mun, and I also have a craft sufficient to get it there, but how do I load both in the VAB at the same time so that I can put the two together? Is there a way, or do you have to build everything in one go?

Manoeuvre nodes and excellent tutorials all play a part. I've been playing for a week now, and have completed successful return missions to both Mun and Minmus, have a Station orbiting Kerbin equipped with several tanks for re-fuelling purposes as well as having enough habitat space to house 30 Kerbals, managed to rescue 3 Kerbals from Mun when a wafty landing managed to tip their craft on it's side, and have a capsule orbiting Duna, though it isn't equipped for landing and doesn't have enough fuel to get back, so that will be another rescue mission. I wouldn't have been able to do any of this if it wasn't for the help and tutorials that this wonderful community have made available.

Thanks for making the changes, much more useful (for me anyway) at that range. All I need now is something that can measure the angles for me.

I customised one by utilising a couple of the flags already supplied.

I'll try that, thanks. ETA: It worked, thank you. Just shows I haven't been playing for long that I didn't know how to do something as simple as that.

I have what I thought was a station orbiting at 150km. It started with the stock body part and I've made a few additions. I notice in .20 that we now have a graphic in the tracking centre showing how many types of craft we currently have operational, and my 'station' is listed as a ship. Did I do something wrong by using a stock part to form the basis of my station, or is there something I need to do to change it's status?

Interesting chart, but most of my low orbits are below 200000m and the graph is difficult to read accurately from that distance and below.

Ooh, like the lateral thinking - lander legs as grippers.

As I am still trying to get to grips with rendezvousing in orbit, I thought I'd build a little rocket just to jump in to orbit, rendezvous with the empty tanks I jettisoned on other missions, and de-orbit them. The problem I am having is what do I put on the nose of my craft to get sufficient contact so that when I thrust retrograde to break orbit, the fuel tank doesn't just slide away? Obviously I can't use docking, as the tanks don't have a docking node on them. I've tried a V-shaped piece of angle iron, but no success so far. Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated.

I might try the I-beam approach to try and put a jumbo tank on my K.I.S.S. (Kerbal International Space Station). At the moment I have used my tractor to attach RCS refuelling tanks and a Max 32 fuel tank, but the way I have it set it can't handle loads any longer than that sticking out the top of the LV.

Launcher does have mainsails so that's an interesting point to note. Advice with regard to docking port on each end of structure is pretty much what I've been doing, so it's nice to know I'm kinda on the right track. Just thought that with lots of wobbling, there might have been a more elegant solution that I hadn't thought of.

Ok. Thanks for that. Not obvious looking at the descriptions of both in the VAB.