mellojoe

I also noticed that the current Crew Management system in 0.21 has no way to revive dead Kerbals. I appreciated in Crew Manifest plugin how you could bring back a lost Kerbal if you needed to. I don't want to lose Jeb Bill or Bob, and yet the VAB editor constantly resets the pilot to the first availible. Well, some missions I don't want to use the main three, and I swap them out for a new recruit. Except, if you go back into the VAB on the exact same craft, it will reset to the first availible, usually Jeb. If I manually pick the pilot, don't reset it, KSP. Once I pick the pilot, it should stay that way for that craft. Crew Manifest did this. It also let you swap out pilots while on the launchpad. So if you forgot to change pilots in the VAB, you could make the swap as soon as you noticed the wrong portrait.

Ditto. Not that I'm GREAT with rendezvous, but that I'm good enough to make it work sometimes. But, then I turn on MechJeb and let it go in for the final push. Looking forward to trying out this tutorial. I'm so bad at docking and I MUST get better at it to be able to handle all these plans in my head. Very much looking forward to tonights KSP session. Also, My biggest problem with docking is having unbalanced RCS. So, whey I try to laterally shift to the left (for instance) I also introduce a rotational element which moves the front of my ship out of position. I think I might try a mod for RCS balancing for a bit in order to learn docking first. Then wean myself off that as I get better at learning how my crafts change center of mass during flight (spending fuel).

Under the tab: LOST, is there not a way to revive dead Kerbals?

so far, zero problems here. First few rockets have been absolutely stable. Better than before. I deleted all my savefiles, and started fresh. 100% working here, and working better than 0.20

I love this mod. Love it. The new fairings are so pretty. In fact, they are so pretty, that's the problem. Might I suggest making them more "Kerbal" in appearance? Make the textures a little rougher or dirty them up a bit? They are just so pretty, and smooth, and white. I love the whole mod pack and I'm super excited to get to use them.

On large items, you can also attach separatrons. These will push the large booster away from the main craft when it separates. Can be handy to keep things from smacking into stuff as it falls away.

I love, love, love the idea of 5-minute crafts. I cannot wait to try this!

This. This is the purpose of KSP. For all of my Kerbal missions. Just because.

Much like Ender's Game, we are playing for real here.

Why not simply install Crew Manifest? Works like a charm. And you can easily add Kerbals to the habitat cans, et al. Will be extremely similar to what is released in 0.21

I've often discovered this same problem. If you have a part in the middle of an engine's thrust, it does weird things. I haven't noticed the spinning wheel problem, but you had better believe I am hitting brakes on future crafts.

May I ask how you are going about achieving orbit? Because you may not be doing it very effeciently, which then leaves you at the end of your journey without enough to come home. Are you just launching straight up until you hit deep space and then turning sideways to get oribt? This is not the most effecient way. It may be faster, time-wise, but you burn a ton of fuel. You really want a nice circular path upward, and depending on the atmosphere you are dealing with you want to start your circular turn fairly early. On Kerbin, most people do their gravity turn starting at about 10km. On Duna, you can start much, much earlier. Probably starting gravity turn around 3km, following a nice round path. If you liftoff from Kerbin this way, you might find you end up on Duna with much more fuel.

I have currently deleted everything. I will be starting fresh from scratch. I'm looking forward to the new challenges, and the new parts. I have an idea for a new lifter I want to try, but I don't want to start it until .21 actually drops. I'm really hoping that is soon. Like this week soon. Also, I'm hoping that procedural fairings work with .21. I have not used it in the past and just recently discovered it. I'm very much looking forward to using it on my new crafts. My only mods previously were MechJeb and Crew Manifest. With Crew Manifest being integrated as a stock feature, I feel like adding a new mod pack will be perfectly timed. Cannot wait to re-discover the Mun and Minmus. Very excited to start a new long-term oribital base. (My last one died to insta-explode save-state.) The new ASAS might mean eliminating the wobble-of-death from space stations. Which means I am very hopeful for a larger base than before.

I had a 4-probe satellite ship thing that I used to drop multiple probes around celestial bodies. For example, the whole craft would go to Jool, put 4 satellites into differing orbits (FOR SCIENCE!) and then return home. I've done that dumb thing where I deployed a satellite, switched to control it to orient it, and drove it right back into the mothership. d'oh I've also done that dumb thing where I deployed a satellite, situated it where I wanted it, fired up the mothership to move to the next orbit, and smashed right into the satellite. d'oh Lesson learned: Look the way the ship is pointing before you accelerate.

Also, look up stitching with struts. It basically joins the tanks in a single stack together.

Also, try to have your rear landing gear slightly higher than your front gear. This causes the entire ship to lean back while sitting on the runway. It makes takeoff a breeze. ((edit)) Also, have an even number of tailfins. I don't know why but it seems to help. As does slightly angling your wings or tailfins. Sometimes this helps stabilize the left and right forces.

If you look on YouTube there and search for "Kerbal Space strut stitching" you will see a very simple technique. Just put 4x or 6x symmetry and place struts across the connecition between the two tanks. I use this method for all my stacks on large tanks.

This. Or, set a maneuver node at the point where Mun rise would be visible and adjust the arrows. Sometimes using MechJeb when you are new actually hurts your learning curve. Trust me. I'm a better Kerbalnaught now since I've stopped relying on MechJeb so much.

When you are burning for circulization, watch where you start the burn. If you are not burning 100% at the Apoapsis, then you will be shifting the AP if you just point along the horizon or along prograde. To keep the AP from moving make sure you start just before the AP and if it is a longer burn time, move your nose down toward the planet at the same time. If you are not burning exactly at the AP, then you will move the AP while burning. You can usually mitigate this by starting burn slightly before and continuing the burn at AP and slightly after AP.

Sometimes you can make things work, but aesthetically it is a crap-bag. Part clipping can take the same vessel and pretty it up a bit, which is exactly what real engineers would do anyway. Now, stacking 16 thrusters in the space of one is most definitely cheating.

Here's my anniversary tribute.

How is it possible to gain orbital velocity by doing an Earth flyby? Don't you expend energy to get into orbit? How do you gain additional velocity by returnning right back where you left? I know I must be missing something simple. The Cassini probe did two Venus flyby's plus an Earth flyby. That makes total sense. Leave Earth, gain gravity assist from Venus, do an oribital manuever at Apoapsis, catch Venus on the return trip, and use an Earth flyby at that point to slingshot you to the outer planets. But how do you gain anything by leaving Earth, then simply returnning? Where is momentum gained?

No, not the real sound. Reading the article it seems he added them as part of the production. quote: "Canning says he actually upgraded the footage to enterprise-quality 50,000kbps 1080p resolution, enhanced colors and detail throughout the landing sequence, and even included practical sound effects  which, while not originally recorded by the spacecraft during its descent, adds to the viewing experience considerably." However, still beautifully done. I recommend going out and reading the article, because it links to a previous version of a similar yet different video from a different producer. The other one uses music instead of "practical sound effects" and has a more theatrical quality to it. Both are stunning, and now I can't stop watching them. You can also see the original footage as released by NASA, which was only actually recorded at about 4 frames per second. These guys basically tweaked the original to be smoother and upsampled them to higher quality. Very well done.

I have read this article twice. It has really taught me how little I know of the Soviet space program, as well as a wonderful glimpse into the two great nations sharing information at a time when their rivalry was at a burning passion. I am inspired to learn more about the Soviets. It seems their approach was almost Kerbal like. They had many failures, but each taught them much in order to plan for the next. The Luna missions actually remind me of my own KSP trials. http://www.dvice.com/2013-7-12/when-apollo-11-met-luna-15-orbit-around-moon

our Kerbal team will all be on holiday as well. My wife and I are celebrating an anniversary, and we are also travelling to a good friend's wedding. So no computers for me this weekend. I'll be lucky if I can get anything done tonight. I might load up this mission, make the tweaks to correct the problems in this one, and relaunch it. (FUEL LINES, JEB! DAMN YOU, FUEL LINES!) However, between packing and loading the car, I may not have the time.