SRV Ron

Whatever does the job at the least cost and mass;

When that new Saturn 1B design goes galloping away from the pad upon launch because you didn't add braces.

Set up a second copy of KSP. It is easy to do by just copying the KSP folder to another location and creating a shortcut for that copy for your desktop. Use the copy for adding mods you want to experiment with. That way, you can continue to learn with stock KSP and have the mod copy for experimenting with.

Unlock the solar panels, then do a probe mission before committing a Kerbal. The explore Mun, Minmus, etc contracts are easily done with one way missions with this early career design. (Add parachutes for Eve and Duna.) The small designs can easily return from Mun or Minmus. Eve, Duna design

Landed at night, very dark. That's doing it the hard way. Need to go to the one man pod so the ships don't need to be so huge. Better yet, go unmanned until you gain the experience. Manned Career Lander Launcher, some KW rocketry mods in use On the Mun. Lots of fuel left to return in spite of the difficulity lending in rough terrain

Did a career designed Min lander mission and returned. Good thing I added the landing legs on the radical decoupler for added stability. The launch vehicle contains KW parts. In spite of having to hunt for a landing spot which used more fuel then expected, the lander has enough fuel for a return flight. Lander is all stock; Launch vehicle Landed on Mun; On liftoff, the legs were staged.

That particular wing does weird things at certain speeds and angles to air flow. With a different type of wing, the issue of sideways flight under drogue parachute vanished.

No conic patch was used for this. Perhaps, for viewing in tracking station mode.

45%. The rocket went to 36,700 meters after a slight turn for an ocean landing.

Make liberal use of the SRBs on the first stage. Remember, you can limit their thrust if they are providing too much lift in their phase of the flight to extend their overall lifting performance to up to the first 10,000 meters. Still, lifting heavy payloads will be expensive. Jool Explorer based upon another player's design

My first mission started out with an RT-10, Pod, and parachute. I got contracts for launch and set 5,000 meters altitude. Landing in the water will allow for RT-10 recovery Here is that first ship and its cost.With tweaking of the thrust, I also completed the 33,000 meter altitude contract. For the sub orbital mission, the tweaked first stage combined with a full power booster, made it to space in a sub orbital mission. Combined with Goo canisters, observations, EVA, and reports, you can gather enough science to start unlocking the second tier Science which will bring up additional contracts to fulfill. Combine as many as possible for the most efficient use of your resources.

Exactly the basis of the designs I posted. You can also try different engine combinations like I did with the single fuel can since all Mainsails was too much power and all Skippers not enough. The single fuel can is asparagus while the five can launcher onion staging.

A simpler design, probe from Career. It will land with sufficient fuel to return. (However, no parachute). The Mun probe can land OK if you can find a flat surface or are careful which way you are drifting when landing on a slope. Even then, if you land slowly, the probe may survive if it tips over after landing. Even this, with no landing gear, survived landing on a slope.

Placing non returnable probes on Eve is easy. A parachute alone is enough. Planning on returning them not so easy. The ships are so large that they are prone to being damaged upon contact with the surface.

There could be tweaks in contracts, multiple biomes on Duna, Eve, Laythe, and the other planets and their moons. Maybe an additional planet or two, and comets. But, how about if we all wait and be pleasantly surprised with what Squad releases. After all, these threads tend to get too speculative with misinformation, then end up locked.

For contracts requiring science data from orbit, place a probe in orbit with solar panels, battery, antenna, and a Too Hot thermometer. While transmitting the temperature from orbit will net zero science, that transmission will satisfy the requirement of the contract netting you easy money and maybe a science point or two. If bringing back a material bay, Goo canisters, and other equipment, you can plan to have some reserve fuel and engine to slow down landing speed at the last second to protect that delicate equipment returning to Kerbal. You can recover most of the cost by returning them rather then abandoning them. Its up to you how you want to handle those missions.

Welcome to the Kerbal School of hard Knocks. Even NASA went through such a period with their Vanguard series of rockets.

The Kerbal X is not the easiest moon rocket to fly for a new player. Try landing on Minmus or build this design in sandbox. (From the Demo). It will reach Mun with plenty of fuel for landing and return

KSP-0.23 Five Orange Fuel Cans to orbit, all stock with onion staging. There is sufficient fuel in the last stage to boost to the 150k orbit.

Witty post is not required. Going to the Kerbal School of Hard Knocks to learn Kerbal Rocketry is required. (Build them and see what works or crashes.) For rockets, just start out simple with a capsule, parachute, and an RT-10 SRB. Do one flight straight up and see how high it will go. Observe how overpowered it is and its tendency to overheat. Note what happens to the RT-10 when it lands on the ground. Fly it again but use the d key to turn it a little to the East so you land in the ocean. Note what happens to it there. Put a decoupler between it and the capsule and stage at burnout. Note the results of that flight. That first ship from Career; Now, tweak that design by right clicking on the SRB in the VAB and turn down its thrust to 50%. Launch it again and note how high it flies. Tweak it some more to see if you can fly to over 33,000 meters. Put a second RT-10 with a decoupler between it and your tweaked RT-10 with capsule. Fly that, note how high it can go suborbital. Do another flight with that design but this time, do an orbital turn starting at burnout of the first RT-10, Try to turn to aim for a apogee of 75,000 meters. See how far this sub orbital flight will go. That second ship from career; as you get the experience of what works, you can then experiment with the 1.25M liquid fueled engines and feel out how they perform. You will soon be ready to place Jeb in orbit and return.

Do a mission to Minmus first and land on the sea. Use a rocket with no RCS so that you learn to kill all horizontal drift by tilting the rocket. Minmus's lower gravity and flat seas will make learning how to land much easier. When you got the experience of landing on Minmus, then go for Mun with its uneven surface and higher gravity. The demo Mun lander in 0.23.5 And, a mod ship

Most certainly, use SRBs for launch. They can either be a stage of their own, or just add thrust, for the first 5000 to 10000 meters. That will make a big difference in the performance of the rest of the rocket. Early Career Mun return vehicle. A mod design using SRB assisted launch.

The mods can certainly be helpful, but they cannot replace the learning experience of the Kerbal School of Hard Knocks. (Build something, test it, and see if it works or not. Then rebuild it to see if it will work better.) An example. This orange fuel can lifter either had too much power using all Mainsails which wasted fuel, or not enough power with all skippers which also wasted fuel. Using Skippers with a pair of Mainsails on the last pair of the asparagus gave vastly improved performance to the design by giving the design the right amount of power over weight for the most fuel efficient flight.

Bare minimum to orbit. Small Payloads;

There was a challenge called how far can you go with the fewest parts. With a five part rocket and some fuel flow and engine disabling commands, a rocket consisting of a capsule, Ftl-800 fuel can, LV-N engine, Orange fuel can and Skipper engine, made a one way trip to Laythe and beyond. So, how do you stage it? When the orange fuel can is empty, you disable the Skipper, activate the fuel in the FTL-800, Fire the LV-N and it stages by blowing up the orange fuel can. So, yes, one way trips to Eve, Duna, Jool and its moons are possible with a five part design and careful power management. This 10 part is no different other then it has two decouplers, parachute, and two solar panels.