jwatte

I have this same problem, and it doesn't work for me. I've restarted the game several times. I go into space with a science module. I observe it with a scientist. It claims 25 science worth! It's also labeled as "from space around kerbin" in the green title text -- it's taken at about 100k meters above ground (a fair bit before the apex of the trajectory.) I de-orbit and land, preserving the module and the capsule (using lots of parachutes and careful steering :-) However, upon "recover vessel" I get 0 science rewarded, and the contract does not fulfill. This happened even when starting the game, building the rocket from scratch, and flying the mission just as described. So, in case it wasn't clear: Tried rebooting/restarting, didn't work. This is a stock game. What else should I do? I'm wasting money on these "successful" missions ... (Career mode, normal difficulty.)

I found this thread on Google, so re-activating it :-) I also have the problem with my delta wing. With gears out, I can't get it to glide slower than 70 m/s or so (it takes off at 100 m/s.) And, hitting the runway going 70 m/s makes it insta-blow-up, even though most of that velocity is horizontal, not vertical. I'm considering putting a chute on this plane as a work-around...

Ah, the straps with little fasteny bits, instead of I-beams. I'll try that!

I appreciate your advice. I'm trying to build that now, and I'm still having some problems. First, I realized that the cubic octagonal strut does attach to the sides like an I-beam, but the regular octagonal strut does not. Confusing! Second, I can't figure out how to properly strap so that it actually "glues" to both ends. I have six I-beams from the big tanks below sticking up (, and I attach six radial decouplers and six I-beams from above (A), and make them meet in the middle. Turn on the MIG and jam it on there, and it would weld them just fine :-) However, on the launchpad, these two different I-beams just cheerfully glide through each other, with no bonding action at all. Same thing if I try girders in the same configuration. So, how do I make the strapping "stick" in this configuration? Ideally, with some way of releasing it when done with the bottom monster stage?

How do I attach the octagonal struts to the bottom of the tank? As opposed to the regular I-beams, they don't seem to want to stick (or multiply by the N-way selector.)

Yes that's what I'm seeing. Thanks everyone for verifying it isn't possible. The reason there were no de-couplers was that it's easier to illustrate the problem -- only one motor will be sheathed, showing that there's only one connection point. If I put four de-couplers on, four motors will be sheathed, but it still doesn't snap in more than one location, and still collapses on the launchpad, except the cause is much less obvious to see. As for answering the higher-level problem: I actually want to do this with the nukes, but as they were blowing up on launchpad, I figured I'd get a less volatile engine working first, before going back to that. I had already tried strutting -- eight "200 I-beams" in turn clad with M-2x2 structural panels, but that didn't brace it enough. I admire the cleverness of the docking port design, but I've found docking ports to be even wobblier than decouplers. In general, the physics engine is more wobbly than "real life" as far as I can tell. Mild Steel has a shear strength of at least 50,000 pounds per square inch; alloy steels much higher. The connecting area of even a small decoupler or other ring connection would be in the hundreds of square inches, but they behave like bubblegum and duct tape. I think this is because KSP uses the default 32-bit game physics engine of Unity?

I want to use four parallel engines from a big fuel tank, using a one-to-four adapter. Then I want to join them up again into the big tank below them. However, I can only get one engine to "click" into the socket, and the others just sit there. The end result is a very weak coupling and the whole thing collapses on the launchpad. (Even if I add a lot of steel bars) How can I make all four of the engines "click" into the adapter at the same time? If that can't be done, what's a good alternative?

I built a booster rocket and a lander, and go a pair of Kerbals to walk around on the Mun. Then I re-entered the compartment, and dusted off upwards again. However, I never got the trajectory displays again, and whenever I wanted to switch to space center or otherwise manage the flight, I got the message that I was "moving on the surface" and thus must stay in the mode I was. I was actually > 50000 meters above the surface, on a ballistic trajectory upwards. Is there some mode or key I need to hit while on the surface, before taking off, to go back into "trajectory/orbit" mode instead of surface movement mode? Or, if not, what else could have gone wrong here? I want to bring those Kerbals back!