Agent86

When switching between docking mode and staging mode for angle of approach during docking has resulted numerous times in me throttling up my main engine, instead of translating up with RCS, which gives the effect of the most impatient and violent docking attempt ever. Maybe that's how that cargo module collided with the MIR station so badly that one time.

Tucked away in the corner of an unassuming industrial estate in my hometown. Maybe I should ask them for a tour?

I landed one of the probes on minmus, from the mothership way out in a 1500km Kerbin orbit. For SCIENCE! And somehow, I got it to balance right on it's itty bitty engine.

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forbin-explorer-3/ This is the third in the Forbin series I’ve been developing. It carries 21 independent vehicles, for total system reconnaissance and settlement. Uses parts from the most recent update. There are sixteen liquid fuel probes with a science package, plenty of fuel and RCS, they are small and light enough to get a good orbit on a moon, or with small moons, even descend to the surface intact as landers. The four second stage boosters double as rover landers, with enough delta V to get to and land on minmus from LKO. The center of the ship is a heavy lander with 3 crew members.

612 parts and 439 Tons on the pad, but I still have some flight testing and modification to do on it so that may increase a bit.

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forbin-system-explorer-2/ Forbin System Explorer II has six radially mounted, nuclear powered rover landers, each with their own descent stage. Three have parachutes, for atmospheric entry, and three do not. There are six radially mounted ion space probes with tons of Xenon onboard, and a couple big solar panels. Above that are six MORE probes with standard liquid fuel rocket engines and a full scientific package, probably capable of landing on very small moons or asteroids. And in the center of it all is a heavy duty three man lander, for a total of ninteen seperate vehicles. All of this can be put into space with a very compact and long lasting first stage, and a bit more push from the nuclear engines will give you a respectable 100-120km orbit. Refuel with the shielded docking port, and you can take it all to another planet without a problem. Beware: At launch, your framerate will fall faster than a Firefly fangirls panties at a Nathan Fillion lookalike contest.

Thanks! I've added a craft file download, first time doing it, hope it works!

I named it the Forbin Explorer, but I like to refer to it as "And the kitchen sink" It's my first successful interplanetary ship. I sent it to Jool, and I plan on visiting all of the moons. At once. Forbin has six ion/RCS powered probes, each with an array of scientific equipment, as well as a manned lander. The plan is to send a probe to each moon, and one in orbit around Jool, then I'll pick a moon I like, and land there. My LV is an array of SRBs and asparagus mainsails, with an orbital skipper engine. This launch stage will put Forbin into a 200km orbit with ease. The planetary transfer stage is a bunch of glitched together NERVA engines and a few big tanks. The CM is a cupola, because they look awesome. Descent stage is pretty standard, and the probes are clustered above the CM. each has a pair of Gigantor solar sails attached. It's even got a shielded docking port in case you want to refuel the orbiter tank in orbit and shoot for Eeloo. What do you think? CRAFT file here: http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forbinxplorer/ All stock parts by the way.

I know it's already been answered, but my untechnical solution would be to attach a radial engine by decoupler to the the side of the tank, fire that engine on the pad, then go make a coffee while it drains the tank and goes nowhere

This is my unmanned rover dispenser. It can carry 4 small rovers to minmus, and each rover is equipped with abundant RCS, so they can either be deployed in orbit and landed on their own around the moon, or they can be deployed from the lander after it's touched down. On minmus, the range of the rovers in RCS flight is huge, from the ground, I put one into a 5km orbit, then landed at another spot with about 70% of my RCS left. On the Mun, I can fly a rover halfway around the moon, so they effectively can reach any spot on the mun from any other spot, purely on RCS. They are quite hardy, if you put the solar panels away. I've had some rough landings on them, and rarely break any critical parts. They each have one RTG on the ass-end which triples as auxiliary power, a dismount and righting assistant, and a crash barrier. In an emergency, if you crash it butt-first, only the RTG will be destroyed, and it has another RTG clipped inside the rover body. With a bit of in-flight refueling, you could probably get the transfer stage to duna or even to Jool, where you could insert each rover to a different moon from orbit. The launch stage uses all but one engine continuously, because engines should never be inert cargo if it can be helped. So far I've put one lander on minmus, and three on the Mun. I like to name the rovers after famous groups. One group is Jerry, George, Kramer and Elaine, another group is Ringo, Paul, George and John, there's Leia, Luke, Han and Chewie, and so on....

This is my first rover, and it's everything a first rover should be! Impractical, ugly, fragile, heavy and ultimately, useless. As you can see, it's got four of the worst rocket motors in the game to provide hopper-jumps, and a ridiculously low amount of fuel for them, coupled with the fact that the suspension is still in a crate in the VAB, it's a good thing it has all those extra wheels, because it has about a 60% wheel breakage rate on landing, partly because it has about ten times as much battery power as it needs. My construction method was, put one of everything familiar on it, and if you're not sure what it is, put two on. Despite its low profile, it tends to flip if you turn too hard, or too softly, or not at all, or while it's stationary and you are EVA.

Thanks, it being my first station, I used it mostly to test concepts and practice manual docking. Only the "wendy" spaceplane is stable in atmo, the lthers tend to flatspin and they dont even have landing gear. I'd like to add another 2 planes to the station, but fps is down to about 5 near the station so im probably just going to start a new project.

This is my station, Alcatraz Maximum Security Space Motel and Gas Station, now with six spaceplanes of three point five different types, the Abby (small ones) the Abby B (small one with boosters) the Preston (the two medium ones) and the Wendy (the single large one). It has a full compliment of gas, RCS, and acommodation for 4x4x4 inmates in the forward section. It took 14 different flights and dockings, no mods (just scotch). 285 tonnes, and 470 parts in total, orbiting at 150km. These are the spaceplane launch configurations that I used: Abby - http://i.imgur.com/uBxIQkL.jpg Preston - http://i.imgur.com/5BoxBFD.jpg Wendy - http://i.imgur.com/BylR6wC.jpg

Damnit, For some reason the img tags don't work. I put hyperlinks in the first post though.

Oh, I added some to my main post, but they didn't take for some reason (first time posting)

This is my first Space Station, I made it while experimenting with orbital rez and modular/series rockets. At the front is four banks of prison cells, each with four cells, and each cell with space for four prisoners, for a total of 64 prisoners and currently, 9 crew. There are five main sections/rocket types, the core, with all its batteries, RTGs, lights, and RCS. There are the tanker ships, which simply deliver 1 large fuel tank and one large RCS tank, to the station, full capacity.There's the cell banks, the supertanker module, with extra lights, solar panels and batteries, and the engine module, a bank of 6 nerva engines, 2 large RCS tanks, 2 little fuel tanks, and was also the biggest bitch to get up there and dock. I've made a total of 10 rez's to the station (one tanker to refuel the station which I've since detached and deorbited) and due to my lack of skill in housekeeping my orbit, there's a cloud of 93 pieces of debris trailing the station, from probe cores to XL fuel tanks with mainsails attached. Yeah, I live dangerously. Station has 288 parts, weighs 193 tons, and orbits at ~150km. I did all the docking manually (what a bitch) because I downloaded something called HydroJeb but found it harder to make that work than just docking manually. http://imgur.com/L3H9eKN http://imgur.com/gSivc6c