Apollo13

A few days ago, Shepgee, Nelbur, and Doodman Kerman flew to Mun with a rover. There have been many Mun landings before, but this was a first with a rover. Unfortunately, things went awry upon orbiting Mun. First, the Command/Service module ran out of fuel, leaving it in a very elliptical orbit (761.6k x 166.3k). The weight of the rover caused the extra fuel usage. Regardless, Nelbur and Doodman descended to the surface. The M.E.M. was an untested configuration, having never landed with a rover attached. Upon attempting to land, the rover was released too high, and it crashed and broke. The M.E.M. barely made it to the surface standing up. It, too, ran out of fuel due to the rover weight. KSC Mission Control knew it could not rescue both groups in the same mission. The first mission (piloted by Mallan Kerman) was launched to rescue Shepgee in the unfueled Command/Service module. Due to the elliptical orbit, a typical rendezvous was all but impossible. Thanks to MechJeb's Maneuver Planning app, Mallan was able to get only within 2.5km from the Command/Service module. Shepgee immediately EVA'd out of his vehicle and spacewalked the 2.5km to the rescue vehicle. Thanks to lots of spacewalk practice, this went without a hitch. There was much jubilation at KSC when Shepgee's picture appeared in the capsule along side Mallan's. A maneuver node was immediately plotted for Kerbal, and they returned home as heroes. In the next day or so, Shepgee and Mallan will return to Mun, where Shepgee will pilot the M.E.M. to the surface to rescue his buddies. Stay tuned...

I didn't know that. Thanks Regardless, I'd still suggest that the DELETE key option be available, as well as the other suggestions I made.

The SelectRoot mod is your friend. It does what you're asking for.

1. When a node is selected, the DELETE/DEL key should delete it. Currently, if it is an active node, you must click the node, grab the circle, and drag the circle outwards until it becomes red. If it is a past node, you must click the little circle with the X. It would be much quicker to select the node and hit the DELETE key. 2. Moving the node with the arrow keys. Dragging the node with the little circle can be challenging sometimes, because you accidentally click one of the 6 modifier handles and drag it. Or, you drag the circle off the orbit until it becomes red and disappears. My suggestion is that the arrow keys also be used to move the node along the orbit: a. Left arrow, right arrow: move node 20 degrees backward or forward b. Shift-left, Shift-right arrow: move node 5 degrees backward or forward c. Ctrl-left, Ctrl-right arrow: move node 1 degree backward or forward d. Alt-left, Alt-right arrow: move node 0.2 degree backward or forward NOTE: while a node is selected, the LEFT-SHIFT and LEFT-CTRL do not control the Throttle. An alternative to degrees would be seconds (time). Yes, I realize this can be done via MJ's Maneuver Node Editor (which I use), but it would be nice to be built-in. 3. Make the node circle bigger when selected. As is, it's too easy to accidentally select one of the six modifier handles.

SeventhArchitect: this mod is your friend: Docking Alignment Indicator Forum thread It's not an auto-pilot; you still do the work. But, it's much easier.

Calculus Warrior: I've used a two-stage lifter with some success. I'll keep at it. Also, sometimes, I won't make a turn until 20km+. Quite often, I'll turn to an 80 degree pitch, and it still just falls over. lajoswinkler: when designing model rockets, I'd first calculate the CoP, then design fins so as to move the CoP behind CoG. I'd use the cardboard method as first test. Then, for "first flight" I'd tie a string at the CoG (with engine loaded) and twirl it around (about a 6 foot diameter) to verify the design was correct. Perhaps, my velocity at altitude is too low or too high. Might that be it? Sidebar: I flew Estes rockets. I was just on their site. Engines are 4 for 10.39. Ouch. I thought 4 for $2 was expensive back in 1965.

Center of Pressure is not Center of Lift. CoL applies to spaceplanes. Thanks for the replies folks. I'm using your suggestions in-program right now. Wish me luck.

There are lights now. L key

Good interview (despite the keyboard problem.). Looking forward to the new features.

Can you provide a screenshot? Also, MOAR struts.

I see KSP gets only 15 minutes. Squad devs better talk REAL fast. LOL

Sorry for the night shot. Also, I've tried moving those boosters up and down. I've used reaction wheels as well. The main center engine is thrust vectored. However, I usually lock it during boost phase and unlock/lock during cruise.

Thank you. I just gave you a Rep point as well.

I'm on twitch.tv/PAX now. I don't see KSP on the schedule

When I was active in model rocketry some 45+ years ago, we designed our rockets such that the Center of Pressure (CoP) was behind the Center of Gravity (CoG). In KSP, we refer to CoG as Center of Mass (CoM). In the VAB, we can see CoM and CoT, but not CoP when designing rockets. Why is CoP not needed here? Now, I just read on the NASA site that modern rockets depend on thruster vectoring rather than aerodynamics to maintain stability. So, I'll assume that's the answer to my question. I'm looking at all this because at about the 30km altitude, my rockets tend to fall over, i.e., pitch drops to 0 or negative. Some spin about their CoM. I'm guessing my rockets are too tall (have three stages: booster, cruise, command module with tank and engine). Usually, the rockets falls over during the cruise stage. Other than making the stages very wide by packing on tanks and boosters (which I've seen plenty of videos), what need I do to stabilize the taller rockets? I've been able to coax many into orbit. But the failure rate is about 75-80%. Any thoughts?

Nice idea.

StarVision's Flag Decals + Flagpole[0.21.1] is the mod you want.

+1 to this idea. Make EVAs useful, besides just planting flags.

- Procedural Fairings - Kerbal Alarm Clock, as is. I disagree with disallowing automated alarm clocks. Give player option to use these; let the player decide. - Crew Manifest - SelectRoot - DockingPortAlignment - Kerbal Scripts (KOS)

When on a spacewalk, the EVA thrusters need to have a fine control option via CAPSLOCK the same way that RCS has that option. I should be easy to implement. As is (as mentioned by OP), one slight touch of the key and off my poor Kerbal goes.

leax256's response will satisfy your immediate needs. Long-term, I agree that your idea would be a nice feature to add.

Well done. You've obviously put a lot of thought into this. Perhaps, Squad might take some of it to heart.

Johnno, thank you. I'll enter this in the Suggestion sub-forum then.

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OK. I was not precise in my question. When I hit the SPACEBAR, he does reorient, to a degree. That is, if I am behind him and rotate the camera about his axis, he will realign correctly to the camera view. However, if I rotate the camera over the top of him, I would expect him to align with the new view; that is, to tilt downward in a forward direction. However, he does not. Is this the expected behavior? I would anticipate otherwise.