Guber K.

Just recruited Hairy Kerman. She's an engineer....

Yes, almost certainly wrong. I'm no rocket scientist. It did get me a lot closer, though, and make it easier to get encounters. A lot easier when paying attention to the nodes. In effect, I was trying to match inclinations before ejecting. Now, I pretty much do as you described above and correct half way to target.

I agree about KER. I realized after I posted that Minmus wasn't a good example, since you asked about planets...sorry. The concept I was trying to point out is the same though. You can find the info on nodes in the wiki, if I remember right, but I personally don't. To explain my earlier comment, what I used do is to look and see that Eve, for example, has an orbit that is inclined 2.1 degrees. So, while in Kerbin orbit, I'll make small normal/antinormal burns until KER tells me that I'm plus or minus 2.1 degrees. There's no specific readout for it, but if you watch the numbers once or twice it becomes apparent (90 + or -, IIRC, I'd have to look). This basically does what TWP does (I think) in compensating for the normal/antinormal dV, but it does it while in orbit around Kerbin. Then, you don't have to worry so much about the plane change that Streetwind pointed out in his very complete reply, and if you pull prograde while approximately at the correct phase angle you should get some sort of encounter. I have no idea if there is any dV savings when considering the Oberth effect; it probably costs more to do the inclination change in Kerbin orbit than it does in space, but you get some extra from Oberth? These days I usually just launch and adjust when out in space because it's easier than fiddling with orbits trying to get lined up. I did use TWP for a while too, and before that just scrolled way out on the map in the plane of Kerbin orbit and tried to eyeball where orbital paths crossed and set maneuver nodes there. That didn't work so well, but seemed like a very Kerbalish solution.

One thing that can make and encounter easier is to target the planet you're trying to get to and plan your maneuvers from the ascending or descending nodes. It can be tricky, because they won't always line up with the proper phase angle for your target as given by the alexmoon planner, but if you have enough time and dV you can adjust your orbit to get close to a match. That way, at least your intercept will be crossing the target's plane and you'll be close enough to see the encounter and adjust from there. I know you said mods are a no-go, but KER can also help. It has a readout for orbital inclination. So, if you're goint to say.. .Minmus, with a 6 degree inclination, you could use KER to adjust your Kerbin orbit to 6 degrees from equatorial, and then you're orbiting in the same plane. At that point, getting a Minmus encounter should be no more difficult than getting to the Mun.

Well, I can give you some simple ideas. It's not a tutorial by any means, though. #1; build a rocket. Ok, so your rocket needs enough fuel to produce enough dV to get to orbit. There are formulas posted to calculate it manually, or you could check out Kerbal Engineer Redux mod, which will help. 2- how you fly your rocket will depend on the design, but in general, pointy bits on the top, maybe fins or heavy engines on the bottom to keep it oriented towards where you want to go. In general, don't make large fast maneuvers in the lower atmosphere. keep the nose of the marker pointed into or very close to the prograde marker on the nav ball (the one with an open circle and 'wings'). Slowly roll the rocket eastwards as you ascend, shooting for a 45* turn by about 10-15 km altitude. 3- check your map screen. when your apoapsis is above 70 km, cut the engine, coast up and plot a maneuver node to circularize the orbit. If you're in career mode and don't yet have maneuver nodes...well, keep rolling eastwards until almost horizontal at about 35 km, keep firing engine(s) until apoapse and periapse are both above 70km. 4. You're in orbit, with any luck.

I bet Jeb doesn't even have one of these...

Do some things from the Challenge thread. They can be surprisingly entertaining.

Nice looking parts, I like the 5-way adapter.

2 new ones: Derman Kerman and Theory Kerman. I think Theory's parents might have been scientists?

I think I'd do a mod that had different natural resources that could be mined/gathered. Those resources would then need to be researched or refined into new materials that could be used to build better or different parts. It would expand the R&D part of the game.

Here's a method: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/88881-Trick-For-Properly-Spacing-Satellites-in-Kerbostationary-Orbit?p=1318160&viewfull=1#post1318160

I did my 2nd KSP challenge- the Elite Circumnavigation-Reloaded.http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/25884-Kerbin-Circumnavigation-Challenge-Reloaded-New-Rules-Once-More?p=1319184&viewfull=1#post1319184

Ok, here's my submission. Officially it is only my second KSP challenge. Made it home with 5 or 6 units of fuel left because Jeb likes to go really fast or something. Luckily, the plane glides well so I saved some fuel that way. Took out all my plugins except Alarm Clock since I saw that one was allowed. Almost managed to exceed max altitude while having snacks, but caught it just in time.

A couple of firsts today. I did my first challenge (K-Prize) and finished it with my first SSTO mission. As a bonus, launched a satellite from it in the process.