Commander Zoom

I love it.

Just one little nitpick, and this is something I had to reason out myself: "Apollo crosses" were part of the assembly of the still cameras (etched into an actual glass plate); they probably shouldn't appear in video footage, only in still images where the film was recovered and developed.

What he said.

*coughs* I wouldn't say that... *points down* Okay, now that is awesome. (mounting holes, Mk I capsule and everything.) I bow to the work of a real artist.

"Everything is air-droppable once." This just keeps getting more and more amazing.

"Bodies with atmosphere" is a rather limited set in the Kerbol system, and then you take a big one off the table by adding "but not Eve." Guess I'll have to keep at it until I can do better.

[spoiler=] Moderator comment: Please remember that you should not post reaction images alone. I suggest reading the rules about this.

One more time: To the best of my understanding, the final ship will not actually be composed of several craft docked together, for all of the reasons already mentioned. Rather, it will be constructed as a single craft and placed directly in orbit, before beginning its mission. This should avoid the issues with current docking mods and warping, etc.

Nifty "craft", and a great album showing it off. (So you actually managed to drive under an arch with no ill effects?) EDIT: Also diggin' the Venturer multirover bus linked in your sig.

I don't believe any such mechanism currently exists. My assumption was that the complete ship would be placed in orbit (by a mod), perhaps after the OP has gone through the motions of assembling a comparable craft from components lifted into orbit by the conventional manner. It's the best we can do for now.

Nice design, and I love the name. I'll give this one a shot. Thanks for posting!

Amazing weight-reduction job there, EndlessWaves.

My advice: 1. You probably don't need that many NERVAs. For testing purposes, at least, try deleting half of them and see what happens to your ascent. 2. Are you deliberately tilting, or is that a result of your rocket being only semi-under-control? Because I would not be trying to turn such a beast at that point in the ascent, and definitely not in the midst of staging. You're practically asking for something to crash into something else.

You are delightfully mad.

This thread is highly relevant to my interests, as I'm considering a similar mission profile (though, as Nibb31 notes, the rendezvous will probably occur at Duna rather than Kerbin, due to certain limitations of the current engine and/or add-ons). My own rough plan involves a crew transfer vehicle (including hab) which travels to Duna orbit and back to Kerbin, never landing until the capsule splashes down, and an uncrewed lander, which only needs to make a one-way trip. I'm having to start from scratch with the lander, beginning with an ascent stage that can reach orbit from Duna (or Eve or Laythe - my hope is to use the same design for missions to all the planets), then a descent stage added on to that, then a transfer stage, and finally a booster that can get all of that off the pad. This would be a lot easier with orbital construction. I'll also note that I was slightly confused when you mentioned a rover in addition to your DEM, but that's probably because I'm so impressed by (and habitually now think of) BobCat's DEMV - a rover, designed for Duna (hence the acronym) and other worlds.

*chuckles as two of the astronauts in the wardroom (image near the end of the article) are clearly CPT Kirk and LCDR Spock*

This has been my inspiration as well (and my thanks to whoever posted the link, here on these very forums, that got me to watch it); I've gotten bogged down in the mechanics of actually constructing such a ship in orbit (lifting the parts, and somehow integrating all of them into a single craft, which is not now and probably will not be supported any time soon, even with mods like ORDA or Erkle). I suppose it wouldn't be cheating too much to take that capability as a given, and going from there.

Outstanding! *downloads*

Nice job! Just to confirm, this took 3 Kerbals to Duna and back again? I've been trying to do the same - I may use this, or at least look at it for inspiration.

A fine, simple/elegant design that demonstrates the basic principles very well. Thanks for sharing it, and my compliments for coming up with it.

Eee! Thank you so much! And yours looks great (okay, amazing)!

Thanks for the advice. Thanks to you, I just realized that I don't have to get them all the way down to the pad, just outside the capsule. Duh. Annoying that I can't launch on pure autopilot, but considering that MechJeb is, for all its popularity, a kludge and workaround for how the game is supposed to work, I shouldn't be surprised. Having some other issues with my (crewed) lander design this evening, so it looks like I have to go back to the drawing board anyway. First I need an ascent stage that can get three Kerbals into orbit from Kerbin, or Eve, or Laythe; then I can work on the descent stage; and only THEN can I see about putting it all on a booster and transfer stage. ;;

My current interplanetary mission plan involves sending the crew up on one rocket, the lander on another, and having them rendezvous in orbit of the target. The lander will have a capsule, but I want to launch it with no crew, using MechJeb. Problem is, my usual designs put the capsule at the top of a very tall stack... and while it's certainly possible to have the crew of the second rocket leap out and go *splat* on the pad, one by one, I'd rather not kill any more kerbals than I absolutely have to. (Or unless it's really entertaining.) In real life I'd get them down by the gantry, or just not crew the rocket in the first place, but those aren't options here. Can someone explain to me how to edit the persistence file of a rocket sitting on the pad, to either delete the crew entirely (which I assume is simplest) or place them someplace safely nearby?

Please, for the love of Kerbal. I've been seeing this everywhere since we got other planets with atmospheres. "Break" or "breaking" is what happens when you screw up. "Brake" or "braking" is what happens when you get it right. Do you have "breaks" on your car? I hope not.

1. I didn't know that. That's... unfortunate, IMO. As I said, it has a name. 2. See my parenthetical.