StrandedonEarth

I just wanted to build a reasonably gargantuan craft, to make a screenshot for a kerbalized movie quote meme. I somehow managed to get nine-times symmetry on it. I only put one set of (nine) struts on it, out of habit. I didn't even use launch clamps, but the 1800 ton behemoth stood on the pad with only a little sag. After the photo op, just for kicks and expecting it to erupt in a sea of explosions, I launched it. I had forgot to press 'Z' or even 'T' for that matter, so it struggled off the pad with a TWR of 1.06. I didn't realize this until at least 500m up I didn't put on a single separatron, so I figured jettisoning the SRB's would kill it. The explosions seemed to confirm up, but I guess that was just some of them cooking off in the Twin-Boar inferno. By this time I was hoping it would make it to space, so I used a slight spin to separate the strap-on boosters Of course, I hadn't tried to do anything close to a proper gravity turn, so my trajectory left a lot to be desired. But the Ap never did quite reach space, topping out at 69,900m The second-stage Rhino didn't quite have enough TWR to get it to orbit, even with all 24 NERV's firing. I may have finally pulled it into orbit, but once that Rhino burned out I had no attitude control, so that oversized nuclear tug had to be abandoned to a fiery doom. Remember, this thing was never supposed to fly. No reaction wheels, RCS or vernors at all, aside from what the crew capsule had. Uh-Oh! The Crew! There were no parachutes either! But there was a third-stage Rhino, which served double-duty, first as a heat-shield, then to slow down for the splash-down. So the mission that was never meant to happen went surprisingly well, even if it didn't succeed, but at least there were no fatalities either. Later, knowing that it wasn't going to explode, I was barely able to get it to orbit. It helps to be at full throttle off the pad. It was still pointless, as there was no power generation on board, and that nuke-tug was hauling around a bunch of useless oxidizer anyways. And still no parachutes. Not the most efficient design, but it was only meant for a photo op.

As I threatened a while back, I have now hijacked your excellent screenshot.

Original screenshot credit goes to @UpsilonAerospace. Calvin and Hobbes rejoice! !

Edit: Let me rephrase this: This is My reply is getting off topic, and there's a better thread for the space junk discussion, so I'll respond in that thread.

The problem is that space junk is not considered to be enough of a problem for anyone to want to spend hundreds of millions (or billions) of dollars fixing. Most, if not all, launchers take steps to mitigate debris from current launches by de-orbiting spent stages, or 'safing' (venting propellants and disconnecting batteries) what cannot be de-orbited, because that is only a small incremental cost. Only when active satellites are being hit and disabled by debris on an annual basis will the bean-counters finally consider it to be a serious problem. When it becomes cheaper to deal with the problem instead of replacing the satellites. Hopefully before it becomes to risky to launch at all Ideally, for future launches the upper stage would have a grappler (K.L.A.W.) mechanism that could release the current payload and then grab a large debris object, regardless of whether the target was designed to be grabbed. Of course, this upper stage would need to have enough dV to rendezvous with a debris object and de-orbit it, with enough vector control to hold orientation through an off-balance burn. Yes, this would basically require a clean-sheet design of an overpowered upper stage to enable an "each one, drop one" strategy. We've reached the point where we try not to add more debris when we launch; now we need to try to remove debris with every launch.

The abort group would need to have kill engines, pop the (correct) decoupler, and activate the LES. Then you need a separate action group to decouple and jettison the LES when it is not needed. Unless you can find the right spot in the staging list for it. But the most popular abort option is labelled "Revert"

"We are the Kerbals. Raise your heatshields and strut your ships. We will add your engineering and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to explore with us. Resistance is futile."

So it was in the picture war recently. It's still hilarious, so sue me

4/10 I bet that's really awkward to aim. Oh yeah?

9/10 Too cool for school. And how could you have never read Calvin and Hobbes?

Confused

I say, old chap, this is a jolly good thread!

That's how you get to Moon-lily soup, sir. Waiter! There's a Corvette in my soup!

Naramata

Enderby

Banned for saying Mars instead of Duna

3 words: Chocolate covered blueberries.

"May the Thrust be with you" - Star Wars (all of them) "I love the smell of monoprop in the morning!" - Apocalypse Now "Toto, I've got a feeling we're not on Kerbin anymore..." and "There's no place like Duna." - The Wizard of Oz "If you build it, Jeb will come." - Field of Dreams "I feel the need—the need for (moar) speed!" - Top Gun

Gets a '57 Chevy Bel-Air Inserts Clint Eastwood

Rigel