DeMatt

...that's a three-year-old video, there's been several major changes, both to the Whiplash and to the atmosphere, since that was recorded. Try doing a seaplane instead of a VTOL instead, the latest changes to oceans make them viable: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofkH4Z80IrY if you want a Scott Manley demo.

Is that "on the launchpad" or "approaching Minmus"? If the former, then you definitely need more fuel. A typical rocket launching to low Kerbin orbit (LKO) takes about 3500 m/s dV. That leaves you about 800 m/s to get to Minmus, land, and return. This dV map thinks you'll need more than that just to get to Minmus, so if you're actually able to touch down successfully, then you're doing fine on the piloting front, but need a bigger rocket. If the latter... then you need to work on your piloting, instead. 4300 m/s dV, when entering Minmus's Sphere of Influence, is enough to let you bounce around Minmus like a ping-pong ball. Either way, a screenshot of your rocket (in the VAB) will let us give you more pointers on design and pilotage.

How much data does the lab already have in it?

F5 basically just creates a save named "quicksave", while F9 loads the save named "quicksave". Alt+F5 lets you name your save, while Alt+F9 lets you choose which save to load.

This.

Um, no? Keep in mind that the arrows on the TR-38D point to the side that detaches - and that while it may officially detach, if there's other parts which prevent it from moving away, it won't leave. D'you have a saved craft that does this every time, that you can share with us?

...that gap is because you have heavy stuff stretching your rocket out from where it's supported. Try taking away the launch clamps (just let it rest on the engines) and see whether there's still a gap. As to your rocket design, yes, as mentioned you'll need a fairing for the scanner. I would further suggest increasing the size of your side boosters from FL-T400's to FL-T800's, and putting much larger steerable fins on them; fire just the side boosters to get you off the launch pad, then keep the throttle and speed low and your steering gentle until you've gotten out of the thick atmosphere, say 12km altitude.

The "x.yz%" is an exact amount of ore at that landing site. The "(x.yz% avg.)" is an average amount of ore over the entire planet. If the Surface Scanning Module is showing the average, tell it to run its analysis. That will change its report to the exact amount of ore where the scanner is. Note that you conveniently only have to run one analysis per biome.

Assuming you're using fine controls (turn Caps Lock on, the control input indicators in the lower-left turn blue), then the RCS thrusters really aren't that far from your roll axis. I'd also suggest putting a second ring of RCS quads on the opposite end of your rocket. It'll improve your handling SO much to have a balanced setup, instead of just the one ring on one side of the CoM.

Every planet's orbit, and their "Sphere of Influence", has been constant since about version 0.19. So the Olex planner and the Alexmoon planner have not needed to be updated since then. Feel free to use them both. Note that they will tend to produce slightly different results due to different mathematical assumptions - use a maneuver node to plot your own maneuver.

Polar orbit or equatorial orbit, if you need to change the orbit's inclination, it'll cost the same amount of dV for the same change in angle.What a polar orbit does do, however, is position your craft's orbit at a right angle to the planet's rotation. So, your craft goes around the planet, the planet rotates a new bit of land underneath the craft when it comes back around. With enough patience (and an orbital period that isn't a simple multiple or fraction of the planet's rotation), every bit of the planet will eventually pass under your craft.

For a craft intended to orbit the Mun, but not land on it, I see the following issues: You have two decouplers for each of the solid rocket boosters. Don't do that, the SRBs only attach to one - the one you click the SRB into place on. Feel free to use struts if you have problems with them wobbling - they'll automatically break when the decoupler fires. Needs solar panels and batteries to power the reaction wheels in the capsule. Radiator's unnecessary. Use a heat shield, and dump everything but the capsule before reentry. The Mk1 Command Pod is both cheaper and lighter than the Mk1 Cockpit, and it even has a node for precisely the parachute capable of landing it. You lack fins. A set of AV-R8's will give you extra steering authority in the atmosphere. The Thud engines are unnecessary for the LKO-Mun-and-back part of the flight, and poorly designed for the launch-to-LKO part. I assume the decoupler beneath the center LV-909 is there for adding another stage, and you're not trying to fly with it.

The problem here is not that you're not "in flight". The problem is that, if you're using the PresMat Barometer, you're using the wrong instrument. The contract wants an "atmospheric analysis" - that's the reading which the "Atmospheric Fluid Spectro-Variometer" gives you. So you need to make sure one of those is on your plane.

Assuming the wings are just buckling under aerodynamic forces (F3 for the after-action report), then I'd suggest using bigger wing pieces. Bigger pieces, like the FAT-455 Aeroplane Main Wing, means fewer joints to buckle. I'd also check that your ailerons are on the right way - they seem to be pointing "in" rather than "back".

Hence why I suggested moving half one way and half the other, so the net thrust remains balanced. Moving them further away from the CoM also means they'll be better placed to assist with rotational thrust, too. Well, now you know - ever-so-slightly-off containment detection is determining that the non-firing thrusters are "contained" when they're not intended to be.