SpaceGoblin

I was wondering if I could leave/separate fuel tanks in space, or rocket sections, and connect those up to a later rocket. I could then make a rocket that could reach the farther planets, by just doing it through multiple launches. I'm guessing no, but thought I'd ask first. If we ever sent man to Mars, we might use a method like this to get enough supplies and fuel into space for the trip.

Whoa, that is very interesting. This could change a lot of things. I've built about 15 rockets using this somewhere in each. It has been difficult for me to get a stable rocket into orbit, without it leaning during liftoff or not having the stability or fuel to get there. I did manage to get a guy to the Mun but stuck there (wasn't easy), and all attempts so far to built a better rescue rocket have not been successful. This is with a few science unlocks, so I've began to wonder what I'm doing wrong. I don't mind learning through failure, but I would have never figured this out. I will experiment with this new info tonight! Thanks much!

Here's a MS Paint I did of my rocket. I can take actual screenshots later tonight if it helps. So I have a central rocket, and 2 side rockets. On the left is all the pieces (fuel tanks, decouplers in green, capsule on top, engines below). On the left is everything joined together. When I put it together, I make the central rocket first. Then I attach the decouplers on the sides. I then attach the side fuel tanks onto the decouplers, making sure visually that they are not crooked or attached wrong. On the finished rocket, I was busy putting other pieces on and I accidentally grabbed the tank marked with the X. I was having trouble getting it back on perfectly. So I grabbed same size fuel tank from the menu, and attached it to the empty decoupler in the same spot. I made sure to line it up with the tank below, and I do this by moving the tank on my cursor down until it turns red from being inside the tank below it, and then up slowly until it turns green. Also the round edges get lined up perfectly, so it is straight up and down. But when I launch it, this side rocket where this happened depletes fuel faster on the bar. It isn't using 3 tanks of fuel. If I rebuilt that entire rocket column, all 3 tanks replaced, it works fine. It is as if the replacement tank isn't being considered as part of the "group" any more. This hasn't happened every time. I've only noticed it on rockets with a lot of tanks and parts, and after I've already launched once and aborted to fix something.

Cool thanks. I will get some screencaps tonight, because I was sure I had it lined up exactly on the decoupler, and with the tank below it. Might have a bug here.

So I have a ship with a few rocket stages around the outside. Some have 2 fuel tanks, some have 3. It gets to be a lot of different pieces in front of me, and I misclick and accidentally pick up the top fuel tank in a stack of 3 tanks, which make up a rocket column. I can't seem to put it back exactly, and decide to just grab a new tank from the menu of the same type and put it in the empty spot I created. I do this, and it seems to be exactly in the right spot. But when I launch, it becomes immediately clear that fuel is not being drawn from this replacement. Even though it's in the same position in the vertical stack, The engine is pulling from 2 fuel tanks now instead of 3. I have to fully rebuild that entire rocket column to get it to use all 3 tanks. So I try another test. Same thing. I can break apart a rocket and put it back together (same pieces) and I will see the fuel not being used in the piece I picked up. Am I doing something wrong? How can I force tanks to feed into each other?

I'm new to KSP and don't know anything about rocketry in general, so I'm not sure what a gravity turn is. Forgive my poor descriptions I am about to use: I get to 20k in altitude, before I start angling 45 degrees. From about 40k altitude to 70k I am slowly angling more toward 70 degrees. When I reach 70k altitude, I am angled almost 90 degrees and going about 1800/sec on the surface reading. At this point I stop engines, check my map, and look for the marker on my orbit path. I line up the yellow circle thing, and when I hit that mark I mentioned I throttle full until my orbit is a circle. I've managed to land a Kerbal on the moon but he got stuck there. Right now my biggest problem is finding out how to add more fuel to my rockets. All attempts so far fail to reach proper orbit, so I seem to be at a weight limit for the science I have unlocked. I might do some simpler missions to get science points to unlock stuff.

So I am playing unmodded, which might make a difference. Just pure original KSP. When I launch rockets, I just go full throttle until I reach about 70k up and 1800 per sec sideways (surface speed). This doesn't put me in full orbit but I do another burn to make the orbit a complete circle, after checking my map. I guess my question is, should I go full throttle the whole launch? I mainly wonder about fuel consumption. It doesn't seem to affect the Kerbal astronauts any. Going less than full makes me not hit my orbit height. Is there a better way to do it for fuel? Or is this ok?

Thank you for that good info! I'm still going to attempt a rescue because it's rather exciting to try. I have been treating this as a real space program so far, like in science where failures are a good thing if you learn from them. So I don't mind rescuing him, since I think it will teach me a thing or two.

Thank you! So Jeb won't die permanently? I was worried about losing him to a crash at some point in the future. I even try to pick another pilot for dangerous missions haha. I want to keep Jeb alive.

I'm new and had the game 4 days. In career mode, only a few parts unlocked so far. So I stranded Jeb on the Mun. I burned too much fuel landing, and he has just a sliver of fuel remaining. The ship is also damaged, one lander leg broken and ship is laying on it's side. But the fuel means he is stuck anyway. So I want to launch a rescue mission, but first I need to know: Can I attach an empty command capsule to the top of a Stayputnik, and launch it empty? If Jeb rides this other capsule back to Kerbin, will it stick him back in the astronaut selection, or will he be stranded where the rocket lands (since he's not the pilot)? What happens to the original mission? If I terminate it, will it kill Jeb even if he is back on Kerbin? Thanks for any advice. I'm excited to attempt a rescue mission, but I don't want to waste hours if this won't work.