Rocket doesn't lift up (accelerate)

[shuno]

Hello guys!

First post here.

Just started with the game a few days ago and it's amazing! I'm really having a blast thus far. But now I stumbled upon the first problem I can't solve. After the Mun I traveled to Minmus and set up a base there. Managed to land with pretty much the last drop of fuel in the landing module. Did some science and everything went pretty well.

... until I wanted to return home.

Here is an image:

http://i.imgur.com/IgDpdqk.jpg

The problem is: The upper stage won't lift off. At first I thought it has to much mass so I transfered most of the fuel back into the landing module. But still... it doesn't accelerate. So I thought maybe even with half empty tanks it has to much mass. So I decoupled two of the three capsules on top and tried it again. Same problem.

But... now with the landing module having fuel again I accidentially thrusted the whole landing module with the upper stage on top(!) and it lift up without a hassle. Since both engines are the same I can't really explain why the upper stage alone can't get up. I checked everything, like having the upper engines throttle lowered and so on. But nothing. One thing I noticed is that the blind (marked in the picture) don't blast off when I decouple the upper stage. Is this the problem? I tried to slide over the ground to get rid of it but that didn't work. I remember that one time this kind of blind didn't blast off when I was using the atomic engine but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a problem back then.

So has anyone any idea how to fix this and get Jeb and company back to Kerbin?

Thanks!

Edited March 17, 2015 by shuno

[sal_vager]

Hmm I can't see your staging, is the decoupler not decoupling?

[AlexinTokyo]

At a guess (and I stress that it's just a guess), you may have attached the return stage's engine to the wrong attachment node of the decoupler. In that case, even if the decoupler fires, the engine will still be blocked and generate no thrust.

[shuno]

Hi.

Yes I can decouple it. But it just falls of the whole landing module and lays on the ground. So I tried to slide on the ground to get rid of the marked blind but it didn't work. I can see the jet coming out on the bottom of the engine too. I tried to decouple it without staging already and it's the same. It decouples but even with full throttle the whole thing won't move.

@AlexinTokyo:

Hi and thank you too!

Hmm. maybe that's the case. Any way to fix this or to check if it is the case?

edit: Hmm.. yeah, I think that's the problem.

Edited March 17, 2015 by shuno

[sal_vager]

The fairing on the 909 looks awfully short, I think AlexinTokyo is correct, and our thrust is being blocked by the fairing.

It might be possible to edit the part out of the save file but I'd send a rescue craft instead, rescuing is a major past time of kerbals.

Edit:

If you upload your save file we could try fixing it for you, make a quicksave (F5) and put it on dropbox.

Edited March 17, 2015 by sal_vager

[shuno]

@sal_vager:

Hehe.

I'm already planning the rescue mission. If everything goes wrong I will upload the save game, but I think it shouldn't be a problem to get Jeb and Co. out of there. But thanks anyway!

[Jean Deaux]

I zoomed in pretty tight on the command capsules, to me it looks like the command modules on your Return Stage are decoupled and are just laying on top of the Return Stage (usually they sit a bit high on a decoupler). If this is the case, your engines aren't firing because there is no command module attached.