What should I do next?

[CaptainApollo]

Hello everyone! To my great happiness, I have landed one Kerbal on both Minmus and the Mun! However, I am still not sure what to do next. I have made some of these threads before, but this was in the past, and I love hearing suggestions! I have unlocked a lot of parts, and am wondering if I should go to Duna, or make more missions to Minmus and Mun with three Kerbals and more. Or should I upgrade my Tracking Station, so I can see unknown objects? Thank you!

Edited June 17, 2015 by CaptainApollo

[jwenting]

Duna is a natural next step.

Sending bigger craft to Minmus and the Mun can be great practice for that. Especially as you need bigger things to get to Duna and back.

Or start building a satellite network. In the stock game they won't do much of anything (unless you have the resource scanners unlocked already) but it's fun.

[CaptainApollo]

I don't have that unlocked, and I suppose it would be fun! Perhaps I may do that!

I think I will send a 3-man crew to a different region of Minmus, and then Duna. It's so much fun!

[CaptainApollo]

Bump!

[Snark]

+1 for Duna.

Another fun option: Build a mining base on Mun or Minmus, and use it to stock up a big fuel depot in LKO.

Send unmanned probes to land on Eve. (Landing on Eve is really easy. Talking off from Eve is very hard.)

Send a manned mission to orbit Eve and land on Gilly.

Edited June 17, 2015 by Snark

[mrclucks]

Start learning how to rendezvous, then move onto docking, and after that you should start building a refuel station with loads of fuel (add a science lab and have every mission stop by the lab to give its data for all the science).

[nekogod]

If not Duna then Eve, it's exceptionally easy to get to and land on, though taking off again is very difficult. Is a good place to hoover up some orbital science, or set up a ground base. You've also got gilly which is very easy to land on and take off from, but can be hard to get to due to a tiny gravity well next to Eve's and high inclination/eccentricity.

The launch window for Duna comes up sooner though.

[Evanitis]

Build an SSTO and get it to orbit. Make it carry a sat and bring a stranded Kerbal back for maximum efficiency.

Try to take as many tourists to land on Mun and Minmus (preferably both) on the same launch.

Build a submarine.

Level your scientists and engineers for later missions.

^those are my ideas to spend time while you wait for a transfer window or your interplanetary missions to arrive. Much more fun than timewarping.

[Dawnkeeper]

How about getting a Lab into orbit or to Minmus to earn extra science?

[CaptainApollo]

Wow, these are fantastic ideas! For now I will make a base on Minmus then land on Duna, but I will also send a probe to Eve/Gilly! There is so much to do in KSP, it's just amazing!

[DancesWithSquirrels]

If you've unlocked any wheels, build a rover (start with a probe controlled one), test it on Mun or Minmas - then send it to Duna!

[CaptainApollo]

I have unlocked some, but I am having trouble on where to put the rover on my rocket, it unbalances it..

[mhoram]

I have unlocked some, but I am having trouble on where to put the rover on my rocket, it unbalances it..

I use RCS Build Aid to align my center of thrust with my center of mass.

[FancyMouse]

I tend to do the other way - leave minimal parts at the top first, then add the rover so that CoM doesn't shift horizontally, then build the lifter rocket as usual, finally make a fairing on the rover. In this way, I don't need to worry about CoM shift after staging, and it (sending rover to space, I mean) worked pretty well for me.

[DancesWithSquirrels]

Scott Manley has a great video on "How To Land Your Rovers" - it's well worth watching. He covers mounting, balance issues, etc.

Given the 1.x Service Bays, you can also use a 2.5m bay to enclose a small rover at the bottom of your lander, with radial engines on the sides to land it, which is pretty fun.

Another option is to add some RCS to your rover and mount it on top of your lander - after you land switch to the rover, separate, and fly it down to the surface.

Edited June 18, 2015 by DancesWithSquirrels

[Ferdoni]

What I did, is sending mini probes to all the planets & moons to collect science.

[CaptainApollo]

Very interesting, this is a helpful video, and thanks to everyone as well! I like the idea of a rover in a service bay, that sounds very good.

[DancesWithSquirrels]

I've also done an enclosed 'rover' with a little rocket hopper (two seats, FL-T100, a couple of Spiders, OKTO) in a Mk2 cargo bay, part of a lifting body return vehicle (Mk2 cockpit, cargo bay, probe body for a back end, add small wings and batteries). That was based on the Apollo Martin 410, as part of a challenge someone ran a while back. I didn't send in an entry, but I did eventually get the mission to work out.

Getting the rover to fly out of the cargo bay without smashing itself was a challenge in and of itself...

[CaptainApollo]

Interesting, for now I have it in my Service Bay though!

[Aidan likes minmus]

an orbitital space station around any celestial body

[CaptainApollo]

I am thinking of that, Duna first though.

[Nich]

Try exploring more of the Mun and Minimus via orbiting stations that allow multiple landings. I would personally wait for Duna until I had nukes.

[cwalrus]

Wait .... Submarine??? I was hoping for that in the next version. Can you do that now??

[CaptainApollo]

I don't have a nuke yet.

[RandomRyan]

Duna dude. since you dont have the LV-N yet, send a probe to Duna(or ike(or any other planets)).

and then you make the next giant leap for kerbkind