Stupid things you noticed too late in a Mission

[SubzeroSpartan7]

Those dang parachutes et me every time.

[mythbusters844]

I underestimated my life support requirements for a Duna mission and accidentally put enough to get there, but not enough (~30 days short) to return with an optimal trajectory. At first I was convinced that my Kerbal would die in the cold void of space and started thinking of ways to at least recover the science. Then I remembered this launch window calculator that allows you to select trajectories based on time, and I started looking for the fastest one that I could take with my limited fuel supply. After some clicking around, it gave me one that would leave me with about 10 days of breathing room but would require most of my delta-v.

Here's a screenshot during the burn (compare the maneuver node delta-v with my total delta-v in the bottom left corner):

Here's a screenshot after the burn. Note the number of days to the Kerbin encounter, the number of days of life support remaining, and how much fuel/delta-v I have left:

The encounter ended up having a periapsis of 7km, which I wanted to refine as I got closer. Unfortunately, he never returned, as this was in 0.90 and I didn't timewarp far enough to have him return home (I ran multiple missions at a time) and this save was utterly broken in 1.0.

Edited June 18, 2015 by mythbusters844

[Speadge]

I forgot to put reaction wheels on my Duna Probe.

i got another one.

Coming back from duna (or eve, cant recall) i had to decouple my last stage before leaving.

I noticed way to late i had no solarpanels on my first stage and therefor ran out of energy very fast. Monoprops where empty as well and the fcking drive had no gimbal....

so how to return with just one button for throttle but no steeringwheel?....

guys, always remember to put solar on your 1st stage. whatever you plan it for!

[lost_in_space]

The two Kerbals are still stranded on the Mun:(.http://i.imgur.com/S3pP0ZV.png

That is one UGLY looking spaceship! I feel sorry for the two kerbals. =D

[Nich]

Someone should make a sticky.

My Preflight checklist

1)Parachutes?

2)Batteries?

3)Power Supply?

4)Monoprop?

5)Thrust aligned with COM?

6)Lift behind COM?

7)Can I separate my final stage? / Do I how my stages are set up?

8)Do I have the correct fuel?

9)Do all engines have access to fuel?

10)Are my action groups set?

11)Do I have to correct crew?

12)PARACHUTES?????

It only took 1000 failures but I am finally convinced this is not a wasted 2 minutes. Have not gotten lamented yet but it is a must before every flight. Also I have not gotten there yet but I will have to add correct docking ports to the list

[Leoworm]

That is one UGLY looking spaceship! I feel sorry for the two kerbals. =D

It was a pain to land too:D. Worst ship design EVER.

[Fenris]

Unfortunately things don't tend to make it to my check list until I've screwed up.

My checklist:

1) Solar Panels

2) Batteries

3) Antenna (unmanned, one way trip science probe to Jool)

4) Parachutes

5) Landing Gear

6) Landing Lights

7) Ladders (Had a pilot climb out of a plane on the South Pole and not be able to get back in)

8) Crew (I've had unmanned probes and capsules on the same rocket with the intention of taking crew members to space stations and then returning the rocket, only to get to the station and realize I've forgotten something)

Edited June 19, 2015 by Fenris

[Wlan]

Forgot to put a heatshield. Entered the atmosphere at 3 km/s.

[CaptainApollo]

Not enough fuel.

But more recently, a service bay with a rover inside that clipped the fuel tanks, thus making it impossible to open. So yeah, no rover for that Minmus mission..

[Sharpy]

Was waiting for re-entry when I happened go glance at the resources menu and suddenly realized: this craft is gradually losing electricity. I had completely forgotten to include any solar panels! Of course I didn't really need electricity for anything except SAS and keeping the probe core alive, but I still needed to maintain a retrograde facing

And you ran out of fuel too? Always remember, most engines have alternators. A very low throttle, and your batteries begin charging. A terribly inefficient method (I once thought of running a Laythe mining operation on jet engines instead of fuel cells...)

MK3 parts are tough. The cockpit can survive some 80m/s impact, not sure about the cabin but 50m/s is reasonable.

(OTOH the joints between them are miserable; I managed to land a craft consisting of an engine, a small fuel tank, a cargo bay (with probe core) and some nose cone, on Minmus, setting it gently on the engine. Everything survived and remained standing vertically balanced on the engine, but the craft broke in half and the top part moved by a few centimeters. It really looks like a monument, the rocket standing upwards, broken in half, the top part staggered juuust a little bit...

[justidutch]

You forgot antennas on your list!

[EtherDragon]

The most recent thing I noticed too late was this:

Radially attached fuel tanks don't automatically cross-feed.

And you can't manually cross-feed until you upgrade R&D (IIRC).

Munar Lander - no fuel for the breaking / landing stage! Ooooops (reload).

[Mipe]

En route to save stranded Jeb on Mun: "Bill? What are you doing here?!"

[AbacusWizard]

Someone should make a sticky.

Speaking of stickies... Some months ago, in response to too many "AAAAGH! NOOOOO!" from my side of the desk, my wife made a couple of IVA-style post-it notes saying "ADD MANEUVERING JETS AND LIGHTS THEN LAUNCH" and "REFUEL BEFORE UNDOCKING" in crayon and stuck them to my monitor. They have been an even better reminder than the "engineer's report" panel in the VAB.

In another recent mission I watched in horror as my spaceship, upon clearing the atmosphere, jettisoned a pair of nearly full fuel tanks instead of a fairing... "CHECK STAGE LIST BEFORE MASHING STAGE BUTTON" might be another good one to add.

[monstah]

Staging order.

Nothing feels more kerbal than decoupling the wrong boosters and have them turn your mothership into fireworks.

[Fenris]

Speaking of stickies... Some months ago, in response to too many "AAAAGH! NOOOOO!" from my side of the desk, my wife made a couple of IVA-style post-it notes saying "ADD MANEUVERING JETS AND LIGHTS THEN LAUNCH" and "REFUEL BEFORE UNDOCKING" in crayon and stuck them to my monitor. They have been an even better reminder than the "engineer's report" panel in the VAB.

I laughed way too hard at that ..... I have a yellow post it note stuck to my monitor that says "Solar Panels & Battery"

[lost_in_space]

... Some months ago, in response to too many "AAAAGH! NOOOOO!" from my side of the desk, my wife made a couple of IVA-style post-it notes saying "ADD MANEUVERING JETS AND LIGHTS THEN LAUNCH" and "REFUEL BEFORE UNDOCKING" in crayon and stuck them to my monitor. They have been an even better reminder than the "engineer's report" panel in the VAB.

This is exactly what a wife is for! =D

Wish I had one.

[monstah]

This is exactly what a wife is for! =D

Wish I had one.

I have one.

She absolutely hates KSP.

edit - May I add before too late that I love my wife and am not complaining about her at all? Just sad we can't share this obsession. The post-it notes from AbacusWizard's post were frigging hilarious, I wish mine would have done that...

Edited June 19, 2015 by monstah

[Terwin]

I have one.

She absolutely hates KSP.

Mine bought me my KSP(she knew it was a bad idea for her, but apparently I am hard to shop for).

Then again, even without KSP I would probably still be on my computer most hours I am at awake and at home.

(my computer would probably be suffering mysterious failures on a regular basis if she could not come in and requisition my presence any time she wanted)

[imaspacestation]

One of my first ever orbital rendezvous in the game (lots of learning!) was to rescue a stranded Kerbal. After much frustration and reloading I finally got to the poor bugger, but I couldn't get him home. Did I forget to bring a second pod for him? No, I had a second one... but it was taken! Somehow, and I'm still not sure how, another kerbal was put into that spot before I launched!

[Leoworm]

One of my first ever orbital rendezvous in the game (lots of learning!) was to rescue a stranded Kerbal. After much frustration and reloading I finally got to the poor bugger, but I couldn't get him home. Did I forget to bring a second pod for him? No, I had a second one... but it was taken! Somehow, and I'm still not sure how, another kerbal was put into that spot before I launched!

I don't even know how often that has happened to me

[jkool702]

One time I redesigned my lander in the VAB and added more fuel tanks, but forgot to reattach the engines. Didnt notice till I hit orbit and was ready to separate the lander from the main craft....

[Guest]

On my very first Mun landing, way back in the day, I collected as much Science as I could, and stored it in my lander can. I eva'd my Kerbal back into the CSM, returned to Kerbin, and successfully recovered the mission.

Only after I had recovered, and finished congratulating myself, did I realize I had left all of my Science in the lander can, still orbiting the Mun.

[CG_Kerbin]

Sums it up pretty well (this got me it's so perfect)

[AndrewB]

Standard satellite polar orbit mission. Recoup some funds for launching part of my remote tech relay network, I'm so clever. Get everything lined up nicely, then check ascending node... 179.3 degrees....

Relaunch. Check ascending node. Get into orbit, check ascending node, all good. Match orbit, contract doesn't complete, now what?

Have a goo canister on board...

So one more to the checklist: Read the contract properly!