Now I'm feeling really stupid...

[JackBush]

In the Demo version, I'm working on the Flight Controls tutorial and when Werner tells me to press Space to launch, I do and the little ship blasts up for a second and then goes into a spin, the parachute pops out and it drifts gently back down. I have done it over and over again, trying to use the controls he taught me and even doing nothing. It's identical every time. What am I doing wrong?

[Starhawk]

Hello again, JackBush. This thread probably would be better off in the Gameplay Questions section of the forums.

The difficulty you are having is with your staging. You need to create another stage in the staging diagram (which is on the right in the VAB but on the left in the flight screen), and make sure you move the parachutes to a separate stage above the engine. If you don't, the parachute deploys at the same time that the engine fires, leading to unfortunate results.

Hope this helps.

Happy landings!

[JackBush]

Thanks Starhawk, but in the tutorial, the ship is already built and on the launch pad. I had nothing to do with its staging.

[Starhawk]

You can adjust the staging on the pad (or in flight).

Happy landings!