Some questions from a Keen space traveller ! Where to now.... ?

[combat squirrel]

Hi all, so I got flying to the mun and minmun nailed down, orbiting etc, I have been using some of the great packs available such as the thor rocket (my fav), BUT my general experience is very low, I would like some help on how to:

1) Launch satallites... how is this done, how does the game engine handle them ? any good mods? is it a case the satallite is just a \'mid rocket section\' which you drop in orbit then come home ?

2) Build massive space stations, both orbital and munar - there is so many mods im lost as to what to do to achieve this - id love to build something insane in orbit.

ANY pointers greatly appreciated.

[TelluriumCrystal]

1) Launch satallites... how is this done, how does the game engine handle them ? any good mods? is it a case the satallite is just a \'mid rocket section\' which you drop in orbit then come home ?

You can either build a satellite that will be released into orbit separately from the capsule, just build it out of various random parts and separate it as a stage when you are in the desired orbit. You could also use a mod that turns the capsule into a satellite; take a look at Probodobodyne (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=6397.0), you can make some very nice satellites using it!

2) Build massive space stations, both orbital and munar - there is so many mods im lost as to what to do to achieve this - id love to build something insane in orbit.

Usually these are made using space station parts from mod packs. BACE is one of the good ones (http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=6397.0), though there are a few more out there. You can choose to launch these manually or using a mod that just dumps it in orbit. Once the developers finish docking (give them a month or so) it\'ll be much more practical to launch large stations manually as they can be broken up into separate trips and assembled in orbit (like the ISS).

Hope I answered your questions!

[VincentMcConnell]

It\'s going to take longer than a month to complete docking. We\'ll be lucky if we see .16 released in a month. I\'m sure the EVA thing is keeping them busy, and frankly, EVA is much better than docking.

[TelluriumCrystal]

Sorry, I didn\'t see the 0.16 development thread until about 2 minutes ago, so I thought it being pushed back from .15 meant it would probobally be in the next update:

-snip from .15 dev thread-

* Docking module Part and attachment system

Assigned to: Mu, HarvesteR

Status: Pushed back

I can still be optimistic though! =P

[VincentMcConnell]

Unless it\'s a surprise feature, it\'s pretty much been confirmed that it will not be .16.

The mods have explained this a thousand times.

[Trekkin]

And so, with that in mind, in answer to the original question:

Getting space stations into space is tricky, not only given how heavy most mods make them but because they tend to be asymmetrical. I usually mount masses on the outside of mine with decouplers all wired to the same stage such that the station and extraneous mass is close to radially symmetrical with respect to the Y axis. That way it doesn\'t so desperately want to flip over or wobble apart on launch, and I can still have any station design I like actually in space or on the Mun.