Nostalgia: Your Fondly Remembered Rocket Designs

[eddiew]

I really miss the transparent command pods from Retro Future... Alas, not even a screenshot remains, but some of my strongest memories of KSP were from rockets using them.

[borzwazie]

One of my early Mun landings. Jeb seems unusually nervous:

 

And here, from the first version of KSP where the Cupola module was available:

 

Two nuke motors in the back. It did fly, but not very well.

Edited December 11, 2015 by borzwazie

[Ehco Corrallo]

The "Amsy" Ion Drive Scout Probe. My last mission in 0.90, and first to reach Duna. I've only built a few probes, but this one worked admirably. KSP updated to 1.0 only a few days after this picture was taken. 

I would have mentioned my first line of Mün rockets, the Vaca series, but I can't find pictures of them. 

Edited December 11, 2015 by Ehco Corrallo

[Randazzo]

Not immensely weird or anything, just from 0.90 and won't work anymore.

 

[Pecan]

Just about all of them in my old Exploring The System tutorial.  Not because they're particularly good vehicles (most of them aren't) but because they are almost exactly the right tutorial vehicles in that they work (or did in the target version), are easy to build and fly and demonstrate specific building techniques and game features.

Oddly, my favourite is Long Tom, even though it's over-complicated and the lander has a high CoM.  I've found quite a few people enjoy playing around with that one and all its staging.

 

Long Tom Lander Stage

Plus, you know, the birthday Easter Egg.

Edited December 11, 2015 by Pecan

[katateochi]

This was one of my favourite mining missions from 0.16 or 0.17 (I forget when exactly, but twas around that time)

(note the wheels of the little droid are actually 3 tiny tiny motorcycles! Those RCS thrusters it had gave it a ridiculous TWR and enabled it to land from orbit on just a small amount of RCS).  

That was the mission where I had several key ah-ha moments about piloting and I really started to see the potential of KSP.  It's still one of my fav missions.  
here's the (old) vid part1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP_epphsiwM (start it 5 mins in).

 

And then there was the Reaver - a melee attack ship designed to rip other craft to bit's and hijack their command pods in it's two "brigs".  I miss those claw parts from the old Damned Robotics.
You know what I don't miss though, the sound effects of those small landing legs opening and closing! eeeeeeeeekaclunk. Every. Darn. Time!! (so glad they got taken out)

(one of my very first vids!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9d4NaQudYrs )

This was a time when spirits were brave, the stakes were high, men Kerbals were real men Kerbals,  women were real women (not applicable, still in development), and small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri. And all dared to brave unknown terrors, to do mighty deeds, to boldly split infinitives that no man Kerbal had split before.

 

Edited December 11, 2015 by katateochi

[Jeanjvs]

My first uncrewed Munar lander, the MunPioneer

Notice that it was decoupled from the engine and fuel tank. That's because i got out of fuel right before the landing, when i still had a significant amount of horizontal velocity. So, to avoid tipping over the main section, i decoupled it right after touchdown and stabilized it with the reaction wheel. Today, 67 (in game) years later, i look at its parachutes and think "isn't it cute how i thought this thing was going to return to Kerbin?"

 

My first crewed mission to Duna, the Intrepid

After my experience with underegineering, i decided to try overengineering on my next missions. I developed the Intrepid from my crewed Munar lander, the Verne (from which i have no screenshots) and it performed flawlessly, except for one broken landing leg, which Bill fixed on the way home.

I still have no idea why i put so much Monopropellant on it.

Edited December 13, 2015 by Jeanjvs

[1101]

Found my old saves on a backup disc, thought I'd lost .23.0 etc.

This was my 'Sopwith CamelRocket' so called due to the number of struts, and I see I was very much taken with early KSP's Moar Boosters Design Philosophy.

I just tried it, I do not miss the souposphere.  It took 5050 or so dV to get the top of that rocket to orbit. 

 

I also tried to make that even bigger and lift more, though I think it didn't load properly, a lot of the struts were missing:

Launch and the first 20 seconds of ascent went well, the next stage....

 

Oh so very Kerbal.