Your Finest Hour in KSP

[Delay]

It was [I don't know what date it was]. It's the I-don't-know^th quickload for this particular landing. It was a heavier payload than usual, either that or my ascent was terrible.
Nevertheless I had less fuel to land my first stage than usual - no room for errors.

I managed to do a literal suicide burn, with exactly 0 units of LFO left in all tanks after landing.
I was never happier to have successfully landed a vessel.

[roboslacker]

My finest moment so far has to be the botched duna takeoffs from the Elizabeth mission.

Due to a combination of trying to get low altitude science and... something else, both of the landers lost their primary engines. But because they were two stage landers, I was able to launch into a suborbital trajectory, and EVA the kerbals into full orbit. After that I send the orbital shuttle to pick up the kerbals. (the full account is in part 23 of Jeb's Spaceport)

[sturmhauke]

I was testing a new SSTO called Katar in career mode. I sent it with a crew on a Minmus training and shakedown run. Everything went well until I tried to take off and the Kraken found me...

Spoiler

Katar was barely controllable with the entire starboard section gone. Somehow I managed to intentionally break off the port section by scraping it off with the terrain.

Spoiler

This, uh, unscheduled percussive maintenance allowed Katar to maintain controlled spaceflight with its remaining 2 Nervs and 2 Rapiers. I managed to dock Katar with my LKO station with the assistance of its tug. From there, I probably should have sent a pod up, brought the crew down, and let the remains of Katar burn up in atmo. But instead I sent some fuel and new station parts up.

Spoiler

After that, I undocked Katar and attempted to land. It didn't have enough control remaining to land even semi-safely on solid ground, so in the end I had to settle for a water landing. But I did it!

Spoiler

 

[Thorn_Ike]

Oh wow. I had to rack my brain for this. Most of my launches are either successes or end in loud booms.

Anyways, I'm building K-Prize SSTOs right now, and my 1st design was the Bainbridge Aerospace BA-50 Sparrow:

I'm going for Advanced Pilot Precision, or at least Pilot Proficiency with this bad boy, so I began testing it. 

So I'm coming in for reentry toward the KSC, and I realize that the KSC is glitched out. Badly. So I do exactly what the warning label says I shouldn't do. I push down hard, and she flips out for a solid 20 seconds, and makes Jeb very green.

I mean, he was green already, but MOVING ON...

I eventually began going straight down into the ocean, so I pulled up hard, and bled off speed like crazy, just before touchdown, and ditched about 10km off KSC, saving Jeb, and the entire SSTO.

 

Whew!

 

I fixed the flickering KSC with a simple restart, and all was good. STILL haven't managed the runway tho...

Edited December 4, 2018 by Thorn_Ike
sneaky apostrophe got where it shouldn't be

[NISSKEPCSIM]

I managed to make a rocket capable of orbit and then powered landing and recovery... Robert Goddard style...

No, it had no purpose. It was useless. It couldn't do anything in orbit. All it could do was go up and then land. But I'm proud of the fact I managed to do it in one of the most unnecessary ways imaginable.

And yes. This post is a shameless plug for my video.

[mikekargil]

Hello everyone (that is my 1st post).

Last night I had kind of Apollo 13 mission (not exactly but you will see )

So:

1. I made CM with MK-2 and Mun landing module with Mk1 Lander Can, I put two pilots in CM and 1 scientist in the Lander (CM had RCS and monopropellant, LM had only mono - by default)
2. Went orbital, separated, docked CM to LM
3. Went for Mun orbit
4. Separated LM and started to burn retro to slow down - then I realized that landing with Scientist may be bit tricky - since no SAS 
5. Finally landed - however this was hard (so for me this is huge challange to land on Mun without SAS - need to train more)
6. Got all science possible, I've waited until CM was close enough
7. LM started to go back to the orbit - however I wasted fuel and got suborbital with high apoapsis - the closest intersection was like 10kms
8. CM started to burn towards LM to catch it - also got subortbital 
9. Here things get more interesting: used all monopropellant in CM (luckily target speed was 0.3m/s and was on good trajectory)
10. Had to adjust LM quickly
11. CM could only rotate to adjust for any mistake in the docking approach - luckily it worked - docked successfully
12. Then we realized we don't have enough fuel to get return trajectory BUT... we got monopropellant from docked  LM
13. Burned prograde with RCS first
14. Made transfer maneuver to Kerbin 
15. Reentry at around 3000m/s - I think antennas blew up but all ended up successfully

 

That was my most exciting mission in career mode :)

[Nikolai]

I made a "lawn chair lander" for Jeb around Minmus.  The thing was docked to, and sat on top of, the capsule, and was very little more than a rover body with a command seat and monopropellant tanks.

I got Jeb out of the capsule to EVA to the "lander", undocked, and gently pushed away from the capsule to put the thing through its paces.

Everything looked good.  I was even pretty sure I could handle the weird perspective on the navball.  Time to take this thing down.  Aim retrograde and fire thrusters!

I forgot that the capsule was behind me.

It took me a few moments after the initial chaos to figure out what had happened.  The collision had knocked Jeb clean out of his seat, sending him and the "lander" spinning off in different directions.  I restored focus to Jeb, but he was unconscious.  I spammed buttons like crazy, trying to get him to wake up before I lost sight of the "lander".  (This was before astronauts on EVA got their own navball; I wasn't sure I could find my way back if I didn't wake up in time.)

Thankfully, I did -- the lander's marker remained in sight even after the capsule's marker went dark.  I fired up the jetpack, flew back to the spinning contraption, and climbed back into the command seat.

The batteries had gone dead.  And the solar panels were damaged to the point where they weren't recharging anything.

Thankfully, the struggle back to the lander got me back to within marker range of the capsule, so I got out of the seat and flew back there -- then piloted the capsule back to Kerbin.

My heart had started pounding when the capsule smacked into the lander.  It didn't really calm down until the capsule successfully splashed down.

I was so proud that I hadn't killed anyone that I left that useless lander in orbit around Minmus for months.  I've had arguably closer scrapes since then, but that was the first time I felt like I'd done something impossible.

[PewPewTrash]

10 ton manned mission to Eve and back...

[Lapis]

first mun/duna landing 

(they were part of the same program/ship type)

Edited January 13, 2019 by lapis

[Cavscout74]

After thinking about this for a while, my finest hour in KSP is any hour that doesn't qualify for either the "What is your most facepalm worthy moment regarding KSP" or "What crimes against Kerbin have you committed?" threads

[sturmhauke]

LOL

[putnamto]

had finnally got my science lab w/drone into LMO and successfully landed the drone part on the mun, got some science, and went back to the mother ship, realized it would process faster if i had a second scientist on board.

switched to my kerbin station, put one of my scientist's in the escape capsule and flew him home to get in another ship...........but scientists cant fly ships very well so i used an engineer from the station to attach a HECS(using KAS) to the bottom of the escape capsule...........bad idea, turns out probe's put on upside down and backwards get really confused when you tell them to go prograde so i ended up flying the ship myself.

turns out i cant design escape pods very efficiantly, it had no heat sheild and was flying waaaay to fast, way to low for me to be comfortable........then i remembered, they added personal chutes  awhile back, so i EVA the scientist and realize he's not a high enough level to get chutes yet.........

i pannick and turn on his RCS thrusters in hopes of slowing his descent and steering him into the ocean, and as im doing this in the distance i can see and hear the chutes on the escape pod opening up........

but he lived!! i was repeatedly saying sorry to him as he was plummetting to his certain grave and he just kind of splashed and glitched all around for a second and was perfectly fine.

and this is all i get on the recovery screen



laaaame

[lunardog15]

that rep tho

[putnamto]

5 hours ago, lunardog15 said:

that rep tho

i know, it almost makes me want to stop the game right now and just leave it their forevor lol

[ZootinZack]

Pretty routine Mun landing with a 1-kerbal crew.. or so I thought. somehow I mess up the landing and realize I'm gonna crash. Hard.

No vehicle around has the capacity to rescue the now soon to be dead Kerbal (unlike a lot of players I tend to take deaths badly).

EXCEPT a 10-year old miner ship I kinda forgot about. Outdated and very awkward to maneuver... well it's either that or letting that dude crash unceremoniously.

I managed to reach the fast-falling ship - while switching back and forth between both ships to use the little fuel I had left for adjustments - match velocity, rescue the doomed Kerbal and land the thing while that poor thing was holding on the ladder for dear life because there was no space on the ship... What a rollercoaster.

[maceemiller]

On 11/21/2018 at 10:32 AM, Lo Var Lachland said:

Docking without Mechjeb. 

Yeah, that was a day that felt really, really good. The amount of satisfaction I felt when those two vessels became one was amazing. 

Amen to that....I was going to post exactly the same thing.  Achieving orbit for the first time was an amazing feeling but docking.....

I wasn't very good at reading the navball back then and I remember trying to eyeball the docking port. Good job I had plenty of RCS as it took about 25 minutes of translating up, down, sideways, forward and back until I eventually made it.

I could almost hear the blood rushing in my ears and felt beads of sweat on my forehead..

An amazing experience

[Hotel26]

My son gave me KSP Xmas 2014.

On March 9, 2015, the following occurred, which I now recount as the HAPPIEST moment (of very many) in my KSP career:

Quote

I still most vividly recall my very first encounter with Duna!!

I achieved it setting my apoapsis way higher than that of Duna.  As a result, my very heavy ship was speeding past sight of Duna at a totally unstoppable differential.

I was thrilled to catch my very first sight of another planet but so disappointed to be sailing by.

I loaded as much fuel as I could into a "lifeboat" and cast off, hoping to get closer to Duna with a much lighter ship.

Miraculously, I was able to enter Duna's Sphere of Influence!  Yet, thus undeservingly rewarded by the Gods, I thirsted for more: hoping to capture the Holy Duna and enter orbit!!

Miraculously again, this next wish was granted using almost all of my precious fuel remaining; and I took reel after reel of photos from a stable Duna orbit!

Out of film and mission presumably concluded, I still had just enough fuel to enter the atmosphere to crash and burn.  So, suicidally, now hopelessly in love with the Fatal Duna, I executed the de-orbit: I thought I should at least bury myself on sacred ground...  the red soil looming, I used the remaining fuel to slow the impending crash.

Then, in the last 30 seconds, I realized two more heaven-sent items:

1. Duna has 20% atmosphere!!
2. and my lifeboat had chutes!!!!

And so, with my final few liters of fuel and under chutes, I cushioned those last meters, extending the landing struts, to land, whole, on Duna!! -- rescuing the mission from the most tantalizing failure in the absolutely most unexpected manner.  If I wasn't already in love with KSP, I became so in those final moments of the first landing of Kerbals on Duna!! 

 

Here are the pics, a very happy and unexpected turn of events:

Superb!

[Raptor42]

On 12/25/2018 at 2:11 AM, lunardog15 said:

that rep tho

Sometimes the Satan Kraken helps you in the most unexpected manner

[Lisias]

I never managed to do something so funny and weird on KSP as this!

 

 

[OrionPie]

My finest hour personally was when earlier today, I managed to rendezvous and dock to my space station without Mechjeb for the first time.

[Hotel26]

52 minutes ago, OrionPie said:

My finest hour personally was when earlier today

May you have many more 'finest hours' as things just keep getting better and better.    Congratulations!

Edited December 30, 2018 by Hotel26

[OgreMagi]

wayback , in the 3 program update I went to Jool with an unbelievely unrealistically large rocket that carried 2 powered landers , 2 spaceplanes, and 3 oneway habs  that I parachuted on Lathe.  But he best part of the mission was the Tylo landing.  

I ran a lander with 3 Lvn's and 2 aerospikes , WAY OVER ENGINED ,  but I  burned  the lvn's on the way down and sucided the aerospikes around 15K,   I had mech jeb  set to land anywhere and to monitor my landing times, my landing timers were allways higher than my burn timers until I got down to 2000 m  I landed with only 25 units of fuel in my entire ship.  

Best mission I ever played,

[Vanamonde]

Background: I launched a stage of an interplanetary ship and then realized I'd botched its design somehow, so I launched a corrected version. But to avoid wasting the botched launch, I wanted to dock them and transfer the fuel to the corrected version. But (I don't remember exactly why) when I brought them together it turned out that neither had working RCS systems. So I maneuvered in close quarters using main engine burns and docked them anyway. And these were not small ships.  

So I was able to transfer the fuel after all. 

[ExpandDong]

So just today I had to restart a mission back to the atmosphere of duna from being landed because I forgot to EVA and collect my data. I restarted, landed, and realized I did it again.

[Odiseus]

A rescue mission in the Mun north pole.

I've had landed in the north pole , but the spacecraft tilted to one side and flip to the ground, making the take off impossible. I had to sent another lander with a extra place for the stranded kerbal, and land within a reasonable range. Finally i managed to put the spacecraft within a 1 km from the first kerbal, and  after a while of walking  , reach the rescue spacecraft and return safely to Kerbin.