My 2022 Career Mode Playthrough (Vanilla, no DLC)

[i dont know how to forum]

With Kerbal Space Program 2 releasing in Early Access tomorrow, I thought I'd show off some highlights from my most recent save. I originally picked up KSP years ago and managed to make it to the Mun and Minmus on my old laptop that could barely run the game, then stopped playing for a long while. Last year I picked it up again on my far more capable desktop and started a brand new career mode playthrough.  Unsure if this is the correct category to post this in (refer to my username), please let me know if it would be better fit somewhere else.

Spoiler

I attempted a tourist contract and rescue contract together, performing my first ever orbital rendezvous! Unfortunately I ran out of fuel and couldn't deorbit. Tourists can't EVA, so I had to unlock the Klaw and perform my second rendezvous and first ever claw docking to deorbit the original ship.

Unfortunately I forgot parachutes on the claw ship, so while the tourists and stranded Kerbal returned home safely, their rescuer became themselves stranded, and I later had to send a rescue-rescue-rescue mission via another tourist ship.

First Mun orbit on this save:

First ever Apollo-style Mun mission, featuring two separate launches, a rover, and my first real docking!

Second Mun landing on this save (this time I ran out of fuel):

Refuel and rescue:

Mun Station:

Minmus landing, with a skycrane-landed rover:

Mun Station expansion:

Mining ship to fill those big orange tanks:

Asteroid aerocapture for later study:

First probe to Duna orbit! This was a huge deal for me, as I had never gone interplanetary before.

Starting preparations for a crewed Duna mission:

Crewed Eve flyby!

Duna lander launch with reusable quad-Mainsail core stage:

Duna mission time! Presenting my interplanetary transfer vehicle, the Black Hole Sun:

Black hole sun...

Won't you come...

And wash away the rain?

The BHS Watney separates and descends to the surface:

Success! My first ever Duna landing, and first landing on a celestial body outside Kerbin's SOI! Super proud of this one.

And a safe return home:

Finally, this was my attempt to build a ship for an Eve mission. I love the look of this ship, but it was greatly lacking in delta-v, and I think it only barely managed to reach Eve orbit and return.

That's it! Had a lot of fun here and only scratched the surface of what's possible in this game. Right now KSP2 is exactly 12 hours away, and I'm looking forward to exploring even further! If it runs on my computer that is. I may be stuck in the same situation I was many years ago with a laptop that can barely run the game, but I'm excited nonetheless!