Show off your awesome KSP pictures!

[Ravenchant]

Wow, smooth. All those curves... ^^

Meanwhile, I was getting this ugly bastard to the Mun:

What is it? A craft carrying 4 escape capsules for an upcoming base. The bottom part will stay on the surface, and each capsule has enough delta-v to get to Kerbin safely.

[darkfall13]

My Probe of 1st's, 1st ion-powered craft, 1st craft to Jool

My first tiny rover paying respects

Same model rover measuring Minmus gravity acceleration...

[spacetortoise1]

This. Pissed. Me. Off.

I spent about 30 minutes ramming this poor kerbal at high speeds into the wheel of this dumb thing. After a few tries I was yelling at the rover, because it would just about flip upright, but the stupid center of mass kept it on it's back.

Then one time I got it to flip. It was rolling down the hill and I tried to board it James Bond style...

...but I overshot & got ran over, and flipped it again.

So I just gave up and left it in the crater, EVA packed to my lander and went home.

[Biker Joe]

kind of unorthodox landing...

[SirJodelstein]

After a servere miscalculation of my career mission to Dres, a quick dV-check in LKO showed that the craft was about 400m/s short on dV, and the design had already strained my heavy lifter design. No docking ports available yet (and no RCS). Crafty engineers developed "RoLoP" - the robotic Low orbit pusher:

Approached using radial ant engines instead of RCS, secured the heatshield with beams and landing legs, and created a stable connection. Fired the pusher engines for a 600m/s boost!

Edited November 9, 2013 by SirJodelstein

[RocketPilot573]

Off to a good start!

[astropapi1]

Bound to Eve.

Edited November 9, 2013 by astropapi1

[Extemporary]

Something about the crew makes me confident this Mun mission will succeed.

[spacetortoise1]

Something about the crew makes me confident this Mun mission will succeed.

I can't quite put my finger on it... Oh yes, it must be the tidiness of the lander.

[Psykikk]

biggest object yet to be assembled by me..

took a long time. pc gets laaagggy

[RocketPilot573]

Don't worry! They're fine! It's just an extended vacation, that all!

[Deadweasel]

Is that round part at the front a Procedural Fairings part, or something else?

Wow, smooth. All those curves... ^^

[TABLE=width: 800]

<tbody>[TR]

[TD]Hehehehe yes it is a Procedural Fairings cover, which protects the Cardinal research station until deployment. And on that note:

IPEV 104-C "Venture" departed for Duna last night. With almost 800 parts, the trip was... shall we say, less than smooth. >_>

Otherwise, she flew quite welll.

The two minute-long burn completed, the next order of business was to inspect the Kurb Burners to determine how they'd fared during the exceptional G-forces of the maneuver.

Bob, already riding "outside" as the Sherpa pilot, was tasked with the inspection. He wasn't too pleased to be outside of his comfort zone.

"Rovers are secure, all systems blue," Bob called out to the observation camera, "Can I go back to my comfy seat now?"

"Negative, Bird Dog," mission commander Bilster's reply sounded flatly over the comms. "Come back to quarters. There's some hot koffee brewing, and Jeb's next on the rotation for the vehicle bay."

"Alright, but I hope you guys aren't hogging all the snacks. Hey! Is that MY Kit Kat bar?!"

The crew rotation completed without further issues, and Venture settled in for the long journey ahead, navigation lights glaring brightly to make it easy for amateur astronomers on the ground to spot her and add their own well wishes for a successful mission.

Three days later, the mission crossed the Kerbin escape terminus.

"Well fellas," mission navigator and engineer Herfurt announced to the crew as he ran through Venture's standby configuration checklist, "flight profile is still nominal, and we're officially 'no return' now. Everybody wave, this is the last we'll see of home for a few years."

Bilster swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat and keyed in the Mission Kontrol channel.

"Kontrol, Venture. Duna Explorer is away."

"Venture, congratulations and safe travels. Get some rack, we'll keep an eye on things from here."

"Kopy that, Venture clear."

Herfurt finished his checklist, configuring the ship for low power, putting her to sleep for the night while the crew enjoyed 12 hours of much needed rest.

Four months later, all continued to proceed as planned. Each day had been packed with internal activity, as the mission specialists Merfred and Jebediah tended to their experiments and research equipment in the lab, while Bob and Herfurt took turns repeatedly checking the condition of the stowed vehicles and other equipment in the vehicle bay.

Bilster keyed up the shipwide channel, and brought all activity to an immediate halt with a simple breathless phrase.

"Guys, check port side."

There, gleaming in the far distance, was the destination so many had devoted their lives to reaching: Duna. Though the crew was small, the cheers and applause that flooded the channel was deafening.

Four days after crossing into Duna's gravitational pull, all hands were on deck and strapped in for Venture's insertion into orbit. Kontrol had recommended they skip a planned mid-course maneuver to reduce their accumulated velocity at this stage to minimize stress on the hull and equipment, so this burn would be longer than their departure had been.

As everyone awaited the moment when Venture's engines again roared to life, excitement and tension filled the bridge and crew quarters. Bob, back in his cozy dropship cockpit once again, munched on krackers distractedly, a thick constellation of crumbs all around him.

Suddenly a deep rumble began. Everybody braced. Bob slapped his helmet shut, an instant before his attending cloud of crumbs shot backward in the cockpit, showering him. Venture began to shed its speed with flaming, violent fervor.

For over four minutes, the vessel vibrated and rattled under its engines' fury. In the lab, an overlooked beaker broke from its velkro keeper and flew into the rear bulkhead, there to shatter into myriad pieces.

To the crew aboard, those four minutes were an eternity, each hoping their particular portion of the mission equipment survived the deceleration burn intact. Bob hoped he'd be able to clear out the crumbs before Jeb's turn came up.

Eventually the engines fell silent once again, followed immediately by Bilster on the shipwide:

"Crew of IPEV Venture, welcome to Duna."

Once more, the hulls rang with deafening cheers and congratulations.

Over the course of the next day, Venture committed a series of small correction burns to achieve a stable and predictable orbit, after which the crew paused to take in another long rest period to prepare them for the feverish activity to come.

After all were refreshed and ready, the arrival activities began. Venture's cramped corridors and airlocks were bustling and busy, while the bridge crew focused on recharging the ship's engines and fuel supplies for delivery maneuvers.

Finally, it came time for the crew to transfer to the Vehicle bay quarters, in preparation for Venture's rending.

The mission specialists moved over first...

...followed by Herfurt, who choked up a little as he bade his commander and best friend goodbye for the next few years. Bilster was to pilot the drive ring back home to Kerbin, after a week-long loiter period in a higher orbit.

Finally, all was ready for the last equipment transfer, and Sherpa took flight to retrieve the Kurb Burners from storage, to be re-positioned in the vehicle bay temporarily before final deployment.

Piloting as skillfully and professionally as ever, (aside from the moment when he was out of camera range long enough to pop his canopy and evacuate all the crumbs), Bob completed the rover transfer quickly, and signaled the all-clear to Bilster, who called back his farewell and thumbed a blinking red toggle on the docking control panel.

IPEV Venture broke in two.

Bilster wasted little time nudging the crew and drive section -now reverted to its standalone designation of "Journeyman"- to its new higher parking orbit, there to remain for a few days until his return departure window to Kerbin had arrived.

Meanwhile, Bob was already engrossed with the first mission deployment activity: delivery of the first Kurb Burner mobile science platform to the surface of Duna.

The Sherpa's cargo safely secured, Bob turned retrograde and began the deorbit burn, gripping the controls suddenly more firmly as the vessel threatened to swing away from him.

"Whoa!" he called out," this thing was not balanced properly for lateral flight!"

"How bad is it?" Jeb answered, concern evident over the comm.

"I got it," Bob replied easily, "just didn't expect it to kick out like that. ASAS is doing pretty good, but I can't really burn hard enough unless I'm pulling back hard on the stick at the same time."

Jeb looked uneasily at his crewmates, strapped in at their terminals in the vehicle bay's drop pod. The Sherpa's bad handling with its load in lateral flight mode didn't bode well for the planned hover transition and delivery. Bob was oblivious to their concern.

"You guys should see this. It's amazing," he whispered just loudly enough for his mic to pick out his voice over the rumble of the Sherpa's engines.

<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/zZIIuJ6VXr-3NtwQ8X99aR4xQ2jlBhG0L0Q2D0PR3Dc?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-8KXENce2ezs/Un68jTh4tCI/AAAAAAAAXck/xfPnnKfun8o/s800/screenshot263.png" height="450" width="800" /></a>

Minutes later, the dropship was committed to its descent, and Bob initiated the transition to hover mode to prepare for braking.

He opened the throttle a bit to test the handling. A look of concern crossed his features, and he bumped the throttle some more, and then again yet more.

"Guys," he called back, "we uh... We have a problem here. I'm not getting any vector change in hover mode, and I'm at quarter-throttle."

"Give it more," Jeb responded, "maybe the rover's frame is interfering."

"Kopy that," Bob affirmed, and pushed the throttle wide open. Nothing happened, save for the sudden and loud groan that issued through the Sherpa's frame. Bob's grip on the controls tightened reflexively, and he peered downward through the canopy before easing back the throttle into shutdown.

"Okay, you were right Jeb. All I'm doing is pushing against the rover. It's not doing a thing with my forward momentum, but it's straining the hell out of the dock. If I keep pushing it, she'll break right off."

"Krap. Abort the drop," Jeb ordered, "come back and we'll work out a fix for this."

"Unable abort," Bob replied tightly. "I'm on terminal descent, and this pig can't push hard enough to escape again in lateral mode without tumbling out of control."

"That's the only mode your engines are effective in," Jeb answered. "Drop the rover. We've got another to work with." Bob shook his head.

"I got this. I can use RCS and lateral mode to come in retro. It'll be clumsy but I'm sure it'll work."

"You need to be absolutely sure about this, Bob. By the time you can determine if it'll work, it'll be too late to abort in any way."

"I'm all over it," Bob answered confidently.

He leveled the engines again, turned retrograde and began decelerating even as the ground visibly rushed to meet him. He pushed ever-harder on the stick as he nudged the throttle further, edging closer to the point at which the ship would begin to flip under the uneven forces acting upon it. The ground proximity alert sounded, and Bob rammed the throttle full at the last moment, but...

....to be [f9]-ed....[/TD]

[/TR]

</tbody>[/TABLE]

Edited November 9, 2013 by Deadweasel

[KAO]

DeepSpace-2b arriving at Sentar system, this version featuring the Verrier descent probe

Verrier decoupled and set to hit atmosphere of the moon Erin hours ahead of DeepSpace-2b. Visible in background is the sub-moon, Pock

nighttime on Erin:

one of the more breathtaking moments was the morning after touchdown, visible are many of the moons (not seen is Pock, which I couldn't get into the frame)

here is the original ultra-high resolution 6400x4000 version

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64884362@N08/10767714333/sizes/o/in/photostream/

[Guest]

At last, I have an Orion with transfer vehicle looking and operating the way I want.

[Captain_Party]

At last, I have an Orion with transfer vehicle looking and operating the way I want.

.Craft, part file?! Omg. I want that for the SDHI Service Module.

[fatfluffycat]

Mun Base Waffles

[zekes]

haven't been playing lately... all ive been doing is battle other people.

[Galacticruler]

zekes, quit encouraging kessler syndrome.

[Spartwo]

[zekes]

-megasnip-

u wot m8?

<millitary intensifies=""><millitary intensifies="">*Millitary Intensifies*

</millitary></millitary>

[Spartwo]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

[zekes]

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

-weaponsnip-

Zokesian Forces, circa early 0.21...

[Spartwo]

(more)AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Quick everyone post your oldest screen.

(We should probably stop now)

[Galacticruler]

some of your more CPU melting designs there zekes.

also nice tank.

ever thought of making one with Infernal Robotics, RBI Tracks, and DYJ's minigun?

[Anton P. Nym]

Heavy Probe Bus "Albert" after final assembly. The front drop tank was a bear to dock, as the above is 546 parts (plus the Starfury tug I was using to tow the tank into place had its own hundred or so) but I the effort should be worth it. In just under two weeks in-game it'll head off to the Jool system to explore its outer moons with a payload of 16 lander probes and 4 rovers.

Next up, to finish docking spaceplanes to the KSS Constellation for a parallel mission to Laythe.

Whew.

-- Steve