What did you do in KSP1 today?

[Val]

After a bit of trial-and-error, and with a design completely stolen from a Scott Manley tutorial, I put my first SSTO spaceplane into LKO today.

...

Gratz

I redesigned my Bizarro SSTO from yesterday. Now it actually has enough dV to land on the Mun. But not get back home again.

[Hotaru]

Still working on my 1.0.2 career, thinking I'll hold out for 1.1 before I start over at this point.

Finally making my first try at ISRU on Minmus. I don't really need a refinery there, it's more of a pilot program to test out the technology for use on other planets.

Three launches--drilling rig/refinery, reusable landing stage, and Aqualung tanker doubling as a transfer stage--put the ship in orbit with a fourth bringing up the two-Kerbal crew.

Eight days later, the stack arrives at Minmus for a rendezvous with Bass Station, only to find that Bass Station has completely and utterly vanished. No debris, no nothing, just gone. (Theories among the scientists back at KSC include the station falling into a chrono-synclastic infundibulum, being nudged into an impact trajectory by a space Kraken, and never having been there in the first place due to a time-travel paradox.) Whatever the reason, the two scientists stationed there, Julina and Sidrie, were the first casualties since the start of the space program.

Anyway, the ship (which somehow never got a name) separated from the Aqualung and the landing stage carried it down to the surface...

...where a problem was uncovered.

In one possible future the whole thing tipped over and exploded when the drills deployed, but that save got corrupted (while I was halfway through using KAS to piece together a self-rescue vehicle from the debris, no less) so I unintentionally got a second chance. Sheprod, the pilot, managed to use SAS to balance the ship on its drills while Madra, the engineer, went outside to re-engineer the landing gear.

With the problem corrected, the rig is now operational, awaiting the arrival of the first tanker ship from Kerbin. More importantly, the technology has been proven and plans are being made to send similar rigs to Ike and the Jool system.

[Kyrt Malthorn]

While I had been toying with the idea of starting a new career mode now that I know a little of what I'm doing in KSP, I decided to hold out for 1.1 for that. For now, there's so much more for me to experience and my current career mode is practically a sandbox anyway. So I'll keep playing that. So I'll be making it my goal to just explore things I, as a player, just haven't done yet!

My first target: Jool and its numerous satellites! Yes, I too wish to experience dancing between gravity assists in the Jool system. So I finagled together 5.3 tons of seriously overdesigned hardware. This is the probe that will give me my first glimpse of the emerald giant: I call it the JoolBraker!

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The entire probe is tightly packed behind a slightly oversized heat shield (computer guidance systems consider that the front). Pointing the other way we have three ion thrusters, our antenna for sending back lovely pictures to KSC, a full array of orbital rated science plus an atmospheric package to get a taste of Jool itself. You might notice the airbrakes. It's my first time incorporating them into a design - I figured they'd give me more control in Jool's atmosphere and may lend me some forgiveness during aerocapture and aerobraking.

I tested its reentry capabilities by sticking it in a highly eccentric orbit just shy of escape velocity, waited for Apoapsis, and brought my Periapsis down to like 12km. By the time I hit atmo I was going almost 3.5km/s. And it didn't die! And when I had the airbrakes out it decelerated at a whopping 5-10 g's. This kind of drag control leads me to believe it might be wise to come in a little more shallow in Jool's atmosphere than I think I'd need, because I can always ramp up the drag as long as I'm still going to escape atmo on the other side.

4,200 dV, 0.14 TWR for this baby. Now obviously ion engines are pretty power hungry as far as the base game goes. Around Kerbin the gigantors can handle the power demands, but that performance is going to go down a lot out by Jool - which is why I have three. Got a fair sized battery, and one RTG to make sure the probe doesn't die completely. But as insurance against those moments on the dark side of a planet where you HAVE to make a burn, we have a power cell and enough liquid fuel/oxidizer to run these ion engines for about 40 minutes.

I also designed, and have yet to test, an intermediate stage to give this prize project a 2,500 dV boost from LKO to Jool with four LV-N's and a sufficiently respectable TWR so I don't have to make multiple passes around Kerbin to reach escape velocity. The whole package massed about 32 tons, which fits beautifully within the capabilities of my current standard Launch-to-Suborbital launch vehicle (which routinely launches 39 ton orange-tank ferries) and is a completely recoverable launch stage.

I feel like I'm getting the hang of this game. Then I watch Scott Manley.

[Coyote27]

That's a really sweet probe, I have to say. Kudos.

In my corner, I've just finished the main construction phase on this space station, after many delays caused by either design flaws or operational oopsies. You can see mod parts here aplenty, but heck, it's a sandbox game.

The worst hobgoblin to bedevil my construction attempts has been EVA-construction accidents with KIS/KAS.

I've been trying to remove the thruster blocks and unneeded struts from each module and throw them away to save massively on part count (each module comes with 12-20 thrusters which can be nearly half its parts total). However, several times in a row I've misclicked and unbolted a large section that couldn't be reattached - chunks of the T-spar across the top, or a docking port, or three times chopping the tan, egg-shaped 3.75m fuel tank in half. It's aggravating, but I've learned to just save the game between docking a module and EVAing to work on it, and have gotten a lot better about being extra careful with the wrenches.

Anyway, there's three 2.5m docking ports still available for more modules, two of four 1.75m ports open for vehicle docking (not counting an emergency one that can extend out of a SPE airlock device at a 45-degree angle), and three 0.625m ports intended for various unmanned robots or other small vehicles or attachments. One compact Danube crew vehicle is docked sunward (with circular panels), and a Volga cargo vehicle shadeward - I'll definitely need more crew, since there's so much onboard room, so I might consider a smaller module that adds more docks for Danubes or possibly spaceplanes of some kind.

[Kyrt Malthorn]

Thanks.

And I like your construction style. Part count is such a bear, though.

[Coyote27]

As a quick update, my EVA activities to remove excess parts went off without a hitch!

Down to 217 parts now all total which includes both vehicles. Now to send up some more crew to man this thing.

[jiminator]

I docked to a space station. it wobbled a few times. then joined. then exploded. try again without sas. explosions. and again. explosion. grrr.

[Coyote27]

And now, a Nile fuel transport launches atop a Cyclops 2A rocket, headed for my station to fill up its storage tanks.

Station approach... despite a lot of thrusters, it handles nearly as clumsily as a station module.

I forgot to snap a screenie of it docked to the station, but here it is pulling away after unloading. Unlike the Volga cargo transport (and Danube crew vehicle), the Nile doesn't have a reusable core, so it was deorbited to burn up in the atmosphere.

[Kyrt Malthorn]

My first launch to Jool, as a player!

The JoolBraker probe I mentioned developing earlier was set on its path by this nice rig with four LV-N's. Even if I don't use the rig for additional course corrections I have 4,200 dV to play with among Jool's moons. I can't wait! If only I didn't work weekends...

Stuck the RCS on there for very fine approach adjustments from a long way off. But my departure burn from Kerbin is giving me a 170km periapsis of Jool, which where I'm going to try aerobraking anyway, so... That turned out to be unneeded payload...

[capi3101]

Last night was spent mostly with Bob, who finally arrived high over Minmus in an 88-degree inclined orbit aboard Fireball 7b. He arrived so high up in Minmus's SOI that after the orbital insertion burn - which put his periapsis at 31k above Minmus - it'll be three more days before he gets down there. I was able to get gravioli readings high over five of Minmus's biomes before the night was out and I fully intend to grab the other four as soon as I can manage them. Low orbital graviolis will be next, and then finally surface gravioli and seismometer readings will commence. Other noteworthy events were the establishment of the probably-to-be-abandoned-completely Kerbolport 7 space station (for somewhere around √250,000) as well as Jeb's Stratofortress 7 flyby of Minmus with a bunch of tourists; he'll return to Kerbin in a week and the current plan is for him to dock at the Kerbinport 7 station upon return, but in the interim I need to get a hab module attached to the station. The Munar Sojourner 7 probe also arrived and established a polar orbit; of course, this was one of the early designs, so a repair mission will be in order before prospecting ops can commence on Mun.

Plans for this evening: continue working with Bob, and maybe get that hab module up. The completion of the Kerbolport mission has brought me up to where I have more than two coins to rub together at this point.

[Mikki]

After making my first experiences in aerobrakeing at Laythe with a huge vessel, i get this contract:

I just could not withstand, and besides my ongoing Jool-5 attempt i assembled this interplanetary stockparts monstrosity for the glory of Kerbalkind!

I made a Album too for those who like to see more details in how i did it:

http://imgur.com/a/0DwXM

Here is a picture ready for departure, only some fueling up is needed maybe:

This will serve later in the Jool system as mobile fuelstation after matching the contract... the command module in front is selfsustaining to do some minor tasks alone. I stacked some heatshields, who knows what i want to land on Laythe in the future... It can drill asteroid by itself, the mining rig is mounted on the bottom. The RCS tug is equiped with airbrakes to have more control during the maneuver in Laythe athmosphere, and making emergency slow-downs. I just hope it doesn`t rip off from its medium dockingport...

Edited September 11, 2015 by Mikki
yeah typos:)

[Val]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Mikki again.

That is an awesome looking ship, Mikki!

[Gaarst]

I went to the Moon ! Didn't land on it though... or even orbit it :|

Crew went home "safely" with 0.44 units of ablator left. And yes, it was totally calculated from the beginning

[Itsdavyjones]

While this happened a few days ago, I hired a scientist in my new career save, and I didn't know that you pay to hire people now, so, uh, I'm broke, but I got enough kredits to get a money grind started, and will soon have enough money to make larger rockets to get into orbit, since I am now stuck with suborbital tourism.

[DrMarlboro]

Today my noob self sent my first probe to Duna!.. It hasn't gotten there yet, but here's hoping! though... Looking back at this, I apparently don't know how to place radiators, and it just dawned on me that when I ditch the second set of fuel tanks I wont have any solar panels any more.. oops.. too late now.

And since i didnt want to warp 150 days into the future right away, i decided to test my rover/lander combo. im working on a discovery style lander for my next rover.

[Concentric]

Did a few maneuvers, some station stuff and some flyback today.

SixFerry arrived at Stopover Station. The four tourists were transferred to the now-obsolete two-man minishuttles, and our actual employee took the science from the lander can and transferred it to the Triangle prototype that had come up when I was first developing that spaceplane. I also shuffled fuel around, draining excess from the minishuttles and refilling SixFerry's tanks from the stations main reserve. The tourists already aboard moved into SixFerry, along with Bill. I might see if I get two more Minmus tourists in a contract that comes up soon, so I can send SixFerry off full, instead of with only four passengers. Anyway, I began to fly back the minishuttles.

Two rather simple glides later, and the four tourists were home. The reason that the minishuttles are now obsolete is of course the fact that I now have a reliable spaceplane to get to and from Stopover - so I don't need to keep other ways of getting down around. The shuttles were a good solution for the tech level, but their use is now too expensive to justify (compared to a spaceplane flight), and their part count means it's better for my system to get them off the station rather than those simpler drop-pods that are still attached.

In the meantime, I also took on an orbital rescue contract. I sent up the Triangle to rendezvous, and it just so happened that the capsule in which the engineer was stranded was in fact a Mobile Lab. Now that I have Actuators (and thus the Claw), that saves me the trouble of putting one up. There's also one over in a retrograde orbit about the Mun, so in a future mission, I can drag that to a suitable location. Perhaps to Minmus, and there make it the core of a station. As for the rescuee, their landing was fine, if a little close to the end of the runway. I didn't have wheels on the ground until I was less than a kilometer from the end, so that would be why.

Finally, I made an adjustment to the course of a satellite probe that is heading off to fulfill a contract in Minmus orbit, and perhaps afterwards some temperature measuring at Minmus. Additionally, I noticed one of my new contracts is an interplanetary tourism contract. But, I'd rather finish a thing or two in the local system (at least set up an orbital lab to process data) before I go to Duna and Ike... but I suppose I already have plenty of funds, so I can just accept it and make it a reasonably long-term goal.

[Mikki]

Jeb, Bob and Bill boarded the "Glory of Kerbin", fueled the vessel up to 90%, made a testflight to 5000 km Kerbin orbit.

Bill decided to take a look for the engine department after a 350 second fullthrottle burn of 12 "Nerva`s"...

I really don`t think he`s having further familyplans...

When he came back he just mentioned: "Well, looks like we have to throttle down for the very long burns, we will see..."

Jebediah: "What? No Way!"

Bob: "Okay, lets order a additional radiator section... There is no way around it..."

KSP Finance: "No comment."

[Goddess Bhavani]

Spent nearly 12 hours learning how to safely conduct helicopter sling load operations while dealing with 20+ keyboard commands needed to operate the largest helicopter ever built in real life.

Also did house moving!

Craft Release Thread:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/134053-Release-Thread-Greatest-Helicopter-that-Never-Was-Mi-12-Homer-1967-analog-controls-20-keys%21?p=2190892#post2190892

[NecroBones]

Got some large sizes of service bays going, in SpaceY Expanded. (3.75m, 5m, and 7.5m. Shown with stock 2.5m bay)

[CaptainApollo]

Minmus landing!

[Bev7787]

KSP keeps crashing

[BJ Quest]

Worked on my big ships. refueling a large probe drop ship for exploring the surfaces of other planets/moons. This is turning into what I call the EGR series.

Did a bit in the hanger with new parts. An side by side cockpit and two drones. Quick, and fast designs that works very well the first flight :-)

[Starhawk]

I climbed a mountain with a rover.

[Strigops Jedi]

I designed a new utility spaceplane, capable of delivering small payloads to LKO, carrying tourists and if you refuel it, ferrying them around. Fully refueled, it's got around 2000 m/s of dV in orbit. This is it returning from it's inaugural flight.

[Itsdavyjones]

Made a scansat satellite, along with some magnetometer booms from another mod, and got this nice image.