What did you do in KSP1 today?

[soulsource]

I've done a lot of stuff during the last days, most of which I'll post once the missions are over (so I can show off the whole missions in one post). This means, I can only show one mission today, as it's the only one I finished yet:

Namely an unmanned plane for Duna. Its fuel was planned to last for 20 minutes rocket-powered aerodynamic flight, but at that point I completely underestimated how well stuff can glide on Duna's atmosphere due to the planet's low gravity (and maybe also because FAR is awesome). Burns were then only performed for a few seconds a time, with gliding phases of several minutes in between. In the end the flight not only brought the drone to all three anomalies SCANsat had revealed, it also went to both poles of Duna before landing on a (sadly too steep) slope close to Duna's north pole after the fuel finally ran out.

The only negative thing I can say about this mission is that it went too well. I spent several hours flying around...

Edit: Should you wonder why the dV readout is so much smaller on the first view screenshots on Duna, that's because the front tank was locked at that point, as draining it first would have made the craft unstable.

Edited July 9, 2016 by soulsource

[Corona688]

Shift change at Station A today.  They just invented monopropellant, which made a 3-man craft finally practical.

The stubby wings allow the relief pod to re-enter heat shield down.

Edited July 9, 2016 by Corona688

[lodger]

My first rover ever (no kidding!). Landed on the Mün and facing the flag at the site of my first (in 1.1.3) manned munar landing. I named it OSKAR, the other one on Minmus is called FELIX. Boy, this is fun ... 

 

Edited July 9, 2016 by lodger

[Corona688]

If it's your first rover ever, why isn't it helplessly spinning in circles? 

[lodger]

2 hours ago, Corona688 said:

If it's your first rover ever, why isn't it helplessly spinning in circles? 

Well, it does if you push the pedal to fast. And on Minmus it banks over rather quick. And now let's try a manned version ... 

Edited July 9, 2016 by lodger

[Corona688]

The traditional first thing to do with rover wheels is attach 8 of them to a command pod radially, hit w, and watch it spin   You were a bit smarter.

[lodger]

6 minutes ago, Corona688 said:

The traditional first thing to do with rover wheels is attach 8 of them to a command pod radially, hit w, and watch it spin   You were a bit smarter.

For the sake of tradition, I'll do that first thing tomorrow. Promise!

[kraden]

13 hours ago, CatastrophicFailure said:

Yup. Val's gonna kill me in my sleep tonight. 

But not for the ride, the ride was fine.  She's gonna kill you for singing that song, lol.

That face too, rofl.  Val is not impressed.

[HazelPine]

I figure out how to make SSTOs again, after about an year not even trying due to really bad raging in the past with because of them. So, really happy today! Here's the basic trial trip:

 

Edited July 9, 2016 by Pine

[Mister Kerman]

Hey guys. Long time lurker, first time poster. Been playing vanilla KSP for a few years on and off and recently got back into it and started a new career.

So far I've been focusing on money-making and upgrading my facilities but I think it's time to go to the Mun. I plan to bring a couple of thermometers, science jr.s, and goo canisters for "High" and "Low" in space conditions and snag an EVA and Crew report for "High" as well as all other biomes in a "Low" polar orbit. I'll post again once I get back (safely) to Kerbin.

 

I'm having trouble building a very simple Mun rocket though. It used to be really easy, but it seems these days the aero might be a little different or my gravity turn sucks... or something; Not sure what. Maybe I can post a photo of it if I'm still having trouble tonight.

[Srpadget]

My gawdawful huge "Duna/Ike flotilla" is arriving at its destination.  I'm gonna be busy for a while doing capture-and-circularization.  (Over, and over, and over...)

But for now, the random-looking cloud they made during the interplanetary trip has neatened up into a delightfully well-ordered lineup.  I must be doing something right!

Edited July 9, 2016 by Srpadget
I never get this picture-sharing thing right on the first try...

[N_Danger]

   I got my rear end handed to me over and over again by Eve. Takeoffs are hard there apparently . I think I need to make a different lander and try again.

Also when Val climbed down the ladder the ship started sliding and shaking, she had to hang on for dear life. I think the place is haunted by invisible demons myself. 

 

Edited July 9, 2016 by N_Danger

[Pixel of Life]

Tried flying an SSTO spaceplane to Laythe for the first time. Did not go as expected:

The crew is alive so I'll have to send a rescue mission... Bleh.

[eddiew]

Pondered whether the lifting power of Hooligan Labs Airships might be just a tad OP... Then again, with landing gear the way they are now, this was fantastic. Gently floated down onto the runway to complete my Anomaly Surveyor contract, didn't even need the emergency eject 

[SuperHappySquid]

I assembled a sizeable space station around Kerbin, with quite a few solar panels. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. :¬)

 

Edited July 9, 2016 by SuperHappySquid

[KerrMü]

I just caught my first asteroid in 1.1.3. 

It´s a 2123t e-type with 92% ore, and did I mention that it´s green?

I´m so happy right now.  (at least one awesome thing happened to me today after my new tv went up in smoke earlier)

Edited July 9, 2016 by KerrMü

[septemberWaves]

Today was kind of casual for me; I didn't really do anything new, but I haven't played seriously in a while because of exams over the past few weeks. What I did do was create a new design style of three kerbal command/service modules which I am very pleased with. I also made a new upgrade to one of my launchers which makes for some nicer looking Mun missions. I am very pleased with both the appearance and efficiency of both new designs.

 

[Edax]

Challenged myself by building a single engine rocket that could achieve orbit and return with the engine to be reused.  The result was a impractical, sandbox only rocket for getting to orbit.  The rocket had to be made backwards with the capsule on the bottom, so that the fuel tanks would detach from the top.  I needed the vector engine in order to get enough thrust, which makes it impractical for career mode.
 

[luizopiloto]

I designed a SpaceBus™
 

 

[AlamoVampire]

Well, for the first time since the ARM DLC was supplied to us <not counting that day of course> I tried to catch me an asteroid. I swear that the CLAW is STILL kraken bait. I was tryin to pull a Class E into orbit around Kerbin. Went to the asteroid, caught it with the CLAW and nothing hinky happened. I set up a maneuver to circularize at PE, and all HELL broke lose. I was pointed at the things Center of Gravity, and it started a spin. I shut the engines down, realigned and resumed burn. Started to spin AGAIN. This time it snapped the ship off at the claw and all controls BROKE. I couldnt F9 I couldnt escape, all I could do was watch it go on its merry way. SO, I alt-f4'd and quit for the night last night. Tonight, i tried again. It was back at the preburn quick save, and I adjusted my ship in hopes to burn correctly. I even hacked gravity trying to be as gentle as I could with this thing. WELL, it began to spin AGAIN. This time tho, the KRAKEN spoke up and said ENOUGH! I Cast thee demonic presence from this solar system. Next thing I know, my ships at warp 2 and then the game CRASHED. I reloaded the game and accidentally over wrote the crash log, but, the KRAKEN was so against my ship and that particular asteroid that BOTH were gone. Not on a suborbital trajectory, not orbiting the sun, but GONE. Not even on the TRACKING station. I took that as the KRAKENs final warning and purged my game of that ship.

Let this stand as tribute to the KRAKEN and all HIS Glory. ALL HAIL KRAKEN!

Seriously tho, spooky things just went down!

[wrench-in-the-works]

I designed, created, and (for the most part) adequately compensated design flaws on my first thing in a long time, the RQ-888 Valkyrie, which is basically a more modern SR-71. It works surprisingly well.

[Bigbootie]

I finally finished my world tour of all rivers on Kerbin. The last one did not disappoint. I flew it with my Airborne Driller which was a bit unwieldy especially after I ran out of fuel for 3 of the engines and was determined to finish the river because I was too stubborn to land and refuel.

It all started at the butt crack of dawn...

This is right before I ran out of fuel. I could have transferred some but 1. I wanted to see if it would handle well since it was light due to less fuel, duh. and 2. Flying and stuff.

This turn nearly ended it all, I missed the screen shot due to aggressive driving but it was really, really close. I think if my gear were down I would have touched the bank on the left because I turned way too hard, too soon, and pitched the nose up way too high. I then over-corrected and nose dived at the cliff. Somehow I missed it and leveled off. Pucker factor = 10.

This screen deceptively shows me cruising along all nice and level after my near catastrophic maneuver.

Here come the money shots. The source of this rver is really cool. Too bad KSP doesn't have waterfalls. This one would be stunning.

PULL UP!!!!

So after all that I really needed to land and make some fuel. Check out the gauge reading, I didn't.

And here is where I ran out of fuel. Don't you love it when one engine runs out first and the other engine tries to violently swing the plane around. I actually got a screen of this happening and once again narrowly averted disaster. Pucker factor = 11. Notice where the mountain in the background was above compared to the direction I was suddenly pointed below.

Landed and refueling. The end.

 

 

 

[Mister Kerman]

I know you guys probably scoff about Mun missions, but this is my first in literally a year since I last played on my new vanilla career so I'm rusty.

Here's how it went. I posted a little further back explaining my mission goal. Crew/EVA reports, goo, thermometer, and science jr.s in Low and High orbit conditions around the Mun, and EVA reports from a Low polar orbit above every biome. I think I could have missed some but I got every one of the KSP wiki listed biomes so that's good enough for me. This rocket cost just about every last cent I had so this mission would have practically crippled my space program if it wasn't a success. I worked out the kinks in my rocket design and it went almost flawlessly. (I experienced phantom forces practically the whole time. EVA reports were difficult to get without losing control of my craft once stepping outside. Time warp was helpful in stabilizing it to get back inside if it managed to pick up too much rotation speed and get away from me!)

http://imgur.com/a/OdNf7

I think I have enough science to start working on a proper Mun landing and get even more science. Either that or observe Minmus in the same fashion with better equipment! Very excited to be playing this game again.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Mister Kerman

[Corona688]

Re-using my tiny mun lander design as a rescue contract robot, not to mention pulling several hundred science and an $80,000 "plant flag on the mun" contract with it.

How's 363m for a purely eyeballed landing onto a 30 degree slope with no landing gear? 

 

Edited July 10, 2016 by Corona688

[GDJ]

Not much. Just tweaking and playing with my T-38 trainer.
Still trying to go supersonic with a pair of J-20's. Got her up to 300 m/s. Still have some work to do.
But she'll turn on a dime.