Your first BIG mission : The KSS Nautilus (Tons of pictures)

[Dweeb of Kerbin]

We start by putting a probe which does nothing in orbit. Then we crash into the mun, throw things wildly into space, and eventually graduate to actually landing on something. (In my case I was able to land successfully on eve before I actually mastered landing on bodies without atmosphere) Then comes docking and space stations. There are two paths to go from there. Either do everything you've already done more and more efficiently and perfectly, or try to do something that is just crazy. This thread is dedicated to your first mission that attempted to do the later.

Mine was the KSS Nautilus: My goal was an interplanetary cruiser which could deliver a very large payload to laythe and then return and continue operation more or less still in one piece.

Here is a prototype of the vessel with mainsail engines. This flight was for testing to make sure the basic craft was controllable. The final vessel replaced these with three nuclear engines and six emergency small engines for more thrust.

Here is a second prototype launching - the final included many MORE BOOSTERS on the first stage as well as more fuel on the actual vessel in an effort to reduce the amount of refueling the vessel would need before embarking:

Here is the final launch:

Despite my efforts the Nautilus did require two visits from refueling barges. Unfortunately, my design for the refueling barge was pretty terrible and a nightmare for precise docking.

Meanwhile, back on Kerbin, testing begins on the biggest payload for the Nautilus - a Laythe naval exploration craft.

Here is the Nautilus finally fully kitted out - Two additional arm extensions were launched as a single vessel. Once at destination one of these will serve as a jool system exploration probe, and the other is an emergency rescue vehicle/possible return craft. Also, as you can see, two landers are connected - one for water and one for land.

We pass the mun on the way out of town:

Once the Nautilus has used up a bunch of fuel I move the fuel from the arms to the main body, undock the arms and then re dock the probes. I drop the axillary engines as well as a few other bits. However, the voyage is taking more fuel than I had estimated and I am starting to wish I had made some other parts removable as well.

Other issues are starting to emerge as well - the vehicle begins to spin if I use full thrust, so I am having to burn only the three main engines at low power. The main burn takes a large part of a real-life full day and I have to let it running while I do other things.

Finally approaching jool. If I want any chance of preserving enough fuel to make going back home an option, I am going to have to rely almost exclusively on aerobraking from here on out. My extremely low thrust to weight ratio makes this almost a necessity anyway.

Almost forgot to bring the solar panels back in during the aerobrake at jool.

Approaching Laythe:

I had to dip all the way down to about 24000 m to be captured at Laythe.

Safely in orbit, Jeremiah gets out for a photo op. He doesn't look as excited as he should. Aerobraking is used after this to further tighten up the orbit.

Disaster almost strikes as the "Nautilus Nautical" discovers a malfunction after undocking. For some reason because the craft is below the engines (side hanging engines) the game is thinking they should be delivering zero thrust. Luckily, this part is attached via a docking clamp and not a decoupler - so I am able to very carefully, undock and reconnect the Nautical on the other side.

Goodbye Nautilus:

Landing! After landing, the back floats pop off, making the vehicle point upwards and making it less likely to capsize when under full power.

Next, the traditional lander pops down on an island near the water craft. In theory this vehicle will return both the pilot and the commander of the naval craft back to the Nautilus. Also, on the vehicles belly rest three of the "worlds smallest rover" . They are just the smallest probe base with a solar panel on each side. They roll around nicely.

Another photo op:

The Jool system explorer detaches. It ends up lucking into a nice path where it is almost automatically transferred from Val to Tylo.

So, that's where the mission is at the moment. I'm currently having to decide if I want to try to return the entire Nautilus home (I think it has just BARELY enough fuel to make it, if I siphon the fuel off of the emergency vehicle and what is left from the system explorer) - Or do I send only a few crew back on the rescue vehicle, leaving one or two kerbals with a long wait for fresh supplies.