You Will Not Go To Space Today - Post your fails here!

[Lar-E]

This might be my best fail ever! Billy-Bobree Kerman, you should never have made that left turn at Albuquerque!

[3mon]

Nice landing Bob! Now its time to make a rescue mission to Laythe!

[Duke23]

Newbie here... Hi, love the game, thought I'd let everyone laugh at me first off So I was frustrated last night with the orbit path of my "tanker" (I use the term loosely because at this point it was just a ridiculously underpowered skyscraper in space waiting for more tanks / fuel). To practice docking which I've never actually done I built two nearly identical craft, one improved based on the horrible in-atmosphere stability of the first one. I synced up the orbits nicely and made one slightly lower to catch up, no prob. Then I got impatient. I started using the intercept trajectory too early without paying attention to my lowest point and got caught in gravity and air at about 40km before I realized it, forcing me to ditch that one in the ocean (safely) after burning up the remaining fuel trying to save it.

Fast forward and I'm sending a slightly modified version of the modified version to try again. I get everything set up and the orbits aligned perfectly. Except when I go to check speed and intercept points, they're going in opposite directions around the planet. Argh! I still can't figure out how that happened.

So I decide to take EVERYTHING out of orbit in a fit of rage. (probably should have left the tanker, RIP). The first craft came down faster than anything I've ever brought down on purpose, and I finally separated the last stage (really a just in case stage without much power or fuel) at probably 15km? It dropped behind me then sped up and slammed into my command module! Sent me for a spin and a good laugh but it was okay and the final parachuted descent went perfectly. Second ship comes down even faster and steeper, I deploy the chute kind of late and am genuinely surprised when it doesn't snap off.

Well the tanker was next so I burned off all the fuel I could and came careening out of the sky (it was the biggest thing I've put into orbit yet). I still had two more powered stages left when I hit atmosphere and I burned every bit. Then I look up and my altimeter says ~5km and it's not playing around with speed. OH CRAP. I quickly separate the command module and deploy the parachute but it's too late. I think I was below 700m by the time it deployed at all and I was feeling the tips of blades of grass by the time it caught air. Disintegrated on impact.

Edited December 14, 2013 by Duke23

[Hidden Gunman]

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D'OH!!!

[makinyashikino]

This might be my best fail ever! Billy-Bobree Kerman, you should never have made that left turn at Albuquerque!

I think the bigger fail is using a skipper to land on Duna!

But seriously, the skipper has a terrible fuel efficiency, Use either multiple LV-909's or an LV-45. And with parachutes, you don't really need an engine to slow down.

[astropapi1]

So I tried building a cargo plane to deliver a new rover and equipment to my polar research base. Guess what happened.

[3mon]

"Well, at least i didnt die...."

Laythe rescue program not going so well

[Marcosf98]

"Well, at least i didnt die...."

Laythe rescue program not going so well

That resolution

[astropapi1]

That resolution

Don't. Quote. Images.

[3mon]

That resolution

What? It's 1920x1080 :/

[Duke23]

Well I figured out why I was having orbit problems (the tanker not ever being where I expected it to be, the head on approach to docking, etc)

Wait for it...

I've been launching into a rough polar orbit every darn time and wondering why nothing ever synced right. It finally hit me that it's not a good strategy to use for anything you plan to rely on the position of...

So I tossed a bigger tanker up in an equatorial orbit and what's more is it actually has fuel onboard this time. One orange tank almost full and a second one waiting to be filled (I had to crossfeed just to get the stupid thing in the sky) and there are 3 detached orange tanks with mainsails floating around nearby, that definitely won't cause problems later.

[Kasuha]

In 0.22 I stranded my Kerbals on Laythe and had to send them a rescue mission with replacement lander capable of reaching orbit.

Now I sent my guys to Laythe again with that replacement lander - and suddenly it couldn't reach orbit. So now I need to invent some replacement lander for the replacement lander and send them another rescue mission.

[3mon]

In 0.22 I stranded my Kerbals on Laythe and had to send them a rescue mission with replacement lander capable of reaching orbit.

Now I sent my guys to Laythe again with that replacement lander - and suddenly it couldn't reach orbit. So now I need to invent some replacement lander for the replacement lander and send them another rescue mission.

I feel your pain. I just got there again and managed to land another one of the above crashed design. I landed 3,7 Km away from the stranded guys, and drove there like a champ. Took me a while because i didnt want to go tooo fast and crash the whole thing. So i arrived at the crash site, mounted the Kerbals, and when i was clicking to retract a ladder, i mistakenly clicked in the fuel tank its attached to.... and saw it was empty. In fact, they were all empty except for the central one, which was like 50%. Then i realized that like an our ago i hadnt disabled fuel crossfeed on the tug i used to deorbit the thing and aim the landing. And of course, my quicksave was mashed like 20 times since i started landing and driving... So another mission it is!

[astropapi1]

This has to be the worst catastrophe I've witnessed in KSP since I started playing back in 0.17. All my available veterans were mounted in that capsule.

Stupid Chris will become the patron saint of my future custom-made capsule pilots with his new parachutes.

[Duke23]

I just had my first Mun encounter and a series of catastrophes, but in the end it all worked out (well except for Johnwise, may he rest in peace). Before I was doing sandbox, now I'm doing career. The images are clickable since I didn't want to take up the entire thread, but don't bother scrolling through the photobucket gallery because it uploaded them all out of order.

So, I built this to go to the Mun with Johnwise manning the science station and Kurt manning the Mun orbiter.

The idea was to use it as a lifter to put the smaller orbiter (possibly lander?) up in the air and disconnect to head to the Mun, then hang around Kerbin in the science station and beam data back. Then I was to take it down and try to salvage the open research bays and goo pods to make up for whatever I couldn't transmit. Problem was I spent nearly all my energy beaming data back, and had I separated at that point I wouldn't have had the energy to turn around and deorbit. So I siphoned what was left out of every battery on that thing to the control module and separated with fingers crossed.

Things were going well overall, until I had a slight mishap with staging order. I did run out of battery and ended up burning whenever the ship spun itself to retrograde-ish in bursts but it worked. But when I meant to deploy the parachutes, I instead accidentally deployed a (left over from another rocket design) emergency decoupler on the command module. This one didn't have it's own parachute due to the orbiter sitting on top of it. This happened, and Johnwise didn't make it.

However my orbiter got to the Mun just fine, got into a stable but elliptical orbit, and sent back some data. Problem was, it didn't have enough flame juice to get back and I emptied the tank to get it into an acceptable orbit.

So I immediately mounted a rescue mission (with updated technology thanks to Johnwise and Kurt's efforts) with this barely tested piece of machinery piloted by Tomrod since he was the most experienced with this type of craft after the late Johnwise, having made some of the test flights on the first rocket. It was a bit wobbly on the way up but somehow it made it.

I can't quite seem to get close enough to make the rescue, but Kurt is awesome impatient and decides to jetpack over 200m to the rescue ship at its closest point.

I originally stuck around and made a successful Mun landing with that thing and walked around. But I didn't have enough fuel to get back out of (or into for that matter) Mun orbit so I quickloaded because the intention of this was a rescue mission, not to strand two of them instead of just one. So I headed back, and it turns out its a real pain to get my setup back on the ground without destroying it (probably should have tested that, but I had a man missing!). I landed probably 5 different times. Once I came in too fast and snapped one of the modules off when the chutes opened and Tomrod plummeted to his death. Well that's just not acceptable. So I tried to land "softly" at an angle but this time Tomrod survived and Kurt's module exploded on impact with the remaining fuel tank. A couple more failed attempts... The last approach I aerobraked for half an orbit while emptying out the fuel tank, and made sure I hit water. That was the ticket.

Whew!

Edited December 16, 2013 by Duke23

[macdjord]

Launched a manned ship with a 6-pack of probes to the Jool system. Launched 2 fuel barges to follow and assembled them on the way out of Kerbin's SOI. At some point while maneuvering for the Jool burn I managed to retract the solar panels on the fuel barge and didn't notice until after I warped and F5'd. When the time came to burn I had 4 full orange tanks with 8 NVR's dead in space. (I think a facepalm smilicon is needed for times like this). Upon hearing that the fuel barge was dead, Kirk said "Aw, kerb it! Punch it, Kurt!" They made the burn for Jool regardless and have racked up tons of science.

The fuel barge won't be going to Jool today. And Kirk and Kurt won't be coming home.

See, this is why I slap at least one RTG on practically everything I launch... (I love the mini-RTG from RLA's Powergen pack. Just enough juice to run a probe, with minimum weight.)

[3mon]

He can't get out of there lol

[Tomo2k]

The Eagles are landing...

I'm still not entirely sure why down is that way, the same rocket flew perfectly on the retake:

(I've since learned that the Skipper in the middle was pointless)

[zdude18]

Turns out my test rover is not quite evenly weighted

<a href="http://imgur.com/v4XraFS"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/v4XraFS.jpg" title="Hosted by imgur.com"/></a>

I wonder what the specific impulse of Jebbediah's burp is?

<a href="http://imgur.com/glB9U0u"><img src="http://i.imgur.com/glB9U0u.jpg" title="Hosted by imgur.com"/></a>

Edited December 17, 2013 by zdude18

[RabidMonkey]

It seems that Jeb IS going to space today, physics be damned!

[Aireglin]

Well, it all started out as a routine newbie-mission to the Mün; which went fine up until I realized that I didn't have enough fuel to go home. Since Kerbals are a very caring race, they sent their best team after Shepgan, the stranded kerb-o-naut.

They picked him up, went home, HOWEVER, while escaping the Mün I realized they don't have enough rocket fuel to go back to Kerbin properly ... so, the RCS thrusters have to be used as breaking thrust. After 15 minutes of constantly pressing H the periapsis for reentry is low enough. And, isn't it poetic: While they descent, the sun rises.

And then: DEPLOY CHUTES ... which rips off the lander can Shepgan was rescued in. He falls to his death - at least on his home planet.

What did I learn from this?

a) Double check if you have enough fuel.

some chutes on other parts of the ships don't hurt anybody.

c) Gravity is a dick to Kerbals.

Edited December 17, 2013 by Aireglin

[Colev]

You did something wrong Jeb.

[Duke23]

Jeb assured me the prototype would fly straight this time and we wouldn't have to ditch the SRBs early to avoid thrusting into the dirt. I probably should have asked why HE didn't fly it.

[Th1rt3en]

So I'm trying to collect Mun's biomes in career mode. Jenson gets stranded with low fuel trying to find the polar lowlands. I send up the latest ship I have that happen to have with a new little buggy strapped on top and land it within 10m of him with plenty of fuel for the ride home. So I unload the buggy and Jenson takes it for a spin which he promptly flips and grinds his head off.... <sigh>, lost my first Kerbal in career mode.

[Gemberkoekje]

From munar mission to Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. I'm still getting used to the FAR flight sim.