New kerbal astronaught + couple of questions

[Romby]

Hey. Bought this awesome game Tuesday. Since that i have player 23 hours and benn going to bed at 2.30 am, 1 am and 2 am the last 3 nights. Not good with a 8am-4pm job . But this is so fun.

So far i've:

- Had lots of rockets explode

- Orbiting satelites aroud kerpal and the mun pretty proud as new player

- A successfull manned trip to the mun and back (without last traning mission). Landed 70 km from the base, with 50 fuel units left. Rocket tripped over on mun, but got it back up with gears and rcs. Really really proud

On my trip to the mun one of my Astronaughts dies and wanted to place a flag to show were. Went back to kerbal and ended flight as my remaining 2 astronaughts was safe in the water. Now the flag is gone? Did my flag go away because i ended flight or? Really sad that the site of a dead astronaught isnt there anymore.

Right now im working on a Lander with rover/orbiting return craft design. I made a lot of testing on kerbal (lost 2 more astronaughts), but i cant figure out how to make a craft taking off get close enough to a orbiting craft to move crew from the one to the other (I couldnt get closer than 8 km). Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[Cydonian Monk]

Welcome!

A rendevous between two craft in orbit is one of the harder things to learn from scratch in this game (imo). I would suggest the wiki tutorials and lots of practice. (If you got within 8k you're already headed in the right direction.) In short: match orbits. The craft that's "behind" should be in a lower orbit, with apoapsis of the orbit matching the craft you want to meet. When they're close (less than 1km at least), boost the lower orbit at apo to match completely. Then nudge the ships (RCS or whatever you have available) to get in closer. Just be patient. The "target mode" on the map is your friend.

Once you get the hang of it it's easy, but has a bit of a curve.

No idea what's up with the flag. I've only landed one kerb on the Mün in .20 and I forgot to leave a flag....

[Initar]

A rendevous between two craft in orbit is one of the harder things to learn from scratch in this game (imo)

True. You have to launch at the right moment, circularize at the right moment and right altitude (lower than your target if its ahead, above if its before), be exponentially careful as you approach... It's really a mess, but so rewarding, as everything in this game. We all know how proud you felt, first EVA, first mun landing... Imagine when you'll establish a base on duna or laythe! And there's plenty of people willing to help you on the way.

About the flag, maybe you reloaded a previous save after planting it? The save system can be disturbing a first.

[cnoblett94]

I believe the flags have some bugs with them since they are relatively new, and since this is alpha that is to be expected. Just gotta deal with it for now but I'm sure the next update will fix some bugs.

[Romby]

Hey. Thanks for the welcome and the help and ideas. Watched a video from Scott M and get the basics of getting 2 ships close now. Only have to try it out now.

But can see I was doing it completely wrong in my initial tries. Both crafts had just about same angle on the orbit but one with ap >100k and p 50 other craft was around 60k constant. So the 8 km was just one point and then both crafts shoot in different directions :-D.

[Capt'n Skunky]

Happy Launching!

Arrr!

Capt'n Skunky

KSP Community Manager