What next after landing pod?

[Shantred]

So, I just completed my first orbit and return to Kerbal. My pod landed safely in the middle of nowhere, but now I'm not sure what to do next. It will let me go back to the station, but it didn't prompt me with like a finished mission thing or anything. Is that all there is to do? No partying or anything that he survived. just move onto the next one?

[Scorpi15]

Yeah, that's all that will happen. You can simulate recovery by going to the tracking station (the radar dishes at the Space Center screen), selecting the landed pod/craft and clicking 'recover'. It will end the flight but your Kerbal(s) will survive to fly another day

[iBeej]

Congrats!!

Remember, KSP is still an Alpha. The game is not complete. Squad is working on those features. Right now, the game is very much a sandbox. You challenge yourself. You do whatever you want to do. You can find ways to party and reward yourself with clever designs and missions. Here let me give you your next mission.

So you got in to orbit? And you returned with a manned craft? Congrats! Here is your next mission. Apply what you have learned and reward yourself for it later by constructing a small station with a living quarters and a docking port. Launch it in to a sustained orbit above 100km. Then build another module or use the same one and launch again, match the prior orbit and fully dock with your station.

In the future you will be able to dock fuel tanks to your station and start using it as a dock and launch staging area for future missions. Biggest pat on the back and you do it yourself. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Good luck!!

[capi3101]

@OP: That's pretty much it. You can recover the mission from the tracking station. As far as partying is concerned, the game leaves you to do it in RL. If, like me, you're in the only person you know of that plays KSP and doesn't realize the magnitude of the accomplishment, then it's liable to be a petty small party.

Celebrate anyway; the small steps in this game are worth it.

[Scarecrow88]

Congrats!!

Remember, KSP is still an Alpha. The game is not complete. Squad is working on those features. Right now, the game is very much a sandbox. You challenge yourself. You do whatever you want to do. You can find ways to party and reward yourself with clever designs and missions. Here let me give you your next mission.

So you got in to orbit? And you returned with a manned craft? Congrats! Here is your next mission. Apply what you have learned and reward yourself for it later by constructing a small station with a living quarters and a docking port. Launch it in to a sustained orbit above 100km. Then build another module or use the same one and launch again, match the prior orbit and fully dock with your station.

In the future you will be able to dock fuel tanks to your station and start using it as a dock and launch staging area for future missions. Biggest pat on the back and you do it yourself. Pretty cool if you ask me.

Good luck!!

Given that rendezvous and docking are probably the most difficult skills in the game to understand and master, I wouldn't recommend that as the next step. Personally I think the next logical step after learning to orbit is to extend that orbit so that it goes out as far as the Mun or Minmus. Once you do that, learning to establish an orbit around either of those followed by a landing is both a worthy achievement and self satisfying moment.

[Shantred]

Thank you all for the wonderful suggestions! I'm glad I had a way to recover my ship. Mainly, Jeb. I didn't want to leave poor Jeb stranded. I don't think he could handle life in the wilderness.

But thanks all for the suggestions, I think my next adventure will be trying to orbit and land on the mun.