How did you feel when you made your first rocket/orbit/landing?

[GamerMitch]

My most memorable moment was just a month ago in .22 when I docked manually for the first time. I did it while on an Apollo mission to the Mun.Instead of letting MechJeb do it, I tried it myself using all the techniques MechJeb had used. It took a lot of plane corrections and speed matching, but I finally got it just right.But my computer overheated and shut down when I was 7 meters from dock. After I got back on though, I completed the docking. Here was my reaction:

I was so proud of myself

[thiosk]

My first mun landing was pretty epic. A few Eve transfers, duna transfers and returns, and a couple Joolian probes later and I'm getting pretty good at this game, so its time for tougher challenges.

My tylo is scheduled for this evening.

When I pull that landing and sample/science return off (WHEN!!) its gonna be epic. I hope I have enough thrust...

[JiWint]

it would be awesome if there was some kind of "New level of discovery" in ksp,because now getting to Mun and back takes 5 mins

[LordFjord]

There are few games that gave such a great feel of accomplishment as KSP.

The first orbits, the first Mun landing (and getting back! ) and especially the 1st docking, which I attempted with 2 100tons+ vessels (moooar tanks/boosters). It took aaages but it was absolutely rewarding.

Also, building some rockets/planes for 2 or more hours, then seeing those totally overengineered craft fly or fall apart...

[JiWint]

-snip-

I was so proud of myself

I was searching for that sound for weeks!

[Javster]

uh thats quite some time ago now, but I remember: sweaty hands, heartbeat around 180 and an ultimate feeling of relieve when that contraption finally stopped swaying and the landing was complete...that was the first mun landing...dunno about the first orbit, that was not so hard but took some tries and the view was quite rewarding...these where the times with a more "hands on" approach, nowadays i´m lazy and prefer hacking numbers into mechjeb...

the next big thing to do was most likely getting to another planet, a thing that was extremely hard for me with or without mechjeb until i read up on some basic and maybe not so basic stuff concernig this...

well, you know...nodes, nerds, more nodes and this:

There's a picture of the Apollo 11 astronaut heart rates somewhere on the internet. Very telling.

[Bane1998]

Wasn't getting into orbit, or landing anywhere, or going anywhere. It was my first successful dock that gave me the feels.

Unfortunately the feels was about now being able to build massive structures in space and upon trying, the lag was too much and the feels went away.

After that the feels were further degraded by there not being much 'to do' really. I tried going with Kethane to have a project, but I realized it's kind of silly as I can get infinite fuel into orbit from Kerbin basically, there's not much point in refueling other places.

I'm looking forward to launches having a cost maybe. Having to find resources other places you can't get from Kerbin. The ability to set up vast meaningful operations. It all seems sort of 'role play' right now what people do. Imagining needing a base when you don't or putting your own limits on yourself. Setting up ops on a remote planet to find some rare resource to bring back to Kerbin. Sort of like science somewhat gave me that feeling of purpose.

I get that it's a sandbox. But a sandbox needs a far larger set of things to do than landing on different textures with a different gravity value.

Looking forward to future updates!

[Loerelau]

I never really had a problem with going to orbit (3rd launch or something like that), but the first landing on Mun/Minmus! It was a reason to open a beer and celebrate! . Almost deleted KSP because of docking, so frustrated.... Now it is all going fine!

[Stilgar2300]

My first orbit went something like this:

Sitting in the city library on my laptop and just bought the game (version .16).

Spent 4 hours experimenting with ships.

Finally think I've got it.

Launch and use all the skills I've accumulated in the four hours.

All my tanks are empty.

Open map and I'm in orbit. A crappy orbit but still and orbit.

Let out a yell of triumph at top of my lungs

Got kicked out of library

Still worth it

[Duke23]

I forgot to edit my post on the second page but I did find a couple screenies for your amusement from my first Mun trip (I honestly can't remember now if I landed or not, I don't have any screenshots of a landing) This one is a two-parter, the larger stage stayed in LKO to collect some science and the small capsule on the end went to the Mun. I seem to remember Johnwise crashing on reentry with the science section. Apologies for the quality, it was on my old computer in v.22.

And this is the crazy contraption I sent to go pick Kurt up from Munar orbit.

Edited January 9, 2014 by Duke23

[Klingon Admiral]

When I achieved my first orbit I was disappointed that it wasn't very circular.

[Nano606]

My first mun landing was an awesome experience. Once i had obtained a Munar orbit it took me 20 minutes to work up the courage to make a landing attempt. It worked really well and i didnt crash. The landing attempt took ages, my heart was racing the entire time, and it was really stressfull. I was paranoid of smashing into the surface and i was constantly doing the calc's in my head converting m/s to km/h and thinking that even 5m/s = 18km/h straight down was death, so i touched down sooo slowly. I used alot of fuel, but i had massively overdesigned the craft so it all worked.

It was one of the greatest gaming experiences i have ever had.

[Rickenbacker]

My first Mun landing was before we had a map! We also didn't have landing gear, so I used fins mounted on multiple radial decouplers as landing gear. The first landing I didn't cancel out all the sideways velocity, so the only thing that survived was the capsule (with Bill, Jeb and Bob in it, of course, as they were the only Kerbonauts back then). The second went well, and I think I even got back! Great feeling.

The hard part in those days wasn't so much landing as getting there. Since there was no map you had to consult tables to make sure you were in orbit, burn when the Mun peeked above the horizon, and again consult tables to see if you would get an encounter. Fun, but I don't mind having the map and the maneuver planning .

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

Rocketing, Orbiting and Landing was already pretty exciting...

BUT!!! It is now comparison to my first docking because it took me DAYS literally to figure it out and I shouted in joy when my Spaceships finally hugged each other under the force of pure Magnetism ... and Passion... probably

[Excalibur]

Despite it being so many moons ago I do remember attaining orbit for the first time in 0.8.0. Since we didn't have a map view back then, or much of anything else I wasn't actually sure I'd made it - so there were a few minutes of tension as I Alt-Tabbed to Google Chrome to check my orbital velocity against the figure someone had quoted here. Once I realised my velocity and vector were correct I quietly congratulated myself and probably shared this fella's expression...

I know for a fact however that I wasn't half as restrained when I first landed on the Mun in 0.12 (the ooooold Mun). I jumped out of my chair and danced around the room for a little while I think. Perhaps that's how the Ascent Engine Circuit breaker broke on Eagle?

EDIT: Spelling

Edited January 9, 2014 by Excalibur

[Apollo1391]

i started in .20 though I played the demo for months 1.my first rocket didn't even get off the Launchpad 2.my first orbit I was jumping around in victory 3. my first landing I felt amazed that I could land on mun it took me so long.

[Reicht]

My first launch I didn't know about supports, and I didn't know about throttle... there was a very short trip from the spawn point back to the ground and a series of explosions. Attempt number 2 actually went...

[norup]

Going through the tutorials helped building my first rocket and going in orbit. The difficult part was figuring out the interface, not actually building a working rocket or the orbital mechanics.

Landing on the Mun was really hard, but again not because of the flying, rather because of the weird camera angles and instrumentation not giving the needed feed-back. Now I have gotten used to it, but it really felt wrong in the beginning, having tried other flight/space-simulators.

Good instrumentation makes a world of difference, as illustrated by NavyFish's Docking tool.

[Tidus Klein]

I first found this game when my friend was watching some Swedish dude build planes. And I being the minecraft legend of SCHS (my school) instantaneously asked what game it was.

After quickly downloading the demo I had my first craft, The Space VALKERY mk1, it took me about 10 minutes to learn the basic controls.

First launch..... The north facing booster assembly was riped off at launch... Bad day for Jeb

Second.... I got to space and not knowing much about OM burned nose facing Mun.... Got bored

Dident feel much amasment.

8th.... By this time I ran through the tutorials and unlocked the space physics part of my brain.

Crashed in to Mun...ran out of gas.

11th... I had landed on the Mun..... DISCO!!!!! None stop party.

?.. Landed rover on Duna... Jumping jacks of joy and told every family member.

Now.... I have still yet to go and land every where and just resantly landed and returned from Duna.. My first interplanetary kerbaled return. And still getting feelings of awesome.

Next up is my trip to Ike already half way to Duna.

[Wayfare]

After many, many tries, landing on the Mun for the first time gave me a physical rush that I rarely experience in games. Trembling hands and shallow breathing type stuff. The last time a game did that for me was my first kill in EVE Online. The one before that was escaping the Arcada in Space Quest I. KSP walks proudly among giants in my opinion.

[Force21]

I don't remember my first rocket cause I started playing at 0.13.1

[LethalDose]

After my first landing, I felt relief and a little underwhelmed. But I made my first landing on Minmus after watching Scott Manley's videos where he recommends a Minmus landing before a Mun landing. My Munar landing was much more exciting.

But docking...

My first successful docking was a jump up, screaming, "WOOT WOOT" moment, and only occurred after a BUNCH of horribly failed rendezvous attempts.

[JiWint]

My first orbit went something like this:

Sitting in the city library on my laptop and just bought the game (version .16).

Spent 4 hours experimenting with ships.

Finally think I've got it.

Launch and use all the skills I've accumulated in the four hours.

All my tanks are empty.

Open map and I'm in orbit. A crappy orbit but still and orbit.

Let out a yell of triumph at top of my lungs

Got kicked out of library

Still worth it

I wonder how did that look

[Dirty Bob]

My first orbit was an accomplishment. I knew nothing about orbital mechanics. I had not read any tutorials. Many Kerbals were lost while I learned and experimented. Each failure taught me something new and I finally did it.

Usually I'm the person who has to read all the information I can about a game before I even play it so I know what I'm doing when I play it. I'm glad I just flew by the seat of my pants(literally) for this one. I'm sure it took me a lot longer than most to reach different levels of the game due to this. My first Mun landing was at 60 hours!

[JenBurdoo]

While I orbited once using a stock craft, my first successful orbit and safe return with something I built myself left me truly exhilarated. I even managed to do an EVA, RCS my Kerbal around, and return him to the ship. Lots of trial and error there; the last time I tried an EVA and let go, I completely lost control and view of the ship, so poor Jeb never made it home.

(Well, he must have eventually, as it was a suborbital flight, but you know what I mean.)

I've actually started launching unmanned craft to "rehearse" my manned missions, because it breaks my heart to lose Kerbals. I've also learned the quicksave function!

Haven't done a moon landing yet, but did achieve my first orbital rendezvous with the help of MechJeb. Now to try it without.