"Is this really going to work?" moments

[nine_iron]

Just having one of my own.

Due to a staging issue my planned mission which involved a standard approach, orbit and lander on Duna BEFORE going out to Ike was no longer an option. My backup monoprop engines (emergency maneuvers only) suddenly became primary approach, brake orbital adjustment engines.

Good thing I had an almost perfect intercept (thanks to about 5 mid transfer burns lol).

So now the plan is to use Ike to brake, drop off a satellite and lander (together to achieve orbit, seperate then land) then continue to Duna where I get my orbit as best I can before letting the satellite go and finally using all my remaining fuel to crash/land the rest of the rocket.

I was going to keep this clean and leave my waste to orbit the Sun/Duna but now I think I have to use any spare fuel and crash what ever is left after separating the lander.

I have to go out now so wont do this until tonight, is this a bit ambitious or can I pull it off (assuming I have enough fuel).

[draeath]

I ask myself that very question every time I visit the launchpad.

The answer usually turns out to be "no"

[Blindblom]

I was a bit afraid when I had about 400m/s of Delta-V in an orbit around Mun and I really wanted to get Jeb home after my first Mun landing. Got him home but don't think I had more than 10 m/s left at landing.

[Cmdr. Arn1e]

About 90% of my Spaceplanes fall into this category... the amount of times I end up reverting to SPH because I've forgotten struts, or assigning engines to keys, then when I'm finally ready to launch my Kerbals into the wild blue yonder I have a cross-fingers moment when it's trying to lift itself before the end of the runway...

[cantab]

I had a rocket do a full end-over-end tumble in the ascent one time and carried on flying it to space.

[mythic_fci]

Erm... isn't this the same basic idea as my thread, "That Moment When"? Please clarify.

[Mesons]

Just having one of my own.

Due to a staging issue my planned mission which involved a standard approach, orbit and lander on Duna BEFORE going out to Ike was no longer an option. My backup monoprop engines (emergency maneuvers only) suddenly became primary approach, brake orbital adjustment engines.

Good thing I had an almost perfect intercept (thanks to about 5 mid transfer burns lol).

So now the plan is to use Ike to brake, drop off a satellite and lander (together to achieve orbit, seperate then land) then continue to Duna where I get my orbit as best I can before letting the satellite go and finally using all my remaining fuel to crash/land the rest of the rocket.

I was going to keep this clean and leave my waste to orbit the Sun/Duna but now I think I have to use any spare fuel and crash what ever is left after separating the lander.

I have to go out now so wont do this until tonight, is this a bit ambitious or can I pull it off (assuming I have enough fuel).

Seems like all of my interplanetary missions except my first visit to Duna. I had attempted (and crashed on) Laythe and landed on Tylo before I attempted Duna. No hope of return for Jeb from the Jool system on that mission. Drastically overestimating my dV needs for Duna made that mission a breeze, but I always seem to under-engineer for bigger interplanetary missions (I'm a stock, guess-and-check kind of player).

I ask myself that very question every time I visit the launchpad.

The answer usually turns out to be "no"

But then sometimes...!

[astropapi1]

Yes it did.

[Thomas988]

I ask myself that a lot when I'm building my Munar space station. It's built to function well and be more than eye candy, but still I wonder if this thing can actually operate in the near future. Nevertheless, I'm still proud of what I got so far.

[Endersmens]

I had a rocket do a full end-over-end tumble in the ascent one time and carried on flying it to space.

I've had this many a time. The most cartwheels i've had happen and still continue into orbit was 4. (took that long to cancel rotation)

[WooDzor]

http://cloud-4.steampowered.com/ugc/38599918389096639/70E8A34A88C0EE68A34D921907F579A7CD8BA407/

If only there was an atmosphere-less planet with a moon.. wow that would save so much dV..can't wait to give that a try seems to be a lot better for crafts than diving to 12.5 km into the atmosphere of Duna..

[Fiddlestyx]

I had a rocket do a full end-over-end tumble in the ascent one time and carried on flying it to space.

I had that happen too. Bill and Bob were like, "We forgot the snacks, we have to go back!". Then Jeb said, "Onward, you fools!".

[GreeningGalaxy]

I did a sideways RCS landing of a gigantic transit vehicle on Gilly once. It worked well, of course, because Gilly "landing" is basically closer to docking than landing as such.

I haven't been back to Gilly in a long time; I should totally do that again soon.

[nine_iron]

Erm... isn't this the same basic idea as my thread, "That Moment When"? Please clarify.

I think the difference yours is "unplanned" and mine is "planned".

(PS it didn't take me a whole day to come up with that retort... honest!)

[Xyrus]

Erm... isn't this the same basic idea as my thread, "That Moment When"? Please clarify.

Ok. Your thread is about this:

While this thread is more about:

[WWEdeadman]

Well, I had my primary launch stage blow up on booster separation, and still ended up getting the mission to it's target:

http://youtu.be/6_apc2nvbCQ?t=17m45s