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[MarcAFK]

I generally make atrocities monstrosities of increasingly more ocmplexity and potential to explode on the launchpad without even throttling up.
Sometimes they make orbit, It's great.
If i want efficient staging I have a rule of thumb which I stole (kinda) from NASA.
First design a rocket that that flies of whatever size takes your fancy (or designed using !science! to have the correct delta V to take off and return from your target planet), then make one which is about 4 times heavier than the first, and which has just enough thrust to lift that first one from the ground. Then make a rocket thats about 5 times that size and of similar lifting ability.
It generally works quite well, at least various attempts to reach the mun using this system have been successful at at least making an impact
Basically I just looked at the saturn 5 and realised that it's 120 ton payload was lifted by a 480 ton (x4) rocket lifted by a 2300 ton rocket (x4..

[GreatWyrmGold]

I believe the general consensus was for Space Exploration. If it wasn't, I apologize. This opens up new re...actually, it just helps us qualify for Advanced Exploration. Huh.

Well, we now have thermometers, science labs, and ladders. Well, the kind that you put right on the side of a ship. This means a slight redesign of out Minmushot!


_{1 observes the materials and goo at the top. 2 does the same with the side ones. 3 measures temperature. 4 utters a prayer that we put enough struts on this Kodforsaken thing.}

We first test the Pegasus-I Mobility Enhancers to make sure that the path can turn the way we need it to for our current mobility design to work.


_{"Nope. Well, if I let go, sure, but..."}

A secondary idea--jumping off a bit, then grabbing the ladder, is attempted.


<sub>Now, it went slightly better than this screenshot implies...but not much.

Uh-oh...

Oh, phew.</sub>

We return to the drawing board, in hopes of finding a way to figure this out. We, um, don't think of any.


<sub>Well, he almost held onto the booster that time.

Well, that worked! ...Although the top of the rocket really is ugly in proper lighting.

Alright then, here's the tricky part...

Aha!

...And now we have a problem.</sub>

Alright. Add another Mobility Enhancer, that should do the trick right?


<sub>Okay, first off we need to teach our kerbonauts how to stand up without flinging themselves backwards.

Next model is getting extra rungs for turning around.

Don't get distracted by going in the science lab? Gotcha.

Let's try this...

Kerbton? We have a problem.

Well, let's try having fun while we're here.

Come on, come on (move a little faster...)
And that's all I can remember about that song.

Okay, let's try this.

We're halfway there. (Wo-oah! Livin' on a prayer!)
And I remember that whole song, as it happens.

Now for this.

...Aw.

Well, the reaction wheels work pretty well when you're off-balance.

"This was entirely predictabuuuuuu...

"...That didn't go too badly."</sub>

Well, then. That was fun, but let's figure out how our Minmus-bound kerbonauts will get to the surface of the little moon. To illustrate the problem...


_{Or is it more of a diagram?}

I realize a solution, which is diagrammed below.


_{Also present: What NOT to do.}

Let's test this thing!


<sub>So far, so good.

C'mon...

Exce--wha?

Excellent.

I didn't line this up right.

Ah well.

It works at last!</sub>

Having made a functioning ladder system, it's time to get to Minmus!


_{Bill, citing acquired acrophobia and claiming that the lab was haunted, lets Bob fly this mission. Bob accepts.}

Time to launch this behemoth, easily the biggest, ugliest rocket I've ever launched. But in a good way.


_{So big, I had to zoom out to see it all!}

It begins to tilt quickly, likely because I didn't add the ladders symmetrically. Or for the same reason the Minmushot I tilted, whatever that was.


_{"We are tilting greater than 0.1 radians westward! This is terrible! Westward gravity turns are inefficient!"
"...Yes, Bob, that's definitely the biggest problem."}

Around 1600 meters, a few of the boosters say they're overheating a little. Around 1900, a few more join in the "Starting to Overheat!" club. The timing makes me glad that the heating seems to be approximately symmetrical.
By the third kilometer, we are tilted to the outer ring (what is that, 10 degrees off vertical? Nine?) and the solid fuel boosters are half-empty.
The first stage is ejected at eight kilometers. Some of the boosters seem to be exploding or overheating or something, but at least we can do something about that tilt.


<sub>Look at that thing!

Wait, that doesn't look like a solid fuel booster...

Oh. That's not supposed to happen. The tilt, or the rocket coming off.

"Oh dear. At this rate, we will be burning radial-in shortly, which will greatly reduce the efficiency of the orbital burn!"
"And you'll crash."
"Because of the reduced efficiency!"</sub>

The craft begins to right itself, which is good. Less good is that I can't control it, so after being righted it begins wronging itself once more. I decide to discard the outer rockets. I succeed, but evidently hit the Stage bar once too many.


_{I guess we'll test the stability of the landing module some other time. Possibly on Minmus.}

At this point, we might as well just detach the Kerbin-landing pod and splash down.


<sub>Oh my. Trapped on top of the rocket. When have we solved a problem like this before?

My messing around now has a purpose!

Dammit capsule leg on a speeding rocket, stay still! (And now that I screenshotted this, I need to hit it again.)

Sliding off...

Say, is that cloud of rockets and rocket parts heading towards that field where the onlookers look on from?

Why aren't the reaction wheels working as I had hoped?

That worked pretty well. I think we can count this as a partial success.

"Um, guys?"

"Hello? We're not ghosts!"
"Not yet, at least..."

...

"Oh, wow, that was a pretty explosion."

"I'm going to investigate that dense pile of debris when I land, okay?"

Meet your shadow...

And we're here.

Nice scatter, but I know where I'm going.

Time-accelerated walking is amusing.

Dang, the numbers vanish after 150 meters.

I think I see it, though...

This is what I get, after walking 10 minutes? (Minus time-acceleration.)</sub>

Well, I'm out of time, so I'll just leave you with that failure until tomorrow.

P.S. Look what I foung while Googling to remember what radial-in and radial-out were called.

1. At least half of that first bit of results is directly KSP-related.
2. Why the hell does the forum for the Flat Earth Society have at least one popular, evidently frequently linked-to, thread for Kerbal Space Program?

P.P.S.

I was doing this seconds ago. Why not now?

EDIT: P.P.P.S.
What does everyone think of the centering?

[BigD145]

Ladder Climbing Sim

[GiglameshDespair]

Your rockets are too large. Sometimes, less is more - think of all that mass you're trying to push up into orbit. Not surprising it's unwieldy and impractical.

A tutorial by Scott Manley you may find useful.

[BigD145]

Does the science lab have docking ports?

[GreatWyrmGold]

Your rockets are too large. Sometimes, less is more - think of all that mass you're trying to push up into orbit. Not surprising it's unwieldy and impractical.

A tutorial by Scott Manley you may find useful.

When I have a large payload, what else am I supposed to do? Assemble the rocket in orbit? You saw how well I managed a rendezvous earlier. I think I'd prefer large rockets.
I'll do that when I have a spare 40 minutes. EDIT: Watched.

Does the science lab have docking ports?

Not by default, no. And I don't think we have access to them...which is another argument against sending individual pieces into orbit, actually.

[BigD145]

There is no reason to send up a science lab without docking ports on it. None. It can't reset any science parts without docking.

[SOLDIER First]

What are the giant-ass ladders for?

[GreatWyrmGold]

There is no reason to send up a science lab without docking ports on it. None. It can't reset any science parts without docking.

Really? Even ones attached to the same spacecraft? That's...weird...

What are the giant-ass ladders for?

Climbing down to Minmus from the capsule at the top. Remember, we don't have the extend-o-ladders (yet).

[BigD145]

Docking ie being the same vessel. Science instruments on a lab is fine, but you won't reuse it much as the lab can't get to very many places as a vehicle. You'd end up in two or so locations hammering science all of .... maybe two times per location before you get nothing new. A lander has to physically attach to a lab before it can reset certain research parts.

Minmus has such low gravity you'll be able to jump over the lander.

[GreatWyrmGold]

The lab is physically attached to the lander.

And jumping is so inaccurate. Why go with the simple, clumsy solution when you can have a complex, elegant, engineering-ey solution?

[BigD145]

Once you use the lander as an actual lander they can't reconnect. If that's the plan then I guess carry on.

You really need to learn how to EVA. Don't bother with the camera angles, just focus on the six keys for the three planes of motion.

[GreatWyrmGold]

I'm confused by your first statement.

Probably? I dunno.

[BigD145]

What's the purpose of your lab? Where is it going? What will it do?

[GreatWyrmGold]

To let us do more science on Minmus.
Minmus.
It gives bonuses to experiments and lets you run them more, doesn't it?