Parachute Problem

[MaxMandrake]

Hello all. I've owned KSP for quite awhile now, but just recently got back into playing it and there have been a lot of changes since I last played. I'm having a serious issue right off the bat with my parachutes.

I am attempting to launch my first Kerbal into space (but not into orbit). I have a capsule with a chute on top and a Science Jr. below the capsule, with a heat shield on it and radial parachutes on the side. On launch, once the rocket breaks about 350 m/s all the parachutes fail. This confused me greatly because I initially thought the ship was too heavy and the chutes were burning up on reentry.

I played around with the construction, including making the Science Jr. detachable (also with no parachutes) and having only the capsule as the return vessel. That time the top parachute didn't fail on launch.

Can anyone give me any insight as to why the chutes are failing on the first setup? Thanks!

[Manwith Noname]

Are you flying straight up then falling straight down?

Even though you are not trying for an orbit, put some angle into your flight if you aren't already. This will allow the atmosphere to slow you down more. Also, don't open your chutes until the icon in your staging area returns to the normal grey colour. You should notice it is red or yellow at certain points. Opening then would be bad.

[Ogre420]

Chutes now change color to show if it's safe to deploy them, if by FAIL you mean they turn red in staging , then just wait until your speed is reduced (Below 250 m/s) and then deploy them (they should be back to white by now.).

[MaxMandrake]

Okay, I figured out the problem. The chute icons were turning red, which I thought meant the part had failed. I now realize, thanks to your advice, that it just means it is unsafe to deploy the chutes. I thought deploying the chutes at 300 m/s was slow enough to ensure their survival, but now I also realize that it destroys the chute. It appears you have to be going around 250 m/s for the chutes to survive deployment. Jebediah is now a happy astronaut. Thanks for the help!

[Manwith Noname]

...and everybody likes it when Jeb is happy.

[M.303]

I have exactly the same problem, including with the game's rockets! Every rocket I launch has his parachute destroyed around 350m/s, and I don't find any solution. Does anyone have an idea?

[Manwith Noname]

Don't open main chutes until you are below 250m/s. If you don't get that slow just through the crafts own drag, use drogues.

[Azunai]

seems like the safe speed for chutes was increased in 1.1. pretty sure it used to be 250 or 260 m/s, but since i switched over to the 1.1. prerelease build, i get the "safe" icon around 300 m/s (or even a bit higher,didn't really pay attention when exactly)

[M.303]

I think I was too impatient... I forgot that the atmosphere was so high lol
Finally I just had to wait a few seconds to be under 300-250m/s. The red color of the parachute was confusing me but it turns to yellow and grey when it is ready to be opened.
Thank you both