Rocket Science 101 (updating now)

Do your Kerbalnauts keep dying in firey impacts when your rocket explodes on the launchpad? Are you tearing out your hair trying to keep your boosters from destroying everything? Then this guide is for you!

Intro and Command Pods

Foreword

So I imagine you’re probably here because you just bought Kerbal Space Program and want to figure out how to build rockets that won’t kill everyone in a ten-kilometer radius. Or at least rockets that probably won’t kill everyone in a ten-kilometer radius. Well you came to the right place then. In the following pages I’ll give you all a basic rundown of the various stock parts and outline some basic design principles for rockets and space planes. With that said, lets get started.

Pods

Every rocket needs one of these. They’re either the coffin cockpit for your trusty victims... Err Volunteers, or the CPU for your unmanned probe/rover. As with all parts used by the Kerbal Space Administration, only the lowest bidders... Err finest old world craftskerbalship is employed. If your pod is destroyed, typically via high-speed collision with the ground, a rogue booster, or the first stage of your collapsing rocket, your craft is destroyed. So make sure it doesn’t come to that if you don’t want to spend a lot of time writing letters to your kerbalnaut’s next of kin. There’re a few differences between the two kinds of pods, so you’ll want to make sure you’re choosing the right kind for your intended design.

Manned pods are larger then unmanned probes, weigh more, are more expensive (When part costs are implemented) and can survive higher temperatures (which will generally only be an issue if you accidently set your pod up underneath an engine). They also allow you to witness your Kerbal’s looks of terror as the rocket plows into a Munar mountain. All manned pods also come with an airlock, and a few steps, incase you want to let your Kerbals go for a walk. If you want your Kerbals to get back into the craft when its landed, you’ll probably need to invest in a few ladders to let them do so. Manned probes can also survive slightly higher impacts then their cousins, though generally you shouldn’t rely on this.

Unmanned pods are smaller and cost less mass, but require a constant stream of electricity to function. If they run out your probe becomes a multimillion-dollar paperweight. So make sure it doesn’t come to that and throw a few solar panels or a RTG or two on before you drag your rocket to the launch pad. These are good for building small satellites or rovers, or if you want to deorbit partially empty stages to avoid cluttering up your orbital area with debris.

Finally, both kinds come with a basic Stability Augmentation System or SAS integrated into the pod itself, and on small probes or capsules, that’s generally all you’ll need. Bigger rockets will probably require a dedicated SAS part or parts. Anyways, lets move on to a brief description of the various pods.

Manned Pods

First off, there’s the shiny white “Cockpit” series from C-7 Aerospace. For the most part, you’ll only be using these for spaceplanes. The Mk 1 is completely incapable of having a parachute or Aeronautical ASAS mounted above it, so you’ll be totally reliant on radial chutes or landing engines for landing softly, and the standard vertical ASAS systems. That said, it does provide the best view in first person, and has the second highest impact rating of its family. The Mk 1 Inline can have chutes or other parts mounted on top of it, but is... interesting to pilot in first person.
The Mk 2's are more 'shuttle' like cockpits compared to the "fighter' like build of the 1's, and would go well with a small orbiter or space station utility craft. The Mk 3 is the only member of its series that can house more then two pilot.s It also has the highest impact rating of any command pod. However it can only really be mounted on the spaceplane parts, because it looks weird otherwise. Both the Mk 1's can be used on standard 1-meter parts without any problems, while the Mk 2's also have to be used with spaceplane parts.

Next off are the “Command Pod” series. The Command Pod Mk 1 has room for a single seat, and has a tiny node on the top, big enough to mount a Mk. 16 parachute or similarly sized part, including certain parts from mods. On its base it has a standard 1-meter node. It also has a tiny window to allow your Kerbalnaut to look outside during IVAs, and two ladder rungs below the hatch. Because of its small size, it has less capable SAS then larger pods.

The Mk 2 will be your standard command pod for most manned rocket flights. It has room for three brave souls, several ladder rungs outside the hatch, and a number of windows to let your Kerbalnauts stargaze from as they drift into the cold void of space. It features a 1-meter node on the upper surface, perfect for mounting a Mk. 16-XL chute, and a 2-meter node on the bottom surface. It also has the second highest impact tolerance of all pods.

The Mk. 2 Lander-can is ideal for building landers or space stations. Basically anything that you don’t need to survive a lot of stress can benefit from using this pod. It has seats for two, and features two 2-meter nodes on its upper and lower surfaces, plus excellent visibility when conducting manual landings. However it can only survive impact speeds of about 8 m/s, making it the most fragile of all pods. Direct contact with anything sturdier then chewing gum should be avoided. The Mk. 1 Lander Can, newly added in a recent patch, is basically a one man version of the Mk. 2, with the same advantages and disadvantages, only scaled to one meter parts.

The PPD-12 is intended for use on space stations or planetary bases. It has amazing visability in a 180 degree or so arc directly in front of it, though it cannot have modules stacked above it. It has the capacity for an amazing 200 units of electrity, though its dry mass is equally terrifying. It's also about as durable as the lander-can series. The EAS-1 External Command Seat is a seat for your kerbals, mounted on the outside of the ship. I would reccomend saving it for use on rovers and the like, because it's got an even lower impact tolerance then the lander-cans or PPD-12, and is, to my knowledge, the single most fragile stock part in the game so far.

The Crew tank deserves a quick mention here. It’s basically a 2 meter wide pseudo-cockpit, that allows you to hold up to four Kerbals for long distance trips, but with no command functionality. Good for colonization missions or building bases, also for if you need to rescue stranded Kerbalnauts. You’ll need to manually fill it up since it starts missions empty. You can get your Kerbals back out by clicking on the hatch and selecting EVA next to their name. It also has a ladder that runs across the entire vertical face of the 'pod'.

Unmanned Pods

These are all fairly similar. The Probodobodyne series feature nodes on their tops and bottoms, while the Stayputnik only has a node on the bottom. The QBE deserves special mention, as it has the highest impact tolerance of all unmanned pods at 40, an incredible 28 higher then the other three. It can also survive tempertures up to 3400 degrees. The OKTO and OKTO-2 are both pretty similar, and mesh well with the octagonal structural element. Stayputnik has rather low torque; you will probably need RCS thrusters or vectored engines if you want to stay on course. Remember that all of these require 1.7 Electricty every minute, if they run dry your pod is useless unless your solar panels are already deployed and in the right direction.

Relatively new is the Mk2. Drone core, ideal for use in a unmanned spaceplane if you need one for your mad science projects.

Finally you have the RC series Remote Guidance units, basically larger versions of the old Probodobodyne series with equally larger energy requirements. The parts are slightly less durable but much better at resisting heat then their smaller cousins. They're neat because you can stack them anywhere in a rocket, instead of on a satellite payload or whatever.

Propulsion and Fuel Tanks

So you're ready to move on

So now that you've got a nice shiny cockpit, you need to get it into space. These parts are how you do it. The stock parts have two primary sizes, 1-meter and 2-meter. For the most part, larger parts are heavier then smaller parts, but also provide more fuel/thrust for your rocket. But keep in mind you're going to need to haul ALL that mass into orbit. Engines can also overheat, which may cause them to explode, generally scrubbing your mission. Thermally sensitive parts located near your engines may also overheat from the proximity, though this generally isn’t a problem unless you mess up your staging or your boosters are located in weird places.

Engines come in several types. First off, there's Liquid and Solid fueled engines. Liquid fueled require separate fuel tanks and burn oxidizer and liquid fuel, but can be effectively throttled and shut off in the case of a mission abort during launch. Solid fuel on the other hand, contains its own fuel supply and has better thrust to weight ratios, but once lit, will burn till its fuel is exhausted. For that reason, you'll generally want to reserve solid fuel engines for launch boosters or stage separation. Liquid fueled engines also come in "Standard" varieties and Jet engines. Jet engines are much more fuel efficient then their counterparts, and only burn liquid fuel, but need oxygen to operate at all, which limits them to Kerbin and Laythe, one of Jool’s moons, at present. They also take longer to respond to command inputs then LFE’s.

Liquid Fuel Engines

In general, all LFE capable of operation in a vacuum will be far more fuel-efficient there than while at sea level. Plan accordingly when building your rocket.

The LV-T30 and LV-T45 are going to be your bread and butter. They’re both 1-meter engines, but the LV-T45 is capable of vectoring its thrust with a gimbal with 1 degree of pivot, at the price of lower thrust and slightly higher mass. They make excellent second and third stage engines, and also serve well as the engines for Liquid Fueled Boosters. Smaller rockets or satellite launch vehicles can probably get away with using one as the first stage as well, provided their payload is small enough. Thrust wise, they’re towards the upper end of the pack, eclipsed only by the Mainsail and Poodle, though many mod parts provide more thrust. The LV-909 is a good engine for final stages or landers. It’s a lot smaller then it’s cousins, more fuel efficient, and features a gimbal with about a half-degree of pivot. However, don’t try to use it as a first stage if you want to get to space, since its thrust sucks compared to the other two LV’s.

The Rockomax series are your standard 2-meter engines. The “Mainsail” provides an incredible 1500 kN, nearly seven times as much as the LV series, but at a corresponding increase in fuel consumption and weight. This will be your first and maybe second stage for most of your heavy lifters. Sometimes you’ll need multiple ones if you’re launching particularly heavy loads. Be warned, it tends to overheat if you don’t watch it closely. The “Poodle” is basically a larger, heavier version of the LV-909. Most of the same details mentioned there apply here, though it’s got a much larger pivot range. Use it for larger, heavier landers. The "Skipper" was newly added, and is basically a midrange 2-meter engine, between the "Mainsail" and "Poodle". I advise it as a second stage engine.

The Rockomax 24-77 and Mark 55 are radial engines, and can be stuck on the side of your craft for a bit of extra thrust, or used as landing engines for bases, landers, or rovers. The Mark 55 is the more powerful of the two, more fuel efficient, and also features a much better gimbal, but the 24-77 is smaller. The LV-1 is a tiny LFE, typically used on probes and satellites as a maneuvering engine. It’s best mated with the Oscar-B fuel tank, or maybe the Round-8. At 1.5 kN of thrust, you aren’t going anywhere fast with this thing. The LV-1R is essentially a radially mounted version of the LV-1. Anything said about that engine also applies here. Might be a good landing engine when mounted in clusters at the base of a light probe design.

Finally, two LFE’s deserve special mention. The Toroidal Aerospike is an unusual rocket engine, its equally efficient at all altitudes, which makes it a good choice for the primary engine on Spaceplanes. It cannot be stacked thanks to its unusual shape, and lacks thrust vectoring capability. However, thanks to its short form, it can survive a botched spaceplane takeoff better then other rocket engines.

The other special LFE is the LV-N Atomic Rocket Engine. This 1-meter engine is THE single most efficient LFE when operating in Vacuum, with an incredible 800 ISP. Its thrust is a bit anemic though, with only 60 kN. And the less said about their efficiency in atmosphere, the better. They’re also quite heavy for a 1-meter engine. Never less, the LV-N is best used as the engine for a transfer or injection stage, which won’t be operating in atmosphere at all if you’re doing it right, and it can burn all day long with a large fuel tank.

Jet Engines

Jet engines are significantly more fuel-efficient then rocket when operating in an oxygen atmosphere, though they will require air intakes to operate properly, and are also restricted to operations below a certain threshold. Turbojets operate best at altitudes above one kilometer or so, while Basic Jet Engines start to falter above five kilometers. If you're going to use these, its best that you use the spaceplane fuel parts, since standard rocket fuel tanks will waste mass carrying oxidizer you aren't going to be using anyways.

Propulsion and Fuel Tanks pt. 2

Solid Fuel Boosters

These come in three kinds. The Sepratron-I is a tiny little radial SFB, only capable of burning for three seconds. As such, it’s near pointless to use as a traditional booster. Instead, use these to separate stages, by mounting them backwards and staging them to fire at the same time as your explosive bolts. They'll serve as brakes, and drive the dead stage away from your fresh one without any fear of collisions. If you use enough, you can even slow down the dead stage so that its orbit will decay down into the atmosphere of Kerbin, crashing into the ground (relatively) safely and keeping orbital space nice and clean. They’re also handy to give heavy spaceplanes that bit of extra kick they need to get airborne, since they weigh practically nothing when empty.

The RT-10 and BACC are both similar in their intended use, only differing on scale. Both of these one shot SRB’s are best used during the initial launch of your rocket, to give it a burst of additional thrust while it claws through the densest part of the atmosphere. The RT-10 will burn for 29 seconds at sea level, or 31 seconds in vacuum, while its larger sister will burn for 48 and 52 seconds respectively. These will overheat like your old laptop, particularly if you cluster obscenely large numbers together. Either stagger their firing or provide additional static elements like fins to serve as heat sinks. Either way, you should mount these on radial decouplers, so you can eject them once they’re done burning, since they’re still quite heavy even then. Just don’t eject them by mistake while they’re still firing, since they’ll probably blow up your rocket. Keep in mind that all SFB WILL burn until their fuel supplies are exhausted once they're lit.

Fuel Tanks

Two basic kinds, standard rocket tanks that contain oxidizer and liquid fuel, and spaceplane parts that carry only liquid fuel. Rocket tanks come in FL and Rockomax flavors, for 1-meter and 2-meter sized stages. The Rockomax Jumbo-64 deserves special mention, since last time I checked it tends to implode if you try to stack it upon itself, though god knows why you'd need that much fuel. If you do need that much fuel, strap a dozen struts between the two tanks before trying to launch. It's also bugged and won't trasmit heat effectively, so engines attached to it tend to go boom. The Spaceplane tanks resemble the fuselage of a plane, and only carry liquid fuel, perfect for jets. The Oscar-B and Round-8 are both tiny rocket fuel tanks that are handy for use with the LV-1.

Control and Aero

Or how to not die

So now you've got your rocket assembled, but need to make it stay pointed in one direction? Well thats what this tab is for. I lumped the monopropellant tanks in here, even though they're located in the propulsion tab normally.

SAS

These serve as a sort of autopilot, and help keep your rocket facing fowards come heaven or high speed impact. ASAS will control your ships aerodynamic parts and RCS thrusters towards this goal, but exert no force themselves, while SAS will only use interally mounted gyroscopes. Either way, they'll only work while they're turned on. You may require multiple SAS modules to control a larger ship, but you'll only ever need one ASAS. Also keep in mind that all command pods contain a small internal SAS, which may be all you need for very small ships.

RCS

These are thrusters that move your ship using jets of compressed gas. They need monopropellant tanks to function, and work best if you mount them as far away from your ships center of gravity as possible. But keep in mind your CoG will shift as your ship uses up fuel and stages. They're also quite vital for the arcane and terrible science of docking. RCS-105 Thrusters provide coverage in four directions, while the linear port only covers one, though it provides three times the thrust. It's a good idea to turn these off when you dont need them, because the ASAS will burn through your entire stockpile of propellant if you give it the chance. You can also use RCS thrusters to make orbital adjustments with small spacecraft.

RCS tanks are pretty simple, they come in three stock sizes, the 1-meter FL-R25, the 2-meter FL-R1, and the radially mounted Stratus-V. The Stratus-V deserves special mention, since it can be placed in a number of interesting locations thanks to its radial type, though it has a tiny capacity of 40 units. It also has a poor mass ratio. The FL-R25 and FL-R1 are similar in that they're both intended to be mounted vertically on your rocket. RCS tanks can be located anywhere, but lower tanks will be used up before tanks higher on your rocket, to avoid wasting fuel when you jettison a stage.

Aero

These come in four main flavors: engine intakes for jets, wings, control surfaces, and nose cones. Engine intakes provide air for your jet engines. Wings provide lift for your spaceplanes, and control surfaces help you steer. Nose cones serve to reduce the drag exerted on your giant rocket.

Engine intakes come in four flavours, plus the cosmetic radial engine body. The Circular and Ram Air intakes are both intended to be mounted on the front of an engine body, and are mostly identical in performance, though currently the Ram intake draws in more air. The Engine Narcelle takes in less air then the first two, but can have parts stacked on top of it. The Radial intake is a radially mounted air intake that can be placed anywhere on your spaceplane. It works better the faster you're travelling.

The stock parts include three different nose cones, though the current physics model only causes them to add to your drag and mass. As such they're mostly just cosmetic at present.

Wings serve to provide lift for your craft. The Delta and Swept wings provide the best lift, while parts like the AV-T1 Winglet and Tail Fin provide the least. The structural wing and wing connector allow you to produce massive wings for large craft, if you have enough patience. Closely related to the wing parts are the control surfaces and canard parts. These can be connected to the ASAS system and used to improve your craft's maneuvering without having to expend precious RCS fuel. Control surfaces should be mounted on the rear of your wing, you may have to rotate them some to get them facing the way you want. Winglets and Canards are a good way to keep your massive rocket facing up while also making it quite stylish. They can also serve as ghetto radiators to prevent your SRB array from exploding when it gets too hot.

Structural

Bitz

These parts go on your rocket to prevent it from tearing itself apart in the ascent phase. I'll give brief notes on most of these parts, but a handful deserve special consideration.

Decouplers

These come in two catagories, vertical and radial. Both are VERY important for the proper and sucessful construction of your rocket. They can also be one of the primary contributing causes to the destruction of an otherwise sucessful design. Decouplers allow you to jettison empty fuel tanks and boosters you no longer need, meaning your rocket has to haul less mass into orbit, and burns less fuel doing so. I personally perfer using the TT-70 radial decoupler over the HDM and TT-38k, since IMO the extra distance between the booster and the main body of the rocket means you're slightly less likely to have your flight terminated prematurely by falling debris. However you might still need to use the flat decouplers for particularly large objects. The Structural Pylon is intended to be mounted on spaceplanes for drop tanks, though it'll work fine on a vertical rocket. It's also noteworthy for its freakishly high impact tolerance. The proper choice of vertical decoupler is mostly a matter of how large you plan on having the two stages of your rocket be, since they come in three different sizes, and two different styles.

Adapters

These let you transit between various width parts with some degree of style. The Tri-Coupler and Bi-coupler also let you mount more then one 1-meter engine onto a stage, though it's practically impossible to elegantly connect them to decouplers. Girders and I-beams let you make fancy looking space stations and bases. The Multi-point Connector and Micronode let you build in directions besides straight up and down, while the structural panels could allow you to build fairings for your rocket's payload when combined with a nose cone and some fancy decoupler work.

Noteworthy parts

There's three parts in particular I want to draw attention to here. The EAS-4 Strut Connector, the FTX-2 External Fuel Duct, and the TT18-A Launch Stability Enhancer. They will be your best friends in the whole world if you use them correctly. The Strut connector forms a strong bond between two parts, preventing them from breaking apart quite as easily under stress, as well as dramatically reducing the dreaded 'wobble' effect. You may need to cover large rockets or strangely shaped spacecraft in them quite liberally in order to sucessfully launch to orbit. The Fuel Line allows you to ship liquid fuel from radial mounted fuel tanks into your central engine, or vica-versa. Any tank connected to your engine via fuel lines will be prioritized for use over tanks that are not. Finally the Launch Clamp holds your ship in place until it's released. Preferably at the same time as your main engines ignite. It's a lifesaver if your craft is incapable of resting on its engines for whatever reason, or if poor balance and part wobble causes it to tip over. Just be sure to disconnect them before you fire up your SRB's.

Utility and Scientific

Utility Parts

These are the parts which add additional functionallity to your ship. These parts come in the following catagories: Landing gear, Parachutes, Ladders, Electrical, and Docking. There's also a special, hyper efficent engine in this grouping, which works well with light probes and satellites.

Landing Gear

At present, there are four different types of Landing Gear. The LT family of lander legs start with the LT-1 Landing Strut, which is a decent choice for a 1-meter manned lander, it's also half as heavy as its larger brother, but only extends half as far. The LT-2 is the serious, heavy duty member of the family, twice as long as the LT-1, and will eat up space on the bottom of your lander like no tommorrow. However its also the only choice you have to keep your 2-meter engines off the ground. The LT-5 is a tiny lander leg, with slightly worse impact tolerance then its two brothers, and can just barely protect a LV-909 if you place it as low as possible on your craft. The LT-5 also extends almost directly down, unlike the gentle 45 degrees or so of the other two landing struts. Finally, we have the imaginatively named 'Landing Gear', which is primarily intended for use on spaceplanes. Rovers would be another possibility, though they provide no motive capabilities, so you'll need to also mount actual wheels, or perhaps strap a Ion Engine or two onto the back.

Parachutes

These are essential if you dont want your crew capsule plowing into the ground at 200 meters a second. The Mk-16 and 16XL are intended for use on the Command Pods Mk1 and Mk1-2 respectively, and are generally all you'll need for a barebones reentry craft. The Mk-2R is a radially mounted chute, allowing you to place parachutes on the side of your command module and leave the nose free for a docking port. The Mk25 is a drogue chute, which deploys at 2500 meters instead of 500 meters like the other three, and is primarily intended to slow you down enough that you won't cause important parts of your craft like engines, lander legs, or your main parachute to come tearing off when your Mk 16 opens. It should be noted that Parachutes will ONLY work if you have an atomsphere to work with, and different planets will require a different combination of parachutes to bring a craft to a safe landing.

Ladders

These are pretty self explanatory, but in general they'll be used to allow your Kerbals to get back into your rocket after you have them collect moon rocks and stuff. The Telus and Telus-LV require you to extend them by using the context sensitive menu before they can be used.

Electricity

These parts generate or consume electrical power, which is produced by firing your liquid fueled engines, pointing extended photovoltaic panels in the direction of Kerbol, or slapping some only mildly radioactive Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators onto your probe. There's also batteries that let you store excess electrical power against future needs, and lights which can be used to light up your craft, or the area around it.

Solar panels are a relatively easy way to get cheap electrical power, but they'll only work when your spacecraft is on the sunward side of a celestial body. They will also break quite easily, so be sure to retract them during launch and reentry. The Gigantor XL Solar Array is notable for being able to completely power a Ion Engine if it is pointed perfectly at Kerbol, as well as being what is currently the single most powerful source of electrical power in the game thus far. The OX-4 and SP panels are mostly identical in all aspects save weight, with the 'A' models forming a 2x3 panel, and the 'B' models forming a 1x6 strip. The OX-STAT panels are immobile due to lacking a tracking mechanism, but can be slapped anywhere you have an open space on your craft.

Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators or RTG's are significantly heavier then solar panels, and have worst weight/power ratios (save for if you're quite far from the sun), but have the advantage of constantly generating a small stream of power, incidently enough where a single RTG can run a probe core forever. Use these if you dont want to worry about electrical power.

Docking Parts

These parts let you connect two different spacecraft to form a larger whole. Ideal for constructing space stations or colony ships. Most of them are intended for use by 1-meter parts, but the Clamp-O Tron Sr. is 2-meter scale. Keep in mind that when planning to dock craft, that the two craft must be using docking ports of the same scale.

Wheels

Useful for rovers or unmanned probes, generally a waste of space otherwise. Come in four flavors now that 0.20 is out, from the massive Rovemax Model 3 to the tiny Model 2. The TR-2L is capable of the highest "safe" speed at 30m/sec, making it ideal for long journeys where you cannot land near your target for whatever reason.

Ion Engine

This engine has an absolutely insane fuel efficenicy, but produces very little thrust. So its best to only use it on very small manned craft, or unmanned probes and satellites. You'll need at least one tank of Xenon gas and a steady supply of Electricty to use these. Every Ion engine will require 1 Gigantor XL Array or 20 RTG's to operate constantly. Its a good engine for fine tuning your orbits, or serving as a replacement engine for planes on planets with no oxygen. While it may seem like a good interplantary engine due to the fuel efficency, be warned that due to the low thrust it will take forever to complete maneuvers, so only use this if you have the patience to wait.

Scientific Parts

These are now actually useful in game. Divided into two catagories, Communication and Experiments. Experiments are used to boost your rate of Science Point accquisition. For example, a simple capsule with a pair of Mystery Goo Containers can nearly double the ammount of Science points you get from a simple mission to Kerbin orbit and back to the ground. Science points normally require you to safely land a vessel back on Kerbin, where upon recovering it in the tracking station will provide you with full access to all the data recovered during the flight. However, Communication parts allow you to transmit the data you generate in orbit back to the space center without the risk of losing it all becasue your parachute tore off during descent. The downside is that they require large ammounts of electrical power to run, so its difficult to use them properly at the start of the campaign. Once you manage to unlock photovoltaic panels or RTG's, or even a battery bank, they're much easier to use.

Building Tips

Building Tips

Here's a short list of building tips that I've found help keep your Kerbalnaut survival rate above 5%. Your mileage may vary.

-Always, Always, ALWAYS double check your staging. Particularly with radial decouplers. And especially when SFB's are on the other side of that decoupler. I have lost count of the number of times I have had to abort a mission or watched my rocket blow up because I accidently set the decouplers to blow too early. Sometime's you'll get lucky and you'll only have the SFB's fly above your rocket and smash into each other 100 meters above your nose cone. Don't count on this.

-If you think you're going to need to slap some struts down to prevent something from wobbling, you're probably right. Trust your instincts. Better to spend an extra minute strapping the part in question down then watching your rocket sheer in half when you light all twelve of those Mainsails on the bottom.

-If you're using unmanned pods to control your rocket, make sure you have an energy storage and energy source if you plan on staying for the long haul. Engines will not cut it if you're planning on coasting for long durations.

-It's generally a good idea to test fly something like a munar lander on Kerbin first, before you get to the Mun and find out that you forgot to put RCS fuel tanks on or that your kerbals cannot reach the pod door from the ground.

-Plan out a mission from the start. Don't just throw parts on your rocket and hope for the best. A lander for the Mun will not work on Duna or Eve, or if it does, it won't be returning back to orbit at least.

-Launch Clamps are like a gift from god when you're building a tall rocket.

Reccomended Mods

Or, "I've finally landed on the Mun and returned to Kerbal, what now?

Finally, here's a list of mods that I suggest for those of you who want to expand your experience beyond the stock game.

-Either Novapunch or KW Rocketry. These two packs add a TON of extra parts to the game, and they're all styled 'realistically'. If you want to make your rockets look like something that NASA would build, then grab one of these two mods. They also add parts in 3.75m scale, great for when you need to get a small building into orbit. Of the two I honestly prefer KW Rocketry, but it's up to you, grab them both and try em out one at a time, see which one you prefer.

-B9 Aerospace. Like the previous two mods, but for spaceplanes. Adds half a dozen new cockpits, new fuselages, cargo bays, crew areas, and new wings. And all these parts look absolutely beautiful.

-Mechjeb. This is great even for experienced pilots for the SmartASS alone. It also provides autopilot functionality for your rockets if you're not as good at flying as you are at building, making taking off, transfer orbits, and landings a snap. Sadly I can never seem to get the third party mod adding mechjeb to stock command modules to run, but thats easily solved by adding one of the radial systems.

-Ion Hybrid Engine Pack. This adds a LOT of extra electrical parts, a larger ion engine, and two ion-hybrid engines. Included in this pack is a set of larger solar panels and a larger RTG, as well as two larger Xenon tanks.

-Almost anything by Bobcat. Works include the H.O.M.E. Colonization kit, the DEMV series of rovers, and the MPSS Nautilus Interplanetary Transfer Vehicle, all of which are done in the same style so they look great together. The H.O.M.E. kit comes with a series of parts for building orbitally deployable ground bases on other planets, all scaled to 3m. The DEMV series is a line of five different ground based rovers, ranging in size from the large Mk. 1 and Mk. 2, to the tiny Mk. 5 and the miniscule Mk. 3. My favorite out of the entire series is probably the Mk. 4 Rat, which came with a drop capsule. The MPSS Nautilus is a large craft designed to haul up to a dozen H.O.M.E pods or DEMV rovers with descent frames from Kerbal orbit to another planet in the Kerbin system with its NTR, and has space for five kerbals in its command pod. All of these mods also feature fully modeled interiors!

Be warned that to my knowledge, Bobcat is taking a break from these mods to work on other things at present, so they may not all be up to date.

[TheGamer]

please prevent my orbital mess from wrecking my ship, thank you

[2dogplc]

Instructions unclear, I am launching the KSC from a rocket

[the]

because they are

[Garlic]

Sounds like you are killing them

[Strad]

Instructions unclear, I killed my parents by yeeting them to the moon and then exploded.

[Markiplier Jumpscare]

I heard you can also add probe cores, antennas, and solar panels to used stages in orbit so they can be a free communication sattelite once you've used all the fuel in them

[Aeronautics]

Add links to the mods

[BR0TH3R_TUB3]

Can u add pictures so people know what your talking about?

[sand hanitizer]

a

[The Great D.P.S.S]

send me a sloth fluffy.