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There are several steps to successful dockings. Click on images for larger view. Set your target as your target. Time your launch: A general rule of thumb is to launch when your target is just rising in the west (unless your target is in a retrograde orbit). If your target isn't in an equatorial orbit, then you'll also want to launch when the orbital ...

Another option for removing debris is to limit how much of it you want to keep around. One of the settings allows you to choose anywhere from no debris, to unlimited debris. This option is available under Settings in the main menu (the menu you see when first starting the game, not the in-game menu), and is called Max Persistent Debris. Keep in mind ...

The command pod does matter, as well as what parts of your spaceship hit the ground first. The maximum impact speed that your capsule can sustain (in m/s) is given as the impact tolerance in the item card when constructing your ship: I suspect, but haven't tested that this holds true for all other available parts. As proof, for the pods though, I did a ...

Your probe is probably out of power. Unlike manned capsules, probes don't have any internal way of generating their own electricity.* You need to add solar panels (and remember to deploy them once in orbit), or Radioactive Thermal Generators to your probe. Running most chemical engines also generates power (which is how you can get into orbit), but due to ...

You can do this with Action Groups. This youtube tutorial provides a good example of how to do exactly what you want: In short, once you have the solar panels added to your ship: ...

Technically, you can escape Kerbin's gravity at any height, as long as you're going fast enough. To orbit the planet at any given altitude, you only need to be travelling at the corresponding horizontal speed, as shown in the table below. The only reason that you can't orbit the planet consistently at low altitudes is that it's difficult to maintain your ...

The reason for this is that the default rover control keys (AWSD) are also mapped to vehicle rotation. You don't notice on Kerbin because the rotation power of command pods is too weak to overcome the gravity, but on low-gravity moons the effect becomes much more notable. There are, however, two ways, to solve this problem. Method A: Go to the Settings ...

You can leave the Kerbin solar system in the sense you can go forward to infinity, but there isn't anything else past Eelo. The only celestial bodies in Kerbin Space Program right now are the ones in the wiki. Celestials There are discussions regarding adding other solar systems The forum lost everything since october 2012, so, i refer to this from the ...

The Stack Separator decouples from both the child and the parent node whilst the Stack Decoupler remains attached to the child. Why might I use one over the other? Situations where you are separating satellites, rovers, probes or other payloads and don't want the Decoupler still attached.

Do not go to the dark side. Seriously. Jebediah still remembers the day he only just escaped death. Unless you put some spotlights on (the really bright ones. Haven't tested it yet, but I assume it gives off enough light). The center of a crater is the best location for a level landing. Mountain tops tend to be less curvy than the rest of the moon surface, ...

Once you hit roughly 100 km above Kerbin, the effect that gravity plays on your ship is minimal. Problem is, once you leave the planet's sphere of influence, the sun will continue to exert it's influence on you. It is (remotely) possible to leave the solar system, but most of it just involves adding as much fuel as you can, and building the most momentum ...

KSP does not allow remote control of unattached pieces. Anything not attached to your main cockpit automatically becomes directly uncontrollable as soon as it detaches. That said, there are a few options available, if you're looking to de-orbit spent stages. Create a dedicated deorbit vehicle that catches your debris, and burns retro to shed some speed. ...

Yes there is, if you have a component capable of issuing commands, and it is properly manned/powered. This typically means attaching probe bodies to each stage that you will want to control later. I find this sub-optimal at best though. Performing a post separation deorbit typically means you need to save some fuel in order to do those burns. And since ...

Your VAB and ship files should be in ~/Library/Application Support/KSP_osx/saves/[YourSave]/ships/ on OS X. The location of the real Library folder is a bit different on Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8), you will need to use Finder to get to it. Select "Go" (Or press Command + Shift + G) from the system menu Then select on "Go to Folder" (skip this step is you ...

You could always download the trial version of FRAPS to see your FPS. The trial version limits screenshots to the .bmp format and video capturing to only 30 seconds of recording; to keep an eye for your FPS rate, that's still good enough. FRAPS currently works for XP, Vista, 7 and 8

Took a while to figure out, but I'm really glad there is actually a way: Here's how you do it. You move or copy out the rocket section you want to place on a new stage. Then, add an empty stage BEFORE the other stuff that's already there. Then once you go to place the stuff you took aside, it will be inserted into your newly created stage. This does not ...

Docking clamps have very little shear strength, so I suspect if we just changed the decoupler into two docking clamps, your cockpit would fall off during the ascent. It's a bit more complicated to replace decouplers with docking ports; decouplers just fire off of your current stage, and stick to the stage you might want to return to. That doesn't work so ...

Unfortunately, right now you can't. It has happened a lot to me, launching and then realizing I didn't remember to set up the keys to something. If you have to do something synchronized, you can try to pause/unpause the game while mousing from one component to the other to minimize the desynchronization.

Yes, this is actually fairly easy. All of your save data is stored in plain text files as a subdirectory of the saves folder in the main KSP folder. Each save game has its own folder, which includes subdirectories for VAB and hanger ships. Simply copy the desired folders (be it the entire save or just a few .craft files) to the new install location.

Try the Subassembly Saver Loader. Detach everything from the command pod and save those pieces. Then start a new design, select the command pod you want, then use the subassembly plugin to load back in the rest of the design.

I'd take a look at Payloader: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/29950 It lets you combine a payload and a launch vehicle. It works by reading the two craft files and creating a new one, therefore its very non-intrusive (imho).

No it is not currently possible to swap out the command module you chose when starting your build, at least not using the options available to you in the game. There are several threads on the Kerbal Space Program forums including a couple of feature requests for exactly this, although I can't provide you any links at the moment due to the KSP forums being ...

If you want to prevent space junk using an in-game solution, you can design your vessels and plan your missions so that any junk you decouple will crash into a planet. More challenging than editing a .cfg file to tidy up. If you have to detach a stage while in stable orbit then attach an unmanned command module to it somewhere, with some batteries or a ...

As of .19, there is no more launch tower. Until the demo gets updated as well, though, this still applies to it. There's no way to move your rocket away from the launch tower, but what you CAN do is build AWAY from it. When in the VAB, there's a hallway on one side. The side facing the door on the left is the side facing the launch tower. I have ...

I remember having this problem with older versions of KSP (around .16 or so?). Are you using the latest versions of KSP and mechjeb? If both are up-to-date, I'd try installing KSP to a new directory (keep the original if you'd like). Reinstall mechjeb and try again. I've had a few cases where this has fixed odd issues.

Unfortunately, I was unable to make the debris my currently active flight using the techniques @MBraedley suggested. A solution that worked ended was to back up my ship files (in the main Kerbal Space Program folder, under /saves/%save file name%/Ships) and create a new save, though that also wiped out my space base. No matter! Science carries on! In the ...

To answer #1 I constructed a test rig. As you described, the outer-engines overheat faster than the inner one regardless of vertical placement. This means that the overheating is not a result of the heat emission map (which extends in a cone underneath the engine that drops off rapidly and is hotter than the engine itself). When I placed temperature ...

if you're no stickler for transit time you can do a multi-planet banking shot from an inclined orbit around kerbin. each shot, provided it's angled right, will put you closer to polar insertion at jool. the maneuver controls(click on your orbit path and it'll say 'add maneuver') have a predictive pathing feature. learn to love it. it makes reaching other ...

So you're correct in using Jool for a gravitational slingshot into a high inclination, and you're also correct in assuming that you can only get about 40° from an encounter prior to switching the spheres of influence. Trying to set up burns prior to switching SoI is an exercise in futility. What you do want to do is set up your encounter so that you're ...

You could do this in the config file, but it's easier to make this change in game (although you may have to do it each time you switch to it). This requires that you have a docking port pointed in the prograde direction. If you do, right click on that, and select Control from here, and you're done. The gimble will flip, and everything will be pointed in ...