Easy Guide to Orbiting a Rocket In Kerbal Space Program

[MrMeutuah]

I made too many fireworks today :( The control is very very very very ... i don't want to say. Thanks for the tutorial.

[unparallelshadows]

The two dislikes were Bill and Bob kerman

[muusers]

Controls are really hard. Sometimes i dont know which button will push me where.

[PDXOutdoors]

SO stoked to find out about this game! I love simulators and I love space. Can't wait to get some time to play around with it! Thanks for the great guide.

[MrDoubleeyes]

how do you get all the other rokets and stuff

[dariolo]

best tutorial!i am rly enjoying this game.i made it into space and into an orbit after i watched this video!unfortenatly i was stuck in space and did not know how to get back.i guess its acelerating downwards at the pa(lowest point)?in case you have fuel left ,i didnt so i am stuck forever in space!

[szyzyg]

@dariolo No no no accelerating downwards is a really bad idea for getting home. It'll take 4 times as much fuel to put your ship on a return trajectory. Instead you want to do a retrograde burn at Apokee - turn your ship around an point it backwards along its orbit and then thrust so that your orbital speed drops and you fall back to Kearth. If you do this at apokee then you'll need the least amount of fuel.

[dariolo]

@szyzyg thx for the fast answer!ok great i got it!i love astrophysicist:)you explain so well and you make it understandable for me or i guess for everybody!lets try the retrograde! in case i have fuel left or it will be again capsule alone lost in space with no way leaving the orbit!

[cees311]

I tried to orbit, but all I achieved was a solar orbit.

[DRwhiteout]

Thank you so much. This is a great guide and worked flawlessly on my first flight using this ship. I added my on few details and got an orbit going. Works great

[SixthStanza]

I feel sorry for my astronauts. I built a fairly efficient ship, hoping to get to get a nice orbit going, and I managed to get 50km, but decided that I probably wasn't going to manage it.

I decided to hit one of the big time warps and sit tight, just to see how high I'd get. Then, well, the planet vanished into the distance and I found myself sitting at 10,000,000km. I checked the map screen, and my path formed a circle around the star.

The mission lasted over a month before I decided to quit.

[saintprawn]

@spuntsiekman ever heard of a video description?

[chrisdurston]

Where are you from? Sounds like somewhere between Scotland and America...

[Aperture1001]

Thanks dude.

[spuntsiekman]

How do you get all thet extra itmes?

[huggy99huggy]

@spuntsiekman mods, search KSP mods and find a Tutorial on installing them ;)

[huggy99huggy]

@spuntsiekman or he bought it, allowing more items, not entirely sure which...

[doggy3322]

@spuntsiekman mods

[666MetalNeverDies666]

@spuntsiekman downloads

[Chickenkeeper24]

@spuntsiekman Mods. Just Google them, there are hundreds.

[GWigWam]

Its called Kerbit!

[Yykba1]

While watching your video i accidently flew up to over 200 km, can i still orbit?

[szyzyg]

@Yykba1 Of course you can, just wait until you reach max altitude and then burn along the orbit to circularise your orbit.

[walker19990]

did anyones tegectory line in the planetary view get destroyed? cause mine did...

[17jun1989]

I rather play Mass Effect 2,lol

[ILGAR93]

v=d*sqrt(g/(d+h))

[kahouston8]

What game is that and for what system?

[GAM3HAZARD]

@kahouston8 Kerbal Space Program ( Free game )

[sporecreatorperson]

What I did different was I added some RCS modules and tanks on the ship (this video was before the update, right) and I added an advanced SAS module on the ship so I didn't need to to much manual stuff as I exited the lower atmosphere. I also added 2 vanilla wings on the rocket to help the SAS control me in the atmosphere, it was a lot easier than doing it exactly how you did.

[szyzyg]

@sporecreatorperson I do have an updated video (accounting for the 0.11 features) but I don't use RCS, SAS or wings, because they all add weight and reduce the amount so spare fuel.

[roberth129]

Tanks!



[mApppel]

thanks for this easy guide! with your guide, the new orbital map of version 0.11.1 that shows the highest point of your orbit and that velocity chart i got my craft to a stable orbit at about 85 kilometers^^

[tfcCOD4]

ur accent is awesome lmao

[jackel1490]

quick question how come you have so many parts in your version of the game ?

[szyzyg]

@jackel1490 THey're all available as downloadable mods - look at the video description for links

[BrianBear24]

@szyzyg whats the launch button?

[szyzyg]

@BrianBear24 the spacebar is used for staging, wasdqe for rotation, and shift/ctrl for throttle. t toggles stabilisers.

[zwatt10]

my guys para chute got hit at 1000 M and broke R.I.P Bob,Bill and Jeb the first Kurbnouts to orbit earth twice

[clonetrooper661]

i can never get high than like 65,000km

[guitarhero1346]

How come I have hardly any parts in my vehicle assembly building?

[Venim0]

Used this as a rough guideline for how to get into orbit with a rocket I built (using custom parts). Satellite payload didn't reach orbit and fell about 16 minutes in but my capsule did and has been floating around for 2 hours now :D. Roughly apoapsis 252,091 and periapsis 141,964 i think =D. Full tank to deorbit too

[hifeyracer]

the reason u cannot get it off the pad is because it requires 10 lbs of thrust per pound of weight to get off the pad. the weight u have for 200 lbs of thrust is too much but one way to fix is to add solids to get away from the lower atmosphere as u did but ur cost to fuel/weight ratio is fairly poor and wastefull but regardless ur video wasnt about that just thought id let u know why people are thinking there is a sticky pad effect....theres not its just people dont calculate thrust/weight rat

[szyzyg]

@hifeyracer The sticky pad effect is an older bug, now it's entirely possible to build a rocket with 6tanks + engine, capsule, parachute and decoupler and take it into orbit. In older KSP builds it would not leave the launch pad until it had burned the fuel even though its mass (19.1) was low enough to be lofted by the engine generating a thrust of 200.

[hifeyracer]

@szyzyg ah no wonder lol i have the newer version. i played the old one but never did any calculations as far as thrust to weight and decided randomly to try it. have any recent videos for orbit that show the full orbit with the apogee and epogee just to see your variation. i got a variation of 100km from 89km to 189-200km was out of fuel on my rocket but did two full revolutions before i got tired of letting it run. orbit was about 1hr and 23 mins. i have pictures i shall post on their forum

[hifeyracer]

the reason u cannot get it off the pad is because it requires 10 lbs of thrust per pound of weight to get off the pad. the weight u have for 200 lbs of thrust is too much but one way to fix is to add solids to get away from the lower atmosphere as u did but ur cost to fuel/weight ratio is fairly poor and wastefull but regardless ur video wasnt about that just thought id let u know why people are thinking there is a sticky pad effect....theres not its just people dont calculate thrust/weight rati

[thisisnotajoke]

Thank you very much! I don't think I would have made it to a stable almost circular orbit in such a short time without your video. I'm now circling Kerbal at ~2332 m/s at an altitude of 49240 m (still slooooowly rising after the last adjustment maneuver).

[smosh3box]

You really don't know what "Trim" means do you?

[TheOiass]

yiy are an astrophysicist? this game could be your paradise xD

[monkeymonkeyxbox360]

I have version 9.0 but i only have like half the stuff you have is that the full game or am i playing the demo

[stackman1525]

@monkeymonkeyxbox360 mods.

[wolfwolf1234567]

@szyzyg You think it's easy when you have 2/3 of a tank left? Imagine have three fuel tanks. Ya i know i'm awesome( kidding)

[guitarhero1346]

How come I only have 2 different kinds of engines?

[philbluntuk]

Ace video. The only issue is, I cant get the empty/used tanks to jettison. they are all set up in the correct staging on the right of the screen is rocket creation mode, but once they run out of fuel during lauch they do not jettison. i am using decouplers.

[stackman1525]

@philbluntuk do you mean fuel tanks or solid rocket boosters? empty tanks cannot jettison without rendering the engine useless. It on;y becomes lighter because the fuel is burning.

[Yonkage]

This game is so frustrating. I spent about five hours fine-tuning a ridiculously-complicated 12-stage rocket, so it's a bit upsetting seeing you make one capable of getting to orbit with only four fuel tanks and six SRBs...

The best orbit I've managed had a perikee or 35,000, and and apogee of 220,000. Also, I ran out of fuel so my poor Kerbals suffocated up there.

Ugh.

[boweezie10]

Your hired!

[VaktovianUltru]

One problem: My parachute at the top when the first fuel runs out the parachute comes out..

[Elementlmage]

The first few times I tried I didn't even come close to orbiting. Then at about the fifth try I managed to get an orbit radius of about 200k...while shooting for 50 XD the worst part is that I only had 1/6th of a tank left, so I didn't even have enough fuel to get my kerbals home :(

But, on the next try I managed to get an orbit with an apogee of 53k and perigee of 50k. Right before I hit the perigee, I pulled some extreme maneuvers and a quick burn and have gotten it to 49.5k and 49k!

[TheGoatCavalry]

step 1: build a penis rocket

step 2: ???

step 3: profit

[AngelusDlion]

Looks a lot like a real rocket.. Probably not coincidence eh?

[UBERDHOKER]

y didnt they add a custom button layout thing? i cant pmay this game whitout it

[jisf0rjosh]

@UBERDHOKER Download the latest experimental build, you can edit the keys

[Cheeryman4]

nice

[ClipMaster93]

I dont fuck with orbiting i go in deep space bitches xD

[nicknick3304]

How do you spin?

[Super2Donny]

Fuck, got greedy and flew to medium kearth orbit :/

[Super2Donny]

Actually does a fuel tank weights a lot if they ran out of fuel? I'm so paranoid about empty fuel tanks that I add a lot of stages on my rocket and it complicates the situation alot :/

[jonvoltage1]

Hey, I followed this video for my first orbit and it looked like it was gonna be a complete success when I did a burn to get my speed up a little more (while pointing nose slightly down, I checked to make sure I wasn't boosting my upward speed) and soon after my vertical speed started going up. I'm now at 350k+, I think I've hit escape velocity and my fuel is out. Why did this happen? It was like my speeds randomly went crazy.

[szyzyg]

@jonvoltage1 It doesn't matter if you're going upwards or sideways, escape velocity is the same. If you're going sideways at more than 141% of the orbital velocity then you'll just keep gaining altitude all the way to infinity.

[jonvoltage1]

@szyzyg Thanks, I took another look at the table and I think I understand it a little better now. I was mainly wondering why the hell I suddenly gained off the scale upwards momentum without even doing a burn that could cause that. Anyway, turns out I made a massive elliptical orbit which had a high point of about 650,000m. Hey, it was an orbit, but jesus it was huge and it took forever.

[blackopsman99999]

@szyzyg subbed and btw you sound like what i think gordon freemans would sound like and he is like the smartest person ever!

[blackopsman99999]

@szyzyg hey i have a question i get to 01344 meters and spin to stay stable and all of a sudden my crew members die no nuclear rocket all standard stuff and they just die.

[toegangsinbreuk]

Great game!

[ArbitraryConstant]

Their physics model must be pretty decent - looks just like how the pros do it.

[josecarlosamador]

Wow, how do you have so many pieces you can use?

[WillMoyer150]

what button do you push for the automatic stabalizer?

[szyzyg]

@WillMoyer150 't' toggles the stabilizer and that's great while you have a bunch of SAS units attached to your rocket. This particular one doesn't have any extra stabilization after you eject the boosters so the auto stabilizer isn't so useful later in the flight.

[MaxximvsDecimvs]

Thanks for this great information - took several tries but at 280k at a constant sped around 2010m/s... I'm finally getting to see the dark side of the planet for the first time (and hopefully not the last...) still have 3/4 of a tank left - so I should be good for a while :)

[toegangsinbreuk]

@MaxximvsDecimvs You've gotta go a little bit slower: 2003 m/s

[MaxximvsDecimvs]

@toegangsinbreuk - that would be fine for a near perfect circular orbit, but actually in a long oval orbit speed will change - yesterday did a LONG 6 orbits of 228k high side / 41k low side which speeds would change from over 2200+ to a low as 1750 (could of done more orbits - but with no save feature after a few hours I just landed them ;) ) Since I do recodings for MC I'm probably going to record my next attempt just for fun (though I'll probably just do 2 orbits and land) :)

[toegangsinbreuk]

@MaxximvsDecimvs

You mean an eliptical orbit?:)

Yea, I always try the most circulair orbit as I can. hehe

I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE MOON! :D

[MaxximvsDecimvs]

@toegangsinbreuk - heh yes, too early in the morning for the big words ;) since I seem to have eliptical orbits down pact - when the moon does arrive I'm already good to go! lol :)

[fkreller1]

My timing to jettison the SRB's was deplorable the first several times I tried it. Made some good fireworks, though. :-) Thanks for the great vid!

[UberLithen]

Watches video getting all pumped, "Yeah im gonna orbit the shit out of earth!"

10 minutes later, patiently awaiting rescue team somewhere in the ocean :/

[myprojects911]

how do i change position on the throttle via keyboard?

[szyzyg]

@myprojects911 Shift and Control keys adjust the throttle.

[waltdisney19282008]

just send us a link to the rocket you made, the one i made is just tipping to one side

[potrodsas]

Much better than the Apollo hoax.And much more honest.

[thezellman]

There's a symmetry button. Why on earth didn't the tutorial tell me about that? Doh! Space, Here I come

[Robfoxman]

thanks man, this will help me alot

[Marrino460]

its no fun getting it to space D:

[4Freddz]

Hey, excellent guide you made here. Im just having one little problem, and that is maintaining an orbital altitude. I always end up gaining lots of altitude all the time. I dont really know how to just stay around the same height during one whole orbit of kearth. And what height is normal or good for orbiting?

[AussieBoiForLife]

why is it that you have alot more items then i do :/ i got the game yesterday so i thinks its the latest version, or however is called, can you tell me how to access these extra parts :) anyone

[PanicButton042]

@AussieBoiForLife Just google search "kerbal space program mods" and you should find them.

[AussieBoiForLife]

@PanicButton042 thanks :)

[tmo0re4446]

Lol i made it to 1,256,456 miles or 1256 kilometers with just the 4 boosters and 1 booster fueler!

[ZupanicCarr]

hey this is to anyone who can help me i seem to have an anoying glitch where the controls switch every few seconds and its making it impossible to do anything because if i press A it goes left but then when it starts leaning to the right i press A again and it moves more to the right so i press D and it moves to the left and then D again and it moves to the right its the same with the W and S keys and i dont know how to fix it can someone please help me?

[szyzyg]

@ZupanicCarr When you're looking at how the rocket moves in response to your keypresses, are you judging the motion of the rocket, or are you looking at how the artificial horizon instrument responds - a lot of people make the mistake of looking at the rocket early on , rather than utilizing the artificial horizon. You may already know this, but that's the only thing I can think of right now.

[soleJakey]

How do you get the new rocket set on Kerbal Space Program?

[Jay2646]

Well, I didn't quite achieve a stable orbit (I think I left the throttle on for too long), but somehow I wound up a LOT higher than I had previously. I also have no idea how long it'll take to get down.

Well done! Very well-made tutorial.

[NataOtum]

@Jay2646 You may have reached what's called "Escape velocity". This guy made a tutorial on how to do it, but it essentially means that you're traveling fast enough that gravity won't be able to pull you back to the planet, hence you "escape" gravity.

[IrocUnforgiven]

Excellent video. I've established my first stable orbit thanks to your advice. I hope you remain active as this game develops because I have a feeling I'll be looking for more help.

[adi11235]

How do you get all those extra boosters?

[mshirley1234]

i don't normally comment on people's videos but i wanted to here.

you did an amazing job at explaining this.

i strongly feel that future generations either will be or SHOULD be learning through tools and instruction like this.

amazing video, amazing game.

thanks.

[rawr359]

You're very good at narrating/commentating. You've got a good voice. Keep doing what you're doing.

[yannbane]

Are you actually an astrophysicist?

[szyzyg]

@yannbane Take a look at my youtube channel and be the judge.

[msjh3603]

@szyzyg Thank you, I had trouble orbiting!

[stubeyloo]

how do you get the radial decoupler to install all 6 at once? I can only seem to install one at a time and they end up being wonky

[stubeyloo]

@stubeyloo ah got it - there a circle in top left of the main window - click that a few times to get 6 at a time :)

[szyzyg]

@stubeyloo @GokuDussek1232 I used the symmetry tool, I added an annotation pointing it out at about 54 seconds in.

[Flasimbufasa]

Just keep thrusting sideways :)



[GokuDussek1232]

How did you duplicate the parts?

[vett3l0l]

i just cant get in orbit :(

[mrpieman12]

@szyzyg hey how do you install the mods plz reply.

[szyzyg]

@mrpieman12 if you look in the location where you've installed KSP there's be a folder called 'parts' just drop all the new parts you download into there.

[ZupanicCarr]

@szyzyg can you put a link to the extra parts you have?

[ZupanicCarr]

@szyzyg also i did everything you said but the rocket always sorta leans to the right no matter what i do with the wasd keys and once i use up the first six rockets the shuttle just sorta does a nose dive and there is really nothing i can do about it

[szyzyg]

@ZupanicCarr When you say 'Shuttle' - do you have wings on your upper stage, near the top of the rocket? Putting wings near the front will make your rocket very unstable. Wings need to go near the back to improve stability.

[romagnolo]

you said in the video you are an astrophysicist ? That's really cool! I'm studing medical physics, but I still have a little crush for the space :D

[Zrixx]

Well made tutorial, good job.

[p0wer5000]

hey awesome video but ids love one showing you how to get EV im having trouble with that (and ship design please)

[szyzyg]

@p0wer5000 Check my channel - I show how to get EV, and then how to get even faster by flying the rocket properly.

[p0wer5000]

@szyzyg ya i found that video shortly after then i went on to find how to find the Ve and Vc mysellf took some time but it was fun and thank you for the videos

[vader3435]

nice vids dude

[TehScar]

Getting the hang of it, although you are way better at manual piloting then I am. Great Video!

[QubeTubers]

wow i CAN NOT get into orbit i either float off into space or crash into Kearth

[MegaTim42]

@szyzyg

How do you donwload the mods correctly? Like in whicih folder, do you exrtract them, etc.

[Plazma360]

great vid. now in a high 175-190 eliptical orbit :) now how do i get down lol . . .

[BurningSky93]

@szyzyg

Would you be kind enough to tell me what mod you're using to get some of the parts you have? I know you didnt use modded parts on the rocket in the video, but I have v 0.8.4 and I dont have most of the parts you do.

[wearsil09]

@BurningSky93 You can download an extra parts pack. Just look through google mate.

[BurningSky93]

@wearsil09

Yeh I found the stuff throught he KSP forums. So other people can know, the mods are: Excelsior Class and Wobbly Rockets

[Cannon1221]

You don't need to pull the fuel tanks down in the staging. Just pull the nozzle down and it works.

[QubeTubers]

how do u unlock thos parts in game i dont have them

[szyzyg]

@zaponator1 All the parts are standard, no .cfg edits or anything, I didn't want to do a video that required the player to download some extra mods to achieve the same result. But yes - check out the Kerbal Space Program forums and you're find a whole bunch of nice people who've created new bits to build ships with.

[jediknight269]

@szyzyg How did you get them, I only have a couple of each. You have a ton more than I. I have a fuel cell, liquid rocket and solid for all my options. I think i have something like 12 items total. So do I need to do something to open the rest up?

[gcountach]

Great video. Really helps those of us who aren't astro-physicists. :P

[OBassiO]

Thanks man. That really helped. You kept me interested with the constant informative narrating. Good job, keep it up. I would love to see more videos from you as more features gets added to the game

[snoopy7393]

@zaponator1 the ones he uses in the video are standard, the extra pants come from the mod pack Wobbly Rockets which can be found on the offical forums.

[Sushiman701]

Thanks, that really helped :D

[Alehkhs]

Excellent video. This should help out a lot of hopeful orbiters.