First I did a quick science from Kerbin orbit contract to get some bucks.  Next up, is Discoverer 1 which I will do using an Aerobee 350 with a reaction wheel.  It is a simple contract where you go south and suborbital.  The aerobee 350 is a simple craft for that.  I set that to build. I am also building an Explorer Base craft which will become a Mun Relay station.  It will fulfill an orbit the Mun contract and a science from Mun contract. Launch date: Feb 10, 1951 Discoverer-1 (Discoverer Base craft, Aerobee 350) (2625 dV) Mission is to turn south (above 45deg) go suborbital and crash! Reached 175km and 78deg incline.  Success! <Discoverer-1> Launch date: Feb 10, 1951 Mun Relay (Explorer Base craft with GRAB) (6091 dV) Go into Kerbin orbit and transfer to a polar Mun orbit for relay.  High Mun orbit (like 250km).  Do a science transfer to fulfill 2nd contract. Finally added the MechJeb Maneuver planner/editor mid-flight so it will make this a bit less tedious. Incline change at SOI change is 144 dV.  Not bad.  My peri is too close, will adjust outward. Made it.  Good 250KM circ orbit.  I will leave the engine attached for now to the relay in case there are future adjustments, but both contracts have been fulfilled. $1.28 in the bank. <Mun Relay> The magic question is do I want to try a Minmus Return mission (by adjusting that craft) to fulfill the contract?  I need the Goo returned, unfortunately. So my new Minus Flyer has a heat shield and a parachute.  I tested the heat shield (seemed good) and I feel the parachute will work because it works with the small capsule.  I will create a save point, but give it a shot! <Minmus Return 1> Launch date: Feb 11, 1951 Got a Minmus science contract to help costs.  Giving this mission a shot (first return mission outside of Kerbin). 1514dV and matching planes (needs 247) Need 889 for Minmus transfer and return on a good trajectory to re-enter Kerbin atmo with a small adjustment. 21 Ablater used on return.  4.9 m/s with chute.  Yes! Weird at the end (it bounced on the water). Contract fulfilled (finally) and good science.  $1.4M cash. <Minmus Return Success> The next Discoverer contract is up.  I need to make orbit so I will abandon my Aerobee version for a better one. Launch date: Feb 18, 1951 Discoverer-2 (using Explorer base) Needs to achieve a polar orbit (>85 deg). Good mission.  Need to adjust incline (81 deg) after orbit, but fine.  Plenty left over. <Discoverer-2> Need to do Explorer-5 which was a suborbital failure.  Looking for the cheapest suborbital I have in stock.  I think I can go back and use the Goddard-2 rocket. Launch date: Feb 18, 1951 Explorer-5 (using a Goddard-2 rocket) Simple failure.  For realism I should probably build something similar to the actual...but no. Doing a night shot for fun! <Explorer-5> Now, there is an interesting Mun mission involving much science.  May be worthwhile especially with a return like I did from Minmus.  I can use the Minmus Flyer with some adjusted payload to cover the contract (and add a solar collector). Created Mun Orbital Return.  Need to do the flip and return without orbit maneuver. Launch date: Feb 20, 1951 Mun Orbital Return (but no actual Mun orbit) Looking for good science and a contract. Had some issues when the craft was pointed directly at Kerbol and thus ran out of power!  Fortunately, I was able to get it turned. This was a great mission. <Mun Return> Looks like Pioneer-1 is next up.  It is a high suborbital (3mm apoasis).  But it should not be a problem. The magic question is how much dV do I need to reach 3mm? I am estimating 5000 as a start point. To make the height, I have 3900 dV, if I need a little extra boost (28 sec in the 2nd stage), I have the solid fuel boosters of the Pioneer module itself (won't use them in the current plan).  The dV is weird because the Pioneer has an engine on the top that is facing down and deducts from the total (about 500 dV). The probe has an antenna range of 413Gm which I think covers the system, but I need to check. I just let it go full throttle the whole time.  It heats up but not too much. The sim had the 2nd stage end just short of the 3mm so I used the first solid probe booster and easily got to 5.2mm.  Mission should be fine. Launch date: Feb 22, 1951 Pioneer-1 (using Pioneer Base, dV>4000) A pre sunrise launch to head straight towards Mun. Major screwup on launch.  Forgot the throttle at half so it came up way short after the 2nd stage.  Even the first solid booster failed to get it there and I needed the 2nd booster the entire time to get to 3.5mm.  So I made it, but not as planned.  Not that different than the actual failures! <Pioneer-1> Got the contract for Pioneer-2.  Last use of the Able probe I amusing.  It fell far short so I don't need to worry about dV, even the solid booster would probably get me there!  Simple failure launch. Launch date: Feb 24, 1951 Pioneer-2 (Pioneer Base) This is a failure mission, it needs to reach apoasis of 150km. It went fine, which means that it crashed... <Pioneer-2> Now, I have two contracts, Sputnik-2 and Explorer-6.  Both have new payloads thanks to the US and Soviet Probe mods.  Really cool! I need to do Sputnik first or the Explorer mission will satisfy the contract and I would like to do both since I have special payloads for each. The Sputnik 2 device is rather large.  I created a top-heavy craft which I have adjusted for with big fins.  I have it working, not to a nice circular orbit but to one that meets the contract just fine.  I am using the probe booster which is a solid fuel option and I need to reduce the amount of fuel in it and it should be fine.  The sim worked but I will sim the reduced version.  Didn't decouple like I expected either. 2nd sim worked. I need to pay close attention to: - Don't go past 75deg or the craft may flip back - Do the turn to 20deg at 30km - Turn off the targeting before circ burn is reached because it may flip over (was okay, but could have been a problem). The Explorer Base 6 (for Explorer-6) needs an orbital apoasis above 4mm.  With 5000+dV aboard it is well over-powered.  The sim got to 4.2mm with a 200km periapsis and it still had 700+ dV left.  So much that when I ran it off in the sim, it left Kerbin orbit!  Should be just fine. Launch date:  Feb 25, 1951 Sputnik-2 (Sputnik Base 2) Need an apoasis of 165km (4371 dV) Had some trouble on the 30km turn where it almost flipped over.  I was able to regain control and get it pointed properly. Orbital burn was clean and I ended up in an orbit of 670x180 km using the solid booster. <Sputnik-2> It appeared that Sputnik-2 had no power system (solar) so it eventually ran out of power and no recharge. Launch date: Feb 25, 1951 (later that day) Explorer-6 (Explorer Base 6) Need an apoasis greater than 4mm. Solid mission that went as simulated. <Explorer-6> Designed and built base units for Sputnik-3 and Pioneer-3.  Both went smoothly and simmed smoothly.  I need to do Sputnik first again.  Also played with some new design structure with procedural tanks which let me shape them better.  This worked well on the Pioneer. I did not use the supplied covers for Sputnik-3.  They would require a much larger engine base than I want to use (expensive and unnecessary).  I went with my own fairings. Launch date: Feb 26, 1951 Sputnik-3 (Sputnik Base 3 4477 dV) Need to achieve 185km apoasis orbit Good Mission, uneventful. <Sputnik-3> Now a suborbital failure (way high though) from your fiends at Pioneer. Launch date: Feb 26, 1952 Pioneer-3 (Pioneer Base 3) Weird mission.  May have been a bug and I ended up on a Kerbin escape.  Not sure how that happened. Contract worked though. I am seeing the "missing ocean" problem so maybe a reset?!? <Pioneer-3>