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Team Name: Ornefler LLP Members: Dan, Jesse, Leighton Starting Funds: $30,000 Notes: You are a small high-tech firm specializing in integration of varied technologies for military purposes. CEO Jesse Lefler started the firm as an offshoot of a personal research firm, taking the business private as he focused on high-efficiency rocket engines for national defense purposes. Shortly thereafter, military regulations required significant robustness improvements in all their products. Lefler then hired Ornelas to apply his groundbreaking engineering skills to improving product robustness. Something was missing, however, and when the two realized they were making great products but losing money, they hired business manager Leighton Temple to take over the daily financial aspects of the business (and remind them to tie their shoes each day). Due to Ornefler LLP’s background in engines, all rocket engines are half price for the firm. Business Manager Temple has only been signed to a short-term contract, and is eligible to join any two-member team following his contracted release date of May 25th.

Team Name: ZZ Smith Research Members: ZZ, Ethan Starting Funds: $60,000 Notes: ZZ Smith Research is a research firm trying to make the leap from theoretical and laboratory work to practical space exploration. Having lined up the backing of financier and ESPN World Series of Poker champion Ethan, the team utilizes a community of leaders to determine their direction, represented by globe-trotting actor/singer ZZ, inventor of the left-handed Kerbalshifter and the nuclear engine.

Team Name: Channarney Inc. Members: Nate, Trevor, Anna Starting Funds: $30,000 Notes: You are a small start-up business focusing on the creative and artistic vision of space travel. Funded by international soccer star Nate “The Great” Charles, the team is focused on not only achieving greatness, but bringing the public along for the ride through Carney’s narrative vision and Weldy’s creative scientific genius. Public anticipation for their APlusPhysics-exclusive narrative is already high, even prior to their initial rocket launch! Due to Weldy’s pre-existing endorsement deal with Kerbinite Fuel Systems, all liquid fuel is available to Channarney Inc. at half price.

Team Name: Vargard Conglomerates Members: Cristian, Zach L Starting Funds: $100,000 Notes: Financed by interworld day trading superstar Vargas, Vanrgard Conglomerates is Vargas’s attempt to “give back” to the planet that has given him so much, and if he just happens to make a financial killing in the process, who is he to blame? Immediately following the signing of Vargard’s papers of incorporation, Vanguard hired his old high school classmate, Zach Lessard, to head the firm’s day-to-day operations. Lessard’s penchant for getting the job done, regardless of details such as legality and financial legitimacy, made him a perfect candidate to leave Earth and relocate to Kerbin, where even the word “extradition” is so hard to pronounce the Kerbal society avoids the concept altogether. Due to the influx of off-world investment and potentially “shady” directors, Vargard Conglomerates is required to pay a 10% foreign enterprise tax on all purchases (all vehicle costs go up by 10% from list price), and any fines or penalties have a hefty 50% foreign processing surcharge.

Team Name: Arabian Knights Members: Kate, Sarah, TJ Starting Funds: $200,000 Notes: Arabian Knights is the brainchild of equestrian breeder and animal magnate Kate, who made her fortune by purchasing a very small town in upstate New York, renaming it Arabian, breeding horses, and selling her “authentic, genuine Arabian horses” for exorbitant sums. Following a 60 Minutes documentary coupled with an IRS investigation, Huppe became extremely motivated to master space travel. Coupled with her high school friend Rossi, who manages the day-to-day operations of the firm, and “acquisitions” expert Papaleo, for whom the term “purple-collar-crime” was recently coined, Arabian Knights has a strong motivation to safely travel as far from the known planets as possible. Due to Arabian Knights’ current legal standing, the corporation does not receive any fines or governmental oversight of launches. However, government cooperation with the firm is minimal, so they are not able to recycle or recover any launch components, and must pay a 30% “black market” fee to obtain all equipment.

Team Name: Dyrleo Enterprises Members: Josh Dyrland, Olivia Puleo Starting Funds: $100,000 Notes: Financed by interworld track superstar Dyrland, Dyrleo Enterprises is Dyrland’s attempt to “give back” to the planet that has given him so much, and if he just happens to make a financial killing in the process, who is he to blame? Immediately following the signing of Dyrleo’s papers of incorporation, Dyrland hired his old high school classmate, Olivia Puleo, to head the firm’s day-to-day operations. Puleo’s penchant for getting the job done, regardless of details such as legality and financial legitimacy, made her a perfect candidate to leave Earth and relocate on Kerbin, where even the word “extradition” is so hard to pronounce the Kerbal society avoids the concept altogether. Due to the influx of off-world investment and potentially “shady” directors, Dyrleo Enterprises is required to pay a 10% foreign enterprise tax on all purchases (all vehicle costs go up by 10% from list price), and any fines or penalties have a hefty 50% foreign processing surcharge.

Team Name: Big & Low LLP Members: Jacob Bigenwald, Matthew Bartlow Starting Funds: $30,000 Notes: You are a small high-tech firm specializing in integration of varied technologies for military purposes. CEO Matt Bartlow started the firm as an offshoot of a personal research firm, taking the business private as he focused on high-efficiency rocket engines for national defense purposes. Shortly thereafter, military regulations required significant robustness improvements in all their products. Bartlow then hired Bigenwald to apply his groundbreaking engineering skills to improving product robustness. Something was missing, however, and when the two realized they were making great products but losing money, they hired a business manager to take over the daily financial aspects of the business (and remind them to tie their shoes each day). Due to Big & Low LLP’s background in engines, all rocket engines are half price for the firm.

Team Name: Garalles Conglomerates Members: Gareth Daunton, Clayton Kralles Starting Funds: $70,000 Notes: You represent a large conglomerate of varied high tech industrial firms who have come together in an effort to sweep in and take over the Kerbal space industry. Software tycoon Daunton and hired music video mogul Kralles fresh off a multi-year humanitarian effort to head the conglomerate as CEO, hoping his strong social and relationship skills would help temper the money-thirsty greed of the conglomerate’s financial backers in an effort to safely and efficiently monopolize the market. It is further hoped that Daunton’s digital integration skills will provide some side income for the firm through innovations yet to be discovered. The Kerbal government is keeping a close watch on Garalles Conglomerates as they are worried about a monopoly situation. As such, Garalles is prohibited from engaging in any joint ventures with the other civilian space exploration organizations.

Team Name: Rivoralsh Research Members: Tim Walsh, Daniel Rivas, Pavel Rozvora Starting Funds: $60,000 Notes: Rivoralsh Research is a research firm trying to make the leap from theoretical and laboratory work to practical space exploration. Having lined up the backing of financier and ESPN World Series of Poker champion Pavel Rozvora, the team utilizes a community of leaders to determine their direction, represented by globe-trotting actor/singer Walsh and the lesser known but no less effective Dr. Daniel Rivas, inventor of the left-handed Kerbalshifter and the nuclear engine. Due to their many commitments, team members must also maintain their regular theoretical workload, limiting the group to launches on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays only unless all three directors are present.

Team Name: Axburns Inc. Members: Katelyn Axman, Bobby Burns Starting Funds: $30,000 Notes: You are a small start-up business focusing on the creative and artistic vision of space travel. Funded by international corporate mogul Katelyn Axman and science innovator and constant czar Bobby Burns, the team is focused on not only achieving greatness, but bringing the public along for the ride through Axman’s engaging and dramatic narrative style as mission reports are compiled into dramatic short stories / serial narratives which provide a significant boost to the start-up’s income and funding levels. Further, due to Burns’s pre-existing endorsement deal with Kerbinite Fuel Systems, all liquid fuel is available to Axburns Inc. at half price.

See... docking isn't so hard. Alpha Station is complete. Note that the cargo bay, and buran arms are two mods. Everything else is stock. Now to the semi tutorial: To make docking easier for yourself, always double check where the centre of mass is on your docking craft/payload. place rcs thrusters in equal lengths from it (roughly) just remember that your centre of mass will shift as you use fuel. Try to place your rcs in symetrical sets of 4. if your payload requires more than one rcs block per side to maintain its balance be sure to add the same amount of rcs to the base... For example: See how both the upper and lower rcs are the same. If they were not, unwanted spin would occur. Above is a basic example, but if the payload was wider and required say... 4 singular direction thrusters, then i would need to have 4 on the lower part too. The same spin happens if your thrusters are not in sets of 4. Once you are done with your rcs placement feel free to attach your launch phase again and blast off. You can use "docking mode" if you like but honestly its more awkward than it's worth having to switch between rotation and radial movement. I personally find it easier using the regular rotational controls and radial controls (WASD-QE and IJKL-HN) As long as your rcs is attached properly and balanced around your centre of mass, docking is a piece of cake.

Now, this took some research, some planning, and a number of tries, but matching up orbits for docking IS possible… But certainly not easy. Took a bit of practice (and perhaps a minor bounce off the station…) But in the end, the Kerbals prevailed. Once docked, a fuel transfer was initiated to verify the process. After that, it was party time. The Kerbal who’d been manning the space station decided he needed to get out after going a bit stir crazy. Time to ride the rocket for a spell. This, of course, left the space station unmanned, so one of our newly arrived Kerbonauts transferred himself over to the space station to take the helm. So, it’s doable. Who’s next?

Just to show you it's possible, I thought I'd attach my "Mun Lander" mission. Having succeeded here, I've since gone back and thought a bit harder about efficiency, done a few calculations, etc., and certainly would not do this "the same way" again, but even with the BFFI (i.e. brute force) method of space travel, it's pretty straightforward to land on Mun or Minmus and come back safely again. Next up on my to-do list -- a space station/refueling port (with some docking practice) and sending a probe to orbit another planet! (Moral of the Story -- don't led the mean, nasty, scary, ugly physics teacher beat you guys! The gauntlet has been thrown.)