Overview
A basic guide to getting yourself into orbit.This guide will not show you how to make a craft that will get you into orbit, only how to do it.
Launch pad – 10,000m
Okay, so you have your ship, and you’re on the launch pad. What now?
First of all, throttle up to 100%, turn on ASAS, and release your docking clamps (If you have any) and start up your engines! You are now on your way to space!
So what do you do now? Just wait with your hands on the controls ready to stage or correct any malfunctions whenever you need to.
If your velocity goes over 150m/s then throttle back enough to maintain your speed close to 150m/s, otherwise you will be pointlessly fighting the heavy atmosphere and your rocket will be less fuel efficient.
10,000m – Apoapsis
Once you hit 10,000m, you can throttle back up and tilt your rocket over to 45 degrees in whichever direction you want to orbit. I advise you choose to go to the east.
Once your rocket is tilted to a 45 degree angle, then you can turn the ASAS back on and switch to map view. Watch your prograde marker on the artificial horizon (The little green icon that looks like a plane) as this will tell you which direction your rocket is going.
Once you are on map view, keep your mouse hovering over your Apoapsis, or Ap. If the “T-” number is decreasing, then you will lose altitude, so you will want to pitch the nose of the rocket up again so it starts increasing.
Once the altitude of your apoapsis reaches around 100,000 (Or anywhere above 70,000, but 100,000 is a suitable altitude for a basic orbit) then you can hit X to cut the throttle.
Manuever Nodes
Whilst you wait on the approach to your apoapsis, you will want to set up a maneuver node. So click on your apoapsis on the map and click “Add maneuver”, and use the prograde marker on the menu that appears to plot a manuever to circularise the orbit.
When you create a full circle around Kerbin with the manuever node, make sure your Periapsis, or Pe, is as close to your altitude as you can make it, this will ensure a circular orbit. A set of information will appear next to the artificial horizon telling you how long until you reach your manuever node, and how long you will need to burn for.
You now want to aim your rocket to the blue marker on the artificial horizon, which shows the direction in which you should burn to achieve your orbit.
Now you wait until you reach your maneuver!
Apoapsis
Once you reach your maneuver node, you are going to want to begin the burn about 3-4 seconds before you reach your maneuver node, because the flight computer calculates it for an instant change in speed, which is impossible.
You will now burn at full thrust for the amount of time it tells you to, in the direction that the artificial horizon tells you.
There will be a speed bar to the right of the artificial horizon which tells you how much speed you need to gain, try and get this as close to 0 as possible.
You have now reached a stable orbit! Just check the map view to check the altitude of your Apoapsis and Periapsis and make sure that they are both above 75,000, and correct them if one is not.
Congratulations! You are now in orbit. And assuming like all good Kerbal scientists, you have not packed enough fuel to return, all you can do is watch your home planet from above whilst you wait for the oxygen to run out.
…Have fun!