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Our fledgling space program is off to a flying start, but has run into a minor issue - all our pilots are dead, missing or stuck in Kerbin orbit, drifting helplessly out of control. Somewhat understandably new recruits have become thin on the ground, colleagues are avoiding your gaze and there's a rumour that you're about to be demoted to assistant intern. You have ONE last mission to redeem yourself, go from zero to hero, and restore the space program to glory. Using the limited funds, science, engineers and scientists at hand rescue all 3 of our vagabond pilots and 2 innocent tourists then return them safely to Kerbin. Instructions Download the linked save file into a fresh game of your choice. Save Valentina, Jedtrey, Macbert, Karen and Nedcan Notes Spend wisely - you have funds for a modest craft and enough science to unlock 1 more node. Act quickly - some of our pilots may be on an escape trajectory... Other craft may have a slight tendency to explode during re-entry. Despite all precautions some craft may contain nuts. Rules Wheaton rule - No cheating or debug menu shenanigans Stock only (with the exception that Audio, Visual and informational only mods like KER are fine) No hiring any new pilots - in this scenario, all applicants have been scared off and are citing implausible new careers such as "Manatee Whisperer".(However you might be able to retrieve some pilots before sending the rescue mission.) Your craft can separate into multiple craft after launch, but only 1 launch is allowed Creative use of EVA jetpacks is encouraged but limit yourself to max 1 refill from pods Submit screenshots or a video documenting your adventure There will be 2 leaderboards ranked by cost and weight respectively, and also special spot prizes for especially Kerbal or creative solutions ...really just have fun though! Thanks to @jonpfl for letting me borrow and tweak his save game from this thread. My own entry is here: Leaderboard: ? ? ?

1. Crafts must be able to safely land without parachutes. 2. Crafts must not require any building upgrades to build. 3. Crafts must be stock. Category A. Reuseable SSTO spaceplane limited to tech level 4. Bonus points if it's crewed and if it has scientific instruments on board. Category B Reuseable SSTO spaceplane limited to tech level 5. Bonus points if it's crewed and if it has scientific instruments on board. Category C Airbreathing Crewed crafts capable of reaching >20,000 meters required to have a thermometer and barometer on board. (intended to be used for contracts) Here are my entries, Category A: (okay I used a level 5 fuel tank, but I had a low enough part count that I could have replaced the fuel tanks with the shorter ones). Not even gonna share the craft file for this rather unimaginative design, this craft is capable of getting into orbit but it requires the operator to be rather precise. this one has all of the low tech science on board. Note I had to tilt it at an an angle and it was just barely short enough to fit the required 15m dimensions but upon startup if you hold the a key it will reorient itself in the right direction. (it seemed harder to get into orbit in vertical takeoff). Again, this is not optimized but it does reach orbit, not too proud of this one, here's one more to prove I landed it: Here's my Category C entry: Now this one I consider much more useful, this will enable you to complete any of the survey contracts I've seen: This thing will literally fly itself up to 22,000 meters just by hitting the prograde button. I posted this earlier now that it's a contest I will try to fly it again to post a higher height, here is the craft file: it's exactly 30 parts and doesn't even have a front wheel. http://pastebin.com/raw/eQWfQM6T

So I've been poking around with 1.2 off and on between another project I've been working on, and I've decided to go bang my head on the wall to create a reusable spaceplane with as low a tech as I can get my hands on. Preferably without upgrading anything (thus, 30 parts/18 tons) and max tech level 4 (the 45 cost tree region). While doing this, and after banging my head on the wall repeatedly, I decided I'd poke my head in here and see if anyone had been taking up the idea... and haven't seen much. I love Thrimm's work, but his lightest is a 25tonner. I haven't seen much else out there. So, has anyone been successful at this so far? I assume someone (or many someones) have, so if you know of them, would you be kind enough to point me at them for some ideas?

I've seen a LOT of questions about low tech level SSTO Spaceplanes. Most of the info I could find was horribly generic, conflicting, or outdated. So here are a few of my designs that either work, or just need some details ironed out. I have Stations in Kerbin, Mun, and Minmus Orbit, as well as a Mun Surface Base. The primary drive for my reusable spaceplane mission is crew swaps and training runs. I'll post hangar pictures here of each craft full and empty showing the Center of Mass and Center of Lift. Following that will be a few pictures of successful missions for each SSTO. I also plan to post KerbalX links once I get familiar with that system. I am running a lightly modded install of KSP 1.1.3: Kerbal Alarm Clock, Kerbal Engineer Redux, Navball Docking Alignment Indicator, Better Crew Assignments, Aviation Lights, Final Frontier, KIS/KAS, and SCANSat. Since the forum glitches for me if I leave it too long, I'll submit this first post, and then reply to it with each design. The first successful SSTO Spaceplane I managed was the Kerb Fan (Prototype) SSTO, followed by the Kerb Fan (Crew) SSTO, and my current project is the Kerbal SSTO HWGAA*. There is no real naming protocol yet. Everything can be considered in-house pre-production equipment, but the plan is to eventually standardize designs and naming. *The "Here We Go Again (Again?)" follows the Kerbal SSTOs "No Way," "Maybe," "Possible," and "Here We Go Again."

Hi all I'm very interested in SSTO's. something to rescue kerbals with. and general-purpose shuttle to orbit. I have looked up some videos/posts about building SSTO's, but most seem to be from before Aerodynamics changes patch, or they done in sandbox mode with a load of Rapier engines. In career mode i'm on quite low end tech, researched tier 3 and parts of tier 4. you recon an SSTO can be built with that sort of tech? I made a few attempts so far. thefirst issues was the LY-01 (matchstick) landing gears buckling under weight. got me them LY-10's. current issue now is with jet propulsion: i got the J-33 "wheesley". it doesnt seem to do well up high. will i need the J-404 "panther" ? The payload just needs to be an Mk1-cockpit + remote-control-thingy.

I discovered that early in the game, crew accommodations are lacking. You have your mk-1 command pod and your mk-1 crew cabin and nothing else for quite a while unless you sacrifice some more important tech mods. If you want to perform multiple rescues or EVA multiple kerbonauts, the crew cabin isn't the greatest thing because its doors are inline and usually obscured by things attached to its nodes. This early-game ship allows you to take 17 crew up with an exposed egress point for each crew module. And it looks great doing it! The Starship Too v3 is designed to allow enterprising young Kerbals to conduct up to 16 LKO rescues and return your new slaves Kerbonauts safely to Kerba Firma! She doesn;t require high levels of tech or lots of funds to operate, just a pilot! If you have already unlocked the tech node that has fuel hoses (I hadn't when I designed it) you can increase the delta-V by adding a couple. You could probably add a couple more tanks to the first stage, too, but as-is, this ship will get to LKO with 3k delta-V to spare. You will need to burn about 1300 delta-V during re-entry as she has no heat shield, but slowing down with the engine is very effective - remember to do that high (69km-40km) as the poodle will be most effective then. Pop the drogues as soon as their safe followed by the main chutes as soon as they are safe and the landing is a breeze (as long as it's on water or flat and level ground). Download the craft file from KerbalX! Danny. How do you get 16 rescue contracts active at once? Use the moar contracts modlet!

I'm trying to build a low tech space plane, not necessarily ssto, but as close as possible, for kerbal rescue. I've got all tier 3 research done, general construction, aviation, and aerodynamics researched. I think I may need to do supersonic flight and advanced rocketry. can it be done? what directions should I think of in terms of design?