Prograde equitiorial LKO and Orientation on Launchpad

[jros83]

Now in my head, it doesn't seem like it should make much a difference, but I could just be ignorant of some details so I want to make double-sure. When your intent is simply to reach a fundamental prograde equatorial orbit over Kerbin (in my title I say LKO but it could be high too), is there any reason/s one would prefer the default orientation of north on the launchpad and do a traditional gravity turn east, rather than orienting yourself east and interpreting an eastward gravity turn as a negative pitch maneuver? I do the later. I just feel more comfortable making it a function of pitch. Though logically I know it's no real difference.

To me it seems they should have the same result, all other things being equal, and that once in orbit for whatever your reasons you can just rotate your orbiter to the desired position.

TL,DR;

Does orientation on the launchpad matter or is it simply a matter of comfort and preference?

[bewing]

Mostly personal preference, assuming that your ship is symmetrical. Some ships are built to have better control in one direction than another, however.

 

[Dafni]

In real life it is less expensive to always launch in the same orientation (it's not easy to turn launch pads with all their infrastructure) and then do a so-called roll program to get the correct flight azimuth. Many people do this in KSP too, for realism or looks or whatever. However in KSP you can easily orient your rocket in the right orientation on the pad so you only have to pitch down to get to where you want to go.

BTW, IRL they do pitch up grav turns in all manned flight, as negative g is much easier to tolerate for the human body. Too much positive g would literally push too much blood into the heads of astronauts. Just some interesting info.

[FullMetalMachinist]

There's also a good reason for a specific orientation if you have off-center thrust. This is one of the reasons that the shuttle flew mostly "belly up". 

20 minutes ago, Dafni said:

BTW, IRL they do pitch up grav turns in all manned flight, as negative g is much easier to tolerate for the human body. Too much positive g would literally push too much blood into the heads of astronauts. Just some interesting info.

Your general idea is right, but you've got your terminology switched around. Standing on the ground would be 1 positive g. 

[Dafni]

1 hour ago, FullMetalMachinist said:

Your general idea is right, but you've got your terminology switched around. Standing on the ground would be 1 positive g. 

oh, my bad, you are right of course.