Fulgora

Small spoiler for my upcoming submission:

The flatspin is typically caused by CoL being ahead (or too close) of the CoM. If this is the case once "drag > reaction wheel / canard forces" your shuttle will start to flatspin. Adding mass in the front and /or moving mass from the back to the front solves this issue.

The large canards in front might be an issue as they have a lot of lift and for a stable reentry / landing you want the CoL to be "as far back as possible" - swapping them for smaller ones helps and with the tank in the back you have a lot of dry mass there. Putting the fuel tank between cockpit and cargo bay could help to solve the issue. Here is my design (extremely stable - managed to land a 15t asteroid with it on the runway (no mining): The red bubble is the dry center of mass (thats what RCS build aid gives you). My wet CoM is exactly at the same spot so the only thing moving the actual CoM during flight is payload or manually shifting fuel around. With the fuel tank in front manually shifting the CoM depending on mission requirements becomes possible and I used it at least in STS-9 (asteroid landing). Might use it again for STS Duna-2... WIP Unfortunately I am locked out of my Youtube account and unable to recover - I will let it sit for a few month and hope that Google has mercy with me. Otherwise I will have to make a new channel to post new submissions.

Resist the evil! Your design looks promising - I would recommend sliding the external tank a bit higher but it looks like you have it figured out already pretty well!! "RCS build aid" is a mod that *might* be able to fix that but in some cases the reading are simply bugged. Option B (if not tried already) can be to take only the shuttle and save it to the SPH as a standlone craft - this *could* also fix the readings and once the orbiter is working as expected save it as subassembly and re-attach it to your booster. My orbiter is also asymetrically attached and I am pretty confident that I can do all missions without deltaV issues (but I am using nervs ).

I completed my STS Challenge Video for the Mun STS 5-7 video. Can't share the video unfortunately as Youtube doesn't let me log in to my account but here are some screenshots for the time being. The station fully deployed / assembled in Mun orbit with Valentina on EVA: The station has over 4000 m/s of dV in Mun orbit so it might as well count as a ship as well. And it does look quite different from the "usual" space station designs which I see as a plus. Packaging and the deployment sequence (KAL based) of the solar arrays and Xenon thrusters was a bit of a pain though. On the plus side with a bit of autostrut and locking of the pistons / hinges the station is very sturdy and definitely *not* prone to Kraken attacks! Moar screenshots in the spoiler:

There used to be a requirement for the orbiter to be attached to the side of the rocket to count as a valid entry. IIRC sandwich setups (boosters on both sides of the orbiter making it a somewhat symmetrical design) being a tolerated grey-zone. But I cannot find any statement in the rules (anymore) about orbiters attached to the top of the rocket as normal payload being forbidden

After taking a break from building bases due to computer / game restrictions (5 FPS was not fun when driving rovers around bases in 1.3.1) I am back to base-building with the ground anchor and a beefier computer @Nils277 Could you give an indication on how you would solve the issue with the swapped `K&K Storage` parts? There are a few possible approaches: Keep models as is, update the name and buff the current "small" storage with the large model to 18000L -> This would not break any savegames but be a bit unbalanced compared to the stock storage parts Keep models as is but update the name and change the storage capacity for each to match the model -> This might break savegames as existing containers with the small module could contain more than the maximum allows after the update Deprecate the old models / parts (similar to the ScanSat legacy parts) so they cannot be used anymore in VAB / SPH but continue to work in existing savegames. Then introducing the same parts with new IDs and correct models would work and they can be re-balanced Update the models (effectively apply the patch from @Steigleder to the mod) -> This would break savegames as pointed out above Personally I'd favor the ScanSat approach but either way would work for me as I will wait with my deployment of the storage modules / bases. Any info on if/how this will be addressed would be much appreciated.

Dear KSP team / community, Information for my support request KSP version 1.12.2.3167: Detailed explanation of what happened: My save file has only one craft heading to Jool (i cleaned it up for the report). The craft has a maneuver already planned and I want to plan a second maneuver to capture at Jool in a retrograde orbit. Steps to reproduce the issue: Go to the craft (it has an alarm set which is the fastest way to switch to it) Go to the orbital map Focus on Jool and set Bop as target Add a new maneuver at the DN node for Bop Try to pull the retrograde button / marker on the orbit line to circularize Focus starts jumping between Jool / Sun and maybe other bodies Game freeze & crash A screenshot of your craft or any relevant screens: https://imgur.com/a/7pHcscP I can also provide a video if needed / desired. Please let me know if that is helpful. persistent.sfs, player.log, KSP.log, KSP_short.log and buildID64: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ecf5fnwer4y15iu/Fulgora_bug_report_files.zip?dl=0 A detailed list of system specifications System Information - Pastebin.com TLDR version: Win 10 Pro, latest update i7 4790K 32GB Ram and ~ 15 GB available for KSP (unused) but the behavior could also be observed after rebooting the system without any other programs running RTX 2070, also latest driver Game is stored on NVMe SSD Are you running a clean installation, or have you updated and some of your persistence or craft files might be older versions, if so which version(s) I am running a clean install and have verified my KSP files through steam (OK) The persistent file worked fine in KSP 1.11 (I am upgrading my install from 1.11 to 1.12 currently) The behavior observed does not apply to all crafts and I was able to plan the first maneuver that is in the savefile on 1.12 without a game crash. The crash when planning the second maneuver is however 100% reproducible for me. It sometimes crashes already after setting Bop as target. I do not know whether this is an issue with my system so if anyone can not reproduce the bug on their system that feedback would be welcome. If there is anything missing or you need any additional information please let me know and I will happily provide that or run any tests that you'd like me to try!

Wohoooooo Thanks a lot. I feel truly humbled to be one of the few recipients of this badge! I will do my best to prove that I am worthy of this honor. The design phase of STS 5-7 has already been completed and I "just" need to execute the missions and edit the next video. A release can only be months away from now Chances are that I will get some time during the winter for more regular submissions here.

If you add auto-struts in orbit to the part(s) that are the furthest from the docking port in the cargobay you can stop the glitching. This might prove useful with the asteroid landing as those potatoes also have a tendency to wobble all over the place.

I'd argue that the idea behind the real Shuttle was to minimize the amount of expended engines by firing the orbiter engines all the way from liftoff to orbital insertion. Symmetrical designs have been accepted in the past and have usually been done in the form of sandwiching an orbiter between two stacks of external tanks and booster. This design achieves the original shuttle design goals (boosters + external tank + orbiter) simply in an indeed unusual configuration but IMHO this is within the spirit of the challenge and not "just a rocket".

A few month ago (about half a year actually) I posted a screenshot of me launching two space shuttles at once - so let me follow that up with a video of launching **spoiler alert** three shuttles at once to orbit I believe that this is the first launch to orbit with three separate crafts at once - if anyone of the gurus around here could point me to something that proves this is not a worlds-first in KSP please let me know. Not knowing whether I truly achieved a worlds-first in KSP or not is killing me inside Anyways - without further ado, my shameless crosspost from the STS Shuttle Challenge thread: I hope you like it - it took quite some time in terms of engineering, execution and post production. Onto the next mission, see ya'll in 2022 i guess (going by my production speed recently)

This is certainly not the end of KSP 1. This is just the beginning of a new chapter for KSP 1 - the one that is defined / driven by the community, for the community. The past 10 years have shown that there are always new mods / challenges that extend the game beyond what was originally envisioned and with the past updates there have been many new mechanics added to the game that offer great potential for the future. So I for one am exited to see what is coming. Godspeed to the KSP 1 team. The one wish that I have is that the inevitable new bugs are ironed out and the truely final 1.12.x version is free of any game-breaking issues. Not having the pressure of new features in the backlog opens the opportunity to really polish the last version. Please do not let this opportunity pass. I cannot thank everyone at Squad enough for the dedication to the game over the past years!

After quite some time in the making I am (again somewhat proudly) presenting my submission for STS Mun-2 to STS Mun-4 which completes the surface base that I have started here. ** Spoiler alert ** This features the return of my kOS shuttle launch script which has been refined to work (better) with my updated Booster stack as of KSP 1.10.1 and it now has the ability to launch multiple shuttles at once! I did some (limited) research but I believe this could be a worlds first in KSP for: Launching 3 crafts (shuttles) to orbit at once using an autopilot (citation needed!) There used to be a KSP weekly challenge for two rockets at the same time on Reddit but I didn't find any entry that launched three. Theoretically my script can launch an arbitrary amount of shuttles at once but my CPU already struggles with three so I am planning on leaving it at that The kOS script is open source for evaluation and/or whatever shenanigans you can come up with If you want to use the launch script yourself and / or have suggestions for improvement I am happy to accept Pull-Requests. The craft files used in the mission can be downloaded here - note that these craft files include my standard clamp stand and not the rover-launchtower used in the video as that one kills framerates and is rather slow to maneuver. If you really want the rover-launchtower craftfiles PM me and I will share them of course as well: STS Mun-2 (escape module) STS Mun-3 (crew module) STS Mun-4 (rover module) As with my last submission I got a higher badge than I was eligible for I am now officially applying for this one: @sturmhauke as a computer scientist yourself I am sure you can relate: As per usual: If there are any details missing I have many hours of footage that I can bombard you with - just let me know what you would like to see Mod-List (for compliance reasons etc.):

Are you deploying the flaps on the shuttle before releasing it?

Making clever use of the generous margins in the Commsat code (allowing the signals to travel through the "crust" of planetary bodies) you can probably get away with 4 satellites - 2 for Duna and 2 for Ike. However as there is already an STS-satellite mission this doesn't add anything new to the STS missions. In my opinion this would be much better suited as a dedicated challenge - and possibly using the Jool system instead. With a clever formula that penalizes number of satellites as well as partcount and mass this could yield very interesting results. In order to prove proper coverage you'd probably also need to provide a savegame with "ground stations" in the system that need to be connected to the KSC to ensure a level playing field. I think a new challenge has to tick at least these four checkboxes: Is it fun? (duh!) Does it add anything new to the STS challenge in terms of either: Shuttle design, Shuttle piloting, Gameplay mechanics that can be used in combinations with shuttles? It isn't possible / feasible / desirable to do the new mission as a dedicated challenge (without shuttle requirements) Does it align with the existing missions in terms of complexity / effort required? Another good requirement for new missions would be that the author needs to provide a valid entry for the idea (and meet all the preconditions for his/her challenge). That ensures that the requirements have been thought through, tested and written with notable Shuttle design / flight experience before a mission is considered by @sturmhauke. I'd be more than happy to do that for my proposal (once I am done recording / editing all the current Mun missions).

I can absolutely second this! Any new mission should add a new twist and not just repeat something that already has been done on a different planetary body. Otherwise the missions become more a chore than a challenge. With that in mind @Artienia's Jool dive idea is quite nice as it is indeed unique.

I have a suggestion for a new Mun-mission that makes use of the new construction mode: STS Mun-8 After your crew has left your new outpost on the Mun the lack of an escape vehicle makes for a very unsafe working environment. To make your base safe, deliver the parts for a new escape vehicle and use an Engineer to build a functional escape vehicle at your base. The escape vehicle must be connected to your base by either a separator or a docking port. Pilot level: Construct a new escape vehicle which has a crew capacity of at least 2 Kerbals and is capable of docking to your Mun-station in orbit and demonstrate that capability. The shuttle used to deliver the parts may stay on the Mun. Commanders level: Construct a new fully-reusable escape vehicle that is capable of docking to your Mun-station as well as re-docking to your base again after a successful escape flight. Your escape vehicle must fit at least 6 Kerbals in pressurized cabins. After completing the demo flight with the new escape rocket land your shuttle either at the KSC runway, the Island Airfield off the KSC coast, the Dessert Airfield from MH, or at any Kerbal Konstructs airport.

Personally I prefer to just show my highest badge for each planet / moon. Thats much more tidy and the link goes to the Youtube playlist which contains all missions for that badge.

You can also use the Big-S wings, even though they are smaller they do provide a lot of lift - I got not only the 40t pod down on those but also a 15t asteroid The Big-S benefit (pun intended ) is that they massively reduce the part-count which helps your framerates. Here is my (so far very successful) wing profile - I used the same orbiter / launch stack for all of my missions so far:

I think I reached a new level of Kerbalness today: Launching two shuttles. At once. Separation shortly before reaching orbit was less than 500m (just to be clear: this is NOT Photoshopped). I decided to revive my kOS-shuttle launch script for this endeavor. After figuring out the kinks of kOS with multi craft launches (e.g. you cant use `STAGE.` but have to write each staging instruction in code)... IT FRIGGIN WORKS!

I have taken my Shuttle on a trip to the Mun, deploying the first part of the base: In case Youtube botched the embedded video again here is a direct link. Even though this STS Mun-1 mission did not require a high latitude deployment I have chosen to make the science lab a part of the future base. Once I had figured out which engine settings to use on the Mun landing and takeoff (part of the design phase of the payload) the actual execution of the mission was very easy (no reloads required on the Mun). The base itself sits at 59.40°N. I did scout a place at 60° but realized that I stopped in the wrong spot only after editing was done. So I hope this is not a problem. I could of course drive / fly the module to 60° but since this spot is very level and only a hundred meters or so off the requirement for STS Mun-2-4 I hope that this will still qualify and that I can leave my base where it is without becoming a gatecrasher for the commanders level badge. If I need to move the module up north a few meters please let me know @sturmhauke. In the end I did massively overshoot the KSC and upon realizing that I decided to take my chances at the Island instead. So the island landing was not planned but just happened accidentally. It took a few tries though but to my surprise the island runway is actually flat now - the last time I used that runway (a long long time ago) it was very bumpy and difficult to land on. I believe this was actually the first return from Orbit to the island runway I have ever done. With the successful island landing I am now quite confident to be able to also stick a desert runway landing and might go for that in the future Completion of the base will take some time as its quite a few launches and I don't have much time for editing at the moment. KerbalX link: https://kerbalx.com/Fulgora/STS-v4-STS-Mun-1 <-- This is a pure stock craft, just saying . Mod-List (as per usual for compliance reasons etc.):

Thanks! I just tested the embedded video in Firefox and Chrome and it works for both. Not sure what was happening there but I removed the video from my post and re-added it hoping that this fixes whatever was broken. As it is the same install / modlist and my craft is still (and will remain to be) pure stock I'd like to use the golden version of the banner if that is ok with you. Evidence: https://kerbalx.com/Fulgora/STS-v4-STS-9 I have removed the unused part-mods for my STS Mun-1 mission and did some general cleanup of my install... just in case

I (somewhat proudly) present - a cross-post from the STS challenge: My take at landing an asteroid with a space shuttle. I hope this counts as cinematics - at least I am aiming for high quality content . Feedback is very much welcome!!! Screenshot album if someone is looking for wallpaper candidates is here. To be continued... stay tuned.

I (somewhat proudly) present: My take at STS-9. The asteroid has not been mined and is landed in absolutely mint condition (minor ablative erosion may or may not have taken place during reentry... ) With the orbiter design I am reasonably confident to be able land 20t but I will gladly leave it up to someone else to find out where the limit actually is. It took ages to land this and i got reeeeally close to regretting my decision not to mine the potato. While the Vector is obviously a requirement to make the STS stack work I always considered the Thuds just to be cosmetic and only had them to mimic the OMS engines of the real shuttle (with minimal part count addition). This mission is the first one in which I used the Thuds and Vector engine after detaching the external tank so this cosmetic decision during the STS design phase turned out to be a really helpful one now. Again the STS stack is my standard design so compared to the other missions only the cargo bay content (plus brake and aileron settings) have been adapted. My only regret in this mission-design the the external chair for Valentina which doesn't have the chair at the very top - so when looking straight from the back at the shuttle Valentina is not visible. I did not notice that until the final reentry as my usual viewing angle is either from the side or the top - in both cases Valentina was well visible. Correcting the mistake and flying the entire mission again was too much effort for little value so I decided to accept this as lesson learned for future reentry-chair designs (Laythe maybe? anyone?)... This was my first ever runway landing with an asteroid attached - so the learning curve was real but that is very much what a challenge is supposed to be about. So thank you for the inspiration - not only for this mission but the entire challenge in general. KerbalX Craft file (pure stock!) can be downloaded here. Screenshot album if someone is looking for wallpaper candidates is here. Complete Modlist (as per usual for compliance reasons and for anyone who is interested): To be continued... stay tuned. Also please subscribe to my channel since you got that far with reading my post. Have i begged for a like on my video yet...? Yes - in the video itself...! Oh really. Well here we go again: Like. The. Damn. Video. Please!