sturmhauke

Hello shuttle nerds, sorry I've been away again. You know how I said I was on a business trip? Well less than a week later there was a big shakeup and now I'm looking for work again, whee. I've got some stuff lined up, so I'll be alright, but that means I'm focusing on interviews and such for the moment. Thanks yet again to @Artienia for picking up the slack, and thanks everyone for your patience.

Sorry @OJT and everyone, I was away on a business trip. Been pretty busy lately. I should have time to review stuff this weekend.

Please tell me you're joking.

Interesting idea. I'll play around with it and see what I can come up with when I have the time. Partly I've been busy with work, partly with family stuff, and partly I've been playing other stuff - Elden Ring for instance. I've also considered doing a completed mission log index, like some of the other long-running challenges have. It'd be a fair bit of work though.

I made a couple of VTOL orbiters with rotating nacelles a while back. Mine were a bit heftier, and somewhat prone to rapid unplanned disassembly events. I found that the nacelles get knocked out of alignment easily, which affects the accuracy of maneuvers. Although as mentioned, my orbiters tend to be pretty big so the extra mass doesn't help things.

Hi @OJT, welcome! The design requirements are strict in some ways but you aren't bound to any real-world designs. There have been lots of STS-style shuttles, a few Buran-style, a few Dreamchaser-style, and all kinds of crazy kerbal nonsense. If you want to stick the orbiter on top of the stack and wrap it in a fairing, that's fine. But keep in mind that without some of the giant modded fairings out there, it will limit your wingspan and cargo volume, especially for missions involving bringing stuff down from orbit. Bonus missions are optional, as are the Test Pilot missions. But they're also good practice for harder missions. If you're thinking of doing Buran-style, in my experience it's more difficult to design and fly them compared to other styles due to some crazy balance shifts during flight. I did a writeup here a while back:

Your orbiter is also required to land mostly intact. How much damage is somewhat subjective, but landing upside down with the wings sheared off is definitely too much. Basically that means the major airframe and heat-resistant components must survive reentry and landing. Missions that involve returning a payload must also have an intact payload. If you're not sure, please ask first.

Mods are unlikely to be easily portable from KSP to KSP2. The game engine is likely too different for that.

Your shuttle can look like whatever you want, as long as it meets the challenge specs. Please read the general rules and the mission you are trying to complete.

I haven't been around much lately due to work craziness, but the challenge is still going. You're welcome to check it out.

Jeb Kerman intensifies

You can multitrack the one hype train if you know how:

Flags are technically useless, but people like bling. Lights though? Try landing on the night side of the Mun without lights. Not impossible obviously, but you'll wish you had them.

Not necessarily...