RoninFrog

Well it's been a while, but now that school is over I'm gonna complete this mission. Day 404, launch of the Mallow Stick 15: Orbit, meeting up with the Mailman: Docked! Since there were no seats on this craft, Gregler and Bardon will have to be launched separately on the Flappy Bird. Booster recovery: Here comes the crew. Successful Runway landing for the Flappy Bird. Gregler and Bardon burn for Minmus: Intersect with the FSM plotted. (The FSM (Flying Spaghetti Monster) is the next Duna-bound equipment bundle) A little module reorganization: Leaving the LS tank in orbit, the Mailman refuels the next fuel tank. Minmus orbit again, now-full tank delivered to the FSM. ...and then back to Kerbin to complete the routine Minmus relay trip. Now in Kerbin orbit, it's time for Arfield to come in the trusty Flappy Bird to pick up Gregler and Bardon. Rendezvous: Runway landing. Wow, it's been almost a year since I started this mission. I've gotta say, this is one intense challenge.

I have assembled a thing. I think it qualifies for (Stock) STS-1a. Full mission log:

I went for a bike ride! Note the lack of reaction wheels and roll/pitch/yaw input.

Awesome results today! I built a bicycle using BG parts, and it is stable and steerable. I'll change the challenge to use the new bike.

According to this video, gyroscopic reactions and angular momentum aren't much of a factor at all for bikes. It's all about the steering of the wheels.

Can you ride a bike? I'm sick of seeing "motorcycles" that are really a big hunk of reaction wheels with some rover wheels stuck on the bottom. Bikes in real life don't have reaction wheels, and they work great! So I made a bicycle without reaction wheels. Here's the challenge: Try to ride this little bronco: http://kerbalx.com/crafts/67006. You may edit the action groups. Simple! Can you ride a bike in KSP? That's all! Then post a video/screenshots showing what happened. This challenge isn't supposed to be super hard or competitive. Biker Census: A couple tips for best results: Motor RPM between 130 and 150 Servo Torque Limit between 6 and 8 (higher numbers give more control but less stability) Throttle just above the first white notch [The bike has been updated in case you are confused about the comments below.]

(112820 - 53934) / 19 = 3099 per ticket. I think I was doing the math slightly differently, but it works out the same in the end.

Recovery cost.

58886 is half the cost of the dry ship (107868) plus fuel (4952). The ship can hold 20 kerbals (16 in the crew cabin, 4 in the cockpit), so there are 19 passengers plus a pilot. 58886 divided by 19 passengers is 3099 per ticket. It wasn't done in career mode, but I landed it on the runway which should mean 100% recovery value for the dry ship.

Here's the Pandemunium Kerbuck to the Mun. It stays in one piece, so refurbishing and reusing should be really easy. Original cost: 112,820 Refurbishing cost: 58886 Price per ticket: 3099 (19 passengers) KerbalX: http://kerbalx.com/crafts/65713

Here's a working prototype, for proof that it is possible. Its top speed is about 10 m/s at a 45° dive. I bet it could be fine-tuned to be much more efficient. I didn't have the patience to go all the way to the Island Airfield.

I just now realized that the entry was tagged as MH/BG. Although they were installed, I didn't use any of the parts or science thingies from them. Does it still count as pure stock? I can upload crafts and science archives for proof if you would like.

Here's a normal, easy-to-fly plane.

Pretty sure I read somewhere that each additional antenna adds diminishing amounts of signal power, so it might not be possible. If you really need signal, try throwing dozens of relays into higher and higher orbits until signal reaches Minmus.

Physics gets really weird with high-altitude "Ready to Launch" vehicles. Above about 30km, anything detatched from the clamp doesn't get any centrifugal boost. However, with a really long launch clamp, you can get a vessel to be attatched to Kerbol, orbiting the sun synchronously way out near Kerbin.