You're cheapest kerbal to orbit?

[Chiboko]

So after building a cannon to fire Jeb and his capsule into orbit for a mere 10,000 kerbucks it got me wondering just how cheaply can it be done? So whats the cheapest you've been able to put a kerbal into orbit for?

[Wjolcz]

300 credits per kerbal.

[Foxster]

There's been a few challenges around this idea. Check out the sub-forum.

[GoSlash27]

They can go pretty darn cheap with spaceplanes, particularly when you ship them in bulk. But the utility of orbiting large numbers of crew simultaneously is pretty limited.

This old design could do it for $65 per Kerbal.

Best,

-Slashy

[worir4]

For free! If riding the kraken to infinity counts.

[Gaarst]

0 credits on Gilly as jetpacks have enough dV for a kerbal to put himself into orbit (and back to the ground if done correctly).

[Kobymaru]

Well, my smallest Spaceplane has 6 seats, and the the fuel costs about 2.500 per trip. That would be about 400 Kerbucks.

[cantab]

Nought. Zip, zilch, nada, nothing. Gotta love Science Mode

On a serious note, zero cost is probably possible with ISRU, by ensuring you can return to KSC with as much fuel as you started with. You might mine on Minmus or even on Kerbin itself. Either way I doubt it would be worth the trouble to actually do that every flight though.

[Korizan]

A quick check says 290 per Kerbal, fuel cost only (SSTO).

Actually lower as I don't use all the fuel and this is a round trip fuel cost.

[Rocket Farmer]

$0. Free. Actually I get paid to launch my Kerbals. I use an SSTO with a built in miner. I launch nearly empty and fly to the nearest mineable material and land. I mine my tanks full then head for orbit. Then I return and land at the same mine spot and refill my tanks. Then I return to KSC and I return the ship full of fuel.

[322997am]

That's a 1.0.x design slash you have there so it might be time old but not version old.

[Nathair]

You're cheapest kerbal to orbit

I am not!

OT: I don't think I've broken 400.

[GoSlash27]

That's a 1.0.x design slash you have there so it might be time old but not version old.

That's true and I'm sure it works just as well now as it did then.

But it's "old" in the sense that my designs have evolved considerably since then. I'm using a lot less engine and a lot more streamlining these days, which results in lower operating costs.

Best,

-Slashy

[RocketBlam]

"I believe this nation should commit itself to sending a Kerbal into orbit, and returning him safely to Kerbin. For less than 300 credits."

- John F. Kerbeddy

[magnemoe]

They can go pretty darn cheap with spaceplanes, particularly when you ship them in bulk. But the utility of orbiting large numbers of crew simultaneously is pretty limited.

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g13/GoSlash27/PBthreeO_zpsz0cydn08.jpg

This old design could do it for $65 per Kerbal.

Best,

-Slashy

Main reason is for crew training. High orbit around Mun, minmus landing and just outside kerbin Soi for 3 stars

[Two]

As far as I remember someone send a Kerbal to Minimus and back for around 4k.

[eddiew]

If only real life space tourism could really get you to orbit for 400 smackers...

Clearly we need spaceplanes, which means we need to shrink the earth to the size and density of Kerbin to make them possible. To the science cave!!

[mythbusters844]

I think I've gotten to -20,000 funds or so with rescue contracts.

[Kerbart]

I think I've gotten to -20,000 funds or so with rescue contracts.

I thought about that too. But that's not getting them into orbit; they're already there. Semantics, of course...

[InterCity]

About 180 per Kerbal with my best SSTO so far, 6 seats (2x cockpit, 4x cargo bay). I built a derivative of that one, pushing the envelope a bit further with 10 seats and supposedly the same engines/fuel tanks combo, at the cost of some delta-v (the original plane was a wee bit overengineered). That plane has only passed a test flight with 2 kerbal crew, so it doesn't count yet I guess. If it worked, It could be around $100 per kerbal. As mentioned above, SSTOs are pretty darn cheap, since my biggest rocket launch (One-shot Minimus colony) was about $6000 per kerbal (17 crew, 110 000$ launch price).

Edited September 28, 2015 by InterCity

[Goomblah]

You know, you could launch an SSTO with empty tanks, fill it up with ISRU on the runway, then deliver your kerbal to orbit, refuel from a space station (supplied from Minmus) and land back at KSC for a profit​, no contracts necessary.

[Vim Razz]

Reusable spaceplanes are going to be the big winners for per-Kerbal economizing, by far.

As far as stand-alone rockets go: a little 5-science, early career orbiter costs something like 5,000 bucks at launch, with up to 3,500 or so being recoverable under optimal circumstances. I'd imagine it's possible to go cheaper than that.

[Spacetraindriver]

Somewhere between 5200 to 5400

[Itsdavyjones]

Hmm, going off of estimates from my head, but the space plane I have launched at 105k, landed at 95k, 10 passengers on a full load, so it would be 1k per kerbal. But the costs are higher since it was also resupplying the space station, or providing provisions when a crew heads back out for the station.

[sardia]

The mining comment got me thinking on a tangent, so I took out a miner worth 100,000$, and brought along a 10,000 fuel tank.

Couple tips, ore and oxidizer are almost worthless, just mine the liquid fuel. It's worth 80% of the value, so 10,000 tank gets me 8000 at 100% return. So theortically, if you were poor, you could restart your space program selling fuel mined from Kerbin, 8-16k at a time.