Shopping for a Spaceplane

[stephensmat]

I'm building my planes; and not doing well at all. I'm up to the 'orbit mun' phase, so I have some parts unlocked; but not a lot of the aeronautics.

Settle a bet for me: Is it possible to get to 20,000 feet to complete some contracts; using a plane with 'early' parts. And if so, could I get someone to link me to a craft file?

Or for that matter,  if you used parachutes to land; and rockets to launch, what's the 'earliest' you can make a plane that could do that?

Edited March 29, 2020 by stephensmat

[sturmhauke]

On 3/29/2020 at 4:12 PM, stephensmat said:

Settle a bet for me: Is it possible to get to 20,000 feet to complete some contracts; using a plane with 'early' parts. And if so, could I get someone to link me to a craft file?

You might be able to get a Panther-based plane to reach 20 km (not feet, KSP uses the metric system), but sustained flight at that altitude would be difficult. You could combine that with a Reliant or Swivel rocket engine, which would enable an SSTO if you build it right. Or you could replace the Panthers with Whiplashes, but those are higher on the tech tree.