Landing on the KSC (or any other runway)

[Lanley Kerman]

Using a shuttle, how do I land to any of the three runways from LKO? I don't want my kerbals stranded in space.

[Vanamonde]

Your thread has been moved to the Gameplay sub since you're seeking help rather than offering it. 

As for the question, I save, de-orbit, see how far I come down from the goal, load the save, and adjust by the much. It's still very tricky, of course, since a fall through atmo is strongly influenced by the shape and attitude of the craft in question. 

[Fraktal]

You may want to consider getting the Trajectories mod. It gives your map view a visual prediction of your actual trajectory during reentry and approximate location for landing, based on your craft's drag, lift, AoA and how much Kerbin will rotate under you while you're coming down.

Once you have it, it's merely a matter of setting up a maneuver node for deorbiting and tweaking it until the X that indicates where you'll land is near the runway. Then it's just a matter of putting the shuttle down on the ground once you're past reentry.

[bewing]

I assume your "shuttle" has wings? And a good relationship between CoL and CoM -- so that it can still maneuver a bit? And it has enough reaction wheels and/or RCS to control its attitude on reentry? And it is built so that the nose has a nice high heat resistance?

Basically, the answer is that you create a reentry profile that your shuttle can handle, as far as heating goes. I prefer a shallow profile, myself. So I initially set my Pe at about 60km altitude. I position the Pe either a few hundred Km ahead of, or behind the runway in question, depending on the dragginess of the craft.

Then you try the reentry a few dozen times. You need to maintain a high AoA (like 90 degrees) for most of the initial part of the reentry. You may need to turn on RCS. You pick out landmarks on the ground (such as when you cross from land to water) and note your speed and altitude as you cross them -- to see if you are going "too fast" or "too slow" and/or "too high". You adjust your AoA according to your speed and altitude. I find that being around 1500 m/s, at 25km altitude, when you are 100km from your runway works out OK.

 

Edited December 30, 2020 by bewing

[Spricigo]

Well, it's a simplified version of how it was done in real life

 

Bonus point if you have a parachuting kerbal alongside. But you may also consider putting parachutes in the shuttle itself if you are no so confident in your skills.

Your question being a bit vaguely about "a shuttle" limits our advice to more generic principles, basically what people already said in previous post. If you can provide us with more info, maybe a screenshot of the craft in question we may be able to suggest a narrower  approaching trajectory.

Mostly, it is a matter of slowing down enough to not overheat or overshot, and not to much so you don't reach the destination. Takes practice to get that balance correct.