Attempting my first SSTO space plane flight

[Kottabos]

So, after a few "successes" with finally trying to learn to fly planes in KSP I decided to try and take on space with a plane. My plan for the mission was to take a plane design I knew worked from my previous builds and then try and convert it into a space plane. The goal was to hopefully get it into space and hopefully into an orbit. Here is the video of the mission, hope you all enjoy and of course I would love any hints/tips on how I could improve my space plane design.

[Tex_NL]

Simply based on the fact you have plenty of liquid fuel left I am confident you could have made it to orbit.

On your next attempt you might want to level off your ascent between 15 and 20 km and gain more speed. Stay on your jet engines much, much longer and gain as much altitude and speed as possible (1000+ m/s at 20+ km). Only then should you switch to rocket power and pull up to actual orbit.

Of course there are designs that can go straight to orbit like you tried but most need to hug the atmosphere for a while to gain speed.

[Odo]

At 11:00 minutes you could of just transferred fuel from the 2 side tanks into the center tank.. You coulda made it to orbit, and most likely beyond Good work though.

[Tex_NL]

At 11:00 minutes you could of just transferred fuel from the 2 side tanks into the center tank.. You coulda made it to orbit, and most likely beyond Good work though.

Unfortunately this is not true. Yes, he had plenty liquid fuel left but you can't do anything with it in space without oxidizer.

[Kottabos]

Simply based on the fact you have plenty of liquid fuel left I am confident you could have made it to orbit.

On your next attempt you might want to level off your ascent between 15 and 20 km and gain more speed. Stay on your jet engines much, much longer and gain as much altitude and speed as possible (1000+ m/s at 20+ km). Only then should you switch to rocket power and pull up to actual orbit.

Of course there are designs that can go straight to orbit like you tried but most need to hug the atmosphere for a while to gain speed.

Thanks for the tip, considering how much liquid fuel I had left I think leveling off probably would have helped me tremendously. I'll have to try that later and see how that works for me, thanks again for the advice.