caboose684

That almost sounds like something's a little broken with your install. Aside from KER, which doesn't modify anything, I'm totally stock. Try uninstall/reinstall? Maybe there's some leftover something from a previous version (where the atmosphere was totally different) or a mod.

Tier 3 tech, no upgrades: https://youtu.be/qd9CjGHnl00 BONUS: Tier 2 tech, no upgrades: https://youtu.be/W8bmsVSsAkY Incidentally, if you stick a Thumper on the bottom of the T3 design and do a careful gravity turn, you can get into a 100km stable orbit and back again, but just barely. There are probably more efficient designs.