kepicness

It seems like the astrokerbal comendation is becoming increasingly easy to obtain... As a mather of facts I myself claim it with tne NISP IV. Btw, my previous ssto was called NISP V.II as in version 2. Seeing that it led to confusion (its named NISP VII as in 7) I decided to take out the V. in the name. The NISP IV is capable of carying out a mission to minmus and back with the equivalent of 11.5 normal fuel tanks (400L). Not sure about the weight but I would say its the lightest of the ships claiming the astrokerbal award (altough it only has a 1 kerbal cockpit and the vulcan might be lighter). It has a surprising gliding ability, probably due to all those extra wings, and managed to takeoff before the end of the runway (something the NISP II was unable to do). gaining altitude activating the rockets finishing with the nerva orbit! intercept orbit slowing sown is it going to crash? nop, real kerbals dont need any stikin flat ground to land (more me being too lazy to target an ice lake) + vertical landing is good anywhere. taking off vertically pretty sure I get the altitude record ajusting the orbit for aerocapture reentry and landing I did not feel like getting it into orbit again so I simply loaded a quicksave, hope it still counts. I guess I'll try my luck with those massive 3 kerbal pods, altough I am terrible at building massive spaceplanes. I guess a carrier spaceplane to get the NISP IV into orbit. For those wondering, the NISP III is simply a less efficient version of the IV with a different wing design would be unessesary to post of because it is outclassed by the IV (even if it is orbit capable). The next challenge is actually to get an ssto to a planet AND back. Duna is probably the easiest to accomplish (if its not outright impossible). Bolyboly, if you feel that the diference between the nisp I and NISP II is too small you can take out the NISP II (I dont want to take up the whole guest list with planes that are only slightly different). However I would like to keep it if you dont mind.

My NISP IV just got back from a minmus mission. Now, dont wory, its actually pretty different (in design and performance) from the previous NISP entries, while only being about 3 weight units heavier. I'll put pics tomorow as it is getting quite late here. Here is a teaser: btw, thats a very nice vraft you got there bolyboly. I'm impressed that you actually got a 3 kerbal ssto to minmus and back. Also great job on including that big fuel tank so nicely into the craft. And roguemason, that plane looks quite powerful, especially with the 3 jet engines.

Actually, there already is an asteroid called the magic boulder. I've seen pics off it in the easter egg thread. Seriously, the thing is weird : it changes orbital inclination/speeds, its speculated it stays around ike but i'm not sure. One thing is for sure, many have exploded trying to find it (it just crashes into you) i'm seriously starting to wonder if its not actually target seeking since most people just notice it right after they crashed into it.

I present the "NISP V.II" (basically an upgraded NISP V.I ). This spaceplane has interplanetary (or is it interstellar?) capabilities. It retains the features of the previous model while having an additional 200 units of fuel for the nerva engine. Have not tried Eve yet but I am sure its capable of getting there. Plus, you got a demonstration of the emergency system .

My "NISP V.II" is curently duna capable. Will be posting screenshots as soon as I land it.

:-O, the vulcan is awesome!!! I had actually been aiming for something quite like this. I guess that the targeted size for my space plane was too small. Seriously, this prooves interplanetary flight IS possible in an ssto. Btw, how did you manage to make it take off with only 2 engines? was it the added wings? Anyways, awesome design and its given me some ideas (it even looks nice).

I present to you the NISP V.I (nuclear interplanetary space plane). I wanted to design a space plane for space missions on other planets (or moons). But since I wanted to have a spaceplane good for any conditions I designed it to be orbit capable, it was so much harder to make but more rewarding since I can actually use it to get back to kerbin from any planet. As the name suggests it has a nuclear engine on it, allowing for much longer distances to be covered in space. The nuclear engine made it way harder to design because of the weight (I had many failures). I finally came up with a design including all the stuff I would need for space missions and being SSTO as a bonus. The decoupler and parachutes at the front are only in emergencies (the thing spinning out of control at 400m from the ground). Anyways, here it is: taking off o gaining altitude activating aerospike and nuclear engine running out off fuel for the aerospikes orbit! (way over 70k) gliding back down landed (I could probably get it to the runway but here is proof it can land) I also managed to get the plane in orbit around the mun (although it had no fuel left afterwards). I am now going to strap it to a rocket and see if I can get it to another planet (and back hopefully). For those wondering, the nuclear engine can take the fuel from the aerospikes. So it could actually cover quite a long distance. Edit: for some reason the delta wings on the side are not placed properly, they are supposed to be at an angle. I will redo the pictures and add one of the nisp orbiting the mun