1greywind

@Epthelyn, @Mitchz95 I'm planning to make it a home for retired kerbonauts

@Carter: I've cheated My fps with this station and FRAPS recording is ~6-7. So I've record 30 minutes of video and then speeded it up 10 times in After Effect.

I'm building bases for construction challenge and from aesthetic reasons: Stock KSP universe is very static and silent. Bases and Stations are one of few things that can move and create illusion of life on screen.

I want to share my new achievement of the field of space station design:

Exploring borderlines of ringed station design: This is latest iteration: two rings with diameter of about 5 orange tanks (nearly maximum what you can fit into VAB horizontally). Each ring has mass ~240 ton and has parts count ~530 and can be launched to orbit without big problems. Initially I've planned to assemble 3 rings but after 2 hours long docking operation (even with docking port alignment indicator mod) I've decided that two rings is enough.

I'm working on Giant Multiring Space Station prototype: Well above 1000 parts count it gives my PC hard time. At the end I'm planning to open the first 1* hotel on KGO with accomodation for 432 kerbals in 108 rooms.

My Giant Multiring Space Station prototype: Well above 1000 parts count it gives my PC hard time.

Description Double ring space station is your science outpost and refueling stop in orbit. Download includes .craft file for whole station and 2 .craft files for station split in two parts (top ring with soloar panels and down ring with propolution module) prepared for launch (with enough dV to bring it KGO, Mun, Duna, Eve, Laythe, etc.). I personally have this station at Kerbin stationary orbit over KSC. Tech info Parts count: 370 Crew: 36 kerbals dV capacity: ~1,500 m/s Docking ports: 6 Large, 4 medium Action groups 1 - toggle jet engine 2 - toggle solar panels 3 - toggle antenas Images DOWNLOAD Craft files

My ring station floating on Kerbin stationary orbit over KSC

My latest station with two ring sections on kerbin stationary orbit over KSC

Your piloting skills are incredible) As always.

My floating base on Laythe illuminated at night with Jool at background. I found this view mesmerizing.

@xoknight: Thank you! Btw - now I wonder, is it practically possible to make floating airstrip large enough to horizontally land space plane.

Description Laythe Expeditionary Base is flying and floating ship with flight deck, that can be used for Kerbin or Laythe (and may be Eve) exploration. Base has 4 docking ports on flight deck, that can be used to transfer fuel to crafts, landed on flight deck directly or by using included refueling drones. There are two download files: one with 3 craft files - one for base itself, another with base + 2 VTOL + 2 refuleing drones kit and third with base+VTOL+drone kit prepared with Laythe launch (with 2 stage launch vehicle and nuclear transfer stage); another download is save file with 3 bases deplyed - 2 on Kerbin (one base is near KSC, another in east hemisphire) and 1 on Laythe (with 2 VTOLs and 2 refuleing drones on board). If you'll choose to launch base to Laythe using "Floating base launch.craft" use following ascent profile: fly stright up until 10.000 m, then begin slow gravity turn until ~30.000 (it is important to get at least 400 m/s of vertical speed). Use transfer stage engines along with second stage to reach apoapsis ~100 km, then use transfer stage to reach orbit. Jool transfer burn is ~1950 m/s of dV, duration is ~8 minutes (initial transfer stage TWR is ~0.3). It is not recommended to use physics wrap more than x2 during burn. Tech info Parts count: 321 (but ~40 are physicsless) Flight deck size: 7x7 large plate platforms separated by flight control tower Crew: 6 kerbals Fuel capacity: 1 medium Kerbodyne tank Engines: 12 jet engines (TWR: 1.45-1.52) Speed in flight mode: ~200 m/s at ~40° pitch Max splash down vertical speed: 5-6 m/s Flight deck can withstand: 15-ton VTOL craft landed at 4-5 m/s vertical speed Action groups 1 - toggle jet engines 2 - toggle exterior lights 3 - toggle lights for flight deck near control tower 4 - toggle lights for fight deck 5 - toggle antenas on control tower mast Images DOWNLOAD Craft files DOWNLOAD Save file with 3 bases deployed on Laythe and Kerbin Feel free to ask any questions. Thank you.

@The14th - Yeah, I'm have same conflicting sense that this plane is too large for it's payload, but every time I try to make it smaller it starts to look "wrong". Actually, in attempt to make smaller Firestorm I ended up with this design: The White Swan. @Roflcopterkklol - Thank you for reply and rep! I've seen your thread about spaceplane fleet show up and thinking about juming in

Description The White Swan is SSTO spaceplane with VTOL landing ability. The space plane centers of mass is not moving during flight. All engines (air, orbital and landing) and RCS thrusters are carefuly placed in such way, so no parasitic torque is present. The plane has full set of scientific instruments (excluding Sensor Array Computing Nose Cone) and dV for LV-N orbital engines is ~5000 m/s then you reach low Kerbin orbit. With such amount of dV you can reach almost any place in Kerbol System: you can go from KSC to Mun, Duna, Lythe and back. The only downside is low initial TWR of orbital engine - 0.25 (at full tanks) to ~0.44 (at half empty tanks). This makes typical LKO-Mun burn duration ~ 5:30 minutes and LKO-Jool burn duration is ~8 minutes. So using x4 physics time warp while burning is a must. Tech info Parts count: 94 Launch mass: 26,676 kg Dry mass: 12, 876 kg Atmospheric engines: x TurboJet Atmospheric TWR: 1.73 - 1.85 Orbital engines: 2 x LV-N Orbital TWR: 0.33 - 0.5 Landing engines: 10 x 48-7S Landing TWR: 0.82 - 1.44 Action groups 1 - toggle air intakes 2 - toggle turbo jet engines 3 - toggle LV-N engines (orbital) 4 - toggle 48-7S engines (landing) Typical flight profile - Press 2 to active turbojets, set throttle to 100%, takeoff then you reach ~130 m/s on runway. - Climb to 17-18 km altitude maintaining ~45 degree pitch, then reduce pitch to ~20 degree at 21-22 km, then to ~10 at 27-28 km. - Slowly climb to 30 km while plane speed up to ~2000 m/s while altitude reaches 30-31 km. Reduce throttle in case of engines flameout. - At 31-32 km press 3 to activate LV-Ns (at low throttle). - At 40 km shutdown turbojets (press 2) and close intakes (press 1). Rise throttle until your periapsis is ~100 km. - At periapsis burn until you are on circular orbit. Images Selected screenshots: DOWNLOAD (dropbox link) WARNING: This crafts is not FAR compatible. Sorry. Feel free to ask any questions. Thank you.

Last winter I have build the family of space planes sharing common architecture. Now I proudly present the next generation of this design, refined and rebuild for KSP 0.24.2: Description The Firestorm mk4 is SSTO spaceplane with VTOL landing ability. The space plane centers of mass is not moving during flight. All engines (air, orbital and landing) and RCS thrusters are carefuly placed in such way, so no parasitic torque is present. The plane has full set of scientific instruments (excluding Sensor Array Computing Nose Cone) and dV for LV-N orbital engines is >4000 m/s then you reach low Kerbin orbit. With such amount of dV you can reach almost any place in Kerbol System: you can go from KSC to Mun, Duna, Lythe and back. The orbital engines (two LV-N) provide TWR starting from ~0.34 (at full tanks) to ~0.44 (at half empty tanks). Typical LKO-Mun burn duration is ~4 minutes, LKO-Jool burn duration is ~6-7 minutes. You can use x4 physics time warp with no fear. Tech info Parts count: 129 Launch mass: 39,896 kg Dry mass: 21, 036 kg Atmospheric engines: 6 x TurboJet Atmospheric TWR: 1.73 - 1.85 Orbital engines: 2 x LV-N Orbital TWR: 0.33 - 0.5 Landing engines: 10 x 48-7S Landing TWR: 0.82 - 1.44 Action groups 1 - toggle air intakes 2 - toggle turbo jet engines 3 - toggle LV-N engines (orbital) 4 - toggle 48-7S engines (landing) Typical flight profile - Press 2 to active turbojets, set throttle to 100%, takeoff then you reach ~130 m/s on runway. - Climb to 17-18 km altitude maintaining ~45 degree pitch, then reduce pitch to ~20 degree at 21-22 km, then to ~10 at 27-28 km. - Slowly climb to 30 km while plane speed up to ~2000 m/s while altitude reaches 30-31 km. Reduce throttle in case of engines flameout. - At 31-32 km press 3 to activate LV-Ns (at low throttle). - At 40 km shutdown turbojets (press 2) and close intakes (press 1). Rise throttle until your periapsis is ~100 km. - At periapsis burn until you are on circular orbit. Images DOWNLOAD (dropbox link) WARNING: This crafts is not FAR compatible. Sorry. Feel free to ask any questions. Thank you.

If you are using Kerbal Engineer redux, take a look into "Latitude" display in "Surface tab" - then your Latitude == 0, you are in AN or DN node.

About 450 ton - 250 ton refueling station + 200 ton tug (Station was successfully transferred to Laythe orbit).

It wasn't Jeb's best day.

You can delete them if you click on launch pad, run way on space center screen. Just select them in list and "delete" option will not be disabled.

Define "How far". My spaceplane has ~4400 m/s of dV after reaching stable orbit. Does it mean that, to win challenge I need to send my plane to orbit with largest possible semi-major axis (using gravity assists perhaps)?

If you use more than one fuel tank, make sure that your engines drain fuel evenly from each one. Otherwise Center of Mass of your space plane shifts from it's original position and if shift is large anough to put CoM in front of Center of Lift and your plane becomes instable. Also you can simple add many reaction wheels or control surfaces to overwhelm instability.

Finally! Construction of Kerbal Science Station One is finished! Station consists of 11 modules with total mass 83.3 ton and circles Kerbin on 250x250 equatorial orbit. Launch vehicle - Burlak-M cargo SSTO did 12 flights to deliver and assemble station parts on orbit (last flight was crew transfer mission). Instead of series of screenshots, I present video coverage of each flight. Total real time spent on all missions: ~8 hours over 5 days. Average time per flight: 40 min. Best roundtrip flight time: 22 min. (click to view larger image) +11 for 11 Modules -11 for refueling 11 times +83 for 83.3mT in Orbit +12 (of 20 total crew capacity, I don't count 3 kerbal flew with escape pod #1) for Kerbals on board +10 for completing all-stock Total: 105 points. Video of each flight (some videos not uploaded yet): 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - lab module #2 part1 part2 part3 7 - escape pod #1 part28 - escape pod #2 9 - 10 - 11 - 12 - Pictures:

Building 250-300 ton capable launch vehicle using cross-feed or asparagus design is trivial. I routinely launch 5x36 ton fuel deports to orbit and then (using separate interplanetary tug) to Jool system.