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KASA Kerbal Aeronautics and Space Administration K-38 CRV [1.12.x][WIP] -This mod aims to add parts from the NASA concept and tested X-38 Crew Return Vehicle (CRV), that was proposed as a crew return vehicle from the ISS. This mod adds stock-alike X-38 parts with compatibility with several popular mods such as Habtech, SOCK, Knes, and others. This vehicle was designed to fulfill the role of an emergency crew return vehicle, supporting 7 kerbals on their journey back home. Huge thanks to @UCTech for their help with producing this mod with me! Image credit: @brickmack This mod will have Waterfall support planned for RCS and engines. The K-38 will be updated regularly, so check back often for updates.

OPT Reconfig Supplies highly needed config files to keep OPT Spaceplane Parts | Continued useful and alive in the absence of the original modder, @K.Yeon and in the changing KSP gameplay landscape. It is an optional enhancement to OPT's "Main" package (V2.0.1) and it does nothing by itself. It is required by OPT Legacy and by OPT Spaceplane Continued. Do not use this: With my old modlets OPT_USI or OPT_WBI. They are now features of this mod. With OPT Legacy v1.0.9 or lower. If you have an OPT FAR config already. If you have one of these, delete it. This mod also contains an OPT FAR config. Both will run and will cause serious problems. Required by OPT Legacy 1.1.0 or higher, and OPT Spaceplane Continued. Required mods for this: B9 Part Switch + ModuleManager just to work. Community Resource Pack or WBT (Wild Blue Tools) bundled with any of Angel-125's mods, for tank options. Required mods for IVA: ASET Prop Pack by @alexustas ASET Avionics by @alexustas For KSP 1.8 and newer: RasterPropMonitor (Adopted), by @JonnyOThan For KSP 1.7.3 & earlier: RasterPropMonitor by @MOARdV Supported Mods: Connected Living Space, by @Papa_Joe FAR (Ferram Aerospace Research Continued) by @dkavolis Kerbalism by @Sir Mortimer OPT "Main" by @K.Yeon RemoteTech by @tomek.piotrowski Snacks! - Friendly, Simplified Life Support by @Angel-125 TAC Life Support by @JPLRepo USI Life Support by @RoverDude Recommend Extras: The WBI Suite of Mods [GitHub] by Angel-125 Textures Unlimited: Recolour Depot by @Manwith Noname (Does not support OPT Legacy) Craft Manager by @katateochi Craft Manager replaces the stock caft loading UI with something bigger, more beautiful and very feature rich. It also integrates KSP with an external craft sharing website, KerbalX.com, (also created by Katateochi), where you can download or share pre-made craft files that use OPT. Over 5% of the ~16,000 craft files hosted there use OPT parts. Feel free to show off your own OPT craft, or view others' works in the OPT Showroom thread. What OPT Reconfig does: Adds a higher tech tree node than Experimental Aircraft Engines for the most OP of engines. Makes all main pack engines less OP or keeps them OPbut makes them rightfully more challenging to use. Makes the weaker engines stronger at reasonable cost. Makes these exact changes to OPT Main's engines: Buffs the Isp and doubles the thrust of J Aerospike, and gives it decent gimbal. Makes the ARI-75 engine require EC to justify its higher vacuum Isp and gives it an instant-response second mode for vacuum lander-friendly use. Makes the J-92 Shcramjet into dual-mode with the second mode as a proper EC-guzzling future scramjet that starts at Mach 4 and is useful in upscaled systems. Makes the Dark Drive regenerate and require Dark Goo (as implied in its part description) and also serve as an RTG with half-life, and gives it 1 deg of gimbal. Related: equips the J science lab with a facility to produce Dark Science required to regenerate Dark Goo, and gives the stock Experiment Storage Unit some Dark Science tankage to avoid all Dark Drive equipped craft needing to have a J science lab. Makes the HAE-02 Mk2 engine less thrusty. Replaces dirty old Firespitter configs with B9 Part Switch and Wild Blue Tools (WBT) which make it much easier to add the tank types you want to all parts in OPT Main and Legacy). Provides additional tank types if the following mods are found: CryoTanks, Near Future Propulsion. Integrates USI, TAC or Snacks! (life support) through B9 Part Switch or Wild Blue Tools. Integrates Kerbalism through its own mechanisms for crewed parts and B9 Part Switch for all other parts. Delivers the OPT FAR config. DOWNLOAD OPT SPACEPLANE CONTINUED :: SPACEDOCK DOWNLOAD LEGACY :: SPACEDOCK :: GITHUB DOWNLOAD RECONFIG :: SPACEDOCK :: GITHUB

Question: If I were to launch an SSTO from the runway at the KSC, would there be a theoretical limit to how much delta-v it could have? I'm talking completely stock, and on the most efficient flight path.

Mk3 Expansion pack This is a parts pack intended to flesh out the stock mk3 parts lineup with new engines, cockpits, fuselage parts and more, to give players more options when building spaceplanes. parts almost exclusively use MODEL nodes and stock textures, so RAM footprint should be almost non-existent. -Command Mk3 Cupola Mk3 Hypersonic cockpit Mk3 Drone Core Mk3 Inline Cockpit -Propulsion C.L.E.A.V.E.R. Mk3 Dual-mode Engine 'Cyclone' Concentric Toroidial Aerospike 'Fulcrum' gimballed Linear Aerospike 'Firestorm' Air-Augmented Rocket 'Buffalo' 2.5m Thrust-Reverser equipped Turbofan 'Hurricane' 2.5m Propeller Engine 'Nyx' Ion Engine 'Wellington' Mk3 basic Jet 'Wyvern' TurboRamjet 'Coxswain' Orbital Maneuvering System 'Hades' Nuclear rocket 'Sievert' Nuclear Jet Taurus Solid Booster Minotaur Solid Booster 'Atlas' Mk3 SRB 'Elephant' Mk3 VTOL Jet -FuelTank Mk3-1.25m adapter Mk3-mk2 tricoupler Mk3-1.25m tricoupler Mk3-1.25m quadcoupler Mk3-Inverted Mk2 Mk3 Service Tank Mk3 Hypersonic nosecone Mk3 rounded nose cap OMS shoulder tank -Control Chine Cap w/ RCS Chine Segment RCS Fuselage Extension RCS cap Fuselage Extension RCS segment Heavy RCS thruster Mk3 SAS -Structural Mk3 Decoupler Mk3 T-Hub Mk3 X-Hub Mk3 L-Hub Mk3 Structural Tube Mk3 Structural X Tube Mk3 Structural T Tube Mk3 Structural L Tube Radial Fuselage Extension/saddle tanks, 5 variants(endcap, 2m, 4m, intake, 1.25m adapter) Radial Fuselage Extension crew cabin Truncated Fuselage Extension for Mk3 cargo bays Mk3 Endcap Mk3 Radial Mount -Aero: Chines in three flavors; short, long, endcap Big-S class wing boards - square, rectangular, and triangular Mk3 Circular Intake Mk3 Shock cone Mk3 Ramp Intake Mk3 Precooler Big-S Airbrakes -Utility Mk3 Service Bay Mk3 Inline docking port Mk3 shielded docking port Mk3 Aligned Docking port Mk3 Nuclear Reactor Mk3 Nose Cargo ramp Mk3-Mk2 Adapter Cargo Ramp Mk3 flat Cargo hatch Mk3 Cargo Container Download from Spacedock or GitHub Changelog: Licensing The contents of this mod are distributed a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/...legalcode' This mod uses the B9 Part Switch plugin Feel free to post comments/critiques/feedback, and if any of you have ideas for parts that you simply have to have to flesh out your mk2/mk3 experience, speak up! Ideas for new parts are welcome.

I present to you fine spaceplane enthusiasts... the Kerbal Wind Tunnel mod! We all build spaceplanes to fly faster and higher, but how do you know how fast or how high your current design can go? In the real world of aircraft design, engineers calculate the flight envelope for their aircraft before the first test flight rolls out. This mod runs your spaceplane through a virtual wind tunnel while still in the SPH and predicts its engine and flight performance at every speed and altitude. It also gives you a readout of various performance curves, plotting against angle of attack: ... and velocity: Try it out and start building even better spaceplanes today! You can even output the data to a CSV file to incorporate knowledge of the performance data into a KOS script or the like! Check out this Imgur album for more details on these images and more: https://imgur.com/a/D2i4Fge Download it from GitHub: https://github.com/DBooots/KerbalWindTunnel/releases Or SpaceDock: https://spacedock.info/mod/1927/Kerbal Wind Tunnel Source: https://github.com/DBooots/KerbalWindTunnel Released under the MIT License (with sub-components under their own license). P.S. This mod incorporates a pretty sweet graph-drawing library I made. If anyone's interested in super-simple graphing of data, hit me up.

STEREO-1 is a rocket-plane that transports kerbonauts to space and glides back to kerbin, the glider is called: STRATO, and the transport stage: KEPLER

A brief background of the aircraft: The OFV-18 was the original of the governmental space planes. Its earliest mention being bacm in the 1970s, as a small, unmanned variant of the space shuttle, which was in the works at the time. After being bought by the USAF in 1973, the OFV became somewhat of a "known secret". It was known by space enthusiasts, but they had no idea what it was or looked like. After 6 years in production, an unplanned Saturn IB mission took it into launch in 1978. It returned to the KSC in 1979, making a very secretive record. Its sister, the OFV-19, was designed as a replacement for the very flawed OFV-18. After being completed in 1983, the OFV-18 was retired, as it was actually a prototype that was never designed to be used, but due to rushing of the program, and pressure by the USAF, it was pushed to become a functional orbiter. While it succeeded, it became apparent of flaws. Unbenonced to the ground control, during one of its secretive long-term flights, a payload, presumably a satellite, had collided with the solar array built into its payload. This caused the solar panel to break. While it wasnt noticed, due to the array being powerful, it became one of the most common issues with the OFV-18, as the array was built into the payload bay, and blocked some of it causing issues. The OFV-19 aimed to fix this by moving the equipment into the front of the nose, aswell as the solar array. This would mainly stop the payloada from hitting the solar array. After its first test flight in 1985, it proved successful, ultimately sealing the fate for the OFV-18. OFV-19 in orbit. OFV-18 Craft files to be released soon, hopefully! They are modded, but shouldnt be a problem

About This is the new thread for B9 Aerospace. The old thread is available here This pack adds a vast selection of new parts, introducing new spaceplane components such as new engines, cockpits, wings and fuselage systems, new structural components for orbital installations and colonies, and so on B9 was originally developed by @bac9, @Taverius, and @K3-Chris, now maintained by @blowfish and @Flashblade with help from many others Requirements The latest version is compatible with KSP 1.8.x. The bundled dependencies are for KSP 1.8.1 and may not work on other versions. All other KSP versions should be considered incompatible. If you are on an earlier version of KSP, however, you may be able to find a compatible version of B9 here B9 depends on several other mods to make it work. They are included in the download, and listed below in the "Dependencies" section. Installation Instructions You can install with CKAN and have the dependencies installed automatically. If you are doing a manual install, open the zip you downloaded, find the GameData folder and copy all of its contents into your existing GameData folder in KSP. If you already have any of the bundled mods, check which one is the latest version. Note that the core and HX packs come with the same version of some dependencies. B9 will not work unless installed correctly. If you're having issues, please verify that you have installed it correctly. Download Three packs are available for download: B9 Aerospace Core Pack - All of the main spaceplane parts B9 Aerospace Legacy Pack - Older Mk1 and Mk2 parts, modular wings. Requires the core pack and all of its dependencies B9 Aerospace HX Pack - Large blocky futuristic parts. Does not require the core pack, comes with its own dependencies Download mirror: S3 Also available on CKAN Changelog FAQ Q: The mod crashes the game for some reason, what can I do? Make sure that everything is installed correctly, your dependencies are up-to-date, and you are on the correct version of KSP. If you can't find the issue read this helpful topic and post the issue in this thread. Be sure to include your logs! If you are quite certain that you have found a bug, you can create the issue on our Github page. Try to provide as much detail as possible - logs, example craft, reproduction steps. Also be sure that the issue is reproducable with only B9 installed. Posts along the lines of "Its not working" or "Everything is broken" won't really help us much. Q: I don't understand a thing in those IVA displays, there are too many buttons and screens Here is a very helpful manual. Q: Why aren't you respecting stock balance? Mods should reference stock for the configs of the new parts, otherwise balance of modded game would be all over the place! While we try to respect stock balance as much as possible, there are a number of inconsistencies in the balance of stock parts that make it impossible to keep balance against every stock part. If something seem very far off of what it should be, feel free to ask in this thread. Q: I can't find those huge blocky parts from the opening image in my part catalog. Why are those missing? They were recently separated into another download as they mostly don't share dependencies with the main part of the mod and as many people prefer not to use them. Q: I can't find the modular wing pieces that are depicted on many screenshots of this mod. Why are those missing? They were removed and will no longer be developed. They are available as an optional download in the Bitbucket repository linked on top of this post, but we do not recommend using them. A far better option is using procedural wings, since you'll have just one part with just one material and just one texture covering any possible wing shape then. Good for performance, good for design freedom, good for looks. Grab the procedural wings here. Q: Why aren't procedural wings integrated into the main B9 package? Because they have entirely separate dependencies and are maintained by different folks. Merging them will only needlessly complicate updates. Pictures New Mk1/Mk2 Parts HX Parts Old Screenshots Dependencies Core Pack B9AnimationModules plugin by blowfish B9PartSwitch plugin by blowfish Firespitter plugin by Snjo and RoverDude ModuleManager plugin by ialdabaoth and sarbian RasterPropMonitor by Mihara and MOARdV SmokeScreen plugin by Sarbian Legacy Pack Depends on the core pack and all of its dependencies (not included in the legacy pack download) HX Pack B9AnimationModules plugin by blowfish B9PartSwitch plugin by blowfish ModuleManager plugin by ialdabaoth and sarbian SmokeScreen plugin by Sarbian Credits Old core team: bac9 - 3D modeling, texturing, editor tools Taverius - balance, 3D modeling, craft design, maintenance K3|Chris - 3D modeling, texturing, IVA New updates: blowfish - plugin code, maintenance, balance, coordination of new updates flashblade - various contributions V8jester and M4ck - stack node adjustments danfarnsy and JaredTheDragon - RPM fixes joshwoo70 - RT compatibility sparkybear - Part tags taniwha - Fix for planet-illuminating lights Contributors: Nazari - HotRockets Engine FX: forums jadebenn, Hyomoto, Helldiver - RPM MFD configuration. alexustas - RPM MFD configuration FPSlacker - HR exhaust pressure compensation Special thanks: DYJ C7 r4m0n Sarbian NathanKell egg snjo ferram4 Mu mrBlaQ License This work is shared under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license. Dependencies may come under their own licenses. Please check dependency documentation for details.

I'm trying to build a large scale cargo SSTO at the moment but my struts keep on getting sent to the cornfield. While I'm waiting for the game to unbreak itself, It'd be cool to see what everyone else has been able to throw together on the large side of things. What's the biggest thing you've managed to get off the runway and in to space? What's the heaviest payload it's carried? Single Stage, or assisted in some way? Have you build anything cool in orbit with it, space shuttle style? I'd love to see what cool designs are out there.

Description After years of service, the Hercules served as the superior fighter of the great Kerbal Defense Force but there were improvements that were needed and speed and power profile was the goal for the new update. The Hercules II was born. Just like its predecessor the craft is capable of traveling from most planetary surfaces in and around the Kerbol System. Unlike the previous Hercules, this seats 1 and can also be flown unmanned with the new Megara A.I. Used to fly support with Dreadnoughts, dropships, and carriers as well as carry out clandestine Missions in times of peace, keeping unseen with its cloaking technology. Craft Notes This craft is fully stocked and needs no mods. This craft does have 1 flag for the cockpit which I will link either in the comments section or at the bottom of the page. Please read below for detailed flight instructions and craft info. Weapons Systems 3 Weapon Hard Points 2 Small dock points, top, and nose equipped with the Minerva Cannon 1 Medium dock point on the belly Kraken Drive Thrust Indicators are located in the cockpit in FPV or on the back of the Craft for easy recognition. Propulsion Systems 1 main Forward Propulsion Kraken Drive 1 Anti-Gravity Kraken Drive 1 Emergency nose down Kraken Drive. Flight Instructions - Based on Kerbin but will work pretty much everywhere ATMOSPHERIC FLIGHT The main throttle controls the Forward Propulsion Kraken Drive. This is a very powerful drive recommended to do incremental increase by pressing the shift key. At half throttle, this will be placed in a sustained flight mode. When a tick over half throttle at lower sea level your nominal flight speed will be around. 140 - 145 m/s The higher you go the faster you fly. Full throttle your speed will steadily increase based on your height. For instance, at around 12k you will be at supersonic speeds. Drop to half throttle to maintain whatever speed you want to be at._____________________________________________________________________________________ NOTE if for some reason you stall and cant raise the nose use the anti-gravity drive as well and it will auto-correct you for normal flight again. These are my fail safes for absolute 0 issues flying. SPACE MODE Once you are past the 12k range this is where you will start increasing speed exponentially this will send you flying into orbit in a short time. Make sure to practice normal flight procedures that you would do with any SSTO except you have no fuel so you can play around and not be scared. Once in space make sure to only use RCS when getting ready to either dock or not using anti-gravity drive. Remember you can turn that drive off by pressing ACTION Group 3 RCS is used to docking or high-speed maneuvering in space combat. Press the Trim keys I and K for the anti-gravity drive,. It is recommended that you hit Action Group 2 and then press Radial out and trim slowly. Since trim keys do not have a visible UI I created one with a KALl1000 and lights. This will be visible on the back as well. Anti Gravity lights UI - Cockpit - Left Light- Back - Top Light Forward Propulsion Kraken Drive - Cockpit - Right Light- Back - Bottom Light Blue lights - OFF Yellow light - Half Power Green Light - Full Power ACTION GROUP 1 will set flight controls from the cockpit for normal flight procedures. ACTION GROUP 2 will set flight controls from the AI operator. This is great if you want to radial out to hover better in anti-gravity mode. this is set by default. ACTION GROUP 3 will turn off the Forward Propulsion Kraken Drive ACTION GROUP 4 Will turn off the Anti Gravity Drive ACTION GROUP 5 Will Open Cockpit Canopy ACTION GROUP 6 Emergency nose down Kraken Drive ACTION GROUP 7 Turn on and off Fuel Cell Charger on by default ABORT will turn off all KAL1000s when docked at a station or other craft SPACE BAR will fire the Minerva Cannon In conclusion, this craft can pretty much fly anywhere you want it, save for the sun, and will serve as your main battle force for air and space superiority. A stock aircraft called KDF Hercules II. Built with 837 of the finest parts, its root part is strutCube. Built in the SPH in KSP version 1.12.5. Details Type: SPH Class: spaceplane Part Count: 837 Pure Stock KSP: 1.12.5 CRAFT DOWNLOAD https://kerbalx.com/InterstellarKev/KDF-Hercules-II https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3012435900 FLAG DOWNLOAD https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uABZtM2AFGTBiIr-ql92xhERC49ZZW88/view?usp=drive_link https://www.dropbox.com/s/qcr3ttwgrul5jun/canopy.png?dl=0

Umm so I recently encountered a new bug where if your wings rip off with an occluded fuselage it doesn’t crash into the water but it collides with a surface. Idk what is happening here. the original plane

warping in a specific vehicle causes you to go 600 meters below ground and your screen to flash getting glimpses of the rocket(spaceplane). the kerbal looks sick

Figured id share my most successful ksp1 ssto build in light of ksp2 ssto struggles and having to basically re-invent the tech Draken galaxy: LKO Delta.v: 6000m/s Parts: 80 Weight: 33t Size: 4.8 / 8.7 / 14m notes: SSTO can be reconfigured with science modules, additional crew, storage, drone core etc. Wet and dry center of mass is nearly identical so it doesnt have issues re-entering. Also has a re-entry probe core. I guess technically its not an ssto since its got a little drop tank for the first ~1min of the flight, but i recon thats within the realm of realism... we dont call a plane a rocket if it has a drop tank on it This thing is 100% stock and doesnt use any kraken drives etc. Download link: https://kerbalx.com/FlazeTheDragon/Draken-galaxy Have fun

THE SSTO BASE There's a pretty hard mission for whoever likes sstos and bases, that could look very simple, but surely it isn't: make a spaceplane that also functions as a base, it has to be pretty big and totally retractible, to complete it I simply advice you to use all of your creativity. Enjoy the mission and if you want share your footage.

THE GRAND TOUR Story: The KSC is out of money and the flat kerbiners are becoming more and more popular, make a spaceplane and land (with EVA) on every planet and moon (Jool excluded), returning to Kerbin to prove they're wrong. Make a spaceplane (SSTO) to spend less. Rules: -No cracken drives -No mods (if not told in the difficulty) -No cheats -No part detachment Difficulties: Easy -KSP set on Easy -All the engines allowed -Landing on every planet (except for EVE) -Docking allowed -at least 3 kerbals on board Normal -KSP set on normal -only Mk1 (or smaller) or radial angines -No docking -EVA on every planet -at least 5 kerbals on board Hard -KSP on full difficulty -No ion engines -EVA and science on every planet -No engineers on board -Return to the KSC runway -at least 15 kerbals on board Crazy -No nuclear engines -No Mk3 or rocket fuselage - At least 20 kerbals on board Insane - No landing gears (only legs) - No autostruct - At least 30 kerbals on board Impossible - Engineers allowed -Following mods installed: 1- Kerbalism (or TAC life support) 2- Real Fuels 3- External Solar System (more planets to land on, except for the gas giants) 4- Dang It! Interstellar - Mod Galaxies Unbound Nova Kirbani to install -mods "near future..." allowed -mod trajectory allowed. If you want, write down here you achievements and, if you want, some footage. Obviously all the difficulty is more and more difficult, so if in normal mode docking isn't allowed, it isn't allowed for all the difficulties that are harder, I just forgot that docking IS allowed for Interstellar travel (I don't know if it's possible otherwise), but if someone of you can do it without docking write it here

Like the stock Mk2 parts, but are round instead of streamlined. A lot of the time the stock Mk2 parts don’t really have enough capacity in the cargo bays or fit the aesthetic that I’m going for. They could also open up new opportunities for aircraft recreations. And for people who say that I could just use Mk3 parts, a lot of the time they are just way to big, hard to work with and difficult to get off the ground. These Mk2 parts IMO would make a nice alternative for when you don’t want to engineer a giant shuttle but still need some space. To make sure that they aren’t overpowered they would be heavier and less aerodynamic that the stock Mk2 parts. What do you think?

BASIC MK2 WHIPLASH/NERV SPACEPLANE TUTORIAL The best looking airplane parts in the game almost certainly belong to the mk2 family. The part descriptions combined with their "hypersonic" appearance make them a natural choice for a new player, unfortunately they generate more forum help threads than anything else. Pic - the wrong stuff ! Problem 1 - Poor Performance Mk2 parts generate at least twice as much drag as a mk1 or mk3 fuselage built to carry the same amount of fuel or passengers. As a result they are frequently unable to break the sound barrier. If the player tries to overcome this by spamming engines, they often run out of fuel before making orbit. Problem 2 - Flipping Out The aerodynamic forces generated by draggy fuselages are not properly taken into account by the stock game's Centre of Lift indicator, resulting in a CoL much further forward than it actually appears. Second, new players usually try to build something that looks like a sleek real-world airplane, with a cluster of engines at the back and a long, pointy fuselage up front. On launch, all that fuel at the front of the ship balances the heavy engines at the back. But when the tanks empty, CoM shifts far to the rear and the plane becomes unstable. Problem 3 - Exploded Cockpit In recent versions of KSP aerodynamic heating effects are much stronger at the front of a stack than they are further back. As a result, despite its much higher heat tolerance a pointy mk2 cockpit is much more prone to overheating than a mk1 inline one with a few parts in front of it. Mk2 Tips - the short version To minimise the drag penalty, keep the mk2 fuselage as short as possible. Use it for Kerbals, cargo and other mission stuff, but avoid storing fuel in mk2 parts except for when you're fitting a mk2 bicoupler or mk2 to mk1 adapter anyway. If your ship has NERV engines, fit as much wing as possible but use only fuel containing big-s wings and strakes. You can in fact store all your liquid fuel this way. More wings allows the craft to fly higher and at a lower angle of attack for any given airspeed, which reduces the amount of drag (and heating) on your fuselage. Use an inline mk2 cockpit Combating the dreaded rearward CG shift as fuel burns off This problem is such a (night)mare, I'm going to have to give its own list For your first mk2s, stick to crew ferries or combi ships. Passenger cabins and inline clamp-o-trons give you a bit of mass you can put up front to balance those heavy engines. Try to shift engines forward if possible, especially the heavy ones. For example, consider putting the heavy nukes on the wings or on pods either side of the main fuselage, whilst the lighter jet engine(s) can go on the attach nodes on the back of the main fuselage. Try to move your fuel stowage rearward. Given the problem of instability, why am i telling people to move anything backward ? Well, if you've succeeded in balancing the weight of those heavy engines when empty, your next problem is that you've probably got more fuel tankage ahead of CG than behind it. When you fill the tanks, your craft becomes excessively nose-heavy. This is more likely to be an issue if your craft has a CoM well to the rear - sure, you can move the CoL aft as well to make it stable, but this places most of the fuel tanks ahead of CG. When you fill all the tanks it becomes a lawn dart. So, you need to find ways of increasing the fuel tankage at the back of the ship. Consider putting batteries, reaction wheels and engine pre-coolers at the front of your size 1 stacks and only have fuel tanks immediately in front of the engine. Big S wing strakes, orientated vertictically, can be used to build tail fins and they have a surprising amount of fuel capacity. Also, you may be able to attach big S strakes to the trailing edge of the wing. Big S strakes hold more fuel for their size than the main wing, so help to shift the fuel balance rearward. Pic - our original failplane, better balanced (but still melty and draggy) Some mods that will make your life much, much easier RCS build aid Shows a red dot in the SPH/VAB which indicates where your CoM will move to when the tanks are empty. Makes it much , much easier to build planes that don't flip out on re-entry. CorrectCoL CorrectCoL does two things. Firstly, it makes the blue CoL indicator in the SPH more accurate by taking into account aero forces acting on fuselage parts. Second, it shows a stability graph for your airplane across the AoA range. When the line is above the horizontal axis, it indicates your plane wants to nose up. When it is below, it tries to nose down. You want the line to slope downhill left to right, so that the greater the AoA , the stronger the nose down tendency. The point where the line crosses the x axis indicates the pitch attitude the plane will tend to adopt without any control input from the pilot. A Quick Word on Part Attachment and Drag It is worth remembering that KSP craft files are organised as a tree structure. There is a root part, to which any number of items can be attached radially, as well an end attachment node to which subsequent parts can be attached, and so on. To the game, a typical mk2 spaceplane, with an engine on the back and a mk1 sized engine nacelle attached either side of the fuselage, is just like a rocket with a pair of boosters attached radially to the main stack. In this case we have the main stack (the mk2 fuselage) and the engine nacelles which are like boosters. (I've numbered the parts in terms of how far away they are from the root in the craft file) Rule 1 : Every end-attached stack of parts must begin and end with something pointy. "Pointy" means something which has an attachment node at one end, which joins it to the stack, but not at the other. Obviously, it also means something low drag. Parts in this category include in order of more to less streamlined ⦁ nose cones and fairings (Duh !) ⦁ jet engines ⦁ rocket engines (more drag than jets, due to the attach node on the back, but has been reduced in the last patch) ⦁ air intakes (somewhat draggy, inline intakes like the engine pre-cooler are better if you're min-maxing efficiency) ⦁ shielded docking port (quite a high drag part, you are better off with an inline clamp o tron if you must dock) Rule 2 : When joining parts together with end-attachment, the diameter of the attach nodes of the parts being joined MUST match. Just because the game lets you join a 0.625m small nose cone to the front of a 1.25m fuel tank, or lets you put a Poodle on the back of a mk2 fuselage, doesn't mean you should. These mismatches create huge drag. If you need to attach a 0.625m part to a mk1 stack, use a low drag adapter like the FL-A10 or the NCS adapter between them. If you want a Poodle (2.5m rocket) on the back of your mk2 spaceplane, use a mk2 to 2.5m adapter. One last thing. When attaching stuff, be aware of orientation. End attached parts like fuel tanks, intakes, nose cones, engines etc. have lowest drag when aimed directly prograde or retrograde. Angling parts a few degrees away from pro or retro increases drag. Just how bad are mk2 parts for drag ? A screenshot is worth a thousand words. You can see that the mk2 inline cockpit has over 3 times the drag of the big S wing. The short mk2 cargo bay has a little bit less, since it doesn't have the sticking up bit at the top with the windows. It's not in this picture, but the mk2 to 1.25m short adapter has about half the drag value of the short cargo bay. And you can see that the 1.25m nuke rocket engine was very little drag at all, by comparison. note - you can bring up this data any time you want by pressing ALT F12, going to the physics menu, and clicking on the Aero tab. The big dialog box with that welter of aerodynamic data is enabled by checking the "display aero data GUI" option. The drag info in the right click menus comes up when you check "enable aero data in action menus" part 2 to follow (examples of common part attachment problems)

Yes. Today i made a spaceplane that looked very fine to me. One flaw it had was due to the annoying kraken made it spin sideways. Even using RCS or even SAS doesn't fix the sideway-spinning kraken. Even restarting multiple times doesn't fix the annoying kraken. edit: I realized it was that tiny little annoying dragging @ssh0le basically why does even atmospheric drags exist?

Yes. Today i made a spaceplane that looked very fine to me. One flaw it had was due to the annoying kraken made it spin sideways. Even using RCS or even SAS doesn't fix the sideway-spinning kraken. Even restarting multiple times doesn't fix the annoying kraken.

So I made a TSTO tourist spaceplane that works really well, but up until this point, I have been landing it in random fields because I always miss a runway, but I finally managed to get this thing to the dessert (that wasn't a typo) airfield! You will not believe how excited I was when I realized I could make it. This is a screenshot I took after landing (yes it is conventional geared, it was more stable than tricycle gear believe it or not)

Welcome to Spaceplane Innovations, the online leader in executive Spaceplane sales. Dropping tanks is so yesterday, earn back some self-respect by going fully-reusable today! We have Interplanetary leviathans and nimble Mun Hoppers, Single-stage-to-anywheres and Cargo-carrying brutes. All capable of high crew capacity and total galactic dominance. Shop now, the SSTO of your dreams is just a click away. We also make rockets. View the full catalogue! Click to view the full catalogue! Artemis Class These spaceplanes are the biggest of the bunch (so far), consisting of 3 Mk3 fuselages side-by-side, with the ability to carry an enormous amount of cargo/crew to many different interplanetary destinations. The Archangel is the first of the Artemis line, and has the ability to easily go to Duna or Mun with 60 Kerbals, and pilots who have a good grasp of gravity assists will find further destinations, such as Eeloo, very possible as well! Video - Mun mission Video - Eeloo mission The Artemis is a monstrous spaceplane capable of carrying 124 kerbals to LKO with just over 4,000 m/s of DeltaV to spare. It can't fly quite as far as the Archangel, but it is quite capable of going to Laythe and back without refuelling. Video - Laythe mission Archangel Download Archangel Download Archangel v2 Download Artemis Download Argus Class These spaceplanes are big, brutal, and capable of interplanetary missions without breaking a sweat, independent of mining or refuelling. WARNING: You will need to replace the landing gear on the Argus II and Engadine with larger ones if you're playing in 1.1 or later. The Odyssey will work fine though. The Argus was built as a Bop SSTO, but in the end was mainly used for Duna cargo missions and Eeloo voyages. It doesn't work so great in 1.05, and so is no longer sold by Spaceplane Innovations. Video - Eeloo mission Video - Duna mission The Engadine was the hugely popular successor to the Argus, packing more DeltaV and a massive 20 Kerbal capacity. So far it has only been used for Mun landings, but we at Spaceplane Innovations believe it could easily be used for Duna returns too. Video The Argus II was built following the success of the Engadine as an ultra-long-range SSTO. It has more m/s of DeltaV in LKO than any other SSTO produced by Spaceplane Innovations. Video The Odyssey was built to replace the legendary Engadine. doubling its crew capacity while retaining its high range. Duna and Gilly missions are well within its capabilities, as well as Eeloo and Jool for those who have mastered the fine art of gravity assists. Video - Mun mission Make no mistake: these planes are unruly, bulky, unbalanced and difficult to tame. They are therefore best suited to more adept pilots who understand gravity assists and how to efficiently ascend from Kerbin. They're hard to master, but for those with the patience to learn their functions the pay-off is huge. Argus II Download Engadine Download Odyssey Download Acacius Class Acacius ships have an IRSU on board and are capable of refuelling themselves using mining equipment. These are at the forefront of exploration, and are the best "single-stage-to-anywhere" planes we offer! Only one model is currently available for consumers: The Acacius 2 is the first SSTO produced by Spaceplane Innovations to feature the "Single Stage to Everywhere" guarantee. Doesn't do Tylo. Or Eve. Or Jool. These craft are ideal for beginners who want to get to grips with gravity assists or the Jool system, without having to worry about fuel. WARNING: You may need to replace the landing gear with larger ones if you're playing in 1.1 or later. Video Acacius 2 Download Dune Class Before the Argus class, there was the Dune class. The second oldest class of spaceplane made by Spaceplane innovations (after the discontinued Revenge class), these are lightweight, agile, and pack enough DeltaV for Duna, Minmus, Mun and Gilly. Flybys of planets further out are also possible. Dune 3 is the latest and greatest in this class, sporting 3 seats and a cosy interior. These are moderately difficult to use, but experienced pilots shouldn't have too much trouble. WARNING: You may need to replace the landing gear with larger ones if you're playing in 1.1 or later. Video Dune 3 Download Phantom Class These SSTOs are the little-brothers of the Argus Class, and are slightly larger than the Dune class. WARNING: You may need to replace the landing gear with larger ones if you're playing in 1.1 or later. With room for 6 kerbals, the Phantom class is currently offers 3 models: The Minmus Trainer is the easiest-to-use SSTO sold by Spaceplane Innovations, and was specifically designed to train budding kerbalnauts in the fine art of Minmus SSTO-ing. Only the instructions are available for purchase, so that pilots can also learn how to build an SSTO too! Video (SSTO Tutorial) The Mun Phantom was the first Phantom Class SSTO packing enough DeltaV for Mun and Gilly landings, in addition to being able to do Duna flybys. Video The Mun Phantom 2 is a modified version of the Duna Phantom, packing a spacious cargo bay for all your rover carrying needs! Video The Duna Phantom is able to carry 6 kerbals to Duna and back, all in a sleek Mk2 fuselage! Video Video (SSTO Tutorial) The Laythe Phantom is capable of taking 2 kerbals to Laythe and back without refuelling! Craft file has been altered so that it won't enter a flat spin when the fuel tanks are empty now Video Mun Phantom Download Mun Phantom 2 Download Duna Phantom Download Laythe Phantom Download Vulture Class These SSTOs are designed purely for LKO missions. Vulture 1 is the first publicly available model in the Vulture class, capable of carrying 6 Kerbals comfortably to either a polar or equatorial orbit. Vulture 1 download Matlon Laboratories Matlon Laboratories is a new company, designing cutting-edge rockets, shuttles, stations, bases, rovers, and much more! SSTOs are still very-much exclusive to Spaceplane Innovations, but for anything else, Matlon has you covered! Brutus is a high-capacity Space Shuttle, and uses Solid Fuel boosters and 3 Vectoring engines to lift the orbiter into space. Played a key-role in the construction of the SkyBase Space Station, which was commissioned following the destruction of SpaceLab during the Duna Attacks strikes Video Sparrow is a seaplane packing every science experiment unit in the game, in addition to communications tech and a deployable mini-sub! Video Monolith Station aims to bring stations to the masses, being a space station capable of being fully assembled in 1 Launch Brutus Download Sparrow Download Monolith Station Download

So there I was, sitting and having a bad day. How do I build a Spaceplane!? I can't build SSTOs, Those are too hard. I can't put it on top of a rocket, because it just flips...or can I? I wonder... (some weird engineering later...) And this is the result. I took a rocket, flipped it on it's side and strapped wings, wheels and jets to it. Here it is sitting on the pad-Wait, this isn't a launch pad. 147 Parts, 61.021 Tons, 4.3 Meters tall,, 12 Meters wide, and 25.5 Meters long. 2 Panther Engines on each side using Wet Mode provide power for the early ascent. Main Engine is a Skipper. Second Stage is powered by a Cheetah Engine, and the Spaceplane itself is powered by 4 Sparks, 2 below each wing. You can't see them now, but you'll notice later. The Spaceplane has taken flight! Ascending to the skies above...Soon we'll be above the skies! Jet Engines are starting to lose power, so the main engine fires to keep us accelerating! The Jet Engines are no longer effective, So they are jettisoned. A few seconds after seperation. The Second Stage activates as Stage 1 falls away. Maybe someday I'll be able to reuse it... Second Stage is at full power. Second Stage is seperated and Spaceplane is almost in orbit. Orbit Achieved! And there's the payload, a probe bound for...uhh...I never picked a destination. Is there anything I can improve on? This is my first actually useful Spaceplane and I'd like to build more like these!

F-NAD is an aerospace division run by the finest nuggets. Check out Adans Workshop for my previous spaceflight adventures and new ones to come. Look on this forum for sneak peaks of my next kerbal vids and for giving help and getting shoutouts for and from me, respectively.

Hello once again! Today I bring you, My latest attempt at an interplanetary VTOL SSTO. When launched fully fueled, it can reach LKO with ~2,200 m/s of delta-V remaining. From there, it can be flown non-stop to Laythe and back, using ISRU to refuel on Laythe's surface. The design is oxidizer-free, and the fuel tank layout preserves the C.O.M. position regardless of fuel levels. The engine layout includes two forward-fixed Nervas, four R.A.P.I.E.R. engines (two forward-fixed and two pivotable), and two pivotable Panther engines. When flying in VTOL mode, it's easiest to set the throttle to allow for a TWR<1 while the Panthers are running dry, and a TWR>1 while running wet. This will allow some fine throttle control by switching the afterburners on and off during landing. When flying to orbit: 1) Once off the ground (via either VTOL or STOL to save some fuel), set the pivotable engines forward (AG1) with the Panther afterburners off (AG2). 2) Activate the fixed R.A.P.I.E.R. engines (AG4). 3) Cruise up to ~10 km before turning on the Nervas (AG5). While this is normally a tad too low to be using Nervas, the ISP should already be 700+ and we'll need as much thrust as we can manage. 4) Once all jet engines flame out, shut them down (AG3 + AG4) and continue to push to orbit on the Nervas. The TWR will be fairly low once you're running on the Nervas alone, so pitch up slightly to keep your time to AP around a minute. Eventually, when your orbital velocity reaches ~2,300 m/s you'll be safe to cruise to AP and circularize. Action Groups: AG1: Toggle VTOL engine pivots AG2: Toggle Panther afterburners AG3: Toggle VTOL engines AG4: Toggle fixed R.A.P.I.E.R.engines AG5: Toggle Nervas Gallery: I really hope y'all liked it, and if you want to try your hand at flying it, you can download the craft here: https://kerbalx.com/Jamie_Logan/Fenghuang-H-77 Also, check out my last build!