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Modern space shuttle: one lunch cost, up to 4 landings on moon or minimus I have created ship what is able to carry up to 10 kerbals to the moon or minimus, it has small hold and can be equiped with "magic carpet ride" what gives you posibility to land in different places up to 4 times on moon (3 times with magic carpet ride + one time with the shuttle using hover engines located in bottom of the ship.) Shuttle takes off verticaly form KSP but it lands like plane by gliding form the space up to the runway of KSP what decrease the luch cost from 250 000 to ~150 000. Multi-landing ability makes this ship amazing for collecting science and exploration of the moon and minimus. To luch this space craft you will need basic mods as follows: KAS_v0.6.3 for KSP 1.3 You can downlaod it from here: KIS_v1.5.0 for KSP 1.3 You can downlaod it from here: TweakScale for KSP 1.3 (Thumper boosters are rescaled, about 25%, so they are 25% more heavier, powerfull and more expensive) You can downlaod it from here: Technical parameters: Lunch Condition full loaded / empty Parts: 317 / 317 Mass: 1090,3 t. / 232 t. Height: 37,1 m. / 37,1 m. Lenght: 14,1 m. / 14,1 m. Widh: 9,3 m. / 9,3 m. Space flight condition full loaded / empty Parts: 173 / 153 Mass: 87 t. 31 t. (with carpet ride on board) Height: 37,1 m. Lenght: 14,1 m. Widh: 8,1 m. Magic Carpet Ride / empty Parts: 38 Mass: 4,63 t. / 1,75 t. Height: 1,1 m. Lenght: 2,8 m. Widh: 1,6 m. Check lists: Take off: - never decopule "Kickback soid fuel boosters" when they are running - Be careful during decopule second stage of "Kickback soid fuel boosters" they may damage tail wing - use about 50% of RE-5 "skipper" during decopuling 2nd stage boosters - When ship is clear of any obstructions use full power of skipper and lunch 3rd stage of "Kickback soid fuel boosters" and reduce skipper power to 50% when in "kickback" remained 20% of fuel - Decopule 3rd stage on "kickbacks" before reaching the orbit speed, risk of debris. Use 20% of skipper during decopuling "kickbacks" and slowly get away of them, then use 100% Skiper to fly where ever you want - Extend solar panels and tail antena Jetison external fuel tanks: - make sure that solar panels are retracted - You can pump rest of the fuel to the locked tail fuel tank. (have in mind that this tank is balance/stability tank what gives you posibility to change center of mass during the flight. Wrong settings may cause disaster during hover landing on the moon) Magic Carpet Ride: - Reach stable orbit of moon/minimus not higher than 20 km above the surface (apopapis and periapis max 20km) - Open hold, take the seat, decopule magic carpet ride, click on Probodobodyne HECS of carpet ride and set control from here. - You can refuel carpet ride anytime in shuttle by docking or using KIS/KAS cc-R2 connector ports. - ALWAYS MAKE SURE THAT ALL MONOPROPELANT TANSK ARE 100% FULL before next landing on moon Hover landing: - You must jetison external fuel tanks before landing - by presing 1 and 2 button you can start and stop main engine and hover engines (action group) - activate SAS and RCS - Before landing make sure that the power/thrust of "teriers" is set properly acording to the actual center of mass, if RCSs and SAS is not able to keep space sraft stable under 100% of terier power (hover engines), do some adjustments of power limit as needed Returning to home (atmosphere re-entry) - If periapis speed is above 3000m/s adjust periapis high NOT LOWER than 55 km. - make sure that all antenas and solar panels are RETRACTED before entering to the atmosphere - Enter to atmosphere in 45deg angle of attack for areodynamic breaking, repear the procedure until speed will decrease to 2400 m/s - for gliding maitain 15-20-25 deg of angle of attack, if the bow of the ship is too heavy (center of mass is to far to the bow) pump fuel to the aft tanks until you will see that pitch steer during SAS steering is almost neutral. - Always try to keep center of mass in such a psition that SAS is not using pitch steer too much, 20% of pich makes big aerodynamic resistance and you will not be able to glide - Below 18km turn off big reaction wheel in the machinery hold - Below 1500m set A.I.R.B.R.A.K.E. deploy limit to 0 - Hit the runway with parameters: Speed: 60-100m/s max pitch: 10-15 deg max vertical speed: ~30/s or 100ft/s How does it work and look during career 7 days mission to the moon: Craft files: http://www.filedropper.com/moonshuttleandcarpetridefairplayer