The Kuran (Technically) Reusable Orbiter system aka Buran Style Shuttle

[epicfacecanada]

Here I present to you with the Kuran Orbiter and Launch System

It is a Reusable Buran/Space Shuttle inspired craft which uses a winged orbiter along with one central and two radial liquid fuel booster which make up the launch vehicle. the orbiter and the central booster are both fully recoverable in stock but in order to recover the two radial boosters you will need to have a mod which will prevent it from being lost when it unloads from the game such as FMRS(Not a dependency if you don't mind losing the radial boosters).

If flown well the Kuran is capable of reaching a circular 250 km orbit and returning while carrying 3 metric tons of payload. It has not been tested with a paylod heavier than 3 tons as that is as much mass I could reasonably fit inside the short cargo bay of the orbiter. It is also capable of flying completely unmanned Like the real life Buran.I advise that you to do your gravity turn in the craft towards the east as the is more landmass to the east which makes aborting a more viable option and presents more area for the boosters to land.

Action Groups

1- Toggles maneuvering engine on the orbiter

2- Toggles cargo bay

0- lowers landing legs on the boosters

Abort- Detaches the orbiter From the boosters and deactivates all of the engines

Flight Instructions

Launch

1. Activate SAS and stage.

2. Hold an upward attitude(It will have a tendency to pitch forward initially which is slightly stronger than the on board SAS).

3. At approx 5 km the radial booster will run out at which point you hit 0 and stage.

4. At 7-10 km depending on your payload you will begin a gravity turn by pitching it onto it's back.

5. once the desired apoapsis is reached or the central booster runs out you stage again which will separate the booster.

6. activate maneuvering engines on orbiter and circularize orbit.

7. switch back to central booster then stage it and deploy the landing legs

8. Wait for it to land and hope it landed on solid ground:)

Returning very similar to landing most other space planes although do note that it is not the most maneuverable plane by any means.

I would also recommend using Kerbal engineer or a similar mod in order to see your

apoapsis in the fight view.

some pics of the Kuran.

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I do plan on eventually make a larger version of this with the mk3 parts as well as a plane launched version and a mini version.

Edited February 19, 2015 by epicfacecanada