[VIDEO] Spacey 3's second successful flight (vert. launch, horizontal landing)

[jayther]

Here is Spacey 3\'s second successful full flight. Full flight meaning vertical launch, orbit, and horizontally landing on the runway.

I posted a thread about Spacey 3\'s first flight, but it was just pictures as I didn\'t actually plan to have a successful flight. x]

Also, the video is sort of long (especially the descent part), so you can skip around. -]

[Ted]

That\'s a pretty amazing thing to be able to do.

Most of the time when I try that I either land just in front of the runway and explode upon hitting the runway, or I run out of fuel and smack into the mountains.

Well done!

[jayther]

Hehe yeah, it\'s a lot of eyeing it. This second time I actually positioned the periapsis just before the space center\'s continent behind the mountains at a near 70km height. This was really an educated guess, and it worked out pretty well after a few adjustments when you\'re already in the atmosphere.

It\'s pretty nerve-wrecking nevertheless. x] I\'ve gotten used to getting into orbit, but the descent is always tricky with this space shuttle. I\'m always paranoid that if the speed and angle of descent is too fast and steep, the ship will flip and fly backwards (because it has the tendency to do that, and I fail to recover). I\'ve gotten better with the fuel consumption, though, which is always a plus.

[Ted]

I\'ve had a few instances where upon descent back into the atmosphere I\'ve become stuck in a never-ending spin because I re-entered too steeply. One of the worst things about re-entry via space-plane is that it takes so long, it can be a good ten minutes until you\'re near the KSC, very frustrating if things go badly at the last minute.

[jayther]

Yeah, the never-ending spin is quite annoying. I\'ve found that ASAS (or the Avionics package) tends to do this because it will always try to go back to the original position, but the speed of the spin is so fast that the ASAS sometimes makes it worse (and with Avionics package, it\'s not enough to stop the spin at all).

The solution I came up with was with the same trick I use with just rockets, where I tap the SAS key (not the toggle) multiple times so it will gain a new target direction for the ASAS, thus slowing it down at least. Even with this solution, though, if I fall into the atmosphere too steep, I will at least stop the spinning, but it will be stuck flying backwards. This usually happens in my failed launches (I don\'t reach an orbit) where I go down at a steep angle.

And yes, I agree with you about reentering with a space-plane. So much time invested only to fail at the end. The last half of the video is just the descent part x]

[ColdFire75]

How did you get it to balance on takeoff?

[jayther]

Immediately after launch, I rolled the shuttle so the shuttle\'s back is facing the direction I want to go to, and pitched up slowly (with the SAS (avionics package and normal SAS) and RCS on). The shuttle has the tendency to pitch down, which is why the shuttle\'s back is facing towards the ground (like how real space shuttles actually launch). Even then, I still had to hold the pitch up key to counteract the shuttle\'s tendency to pitch down.

If you mean keeping it balanced roll-wise, it\'s really just minor adjustments during takeoff and keeping an eye on the navball. The avionics package helps a lot in keeping it at a steady direction and roll angle while still be influenced by manual control.

[combat squirrel]

Thats amazing mate !! impressed !

[jayther]

Hehe thanks! -]