Shuttle Challenge v3 - The 1.1.x STS thread [Stock and Mod Friendly][11.10.2016 - CLOSED FOR REFURBISHMENT]

[algeo]

I went straight on to the next one. This time with mods.

Mods used: Mechjeb (info window only), FAR, SpaceY, Tweakscale, Fuel Tanks Plus.

Mods installed: Many others, none of them used for this mission.

---

Craft specifics:

 

Name: Space Shuttle "Ablator" (Because it amused me since I put a fuel tank nosecone on the shuttle, knowing full well that it would explode as soon as I tried to re-enter).

Left-hand stats are with carrier. Right-hand stats are shuttle only.

Weight: 1,704.353t/170.214t

Parts: 65/53

Delta-v: 3718 atmo / 2217 vac

Cost: 977k/110k

--

Unlike my stock shuttle, this one flew like a dream (and looked nice - except for the tanks in the wings... I wish the wings could carry LF and oxidizer). I did have some amusing problems, though. For instance, I didn't notice that the sub-assembly had solar panels and decided to deactivate batteries on it to allow a trip to apoapsis without draining the charge. Unwittingly I deactivated the charge in the probe core .

And all potential fuel concerns were, of course, thrown out the window with such a large carrier. In fact, during my test run I went for a 100km orbit with a gravity turn and realised that the carrier had to be dumped with lots of fuel left in it and I needed less than 500m/s in the shuttle for circularization, maneuvers for the sub-assembly, and de-orbit. That didn't feel very challenging so I decided instead to go as high as the carrier would allow me.

This challenge really renewed my appreciation for mods like Tweakscale when making wings and stuff.      

---

Images:

 

Edited May 4, 2016 by algeo

[Speeding Mullet]

On 5/2/2016 at 11:13 PM, Alchemist said:

And now I have to compile the video report.

 

Nice look forward to seeing the report and awarding you the relevant badge!

 

On 5/2/2016 at 11:13 PM, Alchemist said:

Or, if I can launch Buran with full bay of spare fuel, it should be able to use it to intercept something on its own. Speaking of which, I seem to have found a low hanging fruit:

Yep a single launch would qualify you for commander as long as you land on the runway, otherwise pilot it is .  Now that is low hanging fruit even though the inclination looks to be a little challenging.  When I learnt how to intercept potatoes I actually found them easier to intercept them in interplanetary space rather than once they'd entered the SOI.  That one's still interplanetary, go get it and enjoy the aero-brake

Nice Energia mission thanks for the link!

 

On 5/2/2016 at 7:05 AM, Ace Warbringer said:

this one made it to 200x200km. but needs work for reentry. after looking at everyone else's  it almost feels like a kids toy.

as @cadaverific says there's a lot of very experienced shuttle builders kicking around this challenge and the forum in general so don't get disheartened as everyone would have gone through different phases of ability when designing them .  There's some great info in the original 2 challenge threads as well as in other areas of the forum.  I can link you to some useful places if you need help in development, and we can also help you here if you like!

 

On 5/4/2016 at 0:10 PM, cadaverific said:

In other news on my end, the 1.1.2 update really messed up my mods quite a bit on CKAN, so i'll be waiting a bit before i can do anything. The double update and probably future hotfixes will stall me for a bit in the modded end. I may just post my rescue mission first just because.

Ditto, I've been waiting a few days to see everything catch up with CKAN and am going to check in tonight and see what is install-able.  I'm comfortable waiting for your mission rather than you posting out of challenge order, it will confuse me less

 

14 hours ago, n.b.z. said:

So since I spammed this thread with nitpicking about the rules, I guess it's my time to provide an entry.

Because, not long after I had built Some Shuttle, Inigma Industries had contracted me to take their 42t fuel pod up to the highest possible Kerbin orbit.

Which stunned everyone on the shuttle program, as neither the weight, nor the size of that thing was really within the payload specs that the designers had in mind. So the brand new shuttle was immediately and hastily tinkered with, mainly to find some more room in the cargo bay. One of these rather improvised fixes later almost ruined the mission.

I shall point out that the shuttle itself is not at all original or interesting. Standard stock parts were slapped together to produce just another clone of the concept.

One thing that might be worth mentioning: since there is no center tank in the orbiter, the main engines can receive fuel only from the external tank. And since the OMS engines are placed on radially attached tanks without fuel lines, they can only deplete their own dedicated OMS fuel.

However, there is one crucial piece of equipment that sets this shuttle apart from others. Carefully stepping around the rule prohibiting autopilot mods, it carries an array of no less than four TiltProbeCore™ units to provide valuable flight assistance. Namely, the ability to use SAS PROGRADE for the entire ascent. I really don't want to sound too arrogant here, but this fact very likely means that my shuttle is a whopping four probe cores cooler than yours.

CHALLENGE LEVEL:
    STS-1 Bonus Fuel Pod Mission (stock)

VEHICLE:
    Some Shuttle
    
CREW:
    Tecy (commanding pilot)
    Lubo (pilot)
    Tanlock (engineering payload specialist)
    Triliana (scientific payload specialist)

MODS:
    The vessel is 100% stock.
    All installed mods:

• Cursor Deleter
• Environmental Visual Enhancements
• Kopernicus
• Outer Planets Mod
• PlanetShine
• PoodsOPMVO ("Pood's Outer Planets Mod Visual Overhaul" which doesn't work yet for 1.1.2)
• Scatterer
• ModuleManager

PAYLOAD ORBIT:
    After payload release: periapsis 333,236 m / apoapsis 333,252 m
    After shuttle landing: periapsis 333,219 m / apoapsis 333,227 m

PLATFORM:
    KSP 1.1.2 Win64

MISSION REPORT:

*Gallery Snip*

You didn't spam at all - clarity is good.  Spamming would have called in the mods I'm sure .  I do rather like your addition of the Tiltprobecore assistance.  I've seen it done before but never incorporated it into my shuttles for fear of part escalation.  Now that I'm good for that and we have 64 bit and I have a Gerty 3000 rather than a laptop these are all the little QOL things that I'm going to have to catch up with.  By the way the thread is excellently arranged as is your mission entry, and I can confirm that your shuttle is 4 probe cores cooler than mine (at the moment  ).

I'm awarding you in the stock category as all the mods listed have not altered the physics system in which you fly by the looks of it.  Please correct me if I am wrong though!  333.23km and a fantastic mission report.  The shuttle is detailed and you have clearly thought through a lot to get to where you are in the design iteration so congratulations and wear your badges with much pride.  I will update the leader-board shortly.  

 

 

14 hours ago, algeo said:

I thought I'd try my hand at this.

 

Mods used: MechJeb (only for the info window seen in the lower right hand corner of the images), FAR (because it's installed and I didn't feel like deactivating anything)

Mods in install: Maaaaaany. However the only ones that had any effect on the mission were the two mentioned above. I consider it stock with an info window and a more annoying atmosphere (didn't use the FAR info window as that would've made keeping the shuttle stable on descent easier). I went out of my way to make sure I used no modded parts and never rescaled anything. I have no other mods that affect the atmosphere or anything like that.

---

Craft specifics:

 

Name: Space Shuttle "Wonky" (a well deserved name, though "Wobbly" might've been more accurate).

Left-hand stats are with carrier. Right-hand stats are shuttle only.

Weight: 391.928t/123.083t

Parts: 81/62

Delta-v: 2319 atmo/ 3390 vac -- This is kind of pointless actually. I used all engines both in atmo and vac, and both separately and together. Around 5.5 to 5.8k in total anyhow. Complete overkill which just gave me problems on descent.

Cost: 302k/123k

---

The craft was wobbly and awful (mostly due to having the COM way too far back), but I had fun doing the challenge. As you may have noticed... I'm more of a spacecraft-person than a plane-person... that's what made this challenging for me I suppose.  I may consider doing the more difficult ones, but if I do I'll go modded instead of stock. Some SpaceY and Tweakscale would probably result in a much more stable craft.

---

I'm not sure if siphoning fuel from the carrier is against the rules. I couldn't find any such rule. Anyway, as you can see from the images I hardly needed the fuel I siphoned. I'm just a bit paranoid.

---

Images:

*Gallery Snip*

 

There's a lot of wing on that one for sure!  Interesting that you've gone without strap-on boosters, but evidence by siphoning fuel from the main tank (totally allowed by the way) that you didn't need them anyway.  Does far require less or more Dv to get to orbit on average?  I think your shuttle has a bright future ahead of it, and feel free to swap over to the modded category (and back) as you see fit for the different challenges.  Here's your badge!  

 

8 hours ago, algeo said:

I went straight on to the next one. This time with mods.

Mods used: Mechjeb (info window only), FAR, SpaceY, Tweakscale, Fuel Tanks Plus.

Mods installed: Many others, none of them used for this mission.

---

Craft specifics:

 

Name: Space Shuttle "Ablator" (Because it amused me since I put a fuel tank nosecone on the shuttle, knowing full well that it would explode as soon as I tried to re-enter).

Left-hand stats are with carrier. Right-hand stats are shuttle only.

Weight: 1,704.353t/170.214t

Parts: 65/53

Delta-v: 3718 atmo / 2217 vac

Cost: 977k/110k

--

Unlike my stock shuttle, this one flew like a dream (and looked nice - except for the tanks in the wings... I wish the wings could carry LF and oxidizer). I did have some amusing problems, though. For instance, I didn't notice that the sub-assembly had solar panels and decided to deactivate batteries on it to allow a trip to apoapsis without draining the charge. Unwittingly I deactivated the charge in the probe core .

And all potential fuel concerns were, of course, thrown out the window with such a large carrier. In fact, during my test run I went for a 100km orbit with a gravity turn and realised that the carrier had to be dumped with lots of fuel left in it and I needed less than 500m/s in the shuttle for circularization, maneuvers for the sub-assembly, and de-orbit. That didn't feel very challenging so I decided instead to go as high as the carrier would allow me.

This challenge really renewed my appreciation for mods like Tweakscale when making wings and stuff.      

---

Images:

*Gallery Snip*

 

Now that is a fat main tank!  It's amazing what a difference a few mods make, and that 42t payload was lofted big time granting you the top spot on the leader-board for the modded category.  Water landings are indeed allowed, and @Evanitis will testify to that with his amazing recovery here landing the shuttle upside down in the drink!

 

With the above said you have run another nice mission here and gone back and done the land-landing to moot my point anyway, and I am pleased to award you your Flight Director's badge and will update the leader-board shortly.:  

 

 

In other news I am just waiting on CKAN to roll through a few more mods then I'm going to be flying a few experimental development missions of my own aimed towards a new STS challenge or two.  I think this is required as people are rapidly eating through the challenges and I've always wanted to extend the mandate of this challenge thread.  If you have a good idea for a mission please feel free to PM me rather than lay out the idea directly in the thread.

Great to see all the shuttles being built and flown here, keep it up!

 

SM

 

[algeo]

43 minutes ago, Speeding Mullet said:

There's a lot of wing on that one for sure!  Interesting that you've gone without strap-on boosters, but evidence by siphoning fuel from the main tank (totally allowed by the way) that you didn't need them anyway.  Does far require less or more Dv to get to orbit on average?  I think your shuttle has a bright future ahead of it, and feel free to swap over to the modded category (and back) as you see fit for the different challenges.  Here's your badge!  

 

 

With FAR it really depends. If you happen to make the most aerodynamic craft known to kerbalkind you'll probably get to orbit with much less dv required, but generally I think FAR adds some Dv required for orbit (especially if your craft isn't a perfect rocket-shape as more course corrections will likely be needed, and you'll be slowed down by any flat surface).

What I mean to say is that it can adjust the dv needed both negatively and positively... it really depends on the craft. With something like this it might add some at least, since it is far from symmetrical with the shuttle on one side and nothing else balancing out the drag and weight on the other side. If it were just the shuttle it'd get to orbit with far less dv required than with the shuttle and the carrier.

It's fun though! And you really have to build on feeling. Generally I use the VAB/SPH FAR tool to get all my numbers just right for all elevations and velocities, but with something as asymmetrical as this, all that window tells me is "EVERYTHING IS RED! WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"  

 

I also forgot to mention something funny in the album for the Ablator. I wanted to go for a KSC landing with the second landing, but with clouds in the map view I completely misidentified the continent and landed somewhere else entirely. That's far more of a nuissance than FAR, but I know people have complained about this so maybe that'll be toggleable at some point in the future.  

Edited May 5, 2016 by algeo
Clarifying

[Speeding Mullet]

On 5/5/2016 at 6:07 PM, algeo said:

With FAR it really depends.

Nice thanks for the description!  Personally I also love building on feeling and although I have mj installed so can review delta-v readouts I mostly just guess and see what happens.  It's more fun and it gives you a real instinct after a while as to what is going to get you there, and hopefully back.  Prime example of that recently with my first mission to Moho, where I had to get out and push to make it home .

 

In other news, development of the STS-10 Mission is continuing. Here's a teaser on the idea in principle, but there's a lot of fleshing out to go to make it worthy of the STS-10 label.  I've seen a lot of mods have been updated for 1.1.2 now, so hopefully we can get some more entries coming in as everything calms down post 1.1.x

SM

 

 

 

 

 

[Alchemist]

10 hours ago, Speeding Mullet said:

In other news, development of the STS-10 Mission is continuing. Here's a teaser on the idea in principle, but there's a lot of fleshing out to go to make it worthy of the STS-10 label.  I've seen a lot of mods have been updated for 1.1.2 now, so hopefully we can get some more entries coming in as everything calms down post 1.1.x

Interplanetary mission? interesting...

 

On other notes... I'll have to find another target for STS-9. I sent the ship I've assembled to inspect the "Class A" rock I've detected and I have something to discuss with the guys at the tracking station...

Class A, Jeb's S! It turned out heavier than this ship!

At least the ship is now 100% full of everything... and the rock still has a few tons of ore left.

 

Update: apparently the asteroids are bugged - they all have the mass of 150 t

Edited May 9, 2016 by Alchemist

[luizopiloto]

just by curiosity... if I use KER and RCS build Aid... my shuttle, 100% stock parts, will be defined as stock or modded?

[Speeding Mullet]

16 hours ago, Alchemist said:

At least the ship is now 100% full of everything... and the rock still has a few tons of ore left.

Oh gutted so either land a whopper heavy asteroid or wait for 1.1.3 in a few weeks time then?

Yep interplanetary mission for STS-10.  Just doing some trial runs to see if the objectives are realistic and also fun then should be good to go in a few days or so!

 

8 hours ago, luizopiloto said:

just by curiosity... if I use KER and RCS build Aid... my shuttle, 100% stock parts, will be defined as stock or modded?

Hi there you will be defined as stock as the mods listed are only Quality of Life mods rather than part mods.  Good luck with your design can't wait to see - The picture on page one you posted is a superb teaser

 

SM

 

 

[luizopiloto]

Sorry... but Pegasus is not safe to fly with the current bugs in 1.1.2... and Bahamuto didn't update his landing gear mod yet...

Beside that... here is my entry:

STS - Navigator

Crew:
Commander: Jebediah Kerman
Pilot: Valentina Kerman
Specialist 1: Bob Kerman
Specialist 2: Bill Murray Bill Kerman

Payload:
STS Fuel Pod
Deployed Orbit: Ap: 465,199.6m / Pe: 465,023.8m

Instaled Mods:
KER - Kerbal Engineer Redux
RCS Build Aid
PlanetShine
KAC - Kerbal Alarm Clock
Scatterer
TextureReplacer
Chatterer

This for sure was the heaviest payload this shuttle had to carry to orbit.
The original cargobay configuration had to be modified to fit payload inside.
The entire mission was complete  w/o any incidents, besides Specialist1 almost faint during launch, but it was expected.
Landing was a bit more rough than usual but the craft survived w/o any damage... (missing body lift in 1.1.2)
 

 

Edited May 10, 2016 by luizopiloto

[Speeding Mullet]

16 hours ago, luizopiloto said:

Sorry... but Pegasus is not safe to fly with the current bugs in 1.1.2... and Bahamuto didn't update his landing gear mod yet...

Beside that... here is my entry:

STS - Navigator

Crew:
Commander: Jebediah Kerman
Pilot: Valentina Kerman
Specialist 1: Bob Kerman
Specialist 2: Bill Murray Bill Kerman

Payload:
STS Fuel Pod
Deployed Orbit: Ap: 465,199.6m / Pe: 465,023.8m

Instaled Mods:
KER - Kerbal Engineer Redux
RCS Build Aid
PlanetShine
KAC - Kerbal Alarm Clock
Scatterer
TextureReplacer
Chatterer

*Gallery snip*

This for sure was the heaviest payload this shuttle had to carry to orbit.
The original cargobay configuration had to be modified to fit payload inside.
The entire mission was complete  w/o any incidents, besides Specialist1 almost faint during launch, but it was expected.
Landing was a bit more rough than usual but the craft survived w/o any damage... (missing body lift in 1.1.2)
 

 

That's a nice clean mission for sure!  Just for interests sake whats the array you have on the top of the tail fin there?  Interesting that body lift is missing in 1.1.2, I've been experiencing some issues with aero-braking around planets and stability and was wondering what the culprit was.  Possibly this.  Hopefully a fix is coming soon!

I'm pleased to be able to award you the both the STS Commander - Rank 1 and Flight Director Badges.  Please obtain your badges here:  

 

EDIT:  I've also just updated the scoreboard to reflect the latest missions!

SM

Edited May 11, 2016 by Speeding Mullet

[Leeman]

This looks interessting.. However, given the fact, that I myself already fail at the part you call the easiest I will be only a bystander I guess

[Speeding Mullet]

1 minute ago, Leeman said:

This looks interessting.. However, given the fact, that I myself already fail at the part you call the easiest I will be only a bystander I guess

It is interesting, very interesting and you are tempted.  There are loads of helpful people on this thread that have gone through the Shuttle development fail cycle.  We'll be able to help out with pointers and advice if you want to get involved .  You could also think about borrowing someone else's shuttle and compete for the Astronaut badge as a starting point if you like.  Happy to share my Buran if you wanted...

SM

[ZooNamedGames]

Do I get anything for my Saturn Shuttle Program, since it's based on the early US Space Shuttle Program? Especially their earlier design concepts for the shuttle design? It even looks like it...

Edited May 11, 2016 by ZooNamedGames

[Speeding Mullet]

18 minutes ago, ZooNamedGames said:

Do I get anything for my Saturn Shuttle Program, since it's based on the early US Space Shuttle Program? Especially their earlier design concepts for the shuttle design? It even looks like it...

 

It certainly fits within the defined parameters of a shuttle as per page one of the thread and what a thing that would have been to see launch IRL had it made it!!.  

I'm sorely tempted to award you STS Commander - Rank 1 but I've had a look through all the pages of your thread and while you have clearly run a good few successful missions I have to apply rule six to keep things fair:   "All missions require either an Imgur album showing each stage of the flight, or a continuous (1 take only) video showing all stages of the flight".

Unless I've missed something glaringly obvious I'll have to ask if you can upload a gallery of one of your flights to orbit and back I will award you at the relevant level, and also remind me which mod it is that does the blueprint style pictures if you would be so kind?

Hope to see your maiden entry soon

SM

 

[ZooNamedGames]

23 minutes ago, Speeding Mullet said:

 

It certainly fits within the defined parameters of a shuttle as per page one of the thread and what a thing that would have been to see launch IRL had it made it!!.  

I'm sorely tempted to award you STS Commander - Rank 1 but I've had a look through all the pages of your thread and while you have clearly run a good few successful missions I have to apply rule six to keep things fair:   "All missions require either an Imgur album showing each stage of the flight, or a continuous (1 take only) video showing all stages of the flight".

Unless I've missed something glaringly obvious I'll have to ask if you can upload a gallery of one of your flights to orbit and back I will award you at the relevant level, and also remind me which mod it is that does the blueprint style pictures if you would be so kind?

Hope to see your maiden entry soon

SM

 

I have two albums which may be of interest then! One is just a general splash of all Saturn Shuttle related images, and the other is specific to SSM-11. Should neither of these prove enough for you- I can dedicate SSM-15 photos as proof.

General Picture Album-

SSM-11 Picture Album-

 

 

 

[Alchemist]

24 minutes ago, Leeman said:

This looks interessting.. However, given the fact, that I myself already fail at the part you call the easiest I will be only a bystander I guess

Making something asymmetric go up there and making something with this kind of aerodynamics fly and land safely - that's actually the hardest part and requires some fine balancing. The rest is about how well that is achieved - payload capacity, launch precision, maneuverability, navigating to the runway... Getting it to work at all may be more difficult than getting it to work good enough for some particular mission after that (unless you accidentally make something incapable of some mission at all, at least without major overhaul).

 

And here's the video of the orbital assembly

(but it looks like youtube doesn't like something about it - it's not supposed to be this gray!)

 

[ZooNamedGames]

@Speeding Mullet Once you make your decision as to whether or not I qualify, you can also help suggest payload/crew/mission ideas  . Probably best in a PM though so ideas aren't leaked.

Lastly- you asked what I used to make my blue print, and tbh someone else made it for me. Idk who since he did that for me prior to the 2015 December forum transition and due to his disappearance I was not able to save his name down, although I did repeatedly request that he add his name to the final product. So if he ever sees this, please contact me bro! I love that image!! Get the credit you deserve!

[luizopiloto]

10 hours ago, Speeding Mullet said:

That's a nice clean mission for sure!  Just for interests sake whats the array you have on the top of the tail fin there?  Interesting that body lift is missing in 1.1.2, I've been experiencing some issues with aero-braking around planets and stability and was wondering what the culprit was.  Possibly this.  Hopefully a fix is coming soon!

I'm pleased to be able to award you the both the STS Commander - Rank 1 and Flight Director Badges.  Please obtain your badges here:  

 

EDIT:  I've also just updated the scoreboard to reflect the latest missions!

SM

That thing is supposed to mimic the SILTS pod from Columbia... It have some sensors to get readings during reentry... :3
Regarding the body lift bug, Claw released a fix in his Stock Bug Fix mod last night...

Edited May 11, 2016 by luizopiloto

[Speeding Mullet]

19 hours ago, ZooNamedGames said:

I have two albums which may be of interest then! One is just a general splash of all Saturn Shuttle related images, and the other is specific to SSM-11. Should neither of these prove enough for you- I can dedicate SSM-15 photos as proof.

Can you dedicate SSM-15 as proof please.  These photos are great but I really need to see the mission played out from launch to landing in order to be able to award. I hope you understand

What I can do though is award you the Skunkworks badge which doesn't actually require a full mission to have been played out.  Due to the unusual nature of your shuttle design (most that are presented are STS or Buran style shuttles) I believe you deserve this to get you going!

16 hours ago, ZooNamedGames said:

Lastly- you asked what I used to make my blue print

I figured it out, or at least the next best thing if this wasn't what actually made it.  It's the KVV Mod (There's a showcase here).

 

18 hours ago, Alchemist said:

And here's the video of the orbital assembly

I just love the way the first payload shakes itself apart from the main tank when it reaches orbit haha!  The third landing was a little shaky there I thought you weren't going to spot the throttle was still up!  So nice having air breathers on a shuttle it makes a huge difference imho, not that you need it as your shuttle de-orbits beautifully every time!  Another great video to accompany my home from work cup of tea there Alchemist and thoroughly worthy of the mission badge.  Here you are, Maxvy and Rodon obviously are very skilled pilots: 

 

12 hours ago, luizopiloto said:

That thing is supposed to mimic the SILTS pod from Columbia... It have some sensors to get readings during reentry... :3
Regarding the body lift bug, Claw released a fix in his Stock Bug Fix mod last night...

Ahhh ok.  I'll check our the Stock Bug Fix.  Pretty sure it's on CKAN already.  Thanks!

 

SM

[Alchemist]

1 hour ago, Speeding Mullet said:

I just love the way the first payload shakes itself apart from the main tank when it reaches orbit haha!  The third landing was a little shaky there I thought you weren't going to spot the throttle was still up!  So nice having air breathers on a shuttle it makes a huge difference imho, not that you need it as your shuttle de-orbits beautifully every time

I honestly have no idea, why did it shake itself apart (some bug caused the engines to start wildly dancing when the tank ran dry. And then I press stage separation and it explodes instead).

Third landing was a bit nose-heavy. And the engines on the top make the nose-heaviness even worse - should have switched them off before touchdown. Yeah, this video perfectly demonstrates how lousy of a pilot I am, when it comes to landing an aircraft.

In 1.1 my Buran seems to glide slightly worse than it used to in 1.0.5. And tend to undershoot where it used to overshoot (the way I aimed the first landing - it tended to slightly bounce off the atmosphere when coming down from such altitudes and get to the point with such aiming; this time it resulted in quite an OMS boost being necessary to not end up on the wrong coast) ...
Although, after the mission I made a small modification to reduce drag a bit and then it turned out capable of sustained flight (barely, at full throttle, under 100 m/s and with no chance of any significant climbing) on the jets. That is, it took off from the runway using its own jets - the real one wasn't even supposed to do this.

2 hours ago, Speeding Mullet said:

Another great video to accompany my home from work cup of tea there Alchemist and thoroughly worthy of the mission badge.  Here you are, Maxvy and Rodon obviously are very skilled pilots: 

Thanks for kind review (on behalf of the entire crew participated in the operation)! Totally liked experimenting with the different docking options.

[michal.don]

Hello,

I humbly present my new Shuttle, Kolumbia. I started with the first mission, but am confident that Kolumbia is capable of more. I'll probably attempt the next few challenges over the weekend.

The mods I used for the shuttle are KER and the SRBs are from the SpaceY pack. I have a few more mods installed, but I don't think ay of them are involved.

The shuttle doesn't have any RCS yet, but I'll need to include some for the orbital assembly mission, I hope it is not a problem.

Michal.don

[Speeding Mullet]

21 hours ago, Alchemist said:

In 1.1 my Buran seems to glide slightly worse

I'm going to try the stock bug fix this evening and see if it makes a difference and I am assuming it's lack of body lift caused by a bug....No problems with the review by the way, a total pleasure!

14 hours ago, michal.don said:

Hello,

I humbly present my new Shuttle, Kolumbia. I started with the first mission, but am confident that Kolumbia is capable of more. I'll probably attempt the next few challenges over the weekend.

*Gallery Snip*

The mods I used for the shuttle are KER and the SRBs are from the SpaceY pack. I have a few more mods installed, but I don't think ay of them are involved.

The shuttle doesn't have any RCS yet, but I'll need to include some for the orbital assembly mission, I hope it is not a problem.

Michal.don

Welcome to the challenge @michal.don good to see another shuttle being developed.  Those SpaceY boosters certainly look to do the job and the shuttle looks nice and clean too!  I'm very sure that you have a shuttle capable of more than basic flight there already and I'm not too worried about RCS for your initial entry, but it is a system you should integrate before going further if only for your own sanity.  Look forward to seeing more entries from the Kolumbia 

Here's your badge!  

 

SM

 

[ZooNamedGames]

On ‎5‎/‎12‎/‎2016 at 3:24 AM, Speeding Mullet said:

Can you dedicate SSM-15 as proof please.  These photos are great but I really need to see the mission played out from launch to landing in order to be able to award. I hope you understand

What I can do though is award you the Skunkworks badge which doesn't actually require a full mission to have been played out.  Due to the unusual nature of your shuttle design (most that are presented are STS or Buran style shuttles) I believe you deserve this to get you going!

Surprise! I have better than a mega sized slide show of the mission! I have a VIDEO... and the first of it's kind! Never have I made a video for the Saturn Shuttle series and the biggest reason why is because this 22 minute video really took me about an hour and 30 minutes to run through! Honestly! You can tell by eyeballing the FPS counter in the top right... but anyway, here's your video-

Now where's my medal? XD  . (jk) Don't cut me short like the Rebel Alliance did to Chewie.

Edited May 13, 2016 by ZooNamedGames

[Alchemist]

2 hours ago, ZooNamedGames said:

Never have I made a video for the Saturn Shuttle series and the biggest reason why is because this 22 minute video really took me about an hour and 30 minutes to run through! Honestly! You can tell by eyeballing the FPS counter in the top right...

reminds me of that time I made I made N1-L3 in 1.0.4.The first stage actually ran under 1 fps on my old PC  and was a total "let's just hope it doesn't flip".
On the other side, landing at low FPS is much easier than in real time.

Interesting concept.

[Speeding Mullet]

7 hours ago, ZooNamedGames said:

Surprise! I have better than a mega sized slide show of the mission! I have a VIDEO...

Ah yes, I see you got up to the heady heights of 2.7 frames per second at one point.  Is that as a result of recording, or is it always that taxing on your computer?  I absolutely love the Saturn Shuttle.  the more I look at it the more I see it's definitely worthy of the Skunkworks badge.  That thing is a total beast!  Great deployment of the payload and considering your fps a nicely executed mission.  Lol'd when you deployed the drag chute at 10m/s haha!

Totally not going to hold out on you, here's your badge!  

 

SM

[ZooNamedGames]

31 minutes ago, Speeding Mullet said:

Ah yes, I see you got up to the heady heights of 2.7 frames per second at one point.  Is that as a result of recording, or is it always that taxing on your computer?  I absolutely love the Saturn Shuttle.  the more I look at it the more I see it's definitely worthy of the Skunkworks badge.  That thing is a total beast!  Great deployment of the payload and considering your fps a nicely executed mission.  Lol'd when you deployed the drag chute at 10m/s haha!

Totally not going to hold out on you, here's your badge!  

 

SM

Thanks It's been a long time going, but I've made a lot of progress with her! I'm just happy to see her finally getting her moment to shine. She may be insane as a concept but she's beautiful to me.

I'm glad to join the Skunkworks list! I see it's very bare, so I'm glad to be brining life to it  .

She is a beast, I think she can get to 10 million meters (Mun is a t 11.2million), and that's her surface ceiling (noting no payload, and not likely to get back without lots of effort and or a refuel). I hope you continue to read up on the stories from the program as well!

I deployed the chute to keep it similar to the shuttle missions- but your right unneeded.