Best First Flight

[sevenperforce]

When career mode starts, all you have is the parachute, the basic command module, and the RT-5 SRB. Your launch pad also has a 30-part, 18-tonne limit.

However, you have full access to staging, and explosive decoupling is always a possibility. You can also set the individual fuel and thrust levels of each RT-5 during assembly.

With a few tricks, it might be possible to squeeze quite a bit of dV out of an appropriately-designed vehicle within those limitations. Who wants to give it a go?

EDIT:

At Ultimate Steve's suggestion, I'm making two leaderboards: one for maximum altitude, one for maximum velocity. 

SPEEDSTERS:

1. Ultimate Steve (1.891 km/s)

2. 

3. 

SOARERS:

1. Ultimate Steve (338.14 km)

2.

3. 

Edited December 13, 2016 by sevenperforce
Added leaderboard

[Ultimate Steve]

I'll give it a go, however I think that scoring should be based off of altitude. You could have separate leaderboards for each, however.

EDIT: I tried it. Rocket:

Just under mass limit. The 3 outer boosters are set to 98 solid fuel, everything else is full. Decoupling was done explosively.

1891m/s max speed. Actually a bit more, but It's hard to time the screenshots accurately.

338140m max altitude. I just realized I forgot to drain the monopropellant, so there is room for improvement.

 

Edited December 13, 2016 by Ultimate Steve

[Jomica_YT]

Here is my attempt with video and screenshots, I figured it was fitting for my first challenge. Mostly the same design as Ultimate Steve. I can't remember exactly which SRB I adjusted, but it was within the bottom 4.

Speed:1971 m/s

Altitude: 346,286m