Shuttle Challenge v4 - The STS thread [Stock and Mod Friendly] [THREAD CLOSED 06.08.17]

[53miner53]

I decided to use 3x the delta v to have a much shorter and slightly slower reentry to account for the fact Columbia was balanced around having the monopropellant tanks full and not around them being almost empty. Aiming to overshoot is I good idea though, I may stealborrow that idea. 

[BubbleWrap]

The Mk.2 continues to prove its reliability as Orbiter Number 7 returns from another successful mission. More planning required before attempting to land a payload like this again, as it pushed the limits of my mediocre flying skills. I'm pretty sure I would have killed the crew had I tried this in a Mk.1. http://imgur.com/a/njuGB

 

40T of contaminated fuel pod successfully baked and returned to the surface, STS-2b complete.

Orbiter Number 7 now gets a well-earned break as the newly qualified Mk.2a Orbiter Number 8 is up for the next mission, which will also feature a full four-kerbal crew for the first time.

[wrench-in-the-works]

aww yiss its back. time for more pointlessly complicated missions. Just to clarify, I can start off from STS-3 (as I already did 1&2 from v3)?

[vladd148]

STS 9! Unfortunately, for the first time I underestimated the task at hand, and was unable to land on the runway due to various hypersonic and transonic instabilities caused by the space potato. Nonetheless, I would like to claim my STS-9 pilot badge!

Album: http://imgur.com/a/dcHGz

 

 

I will likely revisit this one as it was quite the challenge, so I may one day be space potato commander certified!!

[Alchemist]

On 20.02.2017 at 9:08 AM, Speeding Mullet said:

Definitely want to see you de-orbit the stricken Shuttle.  I think @Alchemist just up and landed his on the back of one of his monster HRO's?!

I'm pretty sure I wasn't the first who recovered a shuttle from orbit with a larger carrier aircraft (so why not do the same if I also got something capable of doing so). But if I remember correctly, that entry was done with KAS used to secure such payload, I managed to get away with just the claw. And to be honest, after a rock of almost the same weight, carrying something with actual aerodynamics was no problem whatsoever

On 20.02.2017 at 9:08 AM, Speeding Mullet said:

 I really liked the point about shifting the fuel and watching the response from the SAS input.  That is a clever clever trick to get everything balanced nicely in the stock game!  

Interesting fact: Buran actually had kerosene pumped between forward and rear tanks before reentry to fine-tune the balance.

Of course, for a vehicle designed to just grab some heavy payload and bring it down (and that's a job that only a shuttle can do!) you need either a very fine tuning before the launch or the ability to significantly adjust balance on the fly. And early stage of reentry is a good option to get feedback on how well balanced it is (just be sure to do it quick before you manage to lose control due to wrong balance). And what else would you expect from a vehicle capable of actually flying with a huge rock on top?

On 20.02.2017 at 9:08 AM, Speeding Mullet said:

 I suspected when I was designing this that the HRO would just be able to do it.

With this modification originally intended to deploy a mobile miner (although designing the miner than can be packed in there turned out to be a big challenge, so for the actual Duna mission I tried a different mining system, which turned out to be quite the kraken bait, and only after that I managed to make a viable rover for this) there was not much of contemplation about what to bring left after seeing the requirement to deploy a base.

If not for this requirement I would probably experiment with one VTOL miner shuttle I had somewhere

[Shadow dream]

The Station is built! (aka. gimm'e ma badge)

Here is the album, same as linked before, but this time with all the screen shots: https://imgur.com/a/O0Jr4 Not much story to it, just an usual Kerbal trip to space =)

 

Anyhow, I enjoy my shuttle, so if some of you want to grab the Astronaut Badge, here is the craft file: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/423933/Buran Kai MK1_1.craft (1.2.2). You need Raster Prop Monitor though since I have installed 2 Cameras. (No, they don't influence anything, it's just cool to have ) - Alternative: Here is a full stock version: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/423933/Buran Kai MK1_1 nocam.craft

She served me well and in it's current form is capable of dealing with all Missions from 1-8. You have to be careful on ascent though: She likes to yaw a little to the north. Also, depending on payload, you may have to shut down the top main engine of the trio-cluster on the shuttle (Hotkey 3) and switch it on later during ascent. This is needed for light payloads since the CoM is not centered enough between fuel tank n' shuttle and the offset of the CoT will result in more torque than the RWs can handle. It's not difficult, but forgetting it will result in nice fireworks! - a huge pro is on how easy she gets back to the ground. Once you have a good trajectory you can keep her prograde all the way and once sub-mach she is kind to fly. Also she does an "auto-jump up" which means somewhere along 30km height she will even out by herself, aiding to keep her cool (can be seen at the end of album). Once on runway use the chutes to stop and you are good to go! -- Hotkeys are: 1 - Main Engines; 2 - OMS; 3 Top Main Engine; 5 - Docking Bay; 6 - Cargo Bay; 7 - Solar Panels (inside docking bay)

 

Now for Mission 9:

So, I have to build a shuttle, launch it in 1 go, and it has to have enough dV to 1) orbit; 2) encounter an asteroid; 3) deorbit asteroid; 4) land on KSC with asteroid (on it's back + Kerbal riding it)?

[TheKorbinjer]

I've got a 300 ton (at launch) shuttle (48 ton boosters, 70 ton max shuttle (with 20T payload), and then the external 180T tank, capable of 350 km orbit with built-in OMS. Glides very well. It's in v1.2 or something like that. I'll take a look at it next week and update the link if anybody's interested.

[53miner53]

Columbia is somewhere between 90 and 100 tons for the LKO orbiter fully fueled without payload, 160 tons for fully fueled LR orbiter. I don't quite know what the total stack weighs, but both the takeoff weight and the payload limit depend on the external fuel tank (standard vs extended) the amount of boosters(it uses additional RT-10s for anything past light payloads to increase pad TWR so it doesn't run into its own launch clamps) and the orbiter version. It has a low Kerbin orbit version that was used first and works like the actual shuttle, and an extended range version that has plenty of delta v for maneuvering within Kerbin's SoI using 7 LV-N engines and has a heat shield for aerobraking and landing. 

Edited February 23, 2017 by 53miner53

[Fraus]

When you did the last ones somewhat and always ended up getting lazy and stopping, feel like I am gonna start anew even though I was at STS 4 and a flight director, so without further ado,

STS-1A, meet Odysseus.

http://imgur.com/a/4IBGu

 

When you've been working on your Apollo and Saturn designs and thought you may be the first of the v4 to make a Saturn Shuttle, le sigh.

Edited February 23, 2017 by Fraus

[vladd148]

I have been working on replacing the Behemoth class space shuttle, with a different design that favors interplanetary travel. 

Low and behold, the Gaia class STES (Space Transportation Interplanetary System)!

Dry weight: 65.3T

Fueled weight: 140T

Delta V: 4000 (can stretch that much further reorganizing the tanks)

 

Still in the prototype stages, with 3 completed takeoffs and landings (no external tanks or boosters). Next step will be a suborbital flight, followed by a full orbital flight prior to development of the launch vehicle.

[BubbleWrap]

Deployment of the Manned Orbital Observatory for STS-3 has been completed http://imgur.com/a/M9GXe

 

The MMUs went through five revisions before I settled on the type being used for this mission, but they are now permanently assigned to Orbiter 8, future orbiters will have them too and they have been accounted for in planning the space station missions. Since this wasn't planned to be a crewed station when the mission plan was drawn up, the observatory will function purely as a ground-controlled telescope until a launch slot opens up for crew delivery.

[wrench-in-the-works]

Here's my submission for STS-3 (i did 1 and 2 in v3 don't worry)  https://youtu.be/2WURaArG1QQ  (its processing at the time of posting but its there i promise). I had huge difficulty doing the docking and actually knocked the telescope out of a circular orbit in the process (which the video confirms definitely was placed in a circular orbit and then it wast after the docking shenanigans) so i hope that counts because i probably don't have the patience to do it again.

To @vladd148, how did you get those pictures like that? I've been looking around and I haven't found anything reliable.

Edited February 23, 2017 by wrench-in-the-works
forgot stuff im tired.

[Speeding Mullet]

On 2/21/2017 at 2:54 AM, vladd148 said:

 

Finished the STS-7 mission, adding the 3rd module to the space station. Was also trying out using the CobbFX for this one, and I must say that it looks great!

http://imgur.com/gallery/SdsG3

 

Nice work!  Can you talk us through re-shader?  Those screenshots look absolutely fantastic.  Is it post processing?

 

On 2/21/2017 at 3:03 AM, Scabank said:

Ok thx for the fast answer.

Mods used by me:

Cool excellent - you can sit in the stock category with the relevant badges!  I will update the OP shortly!

 

On 2/21/2017 at 7:20 AM, BubbleWrap said:

Performing STS-2b will, of course, require a fuel pod to retrieve and thus Orbiter Number 7 is back in space performing STS-1b first. http://imgur.com/a/CpQgm

Hey nice work - 500km with a 40t payload is no mean feat!  I will update the OP shortly, but here is your badge   

 

On 2/21/2017 at 8:32 AM, 53miner53 said:

STS 2a commander and 2b complete!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0eMT8zRijNmUGpvU3hidUE5VVU

Every time I see the ET on this is seems a little larger.  It's growing to horrific scale, but then your shuttle is colossal!  Nice work on these two missions!     

 

On 2/21/2017 at 9:14 AM, Scabank said:

 

Hello again, data for challenge 2 and 3

 

Awesome,. another video to watch.  Let me just grab my cup of tea.....right....Yep still by far and away the weirdist shuttle I've seen.  Have a badge good sir!     Have another one 

 

On 2/21/2017 at 10:41 AM, vladd148 said:

 

I would like to claim the STS Commander badge for STS 5-8! 

 

Well claimed, and a nice looking station!  Well done on getting to this stage, and good luck landing the rock.  You might have already done that on the next page, I haven't looked yet!  

 

[Speeding Mullet]

On 2/21/2017 at 1:43 PM, BubbleWrap said:

The Mk.2 continues to prove its reliability as Orbiter Number 7 returns from another successful mission. More planning required before attempting to land a payload like this again, as it pushed the limits of my mediocre flying skills. I'm pretty sure I would have killed the crew had I tried this in a Mk.1. http://imgur.com/a/njuGB

That was a close call, and a great mission report, well done!  

 

On 2/21/2017 at 8:19 PM, wrench-in-the-works said:

aww yiss its back. time for more pointlessly complicated missions. Just to clarify, I can start off from STS-3 (as I already did 1&2 from v3)?

Haha good to see you back and willing to partake in the sillyness!  Yep you can totally go from STS-3!

 

On 2/22/2017 at 1:37 AM, vladd148 said:

STS 9! Unfortunately, for the first time I underestimated the task at hand, and was unable to land on the runway due to various hypersonic and transonic instabilities caused by the space potato. Nonetheless, I would like to claim my STS-9 pilot badge!

Album: http://imgur.com/a/dcHGz

Right, so you have done it!  Let me just review your mission report quickly!  Definitely pilot worthy and would be great to see you back as Commander Space Potato in the future!  Onward and upwards for you!  

 

On 2/22/2017 at 8:10 AM, Alchemist said:

Interesting fact: Buran actually had kerosene pumped between forward and rear tanks before reentry to fine-tune the balance.

That is indeed an interesting fact!  I've read quite a lot about Buran but never read that!

 

10 hours ago, Shadow dream said:

The Station is built! (aka. gimm'e ma badge)

Here is the album, same as linked before, but this time with all the screen shots: https://imgur.com/a/O0Jr4 Not much story to it, just an usual Kerbal trip to space =)

The station is indeed built, and a thing of beauty it is.  Badge worthy:  

10 hours ago, Shadow dream said:

So, I have to build a shuttle, launch it in 1 go, and it has to have enough dV to 1) orbit; 2) encounter an asteroid; 3) deorbit asteroid; 4) land on KSC with asteroid (on it's back + Kerbal riding it)?

Yep   Good luck, its a really fun mission, and very funny when you see your shuttle re-entering from interplanetary space with a rock on top.  Try it with a Kerbal riding the asteroid at 3.2 km/s:

 

10 hours ago, TheKorbinger said:

I've got a 300 ton (at launch) shuttle (48 ton boosters, 70 ton max shuttle (with 20T payload), and then the external 180T tank, capable of 350 km orbit with built-in OMS. Glides very well. It's in v1.2 or something like that. I'll take a look at it next week and update the link if anybody's interested.

Didn't you say this a few pages back?  Let's see it compete in the challenges, but if not, then feel free to share in the craft section of the forum

 

6 hours ago, Fraus said:

When you did the last ones somewhat and always ended up getting lazy and stopping, feel like I am gonna start anew even though I was at STS 4 and a flight director, so without further ado,

STS-1A, meet Odysseus.

http://imgur.com/a/4IBGu

Beautiful shuttle and lovely ET design, a very welcome return from you to the challenge @Fraus.  Totally stock by the looks of it so have a badge to get you started!  

 

4 hours ago, vladd148 said:

I have been working on replacing the Behemoth class space shuttle, with a different design that favors interplanetary travel. 

Definitely a good thing to do at this point in the challenge, even if your shuttle is completely capable (as mine was) it really struggled with the interplanetary stuff, hence me not being passed out on some of the missions on here despite running the challenge!  Look forward to seeing what this thing can do!

 

4 hours ago, BubbleWrap said:

Deployment of the Manned Orbital Observatory for STS-3 has been completed http://imgur.com/a/M9GXe

That's another really nice scope.  Did you use a telescope mod, or just get clever with the screenshots?  Either way nice job and good luck with the next mission   

 

2 hours ago, wrench-in-the-works said:

Here's my submission for STS-3 (i did 1 and 2 in v3 don't worry)  https://youtu.be/2WURaArG1QQ  (its processing at the time of posting but its there i promise). I had huge difficulty doing the docking and actually knocked the telescope out of a circular orbit in the process (which the video confirms definitely was placed in a circular orbit and then it wast after the docking shenanigans) so i hope that counts because i probably don't have the patience to do it again.

Ahha a video!  Time to break out the tea again.  Ok ready......You are talking about a few meters off circular with your telescope but you lost a wing on arrival haha!  Oh well, these things happen, you just used the building to stop

You conducted the mission great over all so I'm pleased to be able to welcome you back to the challenge with a badge!  

 

Geez you guys are prolific.  I'm trying to run a moho mission here which is going to be incredibly complex, but it's amazing to see so many people doing this challenge, so thanks to you all, even if it does take me an hour to review it every night haha!

Shameless plug if you want to follow the Moho mission by the way:

 

SM

[vladd148]

10 hours ago, wrench-in-the-works said:

Here's my submission for STS-3 (i did 1 and 2 in v3 don't worry)  https://youtu.be/2WURaArG1QQ  (its processing at the time of posting but its there i promise). I had huge difficulty doing the docking and actually knocked the telescope out of a circular orbit in the process (which the video confirms definitely was placed in a circular orbit and then it wast after the docking shenanigans) so i hope that counts because i probably don't have the patience to do it again.

To @vladd148, how did you get those pictures like that? I've been looking around and I haven't found anything reliable.

Are you referring to my post with the new shuttle? I use KVV, it is great!

[53miner53]

13 hours ago, Speeding Mullet said:

Every time I see the ET on this is seems a little larger.  It's growing to horrific scale, but then your shuttle is colossal!  Nice work on these two missions!     

For STS-2, I chose to create an extended fuel tank to add to my delta v, since the shuttle was only designed for LKO. The shuttle itself has a new variation for STS-3, which you will see within a few days if all goes well.  Here is STS-3 complete!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0eMT8zRijNmek44ZkJ4QzNXb2c

Turns out if your shuttle is designed with fuel flow in mind reentry is a lot easier!

I ended up landing it using the emergency parachutes because the landing gear were too close to the fuel tanks next to them and would destroy the orbiter because of that. This is entirely why I am never taking the emergency parachutes from testing off the orbiter. 

Edited February 23, 2017 by 53miner53

[BubbleWrap]

12 hours ago, Speeding Mullet said:

That's another really nice scope.  Did you use a telescope mod, or just get clever with the screenshots?  Either way nice job and good luck with the next mission   

 

 

The telescope is a telescope part from Hullcam VDS, moved down inside a pair of stock structure tube things.

 

We now perform the last ever launch of a Mk.1 shuttle, and the first ever mission with two orbiters in space at once: STS-4/4R. http://imgur.com/a/DHuKM

 

Prior to assembling the space station, ground control asked for a demonstration of on-orbit rescue capability with the Orbiter fleet. As Orbiter 6 was just taking up hangar space, it was paired with Orbiter 7 for the test flight. The combination provided numerous technical challenges to overcome, such as the incompatible docking systems and lack of MMUs on both orbiters. As Orbiter 6 was no longer considered safe for re-entry, it also put pressure on the crews to better simulate a real rescue mission. Everything went smoothly, however, and Orbiter 7 returned with all eight kerbals safely, while Orbiter 6 has been decommissioned in orbit and will remain there until someone finds a use for it that doesn't require it to land again.

 

[Scabank]

Hello, i finished up to challenge 8, but no.9 is going to be hard, i need to build it with different engines and different boostersystem, this will need a while

 

here is the last video so far, dunno if i can do the asteroid on the shuttle.

 

 

[wrench-in-the-works]

I am the happiest (and the angriest) wrench in the world right now. STS-4 is complete, at the cost of some of my remaining sanity. After fudging the docking 2 3 8 god knows how many times and the landing twice, (i stalled and crashed into some mountains on the way back and i wanted to kill myself) but after approaching from the ocean and missing the runway by about 50 meters (its the thought that counts), and besides the point, I would have rolled off the edge of the runway so its probably for the best.

I would like to apologize in advance, as the video is well over four hours, because I can't space all that good. 

Link: https://youtu.be/5isPTqrj7P4

Teaser trailer: 

Teaser poster

Spoiler

Also, heres the STS-3 poster which got left out

Spoiler

Lastly, celebratory soda! (too young for beer)

Spoiler

Random fact: the other shuttle is named "Orion". Coupled with the primary shuttle Artemis, it makes for a very strange combination.

Edited February 24, 2017 by wrench-in-the-works
added video link

[JVMES]

Shuttle Cadmus completing STS-1a and STS-1b:

Spoiler

Mods: EditorExtensionsRedux, FerramAerospaceResearch, FShangerExtender, KerbalEngineer, Mechjeb2, VenStockRevamp (only textures!)

Full Gallery

Final Orbit: 83,542.0km x 83,522.0km

Edited February 24, 2017 by JVMES

[sdj64]

On 2/22/2017 at 9:49 PM, vladd148 said:

I have been working on replacing the Behemoth class space shuttle, with a different design that favors interplanetary travel. 

Low and behold, the Gaia class STES (Space Transportation Interplanetary System)!

Dry weight: 65.3T

Fueled weight: 140T

Delta V: 4000 (can stretch that much further reorganizing the tanks)

 

Still in the prototype stages, with 3 completed takeoffs and landings (no external tanks or boosters). Next step will be a suborbital flight, followed by a full orbital flight prior to development of the launch vehicle.

That looks really familiar...

Looks like a slightly scaled-down version of this with some extra bits and bobs on it.  I did put it up for download on KerbalX but if you downloaded and modified it, it would be cool to at least tell me.  Otherwise it's a really weird coincidence that so many of the small details are the same.

If this is an original design, sorry to sound like I'm accusing you of plagiarism and good luck with the challenges.

[53miner53]

I was going to start STS-4, but the game doesn't want the new version of my shuttle to go anywhere. I'm using this as a test flight of a (further) extended fuel tank so the tank doesn't run out in the middle of my establishing a circular orbit when I'm using the LR orbiter. The shuttle just keeps undergoing RUD after 52 seconds of flight or I need to abort earlier due to loss of control, which causes the game to decide physics is overrated and let the shuttle drift through the air without gravity or thrust affecting its course, as SAS locks me out of controlling yaw, pitch, or roll, and the control surfaces do absolutely nothing. 

Edited February 24, 2017 by 53miner53

[vladd148]

Finished the Mun mission! (To Iota, due to the modded planet pack).

 

Re-worked the shuttle completely, as well as the launch system:

http://imgur.com/a/xrVcF

 

Mission teasers:

 

The shuttle and the launch vehicle is completely stock, but I decided to use a mod for the rover pack!

 

Cheers!

[vladd148]

3 hours ago, sdj64 said:

That looks really familiar...

Looks like a slightly scaled-down version of this with some extra bits and bobs on it.  I did put it up for download on KerbalX but if you downloaded and modified it, it would be cool to at least tell me.  Otherwise it's a really weird coincidence that so many of the small details are the same.

If this is an original design, sorry to sound like I'm accusing you of plagiarism and good luck with the challenges.

Howdy!

I did see your shuttle in the V3 challenge thread, and I must admit I was inspired by the design. However, I never downloaded it, I created my own from scratch. And since I could never quite figure out how to get the external tank on top, I re-designed it and turned it into a Buran style shuttle.

[BubbleWrap]

The three Orbiters have undertaken four new missions and deployed the Kerbin Orbital Space Station and delivered its first crew: http://imgur.com/a/MGBGG (56 images).

 

The station uses parts from near future construction and mark one laboratory experiments. Landing the Mk.2 has now become a routine, if somewhat time consuming, task and ground control are happy with the safety record.