Old SSTO now makes it to the mun (with help of mechjeb2)

[diegzumillo]

I wasn't sure whether to tag this thread as 'stock' or 'mod craft', in theory it's possible to get this plane to the mun without mechjeb 2. In theory.

With this new mechjeb (2.0) all my SSTOs became much more efficient, thanks to that neat option that controls the thrust to avoid flame outs. So I decided to rework some of my successful SSTOs and voila, orbit with a generous amount of fuel left! taking a step further I swapped the engine it had for a nuclear engine and it still reached orbit with lots of fuel, but with that engine in orbit its reach is big enough for a mun travel.

This was a test trip, the plane had no landing struts, no ladders, no lights, just the essential. But I kept pushing it forward "I wonder if I can get into mun orbit", then "oh, I can. Nice. I wonder if nuclear engines are powerful enough to land", then "I wonder if I can land the plane standing upright with no landing gears"... "IT CAN" The return trip was a bit tense though, there was a spit of fuel left but it was enough to leave mun and get an interception with kerbin's atmosphere. By pure dumb luck I ended up near the ksc's runway, not very close but it has plenty of lift so it's possible to glide between continents from very high altitudes, if you're careful.

I have a couple of screenshots, I wasn't planning to document anything... I wasn't planning to actually survive the trip

Landed about ~800m from the mun base. A rover drove from the base to the landing site carrying one of the base crew to the plane so it can return to kerbin. That would be the use of the space plane, carrying astronauts one at a time lol

back home (and a bugged kerbal stuck in the T-pose)

I can upload the craft file if anyone's interested but there's an annoying problem with the fuel lines that ended up using fuel asymmetrically, so you might prefer waiting for an updated version.

Edited May 15, 2013 by diegzumillo

[SunJumper]

I think autopilot use still allows the craft to be stock, if you remove the autopilot. Also, make sure you use a massless version, otherwise in rare cases, the heavier version may work better. Note the word rare.