Apollonia I (Saturn V re-creation)

[GusTurbo]

APOLLONIA I

Apollo-style craft are very popular around here, and why not? The Apollo 11 mission to the Moon is still an amazing achievement of engineering and human courage. Sometimes, I think that Mun missions in KSP can be a little easy, with asparagus staging and big, wide rockets. I wanted to try something a little more faithful to the real thing, but not a total replica. I also wanted to make something reasonable usable without a ridiculous number of parts.

I present: Apollonia I

Despite being enormous and heavy, she's a breeze to fly. There's really no trick to it, just turn off outer-engine gimbals, lift off, start your gravity turn at 10 km, and so on and so forth.

I didn't add the fairing section around the CSM and lander, though I may do that later. I might also try to create a more accurate lander. Both of those will increase the part count, which is already getting pretty high at 440 parts. I have noticed that .20 has improved performance, so 440 isn't even that bad, and I'm running on an i3.

Action Groups

There is only one, because I like to use staging.

1 - Toggle gimbal on the four outer Mainsails. This helps stability, since the thing is so long. I don't know that it's absolutely crucial, because there is plenty of strutting to keep things stable.

Craft File

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/6472509/Apollonia.craft

Full Gallery

http://imgur.com/a/0fBnT#3xdV9zm

Edited May 27, 2013 by GusTurbo

[Rune]

I was actually going to try something quite similar, too. Figured I would celebrate 0.20 by doing the 3-kerbal equivalent of my Dres V. Yours looks great, good job! Can you show the juicy interior detail?

Rune. Always on the lookout for good ideas

[GusTurbo]

I was actually going to try something quite similar, too. Figured I would celebrate 0.20 by doing the 3-kerbal equivalent of my Dres V. Yours looks great, good job! Can you show the juicy interior detail?

Rune. Always on the lookout for good ideas

Here it is, in the buff.

And another thing I'm working on...

Besides the N1, I'm also making a full-fairing version of the Apollonia, which currently has more than 650 parts, which is even more than the N1. I would also like to do proper interstages.

Edited May 28, 2013 by GusTurbo

[Mulbin]

Nice rocket.... and that N1 is amazing!!!! I might have to race one to the moon against my Jool V!

Munbug VI releases tomorrow complete with a much more accurate "eagle" lander.

[GusTurbo]

My craft got a bit chilly, so I put a turtleneck on it.

My other craft...had a growth spurt.

Edited May 29, 2013 by GusTurbo

[Darth Lazarus]

no escpaetower? your poor kerbals. i hope nothing goes wrong during lunch

very neat looking rocket!

and holy molly, this N1 rocket is unbeliavable. there you can see th power of KSP ... no limitations with stockparts

[GusTurbo]

At least I remembered parachutes. The same can't be said of my maiden voyage to the Mun with the N1.

[gordon_freeman]

Fantastic work. So just to understand, is the exterior purely for appearance? Works really well, I had never even considered that before. I think I use about 1/10th of all the parts available when I build things...not creative enough! Again, nice work.

[GusTurbo]

Fantastic work. So just to understand, is the exterior purely for appearance? Works really well, I had never even considered that before. I think I use about 1/10th of all the parts available when I build things...not creative enough! Again, nice work.

Thanks!

Yes, the exterior is purely cosmetic. The challenge was one of aesthetics and function. Aesthetics came first though.

[Giggleplex777]

I'm back in the party!