SSTOs! Post your pictures here~

[Sapphire]

Burn.

Burn like hell.

Throw everything out the back as hard and fast as you can. Fuel, your co-pilot, wife, kids and the kitchen sink, fire it all off to achieve orbit and claw your gasping, desperate way to the gleaming oasis of the fuel station above.

This is the most magnificent thing I've ever read.

[Rune]

Burn.

Burn like hell.

Throw everything out the back as hard and fast as you can. Fuel, your co-pilot, wife, kids and the kitchen sink, fire it all off to achieve orbit and claw your gasping, desperate way to the gleaming oasis of the fuel station above.

...or turn on the cheat. >_>

I might be... only it isn't. Because of physics and stuff. SSTO on Eve is impossible with stock parts, period. But you are welcome to waste time trying.

[Deadweasel]

I might be... only it isn't. Because of physics and stuff. SSTO on Eve is impossible with stock parts, period. But you are welcome to waste time trying.

Yes. Those nasty realistic physics, always preventing me from tossing out the wife and kitchen sink as a means of propulsion!! DAMN YOU PHYSICS!!

[RedDwarfIV]

The Veto Aerospace 'Lilith', a rebuilt version of the almost as successful 'Pixie'. The Pixie managed a 100/100 orbit with very little fuel to spare, whilst the Lilith managed a 110/110 with fuel to fly around with back in Kerbin's atmosphere. It was also more capable at reentry - it was better balanced, preventing stalls and spins.

I would have taken a picture of her on the ground, except I forgot to drop the landing gear and it hit the runway at 50m/s. The cockpit, and by exstension, the pilot, survived.

An EVA inspection:

Situation heating up.

Returning to the Kerbal Space Centre, using only the centre jet.

[sgt_flyer]

my SSTO demonstrator (it was made to test out the engine pod i made, nicknamed this engine KRABE (Kerbal Rocket air breathing engine)

the Krabe is a self contained engine pod, containing everything it needs for a sabre like engine. there's 8 circular air intakes hidden into the cooling part making it look like an aircraft turbine when you unclip the whole engine

there's 3 engines on each pod, clipped in each other - a basic jet, a turbojet, and an aerospike.

i like this combination, because it allows the plane to keep a relatively stable thrust up to 15000 meters, where i turn off the basic jet engine which has lost almost all his thrust at this altitude, but the turbojet's thrust has increased sufficiently to make up for the basic jet loss.

plus the sound they both make is just cool

the SSTO itself handle nicely in reentry, it's a great glider, but if needed, you can reactivate the engines and fly with them (there's largely enough liquid fuel left for that )

[RedDwarfIV]

This is the Pixie:

One thing it has over the Lilith though is its vertical rudders. The Lilith lacks a means of turning beyond banking and pitching up.

[ZigZagJoe]

Another cargo spaceplane! The 'Hackjob', thusly named as it's a previous plane cut in two with minor modifications and of course the cargo section inserted. 62 parts, stock. craft file. ~15 tons fueled with no cargo.

Exactly half of the capabilities of the 'Tubby' spaceplane featured in my previous post: 4.5 tons to orbit with maneuvering fuel, or 5 tons to orbit only.

Also, no, not twisty at all due to strutting on the backbone-beam of the cargo area.

Comparison to tubby cargo spaceplane.

Edited June 5, 2013 by ZigZagJoe

[RoboRay]

Can you post the mods you used for this one? I would love to re-create this.

The big conical fuel tanks and engine assembly are from NovaPunch. I think the rest is all stock.

After refueling in LKO, it can even go to Duna and back, but it's a bit of a gas-guzzler.

[zekes]

Hey guys.... duna anyone?

Download.

"2" for Jets

"3" for Aerospikes

"4" for NERVA (Long range)

Remember to put all fuel foreward for landing.... and FOR KERBS SAKE KEEP SAS ON!

[Cinocal]

Moonraker 1

4 Seater

Designed and Flown in FAR

B3, TV Areospace, PWing.

Edited June 6, 2013 by Cinocal

[Jod]

I might be... only it isn't. Because of physics and stuff. SSTO on Eve is impossible with stock parts, period. But you are welcome to waste time trying.

I shall waste ALL my time trying! Though I did the math and looks like I'm stuck with Ion engines and LV-Ns as means of propulsion... It won't be fun flying this thing. Will post the thing if triumphant. Probably will even if not.

[Killenger]

In the past I wasent making a very good lift profile for my aircraft, I was making up for it in thrust though. I'm trying to make something more economical and it worked great. This thing climbs up to >28,000 with its air fed engines still on max thrust.

Notice the docking ports - They "should" interlock so a better connection and alignment of the connection.

^^Rockets on side so you should be able to carry a load with this once in orbit but it is untested, I'll test by pairing these together and seeing how that works. Only in space of course.^^

By the way, this is what happens when you come in way way way too hot on EVE.

Edited June 6, 2013 by Killenger

[KissSh0t]

This is my Large Shuttle SSTO, it can get 3 Kerbals into low orbit around Kerbin and land back at the runway... It is quite fast at altitude and can get over 2000m/s on air. It's not perfect, a little laggy.. needs some tweaking, but other than that I'm pretty happy with it. I'm especially happy with it's blended body wing, it took quite a while to make.

[pa1983]

Set up a Duna base using my SSTO spaceplanes

http://youtu.be/lM6tTy2GR8A

[astropapi1]

Couple of pictures of my first SSTO, back in 0.18 (This was the first time I made it to orbit with a plane, and I landed safely!)

[Sufficient Anonymity]

Shamelessly copying most of my post over from in the modded repository:

A pair of SSTOs - there's plenty of info in this gallery. Please note that the lighter craft is a rather tweaked version (the main wings are original, but not much more) of the cargo shuttle bundled with the B9 pack - in addition to the aesthetic changes, I reckon it performs a bit better.

Mods used:

B9

MechJeb 2.0.x

Modular Multiwheels

Taverius' Pack

RLA Stockalike

Heavy SSTO craft file

Light SSTO craft file

Super Heavy SSTO craft file

Since the those screenshots were taken, I've added infodrives to the craft that don't have them, which should make them easier to learn to fly. I've also up-engined the superheavy, and slightly tweaked its wings as it was tending to pitch down with large loads onboard.

I've done further tests on load capacities, so here are some guides for payload sizes:

Light: 2 tonnes

Heavy: 6 tonnes

Super Heavy: 12-14 tonnes

[Deadweasel]

I agree. I also have balance issues with mine.

Spent 4-5 hours trying to balance it, and simply gave up and used TAC fuel balancer instead.

Levelords is simply a piece of art

And yes, mine is obviously my personal version of his craft.

Hmm, better add that to the post btw.

Agreed! I have yet to be able to build anything that performs even remotely as well as that one does.

[stanonwheels]

This is my Large Shuttle SSTO, it can get 3 Kerbals into low orbit around Kerbin and land back at the runway... It is quite fast at altitude and can get over 2000m/s on air. It's not perfect, a little laggy.. needs some tweaking, but other than that I'm pretty happy with it. I'm especially happy with it's blended body wing, it took quite a while to make.

Would that be based on a Valkyrie by any chance? Been messing about with historical(ish) planes myself, finally managed to get these piles of scrap into orbit yesterday

Avro-730 (sort of)

HP Victor (very derped)

Edited June 8, 2013 by stanonwheels

[Digestif]

Made with B9's pack

The Roc able to carry a lander to Duna, pick it up again, and bring it back home

And a little fun one

[zekes]

[reptile2001]

Stanonwheels - derped or not, that HP Victor is AWESOME! Well done, sir!

[MariusOR]

This is my second attempt at making an SSTO and my first functional one:

[KissSh0t]

Wheres all the SSTO's guys~?~?~? Keep them coming~!~!~!

[zekes]

See, when you make an SSTO, you put a lot of effort into it and when it's done it is very reliable, so why make another? That's my philosophy. I used to make like hundreds but now i have three: Short Range Transport (2 tons) Long range Cruiser (No cargo one man, Ion engines) and all around workhorse (one man room for 10 ton cargo LKo or one ton to Duna Orbit and back) so there really is no need for me to build any new ones......

<drops in two cents>

[Sapphire]

My SSTO family is still really tiny.

Presenting the SX-120 Glacier (the tiny unmanned one) and the SX-200 Everest (the huge one).