Size of the Space Shuttle's external tank assembly

[Mmmmyum]

While messing around with stretchy tanks today, I thought why not make the Space Shuttle's external tank and SRBs to scale? I eventually came up with this, it has enough delta-v to reach orbit (12k to be exact, I use RSS though) with the 3 man capsule, heatshield and parachute; weighs just under 4000 tons and has 4 of the most powerful KW Rocketry engines below the orange tank. I used procedural fairings to adapt the 2.5m pod to the 8.4 (don't remember) meter tank.

It's interesting how small KSP is compared to the real sized stuff.

Edited December 4, 2013 by Mmmmyum

[montyben101]

Cool! Does it fly well?

[Mmmmyum]

I'm not so sure about flying well... There's a 50% chance of the pod falling off as physics kicks in, but if you're gentle it has enough delta-v to get to orbit, and enough left to deorbit. That's with real fuel masses, I have no idea if it would work in a stock installation. Also you can't do much cargo as the VAB barely fits the rocket in

[minerman30]

I'm not so sure about flying well... There's a 50% chance of the pod falling off as physics kicks in

Imagine that.

"Initiating launch sequence... 10... 9..."

*tank falls off and explodes*

[Fiddlestyx]

I don't know if you're going for realism or not, but the Space Shuttle's external tank doesn't have engines under it. It's only the SRBs and Space Shuttle main engines that lift it.

Still, it looks cool.

[SFJackBauer]

Don't know if you've seen it, but I've managed to launch and retrieve a shuttle in RSS with all components having real masses.

Not real size though... but right now I'm in the process of creating cfgs for the B9 parts to be 1:1 size.

I've also collected all relevant info in one post here.

[obi_juan]

The size of Kerbin and Kobol solar system are smaller than earth and our solar system.

The orbit of the Earth around our Sun is at 149,598,261km while Kerbin around Kobol is only 13,599,840km.

The radius of our Earth is 6,371km and the radius of Kerbin is only 600km. To have the same surface gravity the density of Kerbin is higher than the density of the Earth.

For this reason compare the size of the Earth rockets for Kerbin don't have meaning. Impressive work to build that rocket, but in the game that rocket allows you to go Duna and back.

The advantage of made a smaller planet, and solar system, for the game is that is more easy and more quick to obtain the orbit and go to other planets in the system.

[Pursuedtank]

The size of Kerbin and Kobol solar system are smaller than earth and our solar system.

They are in the stock game, however the OP stated that he was using the Real Solar System mod, which makes everything much more like the real world.

[Mmmmyum]

They are in the stock game, however the OP stated that he was using the Real Solar System mod, which makes everything much more like the real world.

And a million times harder... It takes me around half an hour to get a rocket that can get some cargo to orbit. Tried to stock game size a bit today and it took me five minutes to build a rocket that landed on the Mun with a separate ascent stage... I wish there was something in between lol.

And I just didn't feel like messing around with off center CoG and all that, there are no engines with the thrust and gimbal needed to do a real full sized Shuttle

[Moar Boosters]

Imagine that.

"Initiating launch sequence... 10... 9..."

*tank falls off and explodes*

It's happened to me.

TBH I have no idea how the kerbals get some of my rockets out of the VAB, seeing as they're often taller than the doors.

[SFJackBauer]

And I just didn't feel like messing around with off center CoG and all that, there are no engines with the thrust and gimbal needed to do a real full sized Shuttle

You mean no engines with 10 degrees of gimbal? That's one-line change in one .cfg file. Same with thrust.

[pingopete]

wow 8 copula modules, that's a pretty hefty payload. nice design too; what SRB's are those from, they look pretty legit, also did the shuttle glide? Every time I try to make a delta wing/shuttle it flips and/or is incredibly unstable with FAR running :'(

[SpaceSphereOfDeath]

I built my first working shuttle yesterday!

And made a video