Defiance Crew Shuttle SSTO

[Weegee]

This is my first ever working SSTO, and it worked on the first try! I have no idea what I did differently, but I'll take it! I named it Defiance because it defied what I thought I could do.

Anyway, like the title says, it is a two-man crew shuttle designed to operate from Kerbin.

Pictures

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Features

• Action groups! (1 for jet, 2 for rockets, 3&4 to toggle groups of intakes, 5&6 for lights
  
• Enough fuel to perform rendezvous and land! (warranty void if landing on slope)
  
• 2 Kerbal capacity! (Probe controlled for way back)
  
• Two RTGs for power generation
  
• Docking port
  
• Lights (headlights and docking lights, action groups 5+6)
  
• Resources on take-off: 510 liquid fuel (150 for jet), 440 Oxidizer, 105 Monopropellent
  
• Weighs 10.67 tons at liftoff
  
• Only 66 parts!
  

Advice

The flight path you need to follow is a standard SSTO one. Before liftoff, press action groups 3+4 to close intakes that aren't necessary at low altitudes. Then, press 1 to toggle the jet engine, and pull up gently at the solid white rectangles on the runway (should be going ~40 m/s). There is a possibility to tailstrike, so be careful. From there, pitch up to about 30-40 degrees. You should be just barely increasing the height of (and time to) your apoapsis so that you lengthen your orbit as much as you can in atmosphere, opening the intakes when you run low on air. When you have all intakes open and run out of air (30+km), toggle the jet and press 2 to activate the rockets. The rockets aren't as good in atmosphere so I recommend getting out of the atmosphere as soon as possible by pointing more towards straight up. Once you exit the atmosphere, simply circularize, rendezvous (and potentially dock), then land at the runway. Don't worry if it tips forward on landing, that's what the first gear is for. Make sure you land somewhere flat though, as it isn't all too stable on landing.

Download

http://www./download/73eg3wp3ug3b53a/Defiance+-+KCS1_2.craft

Edited January 8, 2014 by Weegee