SSTO craft don't have to be pretty, do they?

[James_Eh]

Everybody else's seem to look all sleek and plane-like. My first one was a beer keg:

Used MechJeb to get these pix so I could concentrate on getting the pix... But basically I drove straight up until ~12km then I killed the jets, started the rocket, and off we went.

Upon 100 km apo, the fuel in the large tank is essentially gone. Transfer from the outboard wee tanks to the main tank, and you have enough delta-v to circularize, float for as long as you want, then de-orbit and come home.

Well, usually the landing goes much better than this. Bill had a beer at completely the wrong time:

Useless vehicle though. No payload, no fuel. But later, with slight modification, it became a Laythe lander!

Edited January 14, 2014 by James_Eh
Had to learn how to work Imgur

[Kieve]

Everybody else's seem to look all sleek and plane-like. My first one was a beer keg

This is a magnificent quote...

In seriousness though, as long as it worked, that's what counts. You might get a bit further swapping out the useless nosecones for ram-air intakes, trading in the little fuel tanks for a slightly bigger model, and swapping the jet engines for turbojets? Just thoughts. SSTO's can be tricky, so even the ugly ones deserve love.

[Speeding Mullet]

^Great quote for sure. My first SSTO was more of a plain tube, and if you carry on that theme you can eventually turn it into sleek if not plane-like: