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The Practical Spaceplane "Damselfly" and its maiden voyage


SkyRender

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damselfly_1.jpg

Lately I've been designing a lot of spaceplanes, but this latest one really struck me as a cool one. It has just enough fuel for a skilled pilot to get it up to a stable low-Kerbin orbit of around 75KM, and enough RCS to easily maneuver about. The first flight up was picture-perfect, in fact. It was the trip back where things reached Jebediah levels of Kerbal... As it so happens, Jebediah was the pilot of the Damselfly. A brief transcript follows.

Jebediah: Mission control, flight complete. I'm inbound now. ETA: 2 minutes.

Gene: Jeb, we've noticed that you haven't dropped your speed enough. Please burn off another 25m/s immediately.

Jebediah: You worry too much.

Gene: Seriously, Jeb, you're going to overshoot KSC if you keep that trajectory.

Jebediah: Coming in hot, mission control! I can see you from here.

Gene: Jeb, you're going to hit the ocean!

Jebediah: Negative, mission control. Adjusting my course now.

Gene: Are you insane!? You're at a 75-degree tilt towards the ground! Jeb, pull up!

Jebediah: Not on your life, Gene. I'm overdue for a bath, but I'd rather not take one going at mach 1.

Gene: You're going to lose steering! Jeb, pull up!

Jebediah: Now I'll pull up. Whoops, there goes the runway.

Gene: Oh no, oh no! Eject!

Jebediah: Negative, mission control. Touching down now.

Gene: I can't watch...

Jebediah: Mission control, this is Jebediah Kerman, reporting in. I have completed a successful landing, over.

Gene: You survived?

damselfly_2.jpg

Jebediah: It was cutting things a bit close, I'll admit. But I'm home safe and sound.

Gene: Why do we ever let you pilot anything?

Jebediah: Because I'm the only one brave enough to get into your crazy contraptions. Mission complete. Could you send a recovery crew? I really don't wanna taxi this thing half a kilometer inland.

Gene: What did I do in a past life to deserve this torment? Sending a crew out now...

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Landing with that will be fun. I purposely chose the smaller-profile wings for Damselfly because I've noticed that larger wings lead to much more dramatic loss of control upon re-entry. Also, the modification you made is almost perfectly identical to Damselfly's own predecessor, the Mayfly.

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