Single Stage Mun Lander - Kerbin to Mun and back

[Soora666]

Hi once again, my newest design is here and this time rather than a tiny SSTO its a fairly small SSTM! I took the SSTO 1 step further from what i build before and decided to aim for a ship capable to taking off from kerbin, landing on the mun and getting back again without refueling or losing any parts.

After much testing and many trials i present to you my ship!

As usual here is my download link for the ship if anyone is interested in trying it out for themselves. http://speedy.sh/GbjvM/Single-Stage-Mun-Lander.craft

Here is a video showing the full event from take off at kerbin to the eventual landing back at kerbin

This trip took me a fair while to complete and although it isnt perfect i managed to successfully do it. It could be better, even as it is it could be utilized better in the stages with better control and usage of gravity to make things quicker but hopefully this will suffice. As the prototype it will change and i might post a new version in the future if it proves to be a much better ship, otherwise this is fine as a proof of concept

Enjoy and thanks for checking out my ship. Some screenshots of the ship flying and fully deployed are below!

[Larrt_M]

Now this looks interesting! I need to try this. Nice work!

[Soora666]

Thanks, when i started designing it i wasnt sure it would even be doable without making something massive. Turns out trials and testing work wonders ^^

Let me know how it goes when you try it!

[Parallax]

are those ion engines?

[Soora666]

yes, the landing gear is connected to the ion engines and their xenon gas tanks.

Needed the ion engines to be able to make this craft small enough and light enough to be efficient for a single stage. It takes a while to make maneuvers with them but it allows for a much nicer craft