How to launch stock space shuttle

[Pawelk198604]

i tried to play with this new stock space shuttle, but i didn't know how to launch it.

I tried to launch it in sandbox but i crash it, even auto-ascent in mechjeb cannot handle this.

[vat21s]

https://www.youtube.com/embed/77scRTTXTl8

It was designed to crash.

[Alshain]

Yeah, Maxmaps said in Squadcast that the stock craft have been designed to be just short of fully usable. They want you to improve it.

[JtPB]

[Greenfire32]

Yeah, Maxmaps said in Squadcast that the stock craft have been designed to be just short of fully usable. They want you to improve it.

Really? I always thought the stock crafts were just poorly made and haven't ever used them.

I didn't know they were just needing some tweaks

[Pecan]

Really? I always thought the stock crafts were just poorly made and haven't ever used them.

I didn't know they were just needing some tweaks

That's the theory, yes. The Kerbal X becomes a pretty good ship if you strip-off all the twitchy, massy "decoration" for instance. To be honest though, you've got to be pretty bored to want to spend your time on patching them up to 'ok' instead of building your own beautiful (by your own definition) creations.

[kzauner]

i tried to play with this new stock space shuttle, but i didn't know how to launch it.

I tried to launch it in sandbox but i crash it, even auto-ascent in mechjeb cannot handle this.

It isn't that hard. First of all, put it on the pad, turn SAS on, throttle up and launch straight up (attention: the clamps are a separate stage, maybe you want to alter that). Do nothing, just watch (OK: stage the boosters when flamed out). You will notice that after Boostersep the thing will pitch-over in a way that the orbiter is 'below' the Tank. You will see that this pitch-over happens as you are reaching the maximum pitch authority (lower lefthand 'instrument' on your screen - the 'staging controls').

When you then right-click the Orbiters radial engines, you see a thrust-limiter (forty-something percent) [if you check in the VAB, this is clearly for having Cot going through CoM - but the later 'moves' as the Tank drains), you will also see that the turbojet isn't active at all.

Now Pause your game, and watch some Space-shuttle launches. Especially pay attention to the attitude of the craft and hows thats changing during ascent.

-> Revert to launch!

This time go for the real thing. Turn SAS on. I also enable the turbojet first, but this is not necessary. Liftoff and when you have cleared the pad roll (Q/E) the stack that the orbiter is where your intended inclination would be (so, if your are going 90° your Orbiter should be on the Booster-Bay side of the Tank). Remember the shuttle launches? The "Rollprogram". "Roger, Roll" (No, they don't call "Rock'n Roll" out) - part?. I personally prefer to roll in way that the Stack is pitched over like 5°-10° into the desired heading, makes stuff easier later on. A last note: If you have trouble doing the roll, turn RCS on for this. Turn it of when done.

Now ascend, keep an eye on the pitch-authority. Stage boosters. Watch pitch authority. When it starts to max-out you will have to intervene. There are the following options: Alter Thrust-Limiter on the Tank-Mounted engine *down*. Or alter the thrust-limiter on the orbiter-Radials *up*. Use the Main-Throttle to stay below 3g. When you are passing 25 to 30 km consider turning RCS on. Control you pitch toggling SAS (the stack will usually have the tendency to topple over, right into you desired path).

That's basically it. when your AP is at about the desired height go for MECO (hit 'x'). While you are drifting to your AP you will have work to do:

a) Roll so that the tank is down, orbiter is up (about 180°).

Stage the tank.

c) Enable the RCS-Tank in the back of the orbiter

d) Disable radial engines

e) shut down Jet-engine (if still enabled)

f) enable the OMS (the four Mono-prop engines at the back of the orbiter).

g) tap 'k' a few times, so the orbiter drifts upwards away from the ET.

Wen you reach AP, circularize ('throttle up').

Thats basically it. You might consider using action-groups - especially if it comes to orbital configuration (the steps c - f from above fit well within an action-group).

I personally prefer a very shallow ascend-path with this beast in a way that when MECO-Time arrives my PE is somewhere between -50 to 20 km. One last word: I'm not using MJ, so im not an authority here - but i thing its impossible to get MJ to launch this thing successfully. And yes, I also would prefer if there are more easy ways to influence the thrust of engine(groups), such as 2 or more throttles. The 'right-click' is a little bit un-imersive.

Have fun!