Herbaldyne Type 1 VTOL SSTO

[herbal space program]

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This is the first in a series of SSTO designs I'll be posting here. I don't have a generic cloud storage account at the moment, but if there's a way to do so without one, I'll post the .craft file.

Everything is stock except for the vertical engines, which are NP RMA-3's. Fully fuelled, it can just barely hover off the runway at the KSP, but takes to the air nicely if you engage the turbojets just as you lift off. It can fly stably in either horizontal or vertical mode until it's almost empty, at which point vertical mode required putting a thrust limiter on the forward pair of engines. Taking off from the KSC, it can land on Mun without orbital refueling but can't quite make it back. Not the greatest range, but I'm proud of how balanced I got it to stay in both modes throughout most of its flight profile. It was definitely an educational design experience for me.

Edited November 2, 2014 by herbal space program

[Red Iron Crown]

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[/noparse].

[herbal space program]

Use [noparse]http://imgur.com/a/AlbumNumberWithout#0[/noparse].

That was easy. Thanks!