Stock space shuttle is overrated i tried to launch it in sandbox using mechjeb and.

[Pawelk198604]

...And it's impossible to launch it the shulle start spining, it's not possible to launch it.

[Vectura]

You have to tweak it and adjust it to make it work well, like most of the stock craft. They are there for demonstration of concepts, and as a basic tutorial on how to not design spacecraft (in the case of the Kerbal X anyway)

[Corw]

...And it's impossible to launch it the shulle start spining, it's not possible to launch it.

Just because you can't doesn't mean it is impossible

[King Arthur]

Are you (OP) referring to the Learstar A1? While the Learstar itself is rubbish it can launch and get to orbit without any problem, you just need to be mindful of individual engine thrust levels unlike an ordinary rocket.

[sal_vager]

Hey it'd be no fun if it were easy to fly now would it?

This thread seems more like a "I can't fly this, help" thread now, so I'll move it to gameplay questions.

[Frank327]

Hey it'd be no fun if it were easy to fly now would it?

This thread seems more like a "I can't fly this, help" thread now, so I'll move it to gameplay questions.

But it would probably make more sense if the stock vessels were useful for beginners to learn how to fly, not how to fix broken spacecraft. When you want to teach someone how it's done, you usually show them how it's done, not start by showing them how it's not done. They can't use the stock craft in career anyways because they need lots of science and building upgrades to use.

Having a sensible and mun-capable version of the kerbal X for newer players would probably help them learn the game and not make it such a wall of youtube information for them to climb.

[King Arthur]

Having a sensible and mun-capable version of the kerbal X for newer players would probably help them learn the game and not make it such a wall of youtube information for them to climb.

But the Kerbal X is sensible and Mun-capable, you just need to fly it right.

And honestly, the Kerbal X is a marvel of Kerbal engineering in my opinion. It is easy to handle and its design gives you an introduction to asparagus staging and fuel flow in general.

[Frank327]

But the Kerbal X is sensible and Mun-capable, you just need to fly it right.

And honestly, the Kerbal X is a marvel of Kerbal engineering in my opinion. It is easy to handle and its design gives you an introduction to asparagus staging and fuel flow in general.

I always thought it was just short of mun landing and return, but maybe it just has very narrow margins. Either way, adding an extra fuel tank and a stabilizing system wouldn't hurt to make it a bit easier for new players.

If you look at career mode, one of the advantages that easy has over normal is that it says "stock vessels are allowed" which would make it seem like an advantage. But right now having stock vessels available is anything but an advantage and when new players find out that most stock vessels don't even fly properly they might get discouraged with the game.

[Starman4308]

But the Kerbal X is sensible and Mun-capable, you just need to fly it right.

Only one of those is true. The Kerbal X has got its problems, such as wimpy asparagus staging and poor solar panel layout.

Granted, I like the idea of the stock craft: almost-good craft with problems for new players to fix.

[Streetwind]

I always thought it was just short of mun landing and return, but maybe it just has very narrow margins. Either way, adding an extra fuel tank and a stabilizing system wouldn't hurt to make it a bit easier for new players.

It used to be able to land on the Mun, but not return.

Then Squad massively buffed the 2.5m engines (Skipper, Mainsail, Poodle), and thus the Kerbal X gained extra dV. It is now capable of returning from the Mun.

[sal_vager]

If anything, the Kerbal X needs rebuilding to take some fuel away, I understand the idea behind providing new players craft that can do various things, but the intent was always for the player to make their own instead.

[Wanderfound]

The engine torque measuring ability of RCS Build Aid is very valuable for designing for vertical shuttle launches. The new widgets are a big help, too: tweaking part placement with precision is the key to making this work.

Even if you're balanced at launch, a shuttle-style design is almost certain to become unbalanced during flight as the fuel load burns off. But you can predict ahead of time which way your shuttle is going to tip, and can maintain balance in flight by monitoring pitch deflection and adjusting thrust limiter tweakables. Try to have either the booster or the shuttle's main engine as a single-engine setup: fiddling thrust limiters in flight on engine clusters is a pain.

Basic design (Energia-based, no side boosters for simplicity):

1) Shuttle, designed to fly straight on its own engines without any external tank attached. Build it like a conventional rocket plane.

2) Large disposable fuel tank with a chunky engine (Mainsail, KR-2L, etc) stuck on it. Attach the tank with decouplers to the shuttle's ventral surface. Fiddle the position of the tank and engines so that the vehicle has neutral engine torque when fully fuelled. If you can't achieve this through positioning, you need to use a bigger or smaller engine on either the tank or the shuttle.

3) Use fuel hoses so that all engines begin by drawing from the disposable tank.

4) As this tank drains and the CoM shifts, the shuttle will increasingly pitch up. Gradually tweak down the thrust limiter of the tank engine during flight to compensate; monitor pitch deflection to guide how much to tweak.

A few Vernors are helpful to cover imperfections, too.

[Galane]

Or launch with the new MechJeb that has a differential throttle function for automatic thrust balancing. :-)

One of the first things I did in .90, before installing any mods, was to toss the Learstar on the pad, hit T and launch it straight up until it started to get unstable. I cut throttle, dropped the SRBs and big tank then manually flew it back to land near KSC. If KSP had aerodynamic water interaction effects I would've blown up a rooster tail from how close I came to not pulling out of the dive over the ocean.

The craft that *is* impossible to glide is the Stearwing. Without power it's a lawn dart. It doesn't have enough fuel to circularize after reaching orbital altitude and it has a bunch of Vernor engines under the back and in the cargo bay that can be used for a vertical takeoff, at the cost of a lot of fuel and oxidizer. If any of the stock craft is a lesson in how to build a cool ship that nearly works so figure out how to fix it, it's the Stearwing.