KerbalX

Description

A stock rocket called Kronus Shuttle Configuration-1. Built with 121 of the finest parts, its root part is mk3Cockpit.Shuttle.

Built in the VAB in KSP version 1.3.1.

Details

• Type: VAB
• Class: lifter
• Part Count: 121
• Pure Stock

-Basic Description

This is a stock replica of the NASA Space Shuttle with a 23 ton Payload Capacity. This craft is also the first configuration of the Kronus Shuttle and will not be the last. I was dismayed to learn while building this that the Mark3 parts are significantly smaller than the actual Space Shuttle, so the boosters and External Tank on this craft are to scale, it’s just the shuttle itself that is not. I was never a fan of just clustering SRBs like most stock shuttles do, so I decided to replicate the boosters using liquid fuel and Rhinos, the result is definitely not perfect, but I’m still pretty happy with how they turned out. The ET has docking ports on the top and bottom, so if you wanted to you could use a bunch of ETs to make something like this https://imgur.com/HPs5SD7 , this concept of repurposing the ETs after they are detached instead of just letting them eventually deorbit is what actually inspired me to make this shuttle

-Flight Profile

-Launch: After firing the engines try to keep the craft going relatively upward as the tilt of
the main engines will want to push the craft downward, as the launch continues begin to
gradually pitch downwards in preparation for the gravity turn. When the boosters are around half empty begin to roll the craft such that the space shuttle is on the underside of the ET, the boosters should burn out soon afterward. To get the optimum gravity turn you should have a velocity of around 400 m/s by the time the prograde marker is at 45 degrees. Follow the prograde marker but do not tell the SAS to hold prograde as this will cause a large amount of instability (the SAS in this game isn’t very smart). The gravity turn will get you most of the way into orbit. The fuel should just about run out by the time you circularize in a 75 kilometer orbit.
-Deorbit: The shuttle is fairly stable and controllable during reentry, Overall this shuttle has very good maneuverability so this part should be piece of cake.

-Known/Development Issues

-Building a craft that incorporates a lot of fairings can be a little frustrating. The way fairings behave is often times very nonintuitive, they would randomly dissappear, double up, and just glitch in general.