KerbalX

Description

The Krew Transfer Shuttle is a career-friendly SSTO spaceplane able to transport five kerbals to and from low Kerbin orbit. Refueled in LKO it can also transfer to and from Mun/Minmus/Duna orbit. Maximum altitude for an equatorial orbit is ~250 km; for lower orbital destinations one or more of the toroidal fuel tanks can be drained of oxidizer and/or liquid fuel.

Details

• Type: SPH
• Class: spaceplane
• Part Count: 49
• Pure Stock

Due to the Panthers’ low top speed, flight to space needs to be carefully managed:
1. Begin takeoff roll at ~50% throttle; go to 100% at ~80 m/s.
2. Rotate at ~110 m/s, retract gear, and climb at 20° to 5000 m ASL.
3. Engage afterburners and climb to 8000 m before lowering nose to 10° to go supersonic.
4. Drop nose as needed to maintain 50-100 m/s climb rate.
5. At maximum velocity (~830 m/s at 13000 m), engage Swivel engine and pitch up to 20°.
6. At 30000 m, set SAS to prograde and manage throttle to maintain 1-2 min to apoapsis.
 
For reentry, a 100x30 km orbit with a periapsis directly over KSC and a 30-40° angle of attack will bring you down just short of the field, with several minutes of loiter time just in case.
 
A stock aircraft called Krew Transfer Shuttle. Built with 49 parts from the early (≤160) tech nodes, its root part is Mark2Cockpit. Built in the SPH in KSP version 1.2.2.