Kerb-Shuttle Launched!

 Year 14, Day 411

The KSA has surprised us yet again with likely it's largest crewed invention yet, the Kerb-Shuttle!

What the Kerb-Shuttle basically is, it has two SRBs (Solid Rocket Boosters) along with an EFT (External Fuel Tank). The main thing we want to talk about, though, is the Orbiter spaceplane. It is a spaceplane because it's something with wings that can at least glide but can make it's way to outer space. It's not an SSTO (Single-Stage To Orbit) craft, which is why it needs boosters to lift it's heavy body on takeoff, and an EFT is needed because the Orbiter itself needs to conserve weight on the way down and needs to have space for it's actual true purpose; payloads.

The Kerb-Shuttle can, with a crew onboard, fly into LKO (Low Kerbin Orbit), deploy whatever payload it needs to, and glide back down to land at the KSC once more. The SRBs have parachutes so they can be recovered and the Orbiter is easily reusable since it glides back down to the runway. The only non-reusable part is the EFT, but thankfully, those are cheap to make and cheap-ish to fill.

The shuttle had its first true test flight yesterday (KS-1), and it was amazing! There wasn't a single issue with the launch, which surprised everyone, including the KSA. There was no payload as it was a test flight. Upon entering orbit, they tested the payload doors, which worked. They also tested communications, life support, and did a little science, as usual.

They had apparently lost a couple heat tiles on the bottom of the Orbiter (the Orbiter is designed to belly-dive down into the atmosphere), but thankfully, no repercussions came of it. They have however decided to upgrade to the more expensive and durable silica fiber heat tiles, not the stuff made with the KSC beach sand like before.

Potentially prepare for another launch to put "something absolutely mind-bogglingly crazy" into orbit on KS-2. Well, that's what the KSA said in a news post. We don't actually know what it is they're planning to put into orbit, but we know that it'll be crazy... apparently.



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