On April 12th, 1961, the American's worst fears became true: the Soviets managed to safely put a human in space. Not only did they do that first, but they also had Gagarin sent to orbit, while the Mercury-Redstone stack, then in final stages of development, could only send humans on a suborbital trajectory. When Alan Shepard flew four weeks later, America was still lagging seriously behind because they still couldn't go orbital. That's when an order was issued to accelerate the human rating program of the SM-65 Atlas ballistic missile. With a Mercury capsule on top, it put John Glenn into Low Earth Orbit on Feb 20th, 1962, making him the fifth human in space, and the third human in orbit, finally closing the technology gap between the US and USSR.
To operate this rocket, you will need to follow a shallow ascent profile, until your apoapsis goes above the Karaman line. Then, press AG2 twice, to cut off the booster engines. Your orbit should be no higher than 300km, or you will have troubles with reentry.
Should anything go wrong, there are two abort modes. First, activated by AG1, involves the use of LES. It drives your capsule away from the launcher so you can deploy parachutes safely. It can only be used until skirt separation, after that the tower is jettisoned.
Another option, when LES is not available, involves the use of retrorockets. Use AG3 to activate them, and it will produce a similar effect to LES, but it is available at any altitude.
P.S. Many years after Freedom 7, the first American crewed orbital flight, the Atlas missile is still used to launch humans to orbit. Atlas 5 is the rocket of choice for CST-100 and Dream Chaser spacecraft.
GENERAL INFO
- Created On: Windows
- Game Version: 1.3.204.1
- Price: $6,002k
- Number of Parts: 101
- Dimensions: 29 m x 13 m x 13 m
PERFORMANCE
- Total Delta V: 43.8km/s
- Total Thrust: 2.5MN
- Engines: 11
- Wet Mass: 1.28E+5kg
- Dry Mass: 20,524kg
STAGES
| Stage | Engines | Delta V | Thrust | Burn | Mass |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | 43.7km/s | 2.0MN | 3.6m | 1.16E+5kg |
| 2 | 0 | 0m/s | 0N | 0s | 1.12E+5kg |
| 4 | 3 | 136m/s | 441kN | 0s | 1,685kg |
6 Comments
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227 SpaceFrog4 days ago
On stock system from main DSC pad, without input, it goes strongly west and eventually crashes. When you try to fly it normally, it will go laterally east but it will still be facing up. (if you are pitching east for gravity turn)
So without input, it goes west, but when you do your gravity turn to the east, it will face up and head slightly east and slightly up at the same time.
My phone is capable of running it fine. I have my physics on high and I have run way more complicated stuff successfully. Maybe try to download craft from website and use that.
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4 days ago
@SpaceFrog Hi, can you please describe the issue in more detail? I just loaded it and tried it both on my pc (with RSS) and my phone (with stock juno system) and i didn't notice any odd behaviour... From what you've said, i'm guessing it travels forwards for some time, than jerks to the west and crashes, right? At least that's the problem I've had with my other crafts, but not this one though... how exactly do you fly it? Due to limited gimbal on the XLR-105 (which i don't wanna increase unless absolutely necessary, due to realism), it may theoretically tend to flip around if your AoA is over 20°. It might be due to bad optimization for your device, it has loads of parts, clippings, and tinker panel use, so it might bug on weaker phones... I'll be glad to fix any problem that i can!
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227 SpaceFrog4 days ago
I love the build. But the rocket has a tendency to go west (from dsc pad) and keep turning and go into the ground. Flying this rocket is really difficult with this. Can you post an updated version please? It looks very good though.
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@SpaceFrog I just tested it again, to no avail. The only course change that happens is that when you unlock controls, it leans very slightly to the west due to the fact that the shroud is assymetrical. I don't think that's the issue, as it is barely noticeable. Can you check the thrust on XLR 89 engines (two side engines on the skirt) while in-flight? If your game isn't reading the link properly, one engine might behave differently from the other one. When I load it from the website, i don't have that problem, but that might still be the reason.