Single Stage to Orbit - Xplane11, Again

[John_Cillis 2,406]

I am getting better at getting this bird into a stable orbit, it takes just the right amount of fuel, about twice what is needed for orbit.  It makes the spacecraft light enough to take off from a runway, light enough to turn towards Dakar to take advantage of the earth's orbital spin and fly a good orbital path.  I recorded the takeoff to orbit so I can just enjoy drifting thru space after the recording ends.  I love my 4th pic, high over Africa, with just the lights shining of the Spacecraft in the darkness...  Although this aircraft has no cockpit whatsoever, I just use the GPS to track my heading and groundspeed so I can make a stable orbit.  Once in orbit, in the absence of the atmosphere, the spacecraft slowly spins just like a real spacecraft would.  Like the Space Shuttle or practically any rocket, it gets to orbit in about eight to nine minutes, but just on a single stage.  Once it is in orbit, it is well away from Florida and passes Puerto Rico which one can just make out in one of the shots.  I did not cut off the thrust at orbital speed, so the orbit is highly elliptical, as one can see, I end up high over Africa, roughly over Dakar, which was my aiming point.

John

Edited June 10, 2019 by John_Cillis

[bernd1151 5,854]

Outstanding, John. Never seen anything like this before in flightsim 😉