Flight Question Finding the ISS

[Pound4]

How do you GET to the ISS after a shuttle launch. I always launch, and then the ISS orbit is a total different direction than the way I'm going. How do I change the direction of my orbit to get to the ISS without falling back down to earth or floating off into space?

 

[Bj]

You have to time the launch just right, try the tutorials. Once you can get the DG aligned with the ISS, then you should be ready to try the shuttle.

 

[Pound4]

Hm. Darn. I have a perfect strategy for getting the shuttle in orbit. I fail every time I attempt to launch the DG into orbit. I don't get how to do it.

 

[T.Neo]

Hm. Darn. I have a perfect strategy for getting the shuttle in orbit. I fail every time I attempt to launch the DG into orbit. I don't get how to do it.

Wow, you're lucky. I still can't get the shuttle to orbit.

Don't try to launch a DG like a rocket.
Do this:

Engage the engines at full throttle.
Once at 100m/s, pitch up to +10 on the surface HUD.
Turn to a heading of 90 degrees (I think it is marked as an 09 on the surface HUD)
Pitch up to 70 degrees.
At 20km altitude, turn on RCS and pitch down to 20 degrees.
Pitch down to gain more tangental velocty, but if the green circle with a cross inside (direction of travel marker) goes below the HUD horizon, pitch up to prevent losing altitude.

Finishing off is like the shuttle, really. Do a burn at apogee to circularize orbit.

Inclination is determined by launch heading, longitude of ascending node is determined by time of launch.

 

[garyw]

Also have look at launch MFD which tells you when to launch and what direction to launch into.

 

[Pound4]

Cool! Thanks! I'll give it a try.

And T. Neo, I'll tell you how I launch the space shuttle into orbit.

1. 10 seconds into the flight, still at a 90 degree angle, start rotate the shuttle until 20 seconds
2. 20 seconds in, pull back while still rotating to a 60 degree angle. Stop rotating at 25 seconds but continue to pitch if needed (You just have to level out on your own at this point)
3. 100 seconds in, pull back to a 40 degree angle
4. 130 seconds in, the SRBs will fall off
5. 150 seconds in, SLOWLY (I press "2" on the number pad two times) pull back to a 30 degree angle
6. 225 seconds in, do the same thing to a 20 degree angle
7. 300 seconds in, do the same thing to a 10 degree angle
8. 375 seconds in, do the same thing leveling horizontal with the earth
9. 450 seconds in, do the same thing pulling back to a -10 degree angle
10. 525 seconds in, do the same thing pulling back to a -20 degree angle

- You just have to look at your Orbit MFD to know when you're done
-And when I say a certain amount of seconds in, I'm talking about seconds from when you started the launch, not the time in the top right corner unless you started the launch just as the game started
-I usually finish with about 3 percent fuel left in the external tank. That doesn't matter, I just jettison it
- I use IMFD to fix the orbit I got into to a perfect orbit around the earth at usually about 350 km.

 

[-Pv-]

If you use the Delta Glider IV from the same site as OrbiterSound, it has an autopilot which launches into orbit. Use that to teach yourself how it's done. I think SSU has something like this and Shuttle Fleet has the Item 777 command. Watching it being done is a quick way to learn.
-Pv-