Aeris 4A

The Aeris 4A is a manned stock spaceplane with single-stage-to-orbit capabilities. With sufficient piloting skill it is capable of reaching Kerbin orbit, docking with another craft in orbit and returning safely to the ground without decoupling any parts.

Features

The Aeris A4 is equipped with

• Two TurboJet Engines with 4 Radial Air Intakes and two Ram Air Intakes for atmospheric flight
• Control surfaces and winglets for atmospheric control
• One LV-T30 Liquid Fuel Engine for orbital flight
• RCS thrusters for orbital control
• An Inline Clamp-O-Tron docking port facing upwards

Action Groups

For faster switching between atmospheric and orbital flight, the Aeris 4A has four action groups predefined:

1. Activate turbojet engines
2. Activate liquid fuel engine
3. Shutdown jet engines, toggle intakes
4. Open docking port

Its engines are supposed to be controlled through action groups, not through staging.

Mission Profile

This is an outline for a typical mission.

Takeoff

1. Activate SAS
2. Activate turbojet engines with the 1 key.
3. Set throttle to maximum
4. Wait until you are at the end of the runway
5. Raise the nose very, **very** carefully to avoid scratching the runway with the liquid fuel engine

Atmospheric ascension

1. ascend in a vertical angle of about 30° to a height of 15km
2. Reduce your vertical angle to about 10° and keep raising watching your intake air level on the Resources panel

Orbital ascension

1. When your intake air level reaches 0.07, deactivate the jets and intakes with action group 3 to avoid a flame-out. Then activate the liquid fuel engine with action group 2 and activate RCS.
2. Keep accelerating in your prograde direction while watching your apoapsis on the map view
3. When your apoapsis exceeds 100km, set your throttle to 0%
4. wait until you've reached your apoapsis and circularize your orbit with another burn

Orbital maneuvers

You can now do an EVA or attempt to rendezvous and dock with another craft in orbit, but try not to use too much liquid fuel, as you will need some left for deorbiting.

Deorbiting

1. To land at (or at least near) the KSC, perform your deorbit burn when you are approximately over the large impact crater. Burn retrograde until your trajectory hits the continent east of the KSC.
2. turn your craft to face prograde
3. Due to a construction mistake the jet engines won't work when there is no liquid fuel in the tanks connected to them They can't take fuel from the central tank. So pump the liquid fuel from the central jet fuel tank into the two outer FL-T400 tanks before you proceed. Make sure that the distribution between them is as equal as possible to avoid moving your center of mass to the side.
4. Shut down the rocket engine by right-clicking on it and selecting "Shutdown Engine"
5. Re-activate the air intakes with action group 3
6. Re-activate the jet engines with action group 1, but do not activate throttle until you have intake air again.

Re-Entry

1. You will start to notice atmospheric drag reducing your speed at about 40km height.
2. From now on, keep the roll parallel to the horizon and the nose pointed at the prograde marker on the nav-ball at all times.
3. When you are at about 10km height and 400 m/s speed, you will be able to fly properly again. Put some power to the jet engines and try to get into a level flight with constant speed.
4. Navigate to the KSC or find another suitable spot for landing.

Landing

You do not necessarily need to land on the runway. Try it when you want to show off, but landing on the flat plain around the KSC is much easier.

1. Make sure the landing gear is out and activate the brakes
2. Go on slow, very low and in a very flat angle
3. gradually reduce the speed while trying to remain level until you drop to the ground while your nose is still pointing slightly upwards
4. let the brakes bring you to a halt
5. Congratulate yourself