There are lots of ways to create your own spacecraft.
You will need the following:
- Enough thrust and to lift the vehicle.
- Fuel
- Command Module (Capsule or Probe).
- Separator
- RCS Thrusters for docking/correcting orbit
Optionally:
- Landing legs for landing missions
- Engines
- Solar Panel/RTG
- Ion Engine
- Fairing for carrying payloads into space
- Docking Port
- Rover Wheels
- Struts for attaching parts over long distances
- Aerodynamic Nose Cone
- Parachutes
Note: RTGs are only found in blueprint editing in versions 1.5 and up. This may be changed in the future.
There are huge differences between large parts and small parts. Large parts provide additional fuel and extend spacecraft, but increase weight.
There are different types of spacecraft that you could make:
- Satellites
- Orbital launch Platform/Orbital Weapons
- High orbit/low orbit craft
- Space Station parts
- Cargo
- Space Shuttle(s)
- Single Stage To Orbit vehicles
- Colonization Spacecraft
Other users have made their own builds (based on real-life spacecraft and original ideas) and posted them on YouTube.
Some examples of real-life spacecraft are listed below (click each one for its Wikipedia article with photographs):