Spaceflight Simulator Wiki
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Rockets are vehicles that can be sent off into space. They carry the payload to launch it into space. In the game, a rocket can be any object, either controllable and uncontrollable and whether in space, on the surface of a celestial body or whatnot.

Types of rockets[]

There are many types of rockets in the game and in real life.

Basic Suborbital Rocket

A suborbital rocket.

Suborbital rocket[]

for building suborbital rockets, see Building Suborbital Rockets.

A suborbital rocket is a rocket that is designed to reach space but not to got to orbit and are used for many things, such as missiles, studying the atmosphere of Earth and more.

Orbital rockets[]

Screenshot 20211220-215837 Spaceflight Simulator

An orbital rocket

An orbital rocket is a rocket that can reach orbit or a rocket that can carry payloads to orbit around the Earth. They usually have two stages: the first stage is used for lifting off the rocket, and the second stage is used for getting to orbit. This stage carries the payload and is released once it is in the designated orbit.

Interplanetary rockets[]

Interplanetary rockets are rockets that fly between planets to fly by or land on them.

Interstellar rockets[]

Interstellar rockets are rockets that fly at stars to fly by to study them. In real life and in the game, this is not a feature, since there is no existing technology that can put a rocket to fly into a star nearby without planet packs provided by getting the planets expansion.

Probes[]

Main article: [[Space Probe]]


Space probes are rockets that can carry information about a celestial body. They can fly-by, orbit or land on the celestial body to study it. They can also escape the solar system and explore other stars.

Human-rated rockets[]

Human-rated rockets or crew rated are rockets that carry astronauts to space. Piloted vehicles must include habitation and life support to personnel for prolonged periods of time. These vehicles also have to be able to return the crew to Earth.

Single-stage-to-orbit[]

A single-stage-to-orbit rocket or SSTO for short, is a rocket that goes to orbit just with a single stage. These vehicles are usually partially or fully reusable.

Mutistage rocket[]

A multistage rocket is a rocket that has multiple stages. Multiple stages adds the advantage of shedding extra weight that isn't needed for upper stages. This also allows for more vacuum optimized engines to be used in space or the upper atmosphere.

Lander

A basic Lander

Lander[]

A lander is intended to land on the surface of celestial bodies, and optionally return to Earth. If landing on planets with an atmosphere, the lander will need a Heat Shield to protect it from the intense heat during re-entry. Especially for landers that will return to Earth, they are equipped with Parachutes if they will not land via landing burn.

Docking craft[]

A docking craft is a rocket docks with another rocket, usually to transfer fuel or build a space station. They are equipped with Docking Ports and RCS Thrusters for translation control on all axis.

Other rockets[]

Not all rockets can go to space. Some rockets are used for entertainment or recreational purposes and military purposes. Some suborbital rockets such as sounding rockets are used to observe or study upper atmospheric phenomena like upper atmospheric lighting and weather patterns and conditions.

Entertainment and recreational rockets[]

Entertainment or recreational rockets are rockets that have no intention of going to space but are used for entertainment or educational purposes. These vehicles are usually small, and are launched in public places. They are also usually recovered and reused.

Examples of entertainment and recreational rockets[]

  • Model rockets
  • Fireworks
  • Water rockets
  • Jet packs (rocket-powered)
  • Skyrockets
  • Balloon rockets

Military rockets[]

Military rockets are rockets that are used by a military force. These include missiles, ballistic missiles (such as the Titan II) and other destructive rocket powered vehicles.

Examples of military rockets

  • Unguided rockets
  • Air-to-air missiles
  • Air-to-ground missiles
  • Anti-tank missiles
  • Anti-ship missiles
  • Ballistic missiles
    • Intercontinental ballistic missile: An intercontinental ballistic missile or ICBM is a rocket that has a large range (more than 5500 km) carries a nuclear weapon. They can go to places far away from their launch site because of their large range.

Parts[]

Main article: [[Parts]]


Rockets usually consist of these parts:

  • Engines
  • Fuel Tanks
  • Separator/interstage
  • Nose Cones
  • Payload Adapter
  • Capsule
  • Fairings

Complexes[]

Complexes are builds that can function as other parts not in the game.

Bstsp

A rocket separating its boosters

Booster[]

A booster is an additional rocket meant to help propel rockets into space. There is usually 2 boosters on one rocket, mated using Side Separators.

RCS maneuvering system[]

This system is a cluster of RCS Thrusters used for fine course adjustments in space.

Skirt[]

A skirt is a extension on the bottoms of Fuel Tanks to cover Engines and/or allow Landing Legs to be placed lower. They are made by clipping a short Fuel Tank to the bottom of the Fuel Tank that has the Engine attached. They usually cover some or all of the Engine, and can expand at the bottom.

Engine base[]

Engine bases

These Fuel Tanks serve best as engine bases.

An engine base is a Fuel tank that expands or has fins on the side to fit more Engines (example: 2 Hawk Engines on a 6 Wide Fuel Tank). There is a part in the game that serves best as an engine base. It has fins on the side to fit more Engines.

Uses[]

Rockets mostly carry anything to space because they are powerful enough to carry a payload to space. Rockets mostly launch payloads, human spacecrafts, space probes, space station or space station modules, resupply spacecrafts, or nuclear payloads.

Mission[]

Construction[]

You first build your rocket in the VAB. There are features such as rotate or flipping parts. If the empty area of the building space is long pressed, you will have a blue box which can select multiple parts, symmetry mode, etc.. Once you are done building the rocket, press the "Launch" button on the up-right corner of the screen.

Launch[]

Main article: Launch


The launch is the most crucial part of a rocket's mission. After you build a rocket, the rocket rolls out from the VAB and goes to the launch pad. From here, the rocket ignites its engines to lift off from the pad and heads to space, where it gets to orbit.

Main mission[]

This is where a rocket gets to its destination. From this point, a rocket can do anything from simply orbiting the planet the rocket has launched from, flying by or orbiting a planet, to even landing on a planet.

Return[]

When a rocket is done in its mission, it returns to where it came from. But first, it reenters the atmosphere. The rocket gets exposed with intense heat in this stage. After reentry, it lands back on the planet where it came from.

Physics[]

Forces[]

Drag[]

Gravity[]

Thrust[]

Thrust is basically the lifting power of a rocket.

Lift[]

Aerodynamics[]

Main article: Aerodynamics


Aerodynamics is how a rocket interacts with air.

Specific impulse[]

Main article: Specific impulse


Specific impulse is how efficient a rocket is. The higher the specific impulse, the less fuel is consumed, and the more efficient the rocket is.

Delta-v[]

Main article: Delta-v


Delta v is the change of velocity of a rocket.

Oberth effect[]

Main article: Oberth effect


Thrust-to-weight ratio[]

Main article: Thrust-to-weight ratio


The thrust-to-weight ratio (TWR) is a value that can tell if a rocket can lift off or not. A TWR of 1 and above means that a rocket is capable of lifting off the ground, and a TWR below 1 means that the rocket cannot lift off.

See also[]

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