Flight Question [Orbiter 2016] Atlantis manual launch

Fizyk

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Has anybody succeeded in launching the stock Atlantis from Orbiter 2016 manually? I'm always ending up with PeA around -500 to -1000 km when the main fuel tank is empty, and that's slightly too low. The autopilot manages to get to about -230 km, which is enough to get into orbit with OMS.

What I noticed is that the autopilot can gimbal the main engines, which I either cannot or don't know how to do when flying manually. This seems to make a big difference in the initial stage of the flight (the autopilot can execute the initial roll much quicker, and it can burn the main engines almost in parallel to the SRBs, which makes better use of the fuel).

Is it possible to use the gimbals when flying manually? And is it even possible to get into orbit manually with stock Atlantis now? (I know it used to be possible in Orbiter 2010 or 2006, I've done that myself.)

Thanks in advance for the answers!
 
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