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Is it at all possible to aerobrake the XR2 at Earth after returning from the Moon, without having to fly the XR2 inverted?
I have done the inverted direct re-entry with the XR2 to a successful landing, but it is not something I like to do. Mainly because looking at it, I don't think the vehicle should be able to survive an inverted re-entry. The heatshield is after all on the ship's belly.
I was hoping to find a procedure using Aerobrake MFD to instead lower my perigee into the Earth atmosphere and then aerobrake to lower the apogee to something a bit more manageable, then lower it some more via other aerobraking passes until I am eventually in LEO. But I am finding it very hard to do. I have done some succesful aerobraking from MEO down to LEO, but coming in with 10+KM/s is proving to be a bit more difficult.
So if any other Orbinauts out there can pass along some tips on how to do this without destroying the vehicle and crew, it would be much appreciated.
And of course,
I have done the inverted direct re-entry with the XR2 to a successful landing, but it is not something I like to do. Mainly because looking at it, I don't think the vehicle should be able to survive an inverted re-entry. The heatshield is after all on the ship's belly.
I was hoping to find a procedure using Aerobrake MFD to instead lower my perigee into the Earth atmosphere and then aerobrake to lower the apogee to something a bit more manageable, then lower it some more via other aerobraking passes until I am eventually in LEO. But I am finding it very hard to do. I have done some succesful aerobraking from MEO down to LEO, but coming in with 10+KM/s is proving to be a bit more difficult.
So if any other Orbinauts out there can pass along some tips on how to do this without destroying the vehicle and crew, it would be much appreciated.
And of course,