A fully functional Falcon 9 rocket for all your reusable needs!
-Instructions-
1) unzip to temporary file (If you are using WinRar feel free to skip this step)
2) drag the "Light-1.craft" file into YourKSPInstall\saves\YourSaveName\Ships\VAB
3) Launch KSP and enjoy :)
The rocket will be named "Light-1" not "Falcon 9" simply because I wasn't
originally going to post it and was too lazy to change the name. It's still
basically the same as the F9 though, so don't worry.
MEMORIZE THE ACTION GROUPS!!!
If you don't you won't be able to land the first stage
Press 1: Toggle landing legs
Press 2: Cut Chute (2 drouge chutes are attached to the capsule)
Press 3: Extend the Dragon capsule's Solar Panels
Press 4: Toggle Airbrakes (they substitute the real life grid fins on falcon 9)
You want to activate airbrakes as soon as you start decending to your landing zone,
otherwise you will most likely have your rocket flip upside-down. You dont want that!
You should leave about 4500-5000 liters of fuel left in your tank opon seperation
of the first stage main booster. Be sure to have MechJeb autopilot enabled on your payload (or whatever mods you may have to over come the issue of flying 2 vehicles at once)
before switching to the Main Booster for landing.
The realistic way to get back to KSC is to loop upwards and backwards. I included a flight path graphic with this download, it is labled "Flight Path.png". This will get your trajectory roughly over KSC with a reasonably straight-ish (the straighter the easier)
descent path. While doing this you want to aim slightly past the space center but not far. Once you are done with your burn/s to get your path over KSC, flip your rocket back
around facing prograde. Wait a few seconds before deploying your airbrakes or you might risk undershooting the space center and landing in the ocean!
As soon as you gain some speed or start entering into the thicker atmosphere you should deploy the speedbrakes, and engage MechJeb descent/landing guidence.
Dont worry about your gaining speed as MechJeb wont fire your engines very much until you are very near the ground, although I recommend quicksaving often just in case.
And don't forget about the landing legs before you touch down!
Mods required:
SpaceY Lifters Pack
Tweakscale
MechJeb
Feel free to edit and redistribute the rocket as you please!