Hello all. A question from a new player

[Ya_Boi_Jeb]

Hi im a new KSP player and have a question I was hoping the forum could answer.

I have been able to get to other moons like Minmus and the mun but I get very confused on how to get back it took me 15mins on my first minmus mission to make my return maneuver. So my question is what do all the 6 symbols on the maneuver menu mean as I feel if I knew what they did I could understand it a bit better

[Vanamonde]

Consider the following illustration that I swiped from somebody on the internet. 

Extend the prograde and you will add speed to the course you're already taking, making your projected path line straighter, and doing other stuff depending on the circumstances. 
Extend the retrograde and you will slow down, causing your course line to curve more in response to the gravity being exerted on your ship. 
Extend the normal and your course will curve toward the north of the world you are flying around. (On this half of the orbit. On the other half you will tend just as much toward the south.) 
Extend the anti-normal and your course will curve toward the south of the world you are flying around. (On this half of the orbit. On the other half you will tend just as much toward the north.) 
Extend the radial and your course will curve closer to the world you are near. 
Extend the radial out and your course will pass farther from the world. 

Note: these are short explanations and the real situation is likely to be messier, as changing those vectors can have other effects as well. However, returning from the moons is a fairly simple maneuver and you don't need to get fancy with the course plotting. Take a look at this guide I made a while back. 

[Klapaucius]

I found that really difficult at first as well.

If you are keen on some tutorials, I HIGHLY recommend Nerdy Spaceman.  There are a lot of good tutors out there (Scott Manley, of course, though I think he is better for players who have got past the beginner stage) but I found this guy was the best at going at just the right pace for an absolute noob, which I was not very long ago.  He teaches in science mode which I think is a great starting place for getting your head around the process without either being overwhelmed by the sandbox or bogged down early on with career mode.   For players competley new to the game, I really think there is none better, though he is much less well-known.

 

 

 

[Ya_Boi_Jeb]

Thanks for responce all. I have been watching scott manley but I just confused myself by watching him so will check out this guy you linked :)

[klesh]

Basically the 6 nodes are the 6 directions you can travel.  Up, down, left, right, back and forth.  Pulling the nodes "outward" from the tool center is telling the game you want to move in that direction (pushing them "inward" to the center of the tool is the opposite, saying you want less of that direction).  Sometimes you want to move with a mix of both forward and sideways, so the maneuver tool lets you pull a little bit forwards, then pull a little bit sideways and create your own custom plan that way.

When I started I found it helpful to just create a maneuver node I had no intention of actually using, but just setting one up and playing around with it until I understood the relationship between pulling those nodes and what the resulting change to my trajectory would look like.  It clicks at some point and becomes second nature.

[Dark Lion]

Don't forget about the mouse wheel too! If you hover over each direction, you may use the mouse wheel to fine tune or make larger, fast adjustments to your maneuver nodes!