I am playing an RP-1 install from Baikonur and am at a point where I have the launch capability of reaching the moon. I already accepted a flyby contract to do so, but I'm struggling to find a way to actually get the encounter in simulations due to the limited ignitions.
My booster has ~7.4km/s, second stage has 4km/s and the final kickstage has 2.5km/s, so dV is not a problem, I just need to time it right. But since Baikonur is at 46° inclination to the equator, while the moon is only at 20°, I struggle with getting into the same plane. A solution I thought off would be to launch just at the right time so my initial trajectory after booster cutoff would intersect the descending node, so I could match the inclination with the second stage burn. But since the DN only appears after liftoff, I can't seem to find the right timing.
Is there something I'm missing? How do I get the timing right? Or is this approach inefficient/wrong?