Need help getting on the mun

[Tobu91]

Okay, I\'m a noob at this game so I need some pretty basic help.

I accelerated straight up until my Apoapsis was on the muns orbit, when I reached there I tried to get myself on the muns orbit but something went wrong and now i\'m in this position:

I tried burning in several directions but none altered my orbit so that it would match the muns orbit. What should I do?

[Splendid]

When in mun orbit, burn retrograde till you get a spherical orbit around it.

I suggest you land your craft and try again just because of fuel.

[Tobu91]

I got to mun orbit, but i\'m now basically chasing the mun.

my speed is the same as the mun speed and I wont be able to catch up with him, nor is he able to catch up with me.

I really don\'t want to screw this up, never got this far. What should I do?

[BillWiskins]

There are lots of guides and tutorials hanging around here, have a look back a few pages and you\'ll find about forty different \'getting to the Mun\' lessons.

Quickly: did you fly straight up literally from the moment you launched? It can be done that way, but it is a lot easier to turn towards 90 degrees and park yourself in Kerbin orbit first, then shoot for the Mun when the time is right (if you burn prograde when you see the Mun rise over the horizon ahead of you, you\'re more or less guaranteed to intercept).

I\'d say that mission you have there in the first pic is pretty much lost - unless you have a lot of fuel to rotate the orbital plane (just for a start). Come home, have a biscuit, and try again...

In the second picture, you will meet the Mun eventually if there is some difference in your orbit compared to the Mun\'s - if your Pe or Ap are more or less than 11,400,000m you\'ll get within it\'s gravity at some point. Might want to time warp, because it will take a while.

Also, pedantic note: you\'re not in Mun orbit - you\'re still orbiting Kerbin there, you just happen to have a similar orbit to the Mun. When you get near to the Mun, your orbit trace will change, and then you\'ll be in Munar orbit.

Good luck..

[Tobu91]

Yes, I did fly up straight up from the moment I launched. I will try the other way next time.

I have loads of fuel left, and as i\'ve never got the the mun, even orbiting it or crashing into it would be a success.

My Pe is 10,509,000 and Ap is 12,217,000. I am time warping at max speed but it doesn\'t really help as I dont get any closer to the moon. I guess our speeds are the same, or nearly the same. I\'ll leave it open warping at max speed for half an hour and see if the distance has changed if I wont come up with anything else.

[Tobu91]

Okay, I also found out that I can see the speed of the moon.

The moon is orbiting the earth at 542,5m/s

I am orbiting the earth at 505m/s at my apoapsis and 584 m/s at my periapsis, making my average velocity 544,5 m/s... Which means I will catch up with the moon at full warp speed in about a month.

derp.

How close would I have to be to the moon to be pulled by its gravitational field rather than the gravitational field of the earth?

[RC1062]

I have a feeling that won\'t be your average velocity.

For your second situation you need to burn retrograde (opposite to travel) at the periapsis (lower point) until the apoasis is below the orbit of the Mun around Kerbin. A smaller orbit around the same object will have a shorter orbital period. So you\'ll catch-up with the Mun.

Most people put themselves in a small orbit around kerbin then accelerate prograde when the the Mun rises. I normally follow your method, it doesn\'t matter if I time it badly.

[BillWiskins]

I think the Mun\'s sphere of influence is around 2,400,000m.

[Tobu91]

I did catch up with the mun, but I burned retrograde for far too long. I basically came straight down and even full throttle didn\'t slow down my fall. So I crashed into the mun at T+ 174 days and 22 hours. Better luck next time

[vexx32]

You usually want to be going straight down; just remember that once you are going straight down, you\'ll need to start slowing your fall.