Landing on the Mun

[Monkey Taylor]

It worked............................. well I got back into orbit of the Mun! 

[Palaceviking]

Just now, Monkey Taylor said:

It worked............................. well I got back into orbit of the Mun! 

Have you unlocked the grabber or can you eva yet?

[Monkey Taylor]

13 hours ago, Palaceviking said:

Have you unlocked the grabber or can you eva yet?

I'm in Sandbox! 

[WanderingKid]

15 hours ago, Monkey Taylor said:

It worked............................. well I got back into orbit of the Mun! 

Congratz!

... errr, what worked?

[Palaceviking]

You can send a rescue ship for a quite easy pickup then?

[Loren Pechtel]

On 12/9/2016 at 1:59 PM, WanderingKid said:

I feel you, considering the Mk1.  The only way I was sure was because I could see bits of the wall in between the two tanks.  A tri-coupler would have blocked that out.While I disagree with wanting Rockomax parts for... well... anything inside Kerbin SOI besides lifting massive space stations up, Smaller landing legs and ladders are definitely preferable.  An example of one of my typical early landers for Mun (33 parts (strip off the landing legs to get to 30), 32.008 tons), in case the OP wants an alternate approach:

I disagree about Rockomax parts--there's a very good use for them in Kerbin's SOI:  Anything involving more than three people.  Reentry with a 1.25m rocket with 4 or 5 on board is problematic, it's too long and skinny and is thus prone to lawn darting and thus unsafe unless you put a heat shield on it's nose--something I find so against the spirit of rocketry I don't like doing it.

There are almost always tourists to haul around and Kerbals to rescue so once I unlock 2.5m parts the 1.25m stuff is pretty much only for science only missions.  Flying a bigger rocket takes no more time but things like tourists pay per seat, while the profit per tourist is about the same the profit per minute is higher with the bigger rocket.  (Although as I write this I have a 1.25m rocket off chasing a Kerbal that somehow got himself stranded in Kerbol orbit before I ever left Kerbin's SOI.  It's a one-seat rocket, reentry won't be a problem.)

[WanderingKid]

34 minutes ago, Loren Pechtel said:

I disagree about Rockomax parts--there's a very good use for them in Kerbin's SOI:  Anything involving more than three people.  Reentry with a 1.25m rocket with 4 or 5 on board is problematic, it's too long and skinny and is thus prone to lawn darting and thus unsafe unless you put a heat shield on it's nose--something I find so against the spirit of rocketry I don't like doing it.

There are almost always tourists to haul around and Kerbals to rescue so once I unlock 2.5m parts the 1.25m stuff is pretty much only for science only missions.  Flying a bigger rocket takes no more time but things like tourists pay per seat, while the profit per tourist is about the same the profit per minute is higher with the bigger rocket.  (Although as I write this I have a 1.25m rocket off chasing a Kerbal that somehow got himself stranded in Kerbol orbit before I ever left Kerbin's SOI.  It's a one-seat rocket, reentry won't be a problem.)

I rarely have an issue with lawn-darting a returning 5 man craft with a MK1 pod and 2 crew components attached for a 5 man runner.  I use them as Tour Buses for xp'ing my Kerbals and the like.  The trick for me has always been using a heat shield on the tail to give it a rounded edge and pushing the radial chutes out a bit so they recreate some drag at the top like fins.

As for time/profit, okay, I can see that.  10-12 kerbal tourist buses would count, to me, as a station, even if it's coming home.

[Loren Pechtel]

On 12/30/2016 at 4:27 PM, WanderingKid said:

I rarely have an issue with lawn-darting a returning 5 man craft with a MK1 pod and 2 crew components attached for a 5 man runner.  I use them as Tour Buses for xp'ing my Kerbals and the like.  The trick for me has always been using a heat shield on the tail to give it a rounded edge and pushing the radial chutes out a bit so they recreate some drag at the top like fins.

As for time/profit, okay, I can see that.  10-12 kerbal tourist buses would count, to me, as a station, even if it's coming home.

I didn't try pushing my chutes down, I've always tried to protect them from the fire as much as I can.  If it comes in perfect it's fine but if anything disrupts it it's very prone to lawn darting and I can't recover that.  Perhaps it would work with a bigger reaction wheel (I normally switch to Rocomax parts before getting it.)