Newish. Advice please. :)

[Toes]

Hi!

I'm fairly new to KSP and I've fallen in love with the game. I've been playing for a couple of weeks now only in career mode because i enjoy the challenge of developing my program. So far I've managed everything up to landing on Mun and Minmus but I'm really struggling with returning from them.  I've restarted heaps to fine tune my research but I'm still struggling.  I don't use any mods but I'd love some advice on boosters and efficient fuel use.  I don't want any plans as i really enjoy building my own ships but any other advice would be greatly appreciated. 

Thanks in advance!

[KerikBalm]

Pics of the craft that you currently use would be a helpful starting point for giving advice.

[Whisky Tango Foxtrot]

What you need to do eject you from the Mun or Minmus's SOI on a trajectory that'll put your PE within Kerbin's atmosphere. Basically, put a manoeuvre node near the point where your orbit around the moon is in the opposite direction as the moon's orbit around Kerbin and increase its prograde dV until your Kerbin PE is around 30-40km. You might have to adjust the position of your node to do this efficiently; ideally it'll be placed in such a way that the Kerbin AP is no higher that the moon that you're ejecting from's orbital distance.

Once you've completed that burn (which generally doesn't take much fuel) you'll be on a path that will let Kerbin's atmosphere get rid of the rest of your orbital velocity. You might need a heat shield, although you can often get away with not using one if you're returning from the Mun.

[Toes]

Thank you so much.  I'll post a pic of my current situation in the morning. 

[The Aziz]

Regardless of what ship you have, and how much fuel, you can't do any better than the following:

If you're on the surface close to the equator, good. Lift-off then, burn just a little upwards and then sideways, so you end up moving counterclockwise around the Mun. Burn until your apoapsis is around 10km (safe altitude for new players), ofc make sure you don't hit any hills on your way there. Then circularize. Then perform another burn around 1 o'clock, if you're looking at the far side of the Mun. This should put you on a collision course with Kerbin. The rest is said above by others.

[Zhetaan]

You may have a perfectly good design but not be landing efficiently.  When I first started, I had a line of abandoned spacecraft leading from the surface of the Mun (two on the surface, actually; my piloting didn't get any better the second time round) all the way back to Kerbin Orbit.  If you're consistently able to land, then that and ship design are the places to look for problems.

[purpleivan]

If your problem is having too little fuel for a return, try the following.

• If you a re using a single vehicle to go from the surface of Mun back to Kerbin, consider rendezvousing with an orbiter (Apollo style) for the trip back.
• If you already use an orbiter for the return then do you have the upper part of the lander detachable with its own engine to return to Mun orbit (again Apollo style).

As yours is a career game then an image of you tech tree to show what parts you have available would be useful.

Welcome to the game BTW

[Snark]

Moving to Gameplay Questions.

If you're having trouble getting home from Mun or Minmus, either or both of the following could be your problem:

• A design problem, i.e. you have a ship that simply doesn't have enough oomph to get home.
• A piloting problem, i.e. you're flying in some inefficient fashion so that you're wasting fuel.

Seeing a screenshot will help with the above.  Would also help if you could provide a description of just how you're trying to go home (i.e. when you take off from the Mun or Minmus, what do you do)?

7 hours ago, The Aziz said:

If you're on the surface close to the equator, good. Lift-off then, burn just a little upwards and then sideways, so you end up moving counterclockwise around the Mun. Burn until your apoapsis is around 10km (safe altitude for new players), ofc make sure you don't hit any hills on your way there. Then circularize. Then perform another burn around 1 o'clock, if you're looking at the far side of the Mun. This should put you on a collision course with Kerbin. The rest is said above by others.

^ This.  Take off, crank it immediately over until you're thrusting nearly horizontally, with just enough upward angle so you don't crash into terrain.  Keep burning this way until your Ap rises to 10 km or so.  Coast up to Ap, then do another small burn to circularize at that altitude.  Then you just place a maneuver node at the appropriate place on your orbit to go home.

For figuring out when, where, and how much to burn to leave your low Mun (or Minmus) orbit and go back to Kerbin, you can do it like this (I'm assuming you have maneuver nodes available):

1. If "12 o'clock" is the longitude that's directly facing Kerbin, drop a maneuver node approximately at the 2 o'clock position.
2. Drag the maneuver node's handle until it shows an escape path from the Mun (or Minmus).
3. Zoom out in map view until you can see your projected path around Kerbin after you escape.
4. Click on the "Pe" marker so that it will be "pinned" (i.e. will stay displayed, with the number, even when you're not moused over it).
5. You want your Pe to be inside Kerbin's atmosphere, at an altitude of about 30 km.  The following steps are to adjust that to what you need.
6. Try sliding your maneuver node slightly backward and forward along your circular orbit.  As you do this, watch what happens to your projected Kerbin Pe.  You want that Pe to be as low as possible, so slide the maneuver node until you get to the best (lowest-Pe) spot.
7. Now adjust the size of your burn.  Drag the handle to lower your Pe, or handle to raise it.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you get your Pe to what you need it to be.
9. Do the burn at the appropriate time.

 

[Dark Lion]

Just in case it hasn't been said already, or you aren't aware: plan and design your mission by mission time, but backwards.

For example, from Kerbin to Mun and back, begin with your Kerbin return/landing vessel. Add the Kerbin de-orbit stage to said lander. Add a Mun-Kerbin transfer stage or combine that with your de-orbit at Kerbin stage. Continue this way all the way back to your Kerbin launch vessel. Repeat testing as necessary per each adjustment to your previous design until you get the desired results. 

Also, keep in mind that over-complicating the process is exactly like it sounds... Simple is safer. But it's KSP... who cares? 

[Geonovast]

33 minutes ago, Snark said:

For figuring out when, where, and how much to burn to leave your low Mun (or Minmus) orbit and go back to Kerbin, you can do it like this (I'm assuming you have maneuver nodes available):

1. If "12 o'clock" is the longitude that's directly facing Kerbin, drop a maneuver node approximately at the 2 o'clock position.
2. Drag the maneuver node's handle until it shows an escape path from the Mun (or Minmus).
3. Zoom out in map view until you can see your projected path around Kerbin after you escape.
4. Click on the "Pe" marker so that it will be "pinned" (i.e. will stay displayed, with the number, even when you're not moused over it).
5. You want your Pe to be inside Kerbin's atmosphere, at an altitude of about 30 km.  The following steps are to adjust that to what you need.
6. Try sliding your maneuver node slightly backward and forward along your circular orbit.  As you do this, watch what happens to your projected Kerbin Pe.  You want that Pe to be as low as possible, so slide the maneuver node until you get to the best (lowest-Pe) spot.
7. Now adjust the size of your burn.  Drag the handle to lower your Pe, or handle to raise it.
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 until you get your Pe to what you need it to be.
9. Do the burn at the appropriate time.

 

#4 - I think you mean right click?  Left clicking doesn't do much other than possibly drop another maneuver node.  I didn't know this!  This is really helpful.

Just tried out these instructions for myself.  Seems I've been returning to Kerbin the wrong way for... always.

SS to help out anyone else.

[Col. Kernel]

I highly, HIGHLY recommend the Guide to Kerbal Space Program...for Complete Beginners! by Quill18 on YouTube.

I'm brand spanking new to KSP myself and have learned a LOT of good stuff from Quill18.  I believe his #5 guide will have some helpful information.