Well.. at least I tried...

[The Joker]

So close...

Just minutes before- was it a bad omen?

Turns out I (crash)landed next to a giant crater. I'd estimate it around 30 to 50 kilometers across.

Sorry Jeb.

I'll get a rescue ship as soon as I can up there!

[deadshot462]

Any landing you can walk away from is a.. good landing?

That's what kerbals think anyways.

[what-the]

I've had many close landings. I've learnt to use the f5 and f9 keys. You should try landing without legs like in the older versions, hard but rewarding for a return mission.

[Vanamonde]

The Joker, when you do send the rescue ship, you'll likely want to install some ladders so that the little guys don't have to RCS up and down to the door. By the way, it's hard to be sure from this angle, but there might be something in that crater for Jeb to investigate while he's waiting for rescue.

[r_rolo1]

Have you tried to use the EVA RCS to try to put the ship straight ?

[The Joker]

Have you tried to use the EVA RCS to try to put the ship straight ?

What I tried to do was fold the landing gear in and turn on the engine. I slid around in circles for a bit before the capsule collided with a rock and exploded.

RIP Jebediah Kerman

[kodemunkey]

you did better than me, i can't even get into a stable orbit around the main planet.

[spikeyhat09]

Use three landing legs instead of 4. 3 points will always lay flat on any surface, which is why chairs with 4 legs wobble sometimes. also use the telescoping legs, as they protrude further (longer legs = less likely to tip). additionally, it seems like the telescoping ones are less likely to simply snap off on hard landings.

Edited September 2, 2012 by spikeyhat09

[NovaSilisko]

Six legs would actually be far, far more stable than four, and infinitely more stable than three!

[The Joker]

Use three landing legs instead of 4. 3 points will always lay flat on any surface, which is why chairs with 4 legs wobble sometimes. also use the telescoping legs, as they protrude further (longer legs = less likely to tip). additionally, it seems like the telescoping ones are less likely to simply snap off on hard landings.

I'll try that on my next Munar mission, thanks.

[The Joker]

So, I tried to land Bill on the Mun.

[zapy97]

no offence to your piloting skills because at times i am just as bad, but that is alittle funny i loled so hard when i say your last pic, but here is some advice, use 6 landing legs instead of another amount, try to either make your lander less tall or you use the older RCS thrusters all around the ship like with symetry on use 8 around the cockpit, then mount 3 on your landers lower fuel tanks (dont forget RCS fuel), when coming in to land Hit Caps Lock for fine tuned controls and try to cancle your sideways momentum like that

[The Joker]

no offence to your piloting skills because at times i am just as bad, but that is alittle funny i loled so hard when i say your last pic, but here is some advice, use 6 landing legs instead of another amount, try to either make your lander less tall or you use the older RCS thrusters all around the ship like with symetry on use 8 around the cockpit, then mount 3 on your landers lower fuel tanks (dont forget RCS fuel), when coming in to land Hit Caps Lock for fine tuned controls and try to cancle your sideways momentum like that

All are really good tips, and the next time I build a lander vehicle I'll use them. But... I won't need them right now:

I landed this and crashed the previous lander (of same design) on the dark side of the Mun, which was also why this was extremely hard to pull off.

However, the boulders strewn about on the Mun's surface gave me a bit of a clue to where the ground was.

[Rocketscience101]

Use three landing legs instead of 4. 3 points will always lay flat on any surface, which is why chairs with 4 legs wobble sometimes. also use the telescoping legs, as they protrude further (longer legs = less likely to tip). additionally, it seems like the telescoping ones are less likely to simply snap off on hard landings.

Or a soft one. I have had them snap off on landings below 3.5 mps.

[The Joker]

Or a soft one. I have had them snap off on landings below 3.5 mps.

I think I was somewhere around 6 m/s when I hit the surface. I didn't turn off the engines because I panicked and did a little bounce as well.

I'm amazed the whole thing didn't tip over like the first two.

[borzwazie]

Don't watch the ground while landing. Watch the navball, and your vertical speed. Watch the ground while landing and you'll end up as a junkheap.

Turn capslock on.

If you have lots of RCS fuel, set your throttle to a low descent, and use RCS to control vertical speed.

If you have ASAS, turn it on when you're centered on top of the navball. Use the arrow keys just so you don't drift.

Try to land at 3m/s or less.

Get ready to hit "X" just as you hit the ground. This kills your throttle and avoids all the "hopping."

[The Joker]

Don't watch the ground while landing. Watch the navball, and your vertical speed. Watch the ground while landing and you'll end up as a junkheap.

Turn capslock on.

If you have lots of RCS fuel, set your throttle to a low descent, and use RCS to control vertical speed.

If you have ASAS, turn it on when you're centered on top of the navball. Use the arrow keys just so you don't drift.

Try to land at 3m/s or less.

Everyone's flooding me with tips!

I don't mind, in fact I'm trying to write them all down for other Mun landings.

Now, I have a question for you all: is there a large benefit to having RCS?

Edited September 3, 2012 by The Joker

[superlauncher]

the joker,ur lucky.i tried to get into mun orbit and i went into SUN orbit.

They will never come back...

[Moodtastic]

This was my first landing that didnt topple over. Took ages to touch down.

I like the arch in the back ground. Next time I should remember a ladder! Took ages to EVA back up there. Return was a bit short. Fortunately RCS was just enough to get a return and splash down!

[The Joker]

That's a really cool lander design, but it seems like it would tip over the second it hit the ground.

Did you ever send one of your astronauts to the Mun arch?

Edited September 3, 2012 by The Joker

[Trytogettothemun]

I have sadly he went through it never was seen again

[Vanamonde]

Don't watch the ground while landing.

If you're not watching the ground, how do you avoid landing on a bump or a slope? Also, it's wasteful of fuel to make the whole descent at a safe landing speed, so I come down faster and brake when I see by watching the terrain that I'm close to touchdown. At which time,

is there a large benefit to having RCS?

yes, because you can hit the H key for fine-tuning bursts of vertical RCS thrust. It responds much faster and with finer control than the main engine throttle.

[Felsmak]

It's at least much better than my very first "landing"!

Don't look at the mission timer.

Edited September 3, 2012 by Felsmak

[opticalshadow]

i use the telo legs simply because you can design the rockets easily enough with them to be self righting, adding some nose rcs helps with this alot.

[zapy97]

if you are aproaching mun hit f5 to quicksave, if you mess up your landing you can hit f9 to reattempt the landing, this would have saved jebediah in my case