I DID IT!!! MUN AND BACK!

[stephensmat]

I know that almost everyone here has probably long achieved this; and you've probably gotten sick of hearing it, but I bought this game literally years ago. In that time, I've come and gone. A few months ago, I got serious about sitting down and learning the theory.

After literal months of study, I managed to land on the Mun three times, but I marooned three Kerbals. (I'll go back for them one day, I promise.)

Ten minutes ago, by the skin of my teeth, with less than 10 Delta-V to spare, I brought my Kerbal home with a Mun Rock.

What's that you say? Pics or it didn't happen?

 

 

Space is hard. I'm surprised to learn that even simulated space is hard. I'm a semi-obsessed space-nut, and SpaceX is my favorite topic when I meet new people, but I finally appreciate what went into calculating the 'One Small Step'.

So, now I have sufficient science points to buy bigger fuel tanks, or bigger rockets, (but not both) and still have enough points left over for a 'two-seater'.

Any suggestions?

[Superfluous J]

Yay, congrats!

I'd suggest you spend your science on more science if you have it, and re-do that mission with the new science. Then maybe you can afford both bigger rockets and fuel tanks.

The only other suggestion is, try to build a rocket to do what you want to next, and then when you realize you need something buy that tech node.

Oh I lied, one more suggestion: Your Mun ship can probably just go to Minmus as-is. It may even be overengineered for it. So you could do that and get a TON more science.

And seriously, congrats. You achieved something truly difficult and your pride is very much appropriate.

[swjr-swis]

38 minutes ago, Superfluous J said:

one more suggestion: Your Mun ship can probably just go to Minmus as-is. It may even be overengineered for it. So you could do that and get a TON more science.

That'd be my top suggestion too for a stock career.

If I may add a tip to this which might make things a bit easier: Minmus is so ridiculously easy to land on compared to Mun that it actually pays off to not even bother circularizing when you get there. The dV you'd use to circularize can be used to make a safe landing and have a bit more margin for the trip back. Either way, it's totally worth the trip for the amount of science you'll get.

Edit: and congrats on the Mun landing of course... almost forgot the most important thing I wanted to say.

Edited April 13, 2022 by swjr-swis
silly

[fleventeen]

Congrats on the huge milestone!

Agreed with the posts above. You have the opportunity to visit additional biomes on Mun, and with more science experiments (you will need to scan in order to see the biome boundaries though).

If you can swing it, a Minmus mission can be a great science boost early on, and it is even easier to land on than the Mun (though a bit harder to intercept due to the orbital inclination). You will need to time your transfer burn such that you arrive at Minmus when it passes one of the ascending/descending nodes. I forget the rule of thumb for Minmus (you can usually eyeball transfer windows by the body's relative position in orbit), but you can play around with the maneuver tool to figure out the right time to burn.

Edited April 13, 2022 by fleventeen

[fleventeen]

24 minutes ago, swjr-swis said:

If I may add a tip to this which might make things a bit easier: Minmus is so ridiculously easy to land on compared to Mun that it actually pays off to not even bother circularizing when you get there. The dV you'd use to circularize can be used to make a safe landing and have a bit more margin for the trip back. Either way, it's totally worth the trip for the amount of science you'll get.

This may technically be true, but for new players I would still recommend a circularizing burn. The delta-v losses are minimal, and it gives the player freedom to pick a landing spot at their orbital leisure.

[James Kerman]

1 hour ago, fleventeen said:

I forget the rule of thumb for Minmus (you can usually eyeball transfer windows by the body's relative position in orbit), but you can play around with the maneuver tool to figure out the right time to burn.

You can match inclination with Minmus while orbiting Kerbin however I find it's easier to set Minmus as target and ride up the ascending or descending nodes and then adjust my orbit at Minmus as the Dv requirements for inclination burns are lower when your vessel is moving at slower speeds.

[miklkit]

Congratulations! 

Methinks everyone strands their crew on the first landing.  I did.  I fixated on rescuing them and put everything into hardware until I got them home.  Oh, my favorite rocket for mun landers is the Thud.   4 of them makes for a shorter wider lander.  The Twitch can also be used for light landers.

[fleventeen]

3 hours ago, miklkit said:

Methinks everyone strands their crew on the first landing.  I did.  I fixated on rescuing them and put everything into hardware until I got them home.

Yes. Just don't be like me and strand Jeb at Eeloo. It is not fun to have to make that trip twice at max warp. 

[MythicalHeFF]

1 hour ago, fleventeen said:

Yes. Just don't be like me and strand Jeb at Eeloo. It is not fun to have to make that trip twice at max warp. 

And definitely don’t strand him in solar orbit. Getting an intercept there when you can barely rendezvous in LKO takes forever.

[Gargamel]

17 hours ago, stephensmat said:

After literal months of study, I managed to land on the Mun three times, but I marooned three Kerbals. (I'll go back for them one day, I promise.

 

Congrats!

I completely empathize with your joy.   When I built my new computer two years ago, I booted up a clean unmodded install and did a full Apollo style lunar mission.   It had been a long time since I had run a fully hands on flight, and it felt wonderful to know I could still do it.     Keep it up!

[Autochrome]

Congrats! I remember when I first landed on the Mun on console, it was pretty rough...

[stephensmat]

1 hour ago, Gargamel said:

Kerbal comics? I've never even heard of this. The website I found appears to have 'aged out'. Anyone know where I can find an archive of it?

[Gargamel]

40 minutes ago, stephensmat said:

Kerbal comics? I've never even heard of this. The website I found appears to have 'aged out'. Anyone know where I can find an archive of it?

They’re floating around the net, but the original source has long since vanished.   Way back machine or such might have it. 

[Maria Sirona]

Congratulations! Awesome!

[Deimosksp]

On 4/13/2022 at 3:16 AM, stephensmat said:

I know that almost everyone here has probably long achieved this; and you've probably gotten sick of hearing it, but I bought this game literally years ago. In that time, I've come and gone. A few months ago, I got serious about sitting down and learning the theory.

After literal months of study, I managed to land on the Mun three times, but I marooned three Kerbals. (I'll go back for them one day, I promise.)

Ten minutes ago, by the skin of my teeth, with less than 10 Delta-V to spare, I brought my Kerbal home with a Mun Rock.

What's that you say? Pics or it didn't happen?

 

 

Space is hard. I'm surprised to learn that even simulated space is hard. I'm a semi-obsessed space-nut, and SpaceX is my favorite topic when I meet new people, but I finally appreciate what went into calculating the 'One Small Step'.

So, now I have sufficient science points to buy bigger fuel tanks, or bigger rockets, (but not both) and still have enough points left over for a 'two-seater'.

Any suggestions?

TIME TO REMAKE  A FALCON 9 LAUNCH A LANDER AND A CREW CAPSULE DOCK AND LAND ON THE MUN

[Deimosksp]

On 4/13/2022 at 10:24 PM, stephensmat said:

Kerbal comics? I've never even heard of this. The website I found appears to have 'aged out'. Anyone know where I can find an archive of it?

https://www.facebook.com/KerbalComics/ there is a page on facebook

enjoy

[HebaruSan]

On 4/13/2022 at 8:16 AM, stephensmat said:

I know that almost everyone here has probably long achieved this

And yet somehow it's still deeply satisfying every time somebody new does it. Congratulations!

[Epicdreamer]

Congrats!

It never gets dull to read the enthousiasm about landing on Mun for the first time. Reading this I sometimes wish I could thouroughly forget the whole 'climbing the learning cliff' or 'hitting the learning wall' process and start all over.