My first mun lander/return

[lmm]

First time posting; there is surely nothing new or original here, but I feel the need to share my achievement in landing a Kerbal on the Mun and returning him safely. The mission could be fairly described as "shambolic" and there were times when I despaired of ever making it home, but make it home I did.

• For the first stage one needs to lower the throttle to 90% or 95% for at least part of the ascent; if one tries to go at 100% the whole way the rocket breaks apart
  
• After first stage separation the rocket wobbles quite alarmingly; fortunately the SAS did its job, stabilising just in time for clearing the atmosphere and rotating to head due East
  
• Second stage separation is really quite beautiful, the three Rockmax stages drifting very slowly away in perfect symmetry
  
• Small burn at apokerb, just enough to lift perikerb out of the atmosphere, then munar transfer burn at perikerb
  
• From a flyby trajectory I reversed thrust to get captured in a very high slow munar orbit, then bi-elliptic transfer to a low fast circular one (~400k), then just slowly burned into a descent. The ship has more than enough fuel for this but I was surprised how much I used; is there a more efficient way to land on an airless body?
  
• For this particular rocket one probably needs to choose a landing site facing directly towards Kerbin
  
• I couldn't fit legs below the nuke, so instead came up with the crazy plan of descending under nuclear power to ~0, separating just above the surface (ideally low enough to then land on legs without needing to do a burn). In the event I misjudged it, separating at ~1500m when the actual surface was below 500m, and burned from my return stage for a ~3m/s descent. Had I got this right, the return might have been a lot easier
  
• The triumph of actual landing was short-lived, both because I wasn't sure if I could get home and because the ladder didn't reach the surface...
  
• Full power on the ascent, switching off as soon as I'm sure I'm free of the Mun and heading for Kerbin. Or rather, past Kerbin
  
• A cock-up with the time controls meant I did an extra Munar flyby before any more thrusting. In retrospect, I suspect this was rather fortunate.
  
• By now I've got about 1/6th of a tank and my orbit goes no closer than 4Mm. I wait patiently for apokerb, doing a long minimum-power burn for maximum efficiency trying to ellipticise my orbit enough to get home. As the fuel supply dwindles away, a crazy thought takes hold; I minutely adjust my course, and I allow myself a little hope to counter the despair as the tank runs dry with perikerb still at 400km altitude.
  
• I circle once... I circle twice... and then the Mun is there and my flyby is everything I had dreamed of and more. The already narrow orbit becomes almost a straight line, perikerb down to 46km.
  
• I remember with a hint of worry that the atmosphere ends at about 35km up, but fortune favours me once more. Metre by metre my orbit becomes a descent, and all that's left to do is open the parachute at 1km for a gentle splashdown only a few hundred kilometers from the space center
  

It's probably routine for you guys, but I felt very pleased to have made it back from the Mun on just an LV-909 with a partially filled FL-T200, even if it did require two gravitational assists.

Next mission: Dun, I guess.

Ship at http://www./?j6khdqv4hdpd66o

[RogueMason]

Firstly, congratulations on making your first trip to Mun and back. It took me a while to get there at first, but when I did... it was a good feeling indeed. As you say, it is pretty much routine for me. In fact, I'm currently testing out a heavy lander design that I hope to publish to my Shipyards here on the forums.

Secondly, I couldn't help but notice that you said you'd try for Duna next. I highly recommend you get at least a few more Mun missions under your belt, as well as a Minmus mission. It's good practice to project your orbit into an encounter, and Minmus will teach you about intercepting at non-horizontal inclinations. If you feel that you can and want to go to Duna, then I'm not stopping you, but practice makes perfect.

I'll give you a tip though; You want Duna to be about 60 degrees ahead of Kerbin before you put yourself into a Solar orbit. That should ensure the best chance of encountering the planet.

I wish you good luck on your future missions!