Mun Tutorial for Super Dummies

[RoninFrog]

When I first went to the Mun a long long time ago, I believe I was following some sort of tutorial (maybe the wiki one).  The tutorial eventually got me there and back, but my rocket was really poorly designed, about 4-5 times bigger than it needed to be, and lacking in some basic functionalities that and as a result I put more effort into struggling to overcome technical difficulties and mistakes than I put into learning spaceflight. In the end, the mission was really fun, but I do think the process could have been more fun and less painful.

So I decided to make the rocket that I would have wanted back in the day.  Here is the design I came up with:

KerbalX Link: http://kerbalx.com/RoninFrog/The-Kerbal-Experience

Here's a list of reasons this rocket is infinitely better for a beginner than the one I made for my first Mun trip:

• No direct WASQE control required. (Except for a brief moment during Munar ascent)
• No specific craft altitude timings. Pretty much everything is done based on Ap and Pe positions.
• It's not super overbuilt. Although a ridiculous margin of error can make it easier for a new player to get to the Mun and back, an overbuilt rocket doesn't really (imo) demonstrate a proper Mun mission.
• Demonstrates a really basic docking maneuver, with the option to learn a more complicated rendezvous later on.
• It has a rover. I really wanted to bring a rover on my first Mun mission but couldn't figure it out.

PHASE 1: Launchpad to LKO

Spoiler

On the launchpad:

1. Turn on SAS (T)
2. Throttle to max (Z)
3. Activate the first stage (Space)
4. Set SAS to prograde (  ) next to the NavBall.

In the air:

1. When a stage runs out of fuel, stage it off.  Note that the small asparagus boosters won't turn off automatically so you'll have to keep an eye on their fuel levels.
2. Use (M) to toggle Map View.  When the apoapsis (Ap) marker reaches 75 km, kill the throttle (X)
3. At this point you can stage the fairing away and decouple the nose cone at the front.
4. Use (Shift) and (Control) for the throttle to push your (Ap) marker forward or backward.  Keep it at T-30 seconds.
5. As you approach orbit, your (Ap) marker will become harder to control, wanting to "run away" faster and faster.  When it becomes impossible to control, check your (Pe) marker.  If it is above 70 km, you are in orbit.  Kill your throttle (Z)
6. Make a quicksave.

PHASE 2: Mun transfer

Spoiler

Service Module re-position:

1. Set SAS to hold position ( ~ )
2. Right-click the docking port at the top of the lander inside the gold donut tank.  Click "Undock".
3. Wait for a couple seconds.  Then click "Set As Target" (in the docking port window).
4. Set SAS to target (  ) next to the NavBall.
5. Press (Space) to turn on your engine, then tap (Shift) for throttle once you are pointing at the target marker.
6. Make sure to kill your throttle (X) and turn off your engine (Right click it -> Shut Down) after you dock.
7. Right-click the octagonal lander pod and click "Control From Here".
8. Turn your ship using WASD so that the solar panels under one of the engines are facing the sun.

Maneuver Node:

1. Double click Kerbin in map view to focus your view.  Zoom out until you can see the Mun's whole orbit line and right-click and drag to pan until the Mun is on the right side of the screen.  Without panning, zoom back in and click your orbit trajectory right in the middle to create a maneuver node.
2. There should be a (  ) marker in the lower right with 0.000 next to it.  Change that to 860.  In theory, you should now be able to see a green line, a yellow line, and a Mun encounter.
3. Look for a purple (Pe) marker.  If you drag the maneuver node around on your orbit, you should be able to find a spot where the purple (Pe) marker disappears.
4. Double click the Mun to focus your view.
5. If you switch from "ORBIT" to "MANEUVER 1" in the lower right, you should be able to click a tab labeled "Graphical Maneuver Editor".
6. Drag the slider on the right all the way to the bottom, and then pull on the retrograde (  ) marker until your purple (Pe) marker is between 15km and 20km.
7. If you mess up the maneuver node somehow, you can right click to delete and then start the process over.  Make a quicksave when you have a good node.

Transfer Burn:

1. Set SAS to Maneuver (  ) and then click the green ( >> ) on the right of the NavBall to fast forward to the maneuver.
2. When the timewarp finishes, make a quicksave and then wait until your "T-" time is half of the estimated burn time.
3. Then throttle to max (Z).  Right click the conical service capsule and pin it.  Also pin the other (service) engine.
4. When the big booster under the lander runs out, stage it off and then click "Control From Here" on the service capsule.
5. Once the ship turns around to point to (  ), Activate the service engine.  (You can close the pinned windows)
6. Watch your green delta-V readout on the right of the NavBall.  When it gets under 50 m/s, kill your engines with (X).  If you overshoot, you'll probably have to reload a save.
7. Focus on Mun in map view and burn slowly until you see a yellow trajectory.  Bring it in until the (Pe) marker is between 15km and 20km.
8. For better control, consider lowering the thrust limiter on your engine.  Just remember to change it back to 100 when you finish the burn.  Also remember to quicksave.
9. Make sure your solar panels point towards the sun and then timewarp towards the Mun.  You can delete the node with ( X ) next to the NavBall

Mun capture:

1. Timewarp until you're about a minute from your Mun Periapsis (Pe) and then set SAS to retrograde (  )
2. When you are at T-15s from Periapsis, throttle to max (Z) and keep your Periapsis at T-15s with (Shift) and (Control)
3. When you've circularized and your Periapsis runs away on minimum throttle, make sure your Apoapsis (Ap) is below 20km and your Periapsis is above 10km.
4. Make a quicksave.

PHASE 3: The Mun

 

There are two ways to land this craft on the Mun:

• You can land Apollo-style with only the lander, but you will have much tighter fuel restrictions and you will have to perform a rendezvous with the service module to get home.  I do the apollo-style in the video below, but I mess up the ascent and run out of fuel too early, having to go full Mark Watney to get back to the Service Module.
• You can also land with the service module.  The mission won't be as fun (IMO) and you won't have the rover but you will have much looser fuel restrictions and you can skip the rendezvous.

Both sets of instructions are listed here.  I think a new player is probably capable of either, but take your pick.  I'd recommend at least trying the Apollo, and if that doesn't work then you can always fall back on your Mun orbit quicksave for the rendezvous-skip method.  The two hardest things about Apollo-style are fuel management and setting up a rendezvous maneuver.

Rendezvous-Skip (easy):

Spoiler

Mun Descent:

1. Made sure fuel transfer is enabled on both connected docking ports.
2. There are 2 (donut) fuel tanks on the lander and 2 (cylinder) on the service module.  You can pin the fuel tank menus and transfer fuel from the lander to the service tanks.
3. When the lander tanks are emptied, undock from the lander.  Make sure your kerbonaut is in the service module.
4. Pick a landing spot and then timewarp until it is about 45 degrees in front of your orbit location.  Quicksave.
5. Set SAS to retrograde (  ) and then burn to 500 m/s.  Click the NavBall to "Surface", not "Orbit".
6. Set the blue/green icon next to your altitude to land (green), and then timewarp to 5km.  If you overshoot you will probably need to load the save you just made.
7. Use throttle to keep your speed at around but above 10% of your altitude down to 3m/s, which is a good landing speed.  Try not to go below 1m/s or SAS will get confused.
8. When you've landed, set SAS to radial out (  ).  Note that using SAS requires a small amount of electricity.  Make a quicksave.

At this point you've landed.  Feel free to get out and enjoy the sunshine (or lack thereof), plant a flag, take a surface sample, fly around with your jetpack (RCS).  There is no ladder on the service module, to reach the crew hatch you'll have to jump or use the jetpack.  (F) to grab, (B) to board.  If the service module falls over at any point, set SAS to radial out (  ) and hold either Q or E until it stands back up.

Mun Ascent:

1. Press E until the red north line is on the left side of the NavBall.
2. In this order, set SAS to Hold Position ( ~ ), throttle to max, and use W to angle down to 10° on the NavBall.
3. Burn until your Apoapsis is 15km, then kill throttle.
4. Set SAS to Prograde (  ) and change the NavBall to "Orbit", not "Surface".
5. Use throttle to keep your Apoapsis at T-15s until you reach a circular orbit with Periapsis (Pe) at least 10km.  Make a quicksave.

Apollo-Style (hard):

Spoiler

Mun Descent:

1. Use "Transfer Crew" on the service capsule to move your kerbonaut to the octagonal lander pod.
2. Right click the docking port and undock.  If your focus stays on the service module, use ([) to switch to the lander.
3. Pick a rough landing area and then timewarp until it is about 45 degrees in front of your orbit location.  Quicksave.
4. Set SAS to retrograde (  ) and then burn to 500 m/s.  Click the NavBall to "Surface", not "Orbit".  Use G to extend your landing legs.
5. Keep your speed on the NavBall between 10% and 20% of your altitude.  A good landing speed is 3-7m/s; do not go below 1 m/s or you will have to retarget SAS and waste fuel.  If you land with less than 550 m/s of fuel, you used too much.  Reload the save you just made and keep your speed higher (20%-30% of altitude) while you descend. 
6. When you've landed and are stable, turn SAS off.  SAS requires electricity and the lander doesn't have solar panels.  Make a quicksave.

At this point, you've landed.  Feel free to get out and enjoy the sunshine (or lack thereof), plant a flag, take a surface sample, fly around with your jetpack (RCS).  There is no ladder on the service module, to reach the crew hatch you'll have to jump or use the jetpack.  (F) to grab, (B) to board.  Also, there is a rover in the service bay which you probably don't have enough fuel to bring back to Mun orbit, so you'll have to unpack it and leave it on the Mun.

Rover Unpack:

1. Open the service bay and stage the decoupler inside.  The rover should come loose, so reload a quicksave if it doesnt.
2. You might need to get your kerbal out and push it all the way out.  Also, the rover will probably be kind of glitchy at first.
3. To get in the rover, right click the EAS-4 External Command Seat at the front and click "Board".
4. Once you get in, turn on SAS and set the Spring Strength on all the wheels to 3.
5. The SAS controls and the rover controls are both mapped to WASD, so you'll probably have to change your settings or disable the Small Inline Reaction Wheel.
6. Quicksave, as usual.  You can use (V) to lock the camera for a better rovering experience.

If the lander falls over at any point, retract the landing gear and set SAS to radial out (  ).  Remember to turn SAS back off to save electricity.

Mun Ascent:

1. Find the service module in map view and click "Set as Target".  Look straight down and timewarp until it is about 20° away from being above the lander.
2. Set SAS to radial out, retract your landing gear, and then press E until the red north line is on the left side of the NavBall.
3. In this order, set SAS to Hold Position ( ~ ), throttle to max, and use W to angle down to 10° on the NavBall.
4. As soon as it doesn't cause you to crash into a mountain, angle down to zero degrees and burn your Apoapsis to 15km, or close-ish to the green target trajectory.  Kill throttle.
5. Set SAS to Prograde (  ) and change the NavBall to "Orbit", not "Surface".

Intercept:

1. Keep your Apoapsis at T-15s with throttle.  You should be able to see orange Intercept markers appear to your left.  As you burn for orbit, they should be getting closer.
2. After you circularize and your apoapsis escapes T-15s on minimum throttle, keep burning on low throttle, and watch the intercept markers.
3. The markers might change colors, but watch the ones on your left.  They should be getting closer as you burn.  Keep burning until they are roughly aligned, don't overshoot.  By my testing, you should have around 100m/s of fuel left at this point.
4. There should also be green (An) and (Dn) markers somewhere.  Create a maneuver node on the one furthest from your intersection point.
5. Open the Graphical Maneuver Editor for Maneuver 1 in the lower left and quicksave.

Rendezvous Maneuver:

1. With the editor open, slide the magnitude slider all the way down and try to adjust things that lower the Intersect Separation distance.  If you're having trouble, try adjusting the pink nodes (   ) until your (An) is 0.0, and then adjust the blue and yellow ones.
2. You need to get the separation distance to 0.0km.  Note the T-time next to the NavBall, so you have limited time to get it figured out.
3. Once you have a good maneuver node, set SAS to maneuver (  ) and quicksave before you burn.
4. You will probably have to lower your engine's Thrust Limiter a lot to be able to make a precise burn.  This burn really  needs to be exact or you'll miss the service module.
5. If you finish the burn and there's still 0.1km or 0.2km distance, don't worry, just make another maneuver node and keep troubleshooting.  Note that your Relative Speed will need to be less than your fuel remaining speed.
6. When you delete your node and have a 0.0km intercept, make a quicksave.  The hardest parts of Apollo-style are done.  Don't forget to put your thrust limiter back to 100.

Rendezvous:

1. Timewarp until you're within a couple minutes of the intercept.  If you close out of map view and set SAS to target (  ), the lander will automatically point at the service module, which should be marked with a yellow-green distance.
2. When the service module is a a few km away, set the NavBall to "Target", not "Orbit", and set SAS to retrograde (  ).
3. At some point, you should be able to see the service lander.  When you're visually close, kill your target speed.  Hopefully you have around 20m/s of fuel left.  When I tested this, following these instructions exactly, I had 50m/s left, so it's absolutely possible.
4. If you're still more than 20 meters or so from the module, you should probably get closer.  Set SAS to target (  ), burn for 2m/s, set SAS to retrograde (  ), and kill your velocity about 20 meters from the module.
5. Right click the lander docking port and Control From Here.  Right click the service docking port and Set as Target.  Set SAS to target and quicksave.
6. EVA your kerbonaut and use your jetpack to fly to the service module.

Docking:

1. Note: once your kerbonaut is in the service module, you don't really need to dock for any reason, but it's fun and at this point simple.
2. Control from service docking port, set lander docking port as target, and burn for ~0.5m/s.  Hopefully the docking ports attract and connect, but don't worry if they don't.
3. If you dock successfully, you can transfer the rest of the fuel from the lander's gold donut tanks into the service module's tank and then undock from the lander.  If the two crafts just bounce off, don't worry about it.  Remember to quicksave .  Congrats on doing the mission Apollo style!

PHASE 3: Return to Kerbin

Spoiler

Kerbin transfer:

1. Create a maneuver node and go to the Text Maneuver Editor for Maneuver 1 in the lower left.
2. Set prograde (  ) to 290.
3. Drag the maneuver node around on your orbit until your trajectory goes towards Kerbin.  You want to find a place where your purple Kerbin (Pe) disappears underground.
4. Change to Graphical Maneuver Editor, drag down the magnitude slider, and pull the retrograde (  ) marker so your Kerbin Periapsis comes back up to around 35 km.
5. Make sure your NavBall is set to "Orbit", not "Target" or "Surface", and set SAS to Maneuver (  ).
6. Warp to the maneuver with (  >> ) and then burn until your Kerbin Periapsis (purple Pe) is around 35km.  Quicksave.

Reentry:

1. Aim your solar panels at the sun before timewarping back to Kerbin.
2. Be careful timewarping to your Kerbin Periapsis; it is really easy to overshoot.  You can also click on your orbit trajectory and use "Warp Here" as a safer option.
3. Before you get to 100km, stage off your booster and set SAS to retrograde (  ) and your NavBall to "Surface", not "Orbit".
4. After reentry, when the parachute icon turns gray, not red or yellow, you can deploy it.
5. When the parachute finishes deploying around 300m, you can right-click and jettison your heat shield.

Here's a video of how the mission should go, except for how I made a mistake on my Mun ascent and didn't have enough fuel to do a full dock with the service module.  Sorry about any audio cuts.

Edited September 9 by RoninFrog