to the Mun and back... wards? what did i do here?

[Endoric]

Ok so i am really getting the hang of this game and i am so loving it, thanks a lot to this forum and those wiser than I in the ways of "space-stuff" (see i dont even know what to call it, such a dumb dumb, but i digress)

So here is my problem. I went to Mun, it went great until i landed without enough fuel to take off again.. ok no big deal i can send a rescue ship but the orbital vehicle had to leave the Mun's orbit, return to Kerbol pick up a better lander with a hitch hiker part, take it back to Mun after refueling at my space station (still cant believe i built that thing, lots of fuel and docking ports.... ok back to the problem i ran into.)

SO.... i make it back to kerbol with just enough fuel... except... uh.. i am orbiting east to west instead of west to east and i need something like 4000 delta V to reverse (unless i am doing it wrong). needless to say my space station is going one way, my orbital vehicle is going the other and they zip past each other way to fast to do anything.

Well how did i return with a reverse orbit? Was it as simple as approaching from the back instead of the front? Details are great, i can sort it out and look forward to learning something about more advanced orbital maneuvers. Here is a nifty picture of what i did going out and what i did returning.

i can not recall if i entered the Mun from behind or infront... so the diagram may be wrong on how i entered Mun but it is correct in my orbital direction. all i know is I read that going in front of a planet compared to behind a planet is different in how it speeds u up or slows you down, please clarify that for me also.

So much to figure out. thanks in advance, i dont want to make that mistake again.

[Alistone]

The mun orbits kerbin at 540 m/s. If you were traveling faster than that when you left the mun SOI then you may have turned yourself around at that time.

To fix your orbit the lowest dV method is often to sling yourself out to the closest moon and intercept it at the perfect time and angle so that it's gravity will change your orbit for you.

More commonly and much easier to pull off, you switch to a VERY VERY elliptical orbit. With a highly elliptical orbit you will be moving relatively slowly at your furthest point form Kerbin. This makes the dV to turn around also much lower.

[bulletrhli]

Great explaining, but, the simple answer, is you entered the Muns SOI in the reverse vector. The easiest way to fix this would be either to a Mun retroburn to change your direction, but, since you are already at Kerbin, most likely, your stuck going one way or the other at the dV requirements are very large; However, you can send another ship up in the retrograde vector (270 is what I mean) when launching to orbit, dock with the station, refuel it, reverse the direction, and repeat the refueling if needed.