Mun Landing Overview [Pic-Heavy!]

[Caelib]

I have put together a basic overview of the steps needed to land on the Mun and return. Hopefully this very basic guide will help anyone trying to get to the Mun -- I have tried many things and steps below are what I have found to the most successful. I will reference specific designs/methodologies, but I will not go into detail of how those work (look them up if you don't know what they are).

Pre-Launch - this ship contains many stages; they are: orbiter/return ship (top), lander (middle), lifter (bottom - uses a "Skipper" engine with 4-stage-asparagus plus 8 solid boosters):

Passing through 5,000 meters, the solid boosters have been decoupled, along with the first asparagus stage:

Passing through 35,000 meters, the last asparagus stage has been nearly depleted:

Circular orbit reached at 82,000 meters:

Setup maneuver node to get a close encounter to the Mun (will adjust more when we reach the Mun's sphere of influence):

Mun encounter - setup another maneuver node for low-Mun orbit:

Upon reaching circular orbit, decouple orbiter from lander:

Burn retrograde until decent is vertical and make minor adjustments until you touch down:

Landed and EVA to plant the flag!

Rendezvous with orbiter (no need to dock - just EVA and board):

Returned to Kerbin and landed safely!

[42undead2]

That rocket seems way overkill to me. But you did follow a great tip though.

MOAR BOOSTERS!