Do the horizontal tango...on the Mun?

[HumidStingray]

No, just kidding. But does anyone know how to go from a stable orbit in to landing sideways.

[Mr Shifty]

Not sure what you mean by landing sideways. Usually, to land you just lower your periapsis to near the surface, then coast to low altitude, burn retrograde to kill your horizontal velocity and use throttle to do a soft landing. (There are more efficient ways to do it, but that will usually work fine.)

[Kegereneku]

You'll need to cheat a little, provided there's a perfectly plane landing zone with no obstacle, the idea would be to lower your periapsis with extreme (mechjeb) precision so that your landing gear nearly touch it... and then you'll need a way to break down your speed drastically just before hitting the runway or you'll destroy the landing gear.

In any case the most efficient landing is in fact exactly that, a periapsis as low as possible, and a (suicide) burn as short and powerful as possible.

[Mr Shifty]

In any case the most efficient landing is in fact exactly that, a periapsis as low as possible, and a (suicide) burn as short and powerful as possible.

There was a long thread about this a couple weeks ago, and the result was that a suicide burn is not the most efficient landing, particularly for low TWR vessels. The most efficient is a constant altitude landing where you burn off your horizontal speed while maintaining level flight close to the ground:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/39390-How-to-calculate-DeltaV-to-get-to-orbit-or-to-get-from-orbit-to-land

[HumidStingray]

Here's what I mean. Normally when you land the command pod is perpendicular to the ground. I want to land using four smaller engines that make command pod parallel to the ground. Like tis:

http://imgur.com/a/9gaHa

[Mr Shifty]

Put a probe core on the new "top" of the lander, then when you want to switch references, right click and choose "Control From Here"

[HumidStingray]

But how do I land without skidding all over the place?

[troyn123]

But how do I land without skidding all over the place?

You've got to kill all lateral velocity. When you get closer to the surface, if you click the little meters-per-second display at the top of the navball, it should change modes (target/orbit/surface). When you get closer to the ground, burning (gently and carefully!) toward the retrograde marker in "surface" mode should kill your lateral velocity, basically, the retrograde marker and the single dot at the middle of the navball should line up (no lateral movement).

[HumidStingray]

You've got to kill all lateral velocity. When you get closer to the surface, if you click the little meters-per-second display at the top of the navball, it should change modes (target/orbit/surface). When you get closer to the ground, burning (gently and carefully!) toward the retrograde marker in "surface" mode should kill your lateral velocity, basically, the retrograde marker and the single dot at the middle of the navball should line up (no lateral movement).

Ok! Thanks!

[Kegereneku]

There was a long thread about this a couple weeks ago, and the result was that a suicide burn is not the most efficient landing, particularly for low TWR vessels. The most efficient is a constant altitude landing where you burn off your horizontal speed while maintaining level flight close to the ground:

http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/showthread.php/39390-How-to-calculate-DeltaV-to-get-to-orbit-or-to-get-from-orbit-to-land

I was talking in a theoretical way. On the paper the most efficient landing is the Shortest and most powerful burn possible, regardless of the Specific Impulse. The fact that our spaceship aren't capable of infinite G of acceleration is something different, just like that you need a positive TWR to land on a planet.