KSC to Mun landing fastest MET

[Aphobius]

You must land 3 kerbals (only pods, no seats) on the Mun with a mission elapsed time as low as possible. Build anything you want, launch it from KSC and land it on the Mun.

Rules:

-only stock parts

-no mods (except information mods, I'm using kerbal engineer)

-kerbals must be alive after landing

-you cannot decouple any command part to reset the MET

-no debug console

You can post pictures or videos. If you post pictures, post at least one on the launchpad, one between Kerbin and Mun and one landed, but I prefer videos.

Leaderboard:

Aphobius - 34:12 -

Amagi82 - 37:13

Johnno - 1:09:16

Edited September 26, 2013 by Aphobius

[Aphobius]

No one else wanna try it?

[Johnno]

I had a few tries at this but RL eventually got in the way and I forgot about it. I didn't improve much on your time but it was a quick build.

[Aphobius]

Well done Johnno.

I hope more people will try it.

[Amagi82]

52:27

571 tons on the launch pad, and max velocity of over 5 km/s. The deceleration burn took over 10 minutes, and I ran out of fuel at around 20m/s, a couple dozen meters above the surface of the mun, but the engine + fuel tank did a lovely job protecting the capsule on impact, which miraculously survived its harrowing journey.

I realized after I built the entire 20 stage rocket that 3 landing cans would have been considerably lighter than the single 3-man capsule, but oh well- just more opportunity for someone to beat me. I also timed the trip poorly, and had to waste fuel making sure I wouldn't overshoot the mun. I'd say it's certainly possible to break 45 mins.

Edited September 12, 2013 by Amagi82

[Aphobius]

Nice entries guys.

[Synapse]

50 minutes, but I didn't read that you need to take Kerbals..

[Aphobius]

Well done, but taking kerbals makes it considerably harder, because of the extra weight of the pod/pods.

[Aphobius]

Another entry from me. Video

[Amagi82]

Argh, impressive!

Okay, it's ON.

[ihtoit]

The Great Manley already did this, ISTR he got it down to six minutes (pad to soft tail landing).

Oh, a rack of chairs is considerably lighter than a can.

Edited September 13, 2013 by ihtoit

[Synapse]

The Great Manley already did this, ISTR he got it down to six minutes (pad to soft tail landing).

Oh, a rack of chairs is considerably lighter than a can.

6 minutes is ridiculous. I managed 13 minutes, and that was with a top speed of 30km/s:

[British_Rover]

Manley used infinite fuel and Sepratrons enormous delta V as part of a Redit challenge. When empty their TWR is 120 plus so 50 plus on a small craft got him 100 plus m/s of acceleration.

[Aphobius]

Please post entries according to the rules and I'm pretty sure there are other places where you can venerate "The Great Manley", unless he'll ever try this challenge without cheats.

[Tw1]

This was my go a while back. Not as good as the others here.

The Mun was almost in a perfect position.

At about ten kilometers, I set my target as the Mun. No mucking around in orbit this time.

I continued to burn until the last stage of the launch vehicle was used up, with Danfrod there thinking I'm crazy.

After some small corrections, I had a trajectory straight for the Mun.

I entered the Mun's SOI with more speed than I'd ever done before. I began cautiously slowing down. - no prize if you end up a splatter on the surface.

Taking advantage of my high TWR, the main deceleration burn was undertaken a lot closer to the ground.

And we've made it! This was a one way trip, so it doesn't matter that I didn't exactly land straight.

One hour and 19 minuets.

I did use mechjeb to hold things in the right direction, and for info.

[Aphobius]

Well done, but you must get 3 kerbals to the Mun and without any autopilot of any kind, only manual control.

[Amagi82]

The bar has been raised!

2119 tons. 29 stages. Top speed over 7km/s. A super gentle, friendly touchdown. 37:13

[Aphobius]

The bar has been raised!

Too bad it wasn't raised too much.