What is your lunar insertion profile?

[Daishi]

It's always puzzled me why - with Apollo - they preformed the lunar injection burn first, and then preformed a dangerous LEM docking and extraction while hurtling towards the moon with no immediate way to bail out if something went wrong (ala Apollo 13). I would have thought the sane, non-kerbal thing to do would be to assemble the spacecraft in (much safer) earth orbit, then inject once everything is certified ok.

Its how I fly to the moon, and i cant see any downsides barring strain on the assembled spacecraft (docking ports ) during the lunar insertion. Which kinda doesn't make sense because the LEM is bound to be put under stress while circularising anyway.

Am I missing something? Efficiency? Speed? I cant seem to find anything on the net :\

[Daishi]

Oh wait, ::headdesks:: Disregard my stupidity - the injection burn isn't done with the service module

[boomerdog2000]

Maybe the service module alone didn't have enough fuel to burn out to the moon, circularize, then burn back to Earth? That's all I could think of.

Also they got nothing on my Munar base building landing profile. Performed the de-orbit burn THEN moved the skycrane into position on the top of the module. Everything went perfectly well, even the time I forgot the RCS thrusters.

[Daishi]

Maybe the service module alone didn't have enough fuel to burn out to the moon, circularize, then burn back to Earth? That's all I could think of.

Yeah i know, just realised the Apollo service module would never have enough fuel for all of that >< Gah I seem to embarrass myself daily on this damn forum

Ballsy. Last time i tried doing something like that - i forgot about the service modules sub-orbital calamity, started the landing, and noticed it following me and promptly slam into a crater. Poor Bob

[boomerdog2000]

Yeah that's why I always try and use the SAS to flick it away first, right after the de-orbit burn so it has plenty of time to be far away from me.

[Daishi]

I seeee, so nothing of yours gets returned to a safe lunar orbit? No way to rendevous and escape from a suddenly exploding base?

[boomerdog2000]

There was a separate landing and return vehicle. Those were the base modules I was using the skycrane with.

[Daishi]

Ahh. I don't trust investing in large bases - my last mun attempt (somehow) wedged itself 700 meters underground and detonated, killing about 7 in the process...

Got pics? Was it a mining base?

Edited October 19, 2013 by Daishi

[boomerdog2000]

It was just a base I made out of some Fustek modules and such in .21. It was more of a proof-of-concept idea for building bases that were joined together using the structural fuselages with docking ports on them. It wasn't near a kethane deposit, just my obligatory Mun base next to the Armstrong Memorial.

Also I have no idea how to put pictures in.

[Daishi]

Upload to http://imgur.com/ and paste image BB codes amongst your reply\post Easy as

[boomerdog2000]

Alright let's try this.

[Daishi]

Neat - did you move the modules together with those rovers? Docking port alignment on the surface is a pain :|

[boomerdog2000]

Yeah you can't see it but there's another docking port underneath every module that the rovers can dock to. Then I retract the legs and move it around. It did take some creative nudging (ramming) to actually get them to dock but I think the end result was worth it.

[Eric S]

Neat - did you move the modules together with those rovers? Docking port alignment on the surface is a pain :|

Actually, there's one mod that makes it easy. TTModularWheels has an omniwheel that allows the vehicle to move in any direction, and even has ram lifts to adjust the height of the docking port. Makes ground docking even easier than orbital docking.

[Daishi]

Actually, there's one mod that makes it easy. TTModularWheels has an omniwheel that allows the vehicle to move in any direction, and even has ram lifts to adjust the height of the docking port. Makes ground docking even easier than orbital docking.

Cheers, i'll have to look into that