Getting to the moon

[Tortoise]

What are the main things I need to do, to get to the moon?

I know docking is an essential part of getting there but unfortunately have no idea how to do it, and I wish someone could teach me.

But do you guys thing I can get there on one rocket?

And what are the steps I need to take, to progress up to that point?

Edited October 20, 2013 by Tortoise

[Monger]

You can easily get to the moon without mods with a single normal sized rocket, with about three stages. No docking required. You can actually reach Eve or Duna with such a configuration as well, although it requires a little more planning, and you won't probably return.

Make sure that you can reach orbit comfortably, because actually then you are almost there. You need about 2300 m/s to gain a stable orbit, and about 500 m/s more to reach the moon. Add another 100 m/s and you can reach Minmus, and because Minmus' low gravity, it is actually simpler to land on Minmus than on Mun.

[LeFudge]

you need 4500dV for orbit, then about 850 to get to the mun, and I dont think that minmus needs even 100m/s more more like 50-75. Although it is inclined which can make it a little trickier to get to. Basically you're going to have to break it down into stages, something to put it right into orbit, one stage to get it to the mun (i usually discard this stage on a collision course), and I usually have my lander set up with 2 stages one for landing and taking off then the 2nd stage should return it to munar orbit/kerbin

[Dave Kerbin]

You don't need to dock to go to the Mun, you can actually make a more efficient craft without docking.

If you are playing in career mode I'd suggest you research at least as far as Survivability. That gives you the LV-909 engine which is needed for any non-expert to reach and land on the Mun, along with landing legs which are also needed for a non-expert Mun landing.

I'm getting a lot of use out of this image.

The two techs I've marked as 'useful' are Stability which gives you radial decouplers; these make it much easier to stage your launch system, and General Rocketry, which gives you the LV-T45 engine which helps keep your launcher stable.

To land on the Mun you'll need to learn the following:

Building a spaceship launch system with stages, so that you can shed weight as you climb. This is probably the hardest part.

Get into stable orbit above Kerbin (PE is above 70km)

Use maneuver nodes (an expert can do it without them) to plot a course to the Mun.

Stabilize your orbit around the Mun. Usually not difficult. Just burn retro-grade when you reach the PE of your Mun encounter.

Land. This can be very difficult the first time.

Return to Mun orbit. As long as you are careful not to overshoot (it's very easy to lift off) it won't be a problem, as long as you have enough fuel left.

Return to Kerbin orbit. Use a maneuver node and it doesn't take much to push yourself back into a very high Kerbin orbit.

Land. Just burn retro-grade at the AP to lower your PE into Kerbin's atmosphere. As long as you do it at the AP you'll use very little fuel.

[Sovek]

If you are not playing with career mode, getting to the Mun and back is quite simple.

You will need about 4.7-5.2km/s of Delta V to reach orbit, figure another 50m/s for inclination changes, 850m/s for reaching a FRT around the Mun, 300m/s for MOI, another 700-800 for landing, and about another 900m/s for the return trip.

this is of course if you can't do things the most effeciently.

Going to minmus is easier in terms of landing though.

[Oddible]

A few things. One, your life will get MUCH easier once you get to the tech Fuel Systems - it lets you run fuel lines between your tanks to do Asparagus Staging (making for horizontal staging rather than vertical and much more stable, less wiggly ships, also much more efficient). Two, keep it simple. For your first trip, don't bother trying to take a Science Jr, just bring a Goo pod. In fact, if you don't have that much science, just orbit and come home, don't even try to land. You do not need any docking to go to the Mun and back - you're going for a one shot deal (docking is much later science anyway). You do however need staging.

Of the two Kerbin moons, Mun is the easier one to get to because of its inclination and its gravity. Minimus is FAR easier to land on and if you can get to both, I'd recommend trying your landing on Minimus first.

I've been spamming this in a lot of threads but this is the Mun lander that got me to the Mun on my first try (note the yellow lines are fuel lines).

Last but not least, check out Scott Manley's videos - great tutorials (all in sandbox of course but he uses basic parts and simple ships).

[LeFudge]

Heres an album with some shots of my recent .22 career mode mun landing, I did use fuel lines in this one but Ive used the same lander with no fuel lines its just a little less effecient.

http://imgur.com/a/zIgBu

Actually I didnt even realize it but this one has an UPPER upper stage in there for emergency use.

Edited October 19, 2013 by LeFudge

[Nibb31]

I think the question was actually "how do you get to the Mun" rather than "how do I build a rocket to get there".

This is how you get into the Munar orbit, and how to use manoeuver nodes:

1- Launch your Mun rocket into Kerbin orbit.

2- Open the map and create a manoeuver node somewhere on your orbit.

...a- Pull the Prograde handle of the manoeuver node until the plotted orbit reaches the Mun's orbit. If you go too far, just pull the Retrograde handle to bring it down.

...b- Grab the middle of the manoeuver node and pull it around the orbit until the Ap of the plotted trajectory creates an encounter with the Mun.

...c- Adjust the Prograde - Retrograde handles of the manoeuver node until you see the Pe around the Mun at your desired altitude. 50km is a good start.

...d- Switch back to the main view (or pull up the navball in Map mode) and point your ship towards the Blue marker. The gauge on the right of the navball indicates the delta-V that you will need to spend, the estimated burn time, and countdown to the manoeuver.

6- Warp until you reach the manoeuver node (watch the countdown), and burn for the time indicated. Stop the burn when the Delta-V gauge reaches 0. You are now en-route to the Mun.

7- Warp to the Mun's SOI. Once in the Mun's SOI (when your blue orbit is around the Mun), you can adjust your Pe again.

8- When you reach the Pe around the Mun, point your ship retrograde and burn until your orbit is circular around the Mun. Congratulations, you are now orbiting the Mun.

Or you can do it like us old-timers did before we have these new-fangled navigation nodes:

1- Launch your Mun rocket into Kerbin orbit.

2- Warp until the Mun rises on the horizon. When it does, point the ship prograde and burn until your orbit intersects the Mun's orbit*

3- Warp to the Mun's SOI. Once in the Mun's SOI (when your blue orbit is around the Mun), you can adjust your Pe again.

4- When you reach the Pe around the Mun, point your ship retrograde and burn until your orbit is circular around the Mun.

*- This tip works for all Planet => Moon transfers, although some might need an inclination change.

As you can see, getting anywhere in space is about changing your orbit. This sort of transfer is called a Hohmann Transfer. Nothing ever goes in a straight line in space.

Edited October 19, 2013 by Nibb31

[Biker Joe]

I'm new to playing KSP, got it only a few weeks before 0.22 came out, been playing it in career mode mainly cos I think it adds a bit of a chalenge to the game and makes it more fun overall...

Anyway back to your question, was literally playing KSP 5mins ago and went into orbit around the Mun, didn't land cos I forgot to put landing legs on the craft i built (doh!), did it using a few boosters to get me off the ground and only in 2 stages... remind me and I can put up a pic of the craft I used if you want...

[LeFudge]

Scott Manley could handle this...

Also try downloading the Kerbal Flight Engineer mod, it lets you know how much dV your ship has. Its really useful for learning how to build an efficient rocket and just keep them small, when I started I had no idea what asparagus staging was and my rockets were HUGE with teeny tiny payloads, or I would wind up trying to land on the Mun with nowhere near enough fuel lol.

Edited October 19, 2013 by LeFudge

[Tortoise]

Thanks alot guys I appreciate it, i'll look into all your suggestions.

You can track most of my progress here.