Land on Mun with Aeris 4A

[Kasuha]

The title says it all. Load the Aeris 4A stock craft, take off from runway, and land on Mun. You don't need to return but both your Kerbal and the plane must survive, i.e. no parts lost.

Restrictions:

- no modifications of the craft, not even informative parts

- no part modifications (such as altering the cockpit to work as MechJeb part)

- no physics modifications (FAR, infinite fuel, hack gravity etc)

- no refueling, recharging, monopropellant refill etc. No docking to any other ship.

- no "get out and push"

Quicksave/quickload is allowed. If you can do it without them (or without quickload at least, i.e. on first try), you're better than I am. Which may not be that much of a praise as I am not that good spaceplane pilot

You are allowed to use modified craft (mechjeb & comp.) to find optimal approach and then repeat that approach on unmodified craft. I did not need that but I approve if you use automated mods to learn playing without them.

There is no ladder, everybody who succeeds is a winner.

Winners (in alphabetical order):

Claw

xub313

My attempt to prove it is possible:

Edited March 22, 2014 by Kasuha

[The Jedi Master]

I'll do it later, should help my piloting ability.

[Sargent890]

Can we refuel in LKO? Sounds like an interesting challenge, I'll have to try it sometime.

[Kasuha]

Can we refuel in LKO?

Sorry, no refuelling. That'd make it way easier. Saving fuel is part of the challenge.

Edited March 21, 2014 by Kasuha

[FishInferno]

Sounds awfully tricky to land.

[Claw]

Nice, simple, and no drama. And a task I wouldn't have done on my own.

Thanks for the challenge!

Here's Jedford's hero shot.

EDIT: There's a bit of extra gas to play with. I have around 250 dV left and 40% of the monopro.

Edited March 22, 2014 by Claw

[Kasuha]

Nice, simple, and no drama. And a task I wouldn't have done on my own.

Congratulations, good job!

[Tw1]

So close, ran out of fuel with 100m/s left to kill. Maybe if I'm clever with my aproach...

[Claw]

Congratulations, good job!

Thanks!

So close, ran out of fuel with 100m/s left to kill. Maybe if I'm clever with my aproach...

You can do it! Let us know if you need tips, but half (or more) of the fun is figuring it out.

[Kasuha]

So close, ran out of fuel with 100m/s left to kill. Maybe if I'm clever with my aproach...

Good luck, you can do it!

I ran out of fuel with 50 m/s left to kill. So I used brakes to kill the rest with RCS screaming to keep the plane straight

[travis575757]

I don't understand how this is possible, Scott Manley anyone?

[Claw]

I don't understand how this is possible, Scott Manley anyone?

Have you given it a try yet? It's certainly tricky but it's doable.

[xub313]

I did this a while ago, but it's still in 0.23 and follows your rules.

Planes look so much cooler on airless planets.

[airbus_sai]

And what to do if challenge starts like that?

[travis575757]

Have you given it a try yet? It's certainly tricky but it's doable.

yes i have tried it, and can't do it On my third try i had an encounter but still no luck, i just crash since i only have like 200m/s delta v to slow down with

[Kasuha]

I don't understand how this is possible, Scott Manley anyone?

It is possible, it's just tricky (hence the challenge). You need to save fuel all the time, starting with atmospheric flight and ending with optimized landing.

Don't waste fuel by flying low, don't waste fuel by flying on rocket engine if you can get more speed from jets. Don't waste fuel on doing course corrections too late, don't waste fuel on inefficient landing approaches.

I did this a while ago, but it's still in 0.23 and follows your rules.

http://i.imgur.com/Ugo7KyE.png

Planes look so much cooler on airless planets.

Congratulations, well done!

And what to do if challenge starts like that?

You need to pull up.

Edited March 22, 2014 by Kasuha

[Claw]

yes i have tried it, and can't do it On my third try i had an encounter but still no luck, i just crash since i only have like 200m/s delta v to slow down with

Okay, I see you don't have enough fuel. Is there a part in the profile you're struggling with?

[FishInferno]

Any tips on how to save fuel/oxidizer?

[Claw]

Any tips on how to save fuel/oxidizer?

Be patient. Keep your orbits around Kerbin and the Mun low. So don't raise your Kerbin orbit up too high before leaving for the Mun. And when you aim for the Mun, try to get a nice low PE initially. These two things will help keep you from spending gas moving the AP and PE around as much.

The other key is your approach to the Mun. There are several ways you can do it, but you'll want to get your orbit pretty low before you start your retroburn.

There are other things you can do, but try those to start out with. Good luck!!