Poor Jeb

[Nurian]

I was able to land on the Mun with no issue (I thought). I plant the flag, take a screen shot and do all of my Science! Yay! I finally can get that Clamp-O-Tron I've had my eye on! Get back into the lander. Power up!

Bingo fuel.

What? NO! Fine, I'll transmit it back!

Batteries are dead.

Every rescue mission I send winds up the same: if I can get to the Mun, I have no fuel left to leave. Not only that, I don't have enough Science to get the docking equipment so I can't just send up a refueler. Any ideas?

[Pecan]

Either of the lunar transfer/landers in Chapter 5 of my tutorial (http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/79658-Exploring-The-System-A-design-tutorial-campaign?p=1183116&viewfull=1#post1183116). Just the write-up on designing vehicles for those missions should help, if you're using your own ships.

Remember that you can EVA the Kerbal to collect the science and store it in the (rescue) pod to bring it back along with the stranded crew.