Need help getting to the Mun.

[Litidian]

I need some help getting to the Mun, as I'm stuck in that tutorial.

I go to the periapsis, add a manouver, drag prograde to bring the apoapsis to the orbit of the Mun, and almost burn all the fuel I have to make this happen.

Then, when trying to get in a circular orbit around the Mun in the height I am told, I would need more fuel as I have, and I can't disconnect the stage to use the next one.

So, what am I doing wrong here? What do I need to think / take care of, to not use so much fuel?

[Plusk]

Havnt played the tutorial, but if the Mun transfer takes more than ~900m/s dv, you doing it at the wrong place. Try setting the node when the Mun is just rising over Kerbins horizon.

[Slam_Jones]

Haven't played the tutorial either, but the way I get to the Mun is thus: (and probably super inefficient)

Target Mun

Wait til Mun is 80 degrees to the east (just before the purple crosshair thing disappears off the side of the navball)

Launch straight up

80% of the time, it gets me there every time.

(Sorry if this doesn't help in the slightest )

[Tokay Gris]

Havnt played the tutorial, but if the Mun transfer takes more than ~900m/s dv, you doing it at the wrong place. Try setting the node when the Mun is just rising over Kerbins horizon.

Thats kind of the "fly by the bottom of your pants" way.

And it works!

Get into LKO. Wait till Mun appears on the horizon. Burn prograde. Wait in map view till you get an encounter. Stop engines.

Actually, the ideal point of burning seems to be a bit before Mun appears, but thats just peanuts...

[kenwanobi]

Once I've created the burn node that gets me near Mun orbit, I like to click and drag it until I get a more or less "optimal" burn that minimizes fuel use. And like Slam and Tokay have said, the burn starts when Mun is just under the horizon.

Also, you don't need a lot of fuel to match orbit with the Mun and then break orbit for the return. I usually have maybe 5-10% fuel left at most, and I still have enough to return. Also, I try to design my initial burn so there's an easy return if for some reason I don't have enough fuel and have to abort.

[Reactordrone]

There should be plenty of fuel to complete the tutorial. Burning from periapsis as suggested in the tutorial should only use about 750m/s delta v and capture/circularisation less than 250m/s. Make sure you're waiting until you're close to the manoeuvre node before burning and you should be ok. If worse comes to worse and you still can't get there there's plenty of fuel in the lander that could be transferred to the command/service module.

[Scarecrow88]

I have just flown the tutorial (part 1) which only involves getting to Mun orbit from Kerbin, although this was in 24.2. The craft does have enough fuel for the job, but it isn't blessed with a large margin for error. After establishing a Mun orbit at c. 22,000m, I had a little under 16% left of what I started with.

Disappointingly, part 2 of the tutorial doesn't seem to continue from this point, in order to teach you how to actually land. It starts with a completely different design on the surface, and seems to be about getting back in to orbit, though I haven't actually played it yet.

[Oafman]

Right click on the decoupler and decouple. The previous stage will fall away and the next stage will activate.

[Engineer of Stuff]

The way I learned to go to the Mun and land was by watching what MechJeb did. I then copied it's method, and can now go to the Mun and land effortlessly. I never used the tutorial.

Edited October 21, 2014 by Engineer Of Stuff