HOW TO: Free Return Trajectory Only 30KM above the Mun!

[VincentMcConnell]

There have been other guides on how to make Free Return Trajectories, and they ask for a TLI AP of 14,000KM. Well, because that puts you hundreds of KMs from the moon and you don\'t get that Apollo 13 style view, I decided to play around with orbital mechanics and get a free return trajectory that took me about 27KM above the lunar surface and back to Kerbin with only two course corrections after TLI. (My TLI end point is always 14,000KM and about 1/3rd of the way to the Mun, I make a burn that drops that down to 12,000KM.)

You should first have a Trans Lunar Injection end point of 12,000KM with a good trajectory so that you will be pulled in by the Mun\'s sphere of influence. With 12,000KM, you\'ll notice that when you enter the Mun\'s gravity, you are on a collision course with its surface and your parabolic trajectory extends far into space. After this happens, you will make a course correction burn. Begin burning PRO GRADE until that collision course gets higher and higher so that it is just a sling shot around the Mun. Your escape velocity lines should intersect the Mun\'s orbital rail at 30 degrees. You\'ll notice that your green line now puts you on a good trajectory back to Kerbin and your Apoapsis is only about 30KM (That\'s what it\'s been every time I\'ve done it now.).

Time warp a little bit until you start to see the Earth sink behind the Lunar horizon, time warp zero and watch the Mun pass you by as if you were Jim Lovell.

I recommend this while you\'re flying past it, too.

Apollo 13 OST 17 The Dark Side Of The Moon

And that\'s that. You\'ll make free return and come back home. This will work wonders for those of you attempting to replicate Apollo 13.