Fastest Mun Landing (Stock)

[Bluejayek]

What is the fastest you can get a ship to the mun, and successfully land it in a state that can take off and return to kerbal?

For a ship that returned, I have 8:26, and for one that would have been able to return, but I accidentally landed it on a slope and it fell over, 6:42.

Post a screenshot of the ship landed on the mun with the time visible. Stock parts only.

1. Bluejayek 8:26

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[The Vault Dweller]

I managed 6:25 which was actually my first landing that I returned from, the one before I landed at 6:20 but didn\'t have enough fuel to get back home.

I still use the design but with a better launch vehicle.

[WestSayid]

The fastest route to the Mun that uses a Hohmann orbit would probably be a westerly Kearth orbit, Hohmann transfer at Munset, and do a direct descent with a white-knuckle burn starting at 50km or so continuously until landing.

[Kosmo-not]

The fastest route to the Mun that uses a Hohmann orbit would probably be a westerly Kearth orbit, Hohmann transfer at Munset, and do a direct descent with a white-knuckle burn starting at 50km or so continuously until landing.

A Hohmann transfer is actually the slowest one-burn intercept you can do.

As far as direct descent goes, every rocket will have an ideal burn altitude. You can calculate it and make some pretty scary descents.

[WestSayid]

I followed the program above just now (retro-Mun orbit, Hohmann at Munset, direct descent) and got a crash landing at 6:58. I was only traveling at 40 m/s... So I think 7:00 or so is very possible with Hohmann and a good pilot

Bi-elliptical is slower, right?

[silent_prtoagonist]

A similar challenge showed up a while ago.

http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/forum/index.php?topic=6778

I managed 4 hours round trip, and boolybooly did it in an amazing 2:39:01! Sadly his pics didn\'t survive the server move, it seems, but if I recall his craft was remarkably small. Turns out the biggest challenge is hitting Mun exactly on your way out, if you miss be even a bit you end up spending hours putzing around in Munar orbit before you can land.

[Romfarer]

So i completed the ' Get to the Mun with only solid rocket boosters' challenge and it turns out the landing was extremely fast as well. 8:12:15 Straight up, get dragged into muns gravity and BOOOM full SRB burn landing! ;D

[Romfarer]

I seem to have missread the description for this challenge: 'land it in a state that can take off and return to kerbal'. I guess i have to build a liquid fuel rocket. SRB\'s are such a pain....

[Tashre]

I would have had about 6:00, but I came down on a slope with quite a bit of lateral movement. I spent about 30 seconds trying to bleed off speed and movement, and ended up not slowing down enough, shearing a wing off and toppling over. A real shame too, since that tank still had maybe 7/8ths of its fuel left.

I put the endeavor aside to play with new rocket designs, but seeing this thread, now I want to actually land it.

[Bluejayek]

I seem to have missread the description for this challenge: 'land it in a state that can take off and return to kerbal'. I guess i have to build a liquid fuel rocket. SRB\'s are such a pain....

Very impressive either way... I cant imagine how you were able to control your descent enough to not explode your capsule on landing....

[Romfarer]

Very impressive either way... I cant imagine how you were able to control your descent enough to not explode your capsule on landing....

Thanks.

The landing was complicated. Since i can only do a 25 sec full burn and the general idea is to end up at 0 speed within falling distance when the engine gives out, it is preferable to start out at a height where a full burn with nose straight up will do just that. However that is almost impossible with SRB\'s. My craft was going too slow so i had to time the initial burn, then flip the craft over and burn at a certain angle just enough to not loose too much vertical speed so i at the end could burn 90 degrees for the remaining time and end up with 0 speed just above the surface.

Anwyays, even after hours of trying, it did not go exactly as planned.

[Romfarer]

I landed my new craft 'Infinitum I' on the mun at 02:02:51. It would have been faster but the mun was NOT SOLID where i attempted to land first so i had to find another location. What is up with that?

To the left of my craft you can see, 'breaking stage 2'. 8)

[Kryten]

Was the place you wanted to land covered in boulders, by any chance? I\'ve found that can increase the lag enough for weird stuff like that.

[Romfarer]

Infinitum II breaks my old record. 8) Bill, Bob and Jeb landed 00:39:53 after takeoff.

This time the spot i chose for my landing was solid. Perhaps it was less rocky. I will have to send out a mun vehicle to explore this QUICK SAND on the mun!!!

[The Vault Dweller]

Infinitum II breaks my old record. 8) Bill, Bob and Jeb landed 00:39:53 after takeoff.

This time the spot i chose for my landing was solid. Perhaps it was less rocky. I will have to send out a mun vehicle to explore this QUICK SAND on the mun!!!

Could we get some pictures of your launch system?

[Romfarer]

Call me crazy but i think it might be too much of a spoiler if i posted a picture of the earlier stages. :-X

Anyways i rigged the craft for speed and here are the results. Top speed: 14,869m/s

[hubbazoot]

Landed in 5:33:07, could cut an hour off of that with a little bit better aim, I spent quite a bit of time shaving off altitude over the mun.

[hubbazoot]

Re-optimized my launch angle, managed to shave about an hour off my launch time. 4:40:05

[hubbazoot]

Call me crazy but i think it might be too much of a spoiler if i posted a picture of the earlier stages. :-X

Anyways i rigged the craft for speed and here are the results. Top speed: 14,869m/s

You launched west, you\'re bound to get some insaneo speeds doing that, seeing as you get an 8000 m/s boost. I, too, am curious as to what your full stage looks like getting off the bad. I\'ve gotten it down to 3:58:54 to touchdown.

[hubbazoot]

I got to Mun in 42:01, and that was cutting it really close. With a little bit better fuel management, I think I could cut it down further, but this is pushing the limits of what\'s possible so far.

This is the fastest among me or my friends, and I\'d be happy to share my design with anyone who asks.

[Romfarer]

I got to Mun in 42:01, and that was cutting it really close. With a little bit better fuel management, I think I could cut it down further, but this is pushing the limits of what\'s possible so far.

This is the fastest among me or my friends, and I\'d be happy to share my design with anyone who asks.

Well done. You are getting real close, i think i have to refit my craft 8)

[hubbazoot]

I\'m curious as to what you did, really curious.

[Romfarer]

00:35:55 8)

[hubbazoot]

I wanna see how you did it.

[Romfarer]

Behold the Abrakadabra 77 8)