Overview
…So you’ve achieved orbit and you know how to alter it. Next up: let’s get you to that big gray ball in the sky!I’m going to assume you are familiar with building spaceships, orbital mechanics and maneuver nodes. If you aren’t please check out the previous guides Orbit in 1,2,3 and Going Places in 1,2,3.[DISCLAIMER: F5 QUICKSAVES, F9 QUICKLOADS.]
KERBIN ORBIT
ALRIGHT, SO I KNOW HOW TO GET INTO ORBIT AND HOW TO MOVE IT AROUND. NOW YOU SAY YOU’RE GETTING ME TO MÜN?
– That’s right. You’ll probably need to redesign your ship and get it into orbit again, though.
WHAT!? WHY?
– Your rocket will have to be able to pull about 2000 m/s delta-v more than the 4500 required to get into orbit, if you want to get to Mün and back. That should be 6500 delta-v with all stages combined, with a minimum TWR of 1 or more when on the ground. You can do it with a bit less, but that’d be ideal. You will also need batteries. A solar panel or two, if possible.
AW…
– Don’t worry, I’ll wait.
ALRIGHT, NOW I’M IN ORBIT WITH AT LEAST 2000 DELTA-V ON MY TANK.
– Now open your Map with ‘M’ and find the Mün. You might have to zoom out by scrolling your mouse wheel down.
FOUND IT.
– Click it and select “set target”
WHAT’S WITH THE PINK SYMBOLS THAT HAVE APPEARED IN MY NAVBALL?
– Those are called Objective Markers, and are not important for us right now. Just ignore them, as well as the dotted, straight lines and “AN”/”DN” markers on your orbit. Just concentrate in Mün’s orbit, which should have changed from gray to green now.
…OK, NOW WHAT?
– Set a maneuver node in your orbit and tug the prograde (“forward”) marker until your orbit is riiiight past Mün’s.
NOW I CAN SEE HOW MY PLANNED ORBIT INTERCEPTS–
– You have been incredibly lucky. Hold on a couple questions while the rest catches up.
I SEE TWO WHITE ARROW–
– You have been a bit less, yet considerably lucky. Hold on just a question.
OK, SO MY ORBIT IS JUST PAST MÜN’S, BUT I SEE NOTHING
– First of all, move the camera around to see if your orbit more or less crosses Mün’s on the 3 dimensions. If you more or less kept your HDG at “90” during ascent you should be right on the money, but always check for that if the next parts of the guide don’t happen to you. Fiddle around with your maneuver nodes until you get it right.
YEAH, IT MORE OR LESS CROSSES MÜN’S, AND GOES A BIT PAST IT.
– If you drag the maneuver node around you’ll see two white arrows appear and gradually get closer as you keep moving the node around. These are intersection markers, and show your closest approach to your target. Make it so your planned orbit is intercepted my Mün, and changes color to half-orange, half-purple. If the interception doesn’t show, try tugging the maneuver nodes a bit until you get it right.
NOW MY PLANNED MANEUVER IS HALF ORANGE, HALF PURPLE AND ALL WEIRD
– That means your planned maneuver has a Münar interception! Congratulations, that means if you burn that node you will reach Mün. But hold on just a second: First, fine tune the approach by either slightly moving the node around, or dragging its icons a bit. You want to see a purple “periapsis” marker (that means you’re not on collision course), but as long as your Münar periapsis is over 8000, the closer you get, the prettier your screencaps will be. Also, the burn should take between 800 and 1000 m/s delta-v, give or take. You will need about 1000 additional delta-v to get back to Kerbin.
YEAH, YEAH, I GOT IT.
– Now begin burning. Once you have completed your transition burn and you are moving towards Mün, don’t forget that you can warp time forward with the warp indicator on the top left corner of your screen. Make sure you extend your solar panels if you brought them to prevent running out of electrical charge while transitioning.
MUNAR ORBIT
OK, SO NOW I’M MOVING TOWARDS MÜN
– When you move over the symbol of a circle with an arrow around it (right where your trajectory changes colors), your orbit will change from Kerbinal to Münar. When that happens, kill your warp.
DONE. NOW WHAT?
– Awesome. Welcome to Mün! Make a node just on top of your Münar periapsis, and drag the Retrograde icon until your orbit around Mün is closed and, ideally, circular. Then burn that node. It should take you about 200 m/s delta-v, give or take.
I’M ORBITING MÜN!
– You’re orbiting Mün!
I’M ORBITING MUN!!
– Yes! Yes you are. Are you taking screencaps with F12?
I’M TAKING ALL THE SCREENCAPS.
– Cool! Make sure you share them with us at the Megathread!
…SO WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS NOW?
– Well, the most obvious one would be to return to Kerbin.
HOW DO I DO THAT?
– Set a maneuver node on your Münar orbit, opposite to Kerbin, and pull prograde until you are captured by Kerbin again. Then burn that node.
AW… WILL WE GO BACK TO MÜN?
– Yes. Yes, we will.
OK, I’M ORBITING AROUND KERBIN NOW.
– All that’s left for you now is to burn retrograde until your periapsis is below 70 km, and land. Congratulations! You’ve gone to Mün and back now.