Kerbal Space Program - From the Kearth to the Mun

[Logan Darklighter]

So after that, I did a couple more orbital tries, this time with a craft that was better suited for the purpose. 



This was much more successful. Plenty of fuel for return. Lighter craft. Better maneuverability with the RCS thrusters. They made it home after a couple of orbits and sightseeing. 

 

I discovered something useful about the RCS thrusters. In addition to changing attitude, they can be fired unidirectionally. That is to say - if you fire them all forward or all backward you can make extremely minute changes in orbital trajectory if you do it right. 

This gave me ideas. I decided to get cute and see just how low I could orbit the Mun. Watch the meter counter at the top of the next few screenshots - 

























Jeb of course, loved that little skim. Bill and Bob were less thrilled. 

On the next pass I decided to try for even slightly lower. "How hard could it be?"







At this point, we've actually already reached Perigee and are starting to pull back up again, so all looks pretty good at this point. 

Say... that mountain looks awfully darn big...

















Important note: There are indeed mountains on the Mun taller than 500 Meters. Better go break out some more clone slugs!