Tutorial: Apollo 11

“

I was elated, ecstatic and extremely surprised that we were successful. — Neil Armstrong, describing what he felt after landing on the moon

”

It's time, we will finally do the first manned landing on another celestial body. During this mission we will require both the docking and EVA know-how from the Tutorial:_Gemini_6A_and_7 mission, as well as what we learned about moon landing from Tutorial:_Luna_9.

Ship setup

For this mission we will recreate the largest and most powerful rocket ever built: The Saturn V.

Mission phases

Getting into transfer orbit

Use the first two stages to get into orbit and the third to circularize it and get into a Mün transfer orbit just like you did for Luna 9.

Reorganizing the modules

Now begins the tricky part of the mission. Just like it was done on the real Apollo missions, we placed the landing module right under the main engine of the command and service module. Before we can use the engine we need to get the LM on the other end of the CSM.

1. Make sure that the ship is perfectly still and not rotating
2. decouple the docking node between LM and CSM
3. thrust just a tiny bit forward with the RCS thrusters of the CSM and stop the movement immediately with a backwards RCS trust
4. turn the CSM by exactly 180°. I recommend to do this while the RCS thrusters are switched off. This is slower, but you avoid any lateral movement in case the RCS thrusters aren't exactly on the center of mass.
5. thrust forward to redock the LM at the top docking node
6. engage the stack decoupler which links the LM to the 3rd stage

Transfering the landing crew

During the real Apollo missions the crew could board the landing module through the docking hatch. Unfortunately the current version of KSP (0.18.4) doesn't allow that, so we need to do two EVAs to transfer the crew. Let the first Kerbonaut leave the command pod, fly to the door of the lander can, and enter it. Then do the same with the second Kerobonaut. The third one stays behind in the CSM to control it while in Mün orbit and when redocking the CSM.

Enter Mün orbit

Get into an orbit with a height of about 20km around the Mün. Make it as circular as possible. That will make the later redocking easier.

The landing

You already completed the tricky part, now begins the insanely tricky part: the landing.

1. Undock the landing stage, press Esc, go to space center, and switch control to the lander.
2. Deploy the landing gear so you don't forget about it
3. Boost retrograde to get into a suborbital trajectory, preferably one which leads you to a landing area on the day side with a nice view of Kerbin (try to do it without ramming the service module)
4. wait until you descended to a height of 10km
5. follow the same rule you followed with the Luna probe: boost so your ground speed = your altitude / 100.
6. get down as vertical as possible. Your landing gear can withstand an impact of up to 12 m/s, but try to stay under that so you have some security tolerance.
7. let it sink to the ground
8. you can continue breathing now

Congratulations, the eagle has landed.

Now get your Kerbonaut out of your lander can, say something quotable about small steps and giant leaps, and jump to the ground. Take some screenshots and videos for future generations, and make sure they are labeled properly, so nobody tapes them over like it happened at a certain other space administration.

Start and redocking

When you explored the landing area properly it's time to return home. Get your crew back into the lander. Check the position of the service module and wait until it appears at the horizon. Then start.

Unlike Kerbin the Mün has no atmosphere, which makes a start considerably easier. You don't have to start vertically and fix your orbital speed after you are out of the atmosphere. You can head east after you gained enough height to not collide with any hills or crater walls. Just make sure that the yellow heading marker always stays above the horizon. Get into an orbit identical to the CSM and perform docking just like you did during the Gemini tutorial.

Return to Kerbin

Get the two kerbonauts from the lander back into the command module. Then drop the lander. Use the remaining fuel of the CSM to leave the Mün orbit in a direction which leads you back to Kerbin (accelerate prograde when the Mün is between you and Kerbin). Wait until you are in Kerbins atmosphere.

Drop the service module, activate the parachutes of the command module, and drop gently into the ocean. Mission successful!