Getting to the Moon

*Not to be confused with Moon Mission* **Getting to the moon** is one of the easiest missions in Spaceflight Simulator. It usually requires a small rocket to get to the moon.

## Rocket

*Main article: [[Building Moon Rockets]]*

## Mission

### Launch

Launch your rocket, and get to a low Earth orbit. A tutorial can be found here: Getting to orbit

### Trans-lunar injection

Once you achieved low Earth orbit, click the Moon, and click "Navigate To". You will then see a transfer window.

Once your rocket is in the transfer window, burn prograde (towards direction of travel) until the velocity number is gone. Then look at the moon in the map. You should see a hyperbolic trajectory in the moon's SOI (sphere of influence). Use RCS thrusters to fine tune your trajectory until the path is around 10 kilometers above the moon.

### Landing on the moon

Then time warp until the rocket reaches the perilune (closest point to the moon). Burn retrograde (away from the direction of travel) until you achieve a moon orbit. Pick a landing spot then burn retrograde until the path touches the lunar surface near your landing spot. Wait until you are 1 kilometer above the surface and decrease the velocity by burning retrograde. Try to keep the velocity under 12 m/s. From 250 meters, all you have to do is make sure you don't hit the surface faster than 12 m/s, as that is the breaking point of landing legs. The threshold for engines and other parts is even less, at 5 m/s. After that you have successfully landed on the moon!

### Returning to Earth

When you are ready to return to Earth, fire the engine until the apolune gets to 6–10 kilometers. Near the apolune (highest point), fire the engine until the trajectory wraps around the moon. Select Earth, click *Navigate To*, and a transfer window will appear. Time warp until you reach that point. Fire the engine prograde (the capsule is facing the direction of travel) until the perigee intersects the atmosphere at 12 kilometers. Time warp until the rocket's altitude gets to around 100 km or when it's near the atmosphere. Detach the capsule. When the capsule enters the atmosphere face the heat shield towards the direction of travel. When the altitude drops below 2500 meters deploy the parachute, detach the heat shield and safely return to the Earth.

Another lazy way is to wait until the moon is about 170˚ to 160˚ relative to the Earth, and then directly escape the Moon’s SOI. This dramatically reduces fuel expendure due to having no need to reach orbit. Of course, timewarp to the appropriate angle, and if you miss, well, you’re gonna wait another lunar month.

Create a quicksave to not go back all the way into Earth's launch pad.

You can also see this helping tutorial on YouTube.

## Tips

### What to send to the moon?

It is advisable to start small. First, an impactor, then a fly-by probe, then an orbiter or an artificial satellite orbiting the moon, a probe that will land on the moon, then a manned mission, then a flight to the moon and back: but then, you will create complex things such as surface bases, space stations and more!

### Is it necessary to land to start investigating?

Many players have shown that the moon can be orbited at a relatively low height, without danger of shock, because it has no atmosphere, and thus exploring its surface in a wider range. Long story short, no it is not.

### What to do once you get to the Moon?

There are a lot of things that one can do when you reach the moon in the rocket simulator. Some things you could do are creating lunar bases or driving rovers, or sometimes even flying around in RCS-powered hovercrafts and practicing your control skills before you run out of fuel and die on the moon!

## See also

* Moon
* Lunar missions
* Lunar activities
* Getting to orbit