Lau Mau Moon Express
A three-stage rocket simulator. Fly to Earth orbit, go on to the Moon, and bring the crew home safely.
Controls
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| A | Increase thrust (hold to keep raising the throttle) |
| Z | Decrease thrust (hold to keep lowering the throttle) |
| ← → | Steer the rocket |
| I | Jettison a stage. Press once for each stage: stage 1, then stage 2, then stage 3. The command module stays. |
| R | Fire the capsule's retro rockets. They push against your direction of travel. |
| O | Deploy the parachute (only once the capsule is alone) |
| F | Unlimited fuel on or off |
| T | Cycle time warp |
| S | Sound on or off (engine rumble and beeps). A short "Sound ON/OFF" message appears. Works while paused. |
| P | Pause |
| Q | Quit |
| Enter | Restart after a landing, crash or quit |
Instruments
Left panel
- Altitude, speed and vertical speed
- G-load
- Apogee and perigee
- Time since launch
- Stack status and parachute status
- Throttle bar
- MOON C/A, the altitude of your closest approach to the Moon
Right panel
- Four fuel gauges: stage 1, stage 2, stage 3 and the retro rockets. Each reads 0–100%.
- The NAV MAP, which shows Earth, the Moon's orbit, your predicted path, and a white ring where the Moon will be at your closest pass.
Once you are inside the Moon's zone of influence, altitude, speed, apogee and perigee switch to Moon-relative readouts.
The rocket
The rocket has three stages plus the command module. Fuel and thrust follow the real rocket equation, so a sloppy ascent can run you out of fuel.
| Stage | Fuel | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 1 | 630,000 kg | Liftoff and climb. With stage 2, enough to reach Earth orbit. |
| Stage 2 | 126,000 kg | Finishes the climb and circularizes the orbit. |
| Stage 3 | 53,200 kg | The Moon burn. |
| Command module | Retro rockets | Braking, lunar orbit, return burn and landing. Carries a large retro fuel supply for the Moon trip. |
Stages 1 and 2 together give roughly 8.5 km/s of velocity change. Stage 3 adds about 7 km/s on top of that.
Reaching Earth orbit
- Hold A to launch and climb straight up.
- Pitch over gradually with the arrow keys, reaching horizontal by about 150 km.
- Keep burning until perigee is above 120 km. The sim announces ORBIT ACHIEVED.
- Press I to drop empty stages. Use T to speed up the coast while you wait.
Flying to the Moon
The Moon is at its real distance of about 384,000 km and moves along its own orbit. It has its own gravity.
- Reach Earth orbit with perigee above 120 km.
- Coast, using T to warp, until your predicted path on the NAV MAP meets the white ring at the Moon.
- Burn stage 3 toward the Moon.
- Warp through the coast. Time warp goes up to 10,000x and slows itself down near Earth, near the Moon, and during any engine burn.
- At the Moon you can fly past, brake into lunar orbit with R, or land.
Landing and return
| Where | Safe landing | Crew lost above |
|---|---|---|
| Earth | 14 m/s or less, under the parachute | 15 g |
| Moon | 25 m/s or less, capsule alone (jettison all three stages first) | n/a |
| Return from the Moon | As for Earth | 18 g (faster, harder re-entry) |
Coming home from Earth orbit
- Jettison all stages with I.
- Burn retro (R) briefly to drop your perigee into the atmosphere.
- Ride out re-entry.
- Deploy the parachute (O) low and slow.
The parachute tears off if you open it too fast. Touch down at 14 m/s or less to land safely.
Coming home from the Moon
- Aim your return path back at Earth.
- Do a retro burn, then re-enter and land by parachute as above.
Tips
- Press F for unlimited fuel to practice orbiting, re-entry, the Moon burn and lunar landing without running dry.
- Use time warp for the long coasts, and drop back to 1x before any burn or landing.
- Watch g-load during re-entry. Shallow entry angles are gentler on the crew.