Contract to recover a Kerbinaut and their ship from orbit

[KeithS]

I have a contract which requires the rescue of a Kerbinaut and as well their ship.

I've rescued the Kerbinaut, but I can't figure out how to return the ship to Kerbin safely.

The grabber won't grab, I can't put the capsule into a cargo bay and return it.

Are there any ideas how?

Thanks!

Edited May 18, 2015 by KeithS
Solution found

[Kelderek]

Transfer fuel and fly it back?

[KeithS]

It's a one Kerbal capsule, no engines or anything.

The contract is from StrutCo, but using struts doesn't seem to solve the issue either.

[Reactordrone]

The grabber should work. You may need to dock at slightly higher speed than you would using docking ports, about 0.5m/s or higher, to get it to activate against a light object though.

[KeithS]

Okay...

*goes off to try ramming speed*

- - - Updated - - -

Needed just over 2 m/s for the grabber to latch onto the capsule.

Thanks for the help!

[MarvinKitFox]

Okay...

*goes off to try ramming speed*

- - - Updated - - -

Needed just over 2 m/s for the grabber to latch onto the capsule.

Thanks for the help!

Oh. oh? OH!!!!

**THAT** is why my recover-a-stranded-ship-from-mun-by-landing-on-it-claw-first did not work!!!!!!!!

I had a mission to retrieve a stranded kerbal and his MK II capsule from Mun.

I built this wonderful contraption with a claw on the underside, to snatch it, but it .JUST.WOULD.NOT.CLAW.

Of course I came in with the most delicate of hovers, to ensure accuracy.

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Retried just now from a save, and i just need to land on it with more violence.

Thanx!

[Wjolcz]

I thought you didn't need to recover the capsules? I just zero out the speed near the capsule and EVA the Kerbal from one ship to the other.

[radonek]

Well, this is a real problem since dawn of time. IIRC one of apollo missions had trouble with latches not engaging and had to resort to some eee… very obscene maneuvers to lock with LEM.

[MarvinKitFox]

I thought you didn't need to recover the capsules? I just zero out the speed near the capsule and EVA the Kerbal from one ship to the other.

This mission needed me to recover BOTH the pilot AND his wreck.

"It contains valuable science than must not be lost"

Pfeh!

Easy enough in space, but from a planetary surface, I simply reject the contract now.

[Riftmann]

I get these contracts too, It says to recover the wreck too. I've landed near stranded kerbals and their wreck on the mun and the wreck is hovering above the ground spinning, and then sometimes falls and explodes. I just reject them now too since I can't figure out how to bring the wreck back...

[Tim_the_Plumber]

Once you get the idiot who managed to get into trouble back how do you get rid of him?

I have too many pilots and they cause the price of a new useful engineer to be twice the cost of launching a brand new shiney 4 engine space tractor unit which will be gong to collect a decent sized asteroid mining it as it goes. Seems a bit steep to me. Scientists and engineers would be jumping at the chance of freezing to death in interplanetary space surely!

[Suboptimal]

Once you get the idiot who managed to get into trouble back how do you get rid of him?

Have him do an EVA from a few kilometers above Kerbin during re-entry. Maybe tell him to deploy the chutes first so the capsule is recoverable, then tell him to go outside and let go

[Tim_the_Plumber]

Have him do an EVA from a few kilometers above Kerbin during re-entry. Maybe tell him to deploy the chutes first so the capsule is recoverable, then tell him to go outside and let go

I've been thinking along the lines of testing a rocket engine for safety to see how far away a Kerbil pilot you don't need needs to stand.

I am considering right under the center of the next big lift booster stack.... for a few of the bleeders.

[Tim_the_Plumber]

The cerw list has now magically had the ability to sack people put on in or now it works. Sometimes some of the functions can be a bit hit and miss. Well done if somebody has sorted this.