ISRU is less more?

[Tyko]

8 hours ago, Stoney3K said:

If you exit Kerbin's SOI ahead of Kerbin (prograde in Kerbol orbit), Kerbin will catch up and you will get back into the planet's gravity, you only need a tiny burn at periapis to make it back into an elliptical orbit. "Higher is slower", so if your Kerbol apoapsis is just slightly higher than Kerbin's, you will end up back in Kerbin's SOI only a few days later.

I've done all of my "Sun SOI visits" behind and below Kerbin because the ship would always catch up with Kerbin. Same theory. Is higher better than lower for any reason?

[Stoney3K]

17 hours ago, tjt said:

I've done all of my "Sun SOI visits" behind and below Kerbin because the ship would always catch up with Kerbin. Same theory. Is higher better than lower for any reason?

I suspect it doesn't matter as long as your ejection burn is either in prograde or retrograde. There may be some difference in the amount of time until re-capture, though.

Ejecting radially outward is also possible, that will get you slightly above and ahead with a second intersection just a few days later.