So, I have this littel problem.

[MrKicker]

So, lets just say somebody I know happens to have a ship in orbit around kerbol. How might one rescue said ship. (I'm asking for a friend.) =P

[SRV Ron]

Give us some more info such as the orbit specs and a picture of the stranded craft. If close enough and manned, it is possible for the kerbal to get out and push with his thruster pack. No kidding!

[TheDarkStar]

If it has fuel (or RCS), you can still get back by getting an intercept with Kerbin. If it does not, practice rendezvous and docking in Kerbin orbit first and then apply that to Kerbol orbit.

[Sirine]

Orbit around kerbol (sun). Manual rendezvous is almost impossible. This is because the scale of changes are too large. The speed is too fast.

I believe only the person really try out will know. I have dock (joining) 18 parts from Kerbal Orbit normally, from the 1st time 4 hrs, until less then 10 minutes. (Manually)

I recommend use cheat like HyperEdit or Mechjeb to help you out. Save times.

[treyman821]

In the words of David Gilmore "I'll see you on the dark side of the moon"

I'm sorry comrade but it seems that your kerbals are going to not make it home this time........That is if you don't like to cheat, cause if you like to cheat you can activate infinite fuel in the alt+f12 menu. Then you can get your ship into a kerbin encounter and be home

[Keome]

Try to setup an rendezvous with a rescue craft. Try to get an encounter with another planet. Use RCS to try to change the orbit. EVA and push (yes it does work).

If you want to cheat: ALt-F12, infinite fuel.

[allmhuran]

It is indeed possible to rendezvous in solar orbit. The technique is exactly the same as for setting up a rendezvous with anything else. Going to other planets is, after all, nothing but a solar orbit rendezvous.

1) Get into solar orbit with your rescue vessel.

2) Set up a manoeuver node to plan the intercept.

3) Once you get to the intercept point, thrust directly towards the target until you're even closer, then start to slow down and match velocities, and edge your way in.

The only difference is the scale. Your "closest approach" is likely to be several thousand kilometers away. That's OK! Since solar orbits are so huge this does not mean you are going to miss your target, you will have plenty of time to do your approach burn and then your synchronization burn. You are, of course, also going to need to take a vessel with enough delta V to get into solar orbit and back to Kerbin, but this is only an engineering problem, not a problem with solar rendezvous in itself.

In my "legacy of the astraeus" video I use a Dres slingshot to get one massive ship into solar rendezvous with another massive ship. There's half a minute or so of footage of the map view while I'm doing this which demonstrates just how far away you can be from your target and still perform an intercept, even with ships that accelerate very very slowly.

Edited September 4, 2013 by allmhuran

[KerbMav]

I had the same problem once, but I only just left Kerbin's SOI so my Kerbol orbit was almost the same as Kerbin's.

Over the years vessel and planet showed a close encounter - with what was left in the RCS tanks I closed the distance of this encounter from the other side of the star (practically) and managed to enter the atmosphere (no DeadlyReentry installed yet, do not know what would have happened ...) for a mostly glorious landing.

Maybe select your craft, target Kerbin and time accelerate until you get a good encounter?

[LeadMagnet]

..... How might one rescue said ship. (I'm asking for a friend.)

If you asking how YOU can do it, the above posts have answered that very well.

If your asking how A FRIEND can do it, you need to send this "friend" your saves PERSISTS file and have him load it as a new game. Then said friend can spend hours bad mouthing the situation you've put him/her in! Now that sounds like fun, just might do that to my "best friend"!! She's bored!