Need help with Rescue Mission

[Spaceweezle]

Hi there,

I haven't been playing long and one of my first mistakes was launching my favorite Kerbal into the far reaches of space. This was before I knew there was a quick-save function. So for the past 12 hours I have been trying to rescue him from an orbit around the Sun.

Wilson's orbit is huge and making an orbit intersect is really hard, I finally made a 12km separation intersect path after countless attempts, but even so I cannot rendezvous with his ship. When I switch to space view and hit F4 I can get within 3km of him, but he zooms past because of the velocity difference. I tried chasing him from that point but by the time I catch up the orbit disparity is massive even though on the map view I cannot differentiate between either orbit path they are that close.

The whole orbit is roughly 32 billion meters, there seems so little room for error and any burn I do must be accurate within a few hundredths of a second to make intersects work. Is there a better way to do this ? I must save Wilson!

Edited November 10, 2013 by Spaceweezle

[Vanamonde]

In rendezvous, matching speed and trajectory is far more difficult than matching position. (As you've discovered.) Trying to do it on solar-orbit distance and speed scales is diving into the deep end. Leave Wilson on the scenic route (he'll be fine) while you practice bringing ships together in Kerbin orbit. Check out the rendezvous/docking tutorials in the tutorials section and on Youtube, and then try to bring Wilson home.

[Spaceweezle]

In rendezvous, matching speed and trajectory is far more difficult than matching position. (As you've discovered.) Trying to do it on solar-orbit distance and speed scales is diving into the deep end. Leave Wilson on the scenic route (he'll be fine) while you practice bringing ships together in Kerbin orbit. Check out the rendezvous/docking tutorials in the tutorials section and on Youtube, and then try to bring Wilson home.

Hey man, thanks much for the reply. But guess what, I finally saved Wilson!!! It only took 14 hours of clicking, bending, stretching, flying, jumping, climbing and hopping. The finale was quite nerve racking, poor Wilson made it to the rescue ship with only 8% jet pack fuel and just enough rocket fuel to get home. Man what a ride!

I freaking love this game.

[Vanamonde]

Congratulations. Did you take screenshots? Perhaps this might be a subject for a Mission Reports (sub-section) thread?

[Sirrobert]

For the future: Try to get your rescue ship in an orbit that's almost identical to the ship that's needs resque. That way they have rather similar orbital speeds, making it easier to match once you get the encounter

[Spaceweezle]

Congratulations. Did you take screenshots? Perhaps this might be a subject for a Mission Reports (sub-section) thread?

Oh damn, I wish I had thought of that. I guess my hopes of getting to him were pretty low on the second day and the only thing I was thinking about was saving Wilson.

@Sirrobert - Thanks for the tip. Luckily my entry was pretty level with Wilson's orbit. It had to be pretty perfect because of fuel issues.

[Vanamonde]

I wish I had thought of that.

I will tell you a secret; sometimes I recreate situations to get pics I didn't think to take the first time. Who's going to know? Edited November 10, 2013 by Vanamonde

[LeFudge]

It only took 14 hours of clicking, bending, stretching, flying, jumping, climbing and hopping. The finale was quite nerve racking

14 Hours!! Now that's dedication. Probably felt like 14 hours at least lol.

Edited November 10, 2013 by LeFudge

[Spaceweezle]

I will tell you a secret; sometimes I recreate situation to get pics I didn't think to take the first time. Who's going to know?

Haha! I don't think I would want to re-create that situation ever again. It was extremely painful yet strangely gratifying. I guess If I would have failed you could leave out the "Gratifying" part.

@Lefudge - Yeah it sure did. But the mission spanned over two days, and I didn't sleep well knowing Wilson was all alone and possibly lost forever due to my stupidity.