Problem with rendezvous - opposite orbits

[MrUberGr]

So at my first mission to the mun, I got stranded, and barely managed to get back to orbit. The problem now is that, being the noob I am I launched from the mun towards the wrong direction. So now I have the vessel with no fuel at a 180 degree inclination towards the other. Any suggestions on how to make the two meet, without crashing, and have enough time to move bill to the rescue vehicle?

Edited December 27, 2013 by MrUberGr

[Kimberly]

You're probably moving at thousands of m/s relative to each other. Even if you could line up a flyby perfectly, you would never dock; your momentum is far greater than the magnetic strength of docking ports. Because flipping your inclination 180 degrees takes a ridiculous amount of fuel, no doubt more than you have, I suggest scrubbing your rescue mission and sending another.

[Pursuedtank]

You are not going to be able to rescue Bill without getting the orbits going the same direction. Your best bet is to either launch another mission and make sure orbits in the same direction as Bill's ship, or if you have enough fuel turn the orbit of the rescue vehicle around by burning retrograde then rescuing like normal.

[MrUberGr]

I can't dock even if I was close enough. Bill's ship doesn't have a docking port ^^. I think I will use infinite fuel, land on the mun, and go back up in the rescue ship's direction.

BTW, it happens oftenly that the Pe and Ap nodes are steady are bouncing all around. Why does that happen? Is it some glitch?

[JiWint]

It's like two cars coming from opposite end of a road.

[Smidge204]

I can't dock even if I was close enough. Bill's ship doesn't have a docking port ^^. I think I will use infinite fuel, land on the mun, and go back up in the rescue ship's direction.

BTW, it happens oftenly that the Pe and Ap nodes are steady are bouncing all around. Why does that happen? Is it some glitch?

The the orbit is very near to circular, got can get floating point errors in the path drawing algorithm. It's extremely annoying.

Can you be more specific about the nature of Bill's orbit? Apoapsis and velocity? Bill's EVA pack might be useful for making things much easier... although I have to agree with the others that your best, non-cheating option is to simply launch a new rescue mission.

=Smidge=

[TheDarkStar]

You don't have to dock to rescue him. Just get close and match velocities, then EVA Bill to the rescue craft.

[Soda Popinski]

He can't possibly match velocities at 180 degrees apart.

Another possibly is to escape the Mun SOI with the command Module, wait many orbits until you can burn out to be captured in front of the Mun for a retrograde orbit, then rendezvous.

[capi3101]

What kind of delta-V do you have left? If you're low, you're hosed; try again. If however you've got a few thousand to spare, what you can do is send your apoapsis high - just low enough to stay within the Mün's SOI - and make the full orbital plane reversal at the apoapsis. Line up with the target while you're at it and then lower the apoapsis until you get a rendezvous. Only thing I can suggest without a full scrub.

[vetrox]

Better launch a fresh rescue mission from kerbin.

Strand more kerbals

Send even bigger rescue fleet.

strand even more kerbals.

Leave them there to freeze.

The above pretty much sums up my first 15 hours or so in ksp

[Anachronda]

BTW, it happens oftenly that the Pe and Ap nodes are steady are bouncing all around. Why does that happen? Is it some glitch?

IME, it's caused by two things ganging up A) a very circular orbit; the closer you are to circular, the more they bounce around and 2) ASAS, which is constantly applying small accelerations to the ship; the closer the orbit is to circular, the more these small accelerations matter to AP and PE positions.

TL;DR edition: turn ASAS off.

[Rickenbacker]

If you have enough fuel, reverse your orbit. If not, go home and send another rescue mission .

[LethalDose]

Best advice for this is probably be the following steps:

1. Recover the rescue vehicle
   
2. Launch a new rescue mission
   
3. Orbit the new rescue in the appropriate direction
   
4. EVA Bill to the new rescue
   
5. Return safely
   
6. Jeb's your uncle
   

[technion]

Better launch a fresh rescue mission from kerbin.

Strand more kerbals

Send even bigger rescue fleet.

strand even more kerbals.

Leave them there to freeze.

The above pretty much sums up my first 15 hours or so in ksp

Try sending an unmanned rescue mission