Ways of getting a kerbal out of a pod when you accidentally entombed him with an RCS?

[Sophistry]

Hi guys,

I was wondering if there was a way of moving a Kerbal between connected pods? I kind of blocked the hatch on a Cupola module, and was hoping there might be a way to move a Kerbal from the Cupola to the connected mobile lab without having to go EVA.

I built a prototype research/forward refuelling outpost, built mainly around a Cupola, a mobile lab, a X200-16 fuel tank, and a large RCS tank, basically to see if I'd have to build these small stations in bits or if I could send them up into orbit to my IP transport in a single load. I unlocked some new tech that meant the final version would be slightly different, so I wasn't going to use the prototype. I decided to evacuate the base and terminate flight, and then discovered I'd been a bit of a moron and blocked a hatch with an RCS port. I did think about docking a craft to de-orbit the station in such a way that it could be recovered, but I'm not sure a single docking port is strong enough for the kind of "oomf" needed to bring down a station safely, especially as it was never designed with the thought of being de-orbited in mind! If simply getting my poor Kerbalnaut (One of the starting ones in an orange space suit, too! ) isn't an option, has anyone any bright ideas about how to get the station down safe?

[Specialist290]

I don't believe it's possible to do in the stock game, unfortunately. I know there used to be a mod that allowed you to transfer crew internally, but I haven't been following it closely enough to know how up-to-date it is for the current version of the game.

[brooklyn666]

you can *try* to use whack-a-kerbal in the debug menu to smash whatever is blocking the hatch, but you're gonna quicksave beforehand, in case you smash you craft to bits.

[Guest]

Also, I don't know if it works on already launched craft, but KAS can let you move RCS ports around with EVA Kerbals.

[Starstrider42]

I don't believe it's possible to do in the stock game, unfortunately. I know there used to be a mod that allowed you to transfer crew internally, but I haven't been following it closely enough to know how up-to-date it is for the current version of the game.

There are two such mods: Crew Manifest and Ship Manifest. I believe they're both 0.23-compatible.

I was wondering if there was a way of moving a Kerbal between connected pods? I kind of blocked the hatch on a Cupola module, and was hoping there might be a way to move a Kerbal from the Cupola to the connected mobile lab without having to go EVA.

Have you actually tried going on EVA yet? From my experience, the worst that should happen is your kerbal will be flung away at high speed, but not so high that you can't use the jetpack to get back. As long as you're not planning to go back in the cupola, you should be fine.

[Vanamonde]

This is why I test every stage on the pad, or even in flight, before I add the next stage to the ship I'm building. Prevents no end of heartache.

[Kasuha]

From my experience, the worst that should happen is your kerbal will be flung away at high speed, but not so high that you can't use the jetpack to get back. As long as you're not planning to go back in the cupola, you should be fine.

Unfortunately the worst that can happen is that you get an "hatch is obstructed" message and no EVA happens.

[pauix]

Could you post some pictures of the craft? I've got a few ideas (all of them quite crazy and with a very low chance of success) from my previous attempts of fixing minor design flaws.

[Kasuha]

If you don't have permadeath active, you can safely terminate the flight, your Kerbals will appear on the available list in a while.

If you don't mind using mods, you can use KAS to remove the RCS port.

Otherwise you can dock some parachutes module to your station and try to deorbit it safely, then recover.

[Sophistry]

If you don't have permadeath active, you can safely terminate the flight, your Kerbals will appear on the available list in a while.

If you don't mind using mods, you can use KAS to remove the RCS port.

Otherwise you can dock some parachutes module to your station and try to deorbit it safely, then recover.

I'd prefer not to use mods; if I can't just get the guy out another way, I feel I must rise to the impromptu challenge the game (or me designing the station at 3am) has given me

I did think docking parachutes is the way to go, but I'm not sure how many I would need, and I'd be worried about the stress on the station when the parachutes opened.

Could you post some pictures of the craft? I've got a few ideas (all of them quite crazy and with a very low chance of success) from my previous attempts of fixing minor design flaws.

Ha, sounds amusing http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=242332733 http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=242332717

There are three docking ports in total, one on the bottom of the craft, and the one pictured has a twin on the other side. If I haven't figured out a way to do it by the time ARM comes out, I'm thinking I ram the bottom of the station to destroy (hopefully) everything but the cupola, and then use the claw to attach it to something with enough parachutes to bring it down safely.

[Edit:] For context, the largest thing I have ever tried to de-orbit safely was about half or a third of the size of this station, and the only reason the crew of that craft survived was when the parachutes opened, everything below the command pod snapped off! So I'm not sure how to go about trying to get something even larger down safely.

Edited March 26, 2014 by Sophistry
Fixed links

[pauix]

I'm thinking I ram the bottom of the station to destroy (hopefully) everything but the cupola, and then use the claw to attach it to something with enough parachutes to bring it down safely.

My plan was more or less along this lines. However, if you don't want to wait until the ARM update, improvise a claw with some landing legs and go for it

[Kasuha]

I did think docking parachutes is the way to go, but I'm not sure how many I would need, and I'd be worried about the stress on the station when the parachutes opened.

There's a parachute calculator out there. But even without that, I think one radial chute per ton is okay. And put some drogues on it as well, then it won't break when main chutes open.

Drogues are so useful I cannot believe people always forget about them. For radial mount, just stick cubic octagonal strut somewhere, then stick the drogue to the bottom of the strut.

Edited March 26, 2014 by Kasuha

[Javster]

I've done the exact same thing. Use crewmanifest?