How do I get stuff back to Kerbin?

[Invader Jim]

I had a contract to retrieve something from LKO. It turn out to be a S1 SRB-KD25k. I managed to grab it with an advanced grabbing unit that was attached to the top of my MK1-2 pod then proceeded to drag it back into the atmosphere. The capsule and SRB did not come down gracefully . There was tumbling about but luckily nothing overheated. The SRB hit the water first at maybe 9 m/s and as the capsule hit the water it lost the SRB and I failed the contract.

How do you get things safely back to Kerbin? I had imagined I would be retrieving something small, not a huge booster.

Edited May 17, 2015 by Invader Jim

[Reddeyfish]

I do pretty much what you did, except with a lot more parachutes. The mass of the object is listed in the mission contract, so you can use that to plan accordingly.

[RocketPropelledGiraffe]

Apart from "moar chutes", you can also put the SRB etc. in the cargo bay of a spaceplane. Certainly more difficult, but a very elegant solution if you are looking for a challenge.

[Starwhip]

Oh dear. That's a big thing.

Try more 'chutes, or perhaps, a very, very large craft for powered landing

[Xannari Ferrows]

The "moar chutes" procedure isn't gonna work I think. It's all dependent on the cross sectional area of the parachutes that allows the ship to slow down. That's why the drag factor is represented by a number, rather than a ratio.

Try making more compact versions of the capturing craft, and send up 2 of them at ones. Grab opposite sides of the SRB, and then initiate de-orbit. Your parachutes will produce the maximum drag factors they can.

[Windspren]

You can get KIS and attach parachutes and a heat shield and a probe core to it and deorbit them one at a time. That way you can also get multiple contracts in one mission.

[MarvinKitFox]

I had imagined I would be retrieving something small, not a huge booster.

Read the contract specs.

They state object mass, AND lengthxwidthxheight

As for landing it..

More chutes

My object retriever is the biggest heatshield I can lay my hands on, batteries & stability gyro for attitude control, and a Klaw.

plus 1 drogue chute, and 16 radial chutes.

To orient a pointy object like that booster of yours, I grab one end of it with the klaw. Inevitably it is not pointing sideways. I allow the klaw to pivot, and align my ship with the long axis of the object, then re-engage klaw position lock.

During reentry, i disengage klaw swivel lock again, as the object will inevitably flop around in the airtstream. Let it do so on its own, not mis-aligning my reentry shield!