Help! I have gotten Jeb stuck in orbit with some tourists after a trip to the mun.

[Bmj774]

Help.

My Rocket has 1134m/s DeltaV (Terrier Engine), but that's not enough to safely slow down to land on kerbin.  At my periapsis I'm going more than 3000m/s, and I have no electricity to use reaction wheels for stability. I've tried many times to dip into the atmosphere over multiple passes, but eventually I hit ~30k and have to land, but I don't have the fuel to slow down enough to deploy parachutes, or any electricity to use reaction wheels to remain stable while using the heat shield to slow down. I am wondering if there is a way to get electricity to my ship, or save Jeb and the tourists in some other way...

I'm really stuck. Is my best option to try and deliver electricity in a battery or something? using another kerbals inventory? I was thinking about sending a kerbal up with the battery, then having jeb get out and retrieve it, but idk if that power will be useable. I haven't tried this before. If a battery is in the inventory of the Mk1 crew cabin, will it power the reaction wheels?

I've got some ideas, and I might be able to do it, but I am hoping for a better solution.

(I don't have any save states within reasonable time before this mission, I'd have to lose heaps of progress if I were to revert to an older save... Safe to say that I've learned a lot about planning ahead with this mission haha.)

Thanks in advance for anyone who offers help :)

[jost]

If you have the Claw you could build a rescue vessel for docking and transferring the Crew.  Otherwise your battery plan should work too if you have an engineer for EVA construction

[magnemoe]

Pretty sure an battery in the inventory would not work.  
Simplest is to send an engineer who mount a battery and a couple of solar panels on the craft. 
You could also use the claw on an probe with power and have it charge up the craft. 

[Rocket builder]

I think it can be hard, but you can set a chute (if you have more than one) to open anyway, it will definitely destroy itself, but it will slow down your rocket a lot, if it won't be sufficient, repeat the same thing with one more and you'll be able to land

[Vanamonde]

The crew cabins which look like space capsules are balanced to keep the bottom facing down through aerodynamic forces. You shouldn't need SAS to hold the orientation, unless you're using something like a lander can or some multi-part construction of your own. 

How the heck fast are you going? 1100m/s dV is about one half of Kerbin orbit velocity, which should be more than enough braking capacity to get you down to a safe re-entry speed, especially if, as you say, you've tried multiple braking passes through atmo. 

I suppose if you're really stuck and you don't have the Claw part yet you could send another ship up to meet this one and slow it by just pushing against it. 

[18Watt]

How is your ship being destroyed?  Is it overheating?  Or just never slowing down enough to deploy parachutes?

I’ve seen some designs which do tend to point prograde, and are aerodynamic enough that they never slow down.  If that is the case, here are two possible options-

• As others have suggested, fly another ship up to add electric capacity, or just transfer everyone to the rescue ship.
• If your engine has gimbals or an alternator then your remaining fuel could be used to pitch up when deep in the atmosphere, or perhaps recharge your batteries.  I think the Terrier engine gimbals, but doesn’t have a generator.

[Bmj774]

4 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

The crew cabins which look like space capsules are balanced to keep the bottom facing down through aerodynamic forces. You shouldn't need SAS to hold the orientation, unless you're using something like a lander can or some multi-part construction of your own. 

How the heck fast are you going? 1100m/s dV is about one half of Kerbin orbit velocity, which should be more than enough braking capacity to get you down to a safe re-entry speed, especially if, as you say, you've tried multiple braking passes through atmo. 

I suppose if you're really stuck and you don't have the Claw part yet you could send another ship up to meet this one and slow it by just pushing against it. 

I mustn't have made myself clear. So, I DO have enough delta V to safely ENTER the atmosphere, however when I do, I don't have any way to stay stable enough to avoid burning up. I am not stable because I have passenger cabins underneath my command cabin (I assume that's why. All I know is that it really likes to prograde into the atmosphere). I would gladly just fall into the atmosphere after spending the 1100m/s dV  to slow down if only I could keep the heat shield beneath me. I can't do this without manual stabilisation due to the unstable nature of this stage on its own.

I think I will be able to find a way to get it down now though, I have gotten a bit more science and have things like the Claw at my disposal now.

[swjr-swis]

A picture of the craft might help to find solutions. You might actually be better off going very steeply into the atmosphere, hit the thicker draggy part before the craft heats up too much. But show us a screenshot, there may be other options.

[Bmj774]

11 hours ago, jost said:

If you have the Claw you could build a rescue vessel for docking and transferring the Crew.  Otherwise your battery plan should work too if you have an engineer for EVA construction

Can you simply transfer crew (tourists) by docking with the claw and right clicking the cabin? I didn't consider that. If you can, then this is way easier than I thought.

[Bmj774]

3 hours ago, 18Watt said:

How is your ship being destroyed?  Is it overheating?  Or just never slowing down enough to deploy parachutes?

I’ve seen some designs which do tend to point prograde, and are aerodynamic enough that they never slow down.  If that is the case, here are two possible options-

• As others have suggested, fly another ship up to add electric capacity, or just transfer everyone to the rescue ship.
• If your engine has gimbals or an alternator then your remaining fuel could be used to pitch up when deep in the atmosphere, or perhaps recharge your batteries.  I think the Terrier engine gimbals, but doesn’t have a generator.

I've tried to land multiple ways. Sometimes I am not stable and go broadside for too long, or go too fast prograde, and burn up. Other times, I managed  to stay stable and not burn up, by using my 1100 d/V to help stabilise on the way down, but this doesn't slow me down enough to deploy parachutes because it doesn't slow me down as much as just the heat shield would.

I sorta tried your second suggestion, and I couldn't get it to work, but I'll be having a crack at your first suggestion now that I have the Claw and a leveled Engineer.

[swjr-swis]

1 minute ago, Bmj774 said:

Can you simply transfer crew (tourists) by docking with the claw and right clicking the cabin?

Yes, you can. When you grab another vessel with the claw, it becomes one vessel, allowing transfer between all the attached crew compartments.