My First Rendezvous

[Geek.Verve]

I've just recently gotten to the point where I can somewhat reliably achieve an orbit reasonably close to my target altitude. I've been taking all the contracts for ferrying tourists into space that I can get, to build up the coffers for some much needed upgrades. Then I see one requiring me to rescue a fellow Kerbonaut from orbit. Sounds tricky, so off to YouTube I go. A couple hours later, I feel like I have a rough handle on it, so I set to building a rocket purpose built for it (thanks quill18 and Mike Aben, you guys rock!).

• Mk1 Command Pod
• Dual radial mounted Mk2-R chutes
• Mk1 Crew Cabin for the rescued pilot
• Heat shield
• Terrier engine for the orbital stage
• FL-T800 Fuel Tank with a LV-T45 Swivel engine for my sub orbital stage
• Enough solid boosters to get me off the launch pad and up to about 15km or so

I launch, get to space, burn the last of my sub orbital stage fuel and dump that stage. I fire off my orbital stage to establish my orbit, and...nothing. It then occurs to me how much the Mk1 Crew Cabin looks like a fuel tank. /foreheadsmack #1

I correct my...ahem..."design oversight" and head out again. I establish my orbit only to realize that I had forgotten to time my launch for when my target was in the right position in its orbit. That leads me to make many laps around Kerbin, to bring them back around, warp too fast, grossly overshoot and have to repeat the process (it did occur to me after that I could have just pushed my apoapsis out and minimized the number of orbits required). I have a lot of trouble lining up my intercept point and have to settle for a little over 6km. What the heck, I figure, I'll give it a shot.

Upon reaching said intercept point, I leave map view and start my maneuvers in a little game I've come to call "nav ball rodeo". Seriously, that thing seems to have a mind of its own. Couple that with the fact that I keep fumbling with the controls, hitting the wrong keys over and over, trying to line up the target marker on the prograde/retrograde markers, as I fly past my target multiple times. Finally I settle down, taking a much more deliberate approach, creeping along ever so slowly and closing the gap. "Hey, I'm starting to get the hang of this," I thought, just prior to realizing that one tap of the SHIFT key sometimes requires TWO taps of CRTL to reverse it. I'm going to have to start treating it like I do time warping and hammer the stop key like I'm playing that old arcade game, Track and Field. I go to spin about for another approach, and...the ship doesn't respond. Tap, tap, tap...nothing. I had run out of charge. /foreheadsmack #2

Back to the VAB. Again. This time I take some tips from one of the videos I watched and add a service bay behind the crew cabin with a couple rechargeable batteries in it and tack on a few solar panels. I also recall that the last time I was actually able to return to Kerbin in this vessel (the memory was beginning to fade by this point), the trip wasn't exactly smooth with some instability due to my center of mass being a bit too centered. Rather than address the concern in any sane manner, I decide to just slap on another heat shield, upside down on the nose of the command pod. It ain't pretty, but it works, when you don't know which end is going to end up pointing forward. Seems like the Kerbal way, as they say.

So BACK to the launch pad. BACK into orbit (remembering to time my launch this time), and upon throwing down a maneuver node, nudging the retrograde handle showed an intercept point of 2km. Nice. After some adjustments, I am able to get it down to a little over 200m! That's with around an 8-degree descending node value (still getting the kinks out of my launch and ascent sequences). I think I could try this another 100 times and not get it this close. Boom, quick save, and away I go.

Upon reaching the intercept point, I see the target about 170m away. I've learned by now that the key is slow and steady with minimal control errors - not my forte. Still, I manage the approach fairly well. After a mild fender bender with the derelict pod, I switch to the pod and EVA the pilot, Mirbald. My excitement is building. However, my kerbal isn't moving. This is my first space walk, so I don't realize that jet packs have to be activated. I hit ESC, do a quick web search and I'm back in business...sort of. My jet pack is shoving me around like it's possessed, but I get the hang of it before too long and am able to latch onto the ladder on my command pod. Score! I'm already planning ways to minimize risk on reentry with the additional weight and general ship imbalance. I hit ...and I'm told I can't enter the command pod because it's full. W...T...F...?! I try again...and again...as if the game at some point is going to say, "Oh, wait, nevermind. I had that wrong. Go on in, now!" I crawl around on the crew cabin. No means of ingress.

A quick ALT-TAB and another web search showed me that there appear to be two doors on the crew cabin, but they are ON THE ENDS. Not helpful. The crew cabin is great for space tourism, not so much for a Kerbonaut on the outside wanting in.

I'm starting to sweat, now. It's 12:30 am and I have to be up at 6:00 for work. Poor Mirbald is stuck on the outside of a rocket hurling through space. A thought occurs to me. Maybe I can access the rear crew cabin door through the service bay. I open the bay doors and get as close as I can, try different angles, but no joy. The batteries are in the way, I guess. In a last ditch effort, I jam Mirbald's face into the bay and close the doors. Maybe she can ride home in the service bay. As the doors swing shut, her helmet clips through the door, and her body shifts around like she's going to pop back out. To my surprise the boarding prompt pops up and I smash the key. She's in!!!

I think Kerbal God must have felt I had been through enough, as the reentry was uneventful. What's more, Mirbald was so grateful, that she decided to leave Research & Development Department and join my crew. The benefits aren't as good, the pay is lousy and the risk is exponentially greater, if I'm being honest. However, I promised that, unlike her former boss, I won't leave her stranded in orbit...probably...maybe...well, I promised her that's not the plan, anyway.

While I had tried all manner of clicking on Jeb's portrait, trying to get him to move to the crew cabin, I later learned that I could have just right-clicked on the command pod and transferred him that way, allowing Mirbald to board the command pod (thanks /u/mildlyfrostbitten for that heads-up). /finalforeheadsmack

Edited February 22 by Geek.Verve
Correct errant bolded font

[Vanamonde]

Congratulations.   Now you can assemble larger craft in orbit. 

[Geek.Verve]

17 hours ago, Vanamonde said:

Congratulations.   Now you can assemble larger craft in orbit. 

Lol, hardly. I completed another rescue contract last night, and while it went more smoothly than my first, it was still fraught with difficulty on the final approach. At this point I'm happy if I can match speed with less than 1km of separation for a long EVA. Something still isn't clicking in my head, when it comes to narrowing that gap, when the slightest errant pulse of thrust can wreck my approach. It's progress, though, and worth it to get some free crew members.

 

[Watermel00n]

11 hours ago, Geek.Verve said:

Lol, hardly. I completed another rescue contract last night, and while it went more smoothly than my first, it was still fraught with difficulty on the final approach. At this point I'm happy if I can match speed with less than 1km of separation for a long EVA. Something still isn't clicking in my head, when it comes to narrowing that gap, when the slightest errant pulse of thrust can wreck my approach. It's progress, though, and worth it to get some free crew members.

 

Tip: Within 1 km or so, you should point at your target and burn to a speed of 20 m/s or so. You should end up about 300 m from the target. Repeat firing your engine at the target, but at slower speed like 10 m/s. Remember, the faster you go at the target, the less you need think about the orbit drifting, but you risk not being able to slow down in time. Pack reaction wheels and set the thrust limiter to about 10% for smaller burns within 300 m of the craft.  (I don't really completely understand rendezvous so take my words with a pinch of salt.)

Edited February 24 by Watermel00n

[Tony Swallow]

Really cool telling the story, complete with facepalms and all! I know your pain.

The first time I managed to dock I had spent an hour following the tutorial religiously and even then only "Just" managed to make it work. The good news is that you get better! Now I can Dock "on a dime".

The two tips I'd give is take your time, and practice makes perfect! In no time at all you'll be throwing things together in orbit without a second thought.