Never leave a Kerbal behind

[MalfunctionM1Ke]

I actually wasn't playing in self-sanctioned permadeath mode but It came to me that I just cant leave my Kerbals where they stranded and call it a new Base.

So I did what had to be done and sent out a rescue Mission. Unfortunately it wasnt the Mun or Minmus, but Dres.

Feel free to post your recent rescue missions below.

I am curious if anyone feels the same about just leaving them behind alone.

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[Prome]

That was quite a mission, good work.

Im new to KSP and if i managed to actually land, (having lots of trouble matching orbits and "capturing" moons and planets atm) I so would have left the poor guys there, if not i would have lost more of the guys. lol

[CalculusWarrior]

I stranded Bill on Dres once and launched an epic rescue mission to save him. I ended up having to use his jetpack to fly into a sub-orbital trajectory and rendezvous with the ship that had arrived from Kerbin. Then, I had to perform an unpowered landing for one of the pods because I forgot to pack parachutes!

I think I posted it somewhere on the forums, I'll give you the link if I find it.

[regex]

I like how, instead of adding a Hitchhiker, you just brought home the command module. Nice work, OP.

I am curious if anyone feels the same about just leaving them behind alone.

Eh... Not really. It's more of a "mission objective". Here's my "epic" rescue while testing out a new craft: http://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/threads/49429-Escape-from-Duna

[Scotius]

It's in my sig . I'm quite cautious with my kerbonauts lives, but i had to do some rescuing from Mun and LKO (mostly because of misbehaving mods). And Dres... it's far enough to cause real problems. Congratulations on well executed rescue mission there ()b

[running]

I cycle them.

So for example I send 3 kerbals to a space station

I then send 2 other kerbals to the space station, let them switch places and take the orginal kerbals back home while leaving the other 2.

So this proves I can move people in and out, but I do have a permanently manned base/station etc. Preferbly I leave a getaway rocket for them behind so I could evacuate them quickly.

For Kerbels on their way back an forth during travels, those are not space stations so I do try to rescue them. So far I have been able to save them all.

[Dooz]

I will aways return my kerbals when ever i do a interplanetary mission i have to make sure it has the deltav for a return

Interplanetary return missions iv done so far

Laythe manned water lander

Eeloo 2 landing and return

Multipart ship Prometheus visited duna and ike

Moho manned orbiter mk2 (had to be rescued in eve orbit due to fuel issues)

Vall express mk2

Gilly or Bust

Edited September 27, 2013 by Dooz

[thox]

I had that one situation where I ran out of fuel on the return trip and ended up on a highly inclined and extremely elliptical orbit around Kerbin. I would have just left the shuttle and Kerbal there, but it was Jeb who was in it, so that wasn't an option. After deciding to only get him back home and leave the shuttle where it was, I sent out a small rescue capsule with a probe core attached so I could get it there with the capsule empty. Matching orbits was a pain and when that was done I realized that I had forgotten RCS on the rescue ship, which resulted in a quite big EVA leap for jeb, but he got there and was ready to board when suddenly a message popped up: "you can't board a manned module" (or something like that) ... turned out I had forgotten to remove the Kerbal from the pod before launch. Well, he was some unimportant guy and I sent out the mission to rescue Jeb, which meant that he got thrown out, Jeb got in and returned and the other guy is now orbiting forever, somewhere up there

[Lar-E]

I'm a huge softee when it comes to my Kerbal's lives. I do extensive testing before launch, I provide them with escape systems and back-up plans. And if (when) it all goes south anyway, I drop everything and go rescue them. So far I haven't killed any, and Jeb is the only one stranded in interplanetary space (intentionally, to keep him from talking to the press.)

[Masked Turk]

I'm a huge softee when it comes to my Kerbal's lives. I do extensive testing before launch, I provide them with escape systems and back-up plans. And if (when) it all goes south anyway, I drop everything and go rescue them. So far I haven't killed any, and Jeb is the only one stranded in interplanetary space (intentionally, to keep him from talking to the press.)

As soon as 0.22 hits, I'll be starting a new save following this exact principle :3

Up until then, however, they're my disposable command modules

[Epthelyn]

I tend to strand Kerbals on different planets/moons for several months (or years) until I can rescue them, either because I can't be bothered to send over another mission or because it is impossible at my current level of experience with interplanetary travel and suchlike.

Anything on Eve is stuck there forever. After watching Scott Manley's "Eve or Bust" series I've decided that my computer would try to kill me and I don't have the time to try...yet.

Anything on Moho is doomed. I've only just got there, I'm not entirely sure how getting back would work. That said, the only real reason Moho is so difficult is because you have to slow down on arrival. Kerbin makes that a million times easier

Anything on Tylo or Laythe is probably in for the long haul, given that the only return travel I've managed from Tylo was a small probe and I've yet to get a craft to Laythe and back.

So yeah, the principle is really quite fun to follow, until you hit those annoying barriers.

[Brevillance]

The best rescue mission ive had to date is the rescuing of a stranded inter-kerbin plane that got stranded on the north pole because a wing was ripped off (still not sure how it happened). Luckily as will all my designs i install chutes for inter-kerbin safety in-case of malfunction so i was able to use some thrust, chute cutting and some RCS to keep it mostly upright when it touched down. Having no way to get them home i built this:

After getting it over to the pole i EVA'd one of the pilots and filled one of the empty pods above the plane, then boarded the 3 stranded kerbals. (i eva'd the center pilot, just to be sure there was no weight issues, i tried to keep it balanced. Im not sure if they have any added weight inside vehicles so, to be on the safe side ) Of course im sure they were happy to be in a warm capsule after about 3 weeks on the pole lol. And, they even got a pretty view on the ride home, as each of the pods is right side up, and are facing forward/backward so each kerbal can see the land pass under them haha.

But yeah, thats about the best "rescue" ive ever performed thus far in KSP.

(i dont fly interplanetary yet, after almost 110 hours of play time i finally decided to try a mun landing lol).

[magnemoe]

As long as they have a way to get back I usually leaves bases, say you build an base on Laythe, you have launch capacity to get all kerbals back into orbit and an ship to take them back to Kerbin I leave them.

Stranded ones I always bring back, however I usually reloads.

[kiwi1960]

OK, I am very new to KSP, so I'm still mucking around kerbal orbit and .... on my way to the Mun...

I built a space station in Kerbal orbit, added another segment to it but before it docked, it really smacked into the station causing a very bad oscillation... I left and went back to base, built another one, launched it.. same thing happened, only, with the extra weight and such, the oscillation was MUCH worse... I feared for the safety of the 12 Kerbals... yes, I know, over kill.... but I wanted OVER but not KILL....

Back to base, built a rescue vessel and went and got them..... all 12... one trip... I abandoned the station.

I'm glad many others feel the same way, leave no one behind.... they may be my pets... they may be my slaves... but they ARE mine...

"Leave no one behind"...