Mun mission a success!!!!Now the recover missions begin.

[Prome]

Well after much effort, trial and error I finally got my kerbals to the mun, not enough fuel for a return trip to the safety of my littles guy's(bill bob and jeb) home. So now i have to plan a mission to retrieve my kerbalnuats from quiet a large creator on the mun.

I will need a rover as my orbits are always eccentric so i doubt ill land anywhere near my mun mission heros, i'll also need to be able to get them off again. I have never docked before so i can see this is going to take me a while. to perfect the procedure.

So what im getting to in a long winded way is, does anyone have any advice or can point me in the right direction?

Only been playing about a week or so and id be very sad if i couldn't get my guys back home, help this noob...........

[Scarecrow88]

Rather than risk any more Kerbals trying to rescue the guys that are already stranded, I would try sending an unmanned craft with a capsule or hitchhiker can with room to bring them all back. You can fly something like that as many times as you like, without worrying about crashing when trying to land close to make a rescue possible. Given the difficulties you are already experiencing, whilst a rover might be nice, it's probably as difficult to get one of those on the Mun safely as it is to perform a spot landing.

[-Velocity-]

Well after much effort, trial and error I finally got my kerbals to the mun, not enough fuel for a return trip to the safety of my littles guy's(bill bob and jeb) home. So now i have to plan a mission to retrieve my kerbalnuats from quiet a large creator on the mun.

I will need a rover as my orbits are always eccentric so i doubt ill land anywhere near my mun mission heros, i'll also need to be able to get them off again. I have never docked before so i can see this is going to take me a while. to perfect the procedure.

So what im getting to in a long winded way is, does anyone have any advice or can point me in the right direction?

Only been playing about a week or so and id be very sad if i couldn't get my guys back home, help this noob...........

You probably don't need to dock, just EVA the Kerbals between spacecraft.

[rodion]

I would try sending an unmanned craft with a capsule or hitchhiker can with room to bring them all back.

I agree. Send a robot. They don't fear space, time, or the onrushing Munar surface. Let your stranded crew just walk over to it and climb in; docking two vessels on a body's surface is a great recipe for producing two ruined vessels.

[Prome]

That all makes sense, ill will work on a robot vessel, my lander should be able to reach orbit so it will be an orbital retrieval with EVA's for the crew between vessels, now ill have to practice my orbits and meet up............ eek

Thanks for your thoughts on the situation my kerbals salute you as do I.

[capi3101]

Folks have pretty well hit on your options at this point - either send a rescue lander nearby or conduct a rendezvous in orbit.

Which one I'd recommend depends a lot on the current status of your craft - how heavy is it (look for that on the map screen), and what exactly are your current resource readings (particularly monoprop, liquid fuel and oxidizer)? I will say that a targeted precision landing is tricky business, but not impossible by any means. Just make sure the lander has a high Munar TWR.

A rescue craft that could do either job would not be that difficult to design, either; I'm already sitting here pondering...

CM:

1 MK-16XL Chute

1 Probodobodyne OKTO2 Probe Core

2 MK-1 Lander Cans

2 Z-100 Battery Packs (Attach to lower lander can)

4 OX-STAT Solar Panels (Attach to upper lander can)

4 RCS Blocks (attach as close to the top - the probe core - as possible)

LANDER/SM:

1 TR-18A Stack Decoupler

1 FLR-25 RCS Tank (RCS for orbital maneuvers)

1 FL-T200 Fuel Tank

5 FL-T100 Fuel Tanks (set one centerline, four outboard)

4 FTX-2 External Fuel Duct (set to draw fuel from the outboard tanks to the centerline, and set diagonally relative to the Lander Can hatches)

4 LT-1 Landing Struts (set on the outboard tanks)

4 RCS Blocks (attach as close to the bottom as possible; probably will have to place them on the outboard tanks).

1 Telus-LV Bay Mobility Enhancer

1 LV-909 Liquid Fuel Engine

stage delta-v ~ 2560, Mun TWR ~9.5

TRANSFER STAGE:

1 TR-18A Stack Decoupler

1 FL-T400 Fuel Tank

1 LV-N Atomic Rocket Engine

stage delta-v ~ 1470 m/s

BOOSTER:

1 TR-18A Stack Decoupler

5 Jumbo-64 Fuel Tank (or 10 X200-32 tanks if you prefer; set one centerline and four outboard, and do NOT run fuel lines)

5 X200-16 Fuel Tanks (one centerline and four outboard)

5 Rockomax "Skipper" Liquid Fuel Engines (one centerline and four outboard)

stage delta-v ~4500, Kerbin TWR ~1.29

Strut as necessary. You'll need to start with the booster on full throttle but watch your gee meter during the ascent and begin throttling back once you've climbed out of the green (your TWR will, of course, go up as you burn fuel). Both the lander and transfer stage have sufficient juice for orbital maneuvering once you get to the Mun (though use one or the other; if you intend to land, do any maneuvering with the transfer stage), and that one large chute is sufficient for a safe return on Kerbin (I've done three lander cans on one large chute, so you should be golden). Be sure to launch from the pad and not from the VAB (you don't want the game to automatically fill the seats).

Edited October 2, 2013 by capi3101

[OptimumAmoeba]

Remember f5 (quick save) and f9 (load quick save) are your friend.

Good luck we've all been there.

[Runboy]

Good luck with that mission.Save often,and if low on thrust,MOAR BOOSTERS!

(Imagine more useful stuff here)

[ThirdHorseman]

Be sure to launch from the pad and not from the VAB (you don't want the game to automatically fill the seats).

You can just remove all crew from the available seats by using the "Crew" tab in the VAB, to the right of the "Action Groups" tab. Just click on the red X next to the Kerbal to remove him from the "Parts with crew capacity" section and add him back to the "Available crew" section.

[capi3101]

You can just remove all crew from the available seats by using the "Crew" tab in the VAB, to the right of the "Action Groups" tab. Just click on the red X next to the Kerbal to remove him from the "Parts with crew capacity" section and add him back to the "Available crew" section.

Heh. Learned something today......

[Dkmdlb]

Also, the Kerbals can use their little EVA thrusters to go a couple of kilometers on the Mun in just a few minutes. You don't need to land right next to them, just within a few kilometers.

Dat feeling when you crest a hill on EVA flight and see the rescue vessel sitting 800 meters away, lights illuminating the regolith, waiting for you.

[capi3101]

...usually comes right before you realize you're jetpacking a bit too fast, you start trying to brake yourself and in the process your Kerbal hits the ground and slides out and you find yourself praying to God that he doesn't suddenly vanish in a poof of fuzzy logic.

Anything within five kilometers is usually safe for jetpacking on Mun. Much beyond that and you'll be pushing whether you've got enough jetpack fuel to get there.

Edited October 2, 2013 by capi3101

[Captain Sierra]

XD Why does it seem so many Mun missions end with: "MIssion successful! Rescue mission in planning!"

I have landed on the Mun at least a half dozen times and have, so far, only stranded one kerbal and that was my only attempted landing on the .21 procedural Mun. Damn you procedural cratering! Why must your beauty be so difficult to land on!

[Tokay Gris]

Reminds me of this:

Link

[mellojoe]

Another tip:

Sometimes larger isn't more effecient. Just adding fuel makes your lander heavier. Which means it requries more fuel to land. Which means you need more fuel on board. Which means.... you get the idea.

Getting home from the Mun doesn't require a TON of fuel, especially if you don't care where on Kerbin you land. Just get to Kerbin, pop a parachute, and then pretend rescue crews come and "recover" your behind (tracking station does this).

Definitely use F5 (quicksave) and F9 (reload) just before major maneuvers. I find if I F5 Quicksave while in a nice orbit around the Mun, then I can simulate landing as many times as I need before finding a solution that works. And if that simulation fails, I just hold F9.

GOOD LUCK! Bring those boys home!

[Prome]

LOL Its hardly rocket science.

Lots of great ideas that i can run with here, thank you all very much.

Link

[Prome]

Mission update:

I have got my guys and the lander out of the influence of the mun and to a large mostly circular with a slight tilt orbit of kerbal, Now for the orbital recovery involving 3 space walks at 426 m/s and return home.

Wish me luck.

[Sirine]

Wish you Good Luck!!!

[pantner]

A bit late now, but if your craft is small enough you might be able to use the RCS thrusters to slow you enough to get back to kerbin.

My second moon landing I used up almost all my fuel trying to dock with my 2nd stage (also in orbit around the Mun) and when I realised it wasn't happening, decided to head home. Got into a circular kerbin orbin and my main fuel ran out.

I then used the RCS thrusters to slow my speed and let me intercept Kerbal, then just parachuted home!

[Lojik]

I love reading these mission stories, always incites great ways to get out of the situation, damn this game and the time it is consuming in my over imaginative head.

[Prome]

LOL oops

Well i have managed to crash them into the mun, my orbit was to large and encroached on the orbit of the mun, i just ran out of time and my retrieval vessel couldn't get close enough.

RIP Bill, Bob & Jeb

[mellojoe]

A moment of silence for our brave kerbalnauts .... *KABOOM* ... put that down and let's have a moment of silenc---- *WHOOOSH* ... I said, PUT THA-- *KABLOOEY* ... *sigh* moving on, I guess