Can We Save Jebediah?

[SpaceBadger]

Hi All

I'm playing career mode and after much trial and error "Orbital Tester Mk4" finally made it to a stable orbit. (Albeit that I accidentally used all the fuel, so I don't think we can get it back.) But any bottles of bubbly were put on hold at Kerbal Space Center, when Jebediah Kerman lost his grip during an EVA and..well...floated off!

I worked out how to use his jetpack, but the "OT4" was last seen over a kilometre away and now I can't see it at all. Plus after much jetting about fruitlessly, his pack seems to have run out of fuel. (Duh.)

I checked the orbital map and Jebediah and his ship are in two separate orbits now, with his the slightly higher of the two.

Is he just going to stay up there forever? Will he run out of oxygen eventually? Just a little Kerbal skeleton orbiting Kerban as a grizzly reminder to be more careful?

Will I eventually develop the tech to be able to rescue him? .... I feel so bad for the little guy!

Badger

Edited October 21, 2013 by SpaceBadger

[Faark]

over a kilometre away and now I can't see it at all.

Yeah, looks like .22 does not show target markers in space anymore. Especially annoying for kerbals.

Entirely out of fuel is bad.

- You could try to place a command pot directly in front of him, switch and hope that he is in range to grab it via "F".

- An EVA chair makes it easier, since you have a little range. But it does not refuel your kerbals RCS and is very close to the end of the tech tree...

[Superfluous J]

You can rescue him, but it'll be hard.

Hard way #1 (the harder way):

Send up a ship. Get it next to him and heading at him slowly, so the ladder will bump into him. This could take years to angle properly.

Switch to him, and when the ladder bumps into him hit F. Even if you line it up right, you may miss. Start over again.

Hard way #2 (the less hard way):

Wait until you have ladders. Build a ship with several ladders inside a cage. The cage should be large enough to fit several Kerbals and be open on one end, and have a door into a capsule INSIDE the cage somewhere. You could even build the cage around a capsule. Put ladders on the insides of the cage walls, and make it (test on the ground) so you can get back to the capsule entrance from any of the ladders. It'd help to get RCS too but it's not 100% necessary. This is the hardest part because you have to research all of these things.

On the launch pad, make sure the capsule Jeb will be going in is empty.

Launc and maneuver your ship so Jeb goes into your box/cage. Extend all of the ladders.

Switch to Jeb, and he'll have a bunch of opportunities to grab a ladder. Once he does, he can then crawl to the door and get in.

[shand]

I'd pretty much agree with all these. this is a hardcore case of space RV. my top tip would be to ALWAYS leave 1-5% eva fuel for the final boarding action, that way you would only need to get a ship within 100m or so and stabilise it and jeb could float over.

Personally i'd use a probe core with the lightest manned cap (with no kerbal), RCS at either end, and a small efficent fuel rocket >>>AND PARACHUTES<<<, put an extendable ladder and a couple of flat solar panels on as well. draw up along side so jeb is right next to you, set the ladder out, and set it to slowly rotate so the ladder will hit jeb, he should be able to grab on and get in the pod.

PS: threw together a prototype, the aim is to keep it light for + cheap launch + manueverable +Cheap in rcs. with some gentle persausion i got jeb back in suprisingly easily. you may not even need the ladders. but it is a tough RV oh, and pack a parachute... i forgot (dispite putting it in capitals)

Nudging in...

Alright, in you get!

Oh, erm, deploy wishful thinking?! (luckily i made it light enough that it actually managed to land with that diddy rocket!)

PPS: do spoiler tags not work still!?

Edited October 21, 2013 by shand

[Scarecrow88]

That might actually be a fun challenge - rescue Jeb.

[SpaceBadger]

Thanks for the quick replies all.

Well done on the successful rescue mission shand. Now I know it can be done and as Jeb is presumably not running out of oxygen, he can stay up there as long as it takes for me to earn the required tech and learn the required skills. His rescue can be a future target for me... I kind of like it actually. (Oh..plus when I get him back I'll presumably get the science for the experiments he did..)

I'm surprised that there isn't actual tech to do this kind of thing. This has all felt like the movie "Apollo 13" with me dumping a corrugated pipe, an old push bike frame, a paper bag, two empty Cornflake packets and an expired condom, onto your table and asking you.."right..we have to save Jeb and we can only use this and we only have three hours...oh, and I can't find my socks!" Then you lot say "Right...we're going to have to think outside the box. Work the problem guys, work... the... problem!"

Thanks again

Badger Out

[Rage097]

He will float there forever until you bring a ladder within his reach.