Why it my Kerbal floating away during EVA's?

[FourtyTwo]

Sorry for what I'm sure is an incredibly newb question. I've only been playing for two days now and have been watching Youtube videos etc, but I can't figure out why my Kerbal keeps letting go of the spacecraft while doing EVA's to gain science over the various land types on Kerbin. I'll successfully survey about 3 or so types before he gives up lol. I'm on my 5th relaunch because he keeps floating off! What am I doing wrong? Thank you in advance for the help! Hoping to get this done so I can set my sights on the moons!

[Wijbrandus]

I always hit F5 (quick save) before going EVA because of this. Then if he lets go, you can immediately F9 to restore your save.

You aren't doing anything wrong. Kerbals sometimes get distracted by the cosmos, and forget to grab the rail. (Bug.)

[sciguyCO]

A couple of things:

1) Hitting "R" while on EVA activates your Kerbal's jetpacks. So if they do float away, you can get them back to your capsule. Use WASD to go forward / back / left / right and Shift / Ctrl to go Up / Down. Space re-orients the kerbal to be in-line with the current camera position (his back to you). Once you're close to the hatch, you can hit "F" to grab on and "F" again to re-enter the pod.

2) The root cause to your "letting go" problem is probably stuff mounted too close to the hatch. With nothing around that, when you go EVA the Kerbal should always be attached to the little ladder built into the command pod. Hitting the space bar lets go to do a full EVA. But if there's something by the hatch, when the Kerbal exits and "spawns" outisde the ship, there's some collision that takes place. The best-case scenario has them just let go of the ladder and float there in range to hit "F" to grab on. The worst case I've seen had the little green guy get flung violently away from the ship.

I run into this a lot becuase I like to have the little sensors (thermometer / gravioli / etc.) close by the hatch to retrieve the science easier. I now always do some launch pad tests to make sure they're far enough away to remove the possibility of clipping.

[Mr.Rocket]

Are you in space yet? Kerbals cannot hang on to ladders at very high speeds while in the atmosphere, though i forget what the speed limit is

[Claw]

They will let go on their own if you move around too much on the ladder. Also, some of the capsules are more prone to kerbals unintentionally letting go. Especially if you have anything attached next to the hatch/ladder (as mentioned above).

The other thing that is annoying is how they sometimes orient themselves up/down on the wrong axis in relation to the hatch/ladder making it more difficult to grab on. If you press space bar, the kerbal will orient to the camera view.

[KerbMav]

If you press space bar, the kerbal will orient to the camera view.

I am experimenting with the "Kerbals orient to camera" option disabled in game settings. Works quite well for me. Translation works as usual, just rotation is totally manual too, two axes (roll and pitch) being controlled by pulling the Kerbal's head with the mouse.

[Claw]

I am experimenting with the "Kerbals orient to camera" option disabled in game settings. Works quite well for me. Translation works as usual, just rotation is totally manual too, two axes (roll and pitch) being controlled by pulling the Kerbal's head with the mouse.

I'll have to try that. I get really frustrated sometimes when they don't want to orient rotationally "up/down" and you end up pointing head first at the hatch.

[Serratus]

I'd add yet another possibility from my experience - lag. I sometimes have my Kerbals fail to grab the mobility enhancers (don't know what You mean by "ladders" since there are none in KSP) when I'm working on bigger ships, or have lag (yellow timer) for any other reason. Makes steering them hard too.

[Clockwork13]

-Press R to turn on your EVA jetpack

-Kerbals will fall off in the atmosphere if you don't have an actually ladder attached to your ship.

-If a small item is covering the capsule's hatch, it will launch your Kerbal away from the ship and make it impossible to get back on.

[Jank]

Press F to Grab On, immediately after exiting on EVA. My Kerbals never seem to hold onto the ladder when they exit, unless I do this every time without fail. Then they never float off.

[RolanDecoy]

I always hit F5 (quick save) before going EVA because of this. Then if he lets go, you can immediately F9 to restore your save.

You aren't doing anything wrong. Kerbals sometimes get distracted by the cosmos, and forget to grab the rail. (Bug.)

I think this is the best answer, as it happens on pods even without other components added. I found this however to occur more often on the 64 bit version. Increasing time for physics seems to solve the problem partially... Especially annoying if you want the crew report from upper atmosphere while in a rapid descent.

Your pilot will still 'slide' across the ladder even in zero-g, but they don't seem to be locked to the ladder properly. And yes, this still happens in the Economic Boom update.

Edited October 27, 2014 by RolanDecoy