Rescuing a stranded Kerbal

[pauix]

Long story short, Kirrim Kerman is now stuck in Minmus Orbit with nothing on his EVA pack and away from his ship:

So I've sent a rescue mission to get him out of orbit. I've managed to rendez-vous with him (he's now more or less 10m away from the ladder), but I can't seem to close the final gap. Is there a good way to get him to grab onto the ladders without using external command seats? I don't want to send another ship up if the ship I already have there can do the job:

Edited March 19, 2014 by pauix
Kirrim has been rescued successfully

[Red Iron Crown]

I can't tell from the pic, does the rescue craft have RCS? If it does, you can maneuver the craft so that Kirrim is touching the ladder or close to the door, then quickly switch to him and press F.

If it doesn't, you are going to have a lot of trouble.

[Mitchz95]

If the ship has RCS thrusters, try to gently accelerate toward him at no more than 0.2 m/s (set him as a target so you can see your relative velocity). Once you're satisfied the ladder is going to touch him, use [ or ] to switch to him and grab hold as the ship drifts by. If you miss, just try again until you succeed (or run out of fuel ).

EDIT: Ninja'd!

[SpacedCowboy]

OR, You could wait till 23.10 is up and running, send another ship with the the "claw" and grab him!

[Kasuha]

It can be done without RCS. Target the Kerbal, clear relative speed, then make the ship approach him at 0.1 m/s (purple marker exactly in the middle, prograde marker exactly over it), then rotate the ship so it is facing him by a hatch or ladder. Then switch to the Kerbal and when the tip to grab appears, press F. If the ship deviates from the course, switch back to the ship and adjust its heading or rotation, or try again.

It's like docking, just harder.

[Othuyeg]

Sure, you can easily manouver a ship to him and switch to him.... but... I'd go bond villain on him.

Maybe make some fancy rocket with a bunch of landing legs for grabbing the kerbal into the mouth of the ship.

[cantab]

IIRC one of the Scott Manley videos demonstrated this. It's tricky, but possible, to fly the rocket close enough that you can switch to the Kerbal and grab the ladder.

If you can't do it, send a ship up with better RCS and moar ladders.

[Kryxal]

My first thought is send a second Kerbal up, and get out and push.

[pauix]

After some trial and error, I finally managed to save Kirrim! Thank you, guys!

[Red Iron Crown]

Congrats, Kerrim owes you a beer. Kokanee, maybe?

[pauix]

Congrats, Kerrim owes you a beer. Kokanee, maybe?

No drinking during missions. Last time Mission Control drank on the job was when Kirrim got stuck in orbit