My kerbals are in trouble!

[Tortoise]

So today I decided to build my first experimental space station that houses 3 kerbals. The whole thing was launched on one rocket.

So I successfully got it up into orbit bit stupid me, I kept burning and ended up ruining the orbit, and sending it away from the earth. It's only a matter of time before I lose my chance to save my kerbals! Please help me, I know nothing about docking, so it'll be hard for me to build a rocket to get out there and push it back to earth. And I forgot to mention, the space station is out of fuel. As a last ditch attempt fixing the orbit, I ran out of fuel.

Link to more images

[juanml82]

First, do you have a dock in that space station? Otherwise, docking is kind of moot and you'll need to park your rescue ship close by and send the kerbals to safety by EVA.

Now, I've said docking is kind of moot because with the last update, you can use the Claw to dock ships. Still, you'll need to transfer the kerbals by EVA unless you have a mod to do it whose name escapes me.

Second, how long before the station leaves Kerbin's SOI? I'm not sure if you can build a ship fast enough to RV with your station before it escapes Kerbin. It seems you'll have to RV with your station when the station is already in solar orbit.

EDIT: just saw the pictures. I'm not sure if docking is a good idea. The docks are close to the pod so you may crash into it if you aren't careful. It can be done, though. Me thinks the Claw is a better approach. I doubt you'll be able to catch up with such a light ship before it exits Kerbin's SOI.

I'd go for something with nuclear rockets and plenty of deltaV.

Edited April 14, 2014 by juanml82

[MaverickSawyer]

There's also the "get out and push" trick... Don't know how well it would work with something that size though.

[Claw]

Quicksave... (F5)

As an alternative to pushing (if you're not that handy with EVA).

Lay down a maneuver node right in front of your ship and see how much dV it takes burning retrograde to stop your departing orbit (without crashing back into Kerbin).

If that dV is less than 600 m/s, then you can jump ship with your kerbals and use their jet packs to stay in orbit. You'll have to do the EVA burn by eyeball (aiming to one side of Kerbin) and watching the map to make sure you're getting the right orbit shape.

Then scramble and build your rescue ship. With some luck, you'll pick them up within a couple days.

Learn how to rendezvous. You'll get some practice on this mission. There are several videos on youtube. You might want to watch a couple to get different techniques. Let us know if you need help finding one.

Make sure your rescue ship has a few extra ladders around the sides for your guys to grab onto. Build it light with lots of fuel to maneuver, or perhaps build/launch more than one rescue capsule. If you can manage to save some of their EVA fuel during the retro burn, then it'll be easier to get them back to the rescue ship.

Oh yes, make absolutely certain that your rescue ship has all the stuff it needs (power, solar panels, probe core, etc). Also make sure no kerbals stow away on your craft when you launch. You wouldn't be the first to send a "helper" along with on a rescue mission, or find your rescue boat out of fuel/electricity.

Both these options can be challenging. Good luck!

[cantab]

A screenshot showing how your orbit will be after it's left Kerbin's SOI would help. If it's still reasonably similar to Kerbin's, it shouldn't be too hard to rendezvous in Kerbol orbit.

If you just want to bring the crew back, your best bet is to send a rescue ship with sufficient empty space. Just make sure the seats are empty on launch, if you use command modules they'll fill themselves up by default. Don't bother docking, just rendezvous and EVA the crew over. (As mentioned, you still need to EVA even if you do dock).

If you want to bring the station back it's a little trickier. Simplest would be to claw it, refuel its own tank (Alt-Click the tanks in turn and you can transfer fuel between them), declaw it, and have it burn back into Kerbin orbit. However if its own fuel tank isn't big enough to do the task in one go repeated refuels may be a nuisance. An alternative would be to dock a pair of drop tanks to the station's docking ports.

[Tortoise]

Alright, I've built an emergency pod. I'll make a modified version of my space-station rocket and attach the vessel, and hopefully have enough fuel to at-least pull them back into orbit.

This is the peice:

EDIT: "The selected part is not attachable" -.-

I need to come up with a better solution fast

Edited April 14, 2014 by Tortoise

[Tortoise]

Let's hope this goes well:

[Tortoise]

Gus Kerman keeps appearing everytime I go to the launch pad, I thought I removed him from the pod -.-

[Tortoise]

First rescue attempt failed due to lack of fuel to burn, to get to the station. Tried get-out-and-push multiple times, but making no progress. I guess I need to try another rocket.

[cantab]

I'd think about putting some proper fuel and an LV-1 or 48-7S engine on your rescue pod. It's more efficient than RCS. You're also better off with 8 RCS ports, in two groups of four at the front and back. Just two like you've shown gives you no left-right translation so you'd have to roll the craft.

Also, you can save weight by ditching most of the parachutes. One on the nose or a couple of radials should suffice.

[NeuroGlide]

The first module chosen is the controlling module. Select the large probe core first and park a 3-kerbal module on top and KSP won't try to man it up for you.