Question: No fuel. In orbit around the sun.....

[joekidd1992]

But my orbit crosses Kerbin at different points. Is it conceivable that I may be "caught" by Kerbin's gravity at some point and make re-entry? Albeit a few years older?

Edited May 11, 2014 by joekidd1992
Changed to answered

[MKI]

yes its possible.

But odds are you wont, its MUCH more likely you will be flung off in a different trajectory rather than reach ground. And its incredibly likely nothing will happen, for decades.

This is without considering how close you are to Kerbins orbit.

Your probably better off sending a rescue mission to refuel/save your orbiting vessel, rather than playing astro-slots and waiting for a jackpot of meeting up with Kerbin perfectly.

[Kasuha]

You check what happens by placing a maneuver on your orbit, right-clicking it and pressing the circular button at the bottom right. It adds orbits to the maneuver. So you can see in how many orbits will you meet Kerbin again and what will happen next

[cantab]

Have you tried getting out and pushing? Failing that, leave altogether and EVA for an aerocapture into Kerbin orbit. The EVA pack has about 600 m/s of delta-V.

[joekidd1992]

Thanks all. Yesterday was my first day, so I may have issues with your solutions, but one of these days, I'll get Jedediah back!

[Phycohb]

You might look into useing Kerbal Attachment System ( Mod) http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/0-18-2-kas-kerbal-attachment-system-v0-1/ it will let you "dock" with your pod if you have not added a existing docking port

[dryer_lint]

Do you have any RCS fuel left? I think you could use that to make some changes to your orbit, right?

Personally, at this point, I would just try to get close to the sun and... "explore" it

[Joe32320]

You might look into useing Kerbal Attachment System ( Mod) http://kerbalspaceprogram.com/0-18-2-kas-kerbal-attachment-system-v0-1/ it will let you "dock" with your pod if you have not added a existing docking port

With 0.23.5 you can use "THE KLAW" to attach your ships to other ships/debris/kerbals as well as asteroids.

[joekidd1992]

Thanks to all suggestions. I am very new so sophisticated (to me, maybe not to you eh eh) maneuvers are not in the cards. I'm advancing, though, and believe I can save Jedediah in a few short decades.

Hang on, Jed!!! Try to conserve your food!

[Claw]

No sweat. You are far from the first person to lose a kerbal in deep space. I had my first experience by warping through Kerbin's atmosphere during an aerobrake which flung my pod and command module interstellar. After a year in orbit, I managed to return him but the poor guy died when he reentered Kerbin at a ridiculous speed, resulting in parachute failure...

[Scarredclown]

I'm a noob but cant you just restart the mission at the launch ?

[Claw]

I'm a noob but cant you just restart the mission at the launch ?

Only if he hasn't left the mission. The game will only let you revert to launch if you haven't done other things besides that flight. If you ever leave it, then it's there till you recover or terminate.

Since it's been 2 days, I'm guessing he's done other things.

[Vindictus]

I've been playing KSP for just a handful of weeks now and I had a similar problem. One of my first "Loop the Mun and back" manned missions went horribly awry, and the vessel wound up in an eccentric orbit crossing Kerbin's around apoapsis. I believe in suffering my consequences for failure (Or at least the poor Kerbonauts suffering the consequences) so he's been orbiting out there for a while. I finally unlocked the nuclear engine and built a simple rescue vessel. It did take a fair bit of trial and error playing with maneuver nodes, but I was finally able to rendezvous with it, have the Kerbonaut EVA, collect his science, and board the rescue craft. Took another couple of "years" for the position to be right for a burn to be captured by Kerbin - Which took more Delta-V than I expected. But, a little Aerobraking and orbital adjustments by the RCS thrusters, and he finally made it home.

[joekidd1992]

Only if he hasn't left the mission. The game will only let you revert to launch if you haven't done other things besides that flight. If you ever leave it, then it's there till you recover or terminate.

Since it's been 2 days, I'm guessing he's done other things.

Somehow I did something. I think I went to mission control on the ground or something accidentally and I was not allowed to revert. LESSON LEARNED.

[joekidd1992]

I've been playing KSP for just a handful of weeks now and I had a similar problem. One of my first "Loop the Mun and back" manned missions went horribly awry, and the vessel wound up in an eccentric orbit crossing Kerbin's around apoapsis. I believe in suffering my consequences for failure (Or at least the poor Kerbonauts suffering the consequences) so he's been orbiting out there for a while. I finally unlocked the nuclear engine and built a simple rescue vessel. It did take a fair bit of trial and error playing with maneuver nodes, but I was finally able to rendezvous with it, have the Kerbonaut EVA, collect his science, and board the rescue craft. Took another couple of "years" for the position to be right for a burn to be captured by Kerbin - Which took more Delta-V than I expected. But, a little Aerobraking and orbital adjustments by the RCS thrusters, and he finally made it home.

Yeah, I plan on rescuing him someday. Another mission! Can Bill Kerman save his brother Jed from Jed's terminal Sun Orbit? Stay tuned, true believers!

[cantab]

By the way, his name is Jebediah.

[joekidd1992]

By the way, his name is Jebediah.

So. I've lost him in space and have been mispronouncing his name. I bet he hates me.