Orbital rescue mission

[tweeds]

Hey everyone,

any ideas on how to recover vessels orbiting kerbit without any fuel?

Thanks,

t

[TechnicalK3rbal]

Get out and push!

No, seriously though, EVA you kerbal, get behind the rocket,, and push with the EVA pack.

[Random Tank]

Get out and push!

Pretty much yeah; you can have infinite fuel to do it too if you just get back in the command pod then EVA again...

[cantab]

Of course that's only practical for ships that are light enough and in a low enough orbit, and have a Kerbal.

Otherwise, you can tow or simply refuel a ship using the Advanced Grabbing Unit (AKA the claw).

[tweeds]

Thanks guys that seems to be a lot of fun

[RenevB]

You have a couple of options, depending on how exactly your ship looks and if it's manned or not.

Has been mentioned:

Get out and push. Requirement: have a Kerbal in your ship. In addition to what has been said already, stage down to just you capsule and parachute, then get out and push, ideally at the apoapsis, especially if you're in a highly elliptic orbit.

Refuel. Requirement: docking port on refueler and on your empty ship, or a claw on your refueler (perhaps the KAS mod would work as well). Perform a rendezvous and a docking (if you don't know how to do this, there should be plenty guides and tutorials out there or here on the forums).

Has not actually been mentioned:

Rescue mission without docking. Requirement: empty crew spaces on the rescue ship for any crew you want to rescue. Perform a rendezvous, but dont dock. EVA out any Kerbals and take any science on the empty ship with you to the rescue ship. De-orbit the rescue ship, leave the empty one out there.