Seeking Advice for Recoving an Astronaut EVA Without fuel

[thylordroot]

Greetings,

By now, I am sure that most people have encountered the "rescue X Kerman" contracts, and through my own sheer stupidity, I have managed to accidentally expend all of his EVA fuel after accidentally firing the engine in his general direction (I hadn't unlocked RCS ports yet). I ended the contract thinking that he would die as a result, and because I have TAC life support installed, he will eventually if I take no further action. I decided the merciful course of action was to try to have him burn up in the atmosphere, but this also failed.

However, as Johnzer Kerman is merely teetering on the brink of death (and also because I have another Kerbal to rescue if this mission fails), I'd like to try to rescue him again. I'm not even sure if I have a chance of getting to him in time (since I have been to the moon and back since then), but I have since researched RCS (though I do not know if this is going to be enough). The grabber is also potentially within my reach at this point.

I'd like to know how you might approach this situation. Or, if you feel that the situation is not recoverable, is it more merciful to let him take the suicide pill (i.e., delete him in the tracking station) or die of asphyxiation?

Edited August 1, 2014 by thylordroot
The Thread Title is Kind of Awkward

[LethalDose]

The smart-aleck answer is: Didja quicksave? cause F9 works wonders

You can cheat, and go into the persistence file and give him more fuel. Just chalk it up to learning, and go along your way.

The hard-mode solution is to maneuver the rescue craft to within grabbing range of the ladder, which would almost certainly require a vessel to have an RCS system installed.

There's not likely to be time to launch another mission to save him, though, if he's orbiting the Mun, unless you have another vessel around the Mun already.

[thylordroot]

The smart-aleck answer is: Didja quicksave? cause F9 works wonders

You can cheat, and go into the persistence file and give him more fuel. Just chalk it up to learning, and go along your way.

Incidentally, Scott Manley put this weird notion into my head that turning off Quicksave and Revert was a wonderful idea. Paired with FAR (which I am still getting accustomed to), I have blown up a lot of ships since two weeks ago. I guess I could turn it back on, although this is my Let's Play save; but to be fair, I did briefly attempt to cheat during the recording this happened to do infinite EVA fuel; no dice, presumably because his pack was already spent.

TD;LR: I probably bit off way more than I can chew. Nonetheless, I definitely think of it a learning experience, and if it turns out that there is nothing I can do, then I will deal with the consequences of my bad piloting and move on.

The hard-mode solution is to maneuver the rescue craft to within grabbing range of the ladder, which would almost certainly require a vessel to have an RCS system installed.

I had initially tried this, but without RCS, I could not get properly oriented so that he could reach the hatch. Maybe now that I have it, I should make a minor upgrade that will allow the rescue craft to use the fuel in the pod. This approach is probably worth revisiting, and I will probably do so. The Hard-Mode solution may teach me a thing or two, after all.

There's not likely to be time to launch another mission to save him, though, if he's orbiting the Mun, unless you have another vessel around the Mun already.

He's actually in LKO at some 116K. I apologize for the confusion; in hindsight, I did not really specify where he was, and my post does suggest he was at the moon. What I meant to say was that after my rescue attempt failed, I sent a mission to the moon and back. I'm surprised he's still alive after two days, to be honest, since I figured TAC would've killed him after two hours (my experience is that stranded Kerbals do not spawn with any life support resources when you get in range of them). I am not sure if this behavior is based on a flawed assumption about the way TAC works on my part or perhaps a bug in the mod, but perhaps he will cheat death long enough for me to send a rescue pod up there.

Edited August 1, 2014 by thylordroot
Typographical errors

[Taki117]

TAC only calculates usage in physics range, so if he's not in physics range he will still be alive. I use Kerbal construction time in addition to TAC, so kerbal will spend several days in space, but as soon as I get to 2.5km I have 2 hours to nab him because All his life support has run out. (A kerbal can live 2 has without air and power)

[thylordroot]

After trying a rescue attempt as suggested above and finding Johnzer died almost immediately, I am content that my question is answered. Thank you both for the help!

[Sirrobert]

For the future, there are a few options:

First, you could cheat with Alt F12 to enable infinite EVA fuel, get him in, and turn it off. I do that sometimes and chalck it up as a mental loss (but don't want to go through launching another mission).

If you don't want to do that though, it'll be difficult without RCS. You'd have to build a cage of ladders (if you even have ladders yet), and catch the kerbal inside it. Than he can hopefully grab onto one and make his way into the pod.

And finally when you get a little further down the tech tree, you can use the Claw. The Claw can grab all parts, including Kerbals. So you wouldn't even need to control him, just grab and land (note that the mission states that you need to get him in a command pod before recovering him, but you can do that on the ground)

[DocMoriarty]

You don't need no rcs to rescue a Kerbal. Just navigate close to him (<500m or so) and reduce your own speed < 0.5m/s or so. This is doable unless you use a KR2L or bigger. Switch to Kerbal (i have actually programmed TAB to cycle thru craft in vicinity), default i think are square brackets. Then use the Kerbals rcs to enter craft.

[Wanderfound]

I had initially tried this, but without RCS, I could not get properly oriented so that he could reach the hatch. Maybe now that I have it, I should make a minor upgrade that will allow the rescue craft to use the fuel in the pod. This approach is probably worth revisiting, and I will probably do so. The Hard-Mode solution may teach me a thing or two, after all.

If you can get within ~5m with zeroed relative velocity (certainly doable without RCS; it just takes care. Try not to torch the rescuee with your exhaust plume, though), you should be able to use the SAS to "swing" the hatch of your spacecraft into him. But do it gently or you'll just bat him away, and be ready to switch to him and hit F at the right time.

Alternatively, send up a two-seater and use your pilot on EVA to push him into position.

[Tex_NL]

You don't need no rcs to rescue a Kerbal. Just navigate close to him (<500m or so) and reduce your own speed < 0.5m/s or so. This is doable unless you use a KR2L or bigger. Switch to Kerbal (i have actually programmed TAB to cycle thru craft in vicinity), default i think are square brackets. Then use the Kerbals rcs to enter craft.

Perhaps it's time to re-read the OP and title! Thylordroot clearly states his Kerbals is out of fuel.

Editing persistent, infinite fuel and moving the rescue craft in close can all do the trick. Another option is to use The Klaw. Simply grab him and drag him down with you.

[GoatRider]

I heard that using The Klaw doesn't count as rescued. He has to get in a capsule.

[Tex_NL]

I heard that using The Klaw doesn't count as rescued. He has to get in a capsule.

And? Since when should that be a problem?

Land at KSC. Drop your rescued Kerbal to the ground. Spawn an empty capsule. Walk your Kerbal over and get in. Recover.

Sometimes people should learn to think outside the box.

[Montag]

I would think you could bring a craft with ladders in close proximity and make it have a slow approach speed for collision with the guy and switch over to the Kerbal ready to grab when the craft hits.

[severedsolo]

the problem is, if he has used all of his life support, the moment you get into physics range, I think that he will die. TAC does take into account time passed when a vessel (or kerbal) is loaded.