how to keep a kerbal on the command module

Question

How do I keep a Kerbal on the command module? I can barely get in orbit be for I run out of fuel and I need more science to get farther, but I can't without an EVA report and a review report for it, because I can't keep the Kerbal on the module long enough to do both and get back in.

Do I need to hold spacebar or does it automatically hold on for you to do that? I've looked around everywhere to find a question like this, but it must be so simple that everyone can stay on, but me. I've check out these other questions, but they don't answer my question:

How do I do science?

and

How to produce an EVA report

that would help me get tremendously farther in the game IF I could say on the module.

Answer 1

Don't go onto an EVA when you are still flying through the atmosphere or your kerbal will get blown away.

When you go on EVA, always press F as fast as possible to grab the ladder at the hatch. Sometimes the kerbal will already be on the ladder when you go on EVA and get right back in, but when he isn't, the chance is high that he will drift away when you don't grab the ladder quickly. When the kerbal goes drifting, you can activate his jetpack with the R key and attempt to maneuver him back to the hatch, but this takes a bit of practise.

By the way: You can also obtain science from the surface of Kerbin. It doesn't give you many science points, but every terrain type gives you other results which add up. It's enough to unlock the first few tech nodes. Low-hanging fruits to pick up early are crew reports, eva reports and surface samples from:

• Launch pad
• Spaceplane Runway
• Space Center (everything around the buildings which is not one of the two above)
• Shores (the flat plain around the space center)
• Grasslands (the slightly hilly area to the west)
• Highlands (the more hilly area further to the west)
• Ocean (your Kerbals can swim)

The first two can be easily picked up without even igniting your engine. The others only take a small sub-orbital flight (or a bit of walking)

Answer 2

If I understand you correctly, you are trying to do an EVA mid flight, while still in the atmosphere.
This isn't really possible as the drag on your Kerbal will rip him away from the capsule.

It is possible to EVA in the upper atmosphere without losing connection to the capsule, the drag is minimal here. In space above Kerbin you can use your personal RCS pack (Jetpack). Activate it using R and control flight with WASD, shift and Ctrl. It might be possible to RCS in the upper atmosphere, too, but I've never tried that.

You can however EVA on the launchpad, this will also give you an "EVA report while flying over Kerbins shores" as the Kerbal is considered to be flying when not touching the ground but holding the ladder.
You can do the same when after landing, just make sure not to touch the ground to get another "flying" report. Touching the ground will give another report.

Answer 3

EVA report from upper atmosphere was my huge success. It's hard, but doable.

Trick is to make a ballistic flight and EVA on the top of it. If you time it right, and go the same direction Kerbin goes, you can have up to 30 seconds of low enough wind to keep Kerbal on ladder. It also helps to have a tank wider than capsule, or some steel plate, and hatch on the upper side, so in case of falling your Kerbal has something to stand on - makes it easier to grab ladder.

For the lower atmosphere, you can EVA when on parachutes. Again, wider tank or plates help. You don't even really need to go back, you can make EVA report and then collect Kerbal and craft separately, if your craft lands smoothly enough. That way you can deliver lower-atmosphere EVA report with Kerbal, and upper-atmosphere report stored in your command pod - double science for one launch.

Answer 4

You don't need to reach ORBIT to do an EVA in space, all you need to do is reach space, with enough time to do an experiment or two.

If your craft is not yet capable of reaching a dependable stable orbit, then opt for a higher angle after pitch-over and go for a sub-orbital flight; you reach space at ~70,000m.

If your Apoapsis is at say 75,000m in a ballistic trajectory, you will still have plenty of time to get out and do a proper EVA once you reach a surface altitude of about 70,000m. Remember that you can use "R" key to bring up the jet pack. If you have a solid ballistic trajectory, you have a little bit of time to mess around in EVA before you have to get back in. Also get your Mystery Goo observation up there.

Once your EVA and Goo observations in space are done, let your craft reenter on its own, and recover your Science!

Good luck!

Answer 5

Space will start at an altitude of 69500 or so, do a crew report from inside the capsule (Crew in space near Kerbin), get out, do an EVA report (EVA report in space near Kerbin) and get the report out of the capsule (it'll be converted to data so you can do another inside the capsule) put all reports back into the capsule (no need to enter the capsule for that).

Wait EVA until you're at about 69000, do another EVA report (EVA report in Kerbin upper atmosphere), get back in and do another crew report (Crew report in Kerbin upper atmosphere). When your parachute is fully deployed you can go EVA once again, get all the reports out of the capsule, do another EVA (EVA report while in flight over [BIOME]) and crew report (Crew report while in flight), land, get out, get all reports again, step on the ground, get surface sample and EVA report from the surface, get back in, do another crew report and retrieve the pod.

That'll give you enough Research to get you started.

If you have problems getting into space in the 1st place, try a SRB (100% thrust), stack decoupler, SRB (66%), stack decoupler, SRB (33%), stack decoupler, then the command pod with parachute. That should give you more than enough thrust and altitude to get you going. If done correctly you can get away with 2 SRB's even ;-)

To unlock the first locked node, just create a pod only craft and get a crew and EVA report (you can also get the EVA while in flight report by standing on the ladder).