Extra-Vehicular Activity
An Extra Vehicular Activity or EVA is when your Kerbals trust their lives to the chewing gum, duct tape, and prayers that comprise their (mostly) airtight suit, and exit the capsule to go enjoy a space walk.
To start an EVA, go to the exterior (default) view of a manned spacecraft, then either left click on the capsule door, or mouse over the images in the lower right corner and press the EVA button. To re-enter your capsule, get close to the door and press F. The Kerbals can navigate outside their spacecraft by moving on ladders, walking on the ground, or using their personal RCS jetpacks. These EVA packs have limited RCS fuel but are refuelled completely when entering a command pod, but not an EAS-1 External Command Seat. A full pack provides over 600m/s of Δv.
Uses
EVAs are useful for exploring the proximity of a craft without having to move said craft itself. In addition, Kerbals on EVA can carry out a number of useful actions. In general, the kerbal will need to be standing near to the target object in order to perform the operation.
- They can repack a previously deployed parachute for another deployment (Right-click on parachute → Repack Chute).
- They can fix broken rover wheels (Right-click on wheel → Repair Wheel). This of course only works as long as the wheel is not completely destroyed.
- They can extend or retract solar panels (Right-click on panel → Extend Panel/Retract Panel), even panels on otherwise uncontrollable vessels, e.g. a probe that ran out of power.
- They can plant a Extend-o-matic Series A1 Deployable Flag (commonly called flag) at their current position (Right-click on Kerbal → Plant Flag). This is only possible when the kerbal stands on the ground. Each kerbal is equipped with a single flag at the start of every EVA.
- They can remove a previously planted flag (Right-click on flag → Remove Flag). The flag goes into their inventory and may be replanted at a new location.
- They can read the plaque on a flag. While flags are listed in the Tracking Station and can be controlled and seen up close at any time, having a Kerbal in the vicinity is the only way to read the contents of their plaques.
- They can board unoccupied command modules or EAS-1 External Command Seats on any nearby craft, not necessarily the one they launched on.
Controls
Ground
When a Kerbal on EVA is standing on a solid surface, the W, S, A, and D keys move him forward, backwards, left, or right respectively. Note that this is relative to the camera, not to the Kerbal himself- he will turn to move in the requested direction. Space will make him jump, and holding down Shift will allow him to run.
Space
When a kerbonaut loses his footing, jumps, or releases his grip on a vehicle in zero gravity, he enters freefall. The controls function somewhat differently in this situation.
Pressing R will activate the Kerbonaut's RCS jetpack. If he is in midair, he will attempt to automatically reorient himself to face in the same direction as the camera. The jetpack can also be activated while standing on the ground, and on bodies with sufficiently low gravity can launch Kerbals into the air for one-man VTOL flight.
When a Kerbonaut is in freefall and his jetpack is active, W, S, A, and D still move him, but rather than facing the direction of his travel he will now rotate to face in the same direction as the camera whenever a key is pressed. Shift and Control will move him up and down. Space will also rotate him to match the camera direction.
Ladders
Press F to grab onto nearby ladders or board command modules. While on a ladder, use W and S to climb up or down them. Pressing Space while on a ladder will release the kerbonaut's grip, causing him to fall or float away.
Finally, pressing L will toggle the spacesuit's lights.
Trivia
It is possible for a Kerbal to survive re-entry from low orbit, but they will be killed on contact with the ground.
According to the Kerbal Knowledge Base, a Kerbal with an EVA suit masses 0.09 tonnes. Kerbals are however massless when in a command pod.
If you use the Debug cheat “Infinite EVA fuel” it is possible to get to the mun and back by launching a rocket to an orbit as if trying to land on the mun and sending brave Jeb or some of the other astronauts on EVA and jetpacking... but this method can take much longer than the preferred method.
It would appear that jetpacking is only possible on bodies with less than 3 m/s2 surface gravity, which rules out Kerbin, Eve, Laythe, Tylo and Moho. The heaviest planet on which jetpacking is currently possible is Duna, although this can only be achieved with unidirectional thrust.
As of 0.22[outdated], EVA is the only way to transfer a Kerbal from a spacecraft to another one.
Gallery
Kerbal on jetpack
Disabled jetpack
Enabled jetpack
Working jetpack
Changes
- Overhauled the Kerbal Face Expression System with new animations, which are also visible on EVA.
- Fixed the EVA map icons not showing.
- Fixed EVA light orientations.
- Boarding a vessel from EVA no longer toggles the SAS on the vessel.
- 0.18.3 (Demo)
- Fixed EVA light orientations.
- Boarding a vessel from EVA no longer toggles the vessel's SAS state.
- The Q and E keys can now be used to control yaw with the EVA Jetpack
- Added a game setting to disable the automatic orientation when pressing any of the WSAD keys while jetpacking on EVA.
- Implemented dynamic walk cycle blending for EVA Kerbals under G levels between 0.17 and 1G
- Initial Release
- Added key and axis bindings for EVA controls. Reorganized the Input Settings screen a little.
- Added 1:1 EVA rotation axes. Using them disables the automatic orientation system.
- Added separate control bindings for walking and jetpacking on EVAs.
