Looney

How does one view the TWR before or during flight?

Have you looked at your centre of mass on that stage? If it sits too high, try adding a fuel tank to het it more toward the engine, perhaps that will help with stability.

Have you visited the biomes on Kerbin? You should be able to get a lot more science, even on the ground on the station premises.

Why wait for NASA? Grab a chart of mercury and choose a nice feature and name it after Jebediah. As long as enough people refer to it by the Kerbal name, it will, eventually be called just that.