Mars-Bound Hokie

I know that sometimes space stations fall out of orbit and crash onto Kerbin. But, has anybody tried to do that INTENTIONALLY? And even then, how much money can you get from debris recovery? Here's the story. I was preparing an interplanetary spacecraft (named the U.S.S. Enterprise) for assembly in orbit. Hours after I launched my first idea, I figured out a way to put in a station with more fuel tanks (and docking ports) attached to it. Since the first variant was very expensive and is currently unmanned (has a standard-issue probe core and MechJeb), I thought about cutting my losses and crashing it into the ocean so that I can collect debris money and have only one Enterprise ready. How profitable is that strategy? - also, has anyone tried rendezvousing two space stations (in my case, the two Enterprises) together and docking them? I'm considering transferring most of my fuel from the first ship to the second one before crashing it.

Or just leave the debris there while I take the crew. That's what I did while saving the two astronauts from their cheap cockpits.

No dice on the pause menu or the Alt-F12 settings (Val's not missing, she's dead), but at least I can create my own Kerbals for free (e.g. Jack, Mason, Tayo). As for the rescue contracts, should I expect to see plane cockpits without any docking ports. - also, any ideas on how to grab them if EVA is not possible?

Got it, thanks. Now I know that: Glemund's a female pilot She's stuck in a Mk. 2 cockpit that's out of electricity and monopropellant. Whether or not the cockpit will have a docking port is of no concern (it'd be nice if it did): I managed to rescue Judith when she was stuck in a Mk. 1 cockpit by switching to her when the tip of the crew transit vehicle was 10 meters away from her wreck. As long as I'm looking at the .sfs file, how do I resurrect Val? I left her to die over Kerbin's seas while completing a survey contract. I think if I change "state = Dead" to "state = Available," she'll come back. However, the code also says "17 = Die" and "18 = Die" after "17 = Flight,Kerbin" How do I deal with that?

Okay. I found the persistent.sfs file on the saves > BASA folder and tried opening it, but couldn't. How do I do that?

Is there a list of all available crewmembers for hire and/or rescue I can find, along with their specialties? I know I can see that in the astronaut complex, but what about the ones I need to rescue first (e.g. Judith and Glemuth). Call me curious, but I would like to know what more about who I'm coming for and what they can bring later in case I want to use them again. If a complete Kerbalnaut directory already exists, can you please post the link? Thank you.

Even afterwards, you still need a lot of money to pay for those expensive interplanetary spacecraft and hire more personnel.

Damn, that is one fast plane. I tried your design out myself, and it was awesome. So far, I've clocked a top speed of ~1300 m/s (~2908.017 miles per hour) and an altitude of 25,000 meters (82,020.997 feet). The only problem is I keep catching fire every once in a while, so I cut the engine to save fuel and slow myself down so I don't explode. Know anything I can do about this? * I also made missile bays out of radial decouplers, Mk. 0 tanks, and tiny rocket engines and nose cones, but they didn't really do much once deployed. They mainly worked as air-to-ground ordinance, but I was hoping it would be ground-to-air. Can your plane do better speed and altitude-wise? If so, do you recommend I push further or stay within certain limits to not kill myself?

I lost Val while finishing a contract. She and Jeb were flying to the other side of Kerbin in a Mk. 2 jet to get a pressure reading; since we would not have enough fuel to make the return trip (and I sucked at landing), I made a mechanism that ejected the cockpit from the main body of the plane and deployed radially-mounted parachutes (standard-issue to all aircraft). After I deployed the cockpit chutes, I decided to have Jeb go on an EVA and show off his new suit Level 2 parachute. Though I managed to land Jeb safely in the water, I later learned that Valentina was killed in action. The weird part was that I deployed that system many times and it was perfectly safe. I don't know what happened to her; even if the SAS was turned off, I'm sure the cockpit-mounted parachutes would have still slowed her down to a safe velocity (even if we're over water). Any ideas as to how she died, everyone? Just like NASA with the Challenger, the KSP will take all necessary steps to ensure the death of a crewmember does not happen again.

Thanks for the tip. I tried to make vehicles to help a two-star kerbal skydive his way onto the roof. Not only was the impact velocity fatal, it cost me a lot of money in damages thanks to destroyed vehicles. Even when I tried to make a vehicle that would land me on the roof, it was near impossible to get it over the target zone.

Here's my theory on why the Kerbals don't eat. Yes, they have teeth, but do they really need them when they're photosynthetic? How come they have teeth in the first place if they're photosynthetic, you ask; let me tell you. I think that, a long time before Jeb and his friends were born, there was a planet-wide genetic experiment designed to reduce the Kerbal food consumption rate. The result gave subjects photosynthetic properties in their cells, allowing them to take in energy directly from the sun and not have to rely on the planet's resources, which explains why you never see a food meter in any of your missions; water can be easily sanitized and recycled in space. * this experiment also rendered the Kerbals' skin green and their teeth vestigial. These traits are apparently genetically dominant, as we never run into any Kerbals that rely on food - if we did, we'd have a "Food Quantity" meter we had to monitor on missions.

Thanks for the idea, Pi_. Great idea to have the Swivel engines, by the way. I kept using Reliant in the past, but it's caused my ship to wobble more times than I can count. Thanks to Swivel, keeping the ship in a straight line has never been easier and more cost-effective. Getting to Mun was easy - and timing the Hohmann Transfer was medium-difficulty - but landing was the hard part. I modified your design to transport an unmanned probe with scientific equipment instead of a capsule; I was able to get it on the moon, but something blew up upon impact. Despite being unable to get it off the Mun, I was able to transmit all the scientific data as planned. * that's pretty much the reason why I started with a probe in the first place. I knew I would suck at landing it, so I chose the safe route. Crewed or not, I recommend installing flashlights on the bottom of your lander so you can see where your craft is going, regardless of which side of the moon you're on. Don't forget the solar panels, too.

Blasting Guscan Kerman out of Kerbin's gravitational pull and into solar orbit - without any fuel left afterwards. Even if I had the full KSP version, chances are he is doomed to orbit the sun for all eternity. What's worse: his fate was by my hands. (holds memorial service at the space center --> lays a marker next to the graves of Jebediah and Hilphia Kerman) His capsule has become his tomb. Aside from renaming the capsule "R.I.P. Guscan Kerman" so anyone who finds it will know who's in it. I vowed never to take anyone past Kerbin's orbit without a plan to return. More details about that, and the aftermath, upon request.