EKG

654) In flight entertainment. Space travel takes a long time so give Kerbals games to play in their pod. They seem to like spaceflight so maybe they could play a game where they build and launch rockets.

Wait, if you can EVA a kerbal to get out and push couldn't the kerbal just extend the solar panels manually, or has that ability been removed? I haven't actually had to do it in quite a while.

1) Science on the pad: You can do a lot of science, crew reports, EVAs, soil samples without ever actually flying anywhere. Just "launch" a pod and do SCIENCE! 2) The starting parachutes are more than enough to land smaller rockets whole.