MattJL

...you are designing a manned lunar program (long story) and a sustainable Münar program. Then you get the two of them mixed up and get frustrated when you realize that fuel transfer IRL just isn't that easy. ...you feel guilty about putting your Kerbals in harm's way and go out of your way to ensure their safety. ...you have a favorite track from the music (the one with the whale sounds).

(Warning: Picture heavy). After completing my first (non demo) run to the Mun in .19, I realized that my lander design didn't leave anything on the surface. A normal person (i.e., anyone but me) would think that a good thing, but in my infinite wisdom, I threw together a "CubeSat" - a Probodobodyne QBE with fixed solar panels on five sides - that I could drop onto the surface as a permanent monument. The second lunar flight, equipped with this new "thing", didn't go too well. Sure, I landed just fine, but somehow I confused the decoupler that connected the capsule to the lander and the decoupler that connected the CubeSat to the lander. So this happened. Jeb was rather stuck, to say the least. Naturally, I mounted an unmanned rescue mission. After some minor problems (namely accidentally ending the flight), I succeeded in landing close to Jeb and his decidedly broken spacecraft. This marked the first and only time I've landed at night. Close, however, is a relative term. As I didn't want to risk wasting propellant or the rescue craft, I made Jeb walk the whole eight kilometers. Almost there... And then it vanished. Switching to orbital view, I noticed that the Kraken had hurled Jeb's ticket home through the Mun at a good clip. So ended rescue mission #1. With Jeb out of fuel and my lack of time to just sit at my computer holding down "W" for a few hours, I decided that the next vehicle would have wheels. I don't have any good pictures of it save for this one, but note how low the wheels were. This became a problem. Barely five minutes after landing, the thing rolled over and exploded. This ended rescue mission #2. I went for a re-design, naturally, and came up with an eight wheeled mess of girders, beams, and struts that turned out to be remarkably stable. This, finally, reached Jeb. After a total of four days in space, most of that time spent on the surface of the Mun, Jebediah Kerman splashed down about half a world away from KSC. I leave no Kerbal behind. As a bonus, I got to see this rather pretty alignment of the Mun, Kerbin, and Kerbol.

Stock parts/real world designs. Skylab (also my first space station):