"Sir, please do not ride the bomb."

[AbacusWizard]

makes me wonder how badly the kerbalnauts themselves will be scorched. Are the glory days of external-seating spaceplanes at an end? Say it ain't so, Slim!

[Cirocco]

I personally don't think the external command seat re-entry days are over because of two reasons:

1) people (and especially people with an engineering mindset) are stubborn. The KSP community will most definitely be experimenting with getting kerbals safely down to the ground in external command seats. Hell, I'll bet you there will be an "egg-drop" challenge in the challenge section of the forums within days of 1.0 release. Something along the lines of "get a kerbal in an external command seat safely to the ground with as little weight as possible. bonus points for no heatshields and kerbal has to have a view".

2) this is KSP! when did kerbals let the possibility of horrible fiery death ever deter them from teh advancement of SCIENCE?!

[monophonic]

Maxmaps has in several tweets mentioned the heating vaporizing exposed kerbals, so that's it. Except maybe not, we are getting heatshield and presumably other parts will also shield things from the airstream. So you might still be able use the external seats if you construct windshields for them. Maybe. I guess you'll just have to try and see what happens...

Edited April 23, 2015 by monophonic
Ninja'd

[magnemoe]

Heat shield, wings or structural panels should save kerbals, perhaps also engines, engines worked pretty well as heat shields in DR.

Main issue might well be aerodynamic stability. good chance for heat shield to tip over so you come inn with kerbal first. Easiest solution might be an mini probe, 1.25 meter heatshield, probe, orscar, radial ants and seat, you will also want an parachute and power as the minimum decent module, Parashute has to open in a way who don't throw kerbal out of seat then it opes.

Another idea might be to use the life belt tank and an 48-7S below the heat shield and do an powered landing.

The MK3 cargo bay should be safe as long as you don't reenter too hard, the new utility bays with an heat-shield too, it would also work as an lightweight cockpit for eve accent

[LordFjord]

This is going to be interesting.

I am looking forward to new facemelting opencockpit reentries.

[Yakuzi]

I already accommodated for this since the 0.25 stock cargo bay days:

To be honest, there's no real reason a Kerbal should survive atmospheric re-entry, however, I'm confident the amazing/twisted minds of the KSP community will find a way to bypass these newly imposed restrictions

[magnemoe]

I already accommodated for this since the 0.25 stock cargo bay days:

http://i.imgur.com/oWoGoHq.png

http://i.imgur.com/2yPFkPZ.png

To be honest, there's no real reason a Kerbal should survive atmospheric re-entry, however, I'm confident the amazing/twisted minds of the KSP community will find a way to bypass these newly imposed restrictions

Nice, you could easy fit more seats using 2 H beams to place the seats on. Top loading would be easier however and you might push three rows.

Only downside with the cargo bay is that its not pressurized, upside is that its way safer then the MK2 passanger cabin who is an deathtrap worse then the hitchhiker container.

[Lindy]

Unless they've seriously nerfed the kerbal helmet , head first should remain an option...

[BagelRabbit]

I'll miss being able to fly things like this:

It was nice to safely return a Kerbal to Kerbin with only a fraction of a Lander-Can's mass. Rest in peace, Wee Shuttle Mk2.

[SelectHalfling0]

Put a command seat in a cargo bay. Open cargo bay. Your kerbal is now outside during reentry, but perfectly safe.

[Yakuzi]

Put a command seat in a cargo bay. Open cargo bay. Your kerbal is now outside during reentry, but perfectly safe.

I think the devs mentioned in an earlier devnote that parts will not be protected from aerodynamics/re-entry effects when cargo bays are open... Don't quote me on this though

[Tex]

Yup, I think that external seats will be a thing of the past. Too bad too, I still needed to develop my glider-launcher.

[Endersmens]

I love the title of this thread.

[EtherDragon]

Threat title should read "Your stupidity must be this high ride this ride." =D

[LadyAthena]

They did say re entry effects will be optional. Sorta like an additional difficulty slider or toggle for Career if you don't want to mess with it.

[Renegrade]

I'll miss being able to fly things like this:

http://i.imgur.com/8aLsV3W.jpg

It was nice to safely return a Kerbal to Kerbin with only a fraction of a Lander-Can's mass. Rest in peace, Wee Shuttle Mk2.

Actually, they were talking about occlusion in the devnotes - if they're doing that properly, your little re-entry module might work so long as the underside parts can withstand the heat. It would largely build up down there, instead of the top (assuming it can maintain that orientation with real aero - v² aero forces will be significantly stronger than stock BS at that speed).

(DRE also has some sort of ray-casting occlusion system.. it's how the heat shield protects the rest of the craft. Otherwise, it would only protect itself and be useless heh)

[rabidninjawombat]

makes me wonder how badly the kerbalnauts themselves will be scorched. Are the glory days of external-seating spaceplanes at an end? Say it ain't so, Slim!

They did say that reentry heat will be a toggleable option, so if you still wanna go in with exposed kerbals im sure you can.

[Endersmens]

or you could edit the command chair cfg and add lots of heat resistance. And...add heat resistance to the kerbal...?

[worir4]

Ehm...

[Moon Goddess]

Are the glory days of external-seating spaceplanes at an end?

I have no greater hope for this game than the end of this silliness.

[AbacusWizard]

I know it makes no sense whatsoever and is ludicrously unrealistic, but teeny tiny ride-on spaceplanes are so much fun!

[michaelsteele3]

"HA HA YOU CAN TELL ME WHAT TO DO"

-And that was the last thing anyone ever heard from him...

[Jovus]

I'll miss being able to fly things like this:

http://i.imgur.com/8aLsV3W.jpg

It was nice to safely return a Kerbal to Kerbin with only a fraction of a Lander-Can's mass. Rest in peace, Wee Shuttle Mk2.

I would bet you $10 that with minimal changes (just for aerodynamics) I could get that thing down from orbit using FAR and DRE.

[Deutherius]

I wonder how many "heat shield + SAS + seat" return pods are going to be made

[SkyRender]

You should never underestimate this community. It won't even be a week before someone gets a Kerbal safely down to Kerbin's surface in a command seat, screaming through the upper atmosphere at 3000m/s.