So I barbecued Jeb

[Rocket Farmer]

That's right.

Today I was launching a new lander and I guess I had a part clipping the fairing as it stuck and didn't come off after I made orbit. After trying everything else I decided Jeb would fix it via EVA. After exiting the part of the craft outside the fairing suddenly there was a shudder and When I blinked it was just Jeb (no ship) and he was dropping like a rock.

I thought well hey I get to try landing a Kerbal by themselves in the ocean I was so convienantly above.

Well it turned out his tragetory was a little steeper than it should have been. At about 55k the flames starting showing and by 30k he was positively glowing something similar to an old air brake around Jool. This unfortunately ended with a puff of smoke at 25km.

Anybody else unintentionally (or intentionally) try the heat resistance of a lone Kerbal?

p.s I vote that the badass characteristic should include heat invulnerability.

[Gaurdsman111]

I myself had a massive scare with Jeb during two of my space flights. On the first, i thought i'd be clever and get an EVA report at 7'000M, and of course, Jeb got sucked off the ladder and into the air. As he plummeted towards the ground (grinning all the way) i desperately tried to find a way to keep him alive. I came to the decision that all i could do was slow his descent with his rcs to make his impact lighter so be able to recover more of him. Amazingly, when he impacted with the water he sank 10 meters, but didn't explode, and was recoverable!

The second time, i opened the parachute too early in the descent and it was torn off by the G forces, leaving the craft wildly tumbling towards the sea. I remembered what happened last time, and tried the same thing, climbing Jeb out at a safer 3'000M and using his pack, manage to slow him down enough to repeat the first incident. Of course, both times the shuttle (and science gatherings) were destroyed, but Jeb is far more important, right? Right???

[obsidian_x]

Of course Jeb is more important. Though I've always wondered if you destroy the science can you go and get it again or is it lost forever? I nearly always revert and try again, so haven't actually tested if the science is gone or not.

[Gaurdsman111]

I had reverts turned off otherwise i would have too! The science can always be recollected until you actually recover a vessel containing it

[Feradose]

Of course Jeb is more important. Though I've always wondered if you destroy the science can you go and get it again or is it lost forever? I nearly always revert and try again, so haven't actually tested if the science is gone or not.

Destroyed science isnt recovered, so it isnt lost forever and you can do the same experiments again if your data gets destroyed.

[katateochi]

Had you made a complete orbit before this... "incident"?

I think you might have been a victim of the fairing bug which makes a craft with an improperly separated fairing think that it's in a landed state and messes it's display of orbit. I've never seen it actually pull a craft/unsuspecting kerbal back to the planet before, but I've never tried going EVA when it's happened. My solution to stuck fairings is to go into 4x physics warp and spin the ship, that usually dislodges the klingon.

[smjjames]

Had you made a complete orbit before this... "incident"?

I think you might have been a victim of the fairing bug which makes a craft with an improperly separated fairing think that it's in a landed state and messes it's display of orbit. I've never seen it actually pull a craft/unsuspecting kerbal back to the planet before, but I've never tried going EVA when it's happened. My solution to stuck fairings is to go into 4x physics warp and spin the ship, that usually dislodges the klingon.

Now I'm imagining a Klingon (or maybe a Klingon version of a Kerbal) in a spacesuit trying to whip the ship around through brute force, lol.

[The D Train]

Well, then that answers the question I always had. "I wonder if anyone else has thought to use RCS to try and slow down this free fall". I've had two occasions where I've had to do that. Once over land, he lived. And once over the ocean, he lived as well. Not realistic but hey! It saved him. I BBQ'd Valentina during re-entry. Traj was too shallow and fast and the ship toasted for too long. I knew she was a goner once I realized all of those variables when it was already too late. I still catch Jeb weeping over it. When he thinks nobody's watching. Poor guy.

[Rocket Farmer]

Yes I was in a steady 80x 80x orbit about to rendezvous with my space station.

After the "incident" Jeb had a very steep re-entry at what appeared to be well above orbital speeds. Thus in just his spacesuit he went through the upper atmosphere far to fast to slow down enough before he hit the lower soupie atmosphere.

It was the first time I had a kerbal explode from heat all by himself

[The D Train]

Yes I was in a steady 80x 80x orbit about to rendezvous with my space station.

After the "incident" Jeb had a very steep re-entry at what appeared to be well above orbital speeds. Thus in just his spacesuit he went through the upper atmosphere far to fast to slow down enough before he hit the lower soupie atmosphere.

It was the first time I had a kerbal explode from heat all by himself

Question, you're using 80x 80x to denote what? I have an idea but, I want to make sure. Thanks!

[SkyRender]

Sounds like an extension of the ladder retract bug. If you don't know that one, retracting a ladder a Kerbal is climbing on during EVA eliminates all of their velocity relative to the body they're in the sphere of influence of. When in orbit, this translates to suddenly falling towards the surface, robbed of all orbital velocity. It's a handy way to save a little EVA pack fuel when landing on Minmus on EVA, though.

[katateochi]

Sounds like an extension of the ladder retract bug. If you don't know that one, retracting a ladder a Kerbal is climbing on during EVA eliminates all of their velocity relative to the body they're in the sphere of influence of. When in orbit, this translates to suddenly falling towards the surface, robbed of all orbital velocity. It's a handy way to save a little EVA pack fuel when landing on Minmus on EVA, though.

huh, I didn't know about that one. I wonder if this is perhaps a case of the ladder bug being triggered by the fairing bug.

(oh god, bugs are interacting and producing emergent Kerbal slaughtering behaviours)

[Rocket Farmer]

No ladder involved (none in the ship). But otherwise the result seems about right. 80km x 80km orbit to clarify.

I had just gone Eva and as soon as the screen switched to Jeb he was already falling fast.

The area experiencing fairing issues was 15m away from where he went Eva so it wasn't that he got clipped by a fairing piece either.

Either way the results were entertaining.

[fatjoe2015]

I dont know what is wrong with them, but something is for sure (Drag?!)

[RAINCRAFTER]

No ladders involved for me too, here is my story.

So, I am coming in from a barely successful (up until this point) Minmus mission that was rescuing -you guessed it- Jeb. He had been stranded on Minmus from a previous mission, and this was picking him up, along with lots of science. So, I'm coming in at 3,250 meters per second at 40k; just the glow around the spacecraft. It was made of a 0.625meter chute, the Mk1 Command Pod, two Service Bays with lots of stuff in them, and a heat shield. 30k; 3,000 m/sec; the ablation was going off really fast, but I didn't think Jeb was gonna die because it was bleeding it off too fast. Strangely enough though, at ~23k (going 2.5k/sec), the craft tipped around so it would be flying into the drag, rather than against it. I was more worried, but I thought that the flames wouldn't last too long after this; but sadly, at ~20k, Jeb's Command Pod exploded, taking him with it into the flames. At that moment, I could facepalm myself so hard that I could cry.

And what's a story without irony? In this, the Irony was that every single other part of the spacecraft that got to that point of the mission unscaved. By that, I mean that even a discarded stage of the spacecraft with no heat protection DIDN'T BURN. jujujujusjust BODIFUL. Right now, I'm trying to quick load to before this mess happened and do something that will save the day.

Cheers, RAINCRAFTER.

[The D Train]

No ladders involved for me too, here is my story.

So, I am coming in from a barely successful (up until this point) Minmus mission that was rescuing -you guessed it- Jeb. He had been stranded on Minmus from a previous mission, and this was picking him up, along with lots of science. So, I'm coming in at 3,250 meters per second at 40k; just the glow around the spacecraft. It was made of a 0.625meter chute, the Mk1 Command Pod, two Service Bays with lots of stuff in them, and a heat shield. 30k; 3,000 m/sec; the ablation was going off really fast, but I didn't think Jeb was gonna die because it was bleeding it off too fast. Strangely enough though, at ~23k (going 2.5k/sec), the craft tipped around so it would be flying into the drag, rather than against it. I was more worried, but I thought that the flames wouldn't last too long after this; but sadly, at ~20k, Jeb's Command Pod exploded, taking him with it into the flames. At that moment, I could facepalm myself so hard that I could cry.

And what's a story without irony? In this, the Irony was that every single other part of the spacecraft that got to that point of the mission unscaved. By that, I mean that even a discarded stage of the spacecraft with no heat protection DIDN'T BURN. jujujujusjust BODIFUL. Right now, I'm trying to quick load to before this mess happened and do something that will save the day.

Cheers, RAINCRAFTER.

I feel for ya! Sounds to me like Jeb is always getting stuck somewhere. Valentina was the first into a sloppy orbit but died during re-entry bbqing. Jeb made it into a more stable orbit but with no fuel to deorbit. :/