A Sad Day

[TheAurora]

So today, I was beginning the first phase of a massive Duna colonization effort after the success of a manned landing. This was in SKY rescale, so it was a bit more of an achievement, especially since I used ion engines for each payload's tug. Took a while, but it worked. Well, any way I had created a nuclear Duna SSTO for the colony. Built a quick Energia like launch stack and sent Barfield, Dudwig, and Keruki up to test it's reentry stability. Flew like a dream on the way to orbit , very stable. Orbit was achieved and everything was good.

Then things took a turn for the worst. I set course to land by the KSC in the Badlands (KSC is moved in the SKY rescale) and went into the atmosphere. My heart started racing as things got really hot fast. A few minutes in, the cockpit was about to blow, so Barfield commanded that everyone go to the crew cabin in the back for shelter. The SSTO can carry 10 passengers, and the heat hadn't gotten to the passenger parts. Right after they moved, the whole thing blew up. The camera got stuck and I thought everything was lost, then I noticed a debris cloud ahead of the stopped camera. I quickly raced to switch and found the crew alive in the remnants of the plane. With no control as the cockpit was gone, I decided the best bet for survival was to Danny it and bail each Kerbal out and go head first. Barfield went first, then Dudwig followed. Keruki stayed in the plane, as a flat spin had slowed the descent to 54m/s, allowing time to focus on the others. Barfield hit first, bounced, I screamed "HOORAY!", and the Kraken came and destroyed the universe. After quickly pulling KSP back up, the Kerbals were gone. Looking in the Astronaut complex showed Barfield was MIA and Dudwig and Keruki were dead. Since Barfield was MIA, and I knew he had survived, I brought him back.

I then proceeded with my tradition of planting a flag by the Mk-1 pod memorial in honor of them, while playing Taps. They will be missed. I just went to low, perhaps expecting the heat I had been used to on Duna a few days earlier;.;.