Ok, this photo creeped me out.

[Werwolf]

Hey all, was trying out a new design, and it went horribly wrong. Snapped this picture as my rocket (and crew) disintigrated... and it eerily reminded me of Challenger's final moments. Really sobering. Thought I would share the photo.

[mnnm1234]

..... Sad Face

[99TheCreator]

That is eerily similair

[Trytogettothemun]

It is creepy

[Werwolf]

All is fun and games in Kerbalville, until you see something like this. Kind of made me feel really bad that I take blowing up Kerbals so lightly, when real people died doing the real thing. RIP Challenger and Columbia crews..

[Pyre]

And suddenly all those times I laughed when a rocket failed seem so...wrong.

[Tommy521]

I don't know if I can enjoy kerbals exploding ever again. Thank you, as you're probably saved countless test pilot's lives

[Accelerando]

Some things look like some other things sometimes. It's something to make one think, though.

Uncrewed pods, the saviors of Kerbals in every corner of my space program.

[samstarman5]

It is something we have to learn to accept that it isn't the same. It is good to remember the people who willingly went up there, knowing the dangers they faced, but it is also good we move on with our own lives.

I am pretty sure their spirits would find it okay if we kept up our failings in KSP.

After all, we aren't trying to get to the big land of fluffy pillows and lollipops. As a certain someone reminded another certain someone, 'If we can't take a little bloody nose, then we should just turn around and stay home.' What we do is not only entertainment for ourselves, but a testament to everything that has been worked for up until now. That includes some of the bad things along with the good.

Hardly of worthy comparison, but come when 0.14 came out with persistence, I immediately destroyed my first rocket through some stupid mistake on my part, killing Jeb, Bill, and Bob. I felt like crap about it but figured in a way it would be best to just move on and fix the mistake for the next crew. I didn't see our intrepid trio again until the next update which reset the roster. As of 0.16, they are sitting in a command module just a stone's throw away from the launchpad because I decided to take the coward way and keep them alive this time. Though I am thinking one of these times an SRB or other debris is going to crash down on their pod. ...I should probably find a way to move their module...

Anyways, I find your picture rather moving, as KSP can remind us of real life events as much as it can come up with imaginative ones. But don't let that diminish your fun for the game or the push to find that better rocket for getting to Minmus or taking that larger step come 0.17. Kerbals and astronauts alike aren't here to sit on the ground twiddling their thumbs. Something Jeb keeps reminding me when I put a new rocket on the pad.

[Ferrit]

With EVA's and being able to see our brave heros I've been increasingly carfeul. I'll test things, piece by piece, add back up systems and safeties. Staging will be done with an abort in mind. There are still deaths sadly but the 'slap it together and see what happens' has stopped. Massive effort will be put in to keeping these loons alive and bringing them home if disaster strikes (including a horribly complicated Mun rescue mission that finally brought a stranded crew home last night).

And weirdly, all this care and convern has made the game more fun. Treating things more sanely and realistically, that every launch matters, that failure is no longer an option, has, for me, made things so much more enjoyable. And when a mission works, when I bring those brave Kerbals home safely (even if they do have to walk a few thousand km to get back to KSC) it's just great

Edited August 30, 2012 by Ferrit
Typos, dang you!!!

[Warshawski]

... you all are far too serious. I still laugh when, through some misfortune, my rocket smashes itself to bits on the launchpad without even taking off. (Darn you, 2m parts!) As a general rule I'll restart and restart again until I get my desired result.

[mnnm1234]

... you all are far too serious. I still laugh when, through some misfortune, my rocket smashes itself to bits on the launchpad without even taking off. (Darn you, 2m parts!) As a general rule I'll restart and restart again until I get my desired result.

You Sir Have No Heart

[Nibb31]

You Sir Have No Heart

Or maybe he was born after Challenger.

[Werwolf]

... you all are far too serious. I still laugh when, through some misfortune, my rocket smashes itself to bits on the launchpad without even taking off. (Darn you, 2m parts!) As a general rule I'll restart and restart again until I get my desired result.

We all understand it's just a game, and meant to be enjoyed as such. However, every once in a while, you are reminded of true tragedies, and it humbles you to a moment of silence. Don't take it as anything other than a game, but maybe, just maybe, you should every once in a while be thankful to those who dared to escape Earth, who dared to dream, and who dared to reach for the stars. A lot of them never came home. Is it such a crime to show a little respect because you're reminded of real tragedies by a simulated one?

I remember watching Challenger destroy itself live on TV, as a fifth grade student. I remember feeling such an immense amount of shock and grief at what I had just seen, especially since my childhood dream was to be an astronaut and I had just watched seven of my heroes blink out of existence in a fiery end. (I made it as far as joining the Navy, joining the pilot program, going to MEPS to process before shipping out to flight school and realizing I was colorblind, so I did four years of regular service)

Edited August 30, 2012 by Werwolf

[mnnm1234]

We all understand it's just a game, and meant to be enjoyed as such. However, every once in a while, you are reminded of true tragedies, and it humbles you to a moment of silence. Don't take it as anything other than a game, but maybe, just maybe, you should every once in a while be thankful to those who dared to escape Earth, who dared to dream, and who dared to reach for the stars. A lot of them never came home. Is it such a crime to show a little respect because you're reminded of real tragedies by a simulated one?

Yes Just Yes...

[kodemunkey]

I downloaded mechjeb the other day and i've been using the mechjeb pods for my creations, since most of my creations tend to end in disaster.

[Elven_sword]

I thought of my kerbals as nothing but little faces in the corner until 0.16, then thay became more real to me. I was very sad when one of my favorite pilots, Maclorf Kerman, died trying to match the velocity of a runaway mun rover. However, Munwin Kerman was cursed. Every flight he was on failed, and I finally shot him into the sun.

[bradley101]

is it just me or does the debreis on the left look like a snakes head?

[okan170]

The moment that shifted my gameplay style was when one particular catastrophe occurred during ascent. The command pod was severed from the main rocket and its parachutes and for 30 seconds I watched my three Kerbonauts plunge to their inevitable deaths. Realizing later that thats what basically happened on the Challenger flight, I'm far more cautious with my designs now before I commit a crew to them.

[Whatshtisthis]

The first time I tried getting a rocket into orbit manually, the lone Kerbal on the 1man pod ended up on an escape trajectory from Kerbin with no fuel for the engines. I left the duty of getting them into orbit to Mechjeb after that incident.

[Spartan117]

I prefer to think of the failed mission outcomes as the flight director and flight engineers having nightmares before the inevitable (real) successful flight.

[Dusty926]

Infinite sads.

[Ekku Zakku]

I definitely treat my Kerbals well with launch escape systems, and when I recently made my (heavy, wobbly, massive, and scary) ship based off the Saturn V, I just had to include one on it, even though it added a lot of weight, was impractical due to the placement of the command pod, and was also incredibly complicated and difficult to figure out staging-wise. Fortunately, it turned out well after all the work I put in, and it pulled a few Kerbals away from some flights that weren't picture perfect, even if the ship wasn't completely going up in a fireball behind them. I'm sure it's one of the most complex launch escape systems ever built in KSP XD

[jhz3]

I'm sure it's one of the most complex launch escape systems ever built in KSP XD

Pictures usually accompany a statement like that... hint hint.

[Ekku Zakku]

Pictures usually accompany a statement like that... hint hint.

http://imgur.com/a/5w04b your wish has been granted sir XD it's definitely a slow launch escape, only about 5 or so G's, so not capable of outrunning everything. I suppose I could just modify the thrust even more for those boosters, but it works, so, meh. It does have a lot of weight to pull though, so I suppose it isn't too bad lol.

Also on the topic of the thread, just imagine crashing your rockets in .17, with IVA view... Now that would be unsettling......