A Extraordinary Series of Failures: The Death of Jebediah Kerman

[Vulture12]

The Setup

After a very successful landing on the Mun, I decided to take on a more ambitious project - Duna. In order to facilitate this expedition, as well as subsequent ones further into the system my first goal was to create a refueling/construction station in orbit above Kerbin. The core of the station launched without issue, containing a Hitchhiker Storage Container two Hubmax Connectors - loaded with docking ports. Things were looking good for the eventual trip to Duna.

Failure 1 - The Station

I was able to get the Station into a nice round orbit. The problem came when I dumped my last stage, containing the remote core I had used for guidance. I had failed to realize that while a Hitchhiker Container can contain up to four Kerbals, it does not provide control functionality. My Kerbals were now stranded.

Failure 2 - The Repair Attempt

Until this point I had never attempted an Orbital Rendezvous. The tutorials made it look difficult, but do-able. I launched a simple probe with the goal of attaching it to the station to regain control. Unfortunately I was unable to dock. My attempts only served to cause the station to spin uncontrollably, making a docking even more difficult. I decided to abandon the probe and attempt a rescue.

Failure 3 - The First Rescue Attempt

From the ground up I designed a new craft. It would have a computer core for control, and an command module to return my Kerbals, one at a time, back to solid ground. The most frustrating aspect of this design was the tendancy for one of my brave Kerbals to attempt to pilot the craft, forcing constant reverts to remove him. I also had to contend with a bug that kept my 4 liquid engines from firing during my launch stage - forcing reverts to remove and then replace them AND remove Bill Kerman from the module.

Finally, I was able to launch successfully. I got the rescue ship close enough...so I thought. Rather than attempt to dock with the spinning station, I opted to have a Kerbal come out and jet to the ship. Jeb volunteered. Too bad my orbital was not nearly as precise as it needed to be. Before he got where he needed to be... Jeb ran out of fuel. After trying several times to inch closer to him, I quickly ran out of fuel as I continually overshot him or drifted just a tad too far to one side.

Failure 4 - The Rescue

It took several tries. I redesigned my launch stages from the ground up to make them more efficient. A massively long 1.25m rocket gave way to a shorter, but more powerful, 2.5m launch stage with a 1.25 rescue ship on top. Eight girders surrounded the rocket, each with plenty of ladders to give Jeb something to hold onto.

Through my repeated attempts I had learned via the school of hard knocks the ins and outs of orbital rendezvous. Slowly, carefully, I maneuvered my rescue craft towards the stranded Jeb. Finally I had succeeded! Jeb was able to grab the ladder on the girder and stay with the ship. There was a small hitch, in that at this angle he wasn't able to climb in. After a bit of trying I was able to carefully nudge him to just the right position. He grabbed hold of the ship and was able to board. It was time for Jeb to come home!

After a burn to start air braking, things were going well. Being pulled into the gravity well, I fired off my second to last stage - leaving just the command module and its parachutes...or so I thought. When I hit the stage, to my horror, the camera stayed with the dumped engine and the command module shot away. As engine began to burn I panicked, wondering what had happened. I transferred to the space center to try and see if I could still take control of the command module. I could not. Both pieces had apparently impacted. Then it hit me - the remote core. It was not attached to the command module, but to the engine. Since it was the primary control for the craft, dumping at this stage kept the focus on it. Though I had quicksaved before my descent, the quickload refused to cooperate, and going to the space center voided out my ability to revert. Jeb was now gone forever.

I'm still coping with this loss. He was by far my favorite. Should I press on without him, honoring his memory, or reboot the space program completely and allow him to continue as a part of it?

[Geschosskopf]

My condolences, but I'm pretty sure Jeb will turn back up. The 3 guys with orange suits seem to respawn back at the astronaut list.

Next time you have this happen, remember to use the ] and [ keys. These shift focus between all objects within about a 2km radius without need of going to the Tracking Center. The downside is that you have to cycle through any flags and debris in the area as well as controllable ships and EVA Kerbals, but it's fast and nearly flawless.

[Vulture12]

My condolences, but I'm pretty sure Jeb will turn back up. The 3 guys with orange suits seem to respawn back at the astronaut list.

Next time you have this happen, remember to use the ] and [ keys. These shift focus between all objects within about a 2km radius without need of going to the Tracking Center. The downside is that you have to cycle through any flags and debris in the area as well as controllable ships and EVA Kerbals, but it's fast and nearly flawless.

Thanks for the tip! Maybe Jeb will live again afterall.

[Geschosskopf]

BTW, I forgot to say, welcome aboard! New guy buys the drinks. Cheers .

Anyway, since 0.21, the only way I've found to get rid of Jeb, Bill, and Bob, is to shoot them off to Eeloo for a decade or 2. One time, Bill fell through Mun's surface and plummeted all the way to the core, where he naturally died. Jeb and Bob came home without him, only to find him on the available list when they got back.

[Vulture12]

Thanks for the welcome! Tap waters all around, go crazy! My rescue of the other stranded Kerbal went much more smoothly, and you were right - it didn't take long before Jeb was smiling wide and ready for his next mission.