I killed a Kerbal

[mdkendall]

Well, two actually.

Hello! I am just getting started and I have been taking care to keep my Kerbals alive while I explore the near Kerbin system.

I was very proud of the fact that I recovered Bob from a hopeless out-of-fuel situation in an elliptic orbit of Kerbin with apoapsis out past the Mun and periapsis 2,800km from Kerbin. I tried mounting a rescue mission: first I had to acquire enough science to get the Stayputnik, then I constructed an unmanned craft with an empty command pod for Bob to come home in and sent it up in to a roughly circular orbit at 2,800km. It got an encounter with the stranded craft; I got it within 2km. Bob got out and started to make his way across. But because the orbits were so different within a few seconds the speed differential became too great and however hard Bob accelerated he could not catch it. He had to turn around and fly over 2km back to the stranded craft. I thought the situation was hopeless then I read that Kerbals can use their EVA RCS system to push things! Since the stranded craft was just a command pod I tried it. Bob waited till apoapsis then got out and pushed. He had to get back in and out again to refuel his suit six times, and looked really scared when he was outside pushing. But eventually he got the 170m/s of delta-v needed and a few hours later was descending through Kerbin's atmosphere. He looked so happy and excited to be home!

Then the next day I killed Bill in a silly EVA mishap. He was just going on a short jaunt to explore Kerbin's polar region. At apoapsis, well above the atmosphere, he went for a quick EVA to gather some science. Disaster! As he got out he was ripped from the pod and flew off into space. Oh no! He activated his RCS, righted himself and flew back towards it. But re-entry was approaching! As he neared the craft atmospheric drag pulled it away and he was left to re-enter by himself; no pod, no parachute. And that last omission was fatal a few seconds later.

Subsequent investigation revealed a design flaw with the ship. A communotron antenna on the outside of the hatch meant Kerbals getting out fell off. The flaw was corrected, but not until after I had killed Samwell in an almost identical mishap.

A flag at the north pole commemorates them: "In memory of Bill and Samwell. They got out but didn't get back in."

Edited July 7, 2014 by mdkendall
More typos

[One-Way Films]

first off, welcome to KSP forums. Secondly, don't fret. John Kerman died for science while trying to explore the north pole as well. He died the exact same way; getting out mid-flight and falling off. I did this many times before. Then with a new ship (with batteries cluttering the surface of the pod) he got out, and plumeted to his doom. I lined up a bunch of kerbals and planted a flag next to the big flag in the KSC. he will be remembered

[mdkendall]

I walked a Kerbal from EVA at the launch pad over to the big flag at KSC before I had found out about pressing shift to run, or that you could time accelerate on the ground. It took half an hour. Which made Scott Manley's video where he has half a dozen of them lined up for a ceremony around the flag all the more impressive.

[James_Eh]

Welcome aboard! Amazing how many different ways there are to fling Kerbals off into deep space during routine EVA activities. My favourite is when you try to get two of them to co-exist on the same ladder for a moment while you adjust something else, then flip back to the poor victim only to watch him expelled at a high velocity on a random vector. Luckliy, those are really good jetpacks they've got with them...

[Taki117]

I must say I have yet to kill a kerbal in my current save, but in my previous one Genefreid was on his way back from a munar landing. I had forgotten to adjust the altitude at which the parachute opened (I play with DRE among other mods) and it burnt off, leaving Genefreid to smash into the ocean at a couple hundred m/s. The very next mission changed the flag and he got an entire biome named after him.

[Mitchz95]

I've killed six so far, three of them on the same mission.

The first was Will Kerman, commander of the U.K.S. Intrepid. The ship ran out of fuel on its way back from Laythe, and I was too lazy to send rescue so I self-destructed the ship instead. The next two were Jeb and Bill on an experimental spaceplane that stalled and crashed during a test flight. The next three were part of a four man crew returning to Kerbin on a more thoroughly tested spaceplane that crashed because I'd forgotten to pump my fuel forward before re-entering the atmosphere.

I'm planning to install TAC life support for my 0.24 save. Expecting the death toll to increase exponentially.

[EuSouONumero345]

I killed....let's see...

Approximately infinite kerbals.

By the way,

Heya, and welcome to the KSP community;

[Alshain]

I walked a Kerbal from EVA at the launch pad over to the big flag at KSC before I had found out about pressing shift to run, or that you could time accelerate on the ground. It took half an hour. Which made Scott Manley's video where he has half a dozen of them lined up for a ceremony around the flag all the more impressive.

Not to rain on the parade, but go

. He used a transport vehicle. You can see it in the distance. Edited July 7, 2014 by Alshain

[GoSlash27]

Welcome aboard!

I (thankfully) haven't killed any Kerbals yet, but I have had some close calls.

[AlamoVampire]

im on Jeb 30, bill 10 and bob 15 myself. I kill em, and reset them back to state 0 <faster than waiting on their respawn clock lol> Any kerbal so killed can be fixed by setting them to state 0 <astronaut complex> and welcome welcome welcome

[kahlzun]

....you must be new here

[WinkAllKerb'']

nevermind, welcome and don't reproduce

[PrivateFlip]

How awful . Welcome to the forums.

Discounting the deaths reversed by quicksave I probably lost only a couple Kerbals. Now if I include all those, we're somewhere in the low end triple digits range.

[Frank_G]

Welcome aboard!

Nice, that you care for your kerbals, but keep in mind that some of them just wont make it.

As a small advice... test your missions with probe controlled craft, before sending your green guys in.

[Blind Dead McJones]

Everyone does it eventually. Sometimes, Kerbals die valiantly on their heroic journey to where no Kerbal has gone before. Other times you make a stupid mistake on a routine mission. Sometimes you do something stupid like trying to land on the Mun at night, why not? We've all been there.

By the way, unless you've enabled permadeath, your Kerbals will just show up at the astronaut complex a few days later, completely unharmed like nothing had happened. Maybe that's why they don't care for safety procedures, I wouldn't be so hesitant to strap myself to a rocket made of scrap metal and stolen parts if I knew I was gonna go home either way.

[Javster]

Welcome! Don't worry about killing Kerbals on purpose OR ACCIDENTALLY, they respawn. Maybe they sneak a dummy onto the ship and hide from the exploding rocket, maybe their dust gets spread around and reforms into a new Kerbal... Either way you can kill them again and again!

[Tangle]

I like to keep all my Kerbals alive, but hey- I'm not danny.

[Bobhendly]

Just tell them to land on their head.

..No more dead kerbals.

[mike9606]

Just tell them to land on their head.

..No more dead kerbals.

Yeah, if you ever have your kerbal falling through the atmosphere use the EVA jetpack to flip them upside down. I don't know how to do this myself but the helmet/head seems to be able to withstand very high speed impacts with the ground for some reason. You can also get the Vangaurd EVA Parachutes add-on and use the thing that gives the kerbals parachutes without having to use a parachute box.

Edited July 10, 2014 by mike9606

[mike9606]

Well I had my first SSTO get into orbit today. Sadly the landing did not go as well. The aircraft flipped onto it's side after it touched down, and the cockpit impacted the ground at 85 m/s, destroying it.

R.I.P. Joezer Kerman