How do the Kerbals log orbits around Kerbin?

[PTNLemay]

In the Astronaut Complex you can mouse over your Kerbals and see their info, one of them says "Log, Orbits around Kerbal = 2".

It says this even for Jeb, even though I've sent him into full orbits about 8 times now. I use Jeb for most of my missions. What exactly does it mean and how do I increase that counter?

EDIT: here's a screengrab of exactly what I'm referring to: http://i.imgur.com/UA2foMj.png

[Parkaboy]

That's how many points of experience they got from doing an orbit around Kerbin. Only the first orbit is worth any experience. That's what the number in the log means, the XP earned from that achievement.

Edit: To be honest, I didn't understand that either until I managed to land on the Mun. "Plant a Flag on the Mun" was showing up with a value of "5", and I noticed that was the amount of experience my kerbals had earned.

Edited December 19, 2014 by Parkaboy

[Excl]

I saw this on another thread, as I was looking for the exact same thing:

On Kerbin, the highest experience is awarded for Orbit.

Flight = 1

Fly By = 1.5

Orbit = 2

On bodies other than Kerbin, the highest exp return is for Flag Planting.

Note that these are base values, a multiplier is applied depending on the body:

Fly By = 1

Orbit = 1.5

Flight = 2

Land = 2.3

Plant Flag = 2.5

That's for each Kerbal too ... so you can repeat the exact same mission 3 times with 3 different Kerbals and they will all earn the same xp. However, the same Kerbal cannot get credit for doing the same mission again.

I also don't know the difference between "Flight" and "Fly By".

Edited December 19, 2014 by Excl

[PTNLemay]

I see... thanks for the quick answers. Didn't realize levelling the Kerbs would be quite so challenging.

I also don't know the difference between "Flight" and "Fly By".

For Kerbin I'm not sure, but for other planets it would make sense if it was Fly By = Hyperbolic orbit, meaning you can come in close but aren't able to fully enter orbit (happens to me all the time when I try to rendez-vous with Moho...) Orbit is a proper elliptical orbit around the body. Flight is a sub-orbital arc that will impact the ground. Land is... landed. And then the Flag. It would be in order of increasing difficulty, and thus be worth increasingly more XP.

(hyperbolic orbit for reference)

Edited December 19, 2014 by PTNLemay

[Parkaboy]

I saw this on another thread, as I was looking for the exact same thing:

That's for each Kerbal too ... so you can repeat the exact same mission 3 times with 3 different Kerbals and they will all earn the same xp. However, the same Kerbal cannot get credit for doing the same mission again.

I also don't know the difference between "Flight" and "Fly By".

My logs show 5 XP for "plant flag", but that could be a sum of planting the flag, landing and flying.

[Excl]

I think each planet/moon has a multiplier that goes with it.