Kerbals on EVA just going poof and satellite issues

[jmullin09]

Thanks for your help on my question about reverting flights. You guys were right, its because i had switched focus and had a kerbal on EVA. Herein lies my next problem.

1) I'm trying to collect soil samples around Kerbin. Seems simple enough, i've got kerbals on the moon i can scrap some ice from our own planet right? Wrong. I built a long range plane and got there. I found that easier than trying to land a sub orbital rocket there, but also because i just researched lots of plane related stuff so its new and fun. What my problem is that when my kerbal is on EVA, he will sometimes just poof and disappear. He's standing there, i can sometimes walk around a bit, and then in a cloud of dust, as if he's just impacted the ground from free fall, he's gone. Can't revert my flight because i've switched focus to the kerbal on EVA, even though i still have a pilot on board.

At first i thought it was a trick of the polar caps, but it happens on grass too. Anyone have any ideas? I really want to knock these mission out because i'm tired of their little icons cluttering up the map and i could go for the science.

2) My second problem is the damn powered, unmanned satellite mission. I've done it three times and its still not checked off. First time i had i used a radial decoupler and i think launched my satellite out of the designated orbit. The second time i used a docking decouple for a softer launch but i had an adapter piece also attached to stayputnik where i threw some solar panels and so when that didn't satisfy the requirement i thought that extra piece meant it didn't qualify as a "satellite". Third time it was just a stayputnik, and antenna, battery, solar panels. Released it "perfectly" into their orbital path and i still haven't gotten the science from it. All the other boxes are checked, the meet orbit and be stable for 10 seconds, but the "Launch an unmanned satellite" one evades me.

Any ideas? Thanks for your help!

Edited February 12, 2015 by jmullin09
ANSWERED

[jman508]

idk about you random unplanned explosions but i may know whats up with your satellites.

im not sure i never payed much attention to them but i think all the unmanned satellite missions need an antenna.

and also make sure your going in the same direction that the little balls on the orbit line are going.

other than that good luck.

[jmullin09]

Yeah i know they had antenna but good point on the rotation of the orbit. I'm pretty sure i was there because the condition of "reach blah blah orbit within a margin of error" was checked off. Thanks though, i'll check when i play tonight.

[jmullin09]

UPDATE, in case anyone has similar issues.

The disappearing kerbals was from clipping due to lowered graphics settings thanks to crappy laptop i play on for now. Increased graphic settings and problem solved.

Satellite update, even though it says to simply launch an unmanned satellite, they mean unmanned from the get go. I figured that "launching" the satellite was point at which i set it into its designated orbit. Mission accomplished using remote control device. Which is annoying because the mission was "launch an unmanned satellite" and not "launch a satellite unmanned". Big difference.

[MircoMars]

I had Gusdun on a ladder on mun as Quicksave. on load he fell through the lander and the ground and exploded.

solution: spam hit F3 on load to pause the game. let physX load and unpause. Gusdun survived to crash another day.