JEBEDIAH BECOMES THE FIRST KERBAL IN SPACE!

KSP - Year 3, Day 155

A day that no Kerbal will ever forget was celebrated yesterday after Jebediah 'Jeb' Kerman became the first Kerbal in space. The Unity XIII capsule was taken above our atmosphere on top of a Falcon single-stage launch vehicle. The entire flight lasted just over thirteen minutes, and only a few of them were spent in space. Control of the capsule was automated, so Jeb was just along for the ride.

Artists impression of the Unity XIII capsule in space

'No one knew for sure what the effects of weightless would have on a pilot,' said Gene Kerman, the Flight Director, in the interview after. 'So we needed to keep control of the craft down here. But we are thankful to say that the tasks Jeb was asked to perform in space were successful.'

The mission was a sub-orbital flight. Although the capsule went into space, it did not orbit Kerbin. Instead, it came straight back down and only seven minutes of the flight were in space. But this was enough time to monitor the effects of space on the astronaut.

Unity XIII lifts of and carries the first Kerbal into space

'It feels absolutely fantastic,' said Jebediah in the interviews. 'It is such a privilege to be the pioneering Kerbal for this program. The view was just incredible and the thrill was immeasurable. When the craft turned around for re-entry, I got a brief view of our world and it was only then I realised where I was. No one has seen what I have seen. I cannot wait to go again.'

During his mission above the atmosphere, Jeb managed to take a few photos of the view from the capsule. This resulted in the first images taken by a Kerbal from space.

Jebediah's first look at space from the small window of the capsule

The brief glimpse of Kerbin that Jeb saw

Jebediah was constantly filmed with a live video feed back to Mission Control

The mission was not without it's glitches, however. During launch, the rocket did not pitch over quite as much as it should have. This meant the capsule went a lot higher than planned, with a peak altitude of nearly 180km. It was supposed to be no higher than 130km. This resulted in a dangerously steep re-entry curve and the thrusters had to be used to slow the craft as much as possible before re-entry. Luckily, this worked. But the capsule did suffer damage when nine-and-a-half G's were measured during re-entry. The usual G-force load is seven. When asked, Jeb just replied:

'Well, it was Unity Thirteen. It was expected to go wrong!'

Despite the higher re-entry speed and subsequent damage, Jeb suffered no injuries and the parachute deployment system operated successfully. However, because the splash-down location moved due to the launch error, rescue ships took longer to reach the capsule. Thankfully, they arrived to find the pilot in good health.

Bill Kerman is to be the second Kerbal in space. It is expected that a near-identical mission will be carried out, except manual control of the space craft will be attempted.