KOS-39

Lore & Background

The Kerbal Space Program's crew roster is a small, tight-knit community of green Kerbals who share one hangar, one launch pad, and one very optimistic attitude toward orbital mechanics. Jebediah Kerman is the legend—the first Kerbal to leave Kerbin's surface, the voice of the game's opening narration, the Kerbal who once famously announced his feelings about a crash with the words that became the game's most quoted line. Bill Kerman is the steady, quiet presence. Valentina Kerman is the only female Kerbal in the original roster and a symbol of the program's inclusive spirit. And then there are the Bobs. Dozens of them. KOS-39 is one of them.

The Bobs are not lesser Kerbals. They are the backbone of KSC operations. While Jebediah gets the cinematic close-ups and the tutorial spotlight, it is the Bobs who crew the long-haul interplanetary vessels, who pilot the tiny landers to the surface of Mun, Minmus, Duna, and Eeloo, who sit in the cockpit for the four-hour transfer orbit and try not to vibrate apart. In the player's campaign, a Bob might be the first Kerbal to walk on a Joolian moon, or the first to attempt a crewed flyby of the sun. KOS-39's legacy is whatever the Flight Director decides to build around them.

The community has embraced the Bobs with affection and dark humor. There is an entire subculture of 'Bob memorials'—players who keep in-game grave markers, memorial plaques, and tribute vessels for every Bob who perished in a botched landing, a fuel-starved reentry, or the simple, unforgiving act of pointing a rocket at the ground at 2,000 meters per second. KOS-39, like every Bob, is simultaneously a disposable asset and a beloved character. They are the 'everyman' of the Kerbal space program, and that is precisely what makes them endearing.

Reader's Guide

FULL NAME: Bob Kerman, Crew ID KOS-39 ROLE: KSC Astronaut, general-purpose crew member. No fixed specialty; assigned to whatever the Flight Director needs: pilot, engineer, scientist, or 'the one in the back seat who holds the oxygen valve.'

CAREER ARC: Entirely player-authored. KOS-39 may fly their first suborbital hop in the early career, survive a Mun landing that was 'technically a crash,' and go on to crew a Duna transfer—or they may be the Kerbal who forgets to retract the landing gear on the very first orbital attempt. There is no canonical career path. The player writes it.

NOTABLE MISSIONS: None in fixed canon. In the community, 'notable missions' for any given Bob are the ones the player remembers: the one where the Bob survived a 90-degree reentry, the one where they were the sole survivor of a crew of six, the one where they landed on Minmus and immediately forgot to bring a sample kit.

CAUSE OF DEATH: Variable. The great equalizer in KSP is that any Kerbal, at any point, can be lost to a crash, oxygen depletion, a micrometeorite, or the Flight Director's decision to 'just nudge the throttle a little.' KOS-39's fate is the player's to decide.

FAN MEMES & INSIDE JOKES: The Bobs are the heart of KSP's dark comedy. 'Bob #39' is a common shorthand in forum posts for 'yet another Bob who died in a Duna landing.' The community has a running joke that every Bob has a slightly different face, and players will zoom in to confirm. The phrase 'I'm so mad right now' (Jebediah's tutorial line) is often jokingly attributed to any Bob who just watched their vessel explode on the pad. Memorial plaques for Bobs are a beloved tradition in long career saves.

Did You Know?

• The player, acting as the Flight Director, has complete authority over which Kerbal flies which mission.
• Kerbal Space Program was released in early access in 2011 by Squad and reached its 1.0 release in 2015.
• The Kerbal species in KSP is characterized by a small, rounded green body, oversized black eyes, and a white pressure suit.