Jebediah Kerman

Jebediah Kerman
Jeb in his usual happy mood
Occupation		Kerbonaut
Specialisation		Pilot
Other occupations		Manufacturer, Ride Sharer
KSC ID#		0001
Courage
Stupidity
Badass		Yes

Jebediah Kerman (commonly just “Jeb”) is kerbonaut #0001, presumed owner of the rocket part manufacturer “Jebediah Kerman's Junkyard and Spaceship Parts Co.”, all-around badass, and one of “the original Four”.

Background

The Original Four

Jebediah is one of the original four kerbonauts, along with Bill, Bob, and Valentina who wear the orange jump suits instead of the customary grey ones. He is the only default male kerbal with the attribute badS = True. Short for "badass", this makes Jeb's facial expression and general reaction be "happy" ones in almost all situations which might trigger "afraid" reactions in the typical kerbonaut. Whatever effect his dead-middle ratings for Courage and Stupidity would have on personality are overridden by his sheer badassery. Valentina Kerman is often considered a female equivalent to Jebediah Kerman and also has the badS = True attribute, the two are the only default kerbals with the badS flag.

Fame

For several reasons, Jebediah "Jeb" Kerman is the most well-known character from KSP (though it's possible Kerbals themselves consider Wernher von Kerman more famous).

Since Jeb is always first in the list of kerbonauts, he will by default be the first kerbonaut to board any vessel launched. In some cases, even after removing Jeb from the crew assignment of a vehicle in the VAB or SPH, if the Crew tab is left before launching, Jeb will again be aboard – sometimes the only kerbonaut aboard.

As with all of the original four he will re-spawn if he goes MIA (missing in action ( due to exceeding the 2.5 Km load distance in an atmospere)) or KIA(killed in action) this means that unless Jeb is stranded the player will constantly get Jeb for flights.

All told, the odds of having Jeb on any particular flight are far higher than any other kerbonaut. KSP players are likely to have Jeb along for all the "firsts" of their space program and have many of their flights with Jeb as their pilot, assuming they don't launch him into deep space on spent fuel tanks before learning to orbit properly. Jeb appears in many gameplay videos for the same reason.

The developers additionally highlight Jebediah, featuring him in some of the training scenarios. He is also the only character specifically referenced in a KSP loading screen hint "Locating Jebediah Kerman...". Jeb is in KSP comparable to Mario. He is the namesake for many Kerbal Space Program related components like MechJeb or the RoboJeb bot in this wiki.

Manufacturing

Though unconfirmed, it seems likely there's no coincidence in the naming of the manufacturer "Jebediah Kerman's Junkyard and Spaceship Parts Co.". The exact relationship – whether owner or just spokeskerbal – isn't stated; but many players assume Jeb both flies and supplies rocket parts.

The company's LV-series engines and FL-series tanks provide the majority of parts available during the early part of the Career game. And these spaceship components are from the earliest versions of KSP.

Reputation

Fans have generally depicted Jeb as, indeed, a badass. Machinima cinematographer Nassault shows Jebediah launching a rover to meet an orbiter. As of 1.1.3 a message displays whenever Jeb 'dies' in an accident titled 'in memorium'.

Gallery

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  Official artwork of Jebediah Kerman

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  Jebediah showing his competence with jetpacks

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  Jeb's "global selfie" to NASA on Earth Day

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  Jebediah after returning from a mission

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  Jebediah's portrait shows the orange IVA suit and maniac smile

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  Jebediah (bottom right) in a standard 0.21 space ship in orbit