The kerbals, renewed with the idea of a brand new task, cancelled all of their current and finished flights on other planets and around the sun as they self destructed. The massive rovers and gigantic landers and stationary bases all went up in giant, fiery plumes of, well, fire. (Or if there was no atmosphere, the entire thing was simply torn to shreds as its carcass went flying in different directions at 800m/s) Thousands of lives were lost.
In all honesty though, nobody really cared.
The industrious little kerbals at the Space Center began to do what they did best; blow things up. They rigged the entire Vehicle Assembly Building with Rockomax Brand Fuel Tank/Explosive Charge Hybrids (It was really just a fuel tank. Probably. After all, it was safe enough to put on the past 26 flights. That subsequently failed.) and stood back. Jebediah, with his new-found courage and all around uncaring demeanor towards exploding things, detonated the entire building with his mind.
Just kidding, he used an electric detonator.
The massive building shot into at least 5 different directions as walls and corners and sliding doors collided into various kerbals and buildings. By the time that some of the concrete started cooling back down to about 300 degrees Celsius, many kerbals thought it wise to move the pieces so that they may begin reconstruction. They burned their hands off faster than they could say, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! Help me!" Which surprisingly, takes a long time to say.
The debris had been cleared and a new, shinier, bigger VAB stood in its place. But it wasn't shinier, I lied about that part. Shiny is subjective, and in my opinion, new concrete doesn't look very shiny. I digress.
The new Vehicle Assembly Building towered above the newly assembled research and development compound as the kerbals stood ready to launch their rockets. Yes, rockets. The 16 launchpads surrounded the space center, all waiting with massive and varied pieces attached to the noses of titanic, looming rockets. Some were fitted with vital chassis pieces, other were fitted with cup holders and couches. Some were duct taped, some were welded.
A booming, yet oddly squeaky voice chirped a countdown.
"10. 9. 8. 6. No wait, I mean 7. 7. 6. 5. Wait, let me restart. I screwed up," the voice admitted.
"Alright, take 2. 10. 9. 8. 7--" the voice interuppted itself, "When I said, take 2, I meant 'take 2' not, 'take 2, 10, 9, 8.' Just wanted to clear that up, if you thought I counted wrong."
"6. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1."
The rockets didn't budge.
"Oh! Uh... liftoff?"
The the crack of electromagnets powering down whipped across the air as the space center became enveloped in noxious hydrogen smoke. Air filters were probably the next thing the guys over at R&D should get working on.