KSC's New Manager Reconsidered

Good morning from my Writing Lair! This is Shadow_8472, and today, I am continuing thinking about my KSP crossover. Let's get started!

I got some feedback on my story idea from yesterday. A chat mod on the FiMFiction Discord expressed concern that the staff here wouldn't consider the finished product "pony enough." I'm not dead set on this project, but I still think it can be a fun character exercise. There's also the matter of crossovers being difficult to do well. I am a relatively new writer in terms of experience. I have dream projects I want to do well, but this is something I like the idea of trying, but not having a full commitment to finishing.

Assuming I were to go on, a detail or two would likely change with the original idea. Instead of Twilight being jammed into the world of Kerbal Space Program as a lone pony in a kerbal's body, I may need to pull a page from the show, Quantum Leap and have both Twilight and the narration see a lavendar Unicorn/Alicorn body while any kerbal --or Twilight looking at her own reflection-- would see another kerbal.

Another thing I was considering was having the Mane 6 along. Admittedly, I don't consider myself that strong with all of them, particularly Rarity, though I can just imagine Rainbow having a laughing fit at some of Twilight's early, unresearched designs. She might not understand it with enough vocabulary to get it into Twilight's head right away, especially if I set it earlier on in the series, but rockets are so unlike anything we've seen in Equestria, relatively complex airplanes are likely going to be easier to design successfully with a natural flier along. That said, Rainbow would make the perfect test pilot.

Applejack is often assigned the role of engineer with her talents in terms of fixing stuff. While Twilight is the obvious first choice for scientist, having her in charge of the overall program would leave that position open. Pinkie or Spike, maybe.

My main goal would be to parallel the experiences one has while playing. I think Twilight's magic would open up too many shortcuts, but the idea of Rainbow or Fluttershy bailing and flying back to safety is appealing too. Maybe Twilight simply needs supplies including a magic boulder to return home, but levitation works just fine. Enchanting rocket parts for increased heat or g-force tolerance can actually be replicated in-game, but I don't want that.

The most important question I was asked was: "What does having Twilight Sparkle add to the story?" Normally, I see this applied to OC's, but I can see the point. I don't have a verbal answer, but I just want it to happen. Until I have a good enough excuse, I'm not going to put too much work into it.

Final Question: What kind of KSP moments would you like to see ponies go through, and would it have any potential for a good story?