solved, if this happens to you delete the deaths, then renumber every log after it so that the numbers on the left still go up in sequence (e.g. renumbering the flight that starts with "spawn" to 13 in the example below)
title, i've looked in the save file and it has all of Jeb, Bill & Bob's career logs, although interestingly all three have died twice, in a sequence like this in the career log:
13 = Flight,Kerbin
13 = Die
14 = Die
15 = Spawn
i have no clue how this happened. i tried just cutting these lines out and nothing changed in game. would re-numbering everything after this work, or am i f**ked?