That's the good stuff right there. I suspect experiences like that will become far more frequent once they implement the mechanics that they talked about in "death of a spaceman". If they put that stuff in, we won't have that option to suicide and respawn right back.
When they first wrote about their plans for limited lifespan, I was extremely skeptical. I have been playing unlimited life games for far too long though. I have gotten used to it as a "work around" for game mechanics. In some games, death is actually an advantage as you can use it as a free quick travel mechanic.
Now that I see the universe being built, and see the potential of this game, I am getting more and more sold on serious penalties to death. My initial hesitance was mainly due to griefing. I am pretty skilled at dodging griefers but sometimes you just end up dying alot and there is nothing you can do about it but log off or power through it. Having serious penalties to dying really concerns me when it comes to that.
However, there are orgs like Test out there. If griefers are running wild in an area, someone will take up the mantle of police (even NPC police) and take them out. This means that griefers will be paying the same penalty. They are NEVER ok with that. Griefers are chickens. If there is a chance of dying and paying a big penalty, they will not put themselves at risk. They will run away and find some other way to ruin gameplay.
So I digressed a bit there... At the end of the day I am absolutely willing to give death penalties a shot. Mainly because it will make gameplay like your story here a regular thing. If this was your only reasonable path to take if your ship is destroyed, just imagine how massive this universe will feel. Just imagine that feeling of risk vs reward. I can't wait to see this all come together.