There's a 23 page vent fest about the whole thing. I encourage folks to not only post in there, but to do like you're doing here and create new ones. The whole crew permadeath bit is not only unrealistic (why the hell would anyone agree to work on a ship where only the captain and passengers get escape pods??)
I'm not sure the captain actually gets an escape pod. The players surviving is just a compromise because it's a game.