It took me a while to find out how this works. I was confused at first and only figured this out after jumping into a chasm and crashed to death.
You don't return to your base safely. Instead, you return your base when you die, either by running out of hp or fuel. This is the normal way to return, and has no negative consequences.
After dying and returning to base, you can craft there.
No jumping, but there is ladder for climbing. They cost resources so you shouldn't use them too much.