If you dont take the training missions in the right order or exactly as told they go fubarr

Could you provide a specific example?

It seems that every time you dock the buy first ship mission restarts
I have seen newbs asking about it all day today

Ahh I see.
The initial ship-purchase tutorial doesn't think it is finished until the player presses 'Done' in the dialog. If they accept the mission and launch instead, when they dock, the mission will start over.
Interesting bug. Thanks.