Don't be silly, of course there's something to lay on. She's laying on her tits.
And there is gravity by that point, from a previous upgrade.
As for the bug, that's intended behavior. You don't lose the fuel and SM, though, it just acts as if you've returned and collects it for you. This is no longer the case once you get the "remote work" upgrade, after which you can continue to do other things while spaceflight is happening (though any produced fuel won't go to the ship and will be lost instead).