When I was killed, I was parked back in the station (fine) and made to select a ship I already had. While I had a bunch of ships, I wanted to cancel out and buy a new one, without having to first select one, etc.

IT's a very small point, I admit, and I feel a little addled right now--too much coffee and adrenaline (so I might be misremembering details), but this may cause problems if you're forced to select a ship and they're all in different sectors. So, could we like, cancel out of this menu, please? I do know the one time I died, didn't want to buy back my ship, I wasn't allowed to cancel.

Hmmm! I've never been "made" to select a ship I already have unless I press the cancel button when it asks if you want to rebuy your last ship.
If you press OK when asked to buy the last ship, but that ship can't be bought at that station (a special ship) then you will have to select a different ship.

Yes, we know about this annoyance.
The whole interface there is going to be redone.