You get medals by getting a certain amount of hits in each level. The amounts are: Corneria: 150 Meteo: 200 Fortuna: 50 Sector x: 150 Titainia: 150 Blouse: 150 Venom: 200 Katina: 150 Solar: 100...
It is not possible to "save" during the middle of a session and continue later on. This is because of the games Arcade style of play - you play through all 10 levels trying to rank in the high score...
I say no because in the introduction of Star Fox 64 it says Andross trapped James but it says nothing about him dying, and he lead Fox out of the base at the end. And at one of the missions to venom,...