The oxygen alarm wakes you. Mission control is 14 minutes away by radio.
Your co-pilot hasn't spoken in three days and you're both still strapped in.
You wake beside a dying alien and it's trying to tell you something.
Questions, answered.
Hard sci-fi or space opera?+
Both — pick the story that matches your mood. Hard-realistic Mars missions, or looser starship yarns you can invent from scratch.
Can I die in the vacuum?+
Yes. And it happens quietly. Save-scumming is your call.
Do I manage the crew?+
Yes. Rations, sleep cycles, who talks to whom, who's cracking. A mission is a small society and you're the one holding it together.
First contact stories?+
Yes — and it rarely goes the way the training simulations said it would. What you say in the first ninety seconds usually sets the rest of it.
Can I be the antagonist?+
You can play the corporate captain, the deserter, the one who cuts the tether. The universe doesn't grade on morality.
Real orbital mechanics?+
Grounded but readable. Delta-v, transfer windows, and comms delay all show up when they matter — the story keeps moving either way.