A Free Kerbal Space Program Update Will Introduce Some Real-Life Space Missions

Kerbal Space Program is teaming up with the European Space Agency (ESA) to launch a free update, which will celebrate the ESA’s numerous contributions to space exploration.

The update is called “Shared Horizons” and will include two new missions recreating ESA ventures, using the Arian 5 rocket and some ESA-themed space suits for Kerbals.

"Here at the European Space Agency, many of our engineers and scientists are very familiar with KSP," ESA Director of Science Günther Hasinger said in a statement on the ESA official website. "Both Rosetta and BepiColombo are highly complex missions that have specific challenges; however, each prove to be very rewarding for ESA and the global scientific community. Because of this, I am very happy that these ground-breaking science missions can be experienced on Kerbin as well as on Earth."

The first mission, BepiColombo, will allow players to recreate the original joint expedition to Mercury that the real life ESA undertook. The second mission, Rosetta, will task players with gathering important data on comets, sending out Kerbals onto the moving space debris.

Shared Horizons will be released for the PC version of Kerbal Space Program on July 1. The update is slated to release on consoles later this year. Check out the official Kerbal Space Program website for the latest updates.

Kerbal Space Program 2 is set to launch in 2020 on PC, Xbox One, and PS4. There is no official release date set as of yet.