Space simulator Kerbal Space Program has seen a resurgence as players celebrate the launch of the world's first manned mission to the Moon, Artemis II, in decades.
The Artemis II crew are heading home after travelling further from Earth than anyone before, with a splashdown back on Earth scheduled for April 10. This mission is a giant step toward a return to the moon and future missions to Mars, and it also marks the first time humanity has flown to the Moon in over 50 years.
It has also seemingly reignited our fascination with space, with thousands of players jumping into the 11-year-old simulator game, Kerbal Space Program. While it usually bobs around on a very respectable 3-4,000 peak concurrent players on Steam, since Artemis II's launch, SteamDB has recorded an unusually high concurrent peak of 11,390 players in the last 24 hours.
While that doesn't quite match its launch record — that sits at 19,149 players — it's impressive nonetheless, particularly coupled with a 732% increase in Twitch views of the game in April 2026, too, up from an average of around 96 views to 799.
The resurgence has spilled over into the game's subreddit, too. "Was watching the live stream of Artemis with my son, he looks at me and says 'Dad, this makes me want to play KSP!'" said one player. Another hopes the interest "sparks some renewal for another good sim game."
"Count myself among [the returning players]," added someone else. "I was reading about the now-cancelled plans for the Lunar Gateway while looking up Artemis and thought, 'I want to do that.' Now I'm in career mode struggling to reliably orbit. Good times."
