Quick Summary
Thrust into space by a mysterious wormhole, two players desperately try to find their way home. They soon discover four friendly alien races that offer them limited aid and guidance if players can meet the high standards required for entrance into the Galactic Advisory Council.
Each player advances the technology and capability of their respective starships, and reveals cards to explore and colonize new worlds.
Each ship contains:

--a storage module that allows you to store 3 resources of each type rather than 2
--a command module that increases the number of actions per turn to 3 (plus the roll of a die).
--a trade module that allows you to buy a limited number of goods from your opponent for a fixed price.
--a research module that gives you an extra resource when the die roll matches the card. (This is a 1 in 3 chance as the die gives results of 1-3.)
--a trade goods module - just like the research module.
--a probe module that allows you to look at the first 2 cards of a deck, rearrange their sequence or place one or both of them at the bottom of that deck.

Along the way, players have to engage in combat with space pirates. They perform missions of mercy, rescues, and interventions, all while improving and preparing their Starship for the journey home.
See also the many comments of players at the BoardgameGeek website.