How to Land in No Man’s Sky

Just as you must learn to fly in No Man’s Sky, so must you learn to land. To reach beyond the stars, you can’t simply point your ship at a planet and expect it to reach the surface safely. A botched landing can result in significant damage to your spacecraft. 

Luckily, the mechanical action of landing in No Man’s Sky is easy. Here’s how to do it: 

• On PC: Press “E”
• On PS4: Press “Square”
• On Xbox One: Press “X”

When Can I Land My Spaceship? 

Once you break through the atmosphere of a planet and head toward its surface, the game will tell you when you can land. It will display one of the corresponding buttons above. For example, on PC it will say “Press ‘E’ to land” when you get low enough. 

Of course, you can start the sequence before you’re prompted, but you still must be relatively close to the surface to do so. While it’s not exact, it’s somewhere between what I estimate to be 30 and 50 feet off the ground. 

It’s worth mentioning that your ship will settle on almost any surface, no matter how wide or thin that surface is. While you want to land on mostly flat ground, your spaceship always stops a bit ahead of where you press the landing button. To avoid this, initiate the sequence a bit before the desired LZ to ensure you get as close to the desired spot as possible. 

In extreme cases, I’ve perched on the edge of a cliff or mountain and fallen to my death. 

Trading Posts and Structures With Landing Pads

Throughout your journey, it’s inevitable that you’ll come across other aliens and alien structures. Some of these will have landing pads. Here, all you have to do is fly over the pulsing green circle on the landing pad and press the corresponding button. 

Your ship will automatically adjust itself for a perfect touch down. 

Don’t Fly Too Fast

If you’re flying too fast, you can’t light your ship. If you’re not prepared, you can heavily damage your ship by running into a cliff or structure. So be careful!

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That’s all you need to know about landing in No Man’s Sky. Now that the Beyond update is out, there’s a whole new world to explore out there. From new blueprints to animal taming and VR exploration, NMS is finally shaping up to be the game that was promised. 

For more, be sure to head over to our No Man’s Sky guides page.