space stage tutorial not working?

basically what it says. the rings mission just won't activate no matter what i do. i can buy the interstellar drive, but that just leaves me stuck in my solar system unable to scan the spaceship i need to progress. i have started a new save file, remade my creature *and* spaceship, saved and loaded....i am at my wits ends, please help. i have also rebooted the game and booted both "Spore^tm" and "Spore Collections^tm".