Well you can never have enough 2D space games. Heck, I've been writting one for a while now. First thing I'd recommend is 'boning up' on your physics. Understanding the basic fundimentals behind motion will save you a world of hurting later on(trust me!).

In general, movement in space is almost the same as movment here on earth, save the amount of pull of gravity. There is some gravitational pull in space(depending on the size and distance of objects around you), but it is so fractional it's practiacly zero-Gs. Basically if you can lob a cannon ball in a game like Scorched Earth or Worms, using code then you can make a ship float around in space... just add some kind of inertia...

Inertia is basically the momentum of an object. An object in space that is not disturbed will continue to move on inertia until something interupts it's movement. ie. An alien laser or the ships own rocket engines... Notice how when you see an astronaught/cosmonaught floating around in the ISS he doesn't really move until he/she pushes him/herself off a part of the equipment? Thats because of one of Newton's Laws of Motion.


Here is a site that has all kinds of Physics information and even a few equations: www.physicsclassroom.com

It, however is a bit detailed...


Hope this helps a bit. I'll see if I can find something a bit more staight-forward. If not I'll just cut and paste a few bits from my own code. Not as helpful for understanding in though.

Best of luck!