America knowingly signed on for the spaceflight "gap, " which opened after space shuttles flew their final missions this year.

CNN: Make China our new partner in space

Oh, how the times have changed... its final mission saw Atlantis successfully deliver the Russian Mini-Research Module Rassvet to the ISS. She'll be prepped one last time to stand-by as a rescue ship for the upcoming (and final) missions of Endeavor and Discovery, but Atlantis' days in space are likely over.

ENGADGET: Space Shuttle Atlantis ends its run of predicting disaster for other NASA shuttles

The U.S. perfect it with putting a man on the man, then with a series of modern high tech space shuttle missions and Mars ROVERS. But now, the final frontier captains are more likely to be Russians, with their hopes for a human Mars landing someday, or Chinese, with a new China space station due within the next 8 years.

FORBES: China's Space Age Grows Up As U.S. Space Race Winds Down

All 16 missions in the game connect to the plot line of the final season.

FORBES: Spartacus Cast Discuss War Of The Damned And Spartacus Video Games

The final budget on the European side is projected to be about 1.2bn euros for the two missions.

BBC: Russia and Europe joint Mars bid agreement approved