I found a ship from a distress signal, and claimed it. Can I leave it?

[Lister]

This is very early game -- I haven't even visited a space station yet, I'm just footling around collecting resources and exploring my home planet before triggering quests (and sentinels, pirates, etc.). Found an A-class shuttle with plenty to fix, including a lot of tech I haven't uncovered yet. Can I leave the ship and have it in my inventory later? Or does it need to be repaired to be flyable?

I don't want the game to "forget" it when I get back in my starter ship, and I'm not sure if it will be summonable if it's not flight-worthy when I leave it behind.

[Druckform | INSOMNIAC 3D]

claim the ship and add to collection (not swap ship) that way it will stay in your collection and you can switch vehicles anytime you want at a space station to repair it

[Felis_Exploria]

Be sure to reboard your original ship to "change primary ship". Then the one that needs to be repaired can be summoned at your base or space station.

[The Knowledge Seeker]

When you claim it, it will become your active ship. You can summon your starter ship/other ships in collection, to you ( if you repaired the launch thruster and it has fuel in it ) with the X menu options. After you summon your preferred ship, jump into it and out to make it your active ship.

[Teratus]

Claim and add to collection means it's yours, but yes you do have to repair the essential systems in order to fly it (Engines and landing gear)

Unless you really like the look of the ship I wouldn't advise keeping any basic crashed ships you find since they usually take a lot of resources to fully repair.
And are worth more to fix than they're really worth.

For the most part most crashed ships end up being scrapped for some easy money and chance of ship upgrades which you can then use to upgrade other ships of your choice.

But it's ultimately up to you what you want to do with any ships you find.

[taniwhat]

What is bad news :).

Walking or taking an exocraft some distance, THEN finding a crashed ship. It's really important to summon your original ship before claiming the crashed one.

Early game when you only have that one ship that can be a lot of unwanted fun (Have to repair the crashed ship to the point it's safe to fly or build a base, find enough salvage to build and power a base teleporter etc). (DAMHIK)