I'm with Ralph on this. NMS just doesn't have a flight model that comes anywhere near what ED (or X4) has, and I doubt any mods can bring it across that huge gap. As for the galaxy, my problem is with the solar systems. I just don't like geocentric solar systems, be it NMS or SE or X4. And technically, these games are worse than geocentric, because the planets don't move at all - they neither revolve nor rotate, it's literally Apollo driving his chariot (the sun) across the sky. Actually, he's dragging the whole sky, stars and all! What I would give to see a planet-rise in NMS, and to see the position of the planets in relation to each other change over time. This is where Elite knocks it out of the park and other space games fall flat on their face.
Unfortunately Elite gives me little reason to stay on a single planet long enough to enjoy these heliocentric solar systems it gives up, whereas NMS I can live on a single planet for weeks, exploring, building, etc. If only there was a game that had the best of both worlds.