It's a big universe out there, and there are other ways to leave the solar system. Several new destinations with new machines, technologies, and unique processes
I had a similar problem, seems they were intentionally removed. If you search through the mod files in prototypes/dependency-updates for a file called Lab-science-updates.lua and open it, you can get rid of the lines near the bottom that remove the basic packs. Then save and update the rar archive. Obviously if you update the mod later it will most likely revert but you can always fix it again if/when that happens.
go download the latest version, fix is in.
It made sense to me to make it space sciences only because it's processed in space, and I don't feel you should need 30+ sciences as the number of packs you acquire increases. That said, you should play the game the way you want, and I love the idea of a giant science spaceship.
Have fun on your science platform! Feel free to share screenshots!