Read these if you like Realistic Science Fiction
Listing 2 stories.
When an alien spaceship lands on Earth in need of help, leaders of countries around the world help and house them, causing tension between humans and these costly guests.
In the near future where NASA is defunded and only private corporations have the infrastructure for space travel, a former NASA astronaut gains favor with one such corporation to send a mission to Mars, but then crash lands in an accident that may have been intentional sabotage by the company who funded their trip.