If you reset the run, the relay tower cannot be built. Therefore you cannot research teir 9 and launch.
Viewing post in Shoot for the Stars: Journey Home comments
Confirmed — that's was a real bug, and a bad one because it soft-locks the run. Thanks for reporting!
Fix is out now.
The Relay Tower's "you've launched before" check was wrongly tied to a per-planet
counter that the reset zeroes out — even though your actual colony history (and Stellar Knowledge) was still intact. It now checks your colony history directly, which survives reset.
What this means for you: just update to v2.5.88 and reload your existing save. As soon as your colony comes back online, the next game tick will detect that you've already established colonies and the Relay Tower will appear in your build menu (the moment you reach Tier 1, which on a reset run is very early). From there you can build it, unlock Tier 9, build the Signal Transmitter, and launch normally. No save migration needed — your stuck save will just start working.
Thanks again — that was a real bug and a save-stranding one. Sorry it cost you the run.