Am I missing something about going to the Starship control place? That just seems so out of left field, I don't recall seeing anything until that page that says "Hey you need to get the ship cleared to take off" The first time I ran this I mentally left it out because unless I'm mistaken there is no build up to it. How do I correct this in my game?

I've only ran the adventure once, but I don't recall any sort of lead-up to that fact. I think I had players roll a knowledge check or just had the bartender inform them of the clamps.