I did not realize this had to be three submissions. My first progress was the add lives to the asteroid game.

For this feature, I added a health system so the player has three
lives instead of losing instantly. In nav_game.py, I added "health": 3
to the game state, and in spaceship.py I created a take_damage method
that subtracts one life when the ship is hit. If the player's health
reaches zero, the game ends. This change is important because it
makes the game less punishing, gives the player more chances to
recover from mistakes, and makes gameplay feel more balanced and fun.

spaceship.py

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+# spaceship.py
+# ------------
+# By MWC Contributors
+# This module defines a spaceship agent class.
+
+from bullet import Bullet
+
+class Spaceship:
+    name = "ship"
+    character = '^'
+
+    def __init__(self, board_size):
+        board_width, board_height = board_size
+        self.position = (board_width // 2, board_height - 1)
+
+    def handle_keystroke(self, keystroke, game):
+        x, y = self.position
+        new_position = None
+
+        # Move LEFT
+        if keystroke.name in ("KEY_LEFT", "a", "A"):
+            new_position = (x - 1, y)
+
+        # Move RIGHT
+        elif keystroke.name in ("KEY_RIGHT", "d", "D"):
+            new_position = (x + 1, y)
+
+        # Move UP
+        elif keystroke.name in ("KEY_UP", "w", "W"):
+            new_position = (x, y - 1)
+
+        # Move DOWN
+        elif keystroke.name in ("KEY_DOWN", "s", "S"):
+            new_position = (x, y + 1)
+
+        # SHOOT (m or M)
+        elif keystroke.name in ("m", "M"):
+            bx, by = x, y - 1
+            if game.on_board((bx, by)):
+                bullet = Bullet((bx, by))
+                game.add_agent(bullet)
+            return  # don’t move on shoot
+
+        else:
+            return  # ignore other keys
+
+        # If we are trying to move:
+        if new_position is not None and game.on_board(new_position):
+            if game.is_empty(new_position):
+                self.position = new_position
+            else:
+                # We bumped into something (probably an asteroid)
+                self.take_damage(game)
+
+    def take_damage(self, game):
+        """Reduce health; end game if health reaches 0."""
+        game.state["health"] -= 1
+        if game.state["health"] <= 0:
+            game.end()