While there is some concern voiced by the likes of former senator and astronaut John Glenn about the trimming of the budget for NASA manned flight activities, NASA is still putting people on the Moon. Well, digitally, anyway.

And in a game.

On July 6, NASA is launching “Moonbase Alpha,” a single- or multi-player game wherein the participants must restore critical systems and oxygen flow to their settlement after a meteor strike.

The game, developed by the Army Game Studio (yes, as in the U.S. Army) with Virtual Heroes, isn't to get NASA into competition with the likes of EA, but rather to be a proof-of-concept showing how NASA content can be combined with a game engine such that it could inspire interest in science, technology, engineering, and math.

Clearly a case of some clever product development. After all, as NASA has been the only outfit to put people on the Moon, who better to create the environment than rocket scientists?