NASA just released a free game for Xbox (but it's got nothing on Kerbal Space Program)

techradar.com:

US space agency NASA has released a free single-player management game on the Microsoft Store – but To The Moon and Beyond may not send your spirits out of this world.

Released for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, To the Moon and Beyond(opens in new tab) is a semi-educational management game that challenges you to develop your own burgeoning space program as you attempt to launch crews of astronauts and establish a permanent base on the Moon. You’ll be choosing between research opportunities to pursue on the International Space Station, and picking between projects to invest in back on Earth, all while trying to develop your space program at the minimal cost possible.

Using a card-based system, the game has you pick between different research options and manage your budget, as well as respond to random events that threaten to upturn your spacefaring initiative. In between building rockets, rovers, and space suits, you’ll be trying to complete eight mission-critical objectives before time runs out. 

It all looks very simple and certainly doesn't have anything on the complexity of other space-themed games like Kerbal Space Program. It's primarily a piece of edutainment, replete with links to online NASA articles so you can learn about contemporary aeronautical engineering. To the Moon and Beyond does come with a full batch of achievements, though, and completing all 11 will earn you 1,000 Gamerscore.

This isn’t the first time the game’s launched, however. To the Moon and Beyond originally released for iOS and Android devices in 2020, although NASA said(opens in new tab) it anticipated bringing the game to Xbox down the line.

This isn’t the first time NASA has co-operated in the development of a video game. The agency previously