Ground control to Major Tom: NASA MMO gets a developer

NASA, Virtual Heroes and Project Whitecard have entered into an agreement to develop the space program's MMO, Astronaut: Moon, Mars and Beyond.

NASA hopes that the Unreal Engine 3-driven game will be a learning tool, and will help more students become interested in engineering and science careers.

"We want to create a fun, compelling gaming experience that will give players the chance to learn about science and engineering careers while they play the game," said Daniel Laughlin, project manager at NASA to Yahoo Games.

"NASA is committed to attracting more students to science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields of study and careers. We hope this game will inspire players to consider those careers."

Astronaut is due to be released in 2010. A demo is expected sometime around the end of this year.