The space agency has a plan to reach the Moon, for which it has contracted several Flight Directors. As a player you're one of them - you must form a team and get as much notoriety as you can by exploring space. You will replicate the space race: from the launch of the first unmanned probes until the arrival of man on the moon. Each of these milestones will give you Exploration Points; whoever gets the most wins the game.
Exploration Points are achieved by launching and successfully completing missions into space. You will need to create all phases of a mission: from building the ship, to the planning of the mission by the ground crew, and subsequent launch. Once launched, your ship will need to get successfully through the mission. You must assess the risks of launching spacecraft prematurely, and also deal with the astronauts and their training.
Finally, other players will try to reach the Moon before you because this is the space race!