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Space Program: Space fanatics can stage their own space extravaganzas with a new, improved version of “Buzz Aldrin’s Race Into Space,” a computer program from Interplay Productions in Irvine.

The computer game has been available on floppy disks but is being produced in a new CD-ROM format that includes “a lot more video footage, including footage from the Soviet space archives,” said Interplay Productions spokesman P. Kevin Horn.

The program is designed for “anyone from age 13 on up who’s got a love of space,” Horn said. Players get to choose their own teams of engineers, scientists and astronauts. And, they must contend with alien forces in Congress (extraterrestrials in disguise) who want to eliminate space-exploration funding.

“You can be successful in space but unless you are in good graces with Congress, you might not get more money,” Horn said. “And, you can finally land a man on the moon only to have the (space capsule’s) door not open. I’ve had that happen, where I get to the moon and I’m not able to get out because I didn’t have the funding for a door latch.”