$100 Million May Buy a Ticket to See the Far Side of the Moon
NEW YORK — The company that pioneered commercial space travel by sending “tourists” up to the International Space Station is planning a new mission: rocketing people around the far side of the moon.
The price of a round-trip ticket: $100 million.
The first mission by Space Adventures could happen in 2008 or 2009 and is planned as a steppingstone to an eventual lunar landing by private citizens.
“For the first time in history, a private company is organizing a mission to the moon,” Space Adventures Chief Executive Eric Anderson said at a Manhattan news conference Wednesday, a day after the space shuttle Discovery returned to Earth. “This mission will inspire countries of the world, citizens ... our youth.”
Anderson said he had prospective “private explorers” who could afford the ticket.
The initial travelers would be the first to orbit the moon in more than 33 years, the Arlington, Va., company said. Only 27 people have made such a journey.
The trip, aboard a modified Russian spacecraft, would offer the chance to see the Earth rise from lunar orbit and to view the far side of the moon from an altitude of 62 miles.
The Soyuz was designed for lunar missions, although none ever took place. Anderson called it the most reliable craft in the history of space travel.
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