To the Moon? Firm Hopes to Sell $1.5 Billion Trips

FYI,

"To the Moon? Firm Hopes to Sell $1.5 Billion Trips"
Associated Press

: Attention wealthy nations and billionaires: A team of former NASA
: executives will fly you to the moon in an out-of-this-world
: commercial venture combining the wizardry of Apollo and the
: marketing of Apple.

: For a mere $1.5 billion, the business is offering countries the
: chance to send two people to the moon and back, either for research
: or national prestige. And if you are an individual with that kind
: of money to spare, you too can go the moon for a couple days.

: Some space experts, though, are skeptical of the firm's financial
: ability to get to the moon. The venture called Golden Spike Co. was
: announced Thursday.

: Dozens of private space companies have started up recently, but few
: if any will make it just like in other fields said Harvard
: astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who tracks launches worldwide.

: "This is unlikely to be the one that will pan out," McDowell said.

: NASA's last trip to the moon launched 40 years ago Friday. The
: United States is the only country that has landed people there,
: beating the Soviet Union in a space race to the moon that
: transfixed the world. But once the race ended, there has been only
: sporadic interest in the moon.

: President Barack Obama cancelled NASA's planned return to the moon,
: saying America had already been there. On Wednesday, a National
: Academy of Sciences said the nation's space agency has no clear
: goal or direction for future human exploration.

: But the ex-NASA officials behind Golden Spike do. It's that old
: moon again.

: The firm has talked to other countries, which are showing interest,
: said former NASA associate administrator Alan Stern, Golden Spike's
: president. Stern said he's looking at countries like South Africa,
: South Korea, and Japan. One very rich individual he won't give a
: name has also been talking with them, but the company's main
: market is foreign nations, he said.

: "It's not about being first. It's about joining the club," Stern
: said. "We're kind of cleaning up what NASA did in the 1960s. We're
: going to make a commodity of it in the 2020s."

: The selling point: "the sex appeal of flying your own astronauts,"
: Stern said.

: Many countries did pony up millions of dollars to fly their
: astronauts on the Russian space station Mir and American space
: shuttles in the 1990s, but a billion dollar price tag seems a bit
: steep, Harvard's McDowell said.

: NASA chief spokesman David Weaver said the new company "is further
: evidence of the timeliness and wisdom of the Obama administration's
: overall space policy" which tries to foster commercial space
: companies.

: Getting to the moon would involve several steps: Two astronauts
: would launch to Earth orbit, connect with another engine that would
: send them to lunar orbit. Around the moon, the crew would link up
: with a lunar orbiter and take a moon landing ship down to the
: surface.

: The company will buy existing rockets and capsules for the
: launches, Stern said, only needing to develop new spacesuits and a
: lunar lander.

: Stern said he's aiming for a first launch before the end of the
: decade and then up 15 or 20 launches total. Just getting to the
: first launch will cost the company between $7 billion and
: $8 billion, he said.

: Besides the ticket price, Stern said there are other revenue
: sources, such as NASCAR-like advertising, football stadium-like
: naming rights, and Olympic style video rights.

: It may be technically feasible, but it's harder to see how it is
: financially doable, said former NASA associate administrator Scott
: Pace, space policy director at George Washington University. Just
: dealing with the issue of risk and the required test launches is
: inordinately expensive, he said.

: Company board chairman Gerry Griffin, an Apollo flight director who
: once headed the Johnson Space Center, said that's a correct
: assessment: "I don't think there's any technological stumble here.
: It's going to be financial."

: The company is full of space veterans; American University space
: policy professor Howard McCurdy called them "heavy hitters" in the
: field. Advisers include space shuttle veterans, Hollywood
: directors, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former U.N.
: Ambassador Bill Richardson and engineer-author Homer Hickam.

Mark Reiff