A team of former NASA executives announced a venture called Golden Spike Co, offering trips to the Moon for two people, either to individuals or to countries for research or national prestige, for a mere $1.5 billion.
The company is 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.
The United States is the only country that has landed people in Moon. Recently Barack Obama cancelled NASA’s planned return to the moon, saying America had already been there.
Golden Spike is looking at countries like South Africa, South Korea, and Japan to cooperate in the venture. The company will buy existing rockets and capsules for the launches, Stern said, only needing to develop new spacesuits and a lunar lander.
Picture courtesy: NASA. A Man on the Moon – In one of the most famous photographs of the 20th Century, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin walks on the surface of the moon near the leg of the lunar module Eagle. Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong took this photograph with a 70mm lunar surface camera. Armstrong and Aldrin explored the Sea of Tranquility for two and a half hours while crewmate Michael Collins orbited above in the command module Columbia.
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