Cruises to the Moon
Space Adventures, a company specialising in space tourism, have taken things to the next level by offering a trip around the Moon for the low low price of, ahem, $150 million. Company chairman Eric Anderson says that they are able to accomplish this using existing off-the-shelf technology. Guests will be launched into Earth orbit on a Soyuz rocket, which will rendezvous with the International Space Station, where they will wait for just over a week for a Proton rocket to bring up an extra rocket stage, and a habitation module. The Soyuz will dock with the new sections, and then ferry the passengers on a 7 day round trip, swinging behind the moon and passing a mere 100km from its surface. The return leg will take them straight back to Earth.
The first two seats have already been sold, but sadly not to me.
While the extended layover of more than a week does seem to contradict the claims that the “mission” will have “a high degree of comfort”, it’s still pretty incredible that such a thing even exists. Imagine! Saving up your pennies, then getting on top of a rocket and visiting another world! We may not have our flying cars yet, but we’re definitely living in the future.