On the 40th anniversary of the last mission to the moon, it's fitting that a company founded by former NASA scientists involved in the Apollo missions is hoping to offer tourist flights to the moon by 2020. The price tag? $1.5 billion for a trip for two.
The company, Golden Spike, plans to sell trips to the moon to nations that don't have space programs, as well as corporations with enough cash and interest, and even a few well-heeled tourists. They won't work with China or other countries with questionable motives, though Russia is probably allowed.
They have plenty of experienced talent on board. CEO Alan Stern is the former director of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Chairman of the Board Gerry Griffin is a former Apollo flight director. He was played by David Clyde Carr in the movie Apollo 13.
We're selling to nations, corporations and individuals," Stern told SPACE.com. "Get in line - and I think it's going to be a long one."
"It's not about being first. It's about joining the club," he said on Wednesday. "We're kind of cleaning up what Nasa did in the 1960s. We're going to make a commodity of it in the 2020s."
Golden Spike, named after the final nailing of the Transcontinental Railroad that connected the East and West coasts of the United States, intends to use existing technology to keep costs low, but they haven't picked a rocket yet. Some speculate they could team up with Elon Musk's SpaceX, which just fulfilled a private contract to send a rocket bearing supplies to the International Space Station.
"The trick is 40 years old." Said Griffin. "We know how to do this. We realize this is the stuff of science fiction. We intend to make it science fact. We believe in the price points that we're talking about."
While rented rockets could get Golden Spike to the moon, they'll need to design a lunar lander, as well as spacesuits for astronauts or tourists. So far, the company has one interested tourist, but they haven't said who it is yet.