Space Adventures Proposes Tourist Trips Around the Moon

Commercial spaceflight companies have already began filling in the void that will be left behind as NASA retires its shuttle fleet, in mid-2011. Space Adventures, for example, is planning to send paying tourists on joyrides that will take them around the Moon.

The plan is to launch a rocket from Earth, have it travel out of the atmosphere, spend a couple of days heading towards the Moon, and then using it to slingshot back home. The entire adventure would last more than two weeks, representatives from the company say.

Officials announced this plan some time ago, but what they did recently was upgrade the spacecraft that was originally supposed to be used for the job. This will enable a safer, more comfortable travel for paying customers.

Space Adventures worked together with the Russian Federal Space Agency (RosCosmos) over the past decade or so, brokering numerous visits to the International Space Station (ISS) by private individuals.

For the newly-proposed, lunar package, the company will rely on the Russian-built Soyuz space capsule, like it did for the ISS flights. But the twist is that a new module will be added into the mix, which will allow the passengers more room to move.

At this point, it is estimated that such a joyride around the Moon will cost each of the two passengers the Soyuz can carry an estimated $150 million. Thus far, the company has already signed on its first customer, and is in talks with another person.

What this means for Space Adventures' schedule is that the first launch may take place within 4 years, by the end of 2015. “The mission, in my mind, will be another watershed event,” Eric Anderson, the chairman of Space Adventures, told reporters on Thursday, May 5.

“It's remarkable that a private company will be able to work in the market and finance what is likely to be humanity's first return to the Moon in what will, at that time, be 45 years,” he went on to say.

Anderson also went into some details about how the flight will unfold. After launch, the Soyuz capsule carrying two paying passengers and a Russian Soyuz commander will head for the ISS.

The three will then spend about 10 days on the station, during which time the additional habitation module and an upper stage engine will be launched aboard a different rocket, and into low-Earth orbit.

“It would be an extraordinarily comfortable trip to the Moon and back. It's considerably larger than any that the Apollo era people had on their journeys to the Moon and back,” added Space Adventures' vice chairman, Richard Garriott, quoted by Space.

It will take 3 and a half days to get to the Moon after the 10-day stay on the ISS, and about the same time to return to Earth. All in all, customers will get more than two weeks of space adventures.

“The Moon holds a special place in all of our hearts. It's a symbol of the space future that humanity wishes for, a symbol of our curiosity, and something that we see every night,” Anderson said.

“When the private Moon mission launches, the eyes of the world will truly be upon those people, and it will truly be an extraordinary event,” he concluded.