TransOrbital (http://www.transorbital.net) plans to go to the moon next year, and hopes to fly regularly there after that. Via Larry Kellogg at [EMAIL PROTECTED], who got it from one John Michael Williams.
http://www.sacbee.com/state_wire/story/5372756p-6360899c.html California firm signs deal for first commercial mission to moon By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV, Associated Press Writer Published 4:40 p.m. PST Tuesday, November 26, 2002" MOSCOW(AP) - A California company on Tuesday signed a $20 million deal with a Moscow rocket firm to fly the first private mission to the moon next year. The unmanned vehicle would take pictures and deliver messages and cremated remains. TransOrbital Inc. of La Jolla signed the contract with Moscow's International Space Company Kosmotras, which was authorized by the Russian government to use the decommissioned Soviet-built ballistic missiles for commercial space launches. Kosmotras, a joint venture between Russia and Ukraine, plans to test launch a replica of TransOrbital's space vehicle into an orbit around the Earth next month, and then send the real spacecraft on a trip to the moon next October, TransOrbital President Dennis Laurie said at a news conference. The space vehicle, called the TrailBlazer, would orbit the moon for about three months, taking high-resolution pictures of its surface before crashing onto its surface. Private messages, cremated remains and other commercial cargo will be carried in a capsule designed to survive the crash, Laurie said. TransOrbital said the company hopes to fly regular missions to the moon. "We are very excited about ... going to the moon on a regular basis," Laurie said. He added that the company already has "thousands" of orders for the delivery of jewelry, business cards and cremated remains to the moon's surface. "Most of them who want us to take the cremated remains like the idea of seeing their relatives on a nightly basis," Laurie said. One customer asked the company to deliver a throne-like chair to the moon, but TransOrbital rejected it as too bulky. He hailed Kosmotras' expertise, and especially the fact that it employs people who once worked for the Soviet moon program which sent unmanned probes and landing vehicles to the moon's surface. Kosmotras has the only government license for converting the decommissioned RS-20 missiles into the Dnepr booster rockets. The missile - the most powerful in the inventory of Russian strategic forces - is known as the SS-18 Satan in the west and capable of carrying 10 nuclear warheads. Kosmotras head Vladimir Andreyev said that the company currently has five Dnepr rockets, but may eventually convert up to 150 such boosters if the market is ready to absorb such a number. "Instead of being simply scrapped, these missiles can be used for commercial launches," Andreyev said. "It's very advantageous for Russia." All Dnepr launches will be conducted from the Baikonur cosmodrome in the former Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. Kosmotras has already carried out two commercial launches of Dnepr. A Fairfax, Va.-based company, LunaCorp, has also spoken about placing a satellite in lunar orbit to send back live images of its surface. The European Space Agency and Japan also have plans to send spacecraft to the moon the same year. --- -- <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Kragen Sitaker <http://www.pobox.com/~kragen/> Edsger Wybe Dijkstra died in August of 2002. The world has lost a great man. See http://advogato.org/person/raph/diary.html?start=252 and http://www.kode-fu.com/geek/2002_08_04_archive.shtml for details.
