Space Adventures Offers the Opportunity to Journey to the Moon

Space Adventures, the company responsible for the first space tourist trips to the International Space Station, has announced their plans for longer space tourist excursions starting in 2015. These excursions will include a trip around the Moon. During a teleconference, company chairman Eric Anderson revealed that they have already sold the first seat for their circumlunar flight program. Once the second seat is sold and finalized, they will be able to carry out the first private mission to the Moon within the next four years.

So, how will this commercial lunar tour work? The tourists will launch on a Soyuz spacecraft to Earth orbit and then dock with the ISS, where they will stay for 8-10 days. To accommodate the round-trip translunar flight, a separate rocket, most likely a Proton, will launch an upper stage engine and an additional habitation module for the Soyuz, providing more volume for the journey. After undocking from the ISS, the Soyuz will dock with the upper stage and hab module. It will take approximately 3 ½ days to reach the Moon, where the Soyuz will swing around the far side, bringing the passengers to within 100 km of the Moon’s surface. From this vantage point, the tourists will have the opportunity to see the Earth from a distance, similar to the experience of the Apollo astronauts.

The return journey will also take around 3 ½ days, with a direct entry into Earth’s atmosphere using the Soyuz. Anderson described this as a significant milestone for private spaceflight, as it represents the possibility of a commercial mission to the Moon without government sponsorship. He expressed his excitement about this unique moment in history.

One of the advantages of this plan, according to Anderson, is that it does not require any new technology or reprogramming of systems. There is no need for improvements to the heat shield or other systems. Richard Garriott, who previously traveled to the ISS with Space Adventures, also praised the mission plan, stating that it offers a high level of comfort and reliability. He highlighted the habitation module, which will provide an extraordinarily comfortable trip to the Moon and back, with more space than the Apollo missions.

As for the price, this once-in-a-lifetime experience comes with a hefty price tag of $100 to $150 million.

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