“One small step for Man. One giant leap for Mankind”. Those famous words will continue to be remembered for years to come. Made historic by Neil Armstrong – the first person to set foot on the Moon – the thought expresses the progress mankind has made when it comes to space exploration. And now it looks like the common man may soon be able to set his foot on the moon. Unbelievable? Sure does sound far-fetched, but according to Naveen Jain, founder of Moon Express, this could become a reality in ten years from now – 2026.
Moon Express is the first non-government organization to secure approval from US government for landing on the surface of Moon. Moon Express was born out of the Google Lunar XPRIZE (GLXP), which is an inducement prize space competition organized by XPRIZE and sponsored by Google. The $30 million Google Lunar XPRIZE is an unprecedented competition to challenge and inspire engineers, entrepreneurs, and innovators from around the world to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration.
How Much Will It Cost For Journey To The Moon And Back!
Virgin Galactic charges nearly $250,000 per seat for sending tourists to space. Only the rich and the famous can dream of paying such a huge amount. But Moon Express has different plans. It wants to make space travel affordable. Explaining how the journey to the moon is possible for just $10,000 Naveen Jain says – “In a mission that initially cost us to go to the moon about $25 billion, our mission to the moon next year is going to be $7 million, and the year after it’s going to go down to millions. In the next ten years, the cost of going to the moon is going to be $10,000.” He also added that getting to the moon would be possible in just four hours, faster than the travel time needed to go from New York to London.
Moon – Your Next Honeymoon Destination?
In the near future, the honeymoon may rightfully take place on the moon! With space tourism becoming increasingly affordable and if Naveen Jain’s predictions about $10,000 moon journey becomes true, we could very well see people heading to the moon for holidaying. Holiday beyond Earth will soon become commonplace!