First Commercial Moon Mission Approved

dorantrist writes "A Discovery Channel article that The U.S. Government has just licensed the first commercial mission to the moon to TransOrbital, Inc.. Part of the mission is "to VERIFY Apollo and other landing sites" because there are still a few people out there who believe the Apollo program was a hoax. --Maybe they can also pickup the golf balls left by Alan Shepard?"

Comments

Arrogant Conquerors?

[dbCooper0]

So let me get this straight. Since the U.S. was the first to land there, we own the moon?

TransOrbital, Inc. has become the first private company in the history of space flight to win approval from the U.S. government to explore, photograph, and land on the moon. The company expects to launch its Trailblazer Mission from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan within the next 9-12 months.

The approvals and licensing by U.S. State Department and The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) position TransOrbital as only company presently authorized by the U.S. Government to return to the moon.

The moon travels all around the world and has since before we existed, IIRC. It also affects the tides of oceans that don't "belong" to any country (can you say "international waters"?) - so does that mean that the U.S. "owns" these oceans now?

The thought that someone needs the U.S.'s permission to go there is repulsive. The only thing that should be considered is the fact that a missile/rocket will be launched from the other side of the world, and DoD needs to know it's friendly.

Verify the moon landing spots?

[Lonath]

Photoshop anyone? :P