Honeymoon on moon

OUR romantic relationship with the moon seems to be forever. It has been so for thousands of years. The Earth’s only natural satellite that makes a progression and recession in appearance once a fortnight every month has been an object of worship and a subject of extensive scientific studies. For centuries, the shining disc in the night sky has been the arc light for innumerable legends, poems and folklore.

Published: Sat 20 Aug 2005, 10:24 AM

Last updated: Thu 2 Apr 2015, 6:34 PM

The moon is the first planet to be surveyed by astronauts ever since space exploration began. Though its lunarscape has yielded valuable clues to cosmic origins, space explorers have not been able to set up a base on the inhospitable moon land. With space research getting wider and deeper, the moon is now left for starry-eyed travellers.

A US company, Space Adventures, which has sent two tourists into orbit some time back, is planning lunar tours for the well heeled. The price tag is $100 million for a 10 to 21- day round trip, with a possible stopover at the International Space Station. The vehicle for the voyage is Russian Soyuz, which can accommodate only two passengers besides a pilot. But it lacks boosting power to go to the moon. So the Russians have come up with a plan: send a booster into space that will carry the passengers either from a low orbit or the Space Station after the Soyuz is docked.

Space Adventures, which sent financier Dennis Tito on the first space tourism trip in 2001, has done global demographic research to assess the potential of its honeymoon tours. It estimates there are 500 to 1,000 people who can afford a $100 million ticket to go around the moon — no landing, for obvious technical reasons — and if everything goes well, the company wants to lift off a couple, not necessarily a newly-married one, for a lunar rendezvous in 2008.

Space tourism and inter-planetary tours could well become the future of travel, as futurologists have predicted, if the moon trips become a success story and turn money-spinners. For the deep-pocketed gentry and nouveau riche, future marriage promises may include a ticket to the moon.