Los Angeles Times: On the 40-year anniversary of the last manned moon mission, former NASA officials and investors have launched a new enterprise in commercial space travel called Golden Spike.
Los Angeles Times: On the 40-year anniversary of the last manned moon mission, former NASA officials and investors have launched a new enterprise in commercial space travel called Golden Spike.
At an announcement in Washington on Thursday, former Apollo flight director Gerry Griffin and former NASA science chief Alan Stern, the chairman of the board and chief executive of the new company, outlined their ambitious plans. Using existing rockets and “emerging commercial-crew spacecraft” — a la SpaceX — the outfit hopes to operate two-person lunar missions starting at a cost of $1.4 billion by the end of the decade. in a press release, Golden Spike said that the company was already working with aerospace companies to begin designing a lunar lander, lunar space suits and surface experiment packages that might be put to use by future moon walkers. The company will also sponsor a 2013 conference on potential lunar science opportunities its missions might pursue.
