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US government expected to approve first private moon mission
US officials may approve a commercial mission to the moon, putting space travel beyond Earth’s orbit in the purview of the private sector for the first time in history.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that the government is close to officially endorsing a mission for space startup Moon Express, citing unnamed sources.
Once the details are worked out, the company will send a craft to escort a 20-pound payload of scientific gear to the moon in the second half of 2017.
“We've been a regulatory pathfinder out of necessity,” because up until now “only governments have undertaken space missions beyond Earth orbit,” Moon Express founder and CEO Bob Richards told the Journal.
The company is one of 16 that is competing for the Google Lunar X prize, which will award $20 million to the first firm to land a craft on the moon that can travel across the surface of the moon and send photographs back to Earth …. https://www.rt.com/usa
Source: http://luismmx.blogspot.com/2016/06/us-government-expected-to-approve-first.html
