Taking Civilians to the Moon

[SpaceBurger]

Wanted to open a thread on this for people to brainstorm and discuss this topic. A friend of mine who is in the military - high ranking officer - attempted to go the route of Astronaut some years back but didn't get approved into the program. He and I have vowed to eachother (both in our early 30's) to do whatever we can within our power to go to the moon before we die. Currently - flights just leaving the atmosphere are running at about $100,000.

Will you save the money even if its that much, in 30 years, for a trip to the moon and back?

Does anyone else here share this undying obsession with one day leaving the confines of this planet and going at least to the moon?

Do any of you think we adults will see this technology come to fruition, with the new emphasis on private sector space travel?

I saw the current Virgin "spaceship" and felt a little depressed. It seems to do nothing more than "go really high", and then come down again. If you take a look at the windows on the vehicle they're probably the size of my laptop. I can just picture a multi millionaire who just paid over $100,000 sitting there for the whopping 20 mins he's "in space" ... trying desperately to peer out that tiny little peep hole, and getting back on the ground only to say "WTF" ....

Thoughts?

-SB-

 

[a_lost_packet_]

I'd love to go to the Moon. If I thought it was possible, I'd save every cent and make the trip when I was 90. But, I don't think civilian trips to the Moon are going to be possible in my future.

But, that only means that current efforts won't result in that. There's nothing keeping people from starting up their own venture to try to get there. I'm sure all the private space companies would love to try it. The problem is that the Moon is a lot farther away than just going "very high."

Now, if we can find the old plans of the Saturn V, and get the manufacturers to crank out the parts, you could count on me to be online/ontime with a wrench and a heck of a lot of good will to try to help.

 

[cosmictraveler]

Does anyone else here share this undying obsession with one day leaving the confines of this planet and going at least to the moon?

Perhaps one day in the future it will be possible to safely send passengers to the moon but without safeguards from radiation and mechanical failures I think that will be some time down the road, say 50 years or so. I believe we have more pressing problems here on Earth to take care of first but eventually technology will get ahead and we will travel beyond LEO.