The U.S. government has given a Cape Canaveral company the go-ahead to fly the first commercial mission to the moon, News 6 partner Florida Today reports.
The first-of-its-kind approval announced Wednesday morning clears the way for Moon Express to fly a robotic lander about the size of the “Star Wars” drone R2-D2 to the lunar surface as soon as next year.
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“It’s certainly trailblazing,” said Bob Richards, Moon Express co-founder and CEO. “It’s a huge milestone for us.”
A startup with Silicon Valley roots and investors, Moon Express becomes the first from a growing group of entrepreneurial space firms authorized to fly a mission beyond near-Earth orbit, and to attempt a moon landing that only a few national space agencies have achieved to date.
Other companies may not be far behind.
SpaceX hopes to launch an unmanned "Red Dragon" mission to Mars as soon as 2018. Planetary Resources wants to mine asteroids. And Bigelow Aerospace, which recently attached a prototype habitat to the International Space Station, envisions lunar and Mars bases.