Excalibur Almaz will start moon tourism by 2015.... Charging £100 million. 


Britain could become the first country to fly a tourist around the moon, after an Isle of Man-based company announced that it would be ready to take passengers on private lunar expeditions by 2015.

Excalibur Almaz will charge wanna be astronauts an average of £100 million for a six to eight month journey exploring deep space.

Three wealthy individuals, or astronauts from emerging powers, will be crammed into a reusable capsule the size of a waste skip and launched by rocket to a space station. After the two vehicles link up, they will travel on to the Moon.

The company, run by Americans, chose to be based in the Isle of Man because of the island government’s commitment to the space industry, which ministers forecast will soon make up more a third of its gross domestic product. The lack of corporation tax and proximity to the City are also advantages.

Unlike SpaceX, its US rival, Excalibur Almaz has not received any American government subsidies. Its biggest advantage is its second-hand Soviet spacecraft which have helped Excalibur Almaz avoid the laborious process of developing and testing new equipment.

Excalibur Almaz Lunar and L2 Exploration Missions
Excalibur Almaz Lunar and L2 Exploration Missions, using the Salyut-Class Spacecraft, will travel farther into the solar system than any prior human spaceflight. This bold step into the future involves the scientific community, explorers, adventurers and visionaries.

Excalibur Almaz plans to use its Salyut-Class Spacecraft and RRVs as an orbital and cislunar transportation system. These components unlock the potential to accomplish the most ambitious private space missions to date. Cislunar missions will explore the limitless, cyclical orbital pathways that lead to a vast array of destinations including the moon, near-Earth asteroids and gravity-stable destinations called Libration (or Lagrange) Points. These orbits will take travelers farther from Earth than any human has ever traveled before. EA can also take travelers close to the lunar surface. Asteroids could eventually be visited, explored and mined. These exciting mission profiles will inspire humanity to live, work and thrive in space! Learn More