http://m.technologyreview.com/news/527131/intergalactic-entrepreneurs-prepare-for-blast-off/
Intergalactic Entrepreneurs Prepare for Blast-Off
A unique gathering of 13 companies showcases a coming year of launches.
Michael Belfiore
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
It was a rare meeting of minds. Representatives from 13 commercial space companies gathered on May 1 at a place dedicated to going where few have gone before: the Explorers Club in New York.
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And in what would be by far the most ambitious and expensive tourist trip in history, Tom Shelley, president of Space Adventures, the company that got Garriott to the space station, said during his presentation that his company had signed up the two clients it needs to fund a manned lunar flyby. The mission, which is expected to cost at least $150 million per seat and is set to launch in 2017 or 2018, seeks to replicate the feat of NASAs Apollo 8, which flew around the back side of the moon in 1968. Like the missions the company has been offering to the International Space Station since 2001, it will use Russian-built hardware and will be commanded by a professional cosmonaut. Shelley told me after his presentation that his customers prefer not to be publicly identified until closer to launch date.