Space Adventures’ bold plan to send a pair of billionauts around the moon aboard a modified Soyuz seems to be largely on track. Back in May, company officials said that if they hoped to sign up a second paying passenger, at $150 million per seat, by the end of the year. If they were successful, then a flight could take place by late 2015, with a test flight preceding it by about a year.
Last week, a Space Adventures official said the schedule could slip a bit. “Such a flight is feasible in 2016-2017,” said Sergei Kostenko, who heads up Space Adventures’ Russian office.
The Virginia-based company has already sold one ticket for the lunar trip. A second paying passenger is required for work to begin on the project, which would take about four years to implement. The modified Soyuz vehicle would be attached to an upper stage/habitation module for the six-day trip around the moon.