Now, a trip for 2 to the moon in $1.5 billion

A team of former NASA executives is launching a private venture that offers countries a two-person trip to the moon, either for research or national prestige, for $1.5 billion.

The venture was announced on Wednesday.

The firm has talked to countries which are showing interest in going, former NASA associate administrator Alan Stern, who is president of the new Golden Spike Company, said.

Stern said that he’s looking at countries like South Africa, South Korea, and Japan.

“It’s not about being first. It’s about joining the club,” Fox News quoted Stern as saying.

“We’re kind of cleaning up what NASA did in the 1960s. We’re going to make a commodity of it in the 2020s,” he said.

Stern said that he’s aiming for a first launch before the end of the decade and then up to 15 or 20 launches total.

He also said that the company will buy existing rockets and capsules and only needs to develop new space suits and a lunar lander.