# Billionaires May Beat NASA to the Moon

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billionaires-may-beat-nasa-to-the-moon/305505>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [May 25, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billionaires-may-beat-nasa-to-the-moon/305505 "2005-05-25T22:19:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billionaires-may-beat-nasa-to-the-moon/305505/1 "2005-05-25T22:19:43Z")

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[So says the founder of the X-Prize.](http://www.space.com/adastra/050523_diamandis_nss.html)

> [@](#):
>
> The personal spaceflight revolution now underway is spawning a suborbital travel market that will lead to passenger traffic headed into Earth orbit, Diamandis said. “In the next five to eight years we will have the first private orbital flights occurring,” he predicted.
> 
> Diamandis added that something very natural will happen when private orbital flights arise. “When you’re in orbit you are two-thirds of the way to anywhere,” he said.
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> “I predict that within about three years of private human orbital flights…you’ll have the first private teams of people stockpiling fuel on orbit and making a bee-line for the Moon,” Diamandis said.
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> “They’ll not ask for permission…maybe cryptically hiding what they are doing…but there will be somebody making a bee-line to the Moon,” Diamandis said. The first private team to reach the lunar landscape will stake out the ground. “They’ll say this is ours. Stay away. I claim this for my company…my new nation,” he said.

Considering he knows Rutan, I’d say he might have a good idea about such things.

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**Author:** ![I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@I\_can\_t\_believe\_that\_s\_butter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_can_t_believe_that_s_butter)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billionaires-may-beat-nasa-to-the-moon/305505/2 "2005-05-25T22:22:50Z")

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I’m puzzled. What about that soiree in 1969? Is there some distinction I miss?

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [May 25, 2005, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/billionaires-may-beat-nasa-to-the-moon/305505/3 "2005-05-25T22:28:33Z")

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> [@Joe K](#):
>
> I’m puzzled. What about that soiree in 1969? Is there some distinction I miss?

Well, considering we haven’t been back since the early 1970s, and NASA’s talking about returning in about 10 or 15 years. . .