Tickets To The Moon? Yours For £100m

Wednesday, June 20, 2012 Tickets To The Moon? Yours For £100m A British company has offered tourists the chance to go the Moon - for the low, low price of £100m. Excalibur Almaz, an aerospace company based on the Isle of Man says it is ready to blast travellers off to our planet's satellite for the very premium price aboard a fleet of second-hand Russian space equipment. The plan - enthusiastically reported on by the press, but criticised by some experts - would be the first of its kind. The company had previously said it would begin orbital flights in 2013, but is now focused on the new plan to go one better and head to the Moon. The 500,000 mile trip to the Moon and back could theoretically take place as soon as 2015, according to the company's founder. And despite critics claiming that the figures don't add up, Art Dula, CEO of the company, said he is "ready to sell the tickets". He describes the trips as less 'space tourism' and more 'private expedition'. "It's exactly in the same vein as the historic exploration that was done by Europe and the British Isles over the last several centuries that resulted in so much growth," he said at a meeting in London, where he announced the plan. "The EA fleet has previously flown to space several times and will undertake many more missions. It contains vessels of a design that has spent thousands of hours in space successfully. This is scientific fact, not fiction." WHO LIT THE FLAMES? Facebook Infographic 'Explains' Where Your Angry Reports Go Want A Space Suit? That'll Be $10k ESCAPE FROM LONDON: Assange Applies For Political Asylum In Ecuador First Twitter Ad Campaign Banned BLOG POSTS Luke Hebblethwaite: 3D Printing, IKEA and the Lessons to Be Learned From the Music Industry If I was IKEA right now, I'd be worried; there's a new technology in town that's going to change their world just as much as the move to digital changed the music industry. That technology is 3D printing. Larry Magid: After Testing the MacBook Pro With Retina Display, I Bought a 13-inch MacBook Air I have to admit I was tempted by the 15-inch Macbook Pro with retina display. Not only is it thinner and lighter than previous MacBook Pros, its screen is nothing less than stunning. Martin Ford: Will Robots and Automation Make Human Workers Obsolete? PBS News Hour recently had a special on the main topic I've been writing about here on The Huffington Post and elsewhere: unemployment and inequality caused by technology and, in particular, automation. Jemimah Steinfeld: Harvard Researchers Say: 'Chinese People are Individually Free but Collectively in Chains' This is a fascinating exposé in a country reputed to repress freedom of speech at all times. Apparently only two topics -- pornography and criticism of the censors themselves -- are always blocked. Others are "free rein" it seems, so long as they don't pave the way to Tiananmen. B.J. Epstein: Sweden: If a Racist Tweets in a Forest, Does Anyone Care? Why @sweden lets Sonja Abrahamsson continue her inane tweeting is something I can't quite comprehend. She is promoting the idea of an insular, racist country that doesn't welcome or accept those who are different.

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