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"  If you&amp;#039;ve got $150 million to spare and want to take a trip around the moon, don&amp;#039;t wait for much longer\u2014just one of the two seats that private space firm Space Adventures is selling for a proposed lunar flyby remains. Byron Lichtenberg, a payload specialist aboard the space shuttle missions STS-9 and STS-45, noted this today at the MIT conference &amp;quot;Earth, Air, Ocean and Space: The Future of Exploration.&amp;quot; The news that Space Adventures had sold one of the two nine-figure tickets came out quietly in January, when company CEO Eric Anderson mentioned it at a conference in Munich, Germany. Today, Lichtenberg, who had been in contact with the Space Adventures team, told a roomful of space pros, including astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Massimino, that the sale was definite, sending a murmur of excitement through the room. Lichtenberg confirmed the statement with PM Senior Editor Joe Pappalardo, who is reporting from the conference.  Space Adventures, a Virginia-based company, has been planning a lunar flyby since 2005. It offered the two seats aboard a Russian-made Soyuz spacecraft that will fly around the moon in a mission scheduled for 2015. Anderson won&amp;#039;t say who purchased the first $150 million ticket, but hinted that you&amp;#039;ll know the person&amp;#039;s name when you hear it.  What could a potential space traveler expect if they purchased the last remaining seat on Space Adventures&amp;#039; moon flyby? The no-frills Soyuz TMA carries one pilot and two passengers. It launches on a three-stage rocket, and will require extra propulsion for a moon flyby. After the Soyuz is launched, a second launch will send a rocket booster into low Earth orbit to rendezvous with the Soyuz and provide the addition propellant. It&amp;#039;s the extra fuel and equipment needed to travel a quarter of a million miles\u2014as opposed to simply journeying to the International Space Station or into orbit\u2014that causes the insanely high price of the lunar trip.  Don&amp;#039;t have $150 million? PM&amp;#039;s May cover story, &amp;quot;The Early Adopter&amp;#039;s Guide to Space Travel,&amp;quot; shows you all the ways you&amp;#039;ll be able to visit space in the not-too-distant future, including a few that will go a little easier on your wallet. And, PM predicts, even the lunar flyby will become a bit more affordable in the years to come\u2014technological breakthroughs will bring down the trip&amp;#039;s cost into the low millions. Just wait a few years. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/rockets/a13025/just-one-150-million-seat-remains-on-space-adventures-lunar-flyby/>