we're off to the moon.how long before we 'vanish'?

imagine a member of the public with billions said, 'im off to the moon. ive built the ship and have ground control.im off to view the dark side of the moon and see if anything alien is there' so how long does that person have untill they 'die' in a test flight 'mishap',or vanish ? i say within 3 weeks of the press meeting. SOMETHING would prevent the mission. we do have space tourism and many more business people popping up with billions. but,if as many of you say,space/moon is tied up for various reasons,it could not be allowed. so how long?

It would be a risk, but one worth taking nonetheless. Just in case such a person could pull it off.
Although saying in a press conference 'I'm off to look for aliens on the moon' might increase the odds of getting whacked pretty significantly...
Why do you ask? You got the money? You got a rocket? Well let's go! Can I be on the mission too?
Let them have their NASA, ESA etc, let's make some progress for once!

Edit: Also, Mods, isn't this thread in the wrong place?

[edit on 22/5/2009 by purehughness]

Not exactly a conspiracy in religion, but that was probably a mistake on the OP's part. It happens, they'll move it in a few minutes. Anyway, if I had the money, the ship and the means to go to the moon, I wouldn't even announce it, I would just take off. Take a few trusted friends with me and with that money I'd probably just hire any one who has ever flown into space, regardless of country. I would bring cameras, camcorders, i would record "everything". I always wondered why no billionaire has ever actually done something like this. But then again, that Branson guy from Verizon is probably already doing something like that, but insead he'd put a verizon flag on the surface, or something stupid like that.

There has been something of a civilian, non, NASA space race going on for a good while at the moment.
Space X made their flight to space with the Falcon 1, back in September.
www.spacex.com...
www.wired.com...


Next logical step is the Moon.
In a way, this next race won't just be NASA, it'll also be private companies and countries, though NASA still has a huge lead.

thank you for the replies. thought more of the 'moon guys' would jump in on this?!

reply to post by ewokdisco


It's just not that likely of a situation. The moon is really far away, and going to it is expensive. Like billions of dollars expensive. And fairly risky, too. Those civilian falcon 1 rockets have had a 25% success rate, and they're about as simple as a practical launch vehicle can be. a moon rocket would be much bigger and much more complex.

Going to the moon also needs really big engines, which the civilian market just doesn't provide.

The Russians had to cancel their moon rocket program after every N-1 rocket they tested exploded before reaching space, which should serve as a lesson towards why it isn't a simple matter of sticking a whole bunch of well-tested and reliable smaller engines together as a cluster and calling it a day.