The big boys at Nasa now have an expanded budget and are trying to get in on civilian space travel. Is this a really lucrative idea? How much will it cost? I'm sure these are questions Preston would want the answers to on SPacey Place . com. Well check out this article from msnbc.

By James Oberg
NBC News space analyst
Special to MSNBC

HOUSTON - When veteran space tourist Mark Shuttleworth recently remarked that his next space adventure would have to involve a moon visit, observers could be forgiven thinking that the South African multimillionaire was in some sort of zero-gravity-induced delirium from his orbital flight two years ago.

But now a private group of spaceflight planners has developed a strategy for lunar tourist missions using existing or modified space hardware. Even with an estimated cost per ticket in excess of $100 million for a simple lunar fly-by, the scheme appears remarkably doable, in the view of some space experts.

Constellation Services International, a small California space firm founded in late 1998, recently disclosed details of the Lunar Express project to resume human flights to the moon funded by private passengers. Chief executive officer Charles Miller discussed it with MSNBC.com in an interview this month.

Really? $100,000,000? For a trip to the moon? That is bullshit! Preston go to the moon!!!

SEND PRESTON TO THE MOON!

This is a really cool space social network. I think it is perfect for people who love space. I love space. Infact we all love space. Even if you do not love space this will be a good site just for chatting it up. The owners of this site are going to start a hilarious web series called moon man. i'm sure that moon man will be pretty funny. I love funny space stuff. Like hitch hikers guide to the galaxy and space balls were both pretty funny. I think a funny idea would be save space for space. well whatever.

Now time for a rant!!!

I was watching this youtube video today about the moon landing being staged. It was pretty convincing provided their space facts were correct. Take spacey place for instance. The moon man on spacey place will really go to the moon hands down. Infact who even cares if the space trip was staged? The point of the matter is that we needed the world to believe and they did. Mission accomplished.

One small step for man and one giant step for mankind.

I guess that wasn't a great space rant but I'll start a category for space rants and we can all contribute.

Bottom line I think this is the best space social network. So get involved. See you on the moon.

New NASA capsule Orion resembles Apollo

The most recent NASA soap opera started with administrator Michael Griffin giving the incoming Obama transition team a hard time - coming from an engineering background Griffin's fear was that the Obama administration was going to gut the new moon rocket program. To be fair to Griffin the program was way over budget (so it looked like a good target) and early in the campaign trail Obama sent mixed signals on his support for manned exploration. The latest chapter was Griffin's wife sending out a sad email pleading his case to keep his job (despite the fact that he is a Bush administration employee).

As a NASA fanboy I admit that I was fearing the worst: But now the good news is that it turns out that Obama is dead serious about not only going back to the moon, but trying to beat China. This story just came out on Friday when the press leaned that Obama was going to tear down the wall between NASA and the Pentagon. At first I sort of winced at the idea of watering down NASA's mission - but it made me realize that Obama was dead serious about manned spaceflight a cause that I fully approve.

Now don't get me wrong: I'm a big fan of international efforts - in fact the International Space Station couldn't exist without the support of Europe and Russia (and so many other nations). However the last time space exploration was sexy was the 60s during the space race - and ironically the communists proved that competition is a good thing. The result of the space race was that within less than twenty years you got to watch the first satellite go into orbit and then just a short time later (in the big picture) you see man on the moon.

But sadly after the Apollo program manned space exploration has been stuck in time. Thanks to Hubble we've discovered more planets in the last ten years than the last thousand, but there's something very cool about humans getting off this damn rock. In fact Stephen Hawking believes critical for humans to move off of planet Earth if we're to survive as a species in the long term. But sadly since the 70s we haven't done anything except to go into orbit and create a better version of Skylab.
Having a new space race is good because not only will it bring NASA back, but it will also encourage China (and maybe India!) to accelerate their space programs. My hope is that not only can this happen quickly within the next few years - but that it might get the world serious about going to Mars. In fact my hope is that a return to the moon would be what it was advertised to be: The first serious step in a Mars exploration program.

Courtesy of fanboy.com

" Send Preston To The Moon"

     Preston is a cool dude. Everyone who has ever met him thinks he is awesome!! He's just a genuine all around good guy. One thing that a lot of people don't know about him is that he always wanted to go to the moon. We know that is pretty random but hey at least he has a dream. And if that is his dream I support him 110% because I think he deserves to go. In fact I want to go to the moon too. I also bet that you would like to go to the moon if given the opportunity. Think about it "The Moon". How cool would that be? You'll be sitting around talking to your friends and one guy says I just came back from Hawaii. At that point you will let out a brief chuckle and say that's cool I just came back from the moon. Imagine the look on their faces. Not only that imagine what it would be like if this was your life long dream like Preston. Can you imagine the fulfillment, the happiness inside, and so fourth? So I say "Send Preston to the Moon." He ain't hurtin nobody. In fact I think he will be an inspiration to millions. I mean, he could even write a book. Titles such as "That's Right I Went To The Moon!" or "To the Moon or Bust." or better yet, "Meet Me on The Moon Bitches!" When he first explained to me that he wanted to go to the moon I thought he was crazy but upon further review it transitioned into the most kick ass adventure any man can take. I actually started to get a little jealous. I was all like maybe I should go to the moon too, but Preston explained that trying to do that may make things more complicated. I never looked at it like that but once I did I realized it would be better for me to fall back. If you guys have any good ideas on how we can send Preston to the moon we would love to hear them. Even if you don't have any grand idea at least show your support because if you wanted to go to the moon Preston would support you. We tried talking to NASA about the idea and we didn't have enough supporters to send him to the moon. We were all like come on man it's his dream. But they were all like no, no, NO! If you could have seen the look on Preston's face. It was like the look of extreme disappointment. From that day forward I was like, Preston deserves to go to the Moon. He is the coolest guy I have ever met. The least I can do is support his dream. You don't have to send any money. All we ask is that you show your support. Let NASA know, wait better yet let the world know that you support Preston's dream.