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Fly Me To The Moon

Artist conception on Moon Express spacecraft on the lunar surface. Photo: Moon Express
Artist conception on Moon Express spacecraft on the lunar surface. Photo: Moon Express

Moon Express is a startup company competing for Google’s Lunar XPRIZE. That’s a prize of at least $15 million to the first private company to make it to the moon.

But Moon Express doesn’t have their eyes set on just the prize -- they want to mine valuable resources on the lunar surface and establish a fuel stop for deep space craft exploration the solar system.

My next guest is Bob Richards. He’s the CEO of Moon Express. He says that establishing a way to refuel vehicles on the moon is imperative to exploring other spots in deep space. And he’s making great progress.

One of the challenges he’s run into is not how to get to the moon, or even working on the moon. The challenge was getting permission to go to the moon. Recently, he received approval from the FAA to leave earth’s orbit,  a first for a commercial company.

Brendan Byrne is Central Florida Public Media's Assistant News Director, managing the day-to-day operations of the newsroom, editing daily news stories, and managing the organization's internship program. Byrne also hosts Central Florida Public Media's weekly radio show and podcast "Are We There Yet?" which explores human space exploration, and the weekly news roundup podcast "The Wrap."