Stay tuned in to our local news coverage: Listen to 90.7 WMFE on your FM or HD radio, the WMFE mobile app or your smart speaker — say “Alexa, play NPR” and you’ll be connected.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

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.