private industry commercial spaceflight founded 2010 headquarters colorado usa key people alan stern gerald d. griffin website goldenspikecompany.com the golden spike company is an american space transport startup 1 company chartered for business in colorado 2 with the objective to offer private commercial space transportation services to the surface of the moon . 3 the name of the company is in reference to the ceremonial final spike placed in the first transcontinental railroad upon its completion . contents 1 founders 2 history 3 plans and resources 3.1 lunar lander 4 corporate governance 4.1 board of directors 4.2 board of advisors 5 reaction 6 see also 7 references 8 external links founders edit golden spike was founded by alan stern nasa s associate administrator for science in 2007 2008 and gerry griffin former nasa johnson space center director is the chairman of the board . 4 additional members of the board of directors include space entrepreneur esther dyson and taber maccallum co founder and ceo of paragon space development corp. other advisers include former speaker of the u.s. house of representatives newt gingrich former nasa space shuttle manager wayne hale author and aeronautical engineer homer hickam and former governor of new mexico bill richardson . 5 history edit the first mention of a concept related to the name of this company and involving people associated with the company was at a conference in hawaii on may 2012 where it was suggested that a privately circulated proposal known as golden spike and backed by respected scientific and astronautical entities envisions the development of a reliable cislunar superhighway . the company was formally announced at a press conference held on december 6 2012 at the national press club when details of the company and its ambitions were presented . 6 the last human to walk on the moon was u.s astronaut gene cernan commander of the apollo 17 mission that blasted off from kennedy space center 40 years ago and since then there have been various missions to the moon ; but no manned visits . 5 golden spike is planning to change that and this venture should also be seen in the context of a growing cluster of stated intentions by various nations and private organizations to return to the moon . 7 plans and resources edit main article tourism on moon company president ceo alan stern has announced in briefing papers that the company had commenced feasibility studies into commercial missions to the moon from early 2010 and formed the company in the third quarter of that year . since then the company has been building its business models and soliciting investment . currently the company has budgeted between 7 and 8 billion to achieve their objective followed by around 1.5 billion fee per each two human lunar surface mission . golden spike will follow a model like that of the russian spaceflight industry in the 1980s and 90s . the company said it can cut costs by partnering with other aerospace companies and using existing rockets or rockets already in development needing to only build a lunar lander and a specialized spacesuit for astronauts for the moon . 8 stern says they expect to sign up as many as 15 to 20 countries or foreign space agencies as well as companies and individuals who want to explore the moon for science or adventure . 5 9 they have identified a mission profile including various launch options as well as trajectory and spacecraft for landing on the moon . it involves two sets of two launches from earth to earth orbit one set for the lander and the propulsion unit to send it to moon orbit and the other set for the crew vehicle and the propulsion unit to send it to moon orbit . the two propusion units are disposed of . in moon orbit the lander and the crew vehicle have a rendez vous and the crew move to the lander . they land and return to the crew vehicle and return to earth in the crew vehicle . 6 spacecraft and components used by this company will all be manufactured by american companies . 10 the first robotic flights to the moon could happen as soon as 2020 . 11 lunar lander edit in january 2013 golden spike contracted with northrop grumman for the design of a new lunar lander as one component of their head start commercial lunar architecture . contracted tasks include reviewing requirements and synthesizing a set of study ground rules and assumptions emphasizing system reliability automated ground command operability and affordability establishing velocity v budgets from and to low lunar orbit for pragmatic lunar landing sites exploring a wide variety of lunar lander concept options including staging propellants engines reusability autonomy systems capabilities for exploration as well as landing site flexibility and establishing the design trade space and pragmatic limits for future more detailed analysis and development . 12 corporate governance edit board of directors edit board of directors 13 gerry griffin chairman of the board alan stern president & ceo cindy conrad treasurer esther dyson james r. french doug griffith board secretary david lackner michel loucks taber maccallum max vozoff board of advisors edit conrad anker bobby block michael bostick andrew chaikin jonathan clark nancy conrad newt gingrich wayne hale homer hickam chris kemp stephen mackwell tod mesirow mike okuda bill richardson robert walker zak williams reaction edit scientific american wrote that golden spike s plans rank among the most audacious privately funded space exploration missions ever proposed . 4 former director of nasa johnson space center says if nasa wants a ride we d be glad to put them on our railroad . nasa was supportive of the effort and said it showed the merits of supporting commercial spaceflight . 14 john e. pike of globalsecurity.org said that the company s cost estimate was unrealistic stern doesn t have enough zeros in his budget . 15 the company s indiegogo funding campaign raised 19 450 of its 240 000 goal . 16 see also edit spaceflight portal moon portal shackleton energy company moon express space adventures spacex references edit griffin gerry 6 december 2012 . remarks at national press club pdf . golden spike company . retrieved 7 december 2012 . statement of foreign entity authority . colorado business records search . secretary of state of colorado . 3 december 2012 . retrieved 3 december 2012 . mann adam 3 december 2012 . will a secret private manned mission to the moon be announced this week . wired . retrieved 3 december 2012 . a b kaufman rachel 2012 12 06 . luna trips upstart firm plans to sell round trip journeys to the moon . scientific american . retrieved 2012 12 11 . a b c boyle alan 2012 12 06 . golden spike space venture wants to fly you to the moon ... for 1.4 billion . nbc news . retrieved 2013 01 17 . a b bergin chris 2012 12 06 . golden spike announce phase a for commercial lunar landing missions . nasaspaceflight.com . retrieved 2012 12 06 . independent human moon mission prospects emerging from rising tide of 21st century exploration . space calendar . may 2012 . retrieved 4 december 2012 . man adam 2012 12 06 . golden spike company unveils plans to fly commercial crews to the moon . wired . retrieved 2012 12 26 . regalado antonio 5 december 2012 . company may offer private expeditions to the moon . mit technology review . retrieved 5 december 2012 . houdu guillaume november 23 2012 . american company to send first commercial astronauts to moon . space safety magazine . retrieved 4 december 2012 . grenoble ryan 5 december 2012 . golden spike company expected to announce commercial travel to moon starting in 2020 . huffington post . retrieved 5 december 2012 . lindsey clark 2013 01 03 . golden spike contracts northrop grumman for lunar lander design . newspace watch . retrieved 2013 01 04 . subscription required help . golden spike company advisors & officers pdf . boing boing . 2012 12 06 . retrieved 2012 12 06 . achenbach joel 2012 12 06 . golden spike space tourism to the moon . washington post . retrieved 2012 12 07 . mann adam 2012 12 06 . golden spike company unveils plans to fly commercial crews to the moon . wired.com . https www.indiegogo.com projects golden spike is sending nations and people to the moon join in external links edit official website v t e space tourism companies armadillo aerospace bigelow aerospace blue origin airbus d & s golden spike company mojave aerospace ventures orbital sciences corporation citation needed rocketship tours sierra nevada corporation space adventures the spaceship company spacex virgin galactic xcor aerospace organizations arca association of autonomous astronauts astronaute club europ en commercial spaceflight federation copenhagen suborbitals space frontier foundation space tourism society spacecraft interplanetary transport system cst 100 spaceshiptwo soyuz dragon new shepard new glenn living in space commercialization of space space colonization space habitat space station suborbital spaceplane space competitions america s space prize ansari x prize google lunar x prize space elevator competitions space tourists dennis tito mark shuttleworth gregory olsen anousheh ansari charles simonyi richard garriott guy lalibert tourism on the moon retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title golden spike company & oldid 741783026 categories companies based in coloradoaerospace companies of the united statesprivate spaceflight companiestourism on moonhidden categories pages containing links to subscription only contentall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from march 2016 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools 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