In honor of this morning's SpaceX docking , here are six of Silicon Valley's coolest private space programs. To the moon, Elon!
The recent space-mining bonanza isn't the first time tech money has found its way to an outlandish space project. Between Jeff Bezos' moon lander and Elon Musk's passenger rockets to Mars, astronautical excursions are practically a status symbol among well-heeled founders — and they all come with eight-figure price tags and no reasonable hope of ever recouping. Just to show it's no joke, we've rounded up six of the most high profile examples for your perusal.
Think of it as a latter-day Space Race, but with Microsoft instead of the Soviet Union.
Sergey Brin and Space Adventures
Five years after Brin invested, this is the preeminent space tourism outfit in the world. If you've got $21 million and you'd like to go into space, they can make it happen. They've even got a moon orbit in the works.
The Moment of Glory: So far, seven people have taken them up on it — which, in this industry, counts as mass appeal.
The Price Tag: $4.5 million and counting.
