- Was it one giant leap for man kind, or was it all a big
fake by Nasa? The world will soon find out -- when the first commercial
flight to the moon blasts off in an attempt to refute claims that the 1969
moon landing was a hoax.
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- Nasa has been plagued for 33 years by conspiracy theorists,
crackpots and even respected scientists and writers who insist that Neil
Armstrong never set foot on the moon and the whole Apollo mission was a
stunt.
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- Now, however, the US State Department and the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin istration have given a California company,
Trans Orbital Inc, permission to send a probe to the moon. The launch is
scheduled for June 2003, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
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- The Trailblazer probe will map the surface and photograph
the earth in the hope of marketing the images -- and it will photograph
the lunar landing site at the Sea of Tranquillity to see if the Eagle really
did land.
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- Photographs should (unless a global conspiracy truly
has been pulled) show Neil Armstrong's footprint in the moondust and other
debris from the landing, and lay to rest the claims that the moon landing
was filmed on a back lot in Nevada.
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- The decision to let the mission go ahead has opened the
door to moon business. 'The moon is ripe for commercial development,' said
Dennis Laurie, head of TransOrbital. 'It's a lot closer than you think,
at least in travel time, which is four days.' He added: 'We're also looking
to verify Apollo and other landing sites.'
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- TrailBlazer will orbit the moon for 90 days, mapping
the moonscape in unprecedented detail to a resolution as small as one metre.
It will film the Earth as it rises over the lunar horizon. After its mission,
TrailBlazer will crash-land on the moon, taking 'barnstorming' videos all
the way down. It will carry a time capsule containing messages and personal
items that will stay on the moon after the crash.
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- The company will fund the venture -- thought to cost
at least £50 million -- through corporate endorsements and by licensing
the images obtained for advertising, education and entertainment, such
as video games .
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- Maps of the moon will also be sold to companies hoping
to mine it in the future, carry out scientific research or develop plans
for further exploration. Several other private companies are pursuing moon
missions. Lunacorp, of Virginia, hopes to put Supersat, a high-bandwidth
live video satellite, into lunar orbit in 2003.
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- ©2002 smg sunday newspapers ltd. no.176088. all
rights reserved.
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