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COMING UP NIGHTLY: GRANNY-IN-THE-MOON

MOSCOW: The moon is open for business. A California company plans to fly the world’s first private mission to the moon next year, delivering messages, business cards and cremated remains for a fee.

TransOrbital Inc. of La Jolla, California, signed a $20 million contract Tuesday with the international space company Kosmotras of Moscow, which was authorized by the Russian government to use decommissioned Soviet-built ballistic missiles for commercial space launchings.

Kosmotras, a joint venture between Russia and Ukraine, plans to test-launch a replica of TransOrbital’s space vehicle into an orbit around Earth next month, and then send the real spacecraft to the moon next October, TransOrbital’s president, Dennis Laurie, said at a news conference.

The unmanned space vehicle, called the TrailBlazer, would orbit the moon for about three months, taking high-resolution pictures before crashing onto its surface. private messages, cremated remains and other commercial cargo will be carried in a capsule designed to survive the crash, Laurie said. The company charges $2,500 for a business card. Messages start at $16.95.

“We are very excited about going to the moon on a regular basis,” Laurie said, adding that the company has “thousands” of orders to deliver jewelry, business cards and remains to the moon’s surface.

“Most of them who want us to take the cremated remains like the idea of seeing their relative on a nightly basis,” Laurie said.

THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE, Nov. 28, 2002