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This question:

Can a person fly to the Moon as a tourist?

It's interesting but it's probably not useful to anyone on the site. Do we add a section to the FAQ stating the site is for terrestrial travel only, or do we allow this, bearing in mind Mars and Alpha Centauri, the future, or parallel universe questions may well follow ;)

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I agree with VMAtm. Maybe I'm a little bit biased, because I posted the question, but I think after all it is a very clearly a traveling question, so it should be allowed.

Otherwise you would have to close questions like this one too, because almost all people visiting this site won't go to the North pole and couldn't even afford it.

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  • Except that tens of people do the marathon there every year, and there are loads of boat-based trips up there too. People realistically google that. Nobody has been to the moon in 40 years (some argue never ;)).
    – Mark Mayo
    Sep 20, 2011 at 9:49
  • I agree more or less, but nevertheless there are companies that over such traveling possibilities. So we should also cover people who google for that.
    – RoflcoptrException
    Sep 20, 2011 at 10:48
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    I was going to respond with a link to a tour company offering tours to parallel universes or something as ludicrous, but sadly can't find something appropriate, so I'll concede defeat for now ;) I personally love questions like it, it's just a matter of whether it's appropriate for travel.SE.
    – Mark Mayo
    Sep 20, 2011 at 11:18
  • and more specifically, I'll now go and place my answer for it - I have some gems ready ;)
    – Mark Mayo
    Sep 20, 2011 at 11:19
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My personal opinion is that manned spaceflight to the moon has not been a reality for the past four decades, so the question does not lead to a constructive and does not lead to any usable answer. A question about manned spaceflight to low-earth orbit or sub-orbital hops would be on-topic though as it's possible for a tourist, even though it costs a lot.

I don't think a separate disclaimer is needed in the FAQ as this is a fringe case and can be acted upon by the moderators according to their discretion.

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I think the question is a bit silly but can in fact be treated as a real question and does in fact have a real answer so it doesn't hurt the site one jot to have it and being fun it will probably even attract users.

So why spoil the fun? You can only do so by being arbitrarily judgemental anyway and it's not as though it's going to lead to a slippery slope of planet and satellite visiting questions.

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  • Yeah, I mostly agree with this sentiment now, and have even added my own detailed answer to the question :)
    – Mark Mayo
    Sep 20, 2011 at 15:53
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With the arrival of companies such as Virgin Galactic, this kind of questions should not be forbidden.

Even if few people can afford such experiences, even if space accomodation is still only for "the right stuff", even if next manned ship to Mars won't depart before 2050, these questions are legitimate.

Maybe some would-be traveller visiting this site will find a passion on that subject and will become the next Richard Branson.

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  • Virgin Galactic is still vaporware imho; since they never actually went to the moon and only deliver promises and 3d animations at this point.
    – iHaveacomputer
    Oct 30, 2011 at 22:17
  • As a vaporware, it is the most serious candidate to private space tourism. It already launched successfully an experimental ship up to 100km above ground.
    – mouviciel
    Oct 31, 2011 at 10:50
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I think this question is on-topic. We can't say who will visit our site. Yes, people who wants to visit Moon must earn extremely much money, but it still real (in near future) and still about the travelling.

As about other perspective - I don't think that questions about Mars and other planets are constructive - and they will be closed easily.

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  • I keep hearing/reading about "vacation/travelling to the moon in the near future" since the 80's, but we are not even close to it. I don't believe this future you're talking about exists. I still wake up each day and it's the same, boring present!
    – iHaveacomputer
    Oct 31, 2011 at 4:33

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