--- title: Moon Express Close to Approval for First Private Moon Flight description: U.S. government officials are set to approve a mission by privately-held space startup Moon Express to travel outside of Earth’s orbit. canonical: https://time.com/4359063/moon-express-private-company-space/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-06T21:06:03.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T22:25:30.525Z article:section: Business og:title: A Private Company Might Be Allowed Into Outer Space as Soon as Next Year og:description: Startup Moon Express might be the first company allowed beyond Earth’s orbit og:url: https://time.com/4359063/moon-express-private-company-space/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fa5a4106f518ac3/698876433c1639d44645b477/gettyimages-463214374.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: SpaceX Falcon9 blasts off og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Private Company Might Be Allowed Into Outer Space as Soon as Next Year twitter:description: Startup Moon Express might be the first company allowed beyond Earth’s orbit twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fa5a4106f518ac3/698876433c1639d44645b477/gettyimages-463214374.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Private Company Might Be Allowed Into Outer Space as Soon as Next Year by [Valentina Zarya / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Valentina Zarya / Fortune Jun 6, 2016 9:06 PM CUT  A SpaceX Falcon9 rocket blasts off the launch pad on Feb. 11, 2015. A SpaceX Falcon9 rocket blasts off the launch pad on Feb. 11, 2015.(Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images) by [Valentina Zarya / Fortune](/author/fortune/) ## Valentina Zarya / Fortune Jun 6, 2016 9:06 PM CUT The first private mission outside of the Earth’s orbit is closer than many of us think. According to the [_Wall Street Journal_](http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-set-to-approve-moon-mission-by-commercial-space-venture-1465166277 "undefined"), U.S. government officials are set to approve a mission by privately-held space startup Moon Express to travel outside of Earth’s orbit in late 2017. Moon Express’s mission involves plans to land a suitcase-sized package of scientific equipment on the moon “for ongoing exploration and commercial development,” according to the company’s website. _WSJ_ reports that the decision involved months of lobbying and coordinated conversations between a number of federal agencies, led by the White House science office. Under international treaties, the U.S. is responsible for the payload of both public and private spacecraft, thus making commercial space travel a complex legal issue not just domestically, but abroad. Moon Express is not the only company gunning for the right to travel to outer space. Perhaps most well-known is Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which aims to send an unmanned aircraft to Mars by 2018\. The company is currently involved in conversations similar to those happening between the federal government and Moon Express, reports _WSJ._ A Moon Express representative declined to comment on this story, but noted that the company is “very optimistic” about its proposal. _This_ [_article_](http://fortune.com/2016/06/06/space-startup-moon-express/ "undefined") _originally appeared on_ [_Fortune.com_](http://fortune.com "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4359063/moon-express-private-company-space/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4359063/moon-express-private-company-space/"},"headline":"A Private Company Might Be Allowed Into Outer Space as Soon as Next Year","datePublished":"2016-06-06T21:06:03.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:25:30.525Z","description":"Little-known startup Moon Express might be the first company allowed beyond Earth’s orbit","url":"https://time.com/4359063/moon-express-private-company-space/","keywords":["Space","space travel"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fa5a4106f518ac3/698876433c1639d44645b477/gettyimages-463214374.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Valentina Zarya / Fortune"}],"articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4fa5a4106f518ac3/698876433c1639d44645b477/gettyimages-463214374.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"SpaceX Falcon9 blasts off","caption":"A SpaceX Falcon9 rocket blasts off the launch pad on Feb. 11, 2015.","creditText":"(Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/TNS via Getty Images)","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space/","name":"Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4359063/moon-express-private-company-space/","name":"A Private Company Might Be Allowed Into Outer Space as Soon as Next Year"}}]}] ```