ANSWER: Moon Express
Explanation:
In what is the first move of its kind, the Federal Aviation Administration has given license to private US company Moon Express to launch a spacecraft and land on the moon in 2017.
- Breakthrough US policy decision provides authorisation to Moon Express for a maiden flight of its robotic spacecraft onto the surface of the Moon according to a company media release.
- No private space missions from earth have been allowed beyond its orbit and only state agencies have carried out outer space missions.
- The company was founded in 2010 by Dr. Bob Richard. Naveen Jain and Dr. Barney Pell.
- Moon Express 2017 mission approval is a landmark decision by the US government and is a pathfinder for private sector commercial missions beyond the orbit of Earth.
- Federal interagency approval of the Moon Express 2017 lunar mission establishes an important precedent for the private sector to engage in peaceful space exploration.
