Space oddities: owning the heavens.

• Author: Cavanaugh, Tim
• Position: Citings - Brief Article

WHEN YOU FIRST fell in love, you had the International Star Registry name a star after your lover. But now that the romance has gone south, what's an equally dramatic way to get rid of the clothes, gifts, and jewelry that remind you of your hated ex? If a Nevada-based company gets its way, you'll be able to send the whole lot of it to the moon.

Orbital Development of Carson City is auctioning on eBay a chance to participate in its MoonCrash Project. The winner win get an opportunity to crash 22 pounds of personal cargo on the lunar surface when the company sends its spacecraft to the moon (an estimated 18 months from now). Bids start at $6 million.

This is not the only space project headed up by Orbital Development President Gregory Nemitz. In 2000o Nemitz staked a property claim to Asteroid 433, or Eros, a near-Earth body that, the company argues, is rich in silicon, iron, magnesium, and other elements. That claim, Nemitz says, gives him the right to charge the National Aeronautics and Space Administration the highly reasonable fee of $20...