Cash-Strapped Space Tourists May Find Friend in PayPal, Wall Street Journal
“The payments company is set to announce a payment program for space tourists later this month, known as PayPal Galactic. PayPal has been working with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Space Tourism Society and the SETI Institute, whose mission is to search for extraterrestrial intelligence, on the program, said a person familiar with the details.”
“… Billionaires Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are also building space craft in their spare time.”
Marc’s note: Hmm I wonder what, if any, advantage there will be for the “space tourist” in this rumoured program? And I didn’t realize Musk was building SpaceX in his spare time.

10 replies on “Rumoured: PayPal Galactic”

      1. “in his spare time“

        That would be the day between Tuesday and Wednesday, called Bleen in some circles.

      2. Yeah, SpaceX is what Musk cares most about, and probably what he spends most of his time on. I think the article was just sloppy in lumping Musk in with the others in the “spare time” quip.

        But it’s also true that Solar City and Tesla have been generating income for Musk, while SpaceX is just costing him money. From that point of view, you could call Solar City and Tesla Musk’s day jobs that pay for his SpaceX hobby.

        1. I think it was Gwynne Shotwell who said that SpaceX has been profitable for about two years. And that statement was made about a year ago. How is it costing him money?

          1. SpaceX is profitable. From http://www.spacex.com/compa…

            Under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA, SpaceX will fly at least 11 more cargo supply missions to the ISS, in addition to the October 2012 mission — and in the near future, SpaceX plans to carry crew as well. Dragon was designed from the outset to carry astronauts and now, under a $440 million agreement with NASA, SpaceX is making modifications to make Dragon crew-ready.

            SpaceX is the world’s fastest-growing provider of launch services. Profitable and cash-flow positive, the company has nearly 50 launches on its manifest, representing about $4 billion in contracts. These include commercial satellite launches as well as NASA missions.

            cc chriswilson68

  2. Ha. Jokes on us. This is April fools day in the Southern Hemisphere. The Anti-Pode Day. Musk (others?) is from South Africa. This was a good one. Hey, in space, no one can hear you scream, but they can sure see you laugh. NASA Watch is a bit of comic relief for NASA types, everyday. Sometimes its more deliberate. Come them coming. 🙂

  4. Careful. Paypal Galactic can freeze your oxygen balance and withhold it from you without explanation for 45 days.

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