Buzz Aldrin's 'Spacefilght Raffle' Makes Spaceflight Available To More Than Just wealthy

For as little as $50 you could have the chance to visit outer space.

Former Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin is planning a lottery unlike any other we've ever seen. The winners will not receive cash, instead they will receive space experiences including spaceflight. The "SharesSpace Stakes" contest named after Aldrin's ShareSpace Foundation that promotes interest in human spaceflight and science education is "something akin to a sweepstakes or a raffle" and will have it's own set of rules and regulations. Entrants have to be at least 18 years old and meet the appropriate health requirements for spaceflight, other than that, anyone can apply and have a chance to visit outer space, a luxury normally restricted to those who can afford to pay millions of dollars for the service. According to early estimates raffle tickets might be sold for as little as $50. Aldrin said that if 400,000 people each pitched in about $50 a ticket it would be enough to cover the cost of an orbital tourist flight. That price is not final but goes to show that this could be more affordable than you'd imagine.

“Our intent is to open the spaceflight experience,” Aldrin said. “There’s no question that space travel is poised to go from the few to the many.” The opportunity to travel to space for a low price could be huge, millions could buy tickets and create a huge amount of money to offer back in prizes. It think this is a GREAT idea and the only way that regular people who don't have millions of dollars to blow could ever conceive being able to leave the Earth and travel through space.