Coming soon: Private lunar expeditions?

Excalibur Almaz will charge wannabe astronauts an average of £100m for a six-eight month journey exploring deep space.

Three wealthy individuals, or astronauts from emerging powers will be crammed into a reusable capsule the size of a waste skip and launched by rocket to a space station. After the two vehicles link up, they will travel on to the Moon.

“It is like how private British companies led expeditions to the South Pacific in the 17th century,” said Art Dula, founder of Excalibur Almaz. “We’ve just gone from seafaring to spacefaring.”