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THE space race between America and the Soviet Union was as much about ideological one-upmanship as extraterrestrial exploration. A new space race to the moon has an even lesslofty goal: sightseeing. Two space-tourism companies are planning rival lunar missions thatcould see private individuals paying to fly to Earth s nearest celestial neighbour. 美国和苏联的空间竞争是关于外星探索上谁高人一等的问题。一个新的到月球的竞争有一个更加崇高的目标：旅游观光。两个空间旅游公司计划在月球项目上竞争以使私人个体可以掏钱飞上地球最近的天体邻居。 On June 19th Excalibur Almaz, a space company based on the Isle of Man, a Britishdependency in the Irish Sea, became the second company-after Space Adventures, anAmerican space-tourism firm-to offer tickets for a commercial moonshot. Both firms arecharging $150m a seat, a price that includes months of ground-based training. Neither isoffering a descent to the moon s surface-just a lunar fly-by. 一个英国支持的位于英国曼岛的神剑在六月19号成为第为继美国空间旅游公司空间探险公司之后第二家空间旅行公司为登月的商业用途提供票。两个公司都要1500万一个座位，包括数月的地上训练。两个公司都不提供降落地面的服务仅仅是绕月飞行。 Whereas the Americans won the first space race, the Russians are favourites for the rematch.Both Excalibur Almaz and Space Adventures are using Russian-made rockets and spacecraft.Space Adventures plans to re-engineer the veteran Soyuz craft that it has used to shuttleseven space tourists up to the International Space Station . Excalibur Almaz intends torefit two Almaz space stations that were originally made for the Soviet armed forces. | 
