Then Bill Anders spoke, not just to CapCom, to all the world listening to his words from so far away. “For all the people on earth,” he said, his emotions unmasked, “the crew of Apollo 8 has a message we would like to send you.” A brief pause, and then Anders stunned his audience as he began reading from the verses of the book of Genesis: “In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth . . . ” As Anders concluded the fourth verse, Lovell read the next four. Borman concluded by beginning his reading of the ninth verse, and then sent to the world a special Christmas message: “And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you—all of you on the good earth.”
Announcing the first interglobal space race in human history (as far as we know our own history). This race is scheduled for Anno Domini 2028 12 12 and is to begin with all space racing yachts in orbit at noon on that day. Any space racing yacht on the launch pad for a paid entrant team may request an extension for up to a total of four hours to reach starting orbit, but not a minute past 16:00 that day. All times are Texas time, Central time zone United States.
This race is an unlimited race. One pilot and one navigator will start and complete the event for each race team. There is no limit on propulsion technology choices, no limit on amount of propellant, no limit on the nature of the propellant, no limit on the habitable volume of the space yacht, no limit on the age of the yacht nor of the participating pilot and navigator except that all crew must be 16 years old or older. The race has no limits on space racing yacht design. No limits are provided on the number of participating space racing yachts. There is no limit on race, gender, nationality, orientation, creed, language, or other aspects of the crew, except that both pilot and navigator must be humans of the homo sapiens species, confirmed before launch to orbit by our team. No robots, no androids, no demons. Entering space yacht racing teams may have an unlimited number and type of sponsors including corporate, government, and individual sponsors, at any amounts and as the team in each case sees fit.
Criteria for victory
The starting orbit is 12 degrees inclination at 120 statute miles above Earth, no exceptions. The final orbit will be the same and after the racing yachts leave, and not later than 2 hours after the final yacht clears that orbit (which must be completely cleared by all teams including those forfeiting the race by 18:00 on 2028 12 12 and not later) a “final destination object” will be deployed in that same orbit. A grapple fixture must be included with each space racing yacht. The first yacht to return from lunar orbit to touch the destination object with any part of their grapple wins.
Both pilot and navigator must be living on departure and living on return, and both must confirm their presence by radio and television signals from the Far Side of the Moon. Smashing into or through the destination object with any other part of a vehicle will not count as a touch by the grapple. In the event of an equipment failure at the Far Side only and not before leaving Earth orbit, the competing team may signal in Morse code with its exterior lights to confirm the presence of living persons aboard. Both persons must signal, and their “fists” will be analysed based on video of light flashing tests before liftoff.
No interference by any team against any other competitor will be tolerated. Teams that engage in mischief of interference or through third parties that are connected to any such mischief will be disqualified. Good sportsmanship is essential to the success of this race and the sponsor reserves the right to declare a race void for any mis- mal- or non-feasance by any individual participating team, by any third party, or by the failure of any team to come to the rescue of another team or teams in the event of a declared emergency. Any attempt to “win” by mischief of interference will result in severe consequences. Sea yachting has been a gentlemanly sport from time immemorial and we shall continue those traditions in orbit and beyond.
The judgement of our space racing referee team that any team has met all criteria here, and which team touched with their grapple first, is the final judgement. Please make a mirror of this page as soon as possible. No changes to these rules are contemplated nor should any ersatz set of rules be considered acceptable.
Prizes
Two prizes are announced at this time. Further prizes may be announced later. The first prize winner will receive both of these prizes.
The Lunar Cup is a cup-shaped space yacht racing trophy. The design of the trophy is to be revealed and the trophy itself will be unveiled on 2027 12 12 at 16:00 Texas time, location to be announced. A design competition for the permanent cup is hereby announced, with the first prize being 1.2 BTC bitcoin to be paid to the winning entry on 2027 11 23 at 16:00 Texas time at a ceremony in Texas. Other prizes may be awarded at the discretion of the contest organisers. There is not now and there never will be any fee for entering The Lunar Cup space yacht racing trophy design competition. Please do not ever pay anyone for entering our design competition. The winning design should indicate the triumph of mankind over adversity as in the motto “Ad astra per aspera” to the stars through difficulty. No words are to appear on the trophy. No other restrictions of design are indicated, feel free to enter the very best design you create.
Names of the winning space yacht race teams will not be added to the trophy, but there will be a separate plaque (and eventually sets of plaques) for the names of each winning team. This contest will occur every year beginning in 2028. The winning team will be given the trophy at a ceremony in Texas following the race each year, and keep the trophy until 11 23 the following year after which it will be returned to the race organiser for the next year. The pilot and the navigator of the winning team will be provided 80% scale copies of The Lunar Cup the year after the race at the “return of The Lunar Cup” ceremony. Winning team sponsors may purchase 50% scale copies of The Lunar Cup from the race organiser.
The winning team will receive 120 BTC bitcoin to the address they register before race day.
Race Organiser
The Lunar Cup, the Mars Cup, the Jupiter Cup, and other space yacht racing cups are the responsibility of a mystery sponsor. We were contacted earlier today 2024 07 18 regarding the availability of the race prize money, the trophy design competition prize money, and the nature of the agreed conditions and criteria for this race. The mystery sponsor has not agreed to be named. No further information is available from the sponsor.
Time trials
Beginning on AD 2025 12 12 there will be time trials for any space yacht racing teams seeking to compete. Time trials will be held once per year. Time trial participation is optional to all teams.
As an unlimited space yacht racing event, all space yacht teams are free to conduct their own ground, atmospheric, vacuum, static, space launch, and orbital tests as they see fit without limit. We recommend against any efforts to interfere with this competition during race day 2028.
Entry Fee
There is a fee for entering The Lunar Cup space yacht race competition. It is 10 BTC bitcoin and must be paid to this address on or before Anno Domini 2028 11 23. Here is the address for entry fees:
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Space yacht racing teams seeking to use The Lunar Cup or our trophy or any of our marks or seeking to be identified on our web site (to be presented soon) must be paid in full for their race competition entry. Those choosing to use the name, trophy, marks, or other identification, or to claim official entry without payment will be disqualified from the first year of racing. The same qualification will be required in future years for official participation.
You may enter as many years as you wish. You may pay for as many annual entries as you wish. You may pay for official entry for any year from 2028 onward. For a given year’s race, payment in full must be received 20 days prior, not later than 16:00 on 11 23 of that year.
Mars Cup and beyond
The mystery sponsor has also determined to have the Mars Cup space yacht race, the Jupiter Cup space yacht race, and other races to be established. The existence of our formal and announced intention of The Lunar Cup space yacht race as a single, annual, unlimited race is meant to encourage the creation of other space yacht races by other parties with other rules as they see fit. We do not intend to disparage any other race, nor to deliberately comment on any such race except to express safety concerns if they should arise, to congratulate winners, and send condolences to any lost or injured in competition.
Our goal with this competition and the future competitions we intend to announce is to change the way people think about space. Sailing voyages 500 years ago changed the way people think about Earth, and we believe these space yacht racing voyages will change the way people think about space. Space is a domain for human activity, human settlement, and human exploration. We believe that God created the entire universe for mankind and has given it to us for us to have dominion over. Our beliefs are unaffected by whether you choose to share them.
We wish all space yacht racing teams in our competitions and all other competitions the very best for success, safety, and health. God bless those who participate according to the rules. Amen.
That’s all I’ve got for today. Come back next time when I have something new. Or old.
To infinity, and beyond!
AWESOME!!! I can't wait to see this.
Let the races begin!!