First commercial Moon landing gets go-ahead Small step for commercialization of Moon surface. The first private Moon landing has won government authorization. The decision opens the door to the commercialization of the Moon's surface. The US State Department and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have granted TransOrbital, Inc. of La Jolla, California, permission to send its TrailBlazer probe to map the surface of the Moon and photograph Earth. The launch is scheduled for June 2003 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. "The Moon is ripe for commercial development," says Dennis Laurie, head of TransOrbital. "It's a lot closer than...