McCain's Moon Property: Real Estate Even He Won't Forget

Upon learning that Republican presidential candidate John McCain can't remember how many homes he owns, a company specializing in lunar real estate has offered the Arizona senator some property even he can't forget.

San Jose, Calif. August 22, 2008 -- Upon learning that Republican presidential candidate John McCain can't remember how many homes he owns, a company specializing in lunar real estate has offered the Arizona senator some property even he can't forget.

Lunar International, a company that offers lunar land claims to the public in order to support future lunar exploration efforts, has reserved an acre of moon property for McCain in the famed Sea of Tranquility.

Both properties are in the same lunar region, but they aren't right next door to each other

"We're truly touched that Senator McCain is so underwhelmed by his current homes that he can't even remember how many of them he owns," said Jackson James, president and chief lunar officer of Lunar International. "A man of his stature deserves real estate that's truly memorable."

Thanks in part to the popularity of the Google Lunar X Prize and other private space-tourism endeavors, the dream that non-astronauts can travel to outer space someday appears to be imminently achievable. A handful of organizations, including Lunar International, believe that private ownership and development of land on the moon will be the next logical step.

Lunar International donates a portion of each sale to the Society for Lunar Exploration and Development, an organization attempting to establish a system that allows regular Earth-bound citizens to own moon property. Should the group achieve its goals, those who purchased land claims through Lunar International -- and those like Senator McCain who received it as a gift -- would enjoy full property rights to their slice of real estate on the moon.

James said the company has also reserved an acre of moon property in the Sea of Tranquility for Democratic presidental candidate Barack Obama as well.

"Both properties are in the same lunar region, but they aren't right next door to each other," said James. "We thought that might just be too awkward."