In a historic development milestone, NASA recently launched its first crewed lunar mission in over 50 years. However, there is a man who already lays claim to the moon and has made millions by selling real estate there.
The mission launched successfully on April 1, 2026, from Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying a team of astronauts, including Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Jeremy Hansen.
One of the most critical moments of their 10-day mission is still to come: Friday’s splashdown. They are scheduled to hit the Pacific Ocean off the coast of San Diego at 5:07 pm local time, after which NASA and the military will assist them in exiting the capsule and flying them to a recovery ship.
But until the astronauts are home safe, it’s too early to talk about success, NASA’s Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya told a briefing.
“When we can start celebrating is when we have a crew safely in the medbay of the ship,” the high-ranking official said. “That’s really when we can allow the emotions to take over, and, you know, start talking about success.” “We need to have the crew home before we do that.”
However, there is a man on earth, far, far away from the moon, who dared to dream, claimed the moon as his property, and then sold acres of lunar land to people. This is the story of Dennis Hope.
How Dennis Hope Sold Properties on the Moon?
In 1980, Dennis Hope, a former California used-car salesman, claimed ownership of the Moon and made $12 million by “selling” it by the acre, a story of entrepreneurial audacity.
Dennis Hope was going through a divorce and financial struggles when one day he looked up from his car window at the moon and had a bizarre idea: “There’s a load of property up there—who owns it?”
The answer was simple: nobody.
Struck by the thought, he went to the library to do extensive research.
He pulled out the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty and discovered that outer space is the common heritage of all humanity — “the province of all mankind.”
Deep into his research, he made a joyous discovery: no country is allowed to claim territorial sovereignty over it. In fact, Article 2 of the treaty specifically states that it is not permitted to claim ownership of the Moon, other planets in the solar system, or stars by occupation or any other means.
“Outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means,” it read. The treaty, ratified by major powers including the US and the former Soviet Union, declared space the “province of all mankind” and barred nations from claiming celestial bodies.
However, in Dennis Hope’s interpretation, if the Moon belonged to everyone, then it belonged to no one. He wondered whether, since the moon is not claimed by any country, an individual could claim it. “It was land that had no owner,” he later said at an interview.
Drawing inspiration from the US Homestead Act of 1862, which allowed settlers to claim western land, he decided to stake his own claim.
Once he was sure he wanted to claim the moon—a celestial body far away from his reach—he was determined to find a way to do it right.
Hope submitted a declaration of ownership for the entire lunar surface, as well as the other eight planets in the solar system and their moons, except Earth and the Sun, at a registry office somewhere in San Francisco.
He then sent formal declarations to the United Nations General Assembly, the US government, and the Soviet Union. In this notice, he clearly stated that he wanted to divide these properties into pieces and sell them.
He requested that they let him know if there was a legal objection, and when they failed to respond to what would have seemed an uncanny request, Hope considered it as an implicit agreement or confirmation that no one could contest that particular claim.
In November 1980, Hope did the unthinkable: he founded the Lunar Embassy and began selling “deeds” to property on the moon.
He sold an acre of land on the moon for around $20–$25 plus taxes. However, the prices purportedly varied slightly for Mars and other plants. Meanwhile, the buyers received a novelty certificate with their name, plot details, and a map reference.
According to reports, Hope assigned land by randomly pointing at a lunar map with his eyes closed. And for bigger payments, he extended the offerings to Mars, Venus, Mercury, and even Pluto.
Early sales were modest, involving peddling plots in neighborhood pubs, but expanded nationally and internationally through mail order and the internet.
Hope later stated that he had sold hundreds of millions of acres and that the company was his full-time job in 1995. He estimated his earnings at about $12 million, and some unverified reports say he sold about 1,500 properties in a day. Some reports have gone so far as to claim that Hope sold lunar and planetary properties to celebrities, politicians, and even three former US presidents.
Hope’s claim is unanimously rejected by space law experts as lacking legal standing. They have noted that the Outer Space Treaty also applies to private individuals and organizations, since it states that states “shall authorize and supervise” non-governmental activities and are accountable for the acts of their citizens. The goal of the pact was to forbid any appropriation of heavenly bodies, not to open the door for individual claims.
The experts have further pointed out that the UN’s silence did not equate to consent, as frivolous individual filings are usually ignored by international bodies.
In fact, US legislation, such as the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act of 2015, permitted Americans to possess and market commodities obtained from space, such as mined materials, but not to own land or exercise territorial sovereignty on the Moon.
Against that background, Hope’s deeds are widely viewed as novelty items or gag gifts; at best, they are considered fun certificates with no enforceable property rights.
Nonetheless, Hope’s business has survived for more than 45 years despite lacking legal status. He has advocated for concepts such as a “Galactic Government” to represent “lunar landowners” and has even discussed licensing costs for upcoming space operations.
Hope continues to assert that he truly believes in his claim and that customers are receiving real benefits.
The official website, lunarembassy.com, remains fully active and operational. It prominently advertises lunar property sales, as well as plots on Mars, Venus, Mercury, and other planets.
The site claims to be the “ONLY legitimate seller” based on Hope’s 1980 filing, emphasizes that buyers receive “mineral rights,” and promotes the business as having operated since 1980 with millions of “landowners.”
- Contact the author at sakshi.tiwari13 (at) outlook.com
- Follow EurAsian Times on Google News
