One Of Several Teams Competing For The Google Lunar XPRIZE

Moon Express, a privately-funded start-up with headquarters in Silicon Valley, hopes to begin flight testing of its lunar lander in a few days with an eye towards claiming the Google Lunar XPRIZE.

MoonEx, as the company is known, is in the running to claim the $20 million prize to be awarded for the first team that can launch an unmanned spacecraft to the moon and safely land a robot that can travel 500 meters and transmit hi-definition images back to the Earth.

At a media event Monday, the company revealed plans to begin flight testing on a simulated lunar landscape near the former shuttle runway at Florida's Kennedy Space Center, according to a report from Florida Today. Attending the event were Bob Richards, co-founder and CEO of Moon Express, as well as Andy Aldrin, the son of Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon. The younger Aldrin is now the president of MoonEx.

While the media was allowed to view the prototype lander at the event, no video or still images were allowed to be captured.

Andy Aldrin said that the company's goal is to land the Moon Express vehicle on the Moon in two years, and to have a vehicle that can land on the moon and return to Earth by 2020.

(2012 image provided by MoonEx)

FMI: www.moonexpress.com