RAFFLE TO FUND SPACE LAUNCH COUPLE DREAMS OF BUILDING BASE SOMEDAY ON MOON'S SOUTH POLE.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

MOJAVE - Randa and Roderick Milliron want to go to the moon, and they're running a raffle to try to pay their way.

The former college instructors, who have Federal Aviation Administration permission to launch two rockets into space, are raffling off a $10,000 Treasury bill to finance their ultimate goal of planting a lunar station at the moon's south pole.

``This is basically a grass-roots effort,'' said Randa Milliron, who estimates she and her husband have put $200,000 of their own money into their space and rocket research. ``For us, it's exciting. We can speed the project along and not just rely on a handful of people.''

The raffle is being conducted by Trans Lunar Research, a tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation the couple created in 1996.

The contest is allowed under Proposition 17, passed by California voters in March 2000. It made lawful the common - but previously illegal - practice of churches, schools and other charities selling tickets for raffles of cars, cash or other prizes.

In a hangar at Mojave Airport, the Millirons have a 6,000-square-foot office and engineering laboratory, with a rocket engine test stand capable of test-firing engines of up to 150,000 pounds thrust.

With volunteer help over the years from people who work at places like the China Lake Naval Air Warfare Center, the Millirons have launched suborbital sounding rockets.

As Interorbital Systems, they have permission from the FAA to launch two unmanned rockets to reach 120 miles - that's higher than the usual space shuttle orbit.

The Millirons are looking for a launch spot. Randa Milliron said they are negotiating with the government of a Pacific Ocean island nation but didn't want to identify it.

They hope to launch one rocket this fall and another in the spring.

Randa Milliron said the couple has never decided they would have been better off spending their money on a Caribbean cruise or skiing in Vail. They have already traveled in Africa and lived in Europe, she said. They left college teaching jobs to concentrate on their space work: Roderick, a former engineer for Grumman Aerospace and General Dynamics, was a chemistry instructor at California State University, Los Angeles, and Randa was a radio and television instructor at Mount San Antonio College.

``It's the ultimate adventure,'' Randa Milliron said of space travel.

The Millirons estimate they can create a rudimentary, 40-inhabitant moon base for $500 million to $800 million. In comparison, sending 12 astronauts to the moon during the Apollo program cost NASA $19.4 billion.

``We call that kind of a white-collar welfare program,'' Randa Milliron said of National Aeronautics and Space Administration and corporate space work. ``The costs are wildly extravagant.''

Grants financed by the raffle proceeds would go to companies or research institutions to pay for specific work, like creating a low-cost spacesuit design or innovative propulsion system.

``That research would speed our project along,'' Randa Milliron said.

The Millirons hope the raffles - they plan a series, one after the other - attracts both people interested in space travel and wanting to support it, and people who just like gambling.

Trans Lunar said it is selling - by mail - 1,000 tickets priced at $20 each in the raffle for the $10,000 bill. It is also selling 500 tickets at $5 each in a raffle for a $1,000 T-bill.

They had sold 220 tickets as of Wednesday in the first $10,000 raffle.

The Millirons' Web site is www.translunar.com.

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color in AV edition only -- ran in AV and SAC editions) Space enthusiasts Randa and Roderick Milliron work on a propellant tank at a rocket engine test facility at the Mojave Civilian Flight Test Center.

(2 -- color in AV edition only -- ran in AV and SAC editions) Randa and Roderick Milliron have Federal Aviation Administration permission to launch two rockets into space.

(3 -- color in AV edition only -- ran in AV and SAC editions) A payload shroud for a planned unmanned rocket is part of the Millirons' private civilian space effort. The two hope to build a lunar base someday.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News