From Rachel Hardwick’s new Vice interview with Dennis M. Hope, a man who claims to “own the moon”:

“Vice:

How did you end up owning and selling off chunks of the moon?

Dennis M. Hope: 

I started in 1980 when I was going through a divorce. I was out of money and thought maybe I could make some if I owned some property, then I looked out the window, saw the moon, and thought, Hey, there’s a load of property! So I went to the library, looked up the 1968 Outer Space Treaty and, sure enough, Article 2 states: ‘No nation by appropriation shall have sovereignty or control over any of the satellite bodies.’ Meaning it was unowned land. 

Vice:

But how did you acquire it?

Dennis M. Hope:

I just filed a claim of ownership for the moon, the other eight planets and their moons, and sent it to the United Nations with a note stating that my intent was to subdivide and sell the property to anybody who wanted it. I told them that if they had a legal problem with it they should please let me know.

Vice:

Did they ever get back to you?

Dennis M. Hope:

They never responded. Shame on them! I’ve never had a challenge to my claim of ownership by any government on this planet, period. I’ve had a lot of people telling me I don’t have the right to do this, but that’s just their opinion.

Vice:

So how much land have you sold so far?

Dennis M. Hope:

Well, this is the only job I’ve had since 1995, which is when I started doing this full time. We’ve sold 611 million acres of land on the moon, 325 million acres on Mars, and a combined 125 million acres on Venus, Io, and Mercury.”