Christchurch, New Zealand (WFN) -- It may sound looney but a space physicist in New Zealand hopes to build his own rocket ship -- and he needs your help.

The American-born scientist -- who calls himself "Millennium Twain" -- says he hates America's monopoly of space exploration and hopes to rectify things by building his own spacecraft.

The 45-year-old physicist needs $30 million to build his dream vehicle, which will be capable of traveling to the moon and beyond.

So far, Twain has $1000 earmarked, but blastoff could be as early as 2004 if he gets the other $29,999,000 fast enough.

He hasn't picked a final design for the ship yet, so he's sponsoring a design contest at www.freespeech.org/rapture asking folks to suggest their own spaceship ideas.

The winner will get a free trip to outer space.

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