SpaceX to send 2 private citizens around the moon

SpaceX, which has been helping the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration develop a spate of future missions, said the mission will launch in late 2018 and carry a crew of two civilians on its Dragon 2 spacecraft. SpaceX said that other people have expressed strong interest in making the trip. “It would be comparable to maybe a little more than what the cost of a crewed mission to the space station would be”, noted Musk.

The announcement made early Monday morning on the Spacex website clarified that the trip will be taken by two private passengers with no prior astronaut experience. The Falcon Heavy hasn’t yet flown, but SpaceX says that when it does, it will pack two-thirds the thrust of a Saturn V moon rocket and offers more than double the thrust of the next largest launch vehicle now flying.

Musk also said that if NASA wanted to do the first lunar orbit mission, SpaceX would give them priority.

The commercial company, which was founded by Elon Musk, has been pushing the boundaries of space travel for years, with the help of the publicly funded NASA. Musk tweeted Monday, along with a statement about the company’s plans.

If it goes forward, this mission will lift off from Launch Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center and spend roughly one week in space, flying to the Moon, orbiting it, and then returning to Earth. They need health and fitness tests before the SpaceX will disclose additional information about them, the release said. In all, 24 astronauts flew to the moon and 12 walked its surface from 1969 to 1972.

As Nell explained, SpaceX “builds rockets and capsules that have taken cargo to the global space station for NASA”. The capsule was developed with NASA to send astronauts to the International Space Station.

He said there could be one or two of the missions a year that bring in up to 20% of the company’s revenues.

The company plans to launch its passenger flight in 2018 by using a Dragon 2 spacecraft and the massive new Falcon Heavy rocket.