SpaceX Plans To Send Two Private Citizens Around The Moon In Late 2018

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has announced the private space company will be involved in an unprecedented mission set to take place very soon.

In Late 2018, SpaceX will launch two private citizens around the moon aboard a spaceship which is set to carry out its first unmanned test flight later this year.

The tourists “have already paid a significant deposit,” Musk said.

He added, “This presents an opportunity for humans to return to deep space for the first time in 45 years”.

SpaceX is collaborating with NASA in order to make the groundbreaking mission possible.

Musk said the two passengers “will travel faster and further into the solar system than any before them”.

He continued “Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind, driven by the universal human spirit of exploration. We expect to conduct health and fitness tests, as well as begin initial training later this year.”

The space tourists are expected to make a loop around the Moon, skim the lunar surface and then go well beyond.

Of course, Musk said the first passengers “are entering this with their eyes open, knowing that there is some risk here. They’re certainly not naive, and we’ll do everything we can to minimise that risk, but it’s not zero.”