SpaceX announces privately-crewed Moon shot in 2018
Meteorologist/Science Writer
Monday, February 27, 2017, 7:54 PM - SpaceX is doing great things these days, but this was unexpected: Elon Musk announced on Monday that the company is planning to send two private citizens on a paid trip around the Moon and back, sometime in 2018.
SpaceX's Crew Dragon - the spacecraft that will, one day soon, fly astronauts up to the International Space Station from the United States - is still in development at the moment, however there are already some grand plans in store for this spacecraft, once it is completed.
In a Monday news release, SpaceX said:
We are excited to announce that SpaceX has been approached to fly two private citizens on a trip around the moon late next year. They have already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission. 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. Other flight teams have also expressed strong interest and we expect more to follow. Additional information will be released about the flight teams, contingent upon their approval and confirmation of the health and fitness test results.
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. This emulates NASA's 1968 Apollo 8 mission, which performed the same flight.
Just as with Apollo 8, which did not fly with a lunar lander, no trip to the Moon's surface would be made by the two unnamed SpaceX crew members.
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Leading up to this incredible private flight, SpaceX is still planning the first test flight of their Falcon Heavy rocket - the launch system that will carry the Crew Dragon into orbit and further - sometime in September of this year. An uncrewed test flight of the Crew Dragon is planned for sometime before the end of the year, with the first crewed flight to the International Space Station slated for early 2018.
According to Mashable's Miriam Kramer, Musk said, up front, that NASA has first priority for going on a lunar mission. So, if the space agency wanted to send their astronauts first, SpaceX would postpone this private mission until after the NASA mission has flown.
"This presents an opportunity for humans to return to deep space for the first time in 45 years and they will travel faster and further into the Solar System than any before them," said SpaceX's news release.
