No details have been given about what the trip will cost, but we already have the name of the first space tourist to fly around the Moon with SpaceX, Elon Musk’s private space flight company. This is Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire founder of the clothing company ZoZo,
“Finally, I can tell you, ‘I choose to go to the Moon, ‘” Maezawa said to applause from the audience during the press conference. “Since I was a child, I have loved the Moon, just looking at the Moon filled my imagination, it is always there and it has continued to inspire humanity. That is why I cannot pass up this opportunity.”
The funny thing is, you don’t want to go alone. Maezawa said he plans to “go to the moon with artists.” According to the billionaire, he will take six to eight artists on his incredible space journey.
If the trip goes according to plan (which could happen if we look back), Maezawa will zoom in on the Moon in 2023 in the new Big Falcon Rocket design.
The trip would put the Japanese businessman and billionaire in a privileged position, since only 24 people have visited the Moon, according to information from NASA. The last time humans made this journey was in December 1972, during the Apollo 17 mission manned by NASA astronauts Eugene Cernan, Harrison Schmitt, and Ronald Evans.
“The intention is to help advance rocket technology into a multi-planet species and a true space civilization ,” visionary Elon Musk said during the press conference.
Destination: the Moon
The SpaceX CEO first announced that the company would send tourists to the moon in February 2017. However, that mission, which would have used the company’s Falcon Heavy rocket and Dragon capsule, never materialized.
How much has the space ticket cost you?
The trip will be expensive. SpaceX did not disclose how much Maezawa paid, but it is clear that the figure will have many zeros. In June, for example, the private company Axiom Space announced that starting in 2020 it would offer 10-day trips to the International Space Station (ISS) for $ 55 million.
Musk and other private spaceflight entrepreneurs have endeavored to fill the void in this regard, with spacecraft that can carry crews to the ISS and beyond. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft already carry cargo back and forth between Earth and the ISS; in the same way, the company hopes to use its rockets to fly humans into space.
The rocket: BFR
Taking into account the lunar orbit, which is about 384,400 km away, it will take Maezawa approximately three days to reach the Moon before orbiting its far side and launching towards Earth.
To make the trip take place, SpaceX is designing a huge Big Falcon Rocket , BFR rocket, new versions of which show a seven-motor rocket with a separate 30-foot-wide amplifier. It is intended to accommodate up to 100 passengers on voyages as far away as the planet Mars.
“We will do a lot of test launches before we have people on board,” Musk said reassuring the audience.
Here we go.
Image credit: SpaceX
