Yup, you read that right. And no, the two people aren’t part of SpaceX’s moon exploration team or anything. They are two regular folks like you and me…..actually, probably throw in a lot of money as well.
Apparently, these two individuals approached SpaceX on their own and requested to be flown around the moon. And if you are wondering if SpaceX sanctions such trips, it does assuming that you have money enough to sponsor it.
Announcing the news through Twitter, Musk said
Fly me to the moon … Okhttps://t.co/6QT8m5SHwn
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 27, 2017
The company expects to conduct health and fitness tests and begin initial training, later this year. Meanwhile, the identity of the two highfliers — and they are literally taking the meaning of the word to a whole new level — has not been revealed. SpaceX said that it will reveal them after the individuals pass their health and fitness tests and give their nod to going public.
A SpaceX post on the topic read as follows:
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.
Meanwhile, SpaceX’s behavior is very reminiscent of a private taxi company. Except of course, the turf here is Space. Gone are the days when you had to be a the model human, the one with science geek-iness in addition to a robust physique, and work at NASA in order to observe the moon from anywhere considerably closer than the rest of the human race. Provided you have the money and that the journey won’t kill you, SpaceX will train you and will send you on your trip.
The trip will deploy the Falcon Heavy rocket — which after the Saturn V, is the most powerful rockets ever built for the purpose of space exploration. The launch will take place once SpaceX performs a manned mission to the ISS for NASA in the second quarter of 2018.
Post the launch, the two private individuals who are presently shrouded in anonymity, will become the humans to have traveled the furthest into space. Imagine the ice-breakers it will give them when they are back “So, I was traveling to the moon and suddenly……….”
