SpaceX plans to announce two new space tourists slated to fly on a Starship rocket: Dennis Tito, the world’s first space tourist in 2001, and his wife, Akiko.
The couple paid an undisclosed amount to fly around the moon on Spaceship once the car is finished. They will be accompanying 10 other unidentified passengers on a journey that will take about a week. The trip did not include a landing on the lunar surface, and it is unclear if other passengers have been picked up.
It may take some time before the mission gets underway and there is still no target date. It’s scheduled Spaceshipfourth passenger mission, to be performed later SpaceX use the vehicle to land astronaut above moon Because NASA and after the trips of other customers who have purchased trips on board.
Then there’s the fact that Starship has yet to travel into space. SpaceX still needs to send an unpiloted version of the vehicle to orbit, CEO Elon Musk said could happen as early as November. The company must also show they can refuel the Starship while inside space for it to be able to reach the vicinity of the moon and it needs the necessary life support systems and other hardware to keep humans alive.
“I know this missile will be tested backwards and forwards; there will be hundreds of flights before we fly,” Tito said in an interview with Bloomberg. “We will not fly next year. It will be a wait. “
After a short stint as a scientist at NASA Jet Propulsion LaboratoryTito co-founded the investment management firm Wilshire Associates in 1972. He was the first civilian space tourist to visit. International Space Station, paid $20 million (nearly 1,64,500 crore) for a seat on a Russian Soyuz rocket for a week-long stay. Tito said that, at the time, NASA was not satisfied with its trip.
Since his flight, space tourism has greatly expanded, and NASA has opened the ISS to more commercial endeavors. Nearly a dozen tourists flew there with the help of a company called Space Adventures. The first all-civilian crew visited the space station in April, coordinated by a company called Axiom.
Paying customers can also enjoy short space by purchasing tickets on land vehicles from companies like Jeff Bezos’s Blue origin and Virgin Galactic, taking passengers to the edge of space and back.
SpaceX has also entered the space tourism market. In 2021, an all-civilian crew, funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, flew into orbit for three days aboard the SpaceX Crew Dragon, a mission called Inspiration4.
‘To the Moon’
Tito’s plans came about when he visited SpaceX in June 2021 after a friend of his wife arranged a meeting with company employees. He was asked if he wanted to go to space again, visit the space station or on a quick trip to orbit.
“No, I wanted to go to the moon,” Tito recalls saying. “And then I looked at Akiko as soon as I said that, and she said ‘me too.’ And that’s how it started. “
Dennis Tito is 82 years old, which would make him the oldest person to go into orbit and into deep space. He admitted that he has focused on staying healthy while waiting for Starship’s development. He and his wife, 57, are both pilots, while Dennis said he holds four US weightlifting records for an 80-year-old.
“Whatever will be, will be. It will take a certain amount of time, but it will be ready, and it will be safe when it is ready,” said Tito. “It’s more limited by the time I have on this planet.”
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