World's first space tourist plans new flight to moon aboard SpaceX Starship
Dennis Tito
Dennis Tito, an American businessman and the first person to pay for their own space flight in 2001, announced on Wednesday that he intends to travel with his wife Akiko on a future SpaceX mission around the Moon.
The journey will happen once Elon Musk's business completes the development of its Starship rocket prototype and successfully completes a first commercial flight that will feature Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa.
During the week-long mission, Starship would fly 125 miles from the lunar surface before heading back to Earth.
Tito said there are still 10 seats available for sign-ups, but he wouldn't say how much he and Akiko paid for their tickets.
Maezawa, on the other hand, has reserved every seat on his "dearMoon" expedition, which is scheduled to launch no earlier than 2023 but most likely much later.
Space tourism began in 2001 when Tito paid $20 million to ride a Russian rocket to the International Space Station.
Tito, an engineer with a background in aeronautics and astronautics, worked for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the 1960s before forming Wilshire Associates in 1972.
A variant of Starship has already been chosen to serve as a lander for NASA's Artemis missions to bring people back to the Moon, and Musk has vowed that the rocket will complete its first orbital test this year.
SpaceX intended the commercial missions to be a first step toward airline-like space operations, according to Aarti Matthews, director of Starship crew and cargo.
(With inputs from agencies)
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