SpaceX To Take World’s First Space Tourist On A Trip Around The Moon

Dennis Tito, the first civilian to touch down on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2001, is taking to the cosmos again, this time around the Moon with his wife Akiko Tito, SpaceX confirms. 
 

Tito is widely considered as the world’s first space tourist. He had first flown to the ISS with Russian astronauts, and since then, he’s set his sights on the lunar body, according to CNBC.
 
The lunar trip is set to take place sometime in the next few years as SpaceX is determined to send its rockets to the Moon with its Polaris Program.

Dennis and Akiko Tito are the first two crewmembers on Starship’s second commercial spaceflight around the Moon → https://t.co/z2Z9iVGw8x pic.twitter.com/07RHJlb6Dc

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) October 12, 2022

Aarti Matthews, Director of Starship Crew and Cargo Programs, detailed it would take a week to get there and back, and that three days would be dedicated to completing one round around the Moon. The Starship—the craft they are set to fly on—will be cruising within 125 miles of the surface.
 
SpaceX previously sold two different trips to billionaires, Jared Isaacman and Yusaku Maezawa, but in their case, they had bought out the entire flight. What makes Tito’s mission special is that he has only purchased two seats, one for him and one for his wife. 10 other seats are still up for grabs.
 
Matthews noted that this is a step towards SpaceX commercializing flights to the Moon, as now individual seats can be bought. 
 
 
 
[via CNBC and Interesting Engineering, images via various sources]