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SpaceX to send privately crewed spacecraft beyond the moon next year

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Reuters

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2017/overseas/02/28/022817_space.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off on a supply mission to the International Space Station from historic launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US February 19, 2017. <cite>Joe Skipper, Reuters</cite></div></figcaption></figure></div><p>Private launch company SpaceX plans to fly two paying customers on a tourist trip around the moon using a spaceship under development for NASA astronauts and a heavy-lift rocket that has not yet flown, Chief Executive Elon Musk told reporters on Monday.</p><p>The launch of the first-ever privately funded tourist flight beyond the International Space Station is tentatively targeted for late 2018, Musk told reporters on a conference call.</p><p>He declined to identify the customers or say how much they would pay to fly on the week-long mission, except to say that it’s &quot;nobody from Hollywood.&quot; He also said the two prospective space tourists know each other.</p><p>“We would expect to do more than one mission of this nature,” he added. “This should be incredibly exciting.&quot;</p><div><strong>(Reporting by Irene Klotz at Cape Canaveral, Fla., Editing by Steve Gorman and Jonathan Oatis)</strong></div>

<p>Private launch company SpaceX plans to fly two paying customers on a tourist trip around the moon using a spaceship under development for NASA astronauts and a heavy-lift rocket that has not yet flown, Chief Executive Elon Musk told reporters on Monday.</p>

Private launch company SpaceX plans to fly two paying customers on a tourist trip around the moon using a spaceship under development for NASA astronauts and a heavy-lift rocket that has not yet flown, Chief Executive Elon Musk told reporters on Monday.