Space Exploration Technology Corp. (SpaceX) on Monday announced that it will send a privately crewed Dragon spacecraft around the moon in late 2018.
In a statement on its website, the company said it was approached by two private citizens, who it said already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission. SpaceX expects to conduct health and fitness tests, as well as begin initial training, later this year. Other flight teams have expressed strong interest, SpaceX said, and it expects more to follow.
SpaceX will use a Falcon Heavy rocket for its privately crewed moon mission. Falcon Heavy, the company said, is due to launch its first test flight this summer.
SpaceX said it will launch its Crew Dragon (Dragon Version 2) spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) later this year as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, which will send humans to the ISS from United States soil. A subsequent mission with humans is expected to fly in the second quarter of 2018. The company said it is currently contracted to perform an average of four Dragon 2 missions to the ISS per year, three carrying cargo and one carrying crew. The cargo missions are part of NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) program.
Once operational Crew Dragon missions are underway for NASA, SpaceX will launch the private mission on a journey to circumnavigate the moon and return to earth. Launch will take place from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
SpaceX did not return requests for comment Monday.