Flying private passengers around the moon
Yusaku Maezawa & Elon Musk
Yusaku Maezawa, a rich Japanese billionaire paid SpaceX an unenclosed huge sum of money to take himself and several others on a trip around the Moon.
The money for the trip is going towards the cost of building a huge new reusable spaceship (called ‘Starship‘) which can then be used for future missions. Once the spaceship has been thoroughly tested and flown an uncrewed test fight, it will then take the passengers on the 6 day trip around the Moon which is planned for 2023.
The last visit to the moon was in 1972 on the Apollo 17 mission. Only 24 people have visited the moon so far.
SpaceX, lead by Elon Musk, have been very successful in launching satellites, sending cargo and crew to the International Space Station using it’s Falcon 9 rocket, but they’ve always had much bigger plans. The new spaceship will be designed not only to take people to the Moon, but to any part of the solar system, from Mars to Pluto and re-land back on Earth.
Yusaku is yet to pick the other members to travel with him, but he wants them to be various talented artists such as a painter, musician, film director, fashion designer; people who will be inspired and will inspire others to follow.
SpaceX Moon mission presentation
SpaceX proposed new spaceship
Previous Apollo Missions
| Mission | Summary | Launch | Duration | Pad | Rocket |
| Apollo 1 | Failed test flight | 21-Feb-67 | N/A | LC 34 | Saturn IB (AS-204) |
| Apollo 7 | Successful test flight | 11-Oct-68 | 10d 20h 09m | LC 34 | Saturn IB (AS-205) |
| Apollo 8 | Successful Moon orbit | 21-Dec-68 | 06d 03h 00m | LC 39A | Saturn V (AS-503) |
| Apollo 9 | Successful test flight | 3-Mar-69 | 10d 01h 00m | LC 39A | Saturn V (AS-504) |
| Apollo 10 | Successful Moon orbit | 18-May-69 | 08d 00h 03m | LC 39B | Saturn V (AS-505) |
| Apollo 11 | Successful Moon landing | 16-Jul-69 | 08d 03h 18m | LC 39A | Saturn V (AS-506) |
| Apollo 12 | Successful Moon landing | 14-Nov-69 | 10d 04h 36m | LC 39A | Saturn V (AS-507) |
| Apollo 13 | Failed Moon landing | 11-Apr-70 | 05d 22h 54m | LC 39A | Saturn V (AS-508) |
| Apollo 14 | Successful Moon landing | 31-Jan-71 | 09d 00h 01m | LC 39A | Saturn V (AS-509) |
| Apollo 15 | Successful Moon landing | 26-Jul-71 | 12d 07h 11m | LC 39A | Saturn V (AS-510) |
| Apollo 16 | Successful Moon landing | 16-Apr-72 | 11d 01h 51m | LC 39A | Saturn V (AS-511) |
| Apollo 17 | Successful Moon landing | 7-Dec-72 | 12d 13h 51m | LC 39A | Saturn V (AS-512) |
| Apollo 18 | Cancelled Moon landing | 1972 | |||
| Apollo 19 | Cancelled Moon landing | 1972 | |||
| Apollo 20 | Cancelled Moon landing | 1972 |
