SpaceX plans to send 2 tourists around the moon in 2018

SpaceX, Elon Musk’s ambitious aeronautical startup, is planning to send two people around the moon and back to earth in 2018. The company’s CEO announced that he is approached by two persons to accomplish this journey. If everything goes as per plan, then they would fly past the surface of the moon, but not land, and continue outward before gravity turned the spacecraft around and brought it back to Earth for a landing. This would do a long loop around the moon. The two people would spend about a week inside one of SpaceX’s Dragon 2 capsules, launched on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket. The spacecraft would be automated, but the travelers would undergo training for emergencies. Although Elon Musk didn’t disclose how much the travelers need to pay, however, if they accomplish this feat then the two passengers would be the first humans to venture that far into space in more than 40 years.

However, many people believe that the ambitions plan will not lead to anywhere. It is also termed as too risky since SpaceX has a history to misses and passes for launching rockets in space. Also, no astronaut have ventured beyond low-Earth orbit since the last of NASA’s Apollo moon landings in 1972. With SpaceX’s history of announcing aggressive plans and then pushing the dates on regular basis, the announcement seems a farce on the face value for now.