SpaceX Announcement 1pm PST Feb 27

[Nikxice]

I find it intriguing that Elon has left the door open for NASA to opt into this mission before the two paying space tourists. Sometimes we'll get a glimpse of his sentimental side, which is why I believe he hopes NASA might act on this opportunity. It's probably not a coincidence that NASA with SLS and SpaceX with the Falcon Heavy were both looking at late 2018 for a circumlunar slingshot mission.

The December 1968 flight of Apollo 8 captured the attention of the world. I still get chills over the significance of hearing the phrase, Apollo 8 you are go for TLI. Exciting times, back then practically everyone learned at the same moment things like what a barbecue roll in space was. What better way to celebrate that event 50 years later than to once again reach out past LEO.

 

[flyingbathtub]

I find it intriguing that Elon has left the door open for NASA to opt into this mission before the two paying space tourists. Sometimes we'll get a glimpse of his sentimental side, which is why I believe he hopes NASA might act on this opportunity. It's probably not a coincidence that NASA with SLS and SpaceX with the Falcon Heavy were both looking at late 2018 for a circumlunar slingshot mission.

The December 1968 flight of Apollo 8 captured the attention of the world. I still get chills over the significance of hearing the phrase, Apollo 8 you are go for TLI. Exciting times, back then practically everyone learned at the same moment things like what a barbecue roll in space was. What better way to celebrate that event 50 years later than to once again reach out past LEO.

It's about time. 50 years of stagnation. Time to move on.

 

[jkn]

SpaceX has not stated how much the two people will be paying for this mission. The SpaceX website states that a Falcon Heavy launcn is $90 million to take up to 8 metric tons to GTO, such as a big satellite. See Capabilities & Services

I would assume that a lunar mission would be much more costly because it will require a Crew Dragon and who knows what else in addition. So I expect each person will be paying over $70 million. But that is just my WAG.

There are thousands of people on this planet who can afford to pay that kind of money.

I expect the two people will be American citizens. Given the importance of the SpaceX relationship with NASA and the public relations aspects to be considered, I can't imagine that the two people would not be US citizens.

It will be very good test flight for SpaceX, so perhaps first trip is lot cheaper.

I don't know if they can get paying customer for first launch of F.Heavy. I though they could send Dragon to the Moon as a test load. Perhaps they'll send empty Dragon around the Moon.

 

[ggr]

It would be great if one of the two people was a woman. There are certainly hundreds of women who could afford the cost, but no obvious names come to mind.

I bet Ansari. Ansari X Prize - Wikipedia

 

[Doug_G]

It's probably $100 million per person. That would be a sensible number, IMHO.

 

[ecarfan]

@ggr there is a lot of speculation in the SpaceX Facebook group about her being one of the two. Reading her Wikipedia page, I agree with you. That would be awesome. An Iranian immigrant who came to the US and was very successful, now a US citizen, very smart, spent 8 days on the ISS in 2006. I hope it is her!

 

[NCC-1701-T]

If I was a 1%er I'd do it in a heartbeat. So NASA is conducting a feasibility study to add crew to EM-1 (at the request of the current WH administration) and SpaceX is planning it's first manned flight for a trans-lunar trajectory. 2018 is going to be exciting indeed! I just hope manned missions on these launch platforms and spacecraft are not rushed just for the sake of having manned missions. Safety is still a priority but I would absolutely love for the general public to get excited about space travel again and manned missions beyond the ISS would definitely have that effect...I hope.

 

[ohmman]

If I was a 1%er I'd do it in a heartbeat.

..well, 0.01%er, maybe...

 

[NikeWings]

So I expect each person will be paying over $70 million.

It's probably $100 million per person. That would be a sensible number, IMHO.

Well that rules me out.......
Unless Elon is open to corporate sponsorships and rocket logos. i.e. NikeWings Inside or Powered by NikeWings etc.

 

[Electroman]

its a tad expensive.. I am passing

 

[Mike1080i]

So NASA is conducting a feasibility study to add crew to EM-1 (at the request of the current WH administration) and SpaceX is planning it's first manned flight for a trans-lunar trajectory. 2018 is going to be exciting indeed! I just hope manned missions on these launch platforms and spacecraft are not rushed just for the sake of having manned missions. Safety is still a priority but I would absolutely love for the general public to get excited about space travel again and manned missions beyond the ISS would definitely have that effect...I hope.

Probably a bit off topic, but adding a crew to SLS EM-1 is getting in a rush and not wise in my opinon. The EM-1 upper stage is derived from the Delta IV's cryogenic second stage and is not human rated. Since that upper stage (iCPS) is intended to be replaced by the human rated EUS (Exploration Upper Stage) for SLS flights beyond EM-1 it just doesn't make sense to me to expend the time, effort and money on human rating iCPS for a single flight that wouldn't offer much scientific value.

Whoever is buying the F9H/D2 trans-lunar flight I wish them well and hope they understand the risk. I'd certainly go if I had that kind of cash.

 

[NCC-1701-T]

..well, 0.01%er, maybe...

Yeah that's probably more like it.

 

[AudubonB]

I'll sponsor ____________ for half the way, but only if no one sponsors the other half.

 

[Grendal]

Probably a bit off topic, but adding a crew to SLS EM-1 is getting in a rush and not wise in my opinon. The EM-1 upper stage is derived from the Delta IV's cryogenic second stage and is not human rated. Since that upper stage (iCPS) is intended to be replaced by the human rated EUS (Exploration Upper Stage) for SLS flights beyond EM-1 it just doesn't make sense to me to expend the time, effort and money on human rating iCPS for a single flight that wouldn't offer much scientific value.

Whoever is buying the F9H/D2 trans-lunar flight I wish them well and hope they understand the risk. I'd certainly go if I had that kind of cash.

Since the government is paying, in full, for SLS EM-1 then they can pretty much get away with whatever they want, even if it is unsafe. Which it definitely is. The new administration wants astronauts on an entirely new and nearly untested rocket then...

FH with D2 will have had a number of flights before these people get theirs. NASA is rightfully peeved at SpaceX for this announcement since they been paying for all the research and development of Dragon 2 for their use. In SpaceX's defense, NASA has first priority for any human rated launches with SpaceX. SpaceX isn't cutting NASA out or even doing an end run around NASA. So I'm sure that NASA will get over it once astronauts are flying to the ISS. It is only in consideration that SpaceX has not flown someone into space but are announcing a trip around the moon for some tourists that you can understand NASA getting a little upset.

The next step for commercial crew is the in flight abort. That should happen toward the end of this year.

 

[Pando]

SpaceX will fly tourists around the Moon next year!

Using AP2 for the guidance system? Is that one camera or two? That would be entertaining as hell to watch the flight path!

Yea, I guess Elon needs to fix the autopilot to handle the corners a bit better.

 

[Doug_G]

Probably a bit off topic, but adding a crew to SLS EM-1 is getting in a rush and not wise in my opinon. The EM-1 upper stage is derived from the Delta IV's cryogenic second stage and is not human rated. Since that upper stage (iCPS) is intended to be replaced by the human rated EUS (Exploration Upper Stage) for SLS flights beyond EM-1 it just doesn't make sense to me to expend the time, effort and money on human rating iCPS for a single flight that wouldn't offer much scientific value.

Whoever is buying the F9H/D2 trans-lunar flight I wish them well and hope they understand the risk. I'd certainly go if I had that kind of cash.

NASA is a little two-faced about safety. They launched the first space shuttle with crew and no credible launch escape system even though it was all highly experimental. They ignored SRB blow-by for a long time, probably because addressing it would shut down the program for a year or two. And they ignored the risk of falling debris damage to the thermal tiles and carbon-carbon at launch, again probably because they knew the problem couldn't be effectively mitigated. They got away with the first launch, but then subsequently lost two crews.

It's reasonable to require a high level of safety for private space flight. But they don't consistently apply those same rules to themselves, and that is wrong.

 

[macpacheco]

It's probably $100 million per person. That would be a sensible number, IMHO.

There were comments that the cost would be similar to a CRS mission (new F9+new Dragon for NASA).
Why a Falcon Heavy launch would cost the same ?
Used FH boosters and reused Dragon (like the Dragon v2 that will be used for the unmanned test will be recycled for this around the moon joy ride).
So its more like US$ 150-160 million for the whole mission (75-80 million each for 2 seats).

 

[Skotty]

I'll definitely feel more comfortable if they send some non-humans first, just to verify everything is hunky dory.

As always, I hate to bring this topic up, but do they have the pee and poo thing figured out?

Will they eventually have luxury interior options for Dragon V2?

 

[sandpiper]

If I was a 1%er I'd do it in a heartbeat. So NASA is conducting a feasibility study to add crew to EM-1 (at the request of the current WH administration) and SpaceX is planning it's first manned flight for a trans-lunar trajectory. 2018 is going to be exciting indeed! I just hope manned missions on these launch platforms and spacecraft are not rushed just for the sake of having manned missions. Safety is still a priority but I would absolutely love for the general public to get excited about space travel again and manned missions beyond the ISS would definitely have that effect...I hope.

Uhhh... you'd need to be in a MUCH more refined group than the 1%. To be able to drop $100M on something like this, you're looking at people with net worth of at least a billion - but more likely $5 billion. There are a couple-ish thousand billionaires on the planet, so you're dealing the the 0.00003%

 

[JeffK]

Uhhh... you'd need to be in a MUCH more refined group than the 1%. To be able to drop $100M on something like this, you're looking at people with net worth of at least a billion - but more likely $5 billion. There are a couple-ish thousand billionaires on the planet, so you're dealing the the 0.00003%

Out of that is a subset that are both willing to pay that much and willing to potentially die.