Dennis Tito and his wife Akiko purchased seats on a private flight of SpaceX’s Starship rocket, the third such flight Elon Musk’s venture has announced to date.
"This mission is really groundbreaking in that it puts us on a very firm step towards airline-like operations, where now, for the first time, you can buy an individual seat to the moon," Matthews said.But timing for the mission is yet to be determined, and likely years away.
SpaceX has yet to reach orbit with a Starship prototype, has an expensive and high-profile NASA astronaut moon mission under contract, and needs to begin using the rocket to more rapidly deploy Starlink satellites. Plus, Tito's flight is third in the company's priority of private crew missions announced thus far.
For his part, Tito emphasized that he understands the trip around the moon"is not going to happen in the near term." He added that he expects SpaceX will complete"hundreds" of Starship flight before he and Akiko fly. But his enthusiasm for the company's long-term goals is unabated. Two years ago Tito sold Wilshire Associates, the investment firm he founded in 1972. Since retiring, he said, he's been"looking for something to do."
"I've been following SpaceX almost on a daily basis, watching YouTube for the last 5 years, and I could see that there was an opportunity," Tito said.
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