SpaceX Announces First Ever Moon Tourism Mission

Getting launched off in a rocket into deep space and seeing the Moon up close are some of the things that only astronauts get to experience. Many people would give anything to travel to space. This is where the concept of Moon tourism was conceived.

The increasing enthusiasm of common people in space exploration missions further fed the idea, and Moon tourism soon became highly popular. Though the concept sounds extremely adventurous, the cost of space travel has always been a major hindrance in its pragmatization. But it seems people are ready to pay -- maybe not from the common working class but people with strong economic backgrounds have no objections in paying it.

Elon Musk's SpaceX company had recently made an announcement that it has already booked two civilians under its Moon tourism package. Though the company did not reveal who these two cosmonauts are, SpaceX made it clear that it has already received a significant amount of money for the mission, Startup smart reported.

According to an official notification published on SpaceX.com, the company is planning to execute its first Moon tourism plans by the end of next year. The company is also planning to use its Dragon 2 spacecraft for this mission. However, before the tourism mission is actually commenced, the spacecraft will be tested in a demonstration mission, without any crew members. The demonstration mission will be a joint venture of SpaceX and NASA, under NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

Although experts are a little bit concerned regarding the health issues associated with space travel and how these civilians could prepare themselves to face them, SpaceX made it clear that the mission will commence only after it gets approval from the health and fitness officials, Deccan Chronicle reported. Furthermore, these civilians will be given proper training on how to handle the low-gravity conditions and the physiological changes that occur during the launch of spacecraft.

This groundbreaking effort made by NASA and SpaceX will open new horizons of space travel and exploration. The space agencies are planning to use this as an opportunity to gather more funding, which will be utilized in the furtherance of future space research programs.