SpaceX to take two tourists to see the moon next year

RobertKK

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/836328719165763584

SpaceX will take two tourists for a trip around the moon next year.
The two tourists approached SpaceX last year and are paying a lot of money for the privilege of a trip of a lifetime.

I would love to go, but I would need to win the Euromillions.

It does look like space travel is really going to get going like never before.

Beasty

Don't think I'll be clambouring to do this trip - all craters look pretty much the same to me

Armchair Andy

I'd love to go up there for a bit of peace and quiet.
Could one smoke a spliff while there?

Your Face

Sound.

frag420

Armchair Andy wrote: »

I'd love to go up there for a bit of peace and quiet.
Could one smoke a spliff while there?

...all the while listening to Pink Floyd while over the dark side of the moon!!

LordSutch

If I was going I would make sure to have my long lens camera with me, so that I could take pictures of the Moon Buggy!

....as proof that we had been there before.

Wibbs

IMH more of the usual Elon Musk publicity seeking self promotion razzmatazz of his "brand". He's arguably more about that than results. Certainly on the financial returns front. His widely and oddly considered great ideas are almost all other peoples, some going back many decades. "His" idea for hyper loop for example. They were discussing similar in the late 19th century. But for some reason he's hit the zeitgeist among a young, generally geeky demographic(who should well know better). Which is grand, if he follows through, but on that his results are very mixed. Great salesman and entrepreneur, yes. Great visionary? No.

Slight problem with this particular claim. They've never put a single human into low earth orbit, never mind accelerating them to the velocities required for a translunar round trip.

Beasty

Wibbs wrote: »

Slight problem with this particular claim. They've never put a single human into low earth orbit, never mind accelerating them to the velocities required for a translunar round trip.

Once they've paid up does he mind whether it comes back?


:pac:

learn_more

Trip of a lifetime? If it goes off course it might well be just that.

KungPao

Lunacy!

Atlantic Dawn

They won't be landing on it so a complete waste of time, fools and their money comes to mind.

hefferboi

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

They won't be landing on it so a complete waste of time, fools and their money comes to mind.

How is it a waste of time? They'll be doing something that only a handful of humans have ever done before.

Well worth the money, if you have it.

gramar

You can see içt if you just look out the window most nights.
No need to go all that way.

kyote00

Trump & Putin ?

Pickpocket

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

They won't be landing on it so a complete waste of time, fools and their money comes to mind.

Keep chipping away at that mortgage, pal. Only 28 years left.

seamus

"Tourists" is probably a bit of a stretch. That would be calling David Attenborough a tourist because he paid for his own trip to Africa.

I would expect the individuals selected will be subject to a punishing training schedule and will for all intents and purposes be as close to professional astronauts as you can be.

Ultimately this is mostly about proving the power of automation. They'll stage at least one automated flight of the route to shake out the difficult bits before sending the people up. This means that unlike the Apollo missions, the people are effectively human cargo who will need to put minimal input into piloting the craft.

Automation is a significant milestone to break for longer-haul spaceflight, such as a manned Mars mission or even just a manned Mars flyby (which I suspect is SpaceX's next plan). The intense focus required to manually pilot a spacecraft is simply not feasible for longer missions, so virtually everything on board has to be automated.

Noddyholder

Johnston & O'Brian ?

valoren

Remember when Felix Baumgartner jumped from 127,852 feet in 2012? He was repeating what Joseph Kittinger had done in 1960. There was nothing to be gained from it only publicity, advertising, attention and breaking records few people actually cared about. It was cool for about 5 seconds when he finally jumped. One could argue it's applications could be about testing high pressure suits etc but again that is of little interest to anyone but the military.

This venture is nothing more than a repeat of Apollo 8, a cover version with modern 'technology'.

It will be nice to see some HD pictures of the moon during the free return trajectory, of the 'earth rise' but that's about it for me.

Reminds me of George Harrison's cameo in the Simpsons. (the best celeb cameo imo).

His limo pulls up while the B-Sharps sing on a rooftop.
He simply says "It's been done" and the limo drives away.

The essence of the message is; What boundaries are being pushed, be original.

ScumLord

Wibbs wrote: »

IMH more of the usual Elon Musk publicity seeking self promotion razzmatazz of his "brand". He's arguably more about that than results. Certainly on the financial returns front. His widely and oddly considered great ideas are almost all other peoples, some going back many decades. "His" idea for hyper loop for example. They were discussing similar in the late 19th century. But for some reason he's hit the zeitgeist among a young, generally geeky demographic(who should well know better). Which is grand, if he follows through, but on that his results are very mixed. Great salesman and entrepreneur, yes. Great visionary? No.

Slight problem with this particular claim. They've never put a single human into low earth orbit, never mind accelerating them to the velocities required for a translunar round trip.

Is Musk claiming he came up with this stuff though? Or is it just the media, rather than give the full in depth story of the technology, are just saying Elon Musk is Iron man?

Like you say these technologies have been around for a while but nobody would take a risk on them. There's no guarantee they'll be profitable or successful.

As far as I can see Musk is just taking the risks others wouldn't because the reward isn't a sure thing. Electric cars have been around longer than combustion engines but Musk drove the development of this generation of electrics and now electrics are a real thing. I don't think he really is claiming that he's a genius and these are all his own ideas, he's job is to take them from the lab and push them into the market.

Other companies have had all sorts of vested interests in either ignoring these technologies or flat out suppressing them. They were never going to take the preemptive step that Musk took.

Wibbs

ScumLord wrote: »

Is Musk claiming he came up with this stuff though? Or is it just the media, rather than give the full in depth story of the technology, are just saying Elon Musk is Iron man?

Musk directly encourages this stuff in the media and has for years. He's a major showboater but his pronouncements rarely match up to reality.

Like you say these technologies have been around for a while but nobody would take a risk on them. There's no guarantee they'll be profitable or successful.

As far as I can see Musk is just taking the risks others wouldn't because the reward isn't a sure thing. Electric cars have been around longer than combustion engines but Musk drove the development of this generation of electrics and now electrics are a real thing. I don't think he really is claiming that he's a genius and these are all his own ideas, he's job is to take them from the lab and push them into the market.

Other companies have had all sorts of vested interests in either ignoring these technologies or flat out suppressing them. They were never going to take the preemptive step that Musk took.

That's more Musk PR talking than reality. Every claim he made for his car company has proven dubious at best. Tesla is a niche luxury car manufacturer(with a silly supply chain) propped up by public funding that claims to be a mainstream car manufacturer, or claims that this will happen magically in the future. The fans slobbered over the "affordable" new Model 3, with thousands throwing their readies at him, yet if they can't begin to make a profit, nor meet demand for a niche luxury car, how does he expect to make a profit or meet demand for something far cheaper? Well when I say cheaper, mark me now, the price quoted will turn out to be more Musk flimflam and the actual on the road supply dates will be pie in sky.

The "Gigafactory" another notion that seems great and makes the headlines, but look beyond the hype and the problems are numerous. For a start, for all his future talk it'll be making old style current(no pun) battery tech. The Solar City buyout(from his cousin no less) when the main companies are looking at insolvency is madness and investors have jumped that ship for good reason.

Everything about him is couched in a nebulous "future". That's his continuous MO. Which is fine, but when one looks behind the flimflam..



And the detector will break the needle if exposed to this lunar mission in the timeframe he claims. Looks great on Twitter though and the fans lap it up.

scamalert

spaceX reading articles have troubles lifting of the ground safely,next decade would been safer bet.

Jelle1880

valoren wrote: »

Remember when Felix Baumgartner jumped from 127,852 feet in 2012? He was repeating what Joseph Kittinger had done in 1960. There was nothing to be gained from it only publicity, advertising, attention and breaking records few people actually cared about. It was cool for about 5 seconds when he finally jumped. One could argue it's applications could be about testing high pressure suits etc but again that is of little interest to anyone but the military.

This venture is nothing more than a repeat of Apollo 8, a cover version with modern 'technology'.

It will be nice to see some HD pictures of the moon during the free return trajectory, of the 'earth rise' but that's about it for me.

Reminds me of George Harrison's cameo in the Simpsons. (the best celeb cameo imo).

His limo pulls up while the B-Sharps sing on a rooftop.
He simply says "It's been done" and the limo drives away.

The essence of the message is; What boundaries are being pushed, be original.

SpaceX (and NASA are backing them) made it clear that their main goal is getting to Mars. They have not had the experience of getting anywhere apart from the ISS, so sending someone to the moon would be a great step for them to see if a Mars-mission within the time-frame they set themselves is viable.

RobertKK

They would not be landing a person on the moon, but would be taking the two people for a flight around the moon.
We will know by the end of next year how true the claims are, that are being made now.

ScumLord

Wibbs wrote: »

Musk directly encourages this stuff in the media and has for years. He's a major showboater but his pronouncements rarely match up to reality.

I haven't really noticed that, I watch a few of his speeches, but I think he's a bit bland and not a great public speaker so I don't really stick with him. Obviously I expect plenty of promotion and wild overblown promises, as every company does the same thing. But I always got the impression he pushed the technology rather than just self promotion, but I suppose the two go hand in hand when he's the face of the company

The fans slobbered over the "affordable" new Model 3, with thousands throwing their readies at him, yet if they can't begin to make a profit, nor meet demand for a niche luxury car, how does he expect to make a profit or meet demand for something far cheaper?

He doesn't need to meet demand on a luxury car, it's probably even better if he doesn't. I think he learned that with those converted elises. The less cars he could provide the more people seemed to want them. It's get's to be a rare car even though it's essentially a standard salon.

There's no reason why the Teslas shouldn't be successful, they're a highly desirable car even though they're quality is questionable.

I think over all he does more good than harm, even if he is a narcissist, who isn't in his line of work? As long as he drags these technologies into the mainstream I don't really care how egotistical he is.

Pyr0

Beasty wrote: »

Don't think I'll be clambouring to do this trip - all craters look pretty much the same to me

You have the chance to create your own crater on the moon! Who wouldn't want that?!

alb

Wibbs, I think what you're missing is what Musk's goal is, or at least what he claims it is. It's not primarily to make profit for shareholders, it's to advance space travel, and push forward renewable energy as a replacement for fossil fuels.

The PR is a necessary part of this, because selling the story, and letting people see him as the next Steve Jobs helps attract the investment in the first place.

I would not say he has achieved nothing, he's landed a rocket back on earth, he built the first commercial electric car that was desirable to car enthusiasts and had high performance, the powerwall and more recent solar roof tiles work and are a step further in the renewable energy direction.

I wouldn't necessarily invest in any of his companies with any hopes of financial gain, but I hope he succeeds in what he's trying to do.

Wibbs

alb wrote: »

I would not say he has achieved nothing, he's landed a rocket back on earth, he built the first commercial electric car that was desirable to car enthusiasts and had high performance, the powerwall and more recent solar roof tiles work and are a step further in the renewable energy direction.

Don't get me started on the Powerwall... What he has done is shake up others and that's where I see the actual innovation that applies to day to day life will happen. And if that's all he does(and I strongly suspect it will be) then that's great. Beyond that my BS detector goes twitchy when I read of the hype around him.

Wibbs

ScumLord wrote: »

There's no reason why the Teslas shouldn't be successful, they're a highly desirable car even though they're quality is questionable.

Simply because the production rates are too low, he has near zero hope of ramping that up and the company is constantly teetering on the abyss of bankruptcy. That's hard enough in the niche rich guys second toy car market, where they're willing to wait and more willing to ignore issues, but to do it with a mainstream model? It's simply not going to happen.

Satts

Trump, Kenny and a bowl of shamrock.

emo72

Wouldn't be too hard on him wibbs, you get that a lot, people who take an existing technology and tweak it a little to make something new. Didn't Microsoft have tablets years before then Apple developed the iPad into something more user friendly? they took the tedious time to fix all the bugs and refine it. Yeah he's absolute hype, but he's a lightening rod for grand ideas.

Anyway a trip around the moon, I thought we had lost the ability to do it. Interesting to see if it happens again. I'd say it's a 50/50 chance of success. Whoever is doing it don't take it for granted your coming home in 1 piece.