SpaceX Announces Plan to Send Two People Around the Moon
The two private citizens want to fly around the moon in a Dragon 2 in 2018.
By Jay Bennett
Feb 27, 2017
SpaceX today announced a mission to send a pair of wealthy patrons around the moon by the end of 2018. Two private citizens, not astronauts, will fly in the Dragon 2 spacecraft, which will be launched by a Falcon Heavy rocket. Both the Dragon 2 capsule and the Falcon Heavy are still under development, and the first Falcon Heavy launch is expected sometime this summer.
The two unnamed passengers "have already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission," according to a SpaceX press release. They will go on a week-long spaceflight, taking them around the far side of the moon and back to Earth. The Dragon 2 spacecraft will be completely automated during the flight, although it is possible that the passengers will have to operate controls in the event of an emergency. SpaceX says the first two passengers are to begin fitness tests and training later this year, and more manned spaceflights on the Dragon 2 will follow in the years to come.
A number of things need to happen before SpaceX can launch two private citizens around the moon. First, the Dragon 2 spacecraft and Falcon Heavy rocket—which uses three Falcon 9 first stage boosters to achieve five million pounds of thrust—need to be completed. SpaceX also needs to launch the Falcon Heavy for the first time this summer and send an unmanned Dragon 2 capsule to the International Space Station later this year. If the private spaceflight company can achieve those goals, it might be in position to launch astronauts to the International Space Station, which it hopes to accomplish by the second quarter of 2018.
It is highly unlikely that the FAA will approve a spaceflight with private citizens before SpaceX successfully delivers astronauts to the International Space Station. And to launch astronauts to the ISS, SpaceX needs to receive approval from NASA, something that the Government Accountability Office said might not happen until 2019.
It's an incredibly ambitious goal, but SpaceX has made a habit of announcing highly ambitious deadlines, such as sending colonists to Mars before 2030. If you can land a rocket on a barge, maybe you can send paying customers flying around the moon on short notice.
WATCH LIVE: ECHOSTAR XXIII MISSION
SpaceX is targeting launch of the EchoStar XXIII mission tomorrow, Thursday, March 16th, from the historic Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The launch window opens at 1:35 am ET or 5:35 am UTC, and the launch will be broadcast live at www.spacex.com/webcast beginning at approximately 1:15 am ET or 5:15 am UTC.
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket will deliver EchoStar XXIII, a commercial communications satellite for EchoStar Corporation, to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO). For more information, visit www.spacex.com.
Yeah, mine too, although if I was in Florida, I might stay up -- it looks like it's going to be a cool and very clear night down there.After my bedtime.....
No recovery attempt at all. It's a heavy payload to GTO. S1 will burn to near depletion and isn't carrying legs or grid fins.Do you know if the 1st stage is coming back to LZ1, or the drone ship, or?...
Then they should use a recycled one that's already flown once before.No recovery attempt at all. It's a heavy payload to GTO. S1 will burn to near depletion and isn't carrying legs or grid fins.
SpaceX wants to try recycling more of Falcon 9 rocket
AFP
April 1, 2017
Washington (AFP) - SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk said he wants to go further in the reuse of his rockets after successfully launching the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket that was recycled from a previous flight.
Musk tweeted on Friday that he is looking into a test to bring home the second stage of the company's new Falcon 9 Heavy rocket for reuse when the rocket debuts late in the summer.
SpaceX blasted off the recycled first stage, or booster, of a Falcon 9 rocket for the first time on Thursday, a feat that could dramatically lower the cost of space travel.
The Falcon 9 Heavy has a first stage composed of three Falcon 9 engine cores and "will be the most powerful operational rocket in the world by a factor of two," according to the company website.
"Considering trying to bring upper stage back on Falcon Heavy demo flight for full reusability," Musk wrote Friday on Twitter.
"Odds of success low," he said, "but maybe worth a shot."
He then added: "Falcon Heavy test flight currently scheduled for late summer."
SpaceX has for 15 years been honing the technology of powering its boosters back to careful Earth landings on solid ground and in the water.
The goal is to make rocket parts as reusable as cars, planes or bicycles, Musk has said.
Reusing a first-stage booster rocket as was done on Thursday results in an estimated 30 percent savings on the cost of more than $60 million.
If SpaceX also manages to reuse the second stage of the rocket, costs will drop even further.
A Twitter user asked if Musk could say what will be in the test payload.
"Silliest thing we can imagine! Secret payload of 1st Dragon flight was a giant wheel of cheese. Inspired by a friend & Monty Python," Musk answered.
The Dragon is the company's spacecraft that is launched on top of SpaceX rockets. Dragons have delivered cargo to the International Space Station and safely returned to earth.
Several times? My gut says they're doing something wrong if that's the case.Their second stage engine is a custom version of the Merlin ones used on the booster. They refer to it as the "Merlin Vacuum" engine. I suspect that this one engine has the same cost as several of the booster variants, due to smaller production numbers.
Hmm, since the second stage reaches full orbital velocity, pretty much any spot on earth within its orbital inclination would be doable, no? Once fully in orbit, there's no rush to land it, right?I'm wondering where he plans to land it? He already has the two side boosters returning to KSC, and the center core landing on the drone ship. Could the second stage make it to a pad landing in Europe? Barge landing in the Indian/Pacific Ocean? Do a full orbit and RTLS back to KSC?????
Several times? My gut says they're doing something wrong if that's the case.
That's a lotta launches!