posted 10-12-2022 08:00 AM               

Space tourist Dennis Tito books two seats to the moon on SpaceX Starship

The first person to pay his way into space has now bought two tickets to the moon.

Dennis Tito, who in 2001 became the first privately-funded space tourist to fly to the International Space Station, revealed on Wednesday (Oct. 12) that he and his wife, Akiko, have reserved seats on SpaceX's second circumlunar flight on board the still-in-development Starship launch vehicle.

posted 05-21-2026 08:16 PM               

First Starship Interplanetary Human Spaceflight Mission

Chun Wang, Mission Commander of Fram2, the first human spaceflight mission to fly over Earth's poles, announced today he will fly aboard Starship's first human spaceflight interplanetary missions to Mars! The two-year mission will explore outside the Earth-Moon system before flying-by the Red Planet and returning to Earth.

Prior to this interplanetary mission, Chun will join Dennis and Akiko Tito on the first planned Starship commercial human spaceflight around the Moon. The week-long circumlunar fly-by mission will help advance Starship's systems for deep-space, long-duration missions and is planned to fly within 200 km of the Moon's surface.

Since May 2020, SpaceX has safely flown 78 crewmembers from 20 countries to and from space across 20 missions aboard Dragon, including seven commercial and private astronaut missions that have greatly expanded access to space in low-Earth orbit.

Starship will now expand that access further – to the Moon and Mars with two upcoming commercial human spaceflight missions.

posted 05-23-2026 10:48 AM               

Now that Starship V3 has made its debut, we are one step closer to making life multiplanetary.

During Fram2 training, apart from the usual Dragon-related topics, I remember that what we talked about most in the training room was how to reliably tether down on Phobos.

Three months ago, Elon announced that the focus would shift toward the Moon. That makes sense. And I am also excited to see that, with AI data centers, we may eventually find a way to make space commercially practical.

So why am I setting my sights on Mars rather than the Moon? Because I believe that even without private investment in lunar flights, we will still reach the Moon, and likely very soon. As competition between the United States and China intensifies, governments will turn lunar bases into reality. And I am happy to sit back and watch that happen.

On the other hand, I have no confidence that Mars will still happen within our lifetime. And I think I should do something about that. I hope that by purchasing a flyby mission to Mars, SpaceX will have another reason not to forget about Mars. Because we seriously shouldn’t defer Mars to our next generation.

Although this mission will not make a tether down on Phobos, everything has to begin with a first step. We had Mariner 4 and 9 before the Vikings, and today’s Curiosity and Perseverance. I hope this mission can show the public that Mars is not just a point of light in a telescope. It is a real place, and humans can fly there and come back alive and come back healthy.