SpaceX will transport tourists Dennis Tito on Moon-Rounding Starship

(MENAFN) Dennis Tito, the world's first space traveler, has signed up for another trip into space, this time to orbit the Moon on Elon Musk's Starship rocket.

SpaceX announced on Wednesday that the rocket will send Tito and his wife, Akiko, to within 200 kilometers (125 miles) of the Moon's far side without landing on its surface. The week-long mission's dates have yet to be determined. It might take years.

“Dennis and Akiko Tito are the first two crewmembers announced on Starship’s second commercial spaceflight around the Moon,” SpaceX asserted in an announcement. “This will be Dennis’ second mission to space after becoming the first commercial astronaut to visit the International Space Station in 2001, and Akiko will be among the first women to fly around the Moon on a Starship.”

Tito pioneered space tourism 21 years ago by being the first person to buy his own way into space, thereby antagonizing NASA. The US space agency did not want a tourist on the station while it was being built, but the Russian Space Agency needed the money and, with the assistance of US-based Space Adventures, launched a slew of affluent clients to the station during the 2000s.

The deal contains a five-year option for the pair to fly. Tito would be 87 at the time, and he needed an out in case his health deteriorated.

“We have to keep healthy for as many years as it’s going to take for SpaceX to complete this vehicle,” Tito informed an outlet. “I might be sitting in a rocking chair, not doing any good exercise, if it wasn’t for this mission.”

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