SpaceX to launch person around the moon in Big Falcon Rocket spaceship

SpaceX’s
rendering of a Big Falcon Rocket spaceship carrying a passenger
around the moon.

SpaceX/Twitter

• SpaceX announced on Thursday night
  that it plans to launch “the world’s first private passenger”
  around the moon.
• The rocket company, founded by Elon Musk, will name the person and
  release more details on Monday.
• However, a hint that Musk dropped may indicate the
  lunar voyager could be Japanese.
• The spacecraft will be the Big Falcon Rocket: a launch
  system for Mars described by Musk over the past two
  years.
• However, the design SpaceX shared on Monday is
  different from those Musk has shown.

SpaceX,
the rocket company founded by Elon Musk, plans to launch a
private citizen around the moon.

The company’s announcement came Thursday night via Twitter, and it included a
rendering of the spaceship that will make the voyage: the

Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR.

“SpaceX has signed the world’s first private passenger to fly
around the Moon aboard our BFR launch vehicle,” the company said,
adding that it will be “an important step toward enabling access
for everyday people who dream of traveling to space.”

SpaceX also said that it will name the passenger on Monday and
explain why that person is making the trip.

However, it’s not the first time the company has announced that
it would make such a trip.

SpaceX to the moon, 2.0

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk
speaks at the International Astronautical Congress on September
29, 2017 in Adelaide, Australia. Musk detailed the long-term
technical challenges that need to be solved in order to support
the creation of a permanent, self-sustaining human presence on
Mars.

Mike Brake/Getty
Images

SpaceX previously announced a
fly-around-the-moon mission in February 2017.

That plan aimed to launch two private citizens around the moon on
a path similar to the one taken by NASA’s Apollo 13 astronauts.
It also called for using the company’s
Falcon Heavy rocket — currently the most powerful operational
launch system in the world — and its
Crew Dragon capsule, which astronauts are
gearing up to fly inside in early 2019.

But SpaceX appears to be deviating from that plan with one less
passenger, whom Musk may have hinted is Japanese, and by using BFR,
which is
still-being-prototyped and as-yet-unproven spacecraft.

The BFR, as Musk described it during a 2017 presentation, calls
for a 157-foot-tall spaceship that will ride a 191-foot-tall
rocket booster into orbit.

Together, the 35-story system is intended to launch the
first crewed missions to Mars — but SpaceX not only appears
eager to demonstrate BFRs capabilities, but roll out a new design
of the spacecraft.

Musk confirmed the rendering SpaceX shared
is a new version of the BFR. Though he gave no more details, the
spaceship shown in the image appears to be more squat than the
original design. It also has a large tail fin and two small
wings, unlike previously shared graphics.