SpaceX signs a customer looking to explore the moon

SpaceX signed another Japanese customer for launch on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket – this time a lunar exploration start.

Ispace, based in Tokyo, has entrusted the company of Elon Musk with the launch of its lunar equipment on the Falcon 9 rockets in 2020 and 2021, announced Wednesday the company. The first mission will put a lunar lander in orbit around the moon, while the second will bring a lander to the surface of the moon, where he will deploy two rovers to collect data.

"We share the vision with SpaceX to allow humans to live in space and we are very pleased that they are joining us in this first leg of our journey," Ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada said in a statement.

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Ispace, which has 65 employees based in Japan, Luxembourg and the United States, wants to "extend the human presence beyond the Earth".

Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX and director of operations, said he was "eager to deliver his innovative spaceship to the moon".

Last week, Musk announced that the company first paying passenger for a trip to the moon would be a Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa.