SpaceX restarts its plan to send tourists around the moon – and it's about to name the first passenger

In a tweet published late yesterday, SpaceX announced it has signed a contract with a passenger to tour the moon aboard its new generation launch system. Details are scarce, but the announcement suggests that the rocket company led by Elon Musk still intends to deliver individuals, not just professional astronauts and freight, into the space.

That SpaceX has revived its lunar intentions should not be a complete surprise. In June, when the company canceled plans to send two space tourists around the moon, SpaceX insisted that it was a delay, not an abandonment, of ambitions. space tourism society.

"SpaceX still plans to fly individuals around the world and many customers are attracting increasing interest," said company spokesman James Gleeson at the time.

Moreover, it was obvious that the company had postponed the lunar mission. In February, Elon Musk admitted that the Falcon Heavy, just one day before its inaugural launch, will not be evaluated for manned journeys, saying that SpaceX will focus its energies on developing the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR). the company was planning to use the BFR launch system, not the Falcon Heavy spacecraft and Crew Dragon, to deliver the humans into space.

The surprise tweet of yesterday suggests that SpaceX is getting closer to its ambitions.

"SpaceX has signed the world's first private passenger to ride the moon aboard our BFR launcher," SpaceX announced in its tweet, saying "this is an important step towards

The passenger's name will be announced on Monday, September 17 at 9 pm ET, which you can watch here. No calendar or other details have been provided by SpaceX. Let's hope we learn more on Monday, because SpaceX's hype machine continues to run on four cylinders.

Interestingly, the illustration that accompanies the tweet shows a slightly modified version of the BFR spacecraft, which was unveiled last September at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Australia. He now has larger tail fins and seven engines in his base, as opposed to the original six. When asked on Twitter if the changes reflected the current design of BFR, Musk responded in the affirmative.

To date, most development work has been done on the spacecraft element, SpaceNews reports, and it could be ready for short suborbital "jumps" next year. Recalling the retired space shuttle, the reusable BFR spacecraft could potentially carry a dozen or even dozens of passengers around the moon. Or Mars.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the portion of the rocket itself, which will also be reusable, is still about one or two years from a first test flight.

Yesterday's announcement can be interpreted as a strong sign that SpaceX is moving towards the BFR project, and at the expense of the Falcon Heavy project. The future of SpaceX, as has constantly reiterated the company, will involve human exploration of space, whether lunar overflights or settlements on March. The company estimates that there is money to be gained from space tourism, as global demand for large commercial satellites is dropping significantly and the appeal for smaller satellites is steadily increasing.