SpaceX announces that it will launch two "passengers" in 2018 with a rocket and send it to the moon round trip

SpeceX, one step leader in space development by the private sector, launched two people in the company's rocket "Falcon Heavy" in late 2018 and announced plans to provide round trip service to the moon. Although the details of the two are not disclosed, it has already been confirmed that we already have paid a deposit covering the amount of "significant" to the company.

SpaceX to Send Privately Crewed Dragon Spacecraft Beyond the Moon Next Year | SpaceX
http://www.spacex.com/news/2017/02/27/spacex-send-privately-crewed-dragon-spacecraft-beyond-moon-next-year

SpaceX plans to send two people around the Moon - The Verge
http://www.theverge.com/2017/2/27/14754404/spacex-moon-mission-2018-elon-musk-announces-private-citizen-passengers

In a blog updated on February 27, 2017, SpaceX announced that it would make a round trip to the moon for a fee to two general people. Regarding the launch date, it is written as "the second half of next year", which means that it is the latter half of 2018. About two passengers I have not touched anything on the blog, but I already have paid a deposit that is already considered to be large, and from the second half of 2017 health and physical examinations for initial launch and initial training are scheduled to begin Thing. Also, after these preliminary checks are completed, information on participants will be additionally published at the time of successful pass.

For the launch, the large rocket "Falcon Heavy" developed by SpaceX is used, and passengers will get on a new model "Crew Dragon" of the existing spacecraft "Dragon" and enjoy a "journey" to the moon Thing. Falcon Heavy is structured like three existing Falcon 9 rockets connected, and it is the same as international space station and artificial satellite about 54 tons of cargo at the maximumLow orbit(Orbit with an altitude of 2000 km or less from the earth's surface:LEO).

BySpaceX

Falcon Heavy rocket which feels like overspecification to launch only two passengers, but in fact it is necessary to move the speed to about 40,000 km / h in order to deliver humans far in the moon far than artificial satellitesEarth escape speed(Second space velocity) to shatter the earth's gravity. For that, a considerable amount of fuel is required, so it seems that the plan will use Falcon Heavy rocket.

Falcon Heavy's transport capacity to LEO is about 54.4 tons, which is far greater than the launch vehicle being developed in each country, and it also outperforms the former space shuttle. A rocket with performance exceeding the Falcon Heavy rocket at the present time sent humanity to the moon from the latter half of the 1960s to the 1970sSaturn V(Five) "has become only. By the way, the loading capacity of Saturn V is about 100 to 140 tons (in case of LEO).


SpaceX is supported by NASA and is promoting space development plan including this month's travel plan. In the second half of 2017, NASA willCommercial Crew Program(Commercial crew transportation development), we plan to launch Crew Dragon to be delivered to the International Space Station in an unmanned condition. In that case, all maneuvering is supposed to be done automatically. In the second quarter of 2018, the launch will be carried out with the crew on board, and in the second half of the same year, a manned mission to the moon will be carried out. Although I do not feel hurried a little bit, I would like to hope that the first human being "human beings traveling by the moon" will be realized with a perfect system.

Crew Dragon 's in - ship image was released in 2015. The interior design that seems comfortable is more like a "private jet" than a spaceship.

Crew member of a private manned spacecraft "Crew Dragon" Inside the capsule is released, to the first flight of 2017 - GIGAZINE


The launch image of Falcon Heavy looks like the following movie. Although the introduction of the orbit of the artificial satellite is drawn here, it is supposed that the spacecraft including Crew Dragon is attached to the tip of this rocket and aims at the moon.

Falcon Heavy | Flight Animation - YouTube