SpaceX today announced a mission to send a pair of regular people around the moon by the end of 2018. Two private citizens, not astronauts, will fly in the Dragon 2 spacecraft, which will be launched by a Falcon Heavy rocket. Both the Dragon 2 capsule and the Falcon Heavy are still under development, and the first Falcon Heavy launch is expected sometime this summer.
The two unnamed passengers "have already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission," according to a SpaceX press release. They will go on a week-long spaceflight, taking them around the far side of the moon and back to Earth. The Dragon 2 spacecraft will be completely automated during the flight, although it is possible that the passengers will have to operate controls in the event of an emergency. SpaceX says the first two passengers are to begin fitness tests and training later this year, and more manned spaceflights on the Dragon 2 will follow in the years to come.
A number of things need to happen before SpaceX can launch two private citizens around the moon. First, the Dragon 2 and Falcon Heavy rocket—which uses three Falcon 9 first stage boosters to achieve five million pounds of thrust—need to be completed. SpaceX also needs to launch the Falcon Heavy for the first time this summer and send an unmanned Dragon 2 capsule to the International Space Station later this year. If the private spaceflight company can achieve those goals, it might be in position to launch astronauts to the International Space Station, which it hopes to accomplish by the second quarter of 2018.
It is highly unlikely that the FAA will approve a spaceflight with private citizens before SpaceX successfully delivers astronauts to the International Space Station. And to launch astronauts to the ISS, SpaceX needs to receive approval from NASA, something that the Government Accountability Office said might not happen until 2019.
It's an incredibly ambitious goal, but SpaceX has made a habit of announcing highly ambitious deadlines, such as sending colonists to Mars before 2030. If you can land a rocket on a barge, maybe you can send paying customers flying around the moon on short notice.
