In what is the first of its kind in the world, an agreement has been struck between Elon Musk's space company SpaceX and the first private passenger for a trip around the moon atop the Big Falcon Rocket of the company.
The BFR is an important development in the aim of putting the common man in space and to be able to access space on an everyday basis. SpaceX said in the announcement.
However the statement did not provide any further details about the possible timing of the space flight or the cost for the passenger for the flight and neither the passenger’s identify.
The company had earlier announced in February 2017 that it had received significant amount of money as deposits for a flight around the moon by SpaceX.
However, the identities of those passengers gad had not been revealed and the space flight is yet to take place. No explanation of the delay has yet been provided by the company.
When the announcement was made, there were doubts expressed by industry observers at the time.
That flight that was announced was to make use of the Crew Dragon spacecraft of SpaceX and was planned to be powered by the Falcon Heavy rocket.
SpaceX makes use of the Dragon for the transportation of passengers and supplies to the International Space Station and the Falcon Heavy rocket of the company had made its first first flight into space and back to Earth in February this year from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Currently, the Falcon Heavy is the most powerful rocket ever built on Earth and the thrust that it produces while take off and while leaving the Earth’s atmosphere is the same as that produced by 18 jumbo jets when functioning at full power.
The space company however wants to focus on the BFR to reduce costs, Musk said about a year ago. While the Falcon Heavy is 70m high and 12m wide, the BFR is 106m high and 9m wide.
This announcement by SpaceX coincides with a tough period for its founder Musk, who is also the founder of electric car maker Tesla. The shares in the car company have been falling and Musk himself has embroiled himself in a number of controversies. The latest was his tweet about taking Tesla private from which he retracted but not before the matter was taken up for investigation by United States market regulators. Trouble further brewed for him after the resignation of the chief accounting officer of Tesla about a month ago sending the wrong signals to the market.
(Source:www.bbc.com)
The BFR is an important development in the aim of putting the common man in space and to be able to access space on an everyday basis. SpaceX said in the announcement.
However the statement did not provide any further details about the possible timing of the space flight or the cost for the passenger for the flight and neither the passenger’s identify.
The company had earlier announced in February 2017 that it had received significant amount of money as deposits for a flight around the moon by SpaceX.
However, the identities of those passengers gad had not been revealed and the space flight is yet to take place. No explanation of the delay has yet been provided by the company.
When the announcement was made, there were doubts expressed by industry observers at the time.
That flight that was announced was to make use of the Crew Dragon spacecraft of SpaceX and was planned to be powered by the Falcon Heavy rocket.
SpaceX makes use of the Dragon for the transportation of passengers and supplies to the International Space Station and the Falcon Heavy rocket of the company had made its first first flight into space and back to Earth in February this year from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Currently, the Falcon Heavy is the most powerful rocket ever built on Earth and the thrust that it produces while take off and while leaving the Earth’s atmosphere is the same as that produced by 18 jumbo jets when functioning at full power.
The space company however wants to focus on the BFR to reduce costs, Musk said about a year ago. While the Falcon Heavy is 70m high and 12m wide, the BFR is 106m high and 9m wide.
This announcement by SpaceX coincides with a tough period for its founder Musk, who is also the founder of electric car maker Tesla. The shares in the car company have been falling and Musk himself has embroiled himself in a number of controversies. The latest was his tweet about taking Tesla private from which he retracted but not before the matter was taken up for investigation by United States market regulators. Trouble further brewed for him after the resignation of the chief accounting officer of Tesla about a month ago sending the wrong signals to the market.
(Source:www.bbc.com)
