The company SpaceX announced on Monday their plans to transport two passengers next year around the moon, the first human space travel to Earth's natural satellite achieved in the last four decades, according to CNN.
Expensive trip
The company gave no details about the identity of the two Space Tourists, but noted that they had already made a "significant deposit" and they will go through medical testing and resistance exercises to determine if they can cope with the journey.
Historic flight
SpaceX said in a statement that these two people will be traveling into Space carrying with them the hopes and dreams of humanity, guided by the universal human spirit of exploration, like the Apollo astronauts.
The last people who flew to the Moon took part in the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. SpaceX has no plan to land on the Moon, but just to orbit around the Earth's natural satellite.
Missions to the Moon with tourists on board
In the next years, other countries besides the United States, like Japan, Russia and China are considering establishing human missions to the Moon. NASA is planning such a flight around the natural satellite of the Earth as part of the preparation for an eventual trip to Mars.
NASA praised SpaceX for the initiative
In another statement, NASA praised SpaceX because they are "aiming higher" and they described their relationship with the company as an "industrial partnership. "NASA is also going to invest in the new project.
The flight of SpaceX is going to use the Dragon capsule, built for NASA to transport human crew to the International Space Station (ISS). This project is part of the US space agency's wishes to support private space flight after the withdrawal of their fleet of space shuttles.
SpaceX will test later this year a modified version of the space capsule that will be was used to carry supplies to the ISS.
The test will be conducted without people on board, but a human flight is also planned for the next year.
The space company will launch their missions around the Moon from a private Space Center in Florida.
