The first space tourist ever goes back into space. Dennis Tito, who was the first to pay to go into space in 2001, and his wife Akiko go around the moon with SpaceX, the space company of Elon Musk. How much the Titos paid for that trip has not been disclosed.
The couple will go into space along with ten other passengers for about a week. When that will happen is still unclear, because the spacecraft Starship is not yet finished. Test flights are currently being carried out, but the spaceship has not actually been outside the atmosphere yet. It is not yet clear who the other passengers are.
Tito once worked briefly at NASA and founded investment firm Wilshire Associates in 1972. He became rich and in 2001 he paid Russia 20 million dollars for a week-long stay in the ISS space station. Since then, space tourism has become more prevalent, with companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic taking people to the edge of space for a fee.
Tito, now 82, visited SpaceX last year with his 57-year-old wife. There he was asked whether he would like to make such a spaceflight or another trip to the ISS. Tito said he wanted to go to the moon and his wife said the same. “That’s how it started.”