The world's first space tourist and 82-year-old American entrepreneur Dennis Tito said on the 212th that he has signed a contract with American space exploration technology company and will take a moon-round trip with his wife, 57, on the "star ship" under development of the company.
American wealthy businessman Dennis Tito, who is aerospace engineer, is the first space tourist to "tourism" in human history to visit International Space Station . During that space trip in 2001, he stayed on the International Space Station for eight days and paid $20 million for it. Now, 21 years later, he is working with spaceX, the space exploration technology company of Eron Musk, to plan to return to space and embark on a moon-looping trip, taking his 57-year-old wife on a belated honeymoon.
On October 10th local time, Dennis Tito and his wife Qiuzi are at SpaceX Starship Rocket Base. Photo According to Visual China
For 82-year-old Tito, the cooperation with Musk's spaceX is a good opportunity for him to relive his trip to the International Space Station, but this time he said he was not interested in flying on the edge of space for 10 minutes or repeating what he did 21 years ago. "We'll see the Earth getting smaller and bigger, and then keep getting closer to the moon - looking at the Earth from an angle that only astronaut Apollo has enjoyed so far." Tito said as he looked at his space travel trajectory, "We will be truly outside the world."
"I've been thinking about flying to the moon for 20 years since (2001)," Tito said. "We (Tito and his wife) found that SpaceX was interested in space flight and asked them the idea of me (to the moon). A few minutes later, we decided to sign."
It is reported that Tito and his wife Akiko were both pilots, who got married during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
"We didn't have a chance to go on our honeymoon," Tito said, "so maybe this (space travel) is our honeymoon." When Tito finally realized his desire to return to space, he might be close to 90. But he said in an interview with the media that he has been undergoing weight training, so he is in better shape than when he became the so-called "first space tourist" 21 years ago.
It is reported that the founder of ZoZotown, one of Japan's largest retail websites, billionaire entrepreneur and art collector Tomosasa Maezawa, also booked a super heavy spacecraft flight carrying him and several companions for his first privately funded moon flight. Tito's flight may be after Tomosa Maezawa's flight, but it is not clear whether the two space travel plans will precede NASA's lunar landing missions .
It is not clear at the exact time of the plan and how much it will cost, and Tito is not going to talk about how much he will pay for the two seats on the spacecraft.
Tito also said in an interview that he and his wife planned this space trip purely for adventure, and wanted to take this opportunity to inspire older people who feel their horizons are becoming narrower and narrower, and hope to make their own contribution to human exploration of the solar system. "We are willing to wait as long as the results are perfect," Tito said.
Red Star News Reporter Wang Yalin Intern Duan Yuqi
Editor Yu Dongmei Bao Chengli
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