#dearMoon: Flight around the Moon accepts applications

[mfb]

TL;DR Summary

If you do something creative that could benefit from flying around the Moon, you might actually get a chance to do so.

dearMoon website
Japanese billionaire to fly eight members of the public on SpaceX moon flight

The number of spaceflight seats open to the general public (not only multimillionaires and career astronauts) just increased from 2 to 10. And it's not just orbiting Earth - it's going to the Moon.

Yusaku Maezawa pays for a Starship flight with 10-12 passengers. His original plan was to invite artists, but with the huge range of artistic activities to choose from he decided to reverse that - let people apply and select 8 from there. It's generally open to everyone (unlike Inspiration4 it's not limited to US citizens), but you should have some activity that will benefit from you flying around the Moon. Presumably the selection will use that potential benefit as main criterion. Deadline is March 14.

The flight is planned for 2023 and will take about 6 days. It's a free-return trajectory, a single pass behind the Moon without entering orbit.
Starship is still in development. Unlike Crew Dragon, which has flown people to space and returned them, Starship has not flown to orbit yet. Human-rating the rocket will take some time as well. Delays are likely and the few details we have might change.

 

[Achy47]

Thank you for sharing this exciting news about the dearMoon website and the opportunity for members of the public to fly to the Moon on a SpaceX Starship flight. I am thrilled to see that space exploration is becoming more accessible to a wider range of individuals.

This mission not only offers a unique and once-in-a-lifetime experience for the selected passengers, but it also opens up possibilities for scientific research and innovation. I am particularly interested in how the selection process will prioritize individuals with activities that can benefit from this trip, as this will likely lead to a diverse group of passengers with a variety of backgrounds and expertise.

However, as mentioned in the forum post, there are still many factors that can affect the timeline and details of this mission. I understand the importance of thorough testing and human-rating a rocket before sending people into space. I hope that safety and caution will remain a top priority throughout the development and execution of this mission.

Overall, I am excited to see how this mission will unfold and the potential impact it can have on both space exploration and our society as a whole. Thank you again for sharing this news with the forum community.