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| SpaceX to fly two tourists around Moon in 2018 | SpaceX to fly two tourists around Moon in 2018 |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| US private rocket company SpaceX has announced that two private citizens have paid to be sent around the Moon. | US private rocket company SpaceX has announced that two private citizens have paid to be sent around the Moon. |
| The mission is planned for late 2018, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said, adding that the tourists "have already paid a significant deposit". | The mission is planned for late 2018, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said, adding that the tourists "have already paid a significant deposit". |
| "This presents an opportunity for humans to return to deep space for the first time in 45 years," he said. | "This presents an opportunity for humans to return to deep space for the first time in 45 years," he said. |
| The two unnamed people will fly aboard a spaceship which is set for its first unmanned test flight later this year. | The two unnamed people will fly aboard a spaceship which is set for its first unmanned test flight later this year. |
| Mr Musk said the co-operation of America's Nasa space agency had made the plan possible. | |
| He said the two passengers "will travel faster and further into the solar system than any before them". | He said the two passengers "will travel faster and further into the solar system than any before them". |
| Mr Musk declined to reveal their identities, only saying that they knew each other and that "it's nobody from Hollywood". | |
| "Like the Apollo astronauts before them, these individuals will travel into space carrying the hopes and dreams of all humankind, driven by the universal human spirit of exploration. | |
| "We expect to conduct health and fitness tests, as well as begin initial training later this year." | |
| The first mission would be unmanned, and the next one - with crew - was expected in the second quarter of 2018, the billionaire entrepreneur and inventor said. | |
| He also said the first passengers "are entering this with their eyes open, knowing that there is some risk here". | |
| "They're certainly not naive, and we'll do everything we can to minimise that risk, but it's not zero." | |
| The space tourists would make a loop around the Moon, skimming the lunar surface and then going well beyond, Mr Musk said. | |
| The mission will not involve a lunar landing. | |
| If Nasa decided it wanted to be first to take part in a lunar flyby mission, then the agency would have priority, Mr Musk said. | |
| The US has not sent astronauts to the Moon since the early 1970s. |