The first person to ever pay their way to space is headed back for another trip amongst the stars.
Photo by Newsmakers via Getty Images
Dennis Tito, 82, first traveled to the International Space Station in 2001 with the Russian Space Agency’s Space Adventures, which was based in the U.S., and sent a couple of wealthy individuals to the great beyond.
However, his time in the sky back then was only 10-minutes long. This time, he’ll be traveling around the moon for a week, according to a SpaceX update.
Tito’s wife, Akiko, will also be joining him on his journey along with 10 other paying customers. Although the millionaire, who’s in retirement after selling his investment company Wilshire Associates, hasn’t disclosed how much he is paying for the experience, his prior trip cost $20 million.
“We’re retired and now it’s time to reap the rewards of all the hard work,” he said of his pricey trip in an interview with the Associated Press. As for his love for space, he added, “This was a long pursuit dream of mine that began in 1958 when I started to study aeronautics and astronautics.”
However, a date of take-off has yet to be determined as SpaceX’s Starship is still in development but it could be within the next five years. Depending on his health, Tito said he’s ready for take-off whenever they are.
“We have to keep healthy for as many years as it’s going to take for SpaceX to complete this vehicle,” Tito said. “I might be sitting in a rocking chair, not doing any good exercise if it wasn’t for this mission.”
He continued, “If I can show that a man over 80 years of age can accomplish this hopefully that will inspire people of any age … that this is possible.”
Tito’s trip would mark one of the longest periods spent in space by a non-astronaut. Previously SpaceX sent three businessmen who paid $50 million each on a 10-day excursion where they conducted experiments, per NPR. The majority of recent space travel from space tourism companies has been only a few minutes long, including Blue Origin’s first 10-minute flight.
