{"id":11231,"date":"2022-10-12T20:19:09","date_gmt":"2022-10-12T12:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/dennis-tito-first-space-tourist-books-trip-around-the-moon-on-spacexs-starship\/"},"modified":"2022-10-12T20:19:09","modified_gmt":"2022-10-12T12:19:09","slug":"dennis-tito-first-space-tourist-books-trip-around-the-moon-on-spacexs-starship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/dennis-tito-first-space-tourist-books-trip-around-the-moon-on-spacexs-starship\/","title":{"rendered":"Dennis Tito, first space tourist, books trip around the moon on SpaceX\u2019s Starship"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Akiko and Dennis Tito at SpaceX\u2019s Starbase facility in South Texas. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dennis Tito, an 82-year-old aerospace engineer-turned-financial analyst who paid Russia $20 million for a trip to the International Space Station in 2001, is working with SpaceX on plans to take his wife on what amounts to a belated honeymoon voyage to the moon.<\/p>\n

In an interview with \u201cCBS Mornings,\u201d Tito said he and his wife of two years want to fly on Elon Musk\u2019s futuristic Starship for the sheer adventure of it. They also want to inspire senior citizens who might think their horizons are increasingly limited.<\/p>\n

And they want to play a part in humanity\u2019s initial steps out into the solar system.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been thinking about flying to the moon for the last 20 years, since my space flight,\u201d Tito said. \u201cAnd here we were at SpaceX (recently) and they were interested in talking about a space flight. And I brought it up. And within a few minutes, we both were on board.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a television interview Monday at SpaceX\u2019s sprawling Starship development complex near Brownsville, Texas, Tito and his Tokyo-born wife Akiko, 57, said they hope to blast off with 10 other yet-to-be-named passengers, booked by SpaceX, within the next five years or so, after the rocket completes a series of test flights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be able to watch the Earth get smaller, and smaller and smaller, and the moon get larger, and larger and larger,\u201d Tito said, describing the planned trajectory. \u201cWe will then, upon emerging from the far side of the moon, see the Earth\u201d from a perspective only the Apollo astronauts have enjoyed to date.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be literally out of this world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

As it now stands, their voyage presumably would follow two other piloted flights of the Super Heavy\/Starship rocket: one to Earth orbit, presumably with billionaire Jared Isaacman, who funded the first private orbital flight aboard a Crew Dragon capsule in 2021; and an around-the-moon flight chartered by Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not known when those missions might get off the ground or how much they might cost. Likewise, Tito would not discuss how much he\u2019ll be paying for two seats aboard the Starship.<\/p>\n

Whatever the amount, it\u2019s obviously worth it to a man who describes his space station visit two decades ago as \u201c100 percent enjoyment,\u201d adding \u201cI\u2019ve been thinking about it every day since.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things I hope to do, we both hope to do, is inspire people that as we get older, there are so many things we still can do,\u201d Tito said. \u201cAnd flying in space actually is a lot easier than a lot of other things. I mean, I\u2019m beyond the age of skiing, but space is a lot easier than that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Akiko Tito, a real estate investor and jet pilot: \u201cLike Dennis said, I think age is just a number. We just want to inspire people and especially me, inspire women, you know, young women (who) want to become a pilot in the future, want to become astronaut. You know, work hard and make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStar Trek\u201d actor William Shatner, then 90, set the age record last year when he flew to the edge of space aboard a sub-orbital New Shepard spacecraft. The oldest person to reach orbit was the late John Glenn, who was 77 when he flew aboard a space shuttle in 1998.<\/p>\n

Tito could be nearing 90 himself when he finally gets his Starship flight, but he told CBS Mornings correspondent Janet Shamlian he\u2019s in better shape now than when he launched aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to become the first so-called \u201cspace tourist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am probably in better physical shape than I was 21 years ago,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause I\u2019ve taken up weightlifting in a serious way. And I wasn\u2019t able then to manage the kind of weight I can manage now. So I think I\u2019m in better shape.\u201d<\/p>\n

But realizing it could be several years before he blasts off aboard the as-yet-untried Starship, \u201cwe\u2019ve engaged in upping our physical fitness activities and health monitoring to really make sure that we\u2019re going to be in shape for many years into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The regimen includes weight training in a fully equipped home gym along with walking and running on a quarter-mile track outside his house. The couple also has a Pilates studio.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not counting on (launching) next year,\u201d Tito said. \u201cSo we have to stay in good shape, which is a great motivational thing for us because a lot of people when they reach my age, you know, will sit in a rocking chair and wait for the inevitable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Akiko Tito said she started working out on a daily basis 20 years ago and now trains for beauty and fitness competitions that focus on \u201ctotal physical fitness. And then you have to be elegant as well at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said she had no hesitation about joining her husband for a flight to the moon.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know him very well, so, \u2018yes, here we go,\u2019 you know?\u201d she said. \u201cI wanted to join him. So here we are. We want to make it happen together, as a couple.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born in Tokyo, Akiko Tito holds a degree in economics and moved to New York in 1995 to work on Wall Street while raising a daughter. She and Tito were married in 2020 during the COVID outbreak.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we didn\u2019t have a chance really to have a honeymoon,\u201d Tito said. Then, laughing, he added, \u201cso maybe this is our honeymoon.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 394-foot-tall Starship will be the world\u2019s most powerful rocket when it finally takes off, generating a staggering 16 million pounds of thrust from the 33 methane-burning Raptor engines powering its \u201cSuper Heavy\u201d first stage \u2014 twice the liftoff thrust of NASA\u2019s $4.1 billion Space Launch System moon rocket.<\/p>\n

SpaceX\u2019s upper stage \u2014 the Starship \u2014 is equipped with six Raptor engines and will be capable of carrying passengers and payloads to the moon and beyond. Both stages are fully reusable and will descend to tail-first landings back on Earth using similar software and techniques perfected using the company\u2019s smaller Falcon 9 rockets.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Starship 24 is lifted and mounted atop Booster 7 at SpaceX\u2019s Boca Chica, Texas, facility where the company is carrying out a series of tests before attempting the huge rocket\u2019s first flight to orbit. Credit: SpaceX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Starship upper stage has been launched seven times on low-altitude test flights, four of which suffered catastrophic failures during the landing sequence. The most recent test flight in May 2021 was fully successful.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time a rocket explodes, you learn something,\u201d Tito said. \u201cSo the more rocket explosions we see, the better because then we\u2019ll get all the bugs out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Super Heavy first stage has not yet been launched. SpaceX is in the process of testing its engines and other critical systems before a test flight to boost an unpiloted Starship into orbit for the first time, possibly before the end of the year.<\/p>\n

SpaceX already holds a $2.9 billion NASA contract to develop a variant of the Starship to serve as the initial lunar lander in the agency\u2019s Artemis moon program.<\/p>\n

Under the current plan, astronauts launched aboard the agency\u2019s third piloted SLS rocket will dock with a Starship in lunar orbit and descend to touchdown near the moon\u2019s south pole in the 2025-26 timeframe. SpaceX is required to carry out an unpiloted test flight, complete with moon landing, before the Artemis 3 mission.<\/p>\n

To reach the moon with enough propellant for landing and takeoff, SpaceX plans to refuel the Starship lander in Earth orbit using multiple flights of Super Heavy\/Starship tankers. It\u2019s not yet known what role refueling might play in Tito\u2019s mission.<\/p>\n

Whether SpaceX can perfect the huge rocket and test it to NASA\u2019s satisfaction by 2025-26 remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

SpaceX does not provide details about its schedule and it\u2019s not known how the NASA mission will fit in with the company\u2019s plans to launch the other two currently planned Starship missions before Tito and his wife get their turn.<\/p>\n

Isaacman, who funded the first private-flight \u2014 Inspiration 4 \u2014 to low-Earth orbit in September 2021 using a Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon capsule, has announced plans for three more private missions with SpaceX, including one aboard a Crew Dragon that will feature the first spacewalk by a private citizen.<\/p>\n

Isaacman\u2019s three-flight \u201cPolaris\u201d project could include the first piloted flight of the Super Heavy\/Starship in Earth orbit, although no details are yet available.<\/p>\n

Billionaire entrepreneur and art collector Maezawa, founder of ZoZotown, one of Japan\u2019s largest retail websites, also has booked a Super Heavy\/Starship flight to carry him and several companions on the first privately-funded passenger flight around the moon.<\/p>\n

Tito\u2019s flight presumably will follow Maezawa\u2019s, but it\u2019s not known whether one or both will precede NASA\u2019s lunar landing mission or whether Tito will get his wish within five years as hoped.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re prepared to wait as long as it takes to get everything perfected,\u201d Tito said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Akiko and Dennis Tito at SpaceX\u2019s Starbase facility in South Texas. Credit: SpaceX Dennis Tito, an 82-year-old aerospace engineer-turned-financial analyst who paid Russia $20 million for a trip to the International Space Station in 2001, is working with SpaceX on plans to take his wife on what amounts to a belated honeymoon voyage to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11231"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11231"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11231\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}