SpaceX has signed the world’s first private passenger to fly around the Moon | Hacker News Reader

SpaceX has signed the world’s first private passenger to fly around the Moon

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37 pointssnake11717 comments

Pan Am signed people up for moon flights in 1968.†

We'll see if SpaceX lasts longer than PanAm did.

† https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/were-you-member...

SpaceX has been kicking ass for a while now, I wouldn’t bet against them being in it for the long haul.

BUT, I don’t think the people who sign up for this should seriously expect to fly around the moon. That is a very very non-trivial engineering challenge, and the only people who did it were highly trained, had balls of pure cast iron, and frankly accepted the very real possibility of death. I feel that the statements “SpaceX is the real deal and not to be discounted” and “selling tickets to the moon is a PR farce” are compatible.

> the only people who did it were highly trained, had balls of pure cast iron

Astronauts are highly-trained, but I haven't seen any evidence they were necessary - they don't do the orbital calculations, and if there was an emergency, Ground Control would solve the problem.

well, they did something on apollo 13. they would have died if they hadn't done the 'rebuilding work' as seen in apollo 13. if they were not highly trained, capable, in self control they might not have been able to make it, repoint the spacecraft manually.

> and if there was an emergency, Ground Control would solve the problem.

False. If there was an emergency, it could take several minutes for communication. Multiple responses could take an hour or more. They were highly trained to deal with issues because of this

Nope, not to the Moon. It takes less than 2 seconds. You can still do interactive conversation with that delay. Remember, the speed of light is very big!

Nowdays Astronauts maybe don't need to be that good, but they absolutely did have to do difficult calculation and other tasks in the 60s to land on the moon.

> Astronauts are highly-trained, but I haven't seen any evidence they were necessary - they don't do the orbital calculations, and if there was an emergency, Ground Control would solve the problem.

Although the normal procedure was to get navigation instructions from earth by voice and uplink, the Apollo astronauts that flew on lunar missions were trained to navigate without assistance, if that was necessary in an emergency. They could even navigate without assistance from the onboard computer, if that wasn't available, by using charts and a sextant.

Buzz Aldrin had a doctorate in astronautics and helped develop the navigation techniques that were used by NASA at that time.

> and the only people who did it were highly trained, had balls of pure cast iron, and frankly accepted the very real possibility of death.

Because it was a 60s space craft. A modern space craft you get in do nothing, it will fly its plot and land.

Sure there is risk but you highly trained is hardly necessary.

Can you give me some examples of those modern spacecraft which are capable of a moonshot and don’t require trained personnel?

That is what SpaceX is designing. The Dragon 2 does that for ISS and what they had planed for the moon and it how SpaceX will run these BFR flights as well.

Or in other words, no such “modern spacecraft” fitting your earlier description exists outside of designs which may or may not work as intended or ever fly. When such designs are actually built, tested and proven feel free to make sweeping statements about what constitutes the reality of what’s required to fly around the moon. Until then the entire existing history of spacecraft is probably more reliable and informative as to astronaut requirements than paper fantasies.

That is an interesting story! For some reason, however, I can't help but think that SpaceX has better odds...

It's on BFR, not Dragon2, so probably a few years away.

Their previous plans for a lunar flyby were with a Dragon 2, which would theoretically be possible as early as next year.

They already announced this, nearly 2 years ago. Wake me when BFR has successfully returned from orbit

https://www.spacex.com/news/2017/02/27/spacex-send-privately...

Musk tweeted a Japanese flag shortly after, so unless they're delivering sushi to the moon, it's someone Japanese.

    Fly me to the moon 
    Let me play among the stars 
    Let me see what spring is like on 
    A-Jupiter and Mars 
    In other words, hold my hand 
    In other words, baby, kiss me

I knew a guy whom took dates to buzz around the Statue of Liberty about 20m away, pre-9/11.. now dudes are going to have to take them literally around the moon. To afford this, anyone got any hot stock tips? :)

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