
Elon Musk unveils first tourist for SpaceX 'Moon loop' - gt2
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-45550755
======
laurencei
I wonder why it's not Elon himself? He can obviously afford it, and it is
clearly his passion, so why not take a once in a lifetime opportunity and head
into space?

~~~
onion2k
_He can obviously afford it_

Can he? He definitely has the potential to be massively wealthy. If
Tesla/SpaceX/BoringCo/etc exit at some point he'll walk away with '*&^@ you
money', but until then he doesn't seem to have that much. According to
Bloomberg he's in debt with personal loans to the tune of hundreds of millions
of dollars[1].

To be honest though, I don't really understand how normal money-you-buy-stuff-
with works for people who are billionaires when most of their wealth is in
stock and options.

[1] [https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-16/musk-
pick...](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-16/musk-picks-his-
coziest-bank-goldman-sachs-to-help-go-private)

~~~
Expez
> To be honest though, I don't really understand how normal money-you-buy-
> stuff-with works for people who are billionaires when most of their wealth
> is in stock and options.

He takes out loans with his shares as collateral to get spending money.

Why not just sell? Because he expects the shares to appreciate more than what
he'd pay in interest and/or to retain the shareholder vote.

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nmeofthestate
Scheduled for 2023 - I do hope this doesn't interfere with the SpaceX Mars
missions.

~~~
simonh
A trans-lunar flight might be very useful as a test flight before the first
Mars mission anyway. Going to Mars will be an extremely risky venture to start
with and the first few vehicles probably won't be coming back even if they
make it, so it also makes sense to extract a bit of economic value out of the
vehicle beforehand.

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a_imho
tldr Japanese billionaire and online fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa, 42.

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davidhyde
Why, when Elon is mentioned in a bad light is his birthplace always mentioned
by the British media. As if the reader is too stupid to grasp that an
individual can become disagreeable all by themselves. Why bring South Africa
into this article: [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-
canada-45551895](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-45551895) and not
this one about space and the future. It hurts tourism which is very important
for GDP there.

~~~
orcdork
Googling for 'Musk "south africa born"'
([https://www.google.com/search?q=musk+"south+africa+born"](https://www.google.com/search?q=musk+"south+africa+born"))
seems to have articles on both sides of the argument (including one calling
him the real life tony stark).

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nkoren
Why did
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18011723](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18011723)
get pushed off the front page so quickly?

~~~
dba7dba
It is weird. We just heard a private person is spending hundreds of millions
of dollars to help fund a flyby of the moon.

Strange undeed.

~~~
frgewut
I suspect publicity created by this will easy recoup all expenses.

~~~
lawlessone
How?

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jeandejean
"an important step toward enabling access for everyday people who dream of
travelling to space", provided you're an everyday billionaire :-D.

~~~
Shivetya
I have zero issues with this. The rich tend to adopt or do what the rest
cannot very early and a good many things do trickle down. Just look at all the
safety features on entry level cars these days, most used to be pure luxury
items. Even the idea of an affordable EV. the go into your home and see every
day items and just look at the price changes on big ticket items.

I remember the days in the 70s when flying was too expensive for families to
consider. Even making a long distance call was reserved for special events.

I don't suspect travel in space will be that way in my life time being that I
am in my fifties but I can hope.

~~~
andromedavision
> The rich tend to adopt or do what the rest cannot very early and a good many
> things do trickle down... I remember the days in the 70s when flying was too
> expensive for families to consider.

Electricity as well. The very first few installations of electricity in homes
by Edison were in Pierpont Morgan's home and soon followed by Morgan's
friends' homes.

It makes logical sense too that it should be this way because early on, tech
is usually very expensive and highly experimental such that if it fails, only
the rich can afford the losses and upkeep.

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booleandilemma
I thought Elon Musk was a “total fraud”?

[https://nypost.com/2018/07/21/elon-musk-is-a-total-
fraud/amp...](https://nypost.com/2018/07/21/elon-musk-is-a-total-fraud/amp/)

------
peteretep
Half of Elon is apparently a treasure of humanity, and the other half is some
giant unstable douche. How do we arrange an intervention such that the guy
getting high on Joe Rogan and harassing expats doesn't bring down the guy
doing the good stuff?

~~~
Faaak
How a guy smoking a joint can trouble you is beyond me.

~~~
dagw
It's not the smoking a joint part that is troublesome (and let's face it, he
didn't really 'smoke'), but the how and when and why part and what it say
about his judgement (or lack of it).

Unless you buy the theory that he did it to cleverly deflect attention away
from something else.

~~~
Faaak
I buy the theory that he just wanted to have fun ?

------
treydey
A bit ironic that Yusaku Maezawa wants the mission to be about "World Peace"
when the $200+ million he most likely spent could be better served on Earth.
Just call it what it is, a wish to be part of something bigger.

~~~
eliaspro
This letter, written by the former NASA director Stuhlinger answers this
question IMHO perfectly:

[http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/08/why-explore-
space.html?...](http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/08/why-explore-
space.html?m=1)

~~~
joering2
You asking man that job and paycheck depends on spending large amount of
public money not to defend spending it on its projects?

Rockets dont feed people, a billion pounds or rice do! Otoh, great letter
indeed!

~~~
simonh
Weather satellites, communications satellites, ground resource survey
satellites, improved weather and climate models based on lessons learned by
analysing the atmospheres of other planets. These have all boosted
agricultural productivity on earth, putting more food into more mouths more
cheaply.

~~~
joering2
In a matter of few days? Cause as far as I know human can survive without food
for maximum of 10 days.

You argument make sense if we take human out of equation. Then we shouldn't be
feeding poor AT ALL, given 1,000 years of founding tech with 100% budget would
definitely save more lives.. eventually.

Edit: put it in other words: somebody is dying of hunger today so we can fund
better technology for tomorrow, sure. Let's just hope its not me or you
starving, if that kind of argument helps you sleep at night.

~~~
simonh
Nobody can grow a crop of rice from scratch in 10 days either. Agriculture
intrinsically is a long term process requiring multi-year or multi-decade long
investments. It's not a case of feeding people now OR investing in being able
to feed them in the future. You have to balance both.

It's is entirely possible to fund agricultural development and space
technology, and balance the two to complement each other. Space technology has
a proven track record of massive technological and humanitarian benefits. Why
are you complaining about it, instead of say people wasting hundreds of
billions each year on Hollywood movies and TV shows, or many other
unproductive activities which we spend more on than space.

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therealmarv
Elon Musk and his companies are master in unveiling and announcing visions but
not in delivering. I wonder if there is a special word for that in
marketing... let's see if they will make it till 2023... wish them luck
though.

~~~
_ph_
Correct me if I am wrong, but I was under the impression that SpaceX is
regularly delivering and returning cargo to and from the ISS and is the major
launch provider for commercial sattelites. Also, the F9Heavy had its maiden
flight this year.

Tesla is not only selling the Model S and X for many years, and has with the
Model 3 in the meantime the best-selling electrical car in the US.

So how are they not delivering?

As rocket science is.. rocket science, I do expect delays on the schedule.
Especially safety concerns can easily make a development schedule slip. Yet,
the SpaceX schedule slips seem to be small compared to other space ventures.
The production of the first BFS prototype is under way, we are going to see
the first test hops next year.

~~~
robryan
It is probably fair to say that their promises are massive, making their under
delivery still impressive.

~~~
inawarminister
Promise to the stars, delivery to the moon? ... This idiom is better in my
native language.

~~~
sjwright
It's still pretty good in English.

(If you wanted something that was a bit more polished, you could say _"
Promise the stars, deliver the moon."_ or as a complete sentence, _" They
promised the stars, then delivered the moon."_)

