Top image: SpaceX Dragon rocket. Image from NASA

Elon Musk’s private rocket company, SpaceX, have announced plans to send a couple of space tourists around the moon and back to Earth before the end of 2018. The total flight would go about 300,000 to 400,000 miles into space, meaning the passengers would be the first humans to travel that far into space in over 40 years.

In a conference call with press, Musk revealed that two private individuals approached the company wanting to fly on a loop around the moon, travelling past the lunar surface and continuing outward before landing back on Earth. Lasting around a week, the unnamed couple will travel in one of SpaceX’s automated Dragon 2 capsules, set for its first unmanned test flight later this year.

A statement from SpaceX reads: “We are excited to announce that SpaceX has been approached to fly two private citizens on a trip around the moon late next year. They have already paid a significant deposit to do a moon mission. 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.”

The passengers are “nobody from Hollywood”, Musk said (via BBC), acknowledging the risks involved in the flight but saying that the customers have “their eyes open” and SpaceX is  “doing everything we can to minimize that risk, but it’s not zero.”

With the recent announcement of seven potentially habitable planets, it’s been a major few days for space enthusiasts. Forget Benidorm, start planning your next holiday to the moon.