Washington - SpaceX said late Thursday it had signed the world's first private passenger to fly around the Moon.
The flight on its Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) would be "an important step toward enabling access for everyday people who dream of travelling to space," the aerospace company wrote on Twitter.
"Only 24 humans have been to the Moon in history. No one has visited since the last Apollo mission in 1972," it added.
More details would be made available on Monday, it said.
SpaceX has signed the world’s first private passenger to fly around the Moon aboard our BFR launch vehicle—an important step toward enabling access for everyday people who dream of traveling to space. Find out who’s flying and why on Monday, September 17. pic.twitter.com/64z4rygYhk
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) September 14, 2018
Asked on Twitter, whether he would be the passenger, SpaceX founder and billionaire Elon Musk posted an emoji of the Japanese flag.
He introduced the BFR, composed of a rocket and spaceship, last year, saying it was aimed at allowing people to colonize Mars and that the company wanted to land two cargo ships on the Red Planet in 2022.
The first ship carrying crews could arrive two years later, he said.
The company announced plans to send two private passengers around the Moon in February 2017, with take-off planned for this year. However the passengers were never named and the flight has yet to materialize.
It was not clear if one of those passengers was the same as the one mentioned in Thursday's statement.