SpaceX sending two people around the Moon in 2018

[jfb]

So.

Elon Musk has announced that SpaceX will be sending two people around the Moon in 2018. 

May we suggest they take Sibrel along, with some powerful specs/telescope, and point out Tranquility Base to him? 

[bknight]

IMHO, none of the most vociferous HB"s would never ride a capsule outside the protective bounds under the VARB.  That would negate much of their argument.  But it would be fun if one did.

[Luke Pemberton]

IMHO, none of the most vociferous HB"s would never ride a capsule outside the protective bounds under the VARB.  That would negate much of their argument.  But it would be fun if one did.

I wonder if the Blunder has raised enough money for a ticket yet?

[Luke Pemberton]

May we suggest they take Sibrel along, with some powerful specs/telescope, and point out Tranquility Base to him?

The CTs do actually want them to use a telescope to image the landing sites. That would be a bit like taking a photograph of a gnat from 200 miles away while riding on the back of a horse.

Of course, they would completely ignore any other evidence that proves the space tourists have survived the  'sea of deadly radiation.'

[smartcooky]

Of course, they would completely ignore any other evidence that proves the space tourists have survived the  'sea of deadly radiation.'

That's "searing radiation hell" to you buddy!

[slaver0110]

And of course (predictably), the commentors at space.com are losing thier minds.
Honestly, I've not seen so many HB'ers come out of the woodwork so fast.
http://www.space.com/35844-elon-musk-spacex-announcement-today.html
First comment I came across is about how the VAB is "impassable".
The rest...well, you get the picture.  A true case of preemptive well-poisoning, if I've ever seen it.
[/rant off]

ETA:  Edited for missplaced copy-paste (sorry)...

[onebigmonkey]

They will spend 4 days getting to the moon and back, and the rest of their lives fending off claims that they didn't go.

Anyone else think 'late next year' is a bit of a tight schedule? I know SpaceX have done the hard bit already and the rest is just point it in the right direction, but even so...

[Glom]

Does seem rushed. Dragon hasn't even flown manned yet and the launcher needed for such a significant Lunar payload has yet been tested.

[onebigmonkey]

Just struck me that this is very like Kennedy's "before this decade is out...", when the world went "Hey cool!" and the people who would be doing it went "Sorry what and the when now?"

[gillianren]

Except for the part where NASA convinced Kennedy it was possible.

[jfb]

They will spend 4 days getting to the moon and back, and the rest of their lives fending off claims that they didn't go.

Anyone else think 'late next year' is a bit of a tight schedule? I know SpaceX have done the hard bit already and the rest is just point it in the right direction, but even so...

SpaceX never met a deadline it didn't miss.  They deliver on their promises eventually, but at this point I don't even pay attention to announced dates.  They fly when they fly and yay when they do, but they routinely overpromise on dates.  Crew Dragon was supposed to be delivered this year but got pushed back (same with Boeing's CST-100).  FH was supposed to fly years ago, it may actually fly late this year. 

Granted, the main reason for those delays was the non-stop tweaking of the F9 platform - it made sense to hold off on FH until the F9 platform had stabilized a bit.  Crew Dragon slipped because Space Is Hard, Manned Space Flight Is Stupid Hard^TM.  This is going to be a major test of power, guidance, comms, life support, and a hot return, with the very real risk of death to liven things up.  SpaceX is willing to take risks, but up until now they haven't knowingly taken any stupid risks (AMOS-6 was a Rumsfeldian "unknown unknown" biting them in the ass). 

So, I fully expect to private citizens to fly around the moon in a Crew Dragon; I don't expect it will happen next year.  2019, maybe.  2020, definitely. 

And yeah, it's a free-return trajectory, so they won't be in any kind of position to image any Apollo landing sites, which is a shame.  But they should still be able to get some awesome images of the lunar surface, and maybe even the far side if it's in daylight when they make the trip.  Wonder how much volume and mass an IMAX camera would cost them? 

[bknight]

IMHO, none of the most vociferous HB"s would never ride a capsule outside the protective bounds under the VARB.  That would negate much of their argument.  But it would be fun if one did.

I wonder if the Blunder has raised enough money for a ticket yet?

Doubtful, the last time I looked he was considerably behind his goal.  But I haven't looked in over a year.

[Glom]

Human eyes will gaze upon Tsiokolvsky once more. And in doing so collapse the wavefunction so we will know if the cat is dead or alive.

[Peter B]

I'm curious about the timing of the announcement (also mentioned in the article linked in the OP) - just a couple of days after NASA said they were thinking of something similar.

I have no idea whether there's anything significant in it...

[mako88sb]

IMHO, none of the most vociferous HB"s would never ride a capsule outside the protective bounds under the VARB.  That would negate much of their argument.  But it would be fun if one did.

I wonder if the Blunder has raised enough money for a ticket yet?

Doubtful, the last time I looked he was considerably behind his goal.  But I haven't looked in over a year.

His last video from over a year ago about this states $632 US has been raised but I suspect a lot of that has been requested to be reimbursed since he started posting anti-flat Earth and pro-SpaceX videos. He even did one praising NASA's New Horizons probe. He's got a lot of pissed off former supporters that are pretty livid.