In 2017 Elon Musk announced he would send customers on a trip around the moon. Last week, Musk made headlines again when he named Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa as the first paying customer on his mission. In fact, Maezawa bought all of the commercial seats on the rocket to the moon. He will select eight artists to accompany him on the journey.

Initially planned for 2018, the new goal is 2023, and the new vehicle is the Big Falcon Rocket. SpaceX is currently developing the 387-foot-tall rocket. It will have a payload of 100 metric tonnes (about 110 tons). While it can accommodate many more people than Maezawa’s group, the extra space will be used for food and supplies in case something goes wrong.

The trip will last about six days. The rocket will not land on the moon, but will come within dozens of miles. The rocket is designed to be reusable, which would come into play on a future trip to Mars, his next big project.

Musk recently released more information, including pictures of work in progress and renderings of the planned finished rocket. He stated he wanted to come along on the journey of building the rocket, but it is also thought he wants to show up NASA.

All of the statistics seem to be ever-changing. There is a lot of doubt the plan will ever come to fruition. Still, the mere fact technology allowed such a project to even be plausible is amazing. Only time will tell if Musk’s dream becomes a reality, but, if not Musk, it now appears it can and will happen at some point.

— John Wroblewski, online writer