SpaceX’s round-the-moon trip could have VR, ‘Space Bar’ and in-flight entertainment

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Space violinist
An artist’s conception shows a violinist performing in zero-G during a voyage in SpaceX’s BFR spaceship. (SpaceX via Twitter)

It’s been only a day since SpaceX CEO Elon Musk unveiled the plan to send Yusaku Maezawa and roughly half a dozen artists around the moon, but folks are already nominating themselves (and others) for a free trip.

Maezawa is paying an undisclosed but reportedly substantial amount for the journey on SpaceX’s yet-to-be-built BFR spaceship, and there are scads of details to be worked out before the launch date, which is currently set for 2023.

In a series of tweets today, Musk promised that the mission would be live-streamed in high-definition virtual reality, with the broadcast potentially facilitated by SpaceX’s yet-to-be-deployed Starlink satellite internet constellation. There could also be an onboard watering hole called the “Space Bar,” and the artists on the flight would be permitted (but not obliged) to perform in zero-G.

Musk promised to take questions during a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” chat that’s yet to be scheduled. “Love Reddit,” he said in a tweet.

One of the more interesting questions has to do with who will be selected for Maezawa’s Willy Wonka-style golden tickets. Seattle cartoonist Matthew Inman, creator of “The Oatmeal” comic franchise and co-creator of the Exploding Kittens card game, put in a bid and got a smiley face from Musk:

Musk also liked the idea of putting Roger Waters, the lyricist behind Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” concept album, on the passenger list.

Among other folks raising their hands are Abby Garrett, who specializes in SpaceX artwork; Justine Walker, who styles herself as “the Dancing Physicist,” and Pascal Lee, who’s best-known as the director of the Haughton-Mars Project in the Canadian Arctic but also happens to be a visual artist.

Violinist/dancer Lindsey Stirling took special note of a SpaceX illustration showing a violinist/dancer performing in zero-G:

Maezawa said he’s aiming to invite artists at the level of Pablo Picasso, John Lennon and Michael Jackson, so it’ll be interesting to see what sorts of celebrities make their pitch to get on the list, and how publicly they do it.

The timeline for the #dearMoon mission is up in the air, so to speak, but the diagram laid out on Maezawa’s website suggests that the selection process will get underway this year, with finalization of the crew sometime in 2020 or 2021.

That’s assuming that the roughly five-day trip around the moon and back (without landing on the lunar surface) takes place in 2023 as advertised. Musk said he’s “definitely not sure” about that launch date, because it assumes that everything will go absolutely right in the development of the BFR (“Big Falcon Rocket”). And we all know how likely that is.

Although the artists would be free to do performances during the trip, their real job begins when the ride ends. Maezawa’s timeline indicates that they’ll create moon-inspired artworks after their return to Earth. Those works will be publicized, and then folded into a #dearMoon exhibition on Earth sometime in the 2020s.

And who knows? If the BFR works out the way Musk hopes, there could be paying passengers following in the artists’ footsteps by then:

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