The first space tourist in history said on Wednesday that he and his wife intend to take part in the future mission to the moon, organized by the American company SpaceX, writes AFP.

Dennis Tito, the American entrepreneur who became the first human to pay for a trip to space in 2001, told reporters that his passion for “space and the opportunities it offers to humanity” would drive him to repeat the experience.

The week-long mission, which Dennis Tito and his wife Akiko are expected to take part in, will fly within 200 km of the lunar surface before returning to Earth.

This will happen after Elon Musk completes the creation of a prototype of his spacecraft and makes the already planned first commercial flight with Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa.

Of the 12 available seats, the Titos booked two, unlike Yusaku Maezawa, who booked the entire flight organized by SpaceX.

Dennis Tito, 82, did not say how much he paid for the trip with Akiko, but in 2001 he paid $20 million to fly a Russian rocket to the International Space Station (ISS), ushering in an era of space tourism.

SpaceX has not yet announced when it will begin commercial space missions aboard Starship, the rocket that Elon Musk says he wants to use to send humans to Mars.

Meanwhile, NASA has chosen Starship as the lunar landing mode for its Artemis lunar return program.