Businessman Dennis Tito Financing Manned Mission to Mars
The first space tourist plans to send two people on a round-trip mission to Mars.
A press advisory from the new group, the Inspiration Mars Foundation, made no mention about whether there would be humans onboard.
But reports from NewSpace Journal say that there will be two crew members making the journey.
The Inspiration Mars Foundation, founded by Tito, plans to start its mission in January 2018, taking advantage of a rare launch window. Earth and Mars will be aligned in such a way that a trip that would normally take between two to three years would last about a year and a half, or 501 days.
The next such opportunity will occur in 2031, according to a Scientific American blog post.
Tito's foundation will hold a press conference on February 27 in Washington, presumably to
