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Musk travels to ‘cursed’ moon for sixth time, this time with kids

Elon Musk, founder of Tesla, travels to the moon for the sixth time through his company SpaceX, this time with his 15-year-old son X Æ A-12 and 12-year-old daughter §. Musk, who also launched cryptocurrency Elo, is not taking any other passengers.

Musk travelled to the moon before in 2024, 2028, 2030, 2033 and 2034. His first time was in a passenger flight seating 10 people called the BFR, or Big F*cking Rocket, known as Big Falcon Rocket until 2026.

Musk’s first passenger was Japanese fast fashion billionaire  Yusaku Maezawa. His trip to the moon was planned for 2023, but the test rocket exploded in the earth’s atmosphere, so Musk and Maezawa ended up going in the spring of 2024. Art lover Maezawa took nine artists and musicians with him, hoping to inspire them to create new work. Four travellers, who undertook the journey with minimal physical and mental training, have since been admitted to addiction facilities or mental health institutions. One of them, Korean pop star Choon-Hee, has been missing since her return to Earth. The market for lunar travel collapsed immediately after her disappearance, but Musk has hailed the first multi-passenger moon trip as a great success regardless.

In addition to SpaceX, Tesla and EloCoin, Musk has been a major shareholder in media conglomerate NewestNews since 2031. Together with CBS Corporations, Disney and XiMedia, NewestNews owns about 85 per cent of the international media market. In an interview with EScreen, NewestNews’ most popular channel, Musk says his dream is to move NewestNews’ headquarters to Mars ‘as soon as possible’.

However, the terraforming of Mars, where Musk has been trying to establish a colony since 2020, has been delayed. Musk seems to have overestimated the possibilities of moving carbon dioxide. That has not stopped interested parties from signing up for the first trip to Mars. In particular, TravelTV adventurers who have already completed several trips around the world  are now setting their sights on a space journey. Unlike lunar travel, which some thought leaders and influencers say is ‘cursed’, the idea of colonising Mars is generally embraced.

Musk is not the only billionaire involved in space travel. Amazon’s ex-chief executive Jeff Bezos has explored space several times with his company Blue Origin, but after his third trip to the moon in 2029 announced that he wants to focus on ‘terrestrial ecosystems’. There was no further explanation. His fortune went to an unknown destination and Bezos has since withdrawn in a tiny house.

Chilean-Brazilian tech billionaire Ema Rodrigues dos Santos, whose fintech company EmaPay has by now far surpassed all competition worldwide, is also engaged in discovering the universe. However, she chose not to travel into space herself, but to set up a research institute in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The RodgriuesResearch programme investigates the possibility of life on TOI 700d, a planet roughly a hundred light years away from Earth.

Much to Musk’s annoyance, Chinese e-commerce icon Jack Ma, also known for his rock band 1688, made plans to travel to Mars in 2026. However, he decided against it two years later after the Kuaishou spy case was revealed. In 2028, the Chinese Communist Party was found to have spied on foreign governments and individuals on a large scale through apps, software and other technological applications made by the multi-billion dollar company Kuaishou. Ma’s Alibaba and Ant Group were found not to have been involved, but distrust of Chinese tech companies soared. As a result, global public opinion turned against Ma and his plan to visit the Red Planet.

Musk’s moon journey will be documented in detail and can be followed via Parler, Twitter and TikTokPro. Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook is conspicuously absent. Musk and Zuckerberg have been rivals since 2016, the year in which a SpaceX rocket exploded, its debris hitting a Facebook satellite with devastating consequences.

During the launch, envoys from the European Commission will visit Cape Canaveral,  where the moon journey will commence. The topic has been on the agenda in Brussels since Musk took on the role of space ambassador, presenting an annual State of the Union regarding space in cooperation with the largest EU member states.

Musk’s moon journey is planned for January 2036. He is taking his children with him after having been inspired by a poem by Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon in 1969. Armstrong wrote the poem after his Apollo 11 journey. Musk’s former partner Grimes says she read it to XÆ A-12 and § every night before bed.

My Vacation, by Neil Armstrong

Nine Summers ago, I went for a visit.
To see if the moon was green cheese.
When we arrived, people on earth asked: “Is it?”
We answered: “No cheese, no bees, no trees.”

There were rocks and hills and a remarkable view
Of the beautiful earth that you know.
It’s a nice place to visit, and I’m certain that you
Will enjoy it when you get to go.