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The future of space travel is pay to play, but that might not be a bad thing.<\/p>\n
During the final 15 minutes counting down to SpaceX\u2019s aborted Starship V3 mission on Thursday, Elon Musk\u2019s space company revealed a fascinating tidbit: the man who\u2019s going to lead SpaceX\u2019s first crewed mission to Mars.<\/p>\n
Spotted by Gizmodo<\/a>, broadcasters on the company\u2019s live feed announced that crypto billionaire Chun Wang has been tapped to lead humanity\u2019s first interplanetary human flight.<\/p>\n At first glance, Wang might seem like an unlikely candidate for such a monumental task. A software developer who dropped out of college, Wang made his fortune by developing one of China\u2019s first and most successful Bitcoin mining pools \u2014 striking it rich just before the Chinese government shut all of that crypto stuff down in 2021<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, his resume includes another space flight, SpaceX\u2019s April 2025 Fram2 mission, which he personally funded in order to secure a spot as mission leader. Though the media made a spectacle<\/a> of that brief trip, Christopher Combs, associate dean of research at the University of Texas\u2019 Klesse College of Engineering and Integrated Design described it as<\/a> a \u201cnotch above a gimmick, but not exactly a groundbreaking milestone.\u201d<\/p>\n The Mars trip, which would take up to two years, would be a vastly greater challenge on the billionaire\u2019s mind and body \u2014 though Wang seems pretty gung-ho about it.<\/p>\n \u201cI can stare at the map view on airplanes all the way from takeoff through landing, so I think I\u2019m going to enjoy the trip,\u201d Wang told viewers on Thursday.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unknown who else will be making the Mars trip alongside Wang, and whether or not he\u2019s funding it. Either way, the prospect that a billionaire could be willfully catapulting himself around 140 million miles<\/a> from Earth left some critics buzzing on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first time I have been 100 percent behind a SpaceX decision,\u201d journalist David Perry wrote<\/a> on Bluesky. \u201cI hope they launch really soon.\u201d<\/p>\n Writer Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl joked that<\/a> it\u2019s a \u201cgreat start.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBut,\u201d she concluded, \u201cI think all the crypto billionaires should go, it\u2019s important and will bring America hope.\u201d<\/p>\n