SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced Monday afternoon that the space tourists had already placed a significant deposit for the trip. No humans have traveled past low Earth orbit since the final Apollo mission in 1972. For comparison, space tourists have previously paid the Russia government upwards of $20 million for a trip to the International Space Station. NASA has paid the Russians $80 million a seat to send astronauts to the space station. Related: SpaceX launches and lands another rocket"Next year is going to be a big year for carrying people to the space station and hopefully beyond," Musk said in a conference call with reporters.

Source: CNN February 27, 2017 21:47 UTC