Let's get this started with a flyby. It will light the fire.
From one of Earth's most remote islands, a cryptocurrency investor has announced plans to journey to one of the solar system's most distant neighbors — a two-year flyby of Mars aboard a rocket that has yet to complete a single orbit. Chun Wang, a Chinese-born Maltese citizen who built a $300 million fortune in digital assets, joins a lineage of wealthy dreamers who have staked personal capital on humanity's slow, costly reach beyond its home world. His plan, preceded by a lunar flyby alongside space tourism pioneer Dennis Tito, raises an enduring question: whether private ambition can carry civilization further than institutional caution ever would — or whether it will simply add another chapter to the long history of grounded visions.
- A man announced plans to fly to Mars from one of the loneliest places on Earth, while the rocket meant to take him there sat unable to lift off due to a ground equipment failure.
- Wang has already orbited Earth on a private Dragon mission, but a two-year interplanetary transit aboard an unproven vehicle represents an entirely different order of risk and commitment.
- The shadow of Yusaku Maezawa looms large — his 2018 lunar Starship deal collapsed in 2024 over endless delays, leaving Wang's ambitions vulnerable to the same developmental uncertainty.
- Dennis Tito, now 85 and a veteran of the first commercial spaceflight in 2001, is set to fly around the moon with Wang as a proving ground for deep-space systems before any Mars attempt.
- SpaceX has named Wang's mission 'the first interplanetary mission on a Starship,' yet no launch date exists and the vehicle has never achieved orbit — the gap between declaration and departure remains vast.
Chun Wang made his announcement from Bouvet Island, one of the most isolated places on the planet, while the SpaceX rocket he hopes will carry him to Mars sat grounded on a Texas launchpad. A technical problem with ground equipment had delayed the Starship V3 test flight, and the broadcast team filled the pause with an interview that captured the strange poetry of the moment: a man describing interplanetary travel while the vehicle meant to enable it couldn't yet leave the ground.
Wang, a Chinese-born Maltese citizen worth around $300 million from cryptocurrency ventures, is no stranger to spaceflight. Last year he funded a private polar orbital mission aboard a SpaceX Dragon, spending three and a half days in space with three crewmates. That journey, it seems, only deepened his appetite. SpaceX has now named him the passenger for what it calls the first interplanetary Starship mission — a two-year round trip to Mars and back, with no launch date yet set.
Before Mars, Wang plans to join Dennis Tito and Tito's wife Akiko on a week-long lunar flyby, passing within 120 miles of the moon's surface to test Starship's deep-space systems. Tito, now 85, became the first American space tourist in 2001 and announced this lunar plan in 2022, though it has advanced quietly since. Wang seemed at ease with the long timelines involved. 'I can stare at the map view on airplanes all the way from takeoff to landing,' he said. 'I think I will enjoy the trip.'
His ambitions arrive in the wake of a cautionary tale. Yusaku Maezawa, the Japanese fashion entrepreneur who partnered with SpaceX in 2018 for a lunar Starship flight, canceled his mission in 2024 after years of delays. 'I can't plan my future in this situation,' he said. Wang's personal wealth and apparent patience may give his plan more resilience — but Starship is still in testing, and the history of billionaire space ambitions is well stocked with missions that never left the drawing board.
Chun Wang was speaking from Bouvet Island, one of the most isolated places on Earth, when he announced plans to leave it behind entirely—at least for a couple of years. The Chinese-born cryptocurrency investor, now a Maltese citizen with a net worth around $300 million, has set his sights on a flyby mission around Mars aboard SpaceX's Starship. But the journey won't start there. First, he intends to ride the same rocket around the moon.
Wang made his announcement during a SpaceX webcast on a day when the company was attempting to launch its next-generation Starship V3 from Starbase in Texas. The test flight never got off the ground—technical problems with ground equipment forced a delay—but the broadcast team used the lull to cut to Wang's interview. It was a fitting moment: here was a man talking about traveling to another planet while the vehicle that would take him there sat grounded on the launchpad.
This isn't Wang's first brush with spaceflight. Last year, he funded a private mission that sent him and three crew members into polar orbit aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule for three and a half days. That experience apparently whetted his appetite for something grander. According to SpaceX launch commentator Dan Huot, Wang is now lined up for what the company is calling "the first interplanetary mission on a Starship"—even though Starship itself has yet to complete a single orbit around Earth. The round trip to Mars and back would take two years, SpaceX said, though no launch date was specified.
Wang seemed unbothered by the prospect of spending 24 months in transit. "This is actually my style of fireworks," he said during the webcast. "I can stare at the map view on airplanes all the way from takeoff to landing. So I think I will enjoy the trip." His vision for the mission was modest in scope but ambitious in symbolism. "Let's get this started with a flyby," he said, pushing back against the grander talk of landing and colonization. "It will light the fire. It will ignite the imagination, and it will build the momentum."
Before Mars, Wang plans to join California engineer and investor Dennis Tito and Tito's wife, Akiko, on a Starship journey around the moon. That mission would last about a week and bring the spacecraft within 120 miles of the lunar surface, allowing SpaceX to test systems designed for deep-space, long-duration travel. Tito, now 85, first announced this lunar plan in 2022, though little has been heard about preparations since then. He has space experience: in 2001, he became the first American space tourist when he spent six days on the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz. In 2013, he proposed an even more ambitious 501-day mission that would send a man and a woman around Mars, though that plan never materialized.
Wang's ambitions arrive in the wake of another billionaire's retreat from deep-space travel. Yusaku Maezawa, who made his fortune founding Zozotown, Japan's largest online fashion retailer, had partnered with SpaceX in 2018 on a plan to fly around the moon with a crew of artists and performers. He committed an undisclosed sum to support Starship's development. But in 2024, Maezawa canceled the mission, citing delays in SpaceX's timeline. "It's a developmental project, so it is what it is, but it is still uncertain as to when Starship can launch," he said at the time. "I can't plan my future in this situation."
The question now is whether Wang's Mars flyby will succeed where Maezawa's lunar mission faltered, or whether it will join the graveyard of ambitious private space plans. For context: NASA's Artemis 2 mission, which sent four astronauts around the moon, cost $4.1 billion. Wang's willingness to wait, and to fund the venture himself, may give his plan a better chance of survival than Maezawa's. But Starship remains in testing, and the history of billionaire space ambitions is littered with canceled missions and delayed timelines. Wang, Tito, and Maezawa might have much to discuss.
Notable Quotes
Let's get this started with a flyby. It will light the fire. It will ignite the imagination, and it will build the momentum.— Chun Wang, on why a Mars flyby is the right first step
I can stare at the map view on airplanes all the way from takeoff to landing. So I think I will enjoy the trip.— Chun Wang, on spending two years in transit to Mars
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does a Mars flyby matter if you're not landing, not building anything, just passing by?
Because it proves the vehicle can make the journey. A flyby is a test run for everything that comes after—life support, navigation, the ability to survive two years in space. It's the first domino.
Wang has already been to space. Why not just wait for the technology to mature before attempting something this ambitious?
That's the rational question. But Wang seems to think the waiting itself is the point—that attempting it now, even in testing, builds momentum. He's not waiting for perfection. He's trying to light a fire.
Maezawa had a similar vision and canceled. What's different about Wang's situation?
Maezawa had a crew depending on him, a timeline he'd publicly committed to. Wang is going alone, or nearly so. He can absorb delays without feeling he's letting people down. That flexibility might be the difference.
Is this just wealthy people playing with rockets?
On the surface, yes. But there's something else: Wang is willing to fund development of a vehicle that will eventually carry other people. Maezawa was too. They're not just buying a ticket—they're bankrolling the infrastructure.
What happens if something goes wrong during the lunar flyby?
That's the real test. If the moon mission fails, the Mars mission dies with it. Wang knows that. He's betting on SpaceX's engineering and his own tolerance for risk.