The Formula One driver has apparently talked to the Tesla billionaire about the possibility of him flying one of the SpaceX crafts to outer space on a future flight.
- Apr 28, 2023
AceShowbiz - Lewis Hamilton has proposed to fly one of Elon Musk's rockets to Mars. The Formula 1 ace is pals with the SpaceX boss and admitted, not only have they discussed the possibility of the 38-year-old driver going into space on one of the billionaire businessman's crafts, he's keen to be part of the crew.
Lewis, however, wants more research and testing done before he boards a flight. "I am going, yes, at some stage, but I'll let some other people go first because those things blow up on the way up… He's talking about going to Mars, but I'm ready to go to space at any stage. I told him that I'd fly the ship, but I think it's all automated!" he said on stage over the Australian Grand Prix weekend.
Lewis admitted he gets nervous speaking to the Tesla boss because the 51-year-old businessman's "mind is expanded." He said, "Elon's been to my party in Austin the last two years. It's like a dinner party I've had, and I'd have these people come around."
"It's not the easiest thing to speak to someone like that, because his mind is expanded, it's on such another level, you know, so I get all nervous when I'm talking to him. Of course, I talked to him about 'did we land on the Moon? Where are we going next?' "
Last week, Elon's 120-metre Starship rocket blew up within minutes of being launched in Texas. SpaceX - who had previously insisted the chances of success were low and the launch was a data-gathering exercise - tweeted, "As if the flight test was not exciting enough, Starship experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly before stage separation."
And Elon himself posted, "Congrats @SpaceX team on an exciting test launch of Starship! Learned a lot for next test launch in a few months."
It appeared the two sections of the rocket system, the booster and cruise vessel, were unable to separate properly after takeoff.
Starship was supposed to blast 150 miles into the atmosphere and then cruise for around an hour before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.
Despite only getting around 25 miles into the air, NASA - who have chosen the rocket for a planned 2025 mission to the moon - congratulated Elon and his company.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson said, "Every great achievement throughout history has demanded some level of calculated risk, because with great risk comes great reward. Looking forward to all that SpaceX learns, to the next flight test - and beyond."
While the test rocket was unmanned, the Starship cruise vessel is designed to eventually carry up to 100 astronauts.
