SpaceX Selects Bitcoin Mining Co-Founder to Command First Private Mars Mission
In brief
- Chun Wang, F2Pool co-founder, selected to command SpaceX's first private crewed Mars mission
- Mission begins with Mars flyby before SpaceX attempts human landing on surface
- Round-trip journey expected to take roughly two years, covering hundreds of millions of miles
- Wang will participate in first planned Starship commercial human spaceflight around Moon prior to Mars
- Elon Musk predicts humans will live on Mars within 20 years
A Seasoned Space Traveler
Wang brings spaceflight experience to the role. He previously commanded Fram2, a three-day polar orbit mission aboard SpaceX Crew Dragon in which he and three crewmates became the first four people to fly over Earth's poles.
Now he's ready for something far more ambitious. "Mars will no longer become a distant dream. It will become a reality," Wang said in announcing the mission.
The Mars Flyby Strategy
Rather than pursuing an immediate landing, Wang proposed a phased approach. The round-trip journey to Mars is expected to take roughly two years, covering hundreds of millions of miles. Before attempting the Mars mission, Wang will participate in the first planned Starship commercial human spaceflight around the Moon.
This timeline aligns with SpaceX's broader roadmap. In April 2025, Musk said SpaceX planned to launch an uncrewed Starship to Mars by the end of 2026, carrying Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots, with human landings as early as 2029.
The Bigger Picture
Starship is SpaceX's fully reusable super heavy-lift rocket, the largest and most powerful ever built. Wang's mission ties into Elon Musk's broader ambitions for establishing a human colony on Mars. Musk has predicted that humans would live on Mars within 20 years.
Political momentum is building too. President Donald Trump called a Mars mission part of America's "manifest destiny" during his second inaugural address.