Crypto executive Chun Wang has become the latest person to sign up for a deep-space mission with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Wang co-founded F2Pool in 2013, building it into one of the dominant Bitcoin mining pool operators globally. The company currently holds an 11.43% market share of the Bitcoin network’s hashrate, according to Hashrate Index.
Wang is no stranger to pushing boundaries. Back in 2025, he served as mission commander on Fram2, SpaceX’s first crewed polar orbit mission, making him one of a small number of private individuals to have led a human spaceflight.
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A lunar warm-up first
Before heading to Mars, Wang will join Dennis and Akiko Tito aboard Starship for a commercial circumlunar mission. This will be a week-long fly-by planned to pass within 200 km of the Moon’s surface.
The mission is designed to stress-test Starship’s systems for the longer, more demanding deep-space journey ahead, and represents SpaceX’s first planned commercial human spaceflight around the Moon.
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Then comes Mars
Wang has now been confirmed for Starship’s first human interplanetary mission to Mars. It is a two-year journey that will venture beyond the Earth-Moon system, fly by the Red Planet, and return to Earth.
This is going to be the furthest any private citizen has ever travelled from home.
“After we come back from Mars, we will have the opportunity to take some real photos, especially of Mars,” Wang said. “Mars will no longer be a distant place. It will become reality.”
SpaceX reported that it has safely flown 78 crewmembers across 20 Dragon missions since 2020, and Starship is now set to carry that record considerably further.
The announcement also comes just days after SpaceX filed for an initial public offering on Nasdaq under the ticker SPCX. Analysts predict that the company could look to raise $80 billion at a $1.7 trillion valuation. This could effectively make it the world’s biggest IPO ever.
This story was originally published by TheStreet on May 22, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
