SpaceX Wants to Send People Around the Moon in 2018

It's certainly an ambitious plan. Extremely ambitious, considering the manned version of the Dragon spacecraft SpaceX uses hasn't even flown in space yet. Stupidly, insanely ambitious, considering the Falcon Heavy rocket that would be used has also not actually flown yet.

I'm not saying that commercial space flight is a bad thing, it is in all likelihood the future of space travel. What I'm saying is that space is not a nice place, and rushing spacecraft development is not likely to end well for any passengers. Space travel will always carry a certain danger, but rushing development to fit a deadline is just stupid, and will not work. That said, I don't think that's going to happen. No, if this little trip happens at all, it'll be 2020 at the earliest. Even if the rocket and the spacecraft are ready for flight, it still needs FAA approval to fly, and the FAA is a government organization. And government organizations don't know the meaning of the word "quick".