Elon Musk: Flights to Mars will start in 2019

PACK your bags — SpaceX founder Elon Musk has announced plans for his Mars spaceship to be ready for trips to the red planet by 2019.

THE next step in Earth’s mission to Mars may be just around the corner.

“We are building the first Mars, or interplanetary ship, and I think we’ll be able to do short trips, flights by first half of next year,” SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk said during a question-and-answer portion of an appearance at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, according to CNBC.

“Although sometimes, my timelines are a little, you know …” the billionaire added.

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Musk first announced his plans in September to send at least two cargo vehicles to Mars by 2022, with the goal of finding a source of water and ultimately establishing a human settlement.

Travel to Mars could become a reality, according to eccentric billionaire Elon Musk. Picture: AFP PHOTO/ESA

The first cargo ships would bring basic needs to build the infrastructure necessary for future missions.

Musk told his crowd at the annual conference that once the infrastructure is set on the red planet, “then really the explosion of entrepreneurial opportunity [will begin], because Mars will need everything from iron foundries to pizza joints”.

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He teased one Twitter user before the show that his free ticket to see the billionaire exec would be “worth every penny” and indulged his audience with jokes and answers to unrelated questions, such as who inspires him — Fred Astaire and Kanye West.

This story was originally published in the New York Post and is republished with permission.