Could (and should) SpaceX sell the rights to be first to set foot on Mars?

[Yggdrasill]

The thought occurred to me that if SpaceX is in a position to land people on Mars in say 2026, they would be in a position to decide who would be the first to set foot on Mars, and the person to first set foot on Mars could easily get a quite significant place in the history books, along with Neil Armstrong. (Buzz Aldrin is in the shadow of Neil Armstrong, to an extent.)

I'm sure many would like to see the first to set foot on Mars be a NASA astronaut, but should SpaceX give them that honor for free? And should they consider giving the honor to the highest bidder?

What if the highest bidder isn't NASA, but is China, Russia, Japan, Canada, or say Red Bull? I assume China just couldn't work, but maybe Russia, Japan or Canada could. And Red Bull should work - they could just get a US citizen to carry a huge Red Bull flag out and plant it, while saying "Red Bull gives you wings!".

This seems quite awful, but at the same time, it would be an opportunity for SpaceX to raise money for further missions to Mars. And that's important, right?

[JWarner]

I fully expect NASA's contract for the Mars passenger trip to require that the NASA astronauts be first on the surface.

I expect Elon will be totally in agreement as well.

[Cheapchips]

No.  Seems like a crass thing to do. 

The Starship lift should be big enough at least a couple of people can step off together. 

I'm sure they'd on going analysis claiming one or the other persons' foot hit the ground first. 

[eric z]

 Here's a radical idea- let the crew decide! For true exploration I would send out the ship's cat first, appropriately suited of course.

[50_Caliber]

They could do this like they did in the National Geographic Mars series, have a platform lowered and they all step off at the same time.

[Hyperborealis]

Bet they follow Apollo 11/Neil Armstrong precedent: captain first. Especially since doing it the way Apollo did finesses the questions of who are you going to privilege with being the first human to set foot on another planet. Not looking forward to the inevitable magazine and newspaper opinion pieces on this. So ugh.

[Coastal Ron]

I fully expect NASA's contract for the Mars passenger trip to require that the NASA astronauts be first on the surface.

No such contract exists, and going to Mars is a SpaceX funded effort, so while the U.S. Government could offer to pay to send people, it would be up to SpaceX as to whether they wanted to do that.

I expect Elon will be totally in agreement as well.

SpaceX exists because Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars, so Elon Musk will do what is best for the Mars colonization effort.

As to what that is, we already know that Elon Musk is OK with taking money from billionaires to do space stunts, and Musk has said that colonizing Mars will take a LOT of money - more than he will ever have. So it would not be unthinkable that someone would pay a LARGE sum to be the first.

However I do like the idea of the captain of the ship being first... 

[Zed_Noir]

I fully expect NASA's contract for the Mars passenger trip to require that the NASA astronauts be first on the surface.

No such contract exists, and going to Mars is a SpaceX funded effort, so while the U.S. Government could offer to pay to send people, it would be up to SpaceX as to whether they wanted to do that.

I expect Elon will be totally in agreement as well.

SpaceX exists because Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars, so Elon Musk will do what is best for the Mars colonization effort.

As to what that is, we already know that Elon Musk is OK with taking money from billionaires to do space stunts, and Musk has said that colonizing Mars will take a LOT of money - more than he will ever have. So it would not be unthinkable that someone would pay a LARGE sum to be the first.

However I do like the idea of the captain of the ship being first... 

Other than a paying customer. Does that mean Garrett Reisman have a shot being the captain of the "Heart of Gold" and also the first Barsoom walker. 

[Barley]

However I do like the idea of the captain of the ship being first... 

Women and children first, captain last.

[Todd Martin]

To take a shot at answering this seriously, certainly there is no legal restriction that would prohibit SpaceX.  Nor is there any NASA contract at present to preclude it.  The practicality as I see it devolves down to liability, public relations, and crew technical requirements.  Let's say for sake of argument that Yusaku Maezawa (Dear Moon Billionaire) is willing to plump down half his net worth, or 1 Billion dollars to do this.  SpaceX would be carrying a Billionaire on their first manned flight to Mars which will be a 2 year mission.  The risk of his death is substantial and so the ROI (Return on Investment) calculation has to subtract that risk in the calculation - similar to the cost of an insurance policy on his safe return.  I do not believe a simple waiver on risks signed by Yusaku would negate this calculation as Negligence or Wrongful Death suits often go forward even after such statements are signed when things go wrong.  As a ball park, I would guess this liability concern could eat up 30% to 50% of the ticket price.  By itself, I don't think Liability would stop such a sale but would reduce the financial incentive considerably.  From a public relations point of view, I think it would seriously damage the ability of SpaceX to recruit as public perception of the mission would revolve around catering to Billionaires instead of the noble efforts of protecting humanity from extinction.  A marketing professional could assess this loss of branding in dollars, but a negative public perception of the effort would also move the political calculations in Washington which can affect NASA & DOD contracts.  The PR fallout, IMHO would preclude SpaceX from auctioning this to the highest bidder.  More likely, SpaceX would gift it as a positive PR stunt to someone the public could get behind.  Lastly, the first manned flight is likely to have a small crew complement and it would improve the odds of mission success if everyone on the crew was technically proficient in the various tasks needed.  A winning bidder is unlikely to have those skillsets.  The most likely person selected, in my opinion, would be a former (or current) NASA astronaut.

[whitelancer64]

NASA will almost certainly be involved, and it is well possible, I think even probable, that NASA astronauts could comprise the entire first crew to Mars.

[Coastal Ron]

NASA will almost certainly be involved, and it is well possible, I think even probable, that NASA astronauts could comprise the entire first crew to Mars.

I'm not sure if Elon Musk (and SpaceX as a whole) would welcome the NASA overhead that comes with NASA flights.

And the amount of risk that needs to be assumed is LARGE for the first human flight to Mars, and well outside of what NASA currently considers "safe", so unless SpaceX sold the mission "As Is", with no guarantees of success, I can't see how NASA could be the first customer to fly to Mars.

[1]

Could they? Sure. Should they? I don't think so; and not because it offends some sense of interplanetary morality. I think it's a bad idea for the big picture. I suspect any monetary gain from such a sale would not be appreciable compared to the total anticipated costs of successful Martian colonization. Public national and global support is what I suspect Elon will really be after.

I fully expect NASA will be invited to participate, though perhaps in a 'mission specialist' sense rather than in a command role. I also expect that invitation to be extended to every other space agency in the world, including China's, because having half the worlds TV cameras pointing at you (with you controlling the narrative!) is an amount of PR that no auction could ever hope to match. Even if their respective *-nauts don't take the first step, taking the second through tenth is better than not being there to take a step at all. And, of course, that also plays well into the whole narrative of "make Humanity a multi-planetary species" rather than "make America a multi-planetary nation".

Getting the rest of humanity on board is critical to Elon's vision; thus I don't anticipate him turning the 'first step' into a contest with one winner and a lot of losers. If Elon himself is not the first person to step foot on Mars, I fully expect it to be someone chosen specifically by Elon to take that first step. I would guess someone affiliated with SpaceX and placed in overall command of the mission. But I expect the step itself to be downplayed with the greater vision for the future being the main mission focus.

[AstroDave]

Bolding is mine

Bet they follow Apollo 11/Neil Armstrong precedent: captain first. Especially since doing it the way Apollo did finesses the questions of who are you going to privilege with being the first human to set foot on another planet. Not looking forward to the inevitable magazine and newspaper opinion pieces on this. So ugh.

Could be replaced with "who are you going to curse"

[Yggdrasill]

Could they? Sure. Should they? I don't think so; and not because it offends some sense of interplanetary morality. I think it's a bad idea for the big picture. I suspect any monetary gain from such a sale would not be appreciable compared to the total anticipated costs of successful Martian colonization. Public national and global support is what I suspect Elon will really be after.

I fully expect NASA will be invited to participate, though perhaps in a 'mission specialist' sense rather than in a command role. I also expect that invitation to be extended to every other space agency in the world, including China's, because having half the worlds TV cameras pointing at you (with you controlling the narrative!) is an amount of PR that no auction could ever hope to match. Even if their respective *-nauts don't take the first step, taking the second through tenth is better than not being there to take a step at all. And, of course, that also plays well into the whole narrative of "make Humanity a multi-planetary species" rather than "make America a multi-planetary nation".

Getting the rest of humanity on board is critical to Elon's vision; thus I don't anticipate him turning the 'first step' into a contest with one winner and a lot of losers. If Elon himself is not the first person to step foot on Mars, I fully expect it to be someone chosen specifically by Elon to take that first step. I would guess someone affiliated with SpaceX and placed in overall command of the mission. But I expect the step itself to be downplayed with the greater vision for the future being the main mission focus.

I love your idea and hope you are right. I definitely see the value in inspiring as many people as possible. Once landing crew on Mars is proven to be achievable, you would hope that as many governments, companies and individuals want to buy in.

But I am a little skeptical when it comes to the feasibility in inviting taikonauts onto Starship. Though, maybe one could settle for a chinese-american astronaut.

In the spirit of Inspiration 4, maybe they could even have a lottery for one or more seats. Obviously you would need to vet the winner before giving them the green light. (Maybe ten candidates from around the world, and then one actually gets to go?) And it would be fitting if the winner actually was the first to set foot on Mars.

If the Mars lander Starship has a crew of ten or twenty, it wouldn't make much difference if one crew member is not super-qualified.

[savantu]

NASA will almost certainly be involved, and it is well possible, I think even probable, that NASA astronauts could comprise the entire first crew to Mars.

I'm not sure if Elon Musk (and SpaceX as a whole) would welcome the NASA overhead that comes with NASA flights.

And the amount of risk that needs to be assumed is LARGE for the first human flight to Mars, and well outside of what NASA currently considers "safe", so unless SpaceX sold the mission "As Is", with no guarantees of success, I can't see how NASA could be the first customer to fly to Mars.

It's easier to land on Mars than to convince Nasa you can land on Mars. Same he said regarding the Moon.

[JohnFornaro]

Interesting idea.

Christopher Columbus financed his mission in much the same fashion.

[su27k]

NASA will almost certainly be involved, and it is well possible, I think even probable, that NASA astronauts could comprise the entire first crew to Mars.

I'm not sure if Elon Musk (and SpaceX as a whole) would welcome the NASA overhead that comes with NASA flights.

And the amount of risk that needs to be assumed is LARGE for the first human flight to Mars, and well outside of what NASA currently considers "safe", so unless SpaceX sold the mission "As Is", with no guarantees of success, I can't see how NASA could be the first customer to fly to Mars.

It's easier to land on Mars than to convince Nasa you can land on Mars. Same he said regarding the Moon.

Yeah but to NASA's credit, they didn't wait until SpaceX lands on the Moon to be convinced, they picked SpaceX years before the latter is capable of landing on the Moon. So I'm super bullish about NASA/SpaceX cooperation over Mars missions.

[whitelancer64]

NASA will almost certainly be involved, and it is well possible, I think even probable, that NASA astronauts could comprise the entire first crew to Mars.

I'm not sure if Elon Musk (and SpaceX as a whole) would welcome the NASA overhead that comes with NASA flights.

And the amount of risk that needs to be assumed is LARGE for the first human flight to Mars, and well outside of what NASA currently considers "safe", so unless SpaceX sold the mission "As Is", with no guarantees of success, I can't see how NASA could be the first customer to fly to Mars.

SpaceX would certainly welcome the income. NASA would be providing equipment and experiments at the very least, they'd be utterly foolish not to do so. And since they are already doing that, when SpaceX is ready to send people, then there's no real reason to not send astronauts as well.

[whitelancer64]

NASA will almost certainly be involved, and it is well possible, I think even probable, that NASA astronauts could comprise the entire first crew to Mars.

I'm not sure if Elon Musk (and SpaceX as a whole) would welcome the NASA overhead that comes with NASA flights.

And the amount of risk that needs to be assumed is LARGE for the first human flight to Mars, and well outside of what NASA currently considers "safe", so unless SpaceX sold the mission "As Is", with no guarantees of success, I can't see how NASA could be the first customer to fly to Mars.

It's easier to land on Mars than to convince Nasa you can land on Mars. Same he said regarding the Moon.

SpaceX has said they will launch at least two Starships to Mars for precursor missions. That may be demonstration enough, if they are successful. And I'd fully expect NASA equipment / experiments to ride along on those demonstration missions as well.

[eric z]

 Just to play Devil's Advocate, do all you guys have a crystal ball? Are you willing to bet your mortgage on it being SpaceX? I know most of the readership will say "Hell Yes!". OK. Can you predict the exact nature of a NASA/SpaceX relationship by then?
 It ha taken me years on this site to go from being neutral/skeptical on SpaceX to being an admirer; not quite at the amazing people stage I guess. Don't think for a minute going to Mars wasn't NASA's "quest" all along too. There simply was no political will to get it done. That is not the fault of the men and women staffing the Agency, though I suppose you could say at times top-level leadership rarely fought the battle, in public at least.
 Maybe something totally unexpected will emerge to alter the course of human events--who knows?

[savantu]

Yeah but to NASA's credit, they didn't wait until SpaceX lands on the Moon to be convinced, they picked SpaceX years before the latter is capable of landing on the Moon. So I'm super bullish about NASA/SpaceX cooperation over Mars missions.

That was with a different set of leaders. Current administration pushed those aside. Steve Jurczyk and Kathy Lueders lost their influence ( they were the main supporters of Spx ).

Regarding the topic thread, Spx will not sell rights for bragging. They will sell freight services to/from asteroid belt & Mars. Wait until they land on the 1st solid gold asteroid. There are some companies in Luxembourg  preparing for this.

[Hyperborealis]

How about something more prosaic? If Starship jumpstarts a commercial LEO economy that's self-sustaining and high-growth, NASA's role--as funder, as repository of relevant technology and knowledge--will diminish accordingly. At some point, NASA fades into becoming a regulatory body. Since Musk is in a hurry, and NASA is still relevant, no doubt Mars will be a joint mission. Might be the agency's last hurrah, though.

[FishInferno]

How about something more prosaic? If Starship jumpstarts a commercial LEO economy that's self-sustaining and high-growth, NASA's role--as funder, as repository of relevant technology and knowledge--will diminish accordingly. At some point, NASA fades into becoming a regulatory body. Since Musk is in a hurry, and NASA is still relevant, no doubt Mars will be a joint mission. Might be the agency's last hurrah, though.

I don't see NASA becoming a regulatory agency, but rather shifting to be purely focused on scientific research. A new space-focused agency will likely split from the FAA, which currently does most regulating of launches.

NASA will rent space on commercial space stations and contract companies to launch their probes and transport their astronauts. I wouldn't be surprised if they stop hiring "pilot" astronauts altogether. A Starship flight, for example, would include a couple SpaceX pilots as part of the transport service. So in short, I think NASA astronauts will be present on the first Mars landing, but only mission specialists. Command of the spacecraft itself will fall solely to SpaceX.

[whitelancer64]

NASA is not, and never has been, a regulatory body. It is and has always been primarily focused on enabling research, both in Aeronautics (the first A in NASA, which is sadly forgotten by most) and Space.

[su27k]

Yeah but to NASA's credit, they didn't wait until SpaceX lands on the Moon to be convinced, they picked SpaceX years before the latter is capable of landing on the Moon. So I'm super bullish about NASA/SpaceX cooperation over Mars missions.

That was with a different set of leaders. Current administration pushed those aside. Steve Jurczyk and Kathy Lueders lost their influence ( they were the main supporters of Spx ).

SpaceX just needs to convince Nelson and Jim Free then, not a big problem, it's what SpaceX has been doing since their founding: Convincing skeptics that they can do what they say they can do. I reckon launching a dozen SHLVs twice the size of Saturn V, plus a demonstration of orbital refueling and a simulation of Mars reentry in Earth's upper atmosphere should be sufficient.

[Slarty1080]

NASA will almost certainly be involved, and it is well possible, I think even probable, that NASA astronauts could comprise the entire first crew to Mars.

I'm not sure if Elon Musk (and SpaceX as a whole) would welcome the NASA overhead that comes with NASA flights.

And the amount of risk that needs to be assumed is LARGE for the first human flight to Mars, and well outside of what NASA currently considers "safe", so unless SpaceX sold the mission "As Is", with no guarantees of success, I can't see how NASA could be the first customer to fly to Mars.

SpaceX would certainly welcome the income. NASA would be providing equipment and experiments at the very least, they'd be utterly foolish not to do so. And since they are already doing that, when SpaceX is ready to send people, then there's no real reason to not send astronauts as well.

Perhaps NASA might find sufficient money from somewhere to finance a few experiments and more, but remember NASA has to do what it's told and is funded by Congress. NASA can't just unilaterally decide to spend vast sums of money on a new initiative.

The really interesting part will be what happens behind closed doors once Starship is operational. With luck Congress might come round to support some sort of Mars program. It has been talked about for years and if the price is right they just might. If not and its just SpaceX then NASA will have lost something IMO. It would be beyond sad to see NASA being given another x billion dollars for SLS development as SpaceX astronauts step foot onto Mars. Not only that but some people might ask questions that other people don't want asked.

[savantu]

How about something more prosaic? If Starship jumpstarts a commercial LEO economy that's self-sustaining and high-growth, NASA's role--as funder, as repository of relevant technology and knowledge--will diminish accordingly. At some point, NASA fades into becoming a regulatory body. Since Musk is in a hurry, and NASA is still relevant, no doubt Mars will be a joint mission. Might be the agency's last hurrah, though.

Some are already preparing for this.

https://space.mines.edu/

https://space.mines.edu/courses/

[Coastal Ron]

It ha taken me years on this site to go from being neutral/skeptical on SpaceX to being an admirer; not quite at the amazing people stage I guess.

I am a SpaceX supporter, but I own no SpaceX swag, so not sure if I qualify as a SpaceX amazing people. And I don't agree with many of Elon Musk's views, on a number of topics, but regarding SpaceX Elon Musk has shown that he can understand a problem and build a solution using far less resources than anyone else. So he has earned my support.

And because of what Elon Musk and SpaceX have done so far, I think they have a CHANCE at landing humans on Mars this decade. Not 100% sure, but they have some reasonable chance.

Don't think for a minute going to Mars wasn't NASA's "quest" all along too.

I'm one of the people that keeps reminding everyone that NASA's primary focus after the Apollo program has been Mars, not our Moon. Just look at how many robotic explorers we have sent to Mars verses the Moon during the last 5 decades and it is clear that NASA as a science organization wants to go to Mars next, NOT the Moon.

There simply was no political will to get it done.

We the people don't really support sending humans to either Mars or our Moon, so it isn't just that the people we send to Congress are not excited about doing it. And for good reason so far when you consider how much the SLS and Orion are going to cost - politics makes human space exploration too expensive using normal government funding approaches.

That is not the fault of the men and women staffing the Agency, though I suppose you could say at times top-level leadership rarely fought the battle, in public at least.

NASA is one of the many agencies and departments of the U.S. Government that work for whoever is President at the time, so NASA itself never gets a vote as to what the 17,000 employees want NASA to focus on. Same for the employees of the DoD, FDA, USDA, DHS, Forest Service, NPS, etc. Employees don't get a vote anywhere else in our government, so why do we assume that NASA is any different?

If the U.S. Government (i.e. the then President and Congress) think it is in the best interests of our nation to be on that first human mission to Mars, then I have no doubt that the President and Congress will find a way to ask for volunteers. And I think it will have to be volunteers, since this would not be a NASA mission with NASA safety, but a private mission that the U.S. Government is going along on as a passenger - and accepting the risks "As Is".

And I think it would be pretty likely that the U.S. Government would authorize such a volunteer effort, while paying for one or more seats on the trip.

My $0.02

[spacenut]

If in the long run NASA is to stay relevant, they could concentrate on developing nuclear in space propulsion.  Due to being a government agency they would have more oversight into nuclear power, engines or such, especially beyond Mars, or in space spacecraft flying quickly between earth and Mars or further.  SLS is the last hurrah for NASA building rockets.  They should concentrate on in space activities and more public-private funding for in space equipment.

[jpo234]

Maybe a payment in kind: a rover, habitation, green house, power plant,...

Something a space agency might have in the drawer.

[Zed_Noir]

Maybe a payment in kind: a rover, habitation, green house, power plant,...

Something a space agency might have in the drawer.

The only thing that SpaceX might take as payment in kind is either a batch of Kilopower reactors or a small light water fission reactor. IMO.


SpaceX have it's sister company to come up with some sort of Martian rover/drone. And for most of the stuff needed for staying on Mars with people could be developed in house or by a sister company. Ir is unlikely that SpaceX will tolerate the typical slow development that is the norm within the aerospace industry.


The SX CTO have a deadline of sorts for his Martian endeavor, he have to able to pass the medical physical for his retirement trip to Arcadia Planitia.

[savantu]

The only thing that SpaceX might take as payment in kind is either a batch of Kilopower reactors or a small light water fission reactor. IMO.


SpaceX have it's sister company to come up with some sort of Martian rover/drone. And for most of the stuff needed for staying on Mars with people could be developed in house or by a sister company. Ir is unlikely that SpaceX will tolerate the typical slow development that is the norm within the aerospace industry.


The SX CTO have a deadline of sorts for his Martian endeavor, he have to able to pass the medical physical for his retirement trip to Arcadia Planitia.

Exactly. The only big unknown and most massive hurdle to pass for Spx is power generation on Mars : they need nuclear reactors and states have full monopoly on this.
Everything else they can do by themselves 1/3 time and 1/10 the cost vs. Nasa.

[Twark_Main]

"And as I take this last step — this first step of a new world — I think of eight billion well-wishing souls on a distant, precious, and fragile planet. Amongst this desolation, to those Good People of the Good Earth, we beseech you...

we've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty."

[EeeVee3]

The first boots on mars will be a professional SPX-NASA person and i doubt would be up for bidding. However the rights to the live worldwide broadcasts and documentaries... oh yeah..   

[Jim]

The first boots on mars will be a professional SPX-NASA person and i doubt would be up for bidding. However the rights to the live worldwide broadcasts and documentaries... oh yeah..   

NO, if NASA is involved, there is no selling of rights.

[KilroySmith]

There's only one correct answer to the question.  The first person to step foot on Mars needs to be....
Elon Musk. 
Who else will have put more time, more money, or more effort into getting there?  Who is most responsible for getting there?  Who deserves the honor more?
I have no issue at all with collecting a few billion USD from a couple of passengers to be among the first crew on Mars.  After all, how many people do you believe are going to be on the first flight?  Three?  Five?  A dozen?  I'm leaning more towards the latter, and they certainly won't need to all be "steely-eyed missile men".   

[Zed_Noir]

There's only one correct answer to the question.  The first person to step foot on Mars needs to be....
Elon Musk. 
Who else will have put more time, more money, or more effort into getting there?  Who is most responsible for getting there?  Who deserves the honor more?
I have no issue at all with collecting a few billion USD from a couple of passengers to be among the first crew on Mars.  After all, how many people do you believe are going to be on the first flight?  Three?  Five?  A dozen?  I'm leaning more towards the latter, and they certainly won't need to all be "steely-eyed missile men".

Wrong answer. Musk should not be on the first manned Mars surface mission. He got too many companies to run. He will only retire to a well established settlement at Arcadia Planitia after stepping down from leadership positions with his many companies.

It have not been determine how many Starships with crew will on the initial wave with people to the Martian surface.

[DanClemmensen]

There's only one correct answer to the question.  The first person to step foot on Mars needs to be....
Elon Musk. 
Who else will have put more time, more money, or more effort into getting there?  Who is most responsible for getting there?  Who deserves the honor more?
I have no issue at all with collecting a few billion USD from a couple of passengers to be among the first crew on Mars.  After all, how many people do you believe are going to be on the first flight?  Three?  Five?  A dozen?  I'm leaning more towards the latter, and they certainly won't need to all be "steely-eyed missile men".

Wrong answer. Musk should not be on the first manned Mars surface mission. He got too many companies to run. He will only retire to a well established settlement at Arcadia Planitia after stepping down from leadership positions with his many companies.

It have not been determine how many Starships with crew will on the initial wave with people to the Martian surface.

You all really need to re-read "The Man who Sold the Moon".
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Sold_the_Moon

[su27k]

The first boots on mars will be a professional SPX-NASA person and i doubt would be up for bidding. However the rights to the live worldwide broadcasts and documentaries... oh yeah..   

NO, if NASA is involved, there is no selling of rights.

That would depend on the contract between NASA and SpaceX, no? I can see NASA wanting the live broadcast to be available to everyone, but I could see right for documentaries goes to SpaceX. I think Netflix did the documentary about DM-2, not sure if they paid for it or not.

[laszlo]

Anyone else find this thread a bit premature?

[JohnFornaro]

Anyone else find this thread a bit premature?

Well, it has been more than nine months since the thread began...

[su27k]

Anyone else find this thread a bit premature?

Well there're VG ticket holders who have been waiting for 16 years, so no, I don't think this discussion is premature...

[Dalhousie]

There's only one correct answer to the question.  The first person to step foot on Mars needs to be....
Elon Musk. 
Who else will have put more time, more money, or more effort into getting there?  Who is most responsible for getting there?  Who deserves the honor more?
I have no issue at all with collecting a few billion USD from a couple of passengers to be among the first crew on Mars.  After all, how many people do you believe are going to be on the first flight?  Three?  Five?  A dozen?  I'm leaning more towards the latter, and they certainly won't need to all be "steely-eyed missile men".

Have you any idea what it would like be locked in a tin can with him for years?

[libra]

He is psychologically unbalanced, all that Ambien and insomnia would make him unfit as a stock astronaut or for a trip to Mars - even in such a large and roomy ship as a Starship. He also has a pig of a character.
I can say from personal experience that school bullying doesn't help - it's a poison. Can damage a life beyond repair.  Leaves emotional scars.

And then there is this ugly thing - quite revealing, unfortunately.
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/09/elon-musk-texts-twitter-trial-jack-dorsey/671619/

[AmigaClone]

Anyone else find this thread a bit premature?

Somewhat. I would consider the ideal time for a similar thread to start as being about 3 months after SpaceX successfully landing a couple of cargo Starships on Mars and closer to Earth has successfully completed at least one crewed Starship mission.

This far out, I would not dismiss the possibility that SpaceX not be in a position to raffle off the honor of being the first to step on the moon.

[AaronGolden]

Your point about whether SpaceX should "sell" that honor to the highest bidder is intriguing but also fraught with ethical considerations. I mean, what happens if the highest bidder promotes something that doesn't align with the broader goals of space exploration or humanity?

[MDMoery]

I fully expect NASA's contract for the Mars passenger trip to require that the NASA astronauts be first on the surface.

No such contract exists, and going to Mars is a SpaceX funded effort, so while the U.S. Government could offer to pay to send people, it would be up to SpaceX as to whether they wanted to do that.

I expect Elon will be totally in agreement as well.

SpaceX exists because Elon Musk wants to colonize Mars, so Elon Musk will do what is best for the Mars colonization effort.

As to what that is, we already know that Elon Musk is OK with taking money from billionaires to do space stunts, and Musk has said that colonizing Mars will take a LOT of money - more than he will ever have. So it would not be unthinkable that someone would pay a LARGE sum to be the first.

However I do like the idea of the captain of the ship being first... 

You can get BOTH if the billionaire IS the captain:  First human Mars landing: Jared Isaacman's FIFTH spaceflight

It would not shock me at all if a signed contract is already sitting in a file in Hawthorne for Isaacman to run the whole first crewed Mars mission.

[spacenut]

Ambien doesn't make you unbalanced.  My wife took it for years because she couldn't sleep.  Same with her brother.  Her brother is a chemistry professor.  My wife finally weaned herself off of it, by taking melatonin and eating some carbs before bedtime.  Some people just have a problem getting to sleep.  Also, by the time SpaceX gets around to getting humans to Mars, Musk might be in his 60's.  Maybe a little too old to make the trip, especially the first one. 

I think NASA might get involved.  Once Starship is proven out by launching satellites, fuel to a fuel depot and a moon landing.  SpaceX will shift to Mars.  At that point NASA might see the handwritting on the wall and get involved with a Mars mission and fund it or partially fund it to get their astronauts on board.  They saw SpaceX was serious about Starship with the test flights a while back and the successful landing.  So, they wanted Starship for the moon because of it's huge cargo advantage.