SpaceX to fly two tourists to the moon in 2018

SpaceX chief Elon Musk says the company will fly two people to the moon in 2018, but the unknown passengers won't land on it.

A handout photo made available 20 February 2017 by SPACEX showing the lift off of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Launch Complex 39A Source: AAP

SpaceX will fly two people to the moon in 2018, company chief Elon Musk says.

Two people who know one another approached the company about sending them on a week-long flight just beyond the moon.

Musk would not identify the pair or the price tag when he made the announcement on Monday.

He says they have already paid a "significant" deposit.

South African physicist, inventor, and SpaceX founder Elon Musk addresses the press during the 67th International Astronautics Congress in Guadalajara (AAP) Source: AAP

Musk says SpaceX is on track to launch astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA in mid-2018.

This moon mission would follow about six months later, using a Dragon crew capsule and a Falcon heavy rocket.

Musk says the moon mission is designed to be autonomous - unless something goes wrong.

SpaceX says the passengers would fly to the moon but will not land on it.