SpaceX is planning to launch a tourist on a trip around the moon, and the company said it will reveal the person's identity during a September 17 event. 

The company's announcement came tonight via Twitter, and it included a rendering of the spaceship that will make the voyage: the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR). 

The BFR is SpaceX's newest rocket, a super powerful launch vehicle with 31 engines and the capacity to lift 150 tons into space.

SpaceX has signed the world's first private passenger to fly around the Moon aboard our BFR launch vehicle—an important step toward enabling access for everyday people who dream of traveling to space. Find out who's flying and why on Monday, September 17. pic.twitter.com/64z4rygYhk

"SpaceX has signed the world's first private passenger to fly around the Moon aboard our BFR launch vehicle," the company said, adding that it will be "an important step toward enabling access for everyday people who dream of traveling to space," SpaceX said. 

While the Falcon family of reusable boosters is currently flying, the reusable Saturn BFR has not yet been launched to orbit. Further, the company said, “Only 24 humans have been to the Moon in history. No one has visited since the last Apollo mission in 1972”.

© SpaceX

In February 2018, the space company had declared that it would send two space tourists by the end of 2018. The names of those two tourists - and how much they intended to pay- were never revealed. 

Musk's hopes of one day flying to Mars rest with the BFR performance, which he hopes will be ready to blast off for the red planet in 2022. SpaceX is valued at US$ 28 billion making it the third highly backed startup in the country. The company has also bagged a contract to ferry American astronauts to the International Space Station. 

© SpaceX

SpaceX holds NASA contracts valued at more than US$ 2 billion for 20 space station resupply flights, and a US$ 2.6 billion contract with the space agency to build and launch a piloted version of its Dragon capsule. 

Boeing is also hard at work on its crew vehicle, with pioneering flights planned for 2019 as well. Only 24 people in history have ever been to the Moon.

© SpaceX

Musk's SpaceX and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic are among companies that are attempting to commercialize space travel. Musk says the BFR will eventually replace SpaceX's existing lineup of rockets, which are currently used for missions.