SpaceX plans to send its Dragon spacecraft to Mars as early as 2018, the company announced Wednesday afternoon.

  • SpaceX wants to send a spacecraft to Mars by 2018
  • The company will be sending Red Dragons
  • If successful, it would become the first private company to do so

The announcement, in the form of a single tweet, marks the first step in CEO Elon Musk’s vision of sending humans to the Red Planet by 2025.

SpaceX hasn’t said how many spacecraft it plans to send, but did indicate that it could be a series of Dragon missions.

The company will be sending its Red Drago, a modified version of the Dragon spacecraft that is used to transport cargo to and from the International Space Station.

According to the twee, the Red Dragos will collect information about Mars' architecture.

If successful, the mission or missions would make SpaceX the first private company to land a vehicle on another planet.

Earlier this month, the company successfully landed it Falcon 9 rocket on an ocean barge, after previous failed attempts.