SpaceX is about to name "the world's first private passenger" to fly around the moon on the company's Big Falcon Rocket system.

The rocket company, founded by Elon Musk, will release that passenger's name and more information about the mission this evening.

A hint that Musk dropped may indicate the lunar voyager could be Japanese.

SpaceX, the rocket company founded by Elon Musk, is about to name the first private citizen to fly around the moon.

In an announcement last week, the company said: "SpaceX has signed the world's first private passenger to fly around the moon aboard our BFR launch vehicle."

SpaceX will release the name of that passenger on Monday evening and explain why the person is making the trip.

The Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR, is an ambitious launch system that is still being prototyped. The design (as Musk described it during a 2017 presentation) calls for a 157-foot-tall spaceship that will ride a 191-foot-tall rocket booster into orbit.

The company called its forthcoming announcement about the first passenger "an important step toward enabling access for everyday people who dream of traveling to space."

It's not the first time that SpaceX has said it would launch a mission to fly around but not land on the moon, but revealing the passenger's identity is an important new step.

SpaceX to the moon, 2.0

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at the International Astronautical Congress on September 29, 2017 in Adelaide, Australia. Mike Brake/Getty Images

SpaceX previously announced a fly-around-the-moon mission in February 2017.

That plan aimed to launch two private citizens (who are still unnamed) on a path similar to the one taken by NASA's Apollo 13 astronauts. It called for using the company's Falcon Heavy rocket — currently the most powerful operational launch system in the world — and its Crew Dragon capsule, which NASA astronauts are gearing up to fly for the first time in early 2019.

But SpaceX appears to be deviating from that plan. So far, it seems the company is only sending one passenger, whom Musk may have hinted is Japanese. And instead of Falcon Heavy, the company plans to use BFR.

That 35-story launch system — which is still being developed and built — is intended to eventually launch the first crewed missions to Mars. But SpaceX appears eager to demonstrate BFR's capabilities with the lunar mission.

In this new announcement, the company also seems to be rolling out a new design of the spacecraft. Musk confirmed that the rendering SpaceX shared is a new version of the BFR. He hasn't given additional details yet — more will likely come in the announcement later today — but the spaceship shown in the image (at the top of this post) appears to be more squat than the original design. It also has a large tail fin and two small wings, unlike previously shared graphics.

Business Insider will be reporting live from SpaceX's announcement, which should begin around 5:30 p.m. PT (8:30 ET) tonight.