Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa on Friday announced the names of eight crew members with whom he plans to travel around the moon next year. It concerns a colorful group of artists and artists whom he wants to inspire with the trip for new work, he announced in a video on his own website.
Four years ago it was announced that Maezawa will be the first paying passenger on the tourist flight that SpaceX, the space company of Elon Musk, has planned for 2023. The Japanese has bought all eight seats and can therefore decide for himself who will travel with him.
The chosen ones are American DJ Steve Aoki and his compatriot and YouTuber Tim Dodd, Czech artist Yemi AD, Irish photographer Rhiannon Adam and his British colleague Karim Iliya. American filmmaker Brendan Hall, Indian actor Dev Joshi and South Korean rapper TOP are also allowed to join. In addition, there are two spare places for American snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington and Japanese dancer Miyu.
“I hope they all realize the responsibilities that come with leaving Earth and traveling to the moon and back,” Maezawa said in the YouTube video. He added that the crew will “learn a lot from this experience” and hopes that it will ultimately result in contributions to “the planet and humanity”.
The space trip, which should take about six days, is planned for 2023 with Starship, a spacecraft that SpaceX is currently finalizing. Musk has promised a test flight in orbit before the end of this year. Successful test flights have already been carried out in the atmosphere with components from Starship.
Maezawa made his fortune by selling his online fashion store Zozotown, Japan’s largest. Maezawa’s total wealth is estimated at 1.8 billion euros. Last year he made a preparatory space trip himself, spending twelve days in the International Space Station.
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