Japanese Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa Wants 8 Companions Once Aboard Elon Musk's SpaceX Spacecraft Trip to the Moon in 2023

Sieeka Khan, Tech Times 09 March 2021, 09:03 pm

Japanese businessman and billionaire Yusaku Maezawa dreams of traveling to the Moon will come true soon. To help him reach the goal, he needs to recruit 6 to 8 people to join the trip.

SpaceX's mission to the Moon

The Japanese billionaire is set to go on a trip to the Moon aboard Elon Musk's SpaceX spacecraft. On a Twitter post, Maezawa said that he wants people from all kinds of backgrounds to join him on this journey. He then shared a link to the application details.

Maezawa said that he would shoulder all of the expenses, so those who get accepted will fly for free. According to The New York Times, the mission called dearMoon is scheduled to fly in 2023.

Also Read: Elon Musk Wants Ferrari Designer to Create SpaceX's Remote-Controlled Cars For Moon Race in 2021

Those who are interested should be willing to support other crew members who share similar aspirations. That is one of the criteria that the businessman is looking for in a companion. He said he already bought all of the spacecraft seats, so it will be a private ride to the Moon.

Maezawa is a fashion mogul and an art collector. He said that he planned to invite artists for the trip to the Moon, but now he wants to give people from around the world the chance to join this once-in-a-lifetime journey, according to The Guardian.

In 2020, he launched a documentary in search of a girlfriend to join him on the trip. However, he canceled it because of "mixed feelings." In 2018, he was named the first private passenger of SpaceX.

Maezawa refused to disclose the price that he agreed to pay SpaceX for the trip to the Moon, but according to Elon Musk, it was "a lot of money. "The mission is set for 2023, and it will be the first lunar journey by humans since 1972.

Who is Yusaku Maezawa?

Yusaku Maezawa was a drummer in a hardcore punk band in Japan, and that was his first public appearance. He then went on to make a fortune as an online fashion tycoon, and he is best known for spending millions of dollars at art auctions in other countries.

The Japanese billionaire began selling rare CDs and records in 1998 through a company that he founded called Start Today. In 2000, the mail-order catalog business moved online and added clothes to its offering.

Maezawa told Japan Times in an interview this year that he was the president of his company while touring around the country with his former band, and when it became impossible to handle both, he chose his company. He was 26 at the time.

The businessman then launched fashion e-retailer Zozotown in 2004, and by the time he was 30, he was a billionaire. Forbes listed him as the 18th richest man in Japan with a personal wealth of $2.1 billion.

Maezawa has always been vocal about his hopes of becoming the first civilian passenger to fly to the Moon, as part of an ambitious but highly-anticipated project with SpaceX.

The dearMoon project of SpaceX is just the beginning of Elon Musk's dream of sending people to the Moon. Aside from this project, Musk is also targeting Mars and wants to create a civilization on the Red Planet by 2024, according to BusinessInsider.