SpaceX's Japanese Billionaire Customer Revealed He is Now Selecting his Companions for His Moon Mission

Sophie Webster, Tech Times 16 July 2021, 09:07 am

SpaceX's Japanese billionaire customer and eight other people will be riding the Starship to go on a mission to the moon.

The mission, called dearMoon, is headed by Yusaku Maezawa.

Maezawa, a billionaire entrepreneur, paid an undisclosed amount to SpaceX in order to achieve his dream of going to the moon. He wants the dearMoon project to be just like a civilian art project. However, people had no idea who he would bring with him until now.

SpaceX's dearMoon Mission

The SpaceX's moon mission had numerous changes since it was first announced in 2018. Maezawa had originally planned to invite artists onboard the Starship to travel with him to the moon, according to CNET.

However, in March, he changed the process and opened up eight spots for the moon mission. He even encouraged the participants to register and send in videos explaining why they should be chosen to go on the moon mission with him.

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On July 15, Maezawa gave an update on some of the candidates whose videos he liked. He says that there were over 1 million applicants from almost every single country in the world.

The applicants are a diverse crowd, with professional actors, ballet dancers, photographers, artists, Olympians, and even DJ Steve Aoki. The applicants have not been officially selected yet, and it is not clear when Maezawa will make that decision.

This is the first indication of who might get one of the eight spots on the return trip around the moon.

Before his purchase of SpaceX's spacecraft seat on March, Maezawa produced a TV show in Japan that was focused on finding him a girlfriend that he could take on the moon. However, after significant backlash, Maezawa cancelled the TV show, as per CollectSpace.

Race to Space

With Virgin Galactic's Richard Branson's recent trip to space aboard his space plane and former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezo's upcoming flight to the moon, it seems like the billionaires are racing to go to space, The Weather Channel highlighted.

The "billionaire space race" has its fair share of detractors, with some calling it a "vanity project" and saying that the missions are significantly useless. However, in Maezawa's case, there is hope to change the public's opinion.

Aside from seeking companions, Maezawa is also asking for the public's advice on what to do with his 12-day trip to outer space. The Japanese billionaire is gathering 100 ideas.

Maezawa wrote on his website for the mission that he wants the experience to be for everyone, and not just for him.

This is why he came up with the plan of asking what activities he can do while he is in space. As soon as he has finalizes the list of 100 ideas from his followers, he will be filming a video of himself doing the activities, and he will be posting it on YouTube while he is in orbit.

Even though all types of ideas are welcome, he is constrained by the type of items that he can take with him to space. He will have limited storage space aboard the Soyuz MS-20, which means some items and materials will be prohibited.

All submissions that require an equipment to accomplish will be subject for approval from Space Adventures, the US space tourism company, an the Roscosmos.