The Japanese billionaire invites 8 people to participate in the SpaceX mission around the moon

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Maezawa also said he decided to expand his definition of an “artist”, which he initially defined as singers, dancers, painters and other traditional creative fields. Now he’s open to taking on people from all walks of life as long as they see themselves as artists, Maezawa said in a video announcement Tuesday.

Maezawa’s invitation to the public to join his Starship mission comes when another billionaire, Jared Isaacman, CEO of the Shift4 payment platform, is looking for a member of the public to join him on a journey to a orbit aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. Scheduled for later this year, the mission is to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

The website for “Dear Moon”, Maezawa’s name for his space mission, now includes a link where candidates can pre-register until March 14. The first screenings of the candidates start on March 21.

There will be two main criteria for selection: applicants must try to “push the boundaries” in their field by going to space “to help other people and society in some way”, and they must be willing to to support their fellow man. crew members during the voyage.

The eight candidates selected from the audience will join Maezawa, who pays for the trip and says he will take his passengers for free, and at least one other person. It is not yet clear who will claim the other seats, although Maezawa said last year that he was looking for a ‘life partner’ to travel with him. There will be a total of 10 to 12 passengers, Maezawa said.

Why a Japanese billionaire wants to send artists to the moon
“As feelings of loneliness and emptiness slowly start to overpower me, there is one thing on my mind: continuing to love one woman,” he wrote in an online appeal last year.

The Dear Moon mission will rely on SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket, which is still in the early stages of development at the company’s testing facilities in South Texas. While a few early prototypes have conducted short “hop tests”, some of which have flown several miles above Earth, a full prototype has yet to be built. Nor has SpaceX begun publicly testing Super Heavy, a giant rocket booster that will be needed to take the spaceship to orbit or beyond.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said during a recent interview with podcast host Joe Rogan that he expects Starship to operate regular flights by 2023, although it is not clear whether SpaceX will meet that deadline. The aerospace industry is notorious for projects that take much longer – and bring much higher costs – than initially anticipated.

If the mission is successful, Maezawa’s crew will be the first group of private civilians to venture outside low Earth orbit. Musk said in a video posted Tuesday that the journey could also extend beyond all the Apollo missions NASA conducted in the 20th century.

The six-day mission is expected to spend three days reaching its destination and taking a catapult trip around the moon before returning home.

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