expensiveMoon mission
Tokyo — Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa stated Friday that Okay-Pop star T.O.P. shall be among the many eight individuals who will be part of him on a flyby across the moon on a SpaceX spaceship subsequent yr. The Japanese tycoon launched plans for the lunar voyage in 2018, shopping for all of the seats on the spaceship. He started taking purposes from around the globe in March 2021 for what shall be his second house journey after his 12-day journey to the International Space Station on the Soyuz Russian spaceship final yr.
The eight individuals Maezawa chosen for his “expensiveMoon mission” are T.O.P., who debuted as a lead rapper for the Okay-Pop group Big Bang; American DJ Steve Aoki; filmmaker Brendan Hall and YouTuber Tim Dodd, additionally of the United States. The different 4 are British photographer Karim Illiya, Indian actor Dev Joshi, Czech artist Yemi AD and Irish photographer Rhiannon Adam. American Olympic snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington and Japanese dancer Miyu have been chosen as backups.
T.O.P.’s actual identify is Choi Seung-hyun. The 35-year-old began out as an underground rapper earlier than becoming a member of Big Bang, one of many world’s high boy bands, in 2006.
T.O.P. stated in a video launched by the expensiveMoon web site that he has all the time fantasized about house and the moon since he was a toddler and, “I cannot wait.”
“When I finally see the moon closer I look forward to my personal growth and returning to the earth as an artist with an inspiration,” he stated.
Maezawa made the announcement on his Twitter and the expensiveMoon Project web site on Friday, after he tweeted final week saying he held a web-based assembly with Elon Musk and that his “major announcement about space” was underway.
He and the others could be among the many first to journey on the SpaceX automobile. The journey is anticipated to take a couple of week. The spaceship won’t make a lunar touchdown however is anticipated to return inside 120 miles of the moon’s floor whereas circling it for 3 days.
The journey is anticipated subsequent yr, although the precise schedule has not been disclosed.
Last yr, Maezawa, 47, and his producer Yozo Hirano turned the primary self-paying vacationers to go to the house station since 2009. He has not disclosed the fee for that mission, although stories stated he paid $80 million.
NASA
The billionaire initially launched a high-profile marketing campaign to recruit a soulmate for his first journey to the moon, however after receiving purposes from practically 28,000 would-be romantic companions from across the globe, he pulled the plug on that concept. Maezawa stated he’d cancelled his involvement within the “Full Moon Lovers” mission for private causes, noting his remorse at disappointing those that had utilized to seem on the present.
Maezawa made his fortune in retail trend, launching Japan’s largest on-line trend mall, Zozotown. In 2019, he resigned as CEO of the e-commerce firm Zozo Inc. to dedicate his time to house journey. Forbes journal estimates his wealth at $1.9 billion.