He travels on one of Elon Musk's rockets
Billionaire Maezawa chooses a musician to accompany him to the moon
Maezawa has booked all the seats for the first lunar mission, which has been in preparation since 2018. File photo
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa revealed yesterday that K-pop star TOP and Steve Ioki, musician and DJ, will be among the eight crew members he intends to take on a trip around the moon next year aboard one of Elon Musk's SpaceX rockets.
Maezawa has booked all seats for the company's first lunar flight, which has been in preparation since 2018, and which will follow his 12-day trip aboard the Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station last year.
Maezawa announced the selection of the two stars on Twitter and on a website for the so-called “Dear Moon” project.
The fashion mogul and his crew will become the first passengers aboard a SpaceX flight that will fly past the moon at a time when commercial companies such as Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin usher in a new era of space travel for wealthy clients.
Maezawa is fond of Twitter, and boasted of achieving the Guinness World Record for the most retweeted tweet when he announced a cash prize of 1 million yen ($7,300) to 100 winners for their retweet.
Maezawa has made his fortune in online fashion retailing.
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