Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who has planned a SpaceX flight around the moon in 2023, will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) in the Russian Soyuz spacecraft in December 2021. This is reported by the operator of space tourism Space Adventures.
“Yusaku Maezawa and his business assistant Yozo Hirano are planning to depart in the Russian Soyuz MS-20 from the Baikonur cosmodrome on December 8, 2021,” the statement said. Space Adventures explained that Maezawa began preparations for a mission to the ISS, having successfully completed the necessary medical examinations. The main trainings in Star City will begin in June and will last for three months. The duration of the billionaire’s flight into orbit, including the stay on the ISS, will be 12 days.
“I’m so curious about what life is like in space that I plan to find out on my own and share it with the world on my Youtube channel,” said Maezawa, press service for Space Adventures.
SpaceX introduced Maezawa as the first tourist to fly around the moon in September 2018. The founder and CEO of the space company, Elon Musk, said that the spacecraft with the Japanese billionaire on board will be launched into Earth’s satellite orbit by the Big Falcon Rocket. At the moment it is still at the production stage. The flight is slated to take place in 2023 and last about a week, making 42-year-old Maezawa SpaceX’s first space tourist, as well as the first tourist to fly around the moon.
Maezawa is the founder of the online clothing store Zozo. Forbes estimates his fortune at $ 2.9 billion. He announced his intention to bring art representatives with him on board the spacecraft. In addition, he announced a competition for a girl who was supposed to become his bride and companion on a journey to the moon, but could not choose her out of 30 thousand applicants.
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