All his life he dreamed of a journey into space. Now the Japanese billionaire Maezawa flies in 2023 as the first tourist aboard a rocket of the US company SpaceX to the moon. An expensive fun.
Yusaku Maezawa will start in 2023 as the first private man in space. According to the SpaceX spacecraft and its founder Elon Musk, Maezawa is said to be traveling to the moon aboard a new missile under construction.
Tachycardia at the thought
The 42-year-old billionaire from Japan announced the decision in the evening in California. „Finally, I can tell you that I’ve been chosen to fly to the moon,“ said Maezawa, who made his money selling clothes on the internet. Since my childhood, I love the moon. “ Even at the thought of a journey into space, he gets tachycardia.
SpaceX founder Musk said Maezawa is paying „a lot of money“ for the moon journey. Musk did not want to mention the exact amount.
Several artists should come along
The billionaire apparently suggested SpaceX to make the expedition a group trip. He wants to take six to eight artists from all over the world who do not have to pay to inspire an art project. Which artist he thinks Maezawa did not want to betray. When asked, he said he was thinking about inviting Musk. „Maybe we’re both there,“ Musk commented with a smile.
Maezawa – one of Japan’s richest men – said he did not have the „fantastic experience“ to express himself. He had often thought about what artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat or Andy Warhol would have made of impressions of a space journey. „I wish the creation of fantastic works for humanity,“ said Maezawa.
Spaceship is still being developed
The average distance from Earth to the Moon is 382,500 kilometers. Since the Apollo 17 expedition in late 1972, no one was there anymore. SpaceX plans to deploy a Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) rocket that is still in development. It is 118 meters long, reusable and is said to pass several unmanned test flights before flying with people aboard.
The development of the spaceship should cost about five billion dollars, according to Musk. SpaceX also wants to place an outpost near the Moon in the 2020s, which will serve as a springboard to the lunar surface and flights to and beyond Mars.
